Two of my boys and I were at a busy store doing a little Christmas shopping. We could hear two ladies in line behind us conversing in a foreign language. Bub sidled up next to me to discreetly ask, “What language are they speaking?”
I wasn’t sure so I told him, “Why don’t you ask one of them?”
He responded with something like, “Uh, that isn’t high on my priority list of things to do.”
We were pretty intrigued, however, because the language wasn’t one that we hear a lot. I decided to be brave. “Pardon me, would you mind telling me what language you are speaking?”
She grinned, “I knew you were talking about us. We are speaking Moroccan.”
We then took the opportunity to banter back and forth about the benefits of speaking a second language when in public. She said some people think she is rude when she speaks a different language. Perhaps it is so. Personally, I like to hear other languages.
Here’s what Moroccan sounds like in case you are interested. I really have no idea what they are saying, but it is one of the few videos I could find on youtube that showed someone speaking Moroccan. I just thought it sounded kind of cool and you might want to hear what it sounds like.
I was just about ready to have my items tallied up by the cashier, so I wished the ladies a “Merry Christmas” and planned to focus on my purchases. Even as the words were coming out of my mouth, I realized that she probably didn’t celebrate Christmas since she wore the telltale headwear of a Muslim.
She kindly wished me a “Merry Christmas” in return, after which I ventured, “You probably don’t celebrate Christmas, do you.”
She cheerfully said, “No, I don’t, but if someone wishes me a Merry Christmas, I will say Merry Christmas back.”
I inquired as to whether they have a holiday that they do celebrate this time of year. She told me it was too hard to pronounce. I told her to tell me a little about it and I would go home and look it up on the internet to find out more. She told me it is a celebration commemorating the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son, after which the Lord provided a lamb to sacrifice instead. On the chosen day families gather together and slaughter a lamb for the feast and give out a few gifts.
I love learning about other cultures, so this was a great spot to have a starting point for learning something new. We had a personal experience with someone speaking Moroccan to make it more memorable and then I follow up with more interesting things for my kids to find out about. (And myself of course.)
If you want to read a little more, click here, here, or here.
Wasn’t that fun? A friendly conversation. A little learning. Very easily done. Memorable. And, I have to say I was greatly appreciative of the woman's approach to a holiday that she doesn't participate in. Wouldn't it be nice if we all could accept other people's differences with cheer and grace.
Showing posts with label story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label story. Show all posts
Monday, December 8, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Once Upon a Time....Boowha ha ha ha
Scary things have happened to me.
Once, when I was a kid, we lived on a large plot of land with a mountain for a backyard. The detached garage was down the hill and several steps from the house. I boldly set out on foot to complete my journey, but on the way from the garage to the house, my mind started “seeing” things. I told myself to calm down. I was being silly. Hah! Like that would work! My eyes darted hither and thither trying to make sure I saw the big, hairy beast beast that walked on two legs before it came after me. It was ten feet tall. It had menacing eyes and fangs for teeth. The more I thought about it, the quicker my pace. By the time I was within two cars-lengths of the back door, I was sprinting. I grabbed the door handle, shot in and allowed the door to slam behind me. Whew! Safe! [The funny thing is that now that I look back on it, I still remember the picture I conjured up, but the beast actually resembles a “Bumble”. You’ll get that if you are up on your Christmas specials that they play every year!]
Then there was the time when I was an adult, not too long ago. It was waiting for the right moment to attack. It found that moment as I nonchalantly opened the cupboard door underneath my bathroom sink. I open this door on a regular basis, almost daily in fact, to throw away garbage. I have never had any apprehensions about this action. But on this day, my carefree ways proved to be my downfall. At the exact second the door swung noiselessly open, it catapulted out directly at me. In shock, with heart pounding, I leapt backward. A panicked gasp caught in my throat.
I didn’t run away.
I looked down and saw its long slender body splayed across the tile, motionless. Fear left me and amazement set in. I grabbed onto it and began to pull. I pulled and pulled and pulled some more until, with a good yank, it split in two. It was probably 20 feet long! I couldn’t believe it. Unfortunately I didn’t think to take pictures and simply disposed of the now dead and very scary…weed. Yup, it had actually grown into my house and came out by the fixtures under the sink. It must have spread out rapidly as soon as it found freedom from confinement in the walls.
