The cow doesn't wake up until 6 or 6:30. The roosters, on the other hand, take their jobs very seriously. They seem to be able to tell the sun's on its way a full two hours before the human eye. I roll over and assess the damage. Two on my left elbow. Well, that's better than the three I got on my left ankle all in one night. I'll try not to itch. My $1 alarm clock tells me it's 7 a.m., and I can hear Mama Aksoltan quietly shrieking at her youngest daughter of 9 to get out of bed and to her elder, Ayjahan, to iron her father's pants before he gets out of bed.
I walk outside, slip on my house shoes, and make a run to the outdoor hole and spicket. Washing my feet, hands and face makes me acceptable for Allah's gifts of food. Eje (Mom) makes me one or two very sunny-side up eggs and some Turk-spam in the mornings, and I sit with Kaka (Dad) and eat. I figured out that little Gulshirin eats our left-overs, so I make sure to not choke down any more spam than polite and leave the rest for her. Tea comes with every meal, every hour, every occasion, today being no different. I'm told to iy! iy! iy! and I tear a small chunk from the bread bowl to eat with some overly-sweet jelly.
Ayjahan finishes her ironing and heads off to work sewing in a Tommy Jeans factory. Dad heads to school in his daily-repaired car, and Aksoltan starts bringing the dishes to the spicket to rinse. She has yet to feed the chickens, bake new bread, repair a dress, and feed the cow before lunch, and I'm happy to retreat to my room. I try to "forget" a few books every day so as not to carry too much, and I head to school.
On the way down the street the greetings come from every direction--in every language I understand and a few I don't. A bilingual community greeting me in English is so far from America. Dressed in my full length dress, I arrive at Ashlee's house and get sucked in to tea for a few minutes. Little do they know Ashlee and I still plan to stop for ice cream from the tiny shop on the end of our block.
Waving goodbye, we head off to start our day!
No comments:
Post a Comment