Friday, January 16, 2009

Three races at once

We both hopped into a slightly moving Land Cruiser (as Nadia later commented, here you don't have to worry about hopping into a vehicle with a couple guys, you won't wind up with your head chopped off and buried in a backyard;) and two Bedouins quickly introduced themselves as Ahmed and Fawaz (and managed to keep out of any accidents). Luckily, camels only run at about 15-20 mph. It was very different being in a car with the race announcer on the radio yelling with the enthusiasm and volume of a Latin American futbol announcer while the "shaabi" (i.e. commoners like us) rode around the outside of the track and the sheikhs rode around the inside of the track (less far to drive, by a few hundred meters?).


The camels actually looked fairly graceful in profile as they ran the course... until about a kilometer or two in, they start frothing at the mouth. Apparently camels don't sweat per se, and this was the mechanism by which they shed heat. So we were treated to what looked like a stampede of rabid camels being beaten intermittently (and pretty ineffectually as far as I could tell) by tiny hypocephalic robotic jockeys with silk jockey outfits (for comfort, of course) and rotary arm for holding the whip. Surreal. But better than child labor.



It doesn't seem like anyone particularly cares who wins, because everyone we could see looked equally enthusiastic at the end of the race (gambling is of course forbidden by Islam, but I find it hard to believe the sheikhs weren't making gentlemens' wagers). Afterwards, Ahmed and Fawaz took us to the compound where they (actually where their Sudanese trainers) keep and train the camels. We did an obligatory photo op shot on an older more settled beast, then heading back to the races.


By the end of our day, our two guest had offered to meet us at dinner in Villagio Mall. Picture the tackiness of Caesars Las Vegas shops, lots of columns and pediments, complete with a "canal" and gondolas. Nothing like Venice of course, too clean, the gondoliers don't row, they actually just move a metal pole that adjusts the engine speed, and even though Arabs could pass for Italian, none of them would stoop to the work, so the gondoliers themselves are generally Philipino (who have nice singing voices at least). Anyway, we exchanged mobile numbers (still trying to decide if this was a mistake;) and agreed to meet at 8pm at the mall, which actually has some seriously nice gourmet restaurants in their food court, along with all the chain restaurant trash we have at home. Regardless of the fact that thousands of Italian architects, designers, etc. are rolling in their graves.


We returned home for a couple hours rest - and each received about half a dozen phone calls regarding "plans" for the evening. One of the Arabs' main pasttimes is conversation, even if they can't speak a given language. In this case, Nadia's Arabic was good enough for a conversation. Their other main pasttime is socializing; they absolutely can't picture the Western need for "alone time" and always want other people around. In this case, that was us. When the preordained hour for our side of the cultural exchange was near, we headed to Villagio, parked, and walked the long mile to the food court, running a bit late. On our way, three more phone calls; the last one asking which entrance we were near. Apparently, they arrived early but hadn't gone in the mall. We were about to find out just how Bedouin our new friends were.


We met just a bit from the food court, said our hellos, and asked them where they'd like to eat. Fawaz laughed a bit and said MacDonalds. Ah. Ahmed quickly made fun of him, and said they would eat anywhere we wanted. So we picked a nice upscale Indian restaurant named Asha's, and got a table "inside" - yes I know, they ask you to suspend a lot of disbelief here, but the rooms off the food court itself are quieter).


Just after sitting down, Fawaz and Ahmed produced a couple small boxes. Gifts. Oh, darling. A sterling silver ring for Michelle and gold earrings for Nadia. And, no, I wasn't concerned that they were going to ask to buy "my women." Bedouins, as I was later told, have all the normal preconceptions about Western women that Arabs have, but are absolutely face-value and salt of the earth, and polite to a fault; their hospitality required that they get gifts. They both apologized profusesly for not being able to get my gift - a type of colgone they had offered me to try at the camel races (because, well, a lot of camels produce a lot of...) I hadn't realized I was being tested out for a gift. Unfortunately, the shop was out of that kind. It would have been about a hundred dollar bottle of cologne.


When we ordered, Fawaz had no idea what to order, so I suggested some Naan (in lieu of pita) and shish tawook (kebab:). After a couple clumsy efforts at using fork and knife, which resulted in painfully loud crashes of the former implement on the table, we assured Fawaz it was just fine to grab a piece of Naan and use that as a fork, which worked much better. Even if you do drop Naan, it doesn't make much of a racket, does it?

Just before we were about to pay, I decided to return the favor and pay the bill myself. Unfortunately, when Fawaz asked for the bill and was told it was taken care of already, they became upset, saying that since they invited us to dinner, they had to pay. Score one for diplomacy. The waiter walked away, and when he returned, it was with waterless hand cleanser, not the bill. Also unfortunately, Fawaz was distracted and held his hand out for what he thought was a bill, and turned out to be a cold dollop of alcohol-based hand cleaner. Of all the things we saw that day that I wish I had a picture for, it would be the look on his face. After a few awkward seconds, we all demonstrated what to do, and Fawaz followed suite. I eventually just let Fawaz give me the amount of the bill directly, and we parted company a bit later. 

The malls in the US were never this interesting. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice to hear from you. Sounds like things are going good. I liked the part about who was paying :) Take care

-Joseph

mtelafici said...

thanks. Things are busier now, but I'm hoping to get back on the blogging horse here soon.