Wedding Weekend Night 1: Jordanian Ta’lileh

            Friday Morning we woke up at 2 pm.  I HATE doing that, but I could not help it!! We are so exhausted here it becomes necessary to sleep all day.  It is also too hot to go out before 2 pm in my opinion, or at least that's how I justify it... also also- we had a biiiiig night ahead of us, so it was a warranted lazy day.    We did hw and were on the computer until we got hungry for dinner/lunch.  We got falafel and I asked for mine spicy- it was surprisingly spicy actually.  We ate on the roof... It became time to get ready for night one of the wedding festivities.  Waed told us that it was going to be cold so we wore jeans and nice tops.  

          Jordanian engagement parties are separate for men and women. The bride's engagement party is a few weeks before the groom's, and they're very different.  The wife's is kind of like a dinner party (all women and the groom-- Muhammad said that it was the weirdest/worst experience of his life-- funny because you would think that would ROCK for a 'bachelor', but he said that everyone was pinching his cheeks and staring at him etc.) Women attend the groom's, but it's gender separated.  We all met downstairs and squeezed into a 10 person van (there are 12 of us, but it would be pointless to get a 24 person one-- the next size up).  We passed by Waed's old house on the way to the location, and she spoke with the kids who were playing in the front.  They told her that THEY lived there now and that it was thieir house.  Waed put them in her place though... it is in fact, HER house.... 

         The Ta'lileh is held in a BIG outside tent-like area.  All of the men dance under the tent, and the women sit by a large house in front of said tent.  We got there very early because Waed was afraid we wouldn't get a seat.  The entire of community was there, so sometimes these parties get thousands of people.  Apparently a member of the family passed away recently, so out of respect, some people stayed home.  I'd say that it was still a pretty good turnout.  We got front row center seats.  Waed warned us that she would be greeting a lot of people and told us that we didn't need to stand up every time that she did. I am glad that she told us that in advance.... she has A LOT of family.  As people started to arrive and the men started to dance, Waed became more and more excited.  She said that women love these parties because the men show off their dance moves, and it is sometimes a place where relationships are formed.  The squeal of excitement as the music came on reminded me SO much of the first basketball tip off of the season at Friends Seminary, or Conn... so many girls so excited to just sit and watch.... 

People bought party favors of bags of candy, and trays of henna (with kind of weird dolls in the middle)....  

(Photo Cred: Nico)

Here's a pic of Conn boys doing the "Dabke" dance.  Jack (far left) made a friend.... 

 SO MANY cute kids at this event.  There was a lot of candy and juice and sparklers.  They were eating it up.  A lot of the older (but still young) kids were practicing their English with us-- especially the girl on the right in the pink.  I loved it, but Waed told them to stop bothering us... they didn't.  Apparently the boy in the pic below on the left kept on drinking the juice, but then would throw it all up! I had NO idea and I kept on feeding him candies because he was just so cute and chubby, and I want him to stay that way forever.     

One of the grooms/Waed's brother/Master BBQer, Muhammad, dancing with his Mamma -who could definitely bust a move- 

THE CUTEST kid.  Cuter than the chubby one... must have put away AT LEAST 30 chairs at the end of the party. He would go one by one, put them on his head, and bring them over to the big pile of chairs.  I wanted so badly to help him, but I also wanted to see how long he would last.  He put away every single chair. 

We got home laaaate and went straight to bed.  Day two tomorrow...