Importance of Family
...f grand museums, ancient buildings, scenic villages, and other tourist attractions in Pakistan. In the end, I had an exotic image of Pakistan as a strange and beautiful country. Finally the day arrived after an exhausting 20-hour flight, we arrived in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. As our car entered the city, many of my expectations were dispelled. In America, the media portrays Pakistan as a backward nation with a lot of old buildings. To my surprise though, Islamabad was a very modern and western city. When we arrived at my grandmother’s house, I saw dozens of relatives waiting cheerfully. I had never realized how many relatives I had and how many of them cared so deeply for me before. In the first week, I visited many areas of the city with my relatives and was amazed with how diverse and interesting Islamabad was. On one side, it has crowded, squished strip-malls while another area called “The Blue Section” was just like downtown in Manhattan, with many of the same chain stores and fast food restaurants. We also visited the Parliament, several museums, monuments, and I even saw Shafasil Mosque, the biggest Mosque in the world. When it came to our meals, I had another surprise coming to me. As a Muslim, I can not eat non-kosher food, which in effect limits a lot of American foods available for me. But while in Pakistan, I was able to eat practically everything I wanted to. My uncle, a rather tall, outgoing man indulged my appetite by taking me to several exquisite restaurants. One day I went to a Pakistani and Italian restaurant called Papa’s Restaurant. Only until my stomach was completely full did I stop eating such deliquesces as curry, naan bread, spaghetti with special Pakistani meat, chicken, and for dessert, a special pudding called kiir. If that wasn’t enough, another surprise came later that week. A kind, plump aunt took me to eat at KFC where I ate kosher chicken. It was wonderful to be able to eat such great meals and over the weeks in Pakistan I went to dozens of different kinds of restaurants. Each visit to a restaurant was also a chance for me to hear past stories about my family and just get to know all of my relatives that I never had a chance to meet before. After two weeks in Islamabad, I was off to Murry, a mountainous vacation site. There were many activities for us to do there including hiking, skiing, and watching the beautiful scenery. When it came time to go skiing my aunts and uncles helped me out a lot. Since most of them were experienced skiers, they moved with ease, but I was having a lot of trouble. They sacrificed a lot of their time by just he...