Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Ketchup
So, blogging must not be my thing, cause I just keep forgetting about it. And I feel like a person shouldn't blog apologies, so I just going to skip ahead and we will instead just celebrate when I do post instead of judging me when I forget to keep you updated--sound fair enough? Ok, moving.
So life has been crazy busy since returning. The week before I returned I came down with the flu in America, and have since recovered 100% only to come down with a cold this week. Although, I would say that I was expecting it since last week when the baby I am living week came down with one. I mean it is only a matter of time then, cause who is going to stay away from a little cutie like Maya to avoid a few sniffles? Oh, yah, in case you didn't know-while I was gone the people who had generously allowed me to stay in their house while they were in America returned. I ran outta time before I left to find a new apt, so they again graciously let me stay here until I found a place again. So in the month that I have been back I have been trying to secure a new apartment--which is not easy when you have a tight budget (around $500 a month) in one of the arguably top 10 most expensive countries in the world, and top 3 in the Middle East! The furnished apts (cause I don't have any furniture anymore)in the area I have lived in the past two years range from $800-$2000 a month from what I have found so far. But I think I found another sweet-hookup with another American family who are also in the States but have left an empty apt. Well, it is not completely empty, they have a Sri Lankan househelper who stays there as well. So if all goes as planned, I will move into their place soon, for close to free! I just have to get used to a whole nother area of town and uh, living with a Sri Lankan househelper!
Anyways, so in the midst of trying to find a place to live, I have been working! Fe shugal kteer! There has been alot to catch up on. After spending 10 days here, readjusting to the country, reading the news daily after the "government collapsed" (which is actually normal), getting over jetlag, and revisiting some clients, I headed to a neighboring country for 7 days of business training! After 7 days there, my boss came back with me to my country and we visited more of my clients for another 5 days and entertained him. Then we sent him back on a plane to America and worked to follow-up with all those visits and get proposals to companies. Now, we are working on our public training offering for March and training to make plans for the Chick-fil-A SERVE team's week in May.
Oh, and in the midst of these travels, I did manage to read the news everyday to know what was going on in the region! Change is in the air! It is amazing how quickly things have been changing lately! In case you missed it: here is a brief synopsis:
- TUNISIA: On January 5 the death of a young man who set himself on fire in despair over unemployment and harassment by officials provided a focus for endemic revolt.
On January 14 President Ben Ali, who had ruled with an iron hand for 23 years, fled the country, which is now ruled by a provisional government. The Tunisian revolution set off shock waves throughout the Arab world and beyond.
- EGYPT: Ten days after the fall of the Tunisian dictatorship widespread unrest broke out in Egypt, which is both the most populous Arab state and a key link in US strategy for the region, notably in support of Israel.
After 18 days of nationwide revolt including strikes and a million-strong march, President Hosni Mubarak left Cairo and handed power to the army on Friday February 11. Mubarak had been in power for almost 30 years.
On Monday the military government called for an end to widespread strikes.
- IRAN: The revolution of 1979 turned Iran into an Islamic republic and made it a key enemy of the United States. In 2009, contested elections sparked a wave of revolts led by two defeated candidates who claimed the poll was rigged.
Although the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially welcomed the overthrow of the Mubarak regime in Egypt, security forces have cracked down on protests calling for a similar revolt in Iran. A bystander was reported shot dead during such protests on Monday.
- YEMEN: The fall of the Tunisian and Egyptian regimes have brought a wave of militancy by students against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years.
Protests and clashes were continuing on Tuesday on Yemen, the poorest of all the Arab states.
- ALGERIA: After winning independence from France in a bitter war in the 1950s, Algeria has been under a state of emergency since the military stepped in to halt elections in 1992.
Since the revolt in Tunisia, its immediate neighbor, the country has seen a wave of protests, partly motivated by unemployment and high food prices. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been in power since 1999.
- BAHRAIN: Protests in the small Gulf island state, which hosts major US naval facilities, have centered on discontent among its Shia Muslim population, who form a majority but have little representation among the predominantly Sunni elite. Two Shiites died in violence on Monday and Tuesday after calls for protests based on the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt.
- PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: The fall of the Mubarak regime brought scenes of jubilation in both the Gaza Strip -- which borders Egypt -- and in the West Bank. On Monday, the government of the Palestinian Authority resigned ahead of elections which are seen as a way of boosting its legitimacy in the light of the Arab revolt. However the Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip has refused to hold new elections.
- JORDAN: Since early February, several protests have been held in support of the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt and against high food prices. However King Abdullah II, who succeeded his father on the throne in 1999, has opened talks with Islamist opposition.
On Monday the situation in Jordan was complicated by a row with neighboring Israel, after a Jordanian minister described the killer of seven Israeli schoolchildren as a "hero".
- LIBYA: After initially expressing regret at the fall of the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia, which borders Libya, leader Moamer Kadhafi has expressed support for the Arab revolts. On Sunday he called on Palestinian refugees to march on the Palestinian territories.
Meanwhile Libyan groups using the Internet were calling for a "day of rage" in the country on Thursday.(AFP)
And Lebanon, which is known as the most unstable country in the region, went through a PM change about the time of the Tunisia uprising and is still trying to set up a cabinet.
Anyways, so there has not been a dull moment since I returned!
After working so much for the first 2 weeks of February, I was determined to take the weekend off! (I have been known to keep working on projects on the weekends, since my work schedule is flex---but I NEEDED a break) At first I was depressed that all my friends were busy on Saturday, so I would just be spending the time doing nothing but having my own "Office" marathon from the comfort of my bed. (Thanks Tyler for 4 seasons of "The Office!") But then at the last minute everyone called me back! So I had lunch with Natalie, then spent the afternoon with T&B and Jade, then had dinner with Megan! Sunday, a new American friend invited me to an English speaking Anglican church, which I had heard of for the past 2 years, but now visited, cause I felt like I should try to be more like the locals and do Arabic church, but I really enjoyed it and then ended up spending the afternoon with this new friend.
So then, it was back to work on Monday, Valentine's Day--which is actually a national holiday here, for other reasons that have nothing to do with love and everything to do with politics. But on Tuesday, I took the day off for Mohammad's Birthday (the third national holiday in 7 days). A friend Tina, who went to Egypt with me in October (yep! I was there just 4 months ago--when there were no signs of political unrest!)invited me and another American to day-trip with her and then have a meal with her family!
Originally, we were supposed to go see one of the new 7 Wonders of the World with Tina, but not so surprisingly it was closed on the one day we wanted to visit, so we toured a couple of high mountain-top overlooks in the Christian areas of the country. One I had been to before but the other was new--and gorgeous! The second place we visited was actually a nunnery, I believe. Check out the view with this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046144&id=79800981&l=1b40b48fa2 I also bought some fig jam! Figs-something I never really tried till I moved here. Fig Newtons-I never liked, but real figs are quite tasty.
Her mom made up tabbouleh, hummus and then 5 meats! We had kebbeh (traditional ground beef dish (most similar to meatloaf-maybe), jumbo baked shrimp, fried fish fillets, whole grilled fish--as in with the head & tail & all, and another whole fried fish just bigger than a man's finger. It was so nice to meet her family and be in their home.
Okay, so that brings us to today. Whew! Glad to finally get ya caught up! Today was a work day. I was thankful that I could stay home and work today, because it POURED outside all day! And now I gotta get to bed so I can wake up tomorrow to work---well, maybe I have time for one episode of the Office, first! :) night, night!
