Things I've observed:
They think drinking milk thats been in the fridge for four days is disgusting; fresh is what they prefer.
They like women with hair (xaad) on their forearms and cheeks.
They like long necks and arms.
They make their own clothes from cloth, even surwaal is cut and made by a tailor who will stitch a jiinyeer onto it.
They grow tobacco, but people only chew the homegrown stuff.
Kids like to throw rocks when they get angry...I felt like a Jew stealing property in Gaza when I pissed off my little cousin, he could have killed me. They also stop cats from having sex using this method.
They don't like eating or drinking in public, especially for females...They'll give you nickname for it.
If you mispronounce Af Soomaali or speak too slowly, you'll be shut down like never before. They'll think you're retarded.
They think we walk too fast.
They hate anyone who looks at the ground when they walk...you should be ready for salaan and aware of your surroundings.
Unflattering nicknames and bringing up your shortfalls are normal, but taking offense goes against kaftan rules.
Every kind of milk is consumed. Fresh goats milk at breakfast, caano geel from aroortii ilaa it becomes sour and you make it a lassi....but Caano booro is then also used to supplement the diet when your goats are still suckling the new borns. Cow milk is looked down because its more likely to have disease/worms and thats why it's always boiled, unlike goat and camel which is drunk raw.
Goats come home to roost, cows have to be led back and tied up.
They have chickens, but they're used for their eggs...eating chicken is seen as lowly.
Nature is beautiful. People think Gedo is barren but there is so much green and so many wild animals. I saw: Baboons, warthogs, squirrels, antelope, Goodir, sagaaro, wild birds all running freely.
Farming is NOT beneath Somalis, despite what people on Somalinet think. There are a lot of farms growing seasonal fruit and veg.
You can things like fanta in random locations.
Some people still call xanjo 'maastiko' which is latin/Italian, but after I told this guy we had a word for it, he actually apologised, which brings me to my next point:
Somali people are actually really sweet, kind, considerate and they'll love you just or being Somali. They're not always snapping/angry.
Men wear cadar....even if its feminine but never women's perfume.
People still use slurs when describing clans...nothing new for Somalinet, but it shocked me when I was there...my family have mixed lineages even though I'm the same on both sides so a lot of it was directed at me.
Clan still matters, but not terribly. My aunt had a close friend from my grandmother's sub sub sub clan. When I came in she assumed that I was just a random member of my Reer Abti. When I opened my mouth and my dad's accent came through in a few words, she asked me my qabiil...I told her and she was like 'OK what, what are you doing here'...then my aunt says "she's my niece"...the woman has a little think and says 'are you so and so's daughter?...I was like yeah....she literally jumps on me and it turns out that her and my grandmother were the same jilib. The cold shoulder turned into a 'let me take you shopping, introduce you hebel and hebel'. It was like two different women. I declined her offer because my aunt pulled a face...my family aren't clannish, we prefer closer relatives...no more than 3 after your dad/mum.
