Whenever you go somewhere new, there are confusions in translations. For example, when I moved to New England it took me 18 months to realize that the Capen Islands were really the Cape and the Islands (Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard, etc.). Here in Pakistan I finally sorted out a translation problem I was having.

The problem started out as something like this: Would you like some halvah? (this is what I heard) Yes—I love HALVAH (honey and sesame-tahini Middle Eastern dessert).

The first time this happened, I then got a rice pudding put in front of me and they said—this is SWEDISH (this is what I heard). I quickly tried to work through my history of Swedish-Pakistani interactions and could not figure out why they had Swedish rice pudding—which I do really like.

I followed the spirit of what John Calvin said to do when religion and science are at odds—I sat there in the uncertainty of what was going on until it finally got resolved. It took some work and experience to figure out that they were saying: Would you like some HALWA? (English translates—SWEET DISH).

I recently had tea with the Khaqans. They asked me—would you like some halwa? I said: yes, and I really like the carrot halwa and I would love to have the recipe, too.