Trust me it's a difficult task! This came up a few weeks ago when I was first invited to the Saudi's home for dinner. First of all, foreign culture exchanges can be tricky. I first met the student at one of our International Meet and Greet functions. This is just a get together with light refreshments to welcome all incoming foreign officers who are here to study at Fort Knox for the next six months. I thought it a little odd at the time that this particular student asked for my cell phone number, but that's what I volunteer for--to help sponsor these students. So I was a little surprised when I got the call . . . "Hello! Can you come to our house for dinner tonight?" This was at 5:00 in the late afternoon, for dinner at seven! Oops, that first time I was in Lexington at the State Soccer tournament and there was no way to make it.
A week later I get another call, "Hello! Can you come to our house for dinner tonight?" Well, I couldn't say no two times in a row, so I went. And I thought to ask if Ben could come with. "How old is he?" "Fifteen." "No, Mum, I am sorry he is an adult and our custom is . . . " Oh, I was just checking, no, I understand! I will come alone! Whew! That was a close one.
So I went to their home here on post and enjoyed quite a lovely evening. The pretty young wife did not have to wear her hajib and was actually wearing western clothes, much like the uniform of every American wife: jeans and a nicer t-shirt top. The boys were so cute, watching Sponge-Bob and eating the sweets I brought for them. And the baby was just a little doll. This young couple explained their customs and showed me some photos of their homeland via the laptop. And we talked about some of our differences and because the housing areas were all decorated for Halloween that topic came up.
How to explain Halloween, especially since it is my least favorite of all pagan holidays! I wimped out and just said that the kids have fun dressing up, and going out to get as much candy as they can from the neighborhood. It was too difficult with the language barrier to go into further detail than that, and really for the most part that is what most people view Halloween as, just a fun little diversion from the routine.
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My student sent me a sweet text message a little after I returned home, "We are very glad to see you . Come again soon . Good night"
Anyway, I just sent a text to my student and asked if I could drop by around 5 this afternoon. I have some special Halloween treats for the kids and even one for his wife. He answered, "Wellcom we will be haby"
Do I have a great job or what?!
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I wanted to know what the "..." was. I am assuming it means at 15 he is a man, but would that mean he couldn't eat there at all, or just because the wife was going to be there, or because the wife was going to be there in her non-hajib attire?
But I think you did well, explaining Halloween would be hard even without any language barrier.
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