So life has been crazy busy since returning. The week before I returned I came down with the flu in America, and have since recovered 100% only to come down with a cold this week. Although, I would say that I was expecting it since last week when the baby I am living week came down with one. I mean it is only a matter of time then, cause who is going to stay away from a little cutie like Maya to avoid a few sniffles? Oh, yah, in case you didn't know-while I was gone the people who had generously allowed me to stay in their house while they were in America returned. I ran outta time before I left to find a new apt, so they again graciously let me stay here until I found a place again. So in the month that I have been back I have been trying to secure a new apartment--which is not easy when you have a tight budget (around $500 a month) in one of the arguably top 10 most expensive countries in the world, and top 3 in the Middle East! The furnished apts (cause I don't have any furniture anymore)in the area I have lived in the past two years range from $800-$2000 a month from what I have found so far. But I think I found another sweet-hookup with another American family who are also in the States but have left an empty apt. Well, it is not completely empty, they have a Sri Lankan househelper who stays there as well. So if all goes as planned, I will move into their place soon, for close to free! I just have to get used to a whole nother area of town and uh, living with a Sri Lankan househelper!
Anyways, so in the midst of trying to find a place to live, I have been working! Fe shugal kteer! There has been alot to catch up on. After spending 10 days here, readjusting to the country, reading the news daily after the "government collapsed" (which is actually normal), getting over jetlag, and revisiting some clients, I headed to a neighboring country for 7 days of business training! After 7 days there, my boss came back with me to my country and we visited more of my clients for another 5 days and entertained him. Then we sent him back on a plane to America and worked to follow-up with all those visits and get proposals to companies. Now, we are working on our public training offering for March and training to make plans for the Chick-fil-A SERVE team's week in May.
Oh, and in the midst of these travels, I did manage to read the news everyday to know what was going on in the region! Change is in the air! It is amazing how quickly things have been changing lately! In case you missed it: here is a brief synopsis:
- TUNISIA: On January 5 the death of a young man who set himself on fire in despair over unemployment and harassment by officials provided a focus for endemic revolt.
On January 14 President Ben Ali, who had ruled with an iron hand for 23 years, fled the country, which is now ruled by a provisional government. The Tunisian revolution set off shock waves throughout the Arab world and beyond.
- EGYPT: Ten days after the fall of the Tunisian dictatorship widespread unrest broke out in Egypt, which is both the most populous Arab state and a key link in US strategy for the region, notably in support of Israel.
After 18 days of nationwide revolt including strikes and a million-strong march, President Hosni Mubarak left Cairo and handed power to the army on Friday February 11. Mubarak had been in power for almost 30 years.
On Monday the military government called for an end to widespread strikes.
- IRAN: The revolution of 1979 turned Iran into an Islamic republic and made it a key enemy of the United States. In 2009, contested elections sparked a wave of revolts led by two defeated candidates who claimed the poll was rigged.
Although the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially welcomed the overthrow of the Mubarak regime in Egypt, security forces have cracked down on protests calling for a similar revolt in Iran. A bystander was reported shot dead during such protests on Monday.
- YEMEN: The fall of the Tunisian and Egyptian regimes have brought a wave of militancy by students against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years.
Protests and clashes were continuing on Tuesday on Yemen, the poorest of all the Arab states.
- ALGERIA: After winning independence from France in a bitter war in the 1950s, Algeria has been under a state of emergency since the military stepped in to halt elections in 1992.
Since the revolt in Tunisia, its immediate neighbor, the country has seen a wave of protests, partly motivated by unemployment and high food prices. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been in power since 1999.
- BAHRAIN: Protests in the small Gulf island state, which hosts major US naval facilities, have centered on discontent among its Shia Muslim population, who form a majority but have little representation among the predominantly Sunni elite. Two Shiites died in violence on Monday and Tuesday after calls for protests based on the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt.
- PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: The fall of the Mubarak regime brought scenes of jubilation in both the Gaza Strip -- which borders Egypt -- and in the West Bank. On Monday, the government of the Palestinian Authority resigned ahead of elections which are seen as a way of boosting its legitimacy in the light of the Arab revolt. However the Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip has refused to hold new elections.
- JORDAN: Since early February, several protests have been held in support of the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt and against high food prices. However King Abdullah II, who succeeded his father on the throne in 1999, has opened talks with Islamist opposition.
On Monday the situation in Jordan was complicated by a row with neighboring Israel, after a Jordanian minister described the killer of seven Israeli schoolchildren as a "hero".
- LIBYA: After initially expressing regret at the fall of the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia, which borders Libya, leader Moamer Kadhafi has expressed support for the Arab revolts. On Sunday he called on Palestinian refugees to march on the Palestinian territories.
Meanwhile Libyan groups using the Internet were calling for a "day of rage" in the country on Thursday.(AFP)
And Lebanon, which is known as the most unstable country in the region, went through a PM change about the time of the Tunisia uprising and is still trying to set up a cabinet.
Anyways, so there has not been a dull moment since I returned!
After working so much for the first 2 weeks of February, I was determined to take the weekend off! (I have been known to keep working on projects on the weekends, since my work schedule is flex---but I NEEDED a break) At first I was depressed that all my friends were busy on Saturday, so I would just be spending the time doing nothing but having my own "Office" marathon from the comfort of my bed. (Thanks Tyler for 4 seasons of "The Office!") But then at the last minute everyone called me back! So I had lunch with Natalie, then spent the afternoon with T&B and Jade, then had dinner with Megan! Sunday, a new American friend invited me to an English speaking Anglican church, which I had heard of for the past 2 years, but now visited, cause I felt like I should try to be more like the locals and do Arabic church, but I really enjoyed it and then ended up spending the afternoon with this new friend.
So then, it was back to work on Monday, Valentine's Day--which is actually a national holiday here, for other reasons that have nothing to do with love and everything to do with politics. But on Tuesday, I took the day off for Mohammad's Birthday (the third national holiday in 7 days). A friend Tina, who went to Egypt with me in October (yep! I was there just 4 months ago--when there were no signs of political unrest!)invited me and another American to day-trip with her and then have a meal with her family!
Originally, we were supposed to go see one of the new 7 Wonders of the World with Tina, but not so surprisingly it was closed on the one day we wanted to visit, so we toured a couple of high mountain-top overlooks in the Christian areas of the country. One I had been to before but the other was new--and gorgeous! The second place we visited was actually a nunnery, I believe. Check out the view with this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046144&id=79800981&l=1b40b48fa2 I also bought some fig jam! Figs-something I never really tried till I moved here. Fig Newtons-I never liked, but real figs are quite tasty.
Her mom made up tabbouleh, hummus and then 5 meats! We had kebbeh (traditional ground beef dish (most similar to meatloaf-maybe), jumbo baked shrimp, fried fish fillets, whole grilled fish--as in with the head & tail & all, and another whole fried fish just bigger than a man's finger. It was so nice to meet her family and be in their home.
Okay, so that brings us to today. Whew! Glad to finally get ya caught up! Today was a work day. I was thankful that I could stay home and work today, because it POURED outside all day! And now I gotta get to bed so I can wake up tomorrow to work---well, maybe I have time for one episode of the Office, first! :) night, night!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Top 10 Lessons Learned in the Last 2 Years in the Middle East
Time sure has flown this last month. We hosted a volunteer group from home and then I have been busy trying to finish end-of-the-year work so I can leave on Dec 17 to spend Christmas in America!! I am excited to be "home" for Christmas! At the same time, I am a little nervous about America. I know I am a very different person than I was just 2 years ago! I was going through some of my monthly updates the last 2 years and wow, I was just a little embarrassed about what I used to write in updates, but I guess that is just part of the growing up process where hind vision is 20-20.
Here are some things I know I have learned in the last two years:
10. How to live alone and with some half-crazy strong personality roomies! You know I love you, but ISTJs and ENFPs are very different and I think we can both admit we learned a lot from each other!
9. How to clean mold off walls and couches! Bleach water is a cure-all, unless it is rain season, and then it is an almost lost cause. It is important even in the cold winter to crack windows so your bed/closet/couches get some airflow and don’t breed mold. Mold comes in many colors too!
