(submitted by Julie)
When I first moved to the North African, predominantly Muslim country of Tunisia, I was a new mom with a 4 month-old baby. As my daughter grew, I needed to find a place that sold baby food. But I was in a new country, new city, new apartment, and I hadn't made many friends yet. One day I visited a new-to-me grocery store and started talking to the woman behind the counter. Perhaps I mentioned to her that I was trying to find baby food. She told me I would find it in a pharmacy. Then I left. A few minutes later, as I walked down the street, in the direction she pointed--since I didn't know where the pharmacies were yet--she came walking up behind me, She agreed to walk with me to the store to be certain I could find it. Once I did, she invited me to her home for tea! I wasn't sure if I should, but also knew it was not uncommon in this hospitable culture, to invite people over for tea. And so, I accepted. This woman had me over to her house multiple times over the months we lived there, cooking delicious meals for my family. She invited us to her brother's wedding and included me in some of their traditions. It was a great inside-peek at the culture there, and our whole relationship started because she was willing to take a risk on me, a foreigner who spoke broken Arabic.
