I was in the middle of a hefty Thursday afternoon, when I got a message from my exchange buddy. Now, the camps at the jamboree are diverse, and each one holds inside it the fluidity and uniqueness of their native contingent.
My exchange buddy, Hamza, from Oman, made sure I felt welcome as much as possible. One thing Arabs really have in common is the strong value of hosting and guesting. Being welcoming is a basic. And boy, did I feel that way.
His camp was in A3, not at all too far away from mine. He messaged me the directions and by 6:30 I was at the Omani camp. His camp was small but family like. He sat me at his table, and we chatted and spoke about the perks, relations and differences we might’ve had altogether, whether it was at the jamboree or back home.
Oman is in the Arabian Peninsula. Egypt is in North Africa. Arabic is spoken in both countries,but dialects are sometimes extremely different from nation to nation. His Arabic was very gulf-based, it was quite hard to understand him, but it did get by my vocabulary easily though. He understood my Arabic very well as a matter of fact, it seemed Egyptian Arabic is actually easily deciphered by other Arabs.
His friends used to come up and ask me about life back home. My answers were long but vague. Explaining life in Egypt would’ve taken hours but, I did my best.
We played cards and ate lunch, talked about our journeys to camp, and scouting in each of our countries. It was simple but interesting, not to mention dozens of inside jokes and exchange laughs heard from across the basecamp over. We clicked NOVUSes and shared our contacts. We drew to a kind close.
I said my goodbyes an hour and a half later. I’d went into their camp with curiosity, and I left with a smile. Thank you, Hamza!