A Little Too Early

So Doug was outside with his chocolates around 8am.

The last time he did this, he was outside at 7:00.

The big difference is that last time it was the end of Ramazan/Ramadan, and the people had been fasting during each day.  I think the anticipation of eating during day time hours had them up and moving.

On this particular day, the streets felt a little sluggish.

After all the chocolate-filled men went home, the streets were empty.

We walked to our neighbors, and they weren't home.  They had gone to visit the husband's family.

So we walked to our landlord's brother's house, next to the chicken dukan. 

To our surprise, our landlord was there, not his brother.

He invited us in, but we soon realized he was alone.

We stared at the TV, watching pilgrims in Mecca throw the rocks and spit, like I mentioned before.

It was awkward.

It was even more awkward when he started serving us!

Men usually don't do this.

Apparently, the owner of the house and his family had gone to sacrifice, so we quickly excused ourselves.

We were unsure whether we should go to another house, but we headed down our street, and some friends from last time invited us in.

This is the house where THIS took place.

Guess what?  This wasn't her house either!  But she served us anyway. 

Her sister-in-law lives here, but they were out visiting.  I really like this lady and her sister-in-law.

Doug visited with her husband, but conversation dwindled after our language ran out.

Another family came to visit, and we visited with them a little, but when they left, we excused ourselves as well.

We headed back to our house, but the family that had JUST left the previous house saw us, and they invited us into their home!

That was it, folks. 

We settled in for a long stay.

This family was our "appointment" for the day, and we were there almost five hours!!

When we first arrived, all of these beautiful ladies were there visiting, too!

We were in the "woman's room," and they all wanted their individual picture taken with Kylie, and it was getting crazy, so I suggested we all take a picture together, and they loved that!

There were numerous phones, so they asked all the younger girls in the room to take pictures.

And it continued...

After the group picture, ladies still kept trying to take selfies with me and the girls.

Their chatter and excitement really had me smiling!

But they eventually all left, and we sat with the mom and her three daughters, while Doug, our guest, and Caleb sat with all the men in the other room.

We only stayed in this room about 45 minutes, and then we went out where the men were, and it was decided that we would stay for lunch...which hadn't been cooked yet.

That's for another story.