mealtime

Sorry I missed last Thurs and Fri's blog's!  Thurs I was preparing for the Kindergarten and then went to help a student with some English.  We were at his house and (little did I know-you would think I would have learned by now) I ended up staying for dinner.  Then on Fri I went to visit another school here and by the time I got home it was time for other things.  For today's blog I want to talk a little about my gosti exprience on Thurs.  This has been something I've noticed but never felt the need to blog about it until now.  Now I've gotten used to the whole gosti thing of being offered a small plate of goodies and tea/coffee.  Usually when I go the host will sit down with me and have some coffee or tea.  Sometimes that's not the case.  Sometimes I end up drinking my tea and eating a little something in front of the host.  I've been  raised  not to eat in front of others if they're not eating but this didn't bother me so much because it's just little snacky stuff.  However on Thurs I was presented with a tray of food for dinner; soup and the whole works.  When I asked the lady where hers was she said "oh I eat later with grandpa."  I then asked my student who I had an English"lesson" with if he was going to help me with any of the abundant food that I had before me.  He also said he ate later.  So here I was eating soup tarator (yogurt and water mix with cuccumbers-a traditional favorite), a bowl of a rice and meatball dish, fruit, dessert cakes (like a coffee cake) and bread in front of my student and his mother!  Of course I didn't eat it all; don't forget I had already been served the traditional coffee, soda, and little snack cakes.  I have to say I felt a little uncomfortable because I wasn't raised to eat in front of people.  Something else to get used to.  Another thing I have noticed about mealtime is that generally speaking there's not a lot of conversation.  When I have lunch with the teachers in the stola sometimes there is small talk between the teachers but silence isn't uncommon.  Coming from a family who disscussed magazine articles over meals and always talked about our days this is a little different for me.  Of course I think dinner is a little different with the students.  Tomorrow is a big day here in B!  Stay tuned!  Love and hugs!  Thoughts are of Libia right now and the unrest there.