Trellace Lawrimore will go hours out of her way to get to a good fruit and vegetable market. When she lived in NYC, she knew where the pop-up markets were, what they sold, and who had the best this or that. Within her first in Abu Dhabi, she found her market.
Years ago, when Trellace was a Georgetown University undergraduate in the School of Foreign Service, she chose Arabic as the language she would study. We advised her to do so because we thought the unusual skill would be helpful in her field. Almost immediately, we regretted the decision. She struggled so in that class. As a freshman away from home for the first time, she had enough stress without having to learn a new alphabet, for goodness sake.
I suggested she drop it and maybe start French the next year. She just couldn’t do it. The late night talks we had about Arabic: so many tears, so much frustration. How I hated it for her! If I could have hacked into the system and gotten her out of Arabic, I would have done it in a skinny minute. No such luck. She soldiered on, though and successfully completed that first semester; thankfully (and typical for language learning) things got a bit more manageable after that. Still, I was thrilled when she took her proficiency exam and could leave Arabic behind her once and for all.
Here in Abu Dhabi, at the university where Trellace works, the operating language is English. Classes are taught in English and all faculty and students speak English with ease. However, the official language of the United Arab Emirates is Arabic. The signs are in both English and Arabic as are the menus and all other printed material.
But back to the fruit market. All the workers there are immigrants from all over the world: Pakistan, India, China, Taiwan, Bangladesh, The Philippines, Somalia, at least. Trellace sought vendors who spoke Arabic. She had told me how excited they were that she could communicate with them in their home language even though her skills, she says, are elementary at best.
I rarely say that I am proud of my children. I don’t because I feel like their accomplishments are their own and not for me to claim. So I say that I am happy or excited for them. But last night I had one of those rare moments when the only word for what I felt was pride.
Trellace met the vendors with an Arabic greeting and they grinned with unmasked delight. The conversations sounded like friendship, like joy. Trellace made her purchases and then we scurried over to the fish market to buy our supper. There, she also had found Arabic vendors. They saw her when we walked in the door and called out a greeting. She talked with them about how to prepare the food and where the fish were caught. There was some small talk, some laughter, and then we made our purchases.
The fish market includes little restaurants where you take your fresh fish to be prepared if you like. Each vendor has their preferred restaurants, so our seller walked us over to the restaurant and handed over our seafood to the chef. We ordered sides and appetizers and snacked as they prepared our shrimp and fish.
I always say that God does not cause our pain, but God will not waste it either. God redeems all things, though we may not get to see the redemption unfold. Last night, I witnessed God’s redeeming love for Trellace as she made friends using a language that caused her such anxiety in college. Thanks be to God.
Now for a few random observations:
When we left, I told Jay, “I think that is the best shrimp I have ever eaten!” He replied, “Wow! Now that’s saying something!” Shrimp is my favorite meat. Absolutely hands down my favorite. I’ve eaten it in a lot of places. I’ve never had anything as good as the shrimp we had last night. Delicious.
- There are no vending machines here!
- Alcohol is not served in restaurants usually, but every one has fancy drinks–mocktails and such–that look like alcoholic cocktails. Celebrations apparently do not require alcohol here. A lovely thing for my friends and family who don’t drink.
- I stay so thirsty here and am drinking water like crazy.
- There’s a soccer team staying at the hotel. At breakfast, I heard someone say, “Alright, I’ma meet y’all down at practice!” I whiplash turned to see an all-American young man wearing a hoodie. A HOODIE! It’s 95 degrees and an American teen is still wearing a hoodie.
- The buffet breakfast in the hotel is so familiar! Much like we have in the US but with very different foods. It was all yummy and the coffee was superb!
- This morning, Jay saw some clouds in the sky and told me so. Surprised–we’ve seen nothing but unveiled sun–I said, “Whoa! What were they doing here?” He shrugged and answered, “I guess they were lost.
Trellace is working until this afternoon so Jay and I are going over to an art museum called The Louvre Abu Dhabi.
