my students were legitimately distressed and frustrated not yet having enough english words in their vocab to explain what they wanted to say to a teacher who was completely oblivious to what it was that they were talking about. It must have been the second to the last day of class in Amman, and I was wrapping things up with all 43 of my students, crammed in a sweaty classroom with a malfunctioning air conditioner and perpetually unreliable and malfunctioning classroom equipments which required a lot “wing it” back up lesson plans. I started asking them questions about the rest of their summer plans beyond our class, both to satisfy my own curiosity and also to gauge and evaluate their progress in “Basic English Conversation”. I had just taught them the word “fast” as someone in class brought up Ramadan, which at that time was just around the corner. One thing that I love doing, is being very upfront and clear to my students about who I am and where I’m from. Usually by the end of the first class period, they know my age, they know about my family, where I’ve traveled and about my enthusiasm to be experiencing a bit of their country, and a bit of their culture. I tell them about instances of experiencing something for the first time in a foreign country (their country) and what that felt like, just to watch their faces break into a smile, because most times they havent thought about how something that they’ve gotten accustomed to for their whole life could be completely brand new and foreign to someone else. I make it very clear to them there’s just so much that I don’t know. And I need their help to help me in figuring things out :)
So I asked them about Ramadan. And it turned into a fun question and answer session. I asked them what does Amman look like during Ramadan? I’ve never been in a Muslim or Arab country during Ramadan before I told them. They were fascinated. They told me how all the restaurants are closed, and you can’t eat in public and about the lights at night and the special foods that they love to eat, foods that are only available during Ramadan. I love food and I wanted to find out what these special foods were, one, and two, I wanted to make sure that I dont miss out on any of the unique Ramadan foods just because I’m oblivious and you know, becaues I'm not Arab. So they told me about Qatayef. And I had no idea what it was. And that drove them crazy. They were distressed and frustrated. Someone shouted out “it’s a circle!”, and I played dumb and I said “that doesnt tell me anything, what do you mean?” “it’s small!” ‘sweet” “cheese”..one frustrated kid hurried to the front of the class and asked for the whiteboard marker that I was playing with in my hand. I gave it to him, and he drew a circle. and then he drew another picture. he drew a triangle, but a semi circular triangle. and he said “this, and then this!”. I gave them the raised eye brow look, like whaaat are you doing kid.
I let this carry on for a long time, because (this might have been mean) I was enjoying their frustration, not just because it was entertaining, but because they had to search in the corners of their brain to get out what they wanted to express and try their hardest to convey their thoughts about something they know like the back of their hand, but they had to switch gears and speak in English to get it out. I wanted to see how much they had learned.
By the end of class, i got that it was some Ramadan dessert. cool :) i’d have to try it.
After that first class was over, we had our 20 minute break and then I continued on to my second class. 2 hours later, my second class was over, and that was the end of the day. As I was erasing the last bit of notes from the board after all the students were dismissed and I was getting ready to go, one of my 8 year old students from the morning sections, came in to say “Teacher! It’s like pancakes! sweet pacakes!”
“What’s like pancakes?” “QATAYEF!!”. lol i had forgotten about this thing, but clearly this kid was overly enthused about finding the right word, right enough that I understand it. He drew the circle and the triangle again, and said, you take circle, you put cheese or nuts and you put inside, you make triangle ( I told him the word is "fold") and then you eat. I was happy for him that he had the satisfaction of knowing that I now knew what he was talking about. Finally.
Ramadan started in Ramallah. I saw these pancakes being poured on giant skillets in street corners and people lining up to buy them. I knew what it was and I was excited! My roommate bought a bag of those pancakes, and we thought it would be a fantastic idea to go up to our landlord and give her some of this “qatayef”. With a bag full of these pancakes we went up, and the fierce, crouched over, 80 year old Georgette opened the door. We told her “we have qatayef for you Georgette!”. Not a crack of smile or expression, she looked at us and said “it’s way too early for Qatayef, I dont want them now” we were bit dissapointed, we showed her the bag and showed her how much we had and told her we didnt know how to eat them. she took one quick look at the bag of pancakes and said “WHAT’S THIS??” and we looked at her to say naively “..qatayef”. irritated, she said “this is not qatayef! it’s not filled, where’s the cheese and the nuts and the syrup?”. we looked at her quite dumbly and brought home the bag of pancakes and ate them with a bottle of syrup. As we were eating, i couldn’t understand why this thing was so special. I mean one name for it could be “Qatayef” but another could be...Bisquick pancake mix. which you could..eat...all year..long.
