{"id":713,"date":"2012-04-23T10:11:07","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T14:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myislamiclife.wordpress.com\/?p=713"},"modified":"2012-04-23T10:11:07","modified_gmt":"2012-04-23T14:11:07","slug":"party-follow-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2012\/04\/23\/party-follow-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Party Follow-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Saturday night was a big learning experience for me. \u00a0I got dressed up, hair fancier than usual, evening makeup, dress and heels. \u00a0Paraded around for the thumbs up from the family and then slipped my holiday abaya over the top. \u00a0I arrived 15 minutes after the invitation said the party was set to begin, and I was the first guest in attendance. \u00a0Five minutes later, another non-Muslim (caucasian) arrived, then a Muslim convert (caucasian) arrived. \u00a0(Not trying to be racist at all, but making a point here\u2026stay with me.) \u00a0An Hour after the set invitation time, the rest of the guests (either from Middle East descent or ppl who immigrated) began to arrive. \u00a0Two and a half hours after the invitation time, most of the guests had arrived and dinner was served.<\/p>\n

LOL<\/p>\n

THIS IS THE REASON WE JOKE ABOUT Arab Standard Time!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I usually ask people when we are doing stuff, is this thing going to start on time or are we on AST? \u00a0I should have known, but I was nervous and really wanted to make a good impression.<\/p>\n

So, about two hours after I got there, I realized that it was okay for me to take off my abaya. \u00a0Most of the ladies had removed their abaya and hijabs. \u00a0If you\u2019ve never been to one of these ladies only events, it is a true experience.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to get a sense of a person\u2019s personal style when you always see them wearing abaya and hijab. \u00a0You don\u2019t see their taste in clothes, and you don\u2019t see how they wear their hair. \u00a0Getting an invitation to an event where you see clothing and hair feels like you have crossed over into a more trusted status. \u00a0I don\u2019t look at the ladies any differently now that I\u2019ve seen their party outfits and stylishly coiffed hair, but I feel like maybe they see me differently. \u00a0I don\u2019t know, I guess only time will tell.<\/p>\n

The biggest thing I learned aside from the ever-present clothing issue, is that I am sorely deficient in my Egyptian Culture. \u00a0Particularly in how to dance. \u00a0I don\u2019t listen to Arabic music often, when I do, it\u2019s whatever the ladies have introduced me to, and it is mostly religious in nature. \u00a0It is not shake-your-booty music. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I feel like I need to take some classes on how to dance. \u00a0There was one lady (of Egyptian descent) in attendance that I\u2019m quite familiar with who noticed I wasn\u2019t up dancing. \u00a0She asked, because I was watching and participating as much as I could from my chair, \u201cWhy aren\u2019t you dancing?\u201d<\/p>\n

Me: \u201cI don\u2019t know how to dance like that.\u201d (See this Shakira Video<\/a> for reference.)<\/p>\n

EL: \u201cBut you are married to an Egyptian!\u201d (As if this automatically came with the handbook I never got.)<\/p>\n

Me: \u201cHis family doesn\u2019t dance. I never learned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then she runs off into the crowed and told everyone that I was married to an Egyptian guy and I didn\u2019t know how to dance and they needed to teach me. \u00a0(Let me point out here, that it was close to 9:00 at this point and most everyone who was left was Egyptian, as the hostess\u2019 of the party were all from an Egyptian family.)<\/p>\n

So, I went to the dance floor and tried really hard to get my hips to move in the right way and to catch the beat of the music that was really so\u00a0unfamiliar. \u00a0I watched E.L. move her hands, and tried to mimic the dance of the woman who was teaching me. \u00a0At the end of the song, the panel of Naenas applauded my efforts, but it was clear to me that I needed some formal training if I was going to teach this to Kate and Pea.<\/p>\n

A few songs later, more guests had gone and the radio came on with a dance party radio station. \u00a0We danced to Adele, Train and a few other songs I can\u2019t remember. \u00a0There was also a Michael Jackson CD that was played for a while and we danced with the youngest ladies of the family.<\/p>\n

I stayed long enough to help clean up most of the remnants, and I was home by 10:30.<\/p>\n

Khaled asked me how the party went, and after I told him all the bits and pieces, I said, \u201cI think it went well. \u00a0I feel like I did a good job, and we\u2019ll be invited back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Insha\u2019Allah<\/p>\n

Happy Monday!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday night was a big learning experience for me. \u00a0I got dressed up, hair fancier than usual, evening makeup, dress and heels. \u00a0Paraded around for the thumbs up from the family and then slipped my holiday abaya over the top. \u00a0I arrived 15 minutes after the invitation said the party was set to begin, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2860,"featured_media":714,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,11,13],"tags":[21,31,56,60,94,116,125,175,182,194],"class_list":["post-713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-personal","category-resources","category-videos","tag-abaya","tag-american-muslim","tag-clothing","tag-convert","tag-family","tag-growth","tag-hijab","tag-muslim","tag-non-muslim","tag-personal"],"yoast_head":"\nParty Follow-Up<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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