Messy and Stinky

I promised that I would write a little about our two exchange students.  Let me preface this post by saying that despite the drawbacks to having them in our home, the benefits make up for them.  Not only that, but I actually like both of them.  They are both very sweet girls with whom we genuinely enjoy sharing our home and our dinners.

First is Messy.  She's our little Saudi Arabian.  Messy is Muslim which is no big shocker, but the common sect of Islam in Saudi Arabia is Sunni and she is Shia.  We learned this while her father was staying with us.  One of the benefits to her of living at our house instead of somewhere else was it's proximity to the mosque.  Turns out, it's the wrong denomination.  Oops.  There are some differences stemming from both her culture and religion that we've had to adapt to.  First is the meat.  We can't just go to a regular supermarket anymore for meat.  She only eats 'halal' meats.  Basically it means that the animal has to bleed to death and someone has to invoke the name of Allah while it's dying.  If there's a complete lack of 'halal' meat, kosher is a good alternative.  This turns out to be a benefit, because we end up having a lot more vegetables at dinner.  There are just some nights where meat is too hard to come by and cook.

Now the reason I call her Messy stems from both a cultural and a religious reason.  She's required to wash five times a day, so her personal hygiene is impeccable, but when she uses the bathroom, she must stand in the middle of the floor and dump water over her head because the floor is soaked when she's finished.  Her room is a constant mess with clothes strewn all around and on the floor there are always papers and wrappers and boxes.  Also, back to the bathroom, she doesn't seem to try and put trash into the trash can.  Meg has found trash in the drawers of the sink, in the toilet ... oh and she tries to flush her 'feminine products' which has stopped up the toilet twice.  It doesn't matter much because the water on the floor is already, from what my friend Jeremy says, pooh water.  She has a gardening water pick thing that apparently isn't for her hair.  The water has been so bad in fact, that it's seeped under the door and soaked the carpet so that a water stain has formed in the hall.  Messy messy Messy.

OK now for Stinky.  This is a lot shorter and easier.  While she doesn't keep her room any cleaner, she does do fine with the share bathroom.  Or maybe she just doesn't use it.  She kind of smells.  Whereas Messy has a pleasant scent, Stinky does not.  She must not own deodorant or jut not like the feel of it, but she also showers less often than I do which is saying something.  It's not uncommon for me to go 2 days sans-shower.  And at home, it's even less than that.  I shower at work once or twice a week to save a little $$ on the water bill.  Stinky it seems, might shower twice a week total.  Maybe it's just that she can't get in with Messy hogging it all the time.  Who knows.

Let me reiterate here, that I do actually like both of them.  Stinky is a very caring friend and has been very open to our family right from the beginning.  Messy is very generous and has filled my gas tank at least 3 times, and paid for my parking ticket when I dropped her at the train station.  They both are great with the kids and very willing to play our dinner games with us (Telephone, I'm going to the moon, etc.) and we have shared many laughs with them both.