So I asked them about Ramadan. And it turned into a fun question and answer session. I asked them what does Amman look like during Ramadan? I’ve never been in a Muslim or Arab country during Ramadan before I told them. They were fascinated. They told me how all the restaurants are closed, and you can’t eat in public and about the lights at night and the special foods that they love to eat, foods that are only available during Ramadan. I love food and I wanted to find out what these special foods were, one, and two, I wanted to make sure that I dont miss out on any of the unique Ramadan foods just because I’m oblivious and you know, becaues I'm not Arab. So they told me about Qatayef. And I had no idea what it was. And that drove them crazy. They were distressed and frustrated. Someone shouted out “it’s a circle!”, and I played dumb and I said “that doesnt tell me anything, what do you mean?” “it’s small!” ‘sweet” “cheese”..one frustrated kid hurried to the front of the class and asked for the whiteboard marker that I was playing with in my hand. I gave it to him, and he drew a circle. and then he drew another picture. he drew a triangle, but a semi circular triangle. and he said “this, and then this!”. I gave them the raised eye brow look, like whaaat are you doing kid.
I let this carry on for a long time, because (this might have been mean) I was enjoying their frustration, not just because it was entertaining, but because they had to search in the corners of their brain to get out what they wanted to express and try their hardest to convey their thoughts about something they know like the back of their hand, but they had to switch gears and speak in English to get it out. I wanted to see how much they had learned.
By the end of class, i got that it was some Ramadan dessert. cool :) i’d have to try it.
After that first class was over, we had our 20 minute break and then I continued on to my second class. 2 hours later, my second class was over, and that was the end of the day. As I was erasing the last bit of notes from the board after all the students were dismissed and I was getting ready to go, one of my 8 year old students from the morning sections, came in to say “Teacher! It’s like pancakes! sweet pacakes!”
“What’s like pancakes?” “QATAYEF!!”. lol i had forgotten about this thing, but clearly this kid was overly enthused about finding the right word, right enough that I understand it. He drew the circle and the triangle again, and said, you take circle, you put cheese or nuts and you put inside, you make triangle ( I told him the word is "fold") and then you eat. I was happy for him that he had the satisfaction of knowing that I now knew what he was talking about. Finally.
Ramadan started in Ramallah. I saw these pancakes being poured on giant skillets in street corners and people lining up to buy them. I knew what it was and I was excited! My roommate bought a bag of those pancakes, and we thought it would be a fantastic idea to go up to our landlord and give her some of this “qatayef”. With a bag full of these pancakes we went up, and the fierce, crouched over, 80 year old Georgette opened the door. We told her “we have qatayef for you Georgette!”. Not a crack of smile or expression, she looked at us and said “it’s way too early for Qatayef, I dont want them now” we were bit dissapointed, we showed her the bag and showed her how much we had and told her we didnt know how to eat them. she took one quick look at the bag of pancakes and said “WHAT’S THIS??” and we looked at her to say naively “..qatayef”. irritated, she said “this is not qatayef! it’s not filled, where’s the cheese and the nuts and the syrup?”. we looked at her quite dumbly and brought home the bag of pancakes and ate them with a bottle of syrup. As we were eating, i couldn’t understand why this thing was so special. I mean one name for it could be “Qatayef” but another could be...Bisquick pancake mix. which you could..eat...all year..long.
qatayef
?A week into fasting, my roommate and I decided to go to a cafe to break our fasts (life of internationals and expats without families) and saw a tray of sweets. “QATAYEF!”. we had gone during iftaar time, ...at which time i expected all restaurants and cafes to be packed, but nope, my roommate and i were the only customers there at that hour. Everyone else was probably enjoying their iftaars at home :) feasting on a giant ramadan meal. the staff themselves were eating, so to compensate for our wait, we got Qatayef. I ate one. and understood why Georgette had freaked out. A couple of days later, our friendly neighbor and his family, saw my roommate and I sitting out on our porch just like we do every evening. The oldest son jumped the stone wall that separates our house from theirs, more like our laundry space from their backyard, and came over with a hot hot hot plate, with 4 pieces of Qatayef. Hot, steaming, and drenched in sweet syrup. two stuffed with delicious sweet cheese and the other two stuffed with scrumptious pecans and nuts, they crunched and dripped with sweetness of the special Ramadan sesason and the hospitality of our neighbors :)
Qatayef
(could not ever be compared to Bisquick my friends, a foolish comparison)
Bethlehem : This Ramadan : World’s Largest Qatayef - check it out :)
http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=309386
hahahaha i love ittttt! pancakes lool
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