Other Words for Home

“During asroneyeh, we drink tea. / Or Fatima drinks tea and I drink sugar and mint / with a side of tea.”

Jude explains what she and Fatima eat and drink at snack time (“asroneyeh”). Even this description speaks volumes about the increasing differences between the two friends. Fatima is only 24 days older than Jude, but she is maturing at a faster rate; she now wears the hijab, menstruates, and thinks of being a doctor (a more pragmatic goal), whereas Jude wants only to be a famous actress and does not wear the headscarf yet. Jude’s preference for extremely sweet tea reflects her relative childishness.

“Only people who don’t have piles and piles of money / walk on this beach.” 

Jude and Issa walk on the locals’ stretch of beach, establishing a contrast between the families who “have always / lived here” and the wealthy tourists who get a reserved stretch of beach all to themselves (14). The moment is significant in that it offers the reader clues about the oppressive, problematic government in Syria, as Issa cites their divided beach as something that will change with the revolution.

“We hid the tapes in a box / behind a pile of clothes that I don’t wear anymore.” 

Jude refers here to videocassette tapes meant for a VCR; she and Fatima watched (and then hid) Practical Magic and Pretty Woman after Issa bought the movies for them. The content of these movies (including witches and magic in the former and prostitution in the latter) is not approved viewing.