if you look close enough at the first picture... you will see Ghalib's name engraved on the wall... just above the hood.
the second pic is of lunch with Rachel's Fam.
Given the extensive length of that last post in proportion to the amount that it covered in terms of time spent, I'm personally doubting that my decided method of recording is not going to get finished anytime soon. But none the less, i will try to sum Day 2 up a little better and see if i can cover some of the main topics that puzzled me in general about this trip.
I woke up to the sound of shuffling feet, snorts, and lame baaahhh's as the arisen goats putted around the camp site looking for food to snack on. At first i was the only one awake, so i decided to role over and cover my head until others took action. Um R eventually arose and shoo-ed them away [in the goat call for 'go away' which is relatively equivalent to the "kh" letter in Arabic, but truly closest to the sound of one about to hock a loogey] and then headed to cleanse herself before Fujr prayer (morning prayer). As soon as she got up, i decided to make my first bathroom venture in the desert, sensing that i wouldn't be in any need to help with chores until everyone arose. Thus I headed around the corner, popped a squat, enjoyed the fresh and crisp air, and returned back to camp. Um F was still sleeping, lifting her head occasionally to shoo the goats away as well. She eventually got up to cleanse and pray as well. i decided to jot down some notes while i could, until the whole group started to wake and it was clear that things were starting to be done.
First, the fire. After her prayers Um R started up the fire for tea. Once the pot was on, she started to fold up the mattresses and blankets that we slept on. I quickly lend a hand, as she explained to me that mattresses went in one bag with the pillows, while blankets in another. She then asked me to sit, as she would constantly be doing throughout the trip, asking me to rest. I sat next to the fire. Reaadh was the first of the men to stir, getting up to coral in the goats that had mingled further away, and also set out their morning bread crumbs for them to eat. Um F or Um R collected milk from a momma goat. He boiled in a separate pot and then drank sweet tea with milk. Um R, Reaadh, Um F and i then sat around the fire and ate bread with some olives [which i would find out were from their backyard... the big ones were Um R's and the smaller ones Um F's].
once done eating, Um R, Um F and i headed out with the goats. The other men had only just awoken and were sipping their tea and milk. Um R had made a big deal that i take my bag with the cleaned water i had in it... which i thought was because she wanted to drink the clean water, but only realized later (as the pattern continued throughout the whole trip) that she was actually concerned about my valuables (i.e. phone/camera)... which i had forgotten to place in the bag actually. Funny how that works. Also something funny... as we headed around the first corner of the mountain i was struck by the sound of a gun shot coming from our camp. i spun around just in time to see the pigeon fall from the nook that Um R and Reaadh had pointed out to me earlier that morning. he'd be on the grill later that night.
So i headed out with the two women that i could understand the least well, and wondered how i would deal with that. Most of the time walking with the goats i spent simply listening to them rant. From what i could understand they were ranting mostly about where to go and what the goats should eat there. I loved the way they interacted. Every statement was so matter of fact, told in the only quick and snappy language they seemed to speak. After rounding the first corner, Um F plopped down on the ground for a moment, signaled for me to sit next to her, reached in her shirt to her bra, pulled out her cig's and lighter, and smoked her first cig for the day. This habit continued throughout the morning. If one of them felt compelled that it was time to move on, they would squeeze out a "yella" as they raised themselves gingerly from their indian-style seating (especially Um R because she had a bad knee and was clearly older than Um F) and would start to walk. If the other protested it would almost always come in the form of a yell "let them eat!" or "let them see the land!" (khaleeha takul/ khaleeha shoof al-baled). Sometimes the argument would continue, sometimes not, either way it was always worked out quickly and never by words, but by actions. I.E. if the one person who wanted to leave seceded, they sat back down or waited, but if the other seceded, they simply stood up and started walking. No need for formalities like "you're right" and "ok."
So we roamed around. I continued to listen to their conversations, and would sometimes ask names of plants. Um F picked up empty snail shells off the ground (don't be disgusted, they were actually beautiful and white... looked a lot like sea shells... which i actually asked if they were... that's right, i asked if there were sea shells in the desert) and spat the name out at me. At another point Um R started digging out one particular plant from the ground, took out the root, brushed it off, peeled the dirty skin and ate it. She dug out a second one for me. i felt like i was back in the days of picking out onion grass from the backyard and ate the slightly sweet, sand tasting root. it was refreshing.
