A lovely morning wait...

Yesterday I was sitting outside waiting for my ride when a man walked by. Of course I did my usual thing. Head down. Look away. Ignore. He stared but walked on by politely and went into his building. Then a few minutes later he came back out with his son but just stood there maybe 6 feet from me with the child. He was not doing anything or saying anything or going anywhere…just stood there with this one (ish) year old. He must have been able to tell that I would not be able to resist the baby so I of course started waving and smiling and talking to the baby. The baby was really not sure what to make of me – which I can understand judging from the lack of people that are around here. At this point if I saw someone someone who looked like me I would stare as well! After a little while we stopped interacting and I went back to what I was doing. He still stood there…doing nothing. Then after a few minutes he went in and got another child. By this point he knows me very well. We play this whole game again with his 3 year old daughter. Again after a few moments he leaves again and I am wondering if he has more children, or what his next move will be. We did this for awhile. He brought out a A very enjoyable game for a Friday morning. He invited me into his home and I wish a) that I could speak Arabic and b) that it was safe to accept such invitations from such seemingly kind people. But the stories I have heard have coloured every experience. I know that it is best to be informed and to be cautious but I also can’t help but feel that you miss out on the real authentic experience that interacting with and visiting locals like this affords. All of my fondest memories of India are when I accepted such invitations. Of course this is different. This wait for my ride turned very long …I am starting to better understand parts of this culture. Inshallah (which they say after just about every sentence and it means “God willing”) really does mean that everything is flexible – the time, the place, whether or not the meeting happens. Anyway this man came out about an hour later with a glass and a large bottle of water and he poured me a glass on the street and waited while I drank it and handed him back his glass with as many “Shokran”s (thank yous) that I could muster. I love interactions like this. Pure acts of kindness. How often do we truly see this? We could not even exchange a word and he went out of his way with this gesture. It was heartwarming and it still makes me smile to think of it. Of course, this broke my rule about water during Ramadan in front of observant Muslims but accepting this display of hospitality was far more important. I truly have met some of the kindest, lovely people here. I love that something that could have been perceived as an annoyance (waiting an hour and a half in 40 degree whether for a ride that never came) actually turned into a really beautiful experience and memory. I wish that we were able to keep this openness and flexibility in our everyday life. Anyway I am happy and doing well! I love hearing from you all. Thank you for your comments, messages and emails.