A few weeks ago, I was sitting with my Egyptian friend at lunch. The two of us have formed quite the unique friendship this year. She speaks fairly good English and of course I am soaking in all the Arabic I can get, so most of our conversations turn into language lessons, but we get along really well and most often end up cracking up about one thing or another. Well, on this particular day, she happened to reach into her bag, pulled out a whole cucumber and gave it to me. I stared at it somewhat confused, but took it and thanked her. Inside I was thinking, what in the world am I supposed to do with a whole cucumber. I soon got my answer. After a few more minutes, she grabbed her own cucumber and without hesitation, took a huge bite out of it, like a banana. Again, I struggled to contain my shock as I watched her chomp on the cucumber like a banana. Finally I said, I've never seen that before. To which she replied, what? A cucumber? I laughed and quickly filled her in that we typically cut up a cucumber and eat it in slices where she eats it whole like a banana. She laughed and shook her head in her characteristic "Oh Jena" fashion. Of course this is how you eat a cucumber! she replied. Then she went on to explain it makes so much more sense to do it her way; then you hold your sandwich in one hand and the cucumber in the other and alternate bites. Seeing my face she just laughed again. You don't get out much, she concluded.
What an ingenious idea.
Today I took a whole cucumber in my lunch.
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