Neighbourhood demographics
Mar. 9th, 2009 01:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blue_lotus13When I first moved into my building, there were a bunch of young couples and singles all around my age. Many of them have moved out and all the people who've moved in are of Middle Eastern descent. There are nine suites in my building. Two of them are occupied by women in their 40s who have lived here for over 6 years each. Another suite is occupied by a woman slightly older than me who has been here for a while. A single woman who is younger than me occupies the bachelor above me and there are a pair of Middle Eastern men who live in the third upper suite.
Across the hall, there is a Middle Eastern engineer, and down the hall there is a young, Middle Eastern family. The husband of the family speaks English, but the wife and the children speak little or no English. I saw the two-year-old in the hall with his dad the other day, but today I finally got to meet the wife and the baby, who is nine months old. I was playing with the two-year-old by pushing a hair band back and forth under their apartment door. I kept pushing it back to hear him laugh, which he did every time I moved it. Finally, the wife opened the door to see who was making her son laugh and introduced me to the two boys. For some reason, she passed the baby over to me and let me hold him. I am a total baby snuggler, so I didn't mind, but I wonder if this is something that is more socially acceptable in these cultures.
My landlord is Middle Eastern and speaks Arabic, so I think that may be a factor in the new demographics in my building.
Across the hall, there is a Middle Eastern engineer, and down the hall there is a young, Middle Eastern family. The husband of the family speaks English, but the wife and the children speak little or no English. I saw the two-year-old in the hall with his dad the other day, but today I finally got to meet the wife and the baby, who is nine months old. I was playing with the two-year-old by pushing a hair band back and forth under their apartment door. I kept pushing it back to hear him laugh, which he did every time I moved it. Finally, the wife opened the door to see who was making her son laugh and introduced me to the two boys. For some reason, she passed the baby over to me and let me hold him. I am a total baby snuggler, so I didn't mind, but I wonder if this is something that is more socially acceptable in these cultures.
My landlord is Middle Eastern and speaks Arabic, so I think that may be a factor in the new demographics in my building.
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Date: 2009-03-10 09:14 am (UTC)To respond to the culture/baby phenomenon- it is very common here for complete strangers at the mall to pick up my friends' 2 year old daughter, kiss her and set her back down (and say Mashallah which is a sort of praise for the baby to indicate his/her beauty without bringing bad luck. I think it means this is God's will). In the Arab world, kids are for everyone to love and cuddle and there aren't hang-ups about strangers/kindappings or any other weird things.
As you are likely aware, family is very much the centre of life in the Middle East- older kids adore younger kids, kids spend lots of time with immediate and extended families. It's spectacular, really.