The U.S. I knew!(1)

The U.S. I knew! (1)

Yesterday, I watched a trailer of a new Egyptian reality TV Show, presented by the Egyptian version of Jon Stewart, Bassem Yousf. The program tries to shed  light on the Arabs' view of the United States and how their lives are in the states. That trailer made me think about my experience in the past 8  months I spent in the U.S. In that 8 months, I learned a lot  and huge misconceptions I used to have were corrected. In this blog, I'll talk about the misconceptions and concerns I had before coming to the U.S. as well as my first days in the U.S.
The Story started when I got my scholarship from my university, after working there for a couple of months. Since my university only gives scholarships to the U.S. or Canada, I had to decide which one should I go to. Canada is too cold and the education system there is not as good as the education system in the U.S. So I decided to go to the states. Going to the United States is not an easy process! The hardest step was getting the visa! a lot of  paper work was needed to be done and then an interview and then the waiting!

 

After Obtaining the visa successfully, the next step was to get ready to go to Austin, TX, where I would  study English in the ESL Services at University of Texas . Even though, I had traveled to different countries before, I was really frustrated before the trip to the states. Not only because It would take at least 20 hours to go from Riyadh to Austin!, but also because of all the stories I have heard about how hard and humiliating the check up in the American airports can be. Adding to all of this, the fact that I was going to stay away from my family for a long time! 

 Apart from the jet lag I had, everything was great. The Security check up was fast and easy, the airport officers were friendly and respectful. They even announced the luggage instructions in Arabic, for those who didn't know English. Seeing how organized the American airports was the first difference I noticed, since our airports are usually disorganized! 

At 11 pm, we arrived from Washington DC to Austin and that was the time to test the second misconception about America. "Don't go at night a lone", my mom said! my friends and I were thinking that the U.S. at night is full of people carrying guns and shooting each other while a lot of police cars are trying to catch those criminals! That was the image we had from watching all these American action movies!

 

 The Saudi guy who offered us a ride, corrected this misconception. He took us on a tour around Austin,then we had an amazing dinner at one of the famous restaurants in Austin. the next night We went on a walk around the city and we enjoyed it very much and surprisingly, it was very safe!

(To be completed in the upcoming posts)

Arabic Coffee: Taste and Tradition (2)

  

In the previous post ( Arabic Coffee: taste and tradition (1) ) we talked about Arabic coffee from culture and history perspectives.. In this post we are going to learn how to make Arabic coffee and then we will take a quick look at  Arabic coffee etiquette.

• How To Make Arabic Coffee:

To make an Arabic Coffee, you need 4 ingredients. Three are mandatory while the last one is optional. However, as we mentioned in the previous,  Arabic coffee  differ from one place to another based on people preferences.So, there may be other ingredients.

1- Medium Roasted Coffee beans

2- Cloves.

3-Cardamom.

4-Saffron(optional)

Now that we have the ingredients, Let's get to work:

1-  grind the coffee beans, cloves, and cardamom separately ( you can keep grind  the whole amount you have , so you don't have to grind each time you want to make coffee).

2-  Fill in the Arabic Coffee pot with water to the middle (if you don't have it, simply use a medium saucepan pot). You can add more or less water based  on how much coffee you want.

3-After water boils, add 3.5 tablespoons of  ground coffee and let it boil for 10 minutes (from now on keep the stove in low heat setting).

4-Add two tablespoons  of the ground cardamon and half tablespoon of ground cloves ( you can add more ore less, it is just a personal preference) and let it boil for 2 minutes.

5- Remove the coffee pot from the stove, and let  coffee grounds to Seattle to the bottom of the pot or a minute.

6- Add a pinch of Saffron to the Empty thermos, and then pour the Coffee into the Thermos flask.

7- Enjoy the coffee with a fine type of dates, it is sweet and that is why we don't add sugar to the coffee.

Let's now see this video that  shows how to make an Arabic coffee
(Note: that he didn't add cloves or saffron!)

 

• Arabic Coffee Etiquette    

  Arabic coffee is served in a small delicate cup (finjaan). The coffee is served and received with the right hand. The cup is only filled half full or less—so it cools quickly. To be gracious, the guest should accept at least one cup. A swish or jiggle of the cup shows that you are finished. Meanwhile, all this pouring insures that the host is kept busily focused on his or her guests. To show respect , the host usually keep standing while he serves coffee to his guests.
  
  
  
  
  

Arabic Coffee: taste and tradition (1)

• A little background

It forms an important part of the Arabic hospitality and it is, a long with a fine type of date, the first thing Arabs serve to their guests. Therefore, there are a special etiquette on how to choose the coffee ingredients, make it, and how to serve it.  There are a lot of tradition Arabic poems that show in details these steps.  Moreover,  theses tradition has extended to afftect other tradition such Arabic negotiation, weeding and so on.As the Qatari researcher, Khalifa Alsyed said" Arabic coffee is the tittle(motto) for the Arabic hospitality.

As we can see, Arab appreciate Coffee for the the the hospitality , traditions and other great values it represents. It is important to note that drinking Coffee is a social activity in Arab countries, people usually gather and invite others to drink coffee and socialize. In Saudi Arabia, inviting people over for Coffee is the most social activity.

• The Traditional way to make Arabic Coffee:

First, we need to know that Arabic coffee differ from one place to another a little bit in color, taste. in Yemen, the color and taste is very light and as you go north it becomes more darker and stronger.

Originally, The old way to make Arabic coffee, Arabs still enjoy making Coffee this way when they go camping in desert,  need the following tools:

1- Originally, Arabic Coffee is prepared on an open fire, therefore  a good firewood  that smell good and with a little or no smoke was important. The famous types are : ALSAMR, ALARTA, and ALGHATH.

2-MEHMAS:  a metal tool used to roast the coffee beans over an open fire

3- NEJR: a metal cup-like tool used to ground the roasted coffee beans

 4-DALLAH(The Coffee pot): where Coffee is prepared in and there are different brand that were famous in the past such as: Alraslan( made in Syria), Albagdadia( made in Iraq), and Alorashia(Made in Mecca. Dallah came in two color: gold or Silver.

5- FENJAL: a very small cup used to drink the Arabic coffee ( still used until now)

There are other tools that were used to make Arabic coffee, however, the previous 5 tools  are the important ones.

Next time we will talk about the etiquette in serving and drinking coffee and then we will learn in detail how to make a authentic Arabic coffee