Wednesday, February 9, 2011

God bless you and your grandparents, may I please have some eggs?

There's no such thing as a quick conversation in the Arab world. While doing business here may be teeth-grittingly frustrating to the average Western bear (I've actually had tears of frustration come to my eyes during the past week alone), if you just give in, learn the ways, and figure out how to play along, it's totally awesome. [Message to self: Kristen, just give in already, it's been two weeks, give it up already]

What's better for the soul, transactional communication or actual engagement? I know where I stand, enshallah.

Some examples:

New York City
Kristen walks into supermarket, finds eggs, picks some, walks to cashier, puts eggs on belt, mumbles hello to cashier, cashier ignores her because cashier is on her cellphone earpiece, Kristen swipes card, eggs go in bag, Kristen walks out of store.

Ramallah (actual translation of conversation I had 15 minutes ago)
Kristen walks into 'supermarket' (aka, corner store).

Dude behind counter: Hello!
Kristen: Two hellos!
Dude: Welcome, how are you, how is your health, how is your family?
Kristen: Welcome to you, how you, how is your health, how is your family? I am well, thanks be to God.
Dude: Thanks be to God, I am well too. May God give you health.
Kristen: You too. [Kristen pokes around store for eggs. Dude runs over to help her. Dude handpicks 5 eggs from the egg station, muttering about health and God and such.]
Kristen: May God grant you luck, thank you so much my sir. How much will that be?
Dude: 2 dollars, if God will it.
Kristen: Here you go. Thank you so much.
Dude: Two healths to you.
Kristen: May God make two healths in your heart! Go with peace.
Dude: Go with peace. Welcome.


Riight??? Two healths to you, reader! May God bless you AND your grandparents!
Posted by at

5 comments:

  1. K.February 9, 2011 at 9:33 AM

    And do you know what? I know a lot of my readers who live in Arabia would be like, well, most times that's transactional fluff to the average Arab bear, the equivalant of a head nod in the US. But, I don't care! I think it's probably good for the soul even if it is meaningless fluff. Plus, you can use it to your advantage to really lay it on think and guilt people into stuff. Even if it's nonsense, it's money in some sort of soul savings account, I say.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 9, 2011 at 11:35 AM

    As one of those indignant Western bears who has oft walked away from an Arabian transaction grumbling in self-righteous frustration (no I'm not a Muslim, no I'm not married, and your questions make me feel violated, as does the obviously inflated price of these eggs), I must say: your unyielding openness and positivity never cease to humble me. Thanks for the continual inspiration. Rock on, Ramallah.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AVFebruary 9, 2011 at 1:44 PM

    Three healths to you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Academicus non sensicusFebruary 11, 2011 at 8:59 AM

    That's strange......every time I enter a store here, the first thing someone says to me is "Allah yil3an deenak ya ibn il KALB!"

    .........maybe its my face.

    (Karim)

    ReplyDelete
  5. K.February 13, 2011 at 6:35 AM

    It's totally your face. And that bad attitude you bring to every consumer engagement.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)