Two Things

Two very random things happened to me today.

First: I haven't been in the office for about 2 weeks because my friends were here. Today was my first day back and I was warmly welcomed...apparently they missed me. I guess I should have figured that since one of the guys called me last week to make sure that I was ok and to ask where I was, but I didn't think anything of it. This afternoon they were so excited to see me. One guy (a national) actually said 'by this office, you are like the sun. When you are here things are very nice and we are all very happy. But the sun has not been here by this office and we have been very sad. But today, praise the lord, the sun has returned.' Woah. I really never thought that I would ever be compared to the sun and I really didn't know what to say to that...so I said thanks.

Second:My roommate and I went to the souq this afternoon to do a little stress-relief shopping. Out of nowhere, this woman comes up and says something to me. I thought that she just wanted to look at something behind me, so I tried to move out of her way. Instead, she just followed me and we did a little dance until she introduced herself to me. It's not uncommon to meet women in the souq, but normally random people don't just stop you, so I though it was a little wierd. Then, she points to the henna on my foot and starts going on about how beautiful it is and how I'm a local since I have it. (all of this is in Arabic, by the way) She asked me where I had it done and I told her the place, then she pulls out her phone and asks me for my phone number, at least that's what I understand. While I don't mind meeting people in the souq I would never ever give my phone number to them, so I politely asked her for her number. She looked at me like I was pretty strange and goes off in Arabic and, again, asked me for, what I thought, was a phone number. So I'm thinking that maybe she wants the phone number for the place where I had it done, so I politely explained that I didn't have the phone number for the place and, instead, gave her detailed directions. Again, she looked at me like I was just the wierdest thing she'd ever seen and goes into the same Arabic she'd done before, only this time her friend makes the universal sign for taking a picture (you know, where you put your hands in front of your face and make a click noise). That's when I finally understood that she had a camera on her phone and she wanted to take a picture of my foot. I felt really stupid, but in my defense, she was waving her cell phone around the whole time! So then the store owner had to leave and we all went into the back so that I could hike up my skirt to mid-calf and she could take a picture that, she assured me, would only be shown to women.

Hope ya'll enjoy the stupidity and embarrassment that comes along with language learning!