Here's to Henna, the Souq, and New Friends

Maggie mixing up her Henna hair dye.

I'm not sure how Friday fell into place.  It wasn't supposed to be "Middle Eastern night," it just kind of happened.

Let me start with a little background. My friend Maggie and I took Spanish together in high school and then after we graduated we lost touch for a little bit. Then over the summer, we got back in touch and find out we are both studying Arabic and the Middle East.

Thus starts our Middle Eastern night.

Part 1. Dinner.

The adventure started in a simple manner at Casablanca Grill, a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean restaurant in Erie.  Here we filled ourselves with dolma, couscous, and other delicious foods . . .when my shoe broke.
The one man who works there came to my rescue and repaired in a way that it is actually better than before.   Thanking him in Arabic spurred a surprised look and a conversation.  He asked us about what we studied and suggested places Maggie should visit when she goes to Jordan this summer.

A side note. I mayyyyy have taken the bottle of Laziza, a Lebanese drink, that I had for my beverage. It had Arabic on it and I was very excited. I feel like the employees at the restaurant probably think I'm a little crazy.

After dinner, and a short game of volleyball at the beach, we were off to the mall so we could find clothing for Maggie to wear in Jordan.

Part 2. A shout out to new friends.

In the mall, we passed a rather large group of women our age wearing hijabs.  We joked about asking them what Maggie should wear...little did we know...

I was standing outside of Maggie's dressing room as two of the girls walked in.

After much debate about what Maggie should wear, I took the plunge.

"Hi, could you help us really quick," I said to one of the girls. "My friend is going to Jordan this summer and she doesn't know what to wear."

She was eager to help us, along with all of her friends who were within ear shot.

Maggie's hair as we let the dye sit.

They continued talking about what we study and told me I could pass as Arab. (I'm not sure I see it, but they would know best, right?)

Part 3. Al-Souq (Market), Henna and Hair Dye
Maggie and I then went to Sara's Market to get some henna and ended up leaving with henna hair dye as well.

Back at my apartment, we started by dying Maggie's hair of course!  Which may have been the biggest adventure of the night.

My lovely, green-splattered bathtub.

After mixing the powder (which smells like tea) with vinegar and water, letting the mixture sit, and wetting Maggie's hair we were ready to get dying.

I'd like to issue a disclaimer that we had no idea what we were doing. We debated whether we did this right, since it looked like the swamp thing attacked Maggie. But we continued on our mission to dye her hair.

I sat over her, who was all but sitting in the bathtub, working this gritty mixture in from the roots to the tips of her hair.

While the dye was soaking into her hair we decided to see how well we did at decorating our feet with henna.

Maggie decorating my foot.

This was our first time doing this as well.  We did look up some designs on this website, but for the most part we stuck to swirls, dots, and practicing our Arabic.

For beginners, I think we did pretty good...

My designs on Maggie's foot.

So there you have it, our Middle Eastern adventure. Full of some great first time experiences.

In case you were wondering, we ended up leaving the hair dye on for about an hour instead of the recommended three. Her hair is definitely darker, and we are still debating whether it has a greenish tint to it or not.

Also, if you have any suggestions that could possibly improve our henna skills, I would love to hear them!

حب و سلام
Love and peace.