The atmosphere was always light. they joked with each other, about what, i often had no clue. If i did get it, i'd join in on the laughter and they'd turn to me, then to the other and point out 'tufham' (she understands) or even better and more commonly 'tudhhuk' (she laughs). Being able to laugh together and at each other was probably the strongest thing that tied us together in the end.
At one point around 9:30 Um R made the point to stop and pray. without a prayer rug or any way to clean, she simply bent down, swept her right hand across the dirt in one motion, clearing the area where she would place her head, stood back up and started the prayer. Um F sat and waited [being the less observant of the two Um F usually only prayed once or twice a day, and usually at night, where as Um R prayed every day at nearly the exact same times: 6, 9:30, 12, 3, sunset, after dinner. I have no idea why she prayed 6 times a day, and i never ventured to ask her as i was scared that any discussion of religion would only lead to disappointment with me. Either way i loved the conviction with which she prayed, as it correlated directly with her persevering and strong personality. She spoke in nearly common speaking voice when she prayed alone, so loud that i could nearly hear every word. She emphasized every letter.] After prayer we picked right back up where we were and walked along.
Soon enough Reaadh and Ghalib pulled up in the truck... they had packed up the entire camp back into the truck as we were to be moving to a new location today. I hopped in the truck with Um R and we headed to a site where Rachel and her family were sitting around the fire, sipping tea and starting to prepare lunch. Eventually more people came to join (Ahmed, Abdullah and his wife (ahmed's sister), the older mother of Rachel's family). They made a wonderful meal of this thick doe they stuck right in the embers of the fire, took out after cooked, pulled apart, and then mixed with milk (see picture below of man mashing milky bread). The lot was separated into two bowls, Rachel and I were allowed to eat with the men and the oldest mother of Rachel's family since we were guests. it was delicious. [note: i need not forget to mention that before this wonderful meal, rachel and i were offered packaged chips similar to cheetoh's, which we ate. These among other snacks like little packages cakes were among some of the junk food used as fillers in between meals sometimes.]
After the meal Ghalib took Um R and I in the truck to the new camp site, which is where we would sleep for the remaining days (with the exception of the last night that we spent right next to town). It was colder and more open than the last site, but faced the side of a golden mountain. Once there we started unpacking some, and another fire was immediately started up. Reeadh had been left to bring the goats all the way to the new camp site (a considerable walk i must say) so we didn't see him until near sunset. I dozed off quickly sitting in the sun for warmth and was quickly shuffled onto a mattress and under a blanket. i slept briefly and was awakened for more food. Abdullahs wife had cooked kebsah... a gulf food which actually i had initially thought was buryani. The difference wasn't that big i can assure you. Either way it was good. After the meal Um F headed for a nap, while I sat with Um R and Abdullah's wife. we spoke of things: what i was studying, facial cream against the sun, religion. For the most part abdullah's wife acted as a mediator between Um R and I, translating our two different versions of arabic to the other.
The afternoon passed quickly. I don't really know where the time went, but we amused ourselves with preparing dinner... (luckily not everyday was filled with so many meals and preparation). Later that night once everyone had re-gathered at the camp and we had set up camp much better (using the two trucks we had now, as abdullah had his there, as wind barriers. Abdullah's wife made the traditional bedouin bread Shirak (thin) and we ate it with a type of veggie stew thing (mostly tomatoes. After the meal and after the prayers, we sat around the fire drinking tea. They spoke of people in town, joked around, Ghalib, Ahmed, Abdullah, Reaadh all got up at points and did the same traditional song that had always been done. Um R got me to clap along with them. After a while of insisting from the men, Um R finally got up to dance briefly... I couldn't help but laugh at the semi-robotic motions she made recognizing her poor rhythm or gracefulness. Um R called for me to dance after much insistence from the men as well, which i only accepted after Um R's rendition (this way i had at least some idea of the motions that were supposed to be done). Essentially the dance was a waving of the arms in the air with the rhythm, and then at the end when the speed picked up, to simply keep up and jump around a bit... all in a days work. They praised my dancing skills, i laughed at myself the whole time, and we all laughed. It seemed as if they appreciated the gesture, although I'm sure they could have just as easily thought it was the biggest wreck of their dance they'd ever seen. We'll never know now either way. Eventually the time came for sleep. we slept.
