Dinner

I could upload more pictures and continue my Sinai story, but the internet is slow here at the AUC old campus, so I'll just post something random and do pictures later.

Two days ago, while I languished in bed with King Tut's revenge, my friends had dinner with Sheef Sherif (Chef Sherif), the cook at the koshary place we eat at at least twice a week. (Koshary is a staple of the Egyptian diet. It's noodles, rice, lentils, and crispy onion-like things mixed up in a bowl, and you pour on tomato sauce, garlic sauce, and a spicy sauce. It's what we eat when we can't find anything else that's quick and fast). Anyway, we've been practising our Arabic with Sheef Sherif each time we visit, and two weeks ago he said we were friends and invited us to his house for dinner. My friends told me the story of the dinner the next day, and I was almost glad that I had been sick...
Sheef Sherif's family consists of his mother and younger sister and brother. They greeted my friends warmly, and they were especially warm towards Jennah, because Sheef Sherif wants to marry Jennah. At least we think he does. Jennah is American, black, and Muslim, which makes her both interesting and a good marriage prospect. Everyone sat down at the table and the meal began. Hospitality is a big deal in Egypt, which apparently means you're supposed to stuff your guest until they burst. Sheef Sherif's family prepared "a ton" of different appetizers and main courses and desserts, and made them literally keep their mouths full the entire meal (everything had meat in it, so I'm doubly glad I wasn't there). The mother sat next to Jennah and, when she started slowing down, started shoving food in her mouth so she would eat more. She also hand-fed my friend Annette, but Annette accidentally bit her, so the force-feeding ended. This went on for a while until Jennah was at the breaking point, and Sheef Sherif called a halt to the feeding. My friends stayed for four hours, but the family was a little offended that they didn't stay longer. That's something I've noticed a lot here, actually: when you visit people, you're supposed to take your time--not like take your time like "hang out for an hour in between other commitments", but take your time as in "put off everything else and spend hours together".
So, in short, Egyptians are very hospitable (it reminds me a lot of my Grandma O, who was Serbian, so maybe it's a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean kind of thing). But having Egyptian friends seems like an awful lot of work; it's definitely worth it, but I'm not sure if people have "casual" friendships.