my family

I had made it a personal goal from the beginning to win Laith over. He started out hiding behind his parents when I smiled at him. By the end of the day of my first full day he'd stopped hiding. I could tell Abu Laith had noticed my interest.

Haneen's arrival made all the difference. She smiled back, and ran around and played, getting Laith to open up. Him and Haneen roughhouse and play all the time. They laugh alot, the Bedouins. I roughhoused with the kids a little, which was fun. They're so cute together. Haneen drew numbers in the sand for me. The first thing she showed me after that were the motions of Allahu Akbar. It was quite a moment

Over the next few days I spent more time playing with Haneen; the parents started telling visitors that we were friends, which made me happy. She'd write words for me in the sand, or draw pictures. Frequently I'd just mimic her, whether she was writing in the sand or jumping over something or doing aerobics; she loved it. I could never understand a word she said, which was sad; she hadn't started school yet and thus knew no English, and she spoke Arabic too quickly for me. I rarely had trouble with Rana and Bthayna's Arabic, so I think it's school that makes the difference.

Laith was always shy and never really initiated, but by the end of the week he was comfortable playing with me if I initiated it. On my last full day I chased him around the sand, which was really fun.

Abu Laith was the one who spoke some English, so he sort of ended up being in charge of keeping me in the loop and seeing to my needs. He was very kind and welcoming, and often went out of his way to make me comfortable. He was very indulgent of me interest in geology. Um Laith didn't really speak any English, but I spent alot of my time herding sheep with her. She'd teach me words in Arabic sometimes. We managed to converse occasionally in my limited Arabic; I was super-excited whenever I was able to obtain non-necessary information conversationally. Later on in the week she started directing my questions to Abu Laith out of habit, because it was often alot of work to communicate with each other even in Arabic. She seemed reserved by nature, but I think she liked me because I played with her kids. I also spent a fair amount of time with Um Salem, but I could never understand her Arabic. We managed to have one semi-conversation about the origins of my shoes and clothing.

As you've probably already gathered, I absolutely adored my Bedouin family.