This post is dedicated to Nadgey (my sister), who suggested this title for one of my blog entries after I told her what I was doing that day...
As you know, I live with three lovely Arab Muslim women. They are pretty conservative, and just typical Arab women. They are also single, but preparing for their future married lives (in shah Allah- God willing). As future wifeys they perform all the duties a good wife has to do; mainly cooking and cleaning.
On the cooking subject, I will say that every day we cook and eat together, at least one meal. We have a pretty different eating schedule, though, and I'm still getting used to it. Every morning, when we wake up whoever's in the kitchen first (meaning, whoever it takes less time to wake up that morning) makes tea/coffee for the rest of the house. Then, before leaving for school, we try to have the dishes from breakfast washed (that's how clean we are).
After school, at about 3.30-4pm, when we are all back home, we start preparing lunch- my roommies are teaching me all of these great recipes, so I'm becoming an expert in Middle Eastern cuisine :). Anyways, when lunch is ready, we all sit together and have our big meal. I've learned that, even at my house, I need to serve myself twice- that's just how it is- so I now know to not serve as much the first time (I'm gaining so much weight!). After lunch, it's as though there is a race to see who can get up and do the dishes faster...they need to be done right away, though. It's great!
Besides doing the dishes right away, let me tell you about the cleaning products we use. One of the first days I was washing dishes, I noticed two bottles of soap; one had the regular green dish-washing soap in it (like Dawn or Fairy) and the other one is filled with a clear-yellowish liquid. I asked which one I should use and they said a little bit of both; the green one to clean and the yellowish one for the smell. Guess what the yellowish liquid is? I'm not entirely sure because I can't read or understand Hebrew, but I'm pretty sure it's some sort of bleach-based product. Also, we don't use gloves, so I need to invest on a good hand lotion.
Wednesdays in the house is cleaning day. We all have our jobs, so every Wednesday, we each take care of our part. I think they think I don't know how to clean because they gave me the easiest part...haha! I haven't understood if our duties rotate or if they always stay the same, but I hope they rotate because otherwise, it's not really fair.
Anyways, also on the topic of cleaning, let me tell you about the laundry situation in my house. There is a washing machine, but it's not what you would expect. It is semi-automatic, meaning, you have to manually start every cycle of the cleaning process. You put the clothes in the machine and fill it up with water and detergent; rotate the wheel to begin cycle and when it's done, you turn a different wheel to drain the water. You repeat the process for the fabric softener. Then you put the clothes on a different section of the machine for the spin cycle. Of course, there's no dryer here so we just hang the clothes. It's all a process!
This is pretty much all I do when I'm at home: eat and clean all while practicing my Arabic...Yesterday, Thursday, was the beginning of the weekend and all me and Areej did was go to the store to get her phone fixed, go grocery shopping, we cooked dinner and made a cheese cake from scratch. This morning, I woke up wanted to do some work, but ended up taking most of the morning doing laundry and reorganizing my drawers and other stuff like that. Oh yes, indeed, I lead an exciting life!
As you can see, I'm getting trained to be a good wife- learning to cook and clean way more and better than I did before...and some of you thought I was already a total mom!
As you know, I live with three lovely Arab Muslim women. They are pretty conservative, and just typical Arab women. They are also single, but preparing for their future married lives (in shah Allah- God willing). As future wifeys they perform all the duties a good wife has to do; mainly cooking and cleaning.
On the cooking subject, I will say that every day we cook and eat together, at least one meal. We have a pretty different eating schedule, though, and I'm still getting used to it. Every morning, when we wake up whoever's in the kitchen first (meaning, whoever it takes less time to wake up that morning) makes tea/coffee for the rest of the house. Then, before leaving for school, we try to have the dishes from breakfast washed (that's how clean we are).
After school, at about 3.30-4pm, when we are all back home, we start preparing lunch- my roommies are teaching me all of these great recipes, so I'm becoming an expert in Middle Eastern cuisine :). Anyways, when lunch is ready, we all sit together and have our big meal. I've learned that, even at my house, I need to serve myself twice- that's just how it is- so I now know to not serve as much the first time (I'm gaining so much weight!). After lunch, it's as though there is a race to see who can get up and do the dishes faster...they need to be done right away, though. It's great!
Besides doing the dishes right away, let me tell you about the cleaning products we use. One of the first days I was washing dishes, I noticed two bottles of soap; one had the regular green dish-washing soap in it (like Dawn or Fairy) and the other one is filled with a clear-yellowish liquid. I asked which one I should use and they said a little bit of both; the green one to clean and the yellowish one for the smell. Guess what the yellowish liquid is? I'm not entirely sure because I can't read or understand Hebrew, but I'm pretty sure it's some sort of bleach-based product. Also, we don't use gloves, so I need to invest on a good hand lotion.
Wednesdays in the house is cleaning day. We all have our jobs, so every Wednesday, we each take care of our part. I think they think I don't know how to clean because they gave me the easiest part...haha! I haven't understood if our duties rotate or if they always stay the same, but I hope they rotate because otherwise, it's not really fair.
Anyways, also on the topic of cleaning, let me tell you about the laundry situation in my house. There is a washing machine, but it's not what you would expect. It is semi-automatic, meaning, you have to manually start every cycle of the cleaning process. You put the clothes in the machine and fill it up with water and detergent; rotate the wheel to begin cycle and when it's done, you turn a different wheel to drain the water. You repeat the process for the fabric softener. Then you put the clothes on a different section of the machine for the spin cycle. Of course, there's no dryer here so we just hang the clothes. It's all a process!
This is pretty much all I do when I'm at home: eat and clean all while practicing my Arabic...Yesterday, Thursday, was the beginning of the weekend and all me and Areej did was go to the store to get her phone fixed, go grocery shopping, we cooked dinner and made a cheese cake from scratch. This morning, I woke up wanted to do some work, but ended up taking most of the morning doing laundry and reorganizing my drawers and other stuff like that. Oh yes, indeed, I lead an exciting life!
As you can see, I'm getting trained to be a good wife- learning to cook and clean way more and better than I did before...and some of you thought I was already a total mom!
No comments:
Post a Comment