8. Politics. Drama. Instability. Yes, Soldiers on the street with m16s and army tanks are normal to me now. As well as the resistance militia. Hmm, this probably sounds really weird. I have learned the major political players and how to follow what they are saying in the news, and am getting better at keeping the 16 different political parties straight and who is on each side-even as they switch alliances!
7. Dancing. I am the first person to admit that I am a WHITE, BAPTIST girl, who has no dancing or rhythmic abilities what-so-ever. But that is not a legit excuse at parties here, so I have learned to dance, or how to entertain friends by letting them teach me to dance each time. I have had many Arab friends teach me Dabke (more of a village line dance) and Arabic Dancing (lots of hip twisting and wrist rolling).
6. Working for a start-up business is not easy! You don’t just go to work and do the same thing everyday. Each day you analyze what you are doing, and how it could be more effective, or successful. Strategy and vision are vision are very important.
5. Don’t spend 10 days in Cairo. If you want to see the pyramids and mummies, spend one day there, not 10! Don’t eat the food unless you are prepared to get a parasite/food poisoning and be sick for the next 3 weeks. For a wonderful vacation though, the Greek isles are everything you have heard that they are—pristine beaches and cute villages, so relaxing and perfect and with much better food!
4. Wasta: “connections” it all comes down to who you know. Especially as a foreigner, once you make the right relationships you are “in” and have someone who can help you get anything done. I have learned to make wasta and to use wasta from people.
3. My vocabulary has changed, and I don’t just mean I have learned Arabic, which has been a huge learning experience the last 2 years, but the Arabic speaking mindset comes out in my English and in my thought processes now. “Inshallah” (Lord-willing) and “lhumdillia” (thanks to God) come out a lot more. Living here I have learned very well, that I can’t make plans cause they can change so quickly, so plans are always “inshallah” and I give God praise for so many more things that he deserves using “lhumdillia” daily.
2. Flexibility. Like #3, plans are ALWAYS going to change, multiple times. Internet, water, and electricity are not givens, but factors that play into most plans. I recognize so much better now that I am not in-control, and when I thought I was in-control of my life when I lived in the States, that was just an illusion. You never know what each day will bring, but lhumidllia, we have a God who is with us always and never surprised by each new day!
1. The Power of God’s Word. The Word of God transforms lives, and even though it is thousands of years old, it has a fresh teaching everyday. It is also a much better witness than I am. Too many times I can be defensive or try to phrase things so as not to offend people, but the Bible doesn’t do that. It is direct and divides marrow. It is the Words of Life and leads people into the way of righteousness, and transcends all cultures! I have seen the Word of God change my life and the lives of others the last two years-Lhumdillia!
Here are some things I know I have learned in the last two years:
10. How to live alone and with some half-crazy strong personality roomies! You know I love you, but ISTJs and ENFPs are very different and I think we can both admit we learned a lot from each other!
9. How to clean mold off walls and couches! Bleach water is a cure-all, unless it is rain season, and then it is an almost lost cause. It is important even in the cold winter to crack windows so your bed/closet/couches get some airflow and don’t breed mold. Mold comes in many colors too!
8. Politics. Drama. Instability. Yes, Soldiers on the street with m16s and army tanks are normal to me now. As well as the resistance militia. Hmm, this probably sounds really weird. I have learned the major political players and how to follow what they are saying in the news, and am getting better at keeping the 16 different political parties straight and who is on each side-even as they switch alliances!
7. Dancing. I am the first person to admit that I am a WHITE, BAPTIST girl, who has no dancing or rhythmic abilities what-so-ever. But that is not a legit excuse at parties here, so I have learned to dance, or how to entertain friends by letting them teach me to dance each time. I have had many Arab friends teach me Dabke (more of a village line dance) and Arabic Dancing (lots of hip twisting and wrist rolling).
6. Working for a start-up business is not easy! You don’t just go to work and do the same thing everyday. Each day you analyze what you are doing, and how it could be more effective, or successful. Strategy and vision are vision are very important.
5. Don’t spend 10 days in Cairo. If you want to see the pyramids and mummies, spend one day there, not 10! Don’t eat the food unless you are prepared to get a parasite/food poisoning and be sick for the next 3 weeks. For a wonderful vacation though, the Greek isles are everything you have heard that they are—pristine beaches and cute villages, so relaxing and perfect and with much better food!
4. Wasta: “connections” it all comes down to who you know. Especially as a foreigner, once you make the right relationships you are “in” and have someone who can help you get anything done. I have learned to make wasta and to use wasta from people.
3. My vocabulary has changed, and I don’t just mean I have learned Arabic, which has been a huge learning experience the last 2 years, but the Arabic speaking mindset comes out in my English and in my thought processes now. “Inshallah” (Lord-willing) and “lhumdillia” (thanks to God) come out a lot more. Living here I have learned very well, that I can’t make plans cause they can change so quickly, so plans are always “inshallah” and I give God praise for so many more things that he deserves using “lhumdillia” daily.
2. Flexibility. Like #3, plans are ALWAYS going to change, multiple times. Internet, water, and electricity are not givens, but factors that play into most plans. I recognize so much better now that I am not in-control, and when I thought I was in-control of my life when I lived in the States, that was just an illusion. You never know what each day will bring, but lhumidllia, we have a God who is with us always and never surprised by each new day!
1. The Power of God’s Word. The Word of God transforms lives, and even though it is thousands of years old, it has a fresh teaching everyday. It is also a much better witness than I am. Too many times I can be defensive or try to phrase things so as not to offend people, but the Bible doesn’t do that. It is direct and divides marrow. It is the Words of Life and leads people into the way of righteousness, and transcends all cultures! I have seen the Word of God change my life and the lives of others the last two years-Lhumdillia!
Picture time
Thanksgiving Volunteer Group Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044097&id=79800981&l=78d8ce7add
My friend Maya's engagement party:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044092&id=79800981&l=c1a6028d39
Enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044097&id=79800981&l=78d8ce7add
My friend Maya's engagement party:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044092&id=79800981&l=c1a6028d39
Enjoy!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Egypt
OH my goodness! How could I have gotten this far behind in posting to my blog.
It has obviously been a busy time. There is so much to update you on! I spent 10 days in Egypt: click here for pictures. That was probably the worst vacation of my life--not that I have had many bad vacations. But I now understand why there are songs like: "Pharoah, Pharoah, wooah, let my people go!" Thankfully, everyone has said that they can't tell my disappointment by my pictures. Cairo and I just didn't get along. It was dirty, busy, chaotic, left me holding my breath trying to avoid inhaling the air pollution, and then I left Egypt with a parasite that took me over 2 weeks to get rid of! Egypt will be forever remembered in my stomach and not in my heart. So if you ever get the chance to go, do go, but only spend 2 days max in Cairo! The pyramids and mummies are a must see---have to be on your bucket list. But then venture out to Alexandria--never been so excited to visit a library as there! And I hear that Sharm El Sheik is wonderful as well, but unfortunately that part of my trip was cancelled, so I can't speak from personal experience.
Hopefully, I will have time to post more later. But my parents and some friends are headed here for Thanksgiving next week, so I will be a little busy, but that will give me something else to post about, inshallah before I head to the States for Christmas! SO excited about being in the States for a bit. And for Christmas too! If you want to see me while I am there, please make arrangements with my social coordinator, aka my mom! :)
It has obviously been a busy time. There is so much to update you on! I spent 10 days in Egypt: click here for pictures. That was probably the worst vacation of my life--not that I have had many bad vacations. But I now understand why there are songs like: "Pharoah, Pharoah, wooah, let my people go!" Thankfully, everyone has said that they can't tell my disappointment by my pictures. Cairo and I just didn't get along. It was dirty, busy, chaotic, left me holding my breath trying to avoid inhaling the air pollution, and then I left Egypt with a parasite that took me over 2 weeks to get rid of! Egypt will be forever remembered in my stomach and not in my heart. So if you ever get the chance to go, do go, but only spend 2 days max in Cairo! The pyramids and mummies are a must see---have to be on your bucket list. But then venture out to Alexandria--never been so excited to visit a library as there! And I hear that Sharm El Sheik is wonderful as well, but unfortunately that part of my trip was cancelled, so I can't speak from personal experience.
