Full stomachs and hearts: Iftar Feast

Warning: no pictures....sorry. We didn't even bring camera because we didn't want to be rude to our hosts in any way.

One of the men that work in Brent's lab invited our whole family to his home for the Iftar (break the fast) feast, which occurs every night of Ramadan at sun set (6:30 or so). We didn't know what it would be like, but the man is a kind person and Brent felt like it would be a good thing to go. He met us at a central location and then we followed him through TERRIBLE traffic to his flat, where his wife and 3 daughters had been working all day (and possibly longer) to prepare an amazing feast for us. Only he spoke English, but we were able to communicate ok. Brent knows a lot more Arabic than I do and I was impressed at how much he can speak. We basically ate food from 6:30 until 10:30p. They had all 7 of us sit at their table and use their best dishes (nice china and crystal ) while their daughters ate sitting on the ground around a little table. The food was just incredible! The meal started with a drink of dates that had been pitted and soaked in water overnight. The juice tasted like grahm crackers:) After that, we sat down to about 8 different dishes including: okra in tomato sauce, stuffed grape leaves, green peppers, zukes and eggplant, chicken, pasta in bechemel sauce with a layer of seasoned beef in between, molekhya soup (texture of snot but wonderful flavor), risotto soup, freshly made green olives (WOW), and an assortment of raw veggies. We ate and then they filled out plates again and then we ate more, and they kept filling our plates. Then they served 3 different dessert courses, all followed by a tangerine sodapop chaser! I haven't eaten that much ever before in my life, but I couldn't say no----it was such a gift for them to provide us that much food.
Their apartment/home, in total, was about the size of our livingroom. It was very clean and well taken care of. They had 2 small bedrooms, kitchen, 1 bathroom and a balcony off the bedroom. The 3 daughters shared a bed and one of the rooms. They are not considered poor but probably upper level of the middle class---they had a nice computer, meat with their dinner, and 2 used cars. They didn't have A/C, they didn't have screens on the windows, their small flat looked out on garbage and falling down buildings, they saved everything and reused it (like the styrafoam containers you get when you buy meat or cheese) and didn't take "things" for granted.
They were kind, funny, sharing, and it was such a pleasure to meet them and be invited into their lives. We told them we would love to have them for dinner to our house as well.....I wonder what they will think of our living situation?