Shoes inside?

[John Walton]

naamagatus wrote:

> Depends a bit on what you mean by "middle east." Taking off shoes is
> mandatory before going into a mosque. Also when entering a Bedouin
> tent (after all, food is served on the ground sheets so bringing in
> sand and dirt is understandably considered very ill manners). I don't
> know how it is in Arab houses, though.

Depends where you are. For example, I visited a family of Palestinian
refugees just outside Ramallah (where the "house" was four
cinder-block/breeze-block walls and a corrugated iron roof). There was so
much dust around that it would have been foolish to take one's shoes off. I
also visited a Palestinian family in East Jerusalem where, because they had
*white carpets*, everyone's shoes came off at the door.

> In Israeli (non-Arab) homes however it is definitely not the norm for
> guests to take off their shoes. You'd have to be fairly intimate with
> your hosts to do that. One of the reasons is probably that almost all
> houses here have stone floors (that is, not exactly stone, it's a
> marbly kind of substance - I've no idea how it's called in English)
> which are cold. 

Yeah, I always wondered "what's wrong with *carpets*?" While we lived in
Herzliya, we rented a house which was pretty much half-carpeted, but the
living room was basically polished stone (granite?), which was LETHAL if you
weren't wearing rubber-soled shoes or going barefoot. Our cat used to go
insane chasing after things (i.e. me with a piece of string), trying to turn
a corner, skidding out and smacking into a wall/sofa/parent. I actually did
that myself once -- I remembered I'd left something downstairs and whipped
around to get it...and my feet just slipped right out from under me. Moral
of the story is that I went barefoot most of the time.

In general -- I tend to kick my shoes off as soon as I come home, but inside
my own room. I don't actually recall being anywhere other than a Thai house
where I have been asked to take my shoes off. At home, my parents tend to go
around with shoes on -- or Birkenstock sandals or something.

--John

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I'm tone deaf! Music means nothing to me!
It's only the way my accompanists play that make it appear I'm in key!
Stone tone deaf, can't tell a key from a clef!
            -A Word On My Ear by Donald Swann

John Walton || john at walton.vu
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