Hopefully, I will have time to post more later. But my parents and some friends are headed here for Thanksgiving next week, so I will be a little busy, but that will give me something else to post about, inshallah before I head to the States for Christmas! SO excited about being in the States for a bit. And for Christmas too! If you want to see me while I am there, please make arrangements with my social coordinator, aka my mom! :)
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Farm Day: Meat your Milk!
I have learned that blogs on the day of are much more exciting, so here it goes:
Today was Farm Day with the young professionals club I am apart of! And I loved every minute of it. In Oklahoma, the idea of vising a farm would not be all that exciting to me, but living here, I was thrilled to get out of the city and be around something more natural! Oh, how I have changed living here!
So this was advertised to the club as a once in a lifetime opportunity to milk a cow! (Please hold back your laughing till later, all of you from Oklahoma and Texas!) Even though, I grew up in Oklahoma and have been on farms/ranches before, I had yet to milk a cow, and always thought it would be fun. Plus as said before I was excited for an opportunity to get out of the city (that I do love!), but the valley and fresh air are so nice! Even more than all this was I was excited to see my friends be on a farm. This group of friends are definitely all pretty much city people. Most drive BMWs and wear name brands even more expensive than the ones that people in Tahlequah drive to Tulsa to buy! They like luxury and I have never seen them "rough it." And when things are not up to their standards, they clearly make it known. Thankfully, almost miraculously, God has given me favor in their eyes as the cute American girl who tries to speak Arabic!
So the night before (because why would you tell people where/when to meet until the night before?--it can change many times and you are always waiting to hear from someone else---a lesson I have learned more than once!) I got a text saying to meet at 8am in the parking lot of a local shopping center. So (Finally learning!) I left my house at 8:10 and arrived at the parking lot before 8:20--and was amazed that I was not the first one there, but I was not the last one either! We waited till 8:50 for everyone to arrive. Even the thought of just saying you are left behind if you are not somewhere on time is rude here! So from the parking lot we caravan-ed along with a hired bus for the day. I will spare you the details of the trip to the farm--let's just say we stopped over 6 times for varying reasons (picking up more people-this one alone was at least 3 times, stopping for water, stopping for breakfast--even though the first thing on the agenda when we arrived was snacks, and stopping to wait for the bus to catch up). It was after 11am when we finally arrived at the farm! The schedule had us arriving at 9:30!
Driving into the farm, we passed two fields of hashesh. This country is actually famous for its grass, and this valley is full of it. A large portion of their income is made from the grass. Continuing the drive into the farm everyone was greeted with the smell of.......a farm! This was a first for many of the 40 people of the group! Let's just say that MANY complaints/comments were made. I saw one girl spraying air freshner/body spray outside her car! Even over an hour later, I saw a girl still fighting a gagging reflex! Seriously, people!
Anyways, so we were educated about the process this dairy farm of 55 cows was going through to become the first official organic dairy farm in the country, and about the ethical slaughter of animals. The farm proprietor said for religious reason (according to the Bible and Quran), you are not allowed to kill cows in front of other cows and a few other dont's I have already forgotten--never heard this before. It is also against the law, although there is only one place that slaughters humanely in this country according to this proprietor. And then for the sake of the cows who she said actually cry when they are distressed and see another cow killed!
Next we painted the outside of the (Barn?-best word I can think of.) It was a concrete building where they milk the cows on the bottom floor and a family lives on the 2nd floor. Hay is stored on the open rooftop. This was fun! The group got really creative--or stole picture of cows on the internet the night before of cows they thought were cute to paint! There was a cow drinking chocolate milk that I am sure I have seen before. A cow in overalls and then one of my friends, who had been to the training that Chick-fil-A did last year had the 3-cow logo of Chick-fil-A cows holding up the "Eat Mor Chiken" signs that were going to be changed to "eat more veggies," or "drink organic milk." We ran out of time to get the Chick-fil-A cows on the barn. Someone did ask about copyright issues on that one, but I highly doubt that the American company that has no overseas locations would care about a random barn in the middle of a valley in the middle east having their logo painted on a barn.
After painting, we were brought lunch around 3PM-tawouk sandwiches (chicken kebab sandwiches in pita bread), and then it was milking time! The cows gathered around the barn door desperate to be milked. They led them in and feed them as they waited their turns to be milked by the 2 portable machines they had. Then a few at a time, we each got a turn to go and milk a cow! It was fun and not that hard! (Hopefully this newly acquired life skill will help me on the Amazing Race in 2012! haha)
Then it was group picture time. They love to take pictures here! And they love to pose for pictures and have their pictures taken, and are quick to tell you that you have to delete a picture if it is not flattering. This was annoying at first, but after posing for a few pics myself today, I think it may have rubbed off on me---forgive me if I am a vain picture taker in the States!
We left the farm about 5:20 and I was all the way home by 7:00--a much faster ride without any stops!
It really was a great day!
For pictures, click here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042462&id=79800981&l=f42cf3bd19
Today was Farm Day with the young professionals club I am apart of! And I loved every minute of it. In Oklahoma, the idea of vising a farm would not be all that exciting to me, but living here, I was thrilled to get out of the city and be around something more natural! Oh, how I have changed living here!
So this was advertised to the club as a once in a lifetime opportunity to milk a cow! (Please hold back your laughing till later, all of you from Oklahoma and Texas!) Even though, I grew up in Oklahoma and have been on farms/ranches before, I had yet to milk a cow, and always thought it would be fun. Plus as said before I was excited for an opportunity to get out of the city (that I do love!), but the valley and fresh air are so nice! Even more than all this was I was excited to see my friends be on a farm. This group of friends are definitely all pretty much city people. Most drive BMWs and wear name brands even more expensive than the ones that people in Tahlequah drive to Tulsa to buy! They like luxury and I have never seen them "rough it." And when things are not up to their standards, they clearly make it known. Thankfully, almost miraculously, God has given me favor in their eyes as the cute American girl who tries to speak Arabic!
So the night before (because why would you tell people where/when to meet until the night before?--it can change many times and you are always waiting to hear from someone else---a lesson I have learned more than once!) I got a text saying to meet at 8am in the parking lot of a local shopping center. So (Finally learning!) I left my house at 8:10 and arrived at the parking lot before 8:20--and was amazed that I was not the first one there, but I was not the last one either! We waited till 8:50 for everyone to arrive. Even the thought of just saying you are left behind if you are not somewhere on time is rude here! So from the parking lot we caravan-ed along with a hired bus for the day. I will spare you the details of the trip to the farm--let's just say we stopped over 6 times for varying reasons (picking up more people-this one alone was at least 3 times, stopping for water, stopping for breakfast--even though the first thing on the agenda when we arrived was snacks, and stopping to wait for the bus to catch up). It was after 11am when we finally arrived at the farm! The schedule had us arriving at 9:30!
Driving into the farm, we passed two fields of hashesh. This country is actually famous for its grass, and this valley is full of it. A large portion of their income is made from the grass. Continuing the drive into the farm everyone was greeted with the smell of.......a farm! This was a first for many of the 40 people of the group! Let's just say that MANY complaints/comments were made. I saw one girl spraying air freshner/body spray outside her car! Even over an hour later, I saw a girl still fighting a gagging reflex! Seriously, people!
Anyways, so we were educated about the process this dairy farm of 55 cows was going through to become the first official organic dairy farm in the country, and about the ethical slaughter of animals. The farm proprietor said for religious reason (according to the Bible and Quran), you are not allowed to kill cows in front of other cows and a few other dont's I have already forgotten--never heard this before. It is also against the law, although there is only one place that slaughters humanely in this country according to this proprietor. And then for the sake of the cows who she said actually cry when they are distressed and see another cow killed!
