Acting Arabic

OK, these men were not acting Arabic. They were full on Arabic and as you can tell, not pleased with Paige at all. And that is fair since my attempts to be sly to get their photo were pretty transparent.

But they were so exactly what this country is like, I had to do it.

These, on the other hand, are very happy Muslims

We went to Tejine, a Moroccan restaurant in the Souq Waqif. The thing to do here after your meal is to smoke shisha, which is flavored tobacco served in a water pipe. Its wild to see everyone doing it.

This is the guy who gets it started for you and tests to make sure it works. If you do it right, you get a little lightheaded and dizzy for a minute or two--like a very short buzz. When the coals burn down, the ashes make it taste bad so he has to empty the ashes, add coal and re-test. I suspect this is a fun job to have. I do not know how they make it through a shift though.

I never thought I would see the day that my almost-always well-behaved brother in law ever smoking anything but maybe a fancy cigar--but here he is! And of course, it is so misleading---this is perfectly legal. Its just regular tobacco for Pete's sake, but it does look like we are up to no good, doesn't it?

I look particularly ridiculous here--but I think this is when I finally got it right and did not cough, laugh or choke---and maybe from the looks of it, maybe got the little buzz. I appear to be a little shocked, don't I?

And I cannot get this damn picture out of here. No one needs to see this at all, let alone twice. Sorry

Mandy had similar problems at first, but picked it up pretty quick. Now I think she is hooked--I am pretty sure she made plans with Joel and Jill to join them on their weekly excursions. We may have lost her to the pipe---all those years of being a good girl may finally have broken her! And doesn't Ed look so proud of wifey? ha!

This is Jill, Mandy's trainer. She is an old pro at this shisha thing--she is like the dragon lady with the smoke. It was so funny to watch because she is such a girl, and has the cutest Mississippi accent....it just does not match with the pipe.

This is Joel, Jill's husband. You would think from this pic that he is the good one. Really he is the master puffer who knew what kind to order and when to call the shisha man to have the pipe corrected and was the one to teach the rest of us how to do it. So do not let him fool you with that innocent look.

This is Mandy, me and Lina. Lina is actually a good girl and did not smoke any. She is from Australia, and spends all of her time fighting with people who accuse her of being Phillipino....which she is not, but no one believes her. Her reenactments of the confrontations are hysterical.

This is what the pipes at Tejine look like. Because the bottom is red, you cannot see the water where the bubbles happen...it feels so weird.

Here are some far prettier ones that were for sale in the

souq. Arent they beautiful?

This was just interesting to me. These are wheelbarrows that old men use to drive your souq purchases to your car.