Today was all around a strange day. It started off with a call saying that school was cancelled today because of the snow, so we jump up and look outside and guess what!?! No snow on the ground. It was snowing and it snowed for maybe 20 minutes and then it stopped, but nothing was sticking. The elevation here is so different from east to west that here we didn't get any snow, but on the other side of the city it had snowed quite a bit.
We finished today with a Xutbeh. You may be asking, "What is a Xutbeh?" Well, I am glad you asked. A Xutbeh is an Islamic engagement party. Normally, it is completely gender separated, but this one was for a Christian couple with alot of Muslim friends. We had traditional Christian Arabs there and next to them were traditional Muslim Arabs. It was weird. After the exchanging of the rings and the gold*(see note below.) Then the dancing begins. Normally, this being a gender separated function we would never see the women, but this being a moderate Christian/Muslim function we were all together. Culturally a no-no.
Now, you know me. I don't dance. White man's syndrome flows through my veins and runs in my family. On top of that B is pregnant, so she was forbidden to dance, so I was set. I just stood in the back and was a wallflower. I took part in the groom's dance but then went back to holding up my wall. Until...
One of our Arab friends came and dragged me, literally grabbed my hand and by force dragged me, out onto the dance floor. She is a family friend and we know the family real well, so this was okay. What was not okay was my lack of dancing skills. I keep telling her, "I have no clue how to dance Arab style, what am I suppose to be doing?" Well I looked up half-way through the song and she had disappeared and she had grabbed this Muslim girl and matched her up with me and said, "Teach him how to dance!" So I look up and I am dancing with a covered lady!! I am going to get fired! Eventually, I was able to get out of it, but needless to say, everything I learned about being culturally appropriate was completely waded up and thrown out the window. Freaked me out something awful, and on top off all of that, my pregnant wife was sitting and watching me dancing with another women while being culturally inappropriate.
What a day!
*Gold - In Arab culture the groom gives the bride gold bracelets as a wedding gift. The gold is hers to keep. No matter what, meaning if her divorces her, that gold is hers as security. You can go out into the desert and see Bedouin women living in tents with 10 huge gold bracelets up their arms. That is their financial investment given by their husbands.
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