Next we painted the outside of the (Barn?-best word I can think of.) It was a concrete building where they milk the cows on the bottom floor and a family lives on the 2nd floor. Hay is stored on the open rooftop. This was fun! The group got really creative--or stole picture of cows on the internet the night before of cows they thought were cute to paint! There was a cow drinking chocolate milk that I am sure I have seen before. A cow in overalls and then one of my friends, who had been to the training that Chick-fil-A did last year had the 3-cow logo of Chick-fil-A cows holding up the "Eat Mor Chiken" signs that were going to be changed to "eat more veggies," or "drink organic milk." We ran out of time to get the Chick-fil-A cows on the barn. Someone did ask about copyright issues on that one, but I highly doubt that the American company that has no overseas locations would care about a random barn in the middle of a valley in the middle east having their logo painted on a barn.
After painting, we were brought lunch around 3PM-tawouk sandwiches (chicken kebab sandwiches in pita bread), and then it was milking time! The cows gathered around the barn door desperate to be milked. They led them in and feed them as they waited their turns to be milked by the 2 portable machines they had. Then a few at a time, we each got a turn to go and milk a cow! It was fun and not that hard! (Hopefully this newly acquired life skill will help me on the Amazing Race in 2012! haha)
Then it was group picture time. They love to take pictures here! And they love to pose for pictures and have their pictures taken, and are quick to tell you that you have to delete a picture if it is not flattering. This was annoying at first, but after posing for a few pics myself today, I think it may have rubbed off on me---forgive me if I am a vain picture taker in the States!
We left the farm about 5:20 and I was all the way home by 7:00--a much faster ride without any stops!
It really was a great day!
For pictures, click here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042462&id=79800981&l=f42cf3bd19
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Where am I?
Friday night is the start of Eid of Fitr, a 2 day holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan, so the Muslim half of town closes down. This holiday is a very important family holiday, so I had planned on not being able to see many friends, and just staying at home (needed to catch up on work and clean the house anyway.) A colleague who knows I am American and not Muslim still asked me if I was going to spend time with family in my village? Seriously? I must fit in better than I think.
So half the town is closed while families are visiting each other. My Armenian friend who lives here (but whose family has homes in Cyprus, Lebanon, Armenia and the UAE that I know of) calls and invites me out for drinks. She is Armenian Orthodox so not celebrating Eid. A friend of her sister’s from the UAE is visiting and she needs to show him around—he is from Sweden, but has lived and worked in Abu Dhabi with my Armenian friend’s sister for the last 1.5 years. She is planning to take him to my favorite city. I had only been there during the day, and loved the small quaint sea port, ancient Crusader’s Castle and souk market. And this would be a chance to get out during the Eid and hang out with a good friend, so I was in.
The nightlife in this town was great! The cobblestone streets of the souk are filled with bars, couches, and stylish chairs at night! Bar right after bar each blasting their own techno/electronic/pop music dj-ed mix down through the cobblestone alleys where souvenirs are sold during the day. Just to get through you had to weave your way through the couches, chairs, and people, lots of people, while watching your step to not trip on a rock that had fallen out of place.
We had a very nice dinner at an expensive restaurant overlooking the castle. For some reason, the wait staff looked like pirates with black bandanas and shirts for the men and the women in low cut red blouses white bandanas—even my friend who has lived here for many years couldn’t figure out what style of “native” dress this was. But the food was great. The fattouch and hummus were a spin off the traditional but very tasty—and it is hard to improve on 1000+ year old traditional foods like fattouch and hummus. The Armenian and the Swede tried the dark house beer, then a red wine with the meal. So to not offend by toasting with my water, I ordered a Pepsi. And of course my Armenian friend insisted on paying for dinner. Hospitality is not lost by this hostess. We finished dinner around 11.
Then we wandered the streets till we found the first bar they wanted to stop in. We didn’t really go in, there is no “in” because everyone is sitting out on the cobblestone streets under the stars framed by the old buildings with French styled architecture. We were there for an hour when the Swede paid the waiter before we could object. Okay, so I have to pick up the tab at the next place—so far I have gotten a free meal and a free fruit punch, I made a mental note.
About 12, after walking the streets for several minutes trying to decide what place had the best music, of course defined by a standard very different than my own. It had been noted that the American was not such a big fan of techno/electronic music, but preferred country music, which you can’t find here. We found a small place with 4 tables next to the entrance of the souk. It was kind of far from the center of the party that I am sure the Swede was longing for, but I appreciated the nice fresh salt water breeze. As they sat drinking their local beers out of longneck green glass bottles, and I sipped my bottled water with a lime wedge, the Swede commented on the old rock arch over the street with a small statute of the Virgin Mary. Oh, how we have disgraced this place! What would the Saints have thought if they could see what we have turned this place into, he exclaimed sipping his beer. My Armenian friend agreed and added that right next to the Virgin Mary is a tattoo parlor. But of course these thoughts were passing and the next topic was the gay club in the capital city that had been recommended to the Swede as a joke—the Armenian’s eyes widened and she burst out laughing. She had been once just to see what it was all about, and quickly recounted the story as best she can between fits of laughter. Then it happened—Johnny Cash was mixed into the electronic music! “I Walk the Line” for a whole 30 seconds! The Swede and Armenian eyes immediately turned to the American who instantly mouthed the words and slapped her knee! We really did find the place with the best music—and the Swede and Armenian each heard some of their favorite songs too, like “Sex on the Beach” and “When Love Takes Over.” I took the bill from our third and final stop of the night. I gave the bartender a $50 bill and got $40 back in change but in the local currency, not USD.
We left the quaint sea port city, turned nightlife hub around 1:30 and made it home just after 2:00AM.
So where am I? Where do I live? Where could a Christine, Peter, and Laura have such a night? Seriously, where could all of this exist at the same time? Who knew such a place even existed? God where have you brought me?
So half the town is closed while families are visiting each other. My Armenian friend who lives here (but whose family has homes in Cyprus, Lebanon, Armenia and the UAE that I know of) calls and invites me out for drinks. She is Armenian Orthodox so not celebrating Eid. A friend of her sister’s from the UAE is visiting and she needs to show him around—he is from Sweden, but has lived and worked in Abu Dhabi with my Armenian friend’s sister for the last 1.5 years. She is planning to take him to my favorite city. I had only been there during the day, and loved the small quaint sea port, ancient Crusader’s Castle and souk market. And this would be a chance to get out during the Eid and hang out with a good friend, so I was in.
The nightlife in this town was great! The cobblestone streets of the souk are filled with bars, couches, and stylish chairs at night! Bar right after bar each blasting their own techno/electronic/pop music dj-ed mix down through the cobblestone alleys where souvenirs are sold during the day. Just to get through you had to weave your way through the couches, chairs, and people, lots of people, while watching your step to not trip on a rock that had fallen out of place.
We had a very nice dinner at an expensive restaurant overlooking the castle. For some reason, the wait staff looked like pirates with black bandanas and shirts for the men and the women in low cut red blouses white bandanas—even my friend who has lived here for many years couldn’t figure out what style of “native” dress this was. But the food was great. The fattouch and hummus were a spin off the traditional but very tasty—and it is hard to improve on 1000+ year old traditional foods like fattouch and hummus. The Armenian and the Swede tried the dark house beer, then a red wine with the meal. So to not offend by toasting with my water, I ordered a Pepsi. And of course my Armenian friend insisted on paying for dinner. Hospitality is not lost by this hostess. We finished dinner around 11.
