The Sougs!!! (In Fusha... Souqs)

My first week into the program I decided to go to the sougs (markets, stores) in Irbid to go buy a couple of Kufiyehs (the traditional Arab red-white or black-white scarves). I thought it would only take me an hour... ma sha Allah... it didn't. I took cab alone I drove through the alleys to get to the center of town which is considerably more busy than the section of town that our university is in. Anyways, the cab driver just dropped me off and I got out and began looking like an akward and lost tourist.
I went around to a couple of sougs and asked "weyn istatiya an ashtree kufiyeh", where can I buy a kufiyey? They would direct me to another street that looked just the same. So I kept on walking around and ran into a store owner. I asked him about kuffiyehs and he smiled and just said come in. I came in. He had no kufiyehs. This was a toy store. "Do you like tea or coffee?" he asked me. I said coffee. We exchanged names and I told him I'm American from Washington D.C. I ended up chatting with Muhammad (the toy store owner) for 4 hours about just about everything. During this time I met a Moroccan woman (who spoke excellent English) who complained about her in-laws. Muhammad kept on buying me drinks and invited me to a family wedding in a month. He offered me this drink called kerkadey which Muhammad told me was good for circulation and made like tea except it was left to brew for three days. I declined initially since I had a feeling drinking this kerkadey would garuntee me a night worshipping the porcelain goddess... the toilett. Muhammad declined my decline and insisted I drink. "Ma Sha Allah!" he told me. "Ma sha Allah!" I grinned back with reservation then took a gulp then finshed the thing. It was actually really good. After our four hour conversation I told him that I had lots of work to go but gave him my cell number then headed out to return to my kufiyeh search.
As I walked down a couple more streets I saw a bunch of kufiyehs through a window. I bought two Jordanian kuffiyehs and ended up talking for an hour with two of the shop keepers who spoke very little English. We ended up talking about the Quran. One of them told me repeatedly that the world is in the Quran. I promised them that I would buy a Quran and asked them if they knew where I could buy a nicely decorated Quran.
Walking by a couple more shops I saw a traditional Arab clothing store which I immediatly went into. It was about 9:30 at this time. This store had a radio playing what I think was Quranic recitations and a TV broadcasting night time prayers from the holy city of Mecca. If the radio or TV didn't hint anything the shop keeper's appearance certainly did tell me this a store for very religious clientel. The shopkeeper wore a full length thawb and big beard. We talked about Islam and I told him I was very interested in Islam and loved the Prophet. Even though I didn't say this directly, I knew the shopkeeper interpretted what I was saying to mean that I was interested in becoming a Muslim. I had no problem with this since I knew it was going to get me a deal with what I was intending to buy. From him I bought my own thawb, abaya, and aghal giving me the complete look of traditional sheikh. In addition I asked him to write down the times of prayer so I could know when they are and the opening seven verses of the Quran. I think he was happy. I was happy because I was able to barter more effectively for a deal. After a few pics I left with a salaam aleikum!
I took a cab back to the University. This cab driver was more interactive than the last, he was Palestinian and told me that he was from Jenin. I sighed once I got back to the campus. I had a crap load of work to do.