Paki, It's whats for dinner!

Sorry for the huge gap in posts. Three year old with flu = a house of misery.

A few weeks before Christmas 'Sheriff'-or-'Ping Pong',- or 'our house boy',-or' the guy that cleans our house', told me he wanted to take our family to dinner for Christmas. He is not Christian or wealthy, but a very kind person, and I thought it would be totally fun! So, I agreed, keeping in the back of my head that I would pay for it, but that it would be really fun to go with him to a restaurant in town. He wanted to take us to Pakistani food. One thing I have tried to do here; don't turn anything opportunity down that could possibly be fun or a growing experience, even if it might be a pain, stressful, or too much work. (in other words, taking seven of us, including a small baby out, at night, in a taxi, to strange food, on a school night...you get the picture)

So we agreed on a day and time, invited our good friends to go with us, got two taxi's and headed out into the dark evening on a very fun adventure.

Prayers are all over around seven, this time of year. So we agreed to meet him on the corner in front of the "Sony" store. The "Sony" store is just an electronics store. It isn't, in fact, a Sony store. But, it sells the likes of Sony, Panasonic, etc. OR at least knock offs of this kind of thing. This store is on what is called "man street." Which I think is really funny. It just means, that stores that men like to go to, are on this street. IE; electronics. A few blocks down is "woman street". And there, stores that sells things women like are available. Like kitchen items, clothing, children items, etc. One place we got to sometimes is the "Singer store." Again, not, in fact, a Singer store, but a general craft type store, that sells fabric and notions as well. Which one might use their Singer sewing machine on. I think these locations would better be known as "the electronics store" and "the sewing or craft store". But hey, I wouldn't want to throw the stars out of alignment here or anything. SPEAKING OF! Did you see that the astrological signs have changed! OMWord! For real. I'm still stickin' with Caner though... Okay. Sorry. I am digressing, from my original digression. Back on track now.

At any rate, we met Sheriff at the Sony store. Only to be honked at by every car in town, while we tried to explain to the driver where we were going. (two taxi's didn't help) In the end, Sheriff had to hop on Peter's lap in the front seat and ride like that for a few blocks. It was a site, that's for sure.

At the restaurant, the men's section in downstairs, and the 'family' is upstairs. They were so busy this night, that upstairs was full of men as well. Luckily, I (and my other female friend) can sit in a room with other men. So we climbed up the back set of a very rickety staircase, carpeted with old outdoor type carpet. At the top, we entered a room full of south east Asian men. Like, a ton of them. Tables and tables. I think they were astounded to see us. Especially with Sheriff.

The room was quite warm, and smelled a little dank. There were brass poles hanging from the celings throughout the room, with ornate fabric curtains hanging at the meeting points of the poles. I realized this was so your eating area could be enclosed, and women could take off their veils if they wanted to. Nice for them. Weird to me. The waiters asked if we wanted the curtains closed. No thank you. This place was claustrophobic enough.

Sheriff said his very good friend (and he has MANY) ran the cash register down stairs. So they were expecting us, and he had ordered ahead. It was SO fun to see all of the amazing food just keep coming and coming. Clanking up the stairs, piles of food, on huge trays, carried by little men. Each new dish we were full of "Ooooh. What's this?" I still am not sure what it all was. But lot's of curries, masalas, barbecued meats, fish, and LOTS of flat bread. All served with an apple/7-up concoction. It was wonderful. We had SO much fun.

It was great having our friends with us, as their kids are all grown, and they are such a help to us. And, well, let's be honest, my children would rather live with them than me. I hardly even talked to my kids the whole night, as they were having their every need and desire met by TBW. (TBW, is my very good friend -she is not The Bishop's Wife, (as we don't have a bishop here - she may or may not be the Branch Pres. wife though) but she has been, a lot. And no matter the calling attached to her, she is the perfect Bishop's wife. Nice, kind, loving, and sweet. The for real kind. And she loves my children. And for that - I love her even more. Plus, she's from Idaho, and I like Idaho - so there.) We had a fabulous evening, and on the way down those clackity stairs, Sheriff says to me, "Thank you SO much for coming. I am SO happy. I love farty's. (party's) I just love a farty. And to have you, my family, with me....(hand over heart here) I am SOOOO happy. I am so happy, I think I will not sleep tonight." This was after he told me if I tried to pay, we would not be friends ever again. Don't worry. I gave him a very big Christmas bonus, that paid for the dinner, and then what I would have given him anyway.

After wards, TBW and I wanted to stop by the vegetable markets. And, luckily, Sheriff was with us. "My friend works here, at this one. He will give you VERY good price." So, we followed Sheriff through the dimly lit rubble, across vacant lots/parking areas, past heaps of trash, to a couple of vegetable stands. Above is a picture. The guy in the white-ish thobe is his friend. He was a fancy friend, he has braces - very rare, and wore gloves to work in. I thought that was very fancy. Take note of the guy with the scarf on his head. All the workers wear their scarves like this. Please remember that it was around 75 degrees outside the night this was taken. It cracks me up. And take note of the men giggling in the photo as well. I seriously feel like a celeb around here. People stop, stare, giggle, try out their few words of English on us, giggle some more, and then stare even more. As my dad always says, "Stand back fans. Don't crowd me." LOL.

Sheriff picked out all my fruit and veggies for me. It was the best produce I've eaten here so far. I noticed he'd pick from the back, or make the staff open another box to get to the best pieces. And, they did give us a really good price. I told Sheriff that I want to go shopping with him more often. He knows everyone and how to get anything done around here. It's very nice. I'd never seen him in jeans or sandals before. He always wears khaki's, no shoes (loafers left at the front door), and a button up shirt to work. This must be his casual wear.

All in all, we had a wonderful, event filled evening. Broadening our horizons, seeing how many of the locals live, and being thankful for all we have been given. Events like this fill our bucket of living here. They make memories that I hope we never forget. And friendships that will last a life time.