Then we wandered the streets till we found the first bar they wanted to stop in. We didn’t really go in, there is no “in” because everyone is sitting out on the cobblestone streets under the stars framed by the old buildings with French styled architecture. We were there for an hour when the Swede paid the waiter before we could object. Okay, so I have to pick up the tab at the next place—so far I have gotten a free meal and a free fruit punch, I made a mental note.
About 12, after walking the streets for several minutes trying to decide what place had the best music, of course defined by a standard very different than my own. It had been noted that the American was not such a big fan of techno/electronic music, but preferred country music, which you can’t find here. We found a small place with 4 tables next to the entrance of the souk. It was kind of far from the center of the party that I am sure the Swede was longing for, but I appreciated the nice fresh salt water breeze. As they sat drinking their local beers out of longneck green glass bottles, and I sipped my bottled water with a lime wedge, the Swede commented on the old rock arch over the street with a small statute of the Virgin Mary. Oh, how we have disgraced this place! What would the Saints have thought if they could see what we have turned this place into, he exclaimed sipping his beer. My Armenian friend agreed and added that right next to the Virgin Mary is a tattoo parlor. But of course these thoughts were passing and the next topic was the gay club in the capital city that had been recommended to the Swede as a joke—the Armenian’s eyes widened and she burst out laughing. She had been once just to see what it was all about, and quickly recounted the story as best she can between fits of laughter. Then it happened—Johnny Cash was mixed into the electronic music! “I Walk the Line” for a whole 30 seconds! The Swede and Armenian eyes immediately turned to the American who instantly mouthed the words and slapped her knee! We really did find the place with the best music—and the Swede and Armenian each heard some of their favorite songs too, like “Sex on the Beach” and “When Love Takes Over.” I took the bill from our third and final stop of the night. I gave the bartender a $50 bill and got $40 back in change but in the local currency, not USD.
We left the quaint sea port city, turned nightlife hub around 1:30 and made it home just after 2:00AM.
So where am I? Where do I live? Where could a Christine, Peter, and Laura have such a night? Seriously, where could all of this exist at the same time? Who knew such a place even existed? God where have you brought me?
Monday, September 6, 2010
Maamoul
making up for lost time. Thought I would share with you what I did tonight. Well I actually didn't make them because I was too late, but I wrapped two of them.
I went to my language teachers' mom's restaurant to hang out with her family and see how they make maamoul. Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma%27amoul to learn about maamoul--it can explain better than I can. These were filled with pistachios.
Here are some pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040373&id=79800981&l=9b9d547551
Enjoy!
I went to my language teachers' mom's restaurant to hang out with her family and see how they make maamoul. Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma%27amoul to learn about maamoul--it can explain better than I can. These were filled with pistachios.
Here are some pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040373&id=79800981&l=9b9d547551
Enjoy!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
G R A S S
I went to a sahour event last night. Sahour is the middle of the night meal that Muslims eat during Ramadan. This event was put on as a charity event to raise money for the children's cancer center and several of my friends from the young professionals club and I went. The invitations said the event started at 10:30 in a town 45mins to 1 hour south of our city. I was supposed to meet up with friends at 9 at a local hotel. So I arrived at 9, and waited till our ride got there at 9:20---I should have known better, and then we didn't even leave the city till 9:45. We reached the restaurant at around 10:45. This restaurant is right on the boardwalk next to an old Sea Castle. The boardwalk was crowded with lots and lots of people! Most of the time when people fast here they sleep all day and stay out all night. So the boardwalk was full and there was even a parade complete with marching band at 10:45 PM when we arrived!
The restaurant was very nice. We sat outside on a small manicured lawn next to the Sea! Yes, that is right grass!!!! For an Okie I was never much a fan of grass--I mean there is always dirt, ants and bugs under the grass. But I really miss it living in this city where there is no grass!! The nice cool squishy grass!! Anyways, so I asked my friends if it would be weird if I walked bear foot on the grass, and they said it was fine. So I took off my wedges sandals (and had to then roll up my jeans) to walk on the grass. They thought this was hilarious and then needed a picture of my bare feet in the grass. My friend Natalie though was in very fashionable high heels---very typical of the ladies here. So we took a feet pic together!
Gotta love it---Okie girl meets Middle Eastern Fashion Diva on the grass!!! haha! This pic says so much about our different cultures--had to share it!
Oh and to finish the story...the meal was served at close to midnight. We had saj-sandwiches made on a round raised griddle with thin batter with zaatar and cheese, Arabic beans (2 different kinds), made to order omelets, watermelon, cantaloupe, and Arab sweets. My group left after about half the people had departed at 2AM, but there was still many people there! And lots of traffic on the way out of town. All the restaurants remained full! So I made it home at 3AM after my first sahour! It was a great night with friends!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Greece Pictures
Well, I have gotten a little behind on my blogging. Apologies blog world. I will write more soon. Till then, enjoy pictures from my Greece vacation in August: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038673&id=79800981&l=7a7e5fc923
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The Dermatologist
well after that post, I am just in the blogging mood, so I won't make you wait for the Dermatologist visit post. I know my family will be excited about that.
So my boss's wife recommended a dermatologist for me to visit. I called and made an apt, and was able to be seen the next week. I arrive in the building and take the elevator to the 5th floor, just before the doors close a mom and daughter also jump in. Turns out we are going the same place. But, since they got on the elevator first, they were the first ones out, the first ones in the waiting room, the first to talk to the receptionist, and therefore the first to be seen by the doctor. Which could have been annoying, but I had a book with me that I was excited about reading. (What am I reading? I am glad you asked!)
Right now I am reading: "Understanding Arabs: A Guide for Modern Times" by Margaret Nydell. I found this on the bookshelf where I am living now. It was been good to read this book and see yes, it is not just me the last year and a half, this is just is how the culture works! And then learn tips for Westerns living among Arabs. For instance, Westerns usually think of a friend as someone whose company they enjoy. A friend can be asked for a favor or for help if necessary, but it is considered poor form to cultivate a friendship primarily for what can be gained from that person, or their position. Among Arabs, a friend is also someone whose company one enjoys. However, equally important to the relationships is the duty of a friend to give help and do favors to the best of his or her ability. The book then goes on to explain then that when an Arab friend asks for a favor, if you say no, that is rude and harmful to the friendship and may even make the friend question whither or not you are friends. The much better response then is to say you will try or see what you can do, or even commit, and then later express that you were not able to complete the favor. This way it appears you tried. And because this is an honor/shame culture, they will not ask you why, because the reason could bring shame to you if the reason was you were incapable. This is great to know, when I have Arab friends, and it explains some of their behavior that I did not understand before. She also has a great chapter explaining Anti-Americanism, and how America misunderstands it. I haven't finished the book, but I would recommend it.
So I am waiting in the waiting room, reading my book, while the receptionist takes care of the mom and daughter ahead of me. Then she asks for my name. I spell it--and she still writes it down wrong. Then she needs my father's name. They have a different filing system here that uses people's father's names, because people don't have middle names here, and if they do 90% of the time it is their father's name. For more info read the Understanding Arabs Book, there is a great section about this. And finally she writes down my year of birth all on a scratch pad. Then she starts clicking away on her laptop. I assume she is putting me into their computer system. A few minutes later she asks me a question, I can't remember what, but I go to her desk, and discover that the whole time....... she has been looking me up on FACEBOOK!! haha. So she asks if the first picture is me, which it is. And her first comment after doing a double take is "You have lost weight!" My profile picture that she is looking at is less than 3 weeks old!
Augh, for some reason, people feel the need here to tell you if you have gained or lost weight in between seeing you! I still don't fully understand it. It's not like we don't have mirrors or scales that tell us these things. And it is not that they are trying to compliment you, because just as often as they tell you have lost weight they say you have gained weight. I need this book to explain this to me. (I left this out in the "eat fish and swim post, but Natalie told me that I looked thinner in my swimsuit. And that I should wear clothes that looked better on me! (ie, tighter) I took this as a compliment. Here I have to wear modest somewhat baggy clothes, so I guess it is good, that she thought I was thinner than I looked.)
