so i was walking up the 4 fights of stairs today and i met one of our neighbors that I had never seen before. she was very nice to me and said that she wanted to me to drop by anytime and bring my wife and son.
so on our way out of the house around 5pm, we dropped by to say hello. they were eating dinner it turned out and they would not accept no as an answer when they asked us to join them... so we ate, talked in arabic for a good bit (they knew we were studying so they were helping us), had some tea, and talked a good bit more.

at one point moustafa said to me, "Tim, I would like to ask you a question... we watch american movies and we love them. they are very popular here and america pioneered movies. is america like the movies?"... to which i immediately exclaimed, "no! not at all. we are often ashamed of our movies." because i was almost sure he was referring to the moral side of things (sex, drugs, etc.). he said, "so the police there do not chase people through the streets shooting windows and destroying buildings?" i sorta giggled and told him that never really happens and that it is hollywood and done for pure entertainement.

it was fun.