Observations:
Joking with people: the men commonly joked with the Um's about little things so that everyone could get a laugh. For instance, during lunch there was at one point a big black crawly bug on the ground that i had pointed out. Um R's initial reaction was to ask "where?!" frantically. After which, Ahmed yelled out at Um R that there was one crawling on her... she had a normal brief spaz attack, and then upon realizing the joke sat and laughed with everyone. They pointed out to Rachel and I that they love playing jokes on her about stuff like that.
I also got to enjoy on joking on Um R with Um F, but on a different matter: her allergy to banana's. Um R would often refuse foods or juices claiming that she had an allergy.... even when it was made clear that there was no banana or banana derivative in the food/drink. I learned about this from the very first afternoon when Um R refused a wrapped choco cake thing from Um F because of her "hisasia" (allergy), Um F started yelling at her about how there were no banana's in the food, as Um R just kept pushing on that she had an allergy. I laughed at the situation, Um F joined me, and Um R smirked.
I think of course my favorite on going joke of the week had to do with a wonderful comparison that Um R made between bats and pigeons. On the first night, Abdullah was explaining to me the word echo in arabic, and after i understood what it meant, used it to explain the word for bat saying "the bat is the animal that uses the echo in order to get around." At first i didn't know what he was talking about because i had gotten caught up on his accent, and then Um R took it upon herself to further explain what animal he was talking about thinking that saying "it's like a pigeon" would help. Everyone started laughing at her. She tried to explain herself by saying that the bat was a flying animal, and thus like a pigeon. But then Abdullah turned to me to affirm her silliness, asking "is the bat like a pigeon?" I then realized what had gone on, laughed, turned to her and said "like a pigeon?" She laughed with me at it. The joke would come up other nights around the fire whenever it was time to poke fun at her, and soon many things turned to be "like a pigeon".
-I also noticed the enthusiasm with which Ghalib wrote his name on the sides of the mountains where we stayed. He had done it last night, and then again had started chipping away within 5 seconds of arriving at the new camp site. He chipped at the wall sometimes with a different stone, sometimes with a hammer. Either way, he ended up writing his entire name. There were numerous other names written on the same mountain side where we stayed. Sometimes they would discuss who was who, where he was now, and who he was married to. One time Ghalib stopped right in the middle of song as he recognized a name on the wall that he hadn't seen before (i have no idea how he saw it in the dim fire light we had that night). Ghalib also continued the tradition of writing his name nearly where ever we went, as long as we had time: where we stopped for lunch, resting places for the goats, etc. Another fun thing that got written on the side of the wall: love connections. Upon discovering a certain type of root/plant called "mosroor" in Arabic ("happy/elated") near our camp, Abdullah explained to me that the bloody red head of the plant was used to write on walls, while the root was to be eaten. Later that night while around the camp fire, Ahmed took plant and began drawing. Then outcome: a big heart with an arrow through it, with A's on both ends of the arrow and then the names "3abeer" and "Ahmed" in Arabic. He is to get married in the next few months to 3abeer and was expressing his excitement at the occasion. I saw at other locations the same picture, but with sometimes only the name of a man and then a question mark at the other end. I guess the only thing that struck me as odd is that there were never traces of women writing on the walls, only men. I wonder if it was an issue of honor/ modesty, but really have no idea, because i never asked.
3rd thing: recognizing the sheer poetry of Ghalib. I had noticed from the very beginning that he sang nearly constantly... around the fire at morning, in the car while driving, walking to the bathroom, at night of course. He would also sometimes recite songs/poems in a regular voice to the group even if no one was particularly listening. I noticed that his fosHa was nearly perfect in that way.... but perhaps it came simply from memorizing so many poems and songs. I showed him the poetry i had from a local Ammani poet (see below below blog about 'what do you speak'...he's the poet). He obviously didn't know who he was. Then we discussed some songs we might know shared. I tried out Marcel Khalife on him, but he didn't know the song "ummi" so i figured it was worth stopping at there, since my knowledge and memorization of arabic music is mostly limited to pop (of course it turned out him and Ahmed would rendition off Nancy Ajram and other pop stars as well). Although by this point i couldn't really understand what they were singing about, still getting used to the rhythm and intonation of the words, it's something i hope to pursue in my ISP later. i'll discuss the songs in more detail for another day when i actually started understanding them.
===I'm going to skip out on analyzing this one. Day 3 will end in some discussion of these observations in better detail.
a little view of the city on the way back 
perhaps it is 'your' welcome ketan... I want you to keep it. it's yours now.
what's that china? you said you liked to do the robot?