So back to the dermatologist waiting room, I told the receptionist to add me as a friend. I started to wonder if I could be missing an opportunity of a new friend if I read my book instead of talking to the receptionist. That could even be the reason why the mom and daughter were before me. So I talked to her about her nieces and how expensive things were in that area of town.
Then it is my turn to see the doctor. In her office, she puts me into her computer system--not real sure what the point of the receptionist is at this point. She asked me how I heard about her, and I told her through my boss's wife (Ann King*), and the doctor gets excited and asks if she moved away. She has a paper that she has meant to give to her for a year, but has not gotten ahold of her by phone. Then looking through a file folder on her desk she retrieves a paper, no this is (Amberly King*). Do you know her? I have never meant Amberly, but I have heard Ann talk about her sister-in-law Amberly who also lives overseas and has visited several times. And it would make since for her to visit doctors here, since they are some of the best in the region, so I say, yes, I know Amberly, and explain the sister-in-law of my boss's wife connection. The doctor was very excited at this and took the page out of the folder, sealed and stamped it in an envelope as confidential and then gave it to me. You tell me: what are the chances of this in the US?! Never, right?! After the visit I called my Ann and yep, Amberly had visited the dermatologist more than a year before! small world, I guess. So I passed on the envelope, never even peeked, I mean it was stamped and all!
The whole Amberly incident didn't make me question the doctor's capabilities though. She seemed very intelligent and had a name tag from the local American University, so I am sure she is well educated and a good dermatologist. So she examined me. What my hair stylist freaked out about was not even a mole, but a collection of blood vessels that I were assured were nothing to be worried about. She froze off a few little bitty warts on my knee. And then prescribed me some meds for acne. I never had acne very bad at all before I moved here, but it has flaired up since I moved. She said it was not the water here, which I had been told could have been a cause. She prescribed an oral med and a creme the same prescription. I corrected her at my name spelling on the prescription, and she said that it really didn't matter---I didn't want to get the the drug store and them refuse to fill it or anything---little did I know about the pharmacy here!
Before I get the prescriptions filled, I do some online research. I have heard bad things about some acne meds so I don't want to take anything with bad side effects. I discovered that this was a light antibiotic, so it was fine.
The next day I went to the pharmacy and they were out of the oral and the creme. She told me that they could get me the creme the next day inshallah (lord-willing) or the day after. I read between the lines and though maybe someday next week they will have it. They were also out of the oral med. So I went to pharmacy #2. Thankfully there are pharmacies everywhere here! They had the oral, but not the creme. The oral was only $7-$8. Prescription drugs are cheap here. And most of the time you don't even need a prescription for them. They did not even take my prescription or mark off that I had it filled! So on the way home I stopped off at pharmacy #3 still looking for the creme, and no luck. Then when I got home I realized that she just gave me a box of the oral med at pharmacy #2 and it only had 10 pills in it, and I was supposed to take 1 a day for 2 months! So later that night when I was out for a friend's birthday, we stopped in a pharmacy to buy gum, and I asked about the prescriptions again. They had the oral at pharmacy #4 although when I wanted to get 5 boxes to last for 2 months they only had 4, but gave them all to me. They didn't have the creme. So now, inshallah, next week I can go back to pharmacy #1 and pick up the creme. I am waiting to start the oral until I can do the creme at the same time. Although, these drugs can make you sunburn easier, so it would probably be wise not to take them when I am in Greece!!! yay, I leave in 10 days. So maybe I will wait till I return to start taking the meds, inshallah, that should be enough time to find the creme somewhere, inshallah!
So my boss's wife recommended a dermatologist for me to visit. I called and made an apt, and was able to be seen the next week. I arrive in the building and take the elevator to the 5th floor, just before the doors close a mom and daughter also jump in. Turns out we are going the same place. But, since they got on the elevator first, they were the first ones out, the first ones in the waiting room, the first to talk to the receptionist, and therefore the first to be seen by the doctor. Which could have been annoying, but I had a book with me that I was excited about reading. (What am I reading? I am glad you asked!)
Right now I am reading: "Understanding Arabs: A Guide for Modern Times" by Margaret Nydell. I found this on the bookshelf where I am living now. It was been good to read this book and see yes, it is not just me the last year and a half, this is just is how the culture works! And then learn tips for Westerns living among Arabs. For instance, Westerns usually think of a friend as someone whose company they enjoy. A friend can be asked for a favor or for help if necessary, but it is considered poor form to cultivate a friendship primarily for what can be gained from that person, or their position. Among Arabs, a friend is also someone whose company one enjoys. However, equally important to the relationships is the duty of a friend to give help and do favors to the best of his or her ability. The book then goes on to explain then that when an Arab friend asks for a favor, if you say no, that is rude and harmful to the friendship and may even make the friend question whither or not you are friends. The much better response then is to say you will try or see what you can do, or even commit, and then later express that you were not able to complete the favor. This way it appears you tried. And because this is an honor/shame culture, they will not ask you why, because the reason could bring shame to you if the reason was you were incapable. This is great to know, when I have Arab friends, and it explains some of their behavior that I did not understand before. She also has a great chapter explaining Anti-Americanism, and how America misunderstands it. I haven't finished the book, but I would recommend it.
So I am waiting in the waiting room, reading my book, while the receptionist takes care of the mom and daughter ahead of me. Then she asks for my name. I spell it--and she still writes it down wrong. Then she needs my father's name. They have a different filing system here that uses people's father's names, because people don't have middle names here, and if they do 90% of the time it is their father's name. For more info read the Understanding Arabs Book, there is a great section about this. And finally she writes down my year of birth all on a scratch pad. Then she starts clicking away on her laptop. I assume she is putting me into their computer system. A few minutes later she asks me a question, I can't remember what, but I go to her desk, and discover that the whole time....... she has been looking me up on FACEBOOK!! haha. So she asks if the first picture is me, which it is. And her first comment after doing a double take is "You have lost weight!" My profile picture that she is looking at is less than 3 weeks old!
Augh, for some reason, people feel the need here to tell you if you have gained or lost weight in between seeing you! I still don't fully understand it. It's not like we don't have mirrors or scales that tell us these things. And it is not that they are trying to compliment you, because just as often as they tell you have lost weight they say you have gained weight. I need this book to explain this to me. (I left this out in the "eat fish and swim post, but Natalie told me that I looked thinner in my swimsuit. And that I should wear clothes that looked better on me! (ie, tighter) I took this as a compliment. Here I have to wear modest somewhat baggy clothes, so I guess it is good, that she thought I was thinner than I looked.)
So back to the dermatologist waiting room, I told the receptionist to add me as a friend. I started to wonder if I could be missing an opportunity of a new friend if I read my book instead of talking to the receptionist. That could even be the reason why the mom and daughter were before me. So I talked to her about her nieces and how expensive things were in that area of town.
Then it is my turn to see the doctor. In her office, she puts me into her computer system--not real sure what the point of the receptionist is at this point. She asked me how I heard about her, and I told her through my boss's wife (Ann King*), and the doctor gets excited and asks if she moved away. She has a paper that she has meant to give to her for a year, but has not gotten ahold of her by phone. Then looking through a file folder on her desk she retrieves a paper, no this is (Amberly King*). Do you know her? I have never meant Amberly, but I have heard Ann talk about her sister-in-law Amberly who also lives overseas and has visited several times. And it would make since for her to visit doctors here, since they are some of the best in the region, so I say, yes, I know Amberly, and explain the sister-in-law of my boss's wife connection. The doctor was very excited at this and took the page out of the folder, sealed and stamped it in an envelope as confidential and then gave it to me. You tell me: what are the chances of this in the US?! Never, right?! After the visit I called my Ann and yep, Amberly had visited the dermatologist more than a year before! small world, I guess. So I passed on the envelope, never even peeked, I mean it was stamped and all!
