May Day - Part II

May 1 started as a painful day as explained in the post below.

However, it was also a humorously uplifting day.

I went to a local mall for lunch with my friend Youssef.  As we were walking to Fuddruckers we ran into a former student who is doing her internship in the mall's marketing department.  She was hyper-excited to see me.  She introduced me to her colleagues and gushed, "Oh, Mr. Steve is the best teacher at UAEU..."

False compliments is a way of life here.  If you want to feed your ego there is no better place to work than here.  This student was close to graduating and would never have me again so I thought her comments were more sincere and I thanked her.

As we sat down Youssef said, "As we were walking away she told her colleagues in Arabic. 'He really is the best.  I love him.'"

As we were leaving she stopped me again for a picture.

*****
In another part of the mall Youssef and I were riding up an escalator as 3 guys were going down.  One guy started talking very loud directed to us.  I don't know Arabic but it seemed like we were being made fun of or some sex joke.  Youssef got angry quickly and yelled something back.

When we got to the top I asked, "So what the hell just happened"

Youssef:  That guy was yelling his phone number to you and saying to call if you want a good time.
Steve:  What?
Youssef:  I said the Arabic version of "What the fuck are you talking about."  They then looked at me and said, "You can come, too."
Steve:  Are you sure they weren't mocking me and/or you?
Youssef:  No, you know this is what guys do to women here.  This is the first time I've seen it done to another guy.

*****

The odds of these events happening on a day when I lose my best friend of 30 years seems extraordinarily low... but it certainly helped.