December 6, 2003

Sunset from our balcony.

This evening, we made a few visits, knowing that there are many many people we want to see, and not that many days left. First stop was a family which was among the first to reach out to us and welcome us in Zababdeh. The mother works at the school and four of their five sons study there was well. The father works as a farmer and laborer when there are jobs. He used to work in the hotels in Jerusalem, but not anymore. We played with the boys and chatted, drinking coffee and eating chocolate wafer sweets (ubiquitous in Palestine, they are corrugated biscuity layers filled with chocolate or sometimes lemon creamy sugary filling).

From there, we went to see another friend, who works as a taxi driver, and his family. Their baby daughter just got her first tooth, so they were busy making and delivering plates of hot sinooneh, to friends and relatives. Sinooneh comes from the word for tooth (sin), and it is traditional to celebrate a baby's first one with this sweet made with whole grains of wheat, anise, sugar, raisins, walnuts and topped with candy bits. Baby's grandmother is from Zababdeh but lives in Zarqa, Jordan. She and another of her daughters were returning there the next day. We'd gotten to know them on previous visits and even stayed with them for a couple nights in Zarqa, so it was very nice to see them and celebrate teeth with them.