The Syrian attitude toward work and human companionship is the largest single difference between American culture and theirs. We moved into an apartment in the old city about a week ago, and found that one of the doors and its lock was broken. Yesterday, the locksmith came over and sort of fixed the lock to the point where it would probably work for the next few months. He then recommended a door fixer who could finish the job.
The doorman / door repairman came over this afternoon at two, on his bike. He's about 70 years old, and speaks Arabic drunkenly through his toothless gums. I could barely understand him, but it took about an hour for him to figure out that I was American (not because my Arabic is that good, but because I didn't talk very much). He spent about 20 minutes in total fixing the door with a plane and a few nails, and about two hours on our balcony, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and shooting the shit with us. I asked my roommate if that was normal and his response was, "of course -- should we have invited him for food as well?"
The doorman / door repairman came over this afternoon at two, on his bike. He's about 70 years old, and speaks Arabic drunkenly through his toothless gums. I could barely understand him, but it took about an hour for him to figure out that I was American (not because my Arabic is that good, but because I didn't talk very much). He spent about 20 minutes in total fixing the door with a plane and a few nails, and about two hours on our balcony, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and shooting the shit with us. I asked my roommate if that was normal and his response was, "of course -- should we have invited him for food as well?"
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