Ahlan wa-Salaam

It's a little ironic, and appropriate, that what's going on today is, especially after that lovely rant lat night.

In my Global Issues class, we are learning about Middle Eastern culture, still. Today we are having traditional food from the Middle East, including tabbouleh, mint tea, pita, and couscous. I was going to ask Dawn to teach me to make hummus, but didn't have time because of the Spanish stuff that I was catching up on. So, my mom's making couscous. I'm still bummed out, because I really like hummus. Especially Dawn's because she lived in Lebanon for a year and makes the real stuff.

Well, today I am participating in a social experiment along with all of this. Until I leave for the career center this afternoon, I am wearing a hijab and an abaya. We learned basic Arabic phrases yesterday, mostly the greetings and some basic classroom phrases. I greeted my teacher today with "Aasalaam Aleikum", which was incredibly cool. There are a bunch of us walking around. My friend, James, is wearing the traditional Afghani/Omani kafiyah and a dishdash with formal robes. I don't know if Rachel ended up dressing up or not. One of the guys was wearing a traditional winter formal robe and dishdash with a Jordanian kafiyah.

It's a really cool experiment and I'm having fun with it despite the fact that it's ridiculously hot in this outfit, which is over my clothes. I have gotten such strange looks from people in the hallways already while wearing this, it's amazing. The social experiment is to see how people react when Middle Eastern culture is placed in their everyday lives. I think people are still adjusting to the fact that there are about ten people who came dressed in Western clothing and are now in Middle Eastern. I'll put up some pictures later, if I can.