What about the time when something scary didn’t happen to me? One morning I heard a loud gasp from the bathroom shortly after Kevin went to take a shower. When I inquired about it afterwards, Kevin told me this, “I cleaned out all the toys from the tub, turned on the water, and pulled the shower curtain closed. Then I went to get in--knowing I had gotten all the toys out--and THIS (he pulls out an ugly plastic spider) was in the tub!”
I later related this story to the kids at lunchtime because I got a kick out of it. I told the kids it was kind of funny because the spider was kind of stuck in the folds of the shower curtain and must have just fallen out when Dad pulled on the curtain.
Bubba (8 at the time) pipes up at this point and says with a grin, “Yeah, I put it there.”
Not having thought previously that Dad was the victim of a prank, I was surprised and asked, “You did that on purpose?”
Bubba responded, “No.”
I said, “You didn’t mean to put it into the shower curtain?”
Bubba gleefully chortled, “Yes, I did, but it wasn’t on purpose to get Dad. I was planning to get you, Mom!”
Why am I relating all these things on my blog? I have no idea. I just remembered them and it made me laugh. I hope you will too (have a laugh, that is).
Once, when I was a kid, we lived on a large plot of land with a mountain for a backyard. The detached garage was down the hill and several steps from the house. I boldly set out on foot to complete my journey, but on the way from the garage to the house, my mind started “seeing” things. I told myself to calm down. I was being silly. Hah! Like that would work! My eyes darted hither and thither trying to make sure I saw the big, hairy beast beast that walked on two legs before it came after me. It was ten feet tall. It had menacing eyes and fangs for teeth. The more I thought about it, the quicker my pace. By the time I was within two cars-lengths of the back door, I was sprinting. I grabbed the door handle, shot in and allowed the door to slam behind me. Whew! Safe! [The funny thing is that now that I look back on it, I still remember the picture I conjured up, but the beast actually resembles a “Bumble”. You’ll get that if you are up on your Christmas specials that they play every year!]
Then there was the time when I was an adult, not too long ago. It was waiting for the right moment to attack. It found that moment as I nonchalantly opened the cupboard door underneath my bathroom sink. I open this door on a regular basis, almost daily in fact, to throw away garbage. I have never had any apprehensions about this action. But on this day, my carefree ways proved to be my downfall. At the exact second the door swung noiselessly open, it catapulted out directly at me. In shock, with heart pounding, I leapt backward. A panicked gasp caught in my throat.
I didn’t run away.
I looked down and saw its long slender body splayed across the tile, motionless. Fear left me and amazement set in. I grabbed onto it and began to pull. I pulled and pulled and pulled some more until, with a good yank, it split in two. It was probably 20 feet long! I couldn’t believe it. Unfortunately I didn’t think to take pictures and simply disposed of the now dead and very scary…weed. Yup, it had actually grown into my house and came out by the fixtures under the sink. It must have spread out rapidly as soon as it found freedom from confinement in the walls.
What about the time when something scary didn’t happen to me? One morning I heard a loud gasp from the bathroom shortly after Kevin went to take a shower. When I inquired about it afterwards, Kevin told me this, “I cleaned out all the toys from the tub, turned on the water, and pulled the shower curtain closed. Then I went to get in--knowing I had gotten all the toys out--and THIS (he pulls out an ugly plastic spider) was in the tub!”
I later related this story to the kids at lunchtime because I got a kick out of it. I told the kids it was kind of funny because the spider was kind of stuck in the folds of the shower curtain and must have just fallen out when Dad pulled on the curtain.
Bubba (8 at the time) pipes up at this point and says with a grin, “Yeah, I put it there.”
Not having thought previously that Dad was the victim of a prank, I was surprised and asked, “You did that on purpose?”
Bubba responded, “No.”
I said, “You didn’t mean to put it into the shower curtain?”
Bubba gleefully chortled, “Yes, I did, but it wasn’t on purpose to get Dad. I was planning to get you, Mom!”
Why am I relating all these things on my blog? I have no idea. I just remembered them and it made me laugh. I hope you will too (have a laugh, that is).
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