[i cook Afghani food]

     I hate stereotypes. I create them all the time, but I hate them. I realized how incredibly stupid it is to stereotype people last night. I had an assignment to do for my anthropology class and I needed to spend a few hours with a different people culture. So…I decided to hang out with people from Afghan. Muslims. Yea….i definitely had a stereotype on them. remember 9/11? Muslims are bad people who hate americans and just want to destroy us. or….NOT! All of these broke the second I walked into Da Afghan Restaurant. I was greeted by a rather large lady and a one-eyed man, a hand shake, beaming smiles, and a great big hug. One of the hugs that you just get engulfed into the person and feel…loved, even though you don’t know them. they made me feel so welcome. So, my grandpa dropped me off at the restaurant, and left. Left me there with two people I had never met, two Muslims from Afghanistan who didn’t speak fluent English. We sat and talked for about an hour. They told me everything about their lives: how they had to leave Afghanistan and go to Germany, how they has to sacrifice things in order for their children to have good lives in America, about their muslin religion, their beliefs…and everything. It was so intriguing. After I interviewed them, Esmat Hassas (the cook)  grabbed my hand and said she wanted me to come in the kitchen and become an afghan woman. I smiled. she smiled back, a beaming smile. Ummm….ok? so I did. She wasn’t a US citizen, she heardly knew English but we were able to communicate through smiles and head nods. Smiles are the same in every culture; it’s beautiful.

[Esmat!!!]

[the rice we cooked. it's called Palow]

[the lamb...haha]

[egg plant]

In that kitchen, I learned to cook Afghani food with a lady who didn’t speak English in an ethnic restaurant. We cooked, and chatted, and laughed, and I learned all about their culture for a few hours. It was such an amazing experience. Who can say they got to help cook for an Afghan restaurant and learn how to prepare rice and lamb in their cultural way? So after that, my grandpa came back and we all sat down and ate delicious food. It was incredibly amazing…lamb, beans, rice, Afghan cardamom tea, beef, pasta and of course…baklava! Seriously, it was incredibly. I kept walking into the kitchen to chat with Esmat, the people eating their probably thought i was crazy or just annoying or wierd. But she was the sweetest lady in the world. A Muslim. I never would have put the two together before. When I left, there was much more smiling; Esmat gave me a bag of rice from Afghanistan and lamb soup so i could try to prepare it at home. Borhan, her husband, and Esmat both gave me those great big hugs. Many kisses on the check…..um, many kisses. And we said goodbye.

 

I hate stereotypes. seriosuly, break through them and you’ll see into a whole new world you never would have if you stuck to your view of other people.

 

Meet people, love people. Learn to love people. Love love love…like Jesus. Becuase if you do, you’ll find that people are amazing. You can learn so much from them.  love. love. love

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