A couple of days ago one of my new friends knocked on the door and invited me to "draw hena" with her. Between her very little English and my very little Arabic, I told her I would be up soon. Sophie and I got our things together and went upstairs. This time I took my Arabic/English Dictionary with me just in case we got stuck....
When the girl arrived, the drawing began. She mixed the dye together and scooped it into a small paper triangle with a tiny point at the end. Then she free-handed beautiful designs on each of the women who were present.
After the hena is applied, we had to wait for it to dry. We chatted, we looked at family pictures on the computer, we danced. Well, they danced. And they laughed at my attempts. Because I am totally uncoordinated and I just can't shake anything that fast, nor gracefully, and I think they have extra joints in their hips.
We did some hena on Emily, but poor girl, she didn't realize how long it took it to dry and so she accidentally smeared hers over and over. Then she went crying to Daddy and when he asked to see it, she didn't want him too because "it wasn't beautiful."
It was a very fun new cultural experience.
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