But I can tell you one certain life-altering change
Kurdistan will impress on me.
My future dining room will lack a table. It is not atypical here
to eat dinner on cushions on the floor, surrounding a plastic “lazy tablecloth”
and delicious spread of food. (The tablecloth gets its name from the
end-of-dinner simplicity of throwing all trash and scraps in the center,
rolling it up, and tossing it away. Brilliant.) We eat, talk, drink tea, and recline
in the dimming light for hours. No stiff dining room chairs or manners mandating
upright posture impede conversation, comfort, and company. So often in the habitual
rush of life, the purpose of meals becomes only caloric nutrition. Fitting with
the leisurely pace of life here, meals with guests provide much more important sustenance:
rest and the time to allow company to turn into friendship.
In Kurdish culture, when you serve a guest tea, a saucer
always accompanies the cup. Not for the sake of appearance, but because true
hospitality means serving the tea overflowing. The nights here, sans internet,
and within the walls of home after sunset likewise overflow with good
conversation and friendship. In Kurdish culture, you are welcome to stay in
someone’s company until the fruit is brought out. I look forward to the next
few months until the ‘fruit’ will be brought and my time here will end. I am
sure by then I will be overflowing with many carpet-level conversations, cups of tea,
and interior decorating plans.
This picture is of typical Kurdish food, although at a table-d restaurant.
I love this.
ReplyDeletePure and simple. I hear you girl. Sans table may just be the way to go.
PS- Vonnie is Veronica R! :]
ReplyDeleteAcadia! This is incredible-- well-written & lively. Though, I am many many miles from you and your experiences, each post packed full of insight and culture, color and observations, lets me live vicariously through you, as if I were experiencing your journey as well. It's a joy to be able to learn so much and to be brought inside of experiences-- places, languagues, and people-- that would otherwise feel so esoteric when told second-hand. I am so excited to track your journey alongside you. Thank you for your words. They are so powerful.
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