Wednesday night was probably one of my favorite nights in Madrid.

My coworker Irene and I have become closer with one of the Palestinian residents at the center named Majed. He always comes by “our” office to ask us questions about nothing in particular or simply to stay and have a chat about life. His dream is to become a professional clown and to preform at an international clown festival in Italy. He always tells us how much he loves his craft and he’s shown me what it’s like to be extremely passionate about something. In Palestine, Majed worked as a clown at a children’s hospital and has shown us tons of pictures.

At the beginning of this week, Majed told us that Irene and I were invited to his friends house for a traditionally Palestinian dinner. We happily accepted the invitation. Majed cooked all of the food and showed us step by step how to make his famous hummus. After all of the food was made  we went to the living room and set the table. The table was so jam-packed with food that we had to put the drinks on the floor in order to fit everything. I didn’t want to look stupid eating the food so I asked Majed the “correct” way to eat everything. He tore off a piece of his bread and began using it to pick up different things from each plate (chicken, hummus, salad, soup, vegetables). And so I did the same.

After we were done, Majed brought containers for the leftovers and evenly distributed them for Irene and I. After the table was cleared, we drank Palestinian tea and  listened to Majeds favorite songs as he showed us pictures of his family. Another night to remember.