3 family relatives in 3 weeks

they were 3 hectic weeks. All of a sudden, my relatives decided to utilize this time to visit us.It started around a month ago when my aunt came for an umra. A week later, our uncle joined us. A week after it, my other aunt and her daughter came out of Palestine for the same reason..i.e. doing Umra. As it is always the case, that situation has unsettled me and made me a prisoner in my own house as I had to be careful before walking into any room that my cousin is veiled. Other than that, I'll leave it to you to imagine the terrible situation we had at the house.

Thankfully, throughout the period, I still retained the luxury of sleeping in my own bed. My relatives have lived all their life in rural areas & its normal for them to sleep on floor mattresses. Thus, our spacious living room proved to be the ideal sleeping place.

Speaking of being accustomed to rural community, I was not saved from few embarrassing (yet funny) moments when driving with them & handling few errands they have here & there. Such moments were like:

1- Imagine this situation. All of us are sitting on the corniche near the sea. Me lying on the floor gazing at the moon and slowly entering that special place romantic private place in me before I get interrupted: "Hamza, they need to use the washroom. Drop them somewhere near by"...Oh boy, how much I hate this. How am I supposed to walk to a restaurant/ hotel just to use the washroom and leave? I wish I could take them to my house. But its half an hour away and judging from their standing posture, I highly doubt they could hold themselves. So, i end up complying to do it. the nearest thing to me was PIZZA HUT. I walked in with a high confidence and drawing that cheesy smile on my face. I scan the area around me..Men washroom here, I signal for my uncle. Further scanning, women washroom located..I signal for my aunt. Ok, I am all by myself. the Pizza Hut waiters are anticipating the moment I sit down so they could raid me with setting up the table and handing out the menu. I was walking around the area, trying to avoid eye contact with them and praying in my mind that my relatives won't embarrass me and hope that they know how to use the washroom that might be too advanced for their sophisticated minds to comprehend.. those were among the longest 8 to 10 minutes I spent. As soon as they both finished, I escorted them out of the restaurant not looking back. but I swear I could have felt the -ve vibes and hatred the staff had to me for abusing their facilities

2- My dad is usually smart. However, I doubt that taking my eldest aunt who have lived all her life in palestine to STEAK HOUSE was a good idea. She kept throwing hilarious comments here & there. "why are they cutting the salad like that?" "what are those weird sauces here?" "why is the meat cooked that way?" "what kind of bread is this?". But the best comment was when she saw one of the waiters who was changing the salad items on the salad bar and he was wearing a hair cover, a mask and gloves. My aunt was like: "allah yatmo, leish shaklo hada metl il dacatra? 3am bi3mal 3amaleyeh lal salata?" (why is he dressing up like a surgeon? is he doing surgery on the salad?)....My aunt is so hilarious.

I have always been nice to them but sometimes I face situations that make me hate their backward mentality. For example, me & my siblings were raised that each one of us should be collaborating on arranging, cleaning and organising the house. Sometimes, but not frequently, my sister end up doing more work than us because she is the "girl".
When my relatives were around, I was being myself where my actions have raised few eyebrows. My cousin jumped each time I attempt to serve drinks/ clean the table etc. She goes like: "no no you shouldn't. this is our job. OMG, what if my husband sees you? he'd never offer to do anything like that". My uncle shouts at me with this disgusting look of : "what are you doing? you are the man, Sit down". I am shocked by this backward mentality. What kind of stupid logic is that? and what of this extreme sexism? so what if a guy is helping in housekeeping? I only stopped coz my dad signaled to me a sign of: "just play along".

Oh well..but overall, I was happy to see them especially since I won't be visiting palestine/jordan anytime soon. I also felt a bit satisfied in attempting to try to repay them for their generous hospitality I receive each time I see them.