You mean you can't stay for dinner??????

On Saturday one of my closest friends here invited me to her house to eat the meal at sunset. I agreed to go and I was excited to be invited to eat with her and some of her cousins who are also friends of mine. We were out shopping half the day on Saturday to prepare for the meal. We also stopped by the tailors to pick up our new djellabas we had made. I always have a great time with her.(*More on having a GREAT TIME in a few minutes.)
Anyway, last night after we got home form our church which is an hour and a half away, I went to her house. It was very close to the time to eat and everyone was already sitting in around the table with Harira in their bowls. I think it is hilarious, as soon as they her hear the first part of the word "Allah....." they already have their food in their mouths. I hid my smile and reached for my spoon. So we ate....and we ate.....and we ate some more. The word you say when you are telling someone to eat is "kul" like "cool". SO, I think I heard them telling me to "kul" about 100 times. I think I said "Safie" which means "enough" about 200 times. One way or another I was still left with that never ending bowl of soup!!!
After we were all stuffed they all got up to go pray. One at a time they went into the dark living room and wrapped blankets around themselves and read the Quran and prayed. They had to do it that way so I wasn't left alone. I could tell my friend was a little nervous about leaving me but her Mom told her she would sit with me. After about 20 minutes of this everyone had finished and they were laying all over the couches. I tucked my feet up under me and watched a ridiculous TV program in Arabic. I was glad it was in this dialect of Arabic. I understood enough to know it was a really cheesy comedy. After what I thought was long enough I stood up and stretched my arms up over my head, and stating how tired I was I told my friends I had to go. It was after 9:00. Then the protests began....."You mean you are not staying for dinner???? My mom is about to begin preparing it." I didn't know what to do. Quickly remembering the honor shame culture here, I told them "You must understand my children are with my husband and it is a shame to me to have him caring for them for such a long time!" They began to nod reluctantly. I apologized for having to leave the extremely exciting nap time and then I left. As you can see I am applying what I am learning about the culture here. :)