A Wedding and Validation

us and the groom

So this weekend a buddy and I went to a Saudi wedding. I would like to say that I am a big fan of the way they do weddings. All the men of the wedding get together and have dinner (there was about 400-500 of us) and then they all drive through the town honking and singing and dancing announcing the arrival of the bridegroom until they arrive at the house where the bride and the girls are at. Great time! I highly recommend it.

But the point of this blog is really about how we never want to be the only one to do anything. I decided to go the wedding wearing my shmaag (the red and white thing on our heads) Emirati Style, the way the Arabs from the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula wear theirs. Partly because I am more comfortable with it like that and partly because I can never keep my argaal (the little black thing on top) from falling off. So we go. We get there and I am the only one sportin' "emirati style." Everyone else is "saudi style." I am already a little self conscious because I am one of the only two foreigners there.

So as I am looking out among the masses and thinking to myself, "STUPID!! WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST BE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE! BUT "NOOOOO" YOU HAD TO BE COMFORTABLE!!!!" when one of the cousins of the groom came up and said,
"Clinton, who tied your shmaag?"
I did.
Really?
Yup.
So you know how to tie them emirati style?
Sort of.
Cool. Could you tie mine like yours?

Now.......if I told you that I just repeated this whole story without poking out my chest a little more, or sitting up a little straighter, or even givin' a manly chuckle; I would be a liar.
I was beaming as I tied this guy up. And he wore it the whole night!!! I'm da man!!! And to top it off, we were at someone else's house after the wedding hangin' out and drinkin' tea and one of the guys said, "so you're the guy that tied Mohammed's shmaag! It looked good!"

Yes......I have a big head.

But more importantly...I wasn't the only one...