Hosting Ghanem: Pete Shares His Story – Hosting Halal Students
Looking forward to greeting my new student guest, I walked out the front of my place to see a smiling young man with his luggage. Ghanem had texted me 20 minutes previously to tell me he had got off at the wrong station, “Rookie Mistake” I said, we both laughed.
The usual getting to know you chat over the next few days had me already becoming more interested in Ghanem’s culture. A lot of “same but different”- we both had the shared experience on how we were born to farm life then moved to the city. How our Mother’s both ruled the roost at home. He told me an old saying (roughly translated) “Dads voice is louder but Mums stare is scarier” Plus a love of music.
As l suspected what you sometimes see and hear in the media is not representative of Muslims and the people of the Middle East. Coming from a modern city in the EUA, meant he was well equipped to navigate his way around town and communicate with people if he needed any assistance.
My Neighborhood block is rather close, as we have a BBQ’s together, celebrate birthdays and other get togethers; Ghanem was welcomed by one and all as he fitted right in with our multicultural community.
We practiced his English before dinner going over the days lessons – it was great to see him improve all the time. Also there were some Australian TV shows that helped, although the slang was another lesson for another day, HA!
l found Ghanem very helpful around the house, in fact once he started it was hard to get him to take a break. One day he continued out the back door and into the garden!! A keen student and quiet, respectful and funny.
Oh yes, Ghanem cooked some wonderful dishes while he was here. Me being a retired Chef I had a great interest. Pilaf, a c hicken & rice dish, a spicy tomato based egg dish; Shakshaka, and middle eastern lamb dishes.
Lots of stories were shared over the dinner table Ghanem showed my plenty of pics, including his parents date farm, in and around Dubai, his friends and his apartment. Although Ghana’s English was good l always feel that great way to communicate is through food, sport and music which we shared although confused at times he enjoyed watching AFL / NRL.
I did speak with his parents on a few occasions via FaceTime during his stay. Neither of us spoke each others language, but a wave and a smile is as good!
He also took plenty of pictures of what he was up to here, particularly the food. Oh and incase you are wondering, YES, on Vegemite with Ghanem happy to eat whatever l was, although pork of course was off the menu. How often did l eat pork anyway? I thought…
All in all it was a great time and a great experience having Ghanem stay, plus l got to learn a lot more about the Middle East, it’s customs, society an d the best bit it’s food.
I look forward to my next positive student experience.
Cheers, Pete
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