The whole Amberly incident didn't make me question the doctor's capabilities though. She seemed very intelligent and had a name tag from the local American University, so I am sure she is well educated and a good dermatologist. So she examined me. What my hair stylist freaked out about was not even a mole, but a collection of blood vessels that I were assured were nothing to be worried about. She froze off a few little bitty warts on my knee. And then prescribed me some meds for acne. I never had acne very bad at all before I moved here, but it has flaired up since I moved. She said it was not the water here, which I had been told could have been a cause. She prescribed an oral med and a creme the same prescription. I corrected her at my name spelling on the prescription, and she said that it really didn't matter---I didn't want to get the the drug store and them refuse to fill it or anything---little did I know about the pharmacy here!
Before I get the prescriptions filled, I do some online research. I have heard bad things about some acne meds so I don't want to take anything with bad side effects. I discovered that this was a light antibiotic, so it was fine.
The next day I went to the pharmacy and they were out of the oral and the creme. She told me that they could get me the creme the next day inshallah (lord-willing) or the day after. I read between the lines and though maybe someday next week they will have it. They were also out of the oral med. So I went to pharmacy #2. Thankfully there are pharmacies everywhere here! They had the oral, but not the creme. The oral was only $7-$8. Prescription drugs are cheap here. And most of the time you don't even need a prescription for them. They did not even take my prescription or mark off that I had it filled! So on the way home I stopped off at pharmacy #3 still looking for the creme, and no luck. Then when I got home I realized that she just gave me a box of the oral med at pharmacy #2 and it only had 10 pills in it, and I was supposed to take 1 a day for 2 months! So later that night when I was out for a friend's birthday, we stopped in a pharmacy to buy gum, and I asked about the prescriptions again. They had the oral at pharmacy #4 although when I wanted to get 5 boxes to last for 2 months they only had 4, but gave them all to me. They didn't have the creme. So now, inshallah, next week I can go back to pharmacy #1 and pick up the creme. I am waiting to start the oral until I can do the creme at the same time. Although, these drugs can make you sunburn easier, so it would probably be wise not to take them when I am in Greece!!! yay, I leave in 10 days. So maybe I will wait till I return to start taking the meds, inshallah, that should be enough time to find the creme somewhere, inshallah!
Hair cut: (The Dermatologist prequel)
okay, so this story actually starts 2 weeks ago when I went to get my hair cut. I have attempted to get my hair cut at least 4-5 times since I have lived here, but it has not really worked out, and at the first sign that it might not work out, I chickened out. Curly hair is very common here, and the people here are very beautifully put together (cough*vain*cough). So I should not be afraid, but I have had some bad haircuts in my life, and really wanted to make sure that I would get someone who would know what she was doing.
So, one of my friends and her mom were getting their hair cut one afternoon, and decided to go with them. This friend has wavy hair, and is a great English speaker, so I knew that 1)they lady should be capable, and 2)my desired cut could be communicated correctly. I just wanted a trim. Living here for 1.5 years without cutting my hair, it has grown long, and I really like it. Some of the ladies here have gorgeous long dark curly hair, and I have turned into a wanna-be, I guess!
The lady trimmed it, but suggested that I cut the front a little shorter so that it would fade to the length in the back. But on the first cut in the front I held my breath as she cut 6 inches (I am NOT exaggerating!!) So then I started praying (also not kidding!). For those of you without curly hair, when my hair is wet it is long. As it dries it springs up--which is why my hair looks shorter latter in the day than the morning. (It has taken me years to learn curly taming skills!) So when you cut my hair it looks longer than it is, and then I lose like 2-3 inches as my hair dries. Oh, and some hairs are curlier than others, so there are always a couple straggling ringlets that I have to trim a second time later, because they hang lower than the rest of my hair. So what she said was a fade is now like a steep incline! Thankfully she cut very little off the length in the back.
Anyways, she straightened my hair after she cut it. Which I love! I only do it a couple times a year, because it is so much work. Here though because of the 90% humidity. My straight hair lasts only 45 minutes to an hour. And then it is wavy (which is still cute!) and that will last 2 days till I wash it. So as she was straightening it, my friend's mom (who I really love. I even gave her a mom's day present in the Spring) starts oohing and ahhing over my straight hair. Afterward, we had a miniphoto session in the salon. The stylist was telling me how to pose while mom took pics on her cell phone. Mom even told me that I had to stop by her office building on the way home and get a picture made with my straight hair for her. She insisted, even after I tried to get out of it with the excuse that I didn't have any make-up on. It had all melted off in the blow-drying straightening process. (the stylist took at least 2 breaks in the process to wipe sweat from her face with a tissue!)
So I loved my hair straight, but now that I have washed it, and it has curled back up the front is a little too short (it comes to my mouth and is just barely long enough to tuck behind an ear), and she cut alot of it short, and didn't leave as much long as I wanted. Self consciously, I feel like it is a grown out mullet look, although friends assure me it is not.
I don't have any good pics yet or I would post them. Those are coming soon. Wow, this is a long post and I have not even gotten to the reason for the dermatologist visit which was supposed to be the subject of this post. Please bear with me a little further. Sorry dad and any guys that you had to read all about boring girls hair.
So in the midst of cutting my hair, the stylist stops, because her fingernail ran across a mole on my scalp. She very animatedly proceeded to tell me that I should have it removed because it could break off and get sucked into my brain and possibly kill me. She said that moles below the chest were fine, around the neck was sorta dangerous, but on my head was very dangerous. Then mom starts telling her story about getting a mole removed once. (this is a typical living overseas/difference in culture, and medical practices example. Ask anyone who has lived overseas and I am sure they can list all the medical advice they were freely given which is not true. Like ac or cold water making you sick, or a personal favorite: in Turkey I was told if I sat on the cold concrete patio I would not be able to have children--in the summer heat I took the risk and sat on the cool concrete!)
Back to this story though: I have known I had this mole since I was little, but I had not thought about it as a problem, it is hidden by a lot of hair. Anyways, so after this incident, I decided to look at it for the first time--which involved several mirrors and then a digital camera. haha. And I realized that it was oddly colored red. I had an RN friend and her visiting mother, who she called sorta a mole expert look at it and they suggested that I have it looked at. So I made an apt with a dermatologist. And that is the set-up for my next blog post which will be the visit to the dermatologist this last week.
(As I write this, I am wondering if moles are a taboo subject? Do we talk about them in America? Is it gross that I am writing about them? I mean everyone has them, so it must be okay, right? Also are warts okay to talk about? I need to know about this for my next post.)
Okay, now after proofing my blog post, I wonder if I write poorly. I rarely finish a thought without interrupting it with another thought in a parenthesis (kinda wonder if this is annoying, or makes the story hard to follow?). This would not fly in English class, but this is a blog not English class, so inshallah (Lord-willing) it is okay. One of my pet-peeves about myself is when I don't finish my sentences. It is a bad habit that I do way too often. Even yesterday I caught myself saying, "maybe up on that hill over there, we can ...." instead of a complete sentence "once we arrive at that hill, we can look around, and I can tell if I have been here before." This could be attributed to being an introvert and lots of times we don't vocalize thoughts, comments, or ideas, because we think others won't care or they are not important. I need to work on this. Wow! so that is a whole other topic for a whole other blog post. I was just wondering if using parenthesis to insert little comments, is like speaking in incomplete sentences. (hmmm....)
So, one of my friends and her mom were getting their hair cut one afternoon, and decided to go with them. This friend has wavy hair, and is a great English speaker, so I knew that 1)they lady should be capable, and 2)my desired cut could be communicated correctly. I just wanted a trim. Living here for 1.5 years without cutting my hair, it has grown long, and I really like it. Some of the ladies here have gorgeous long dark curly hair, and I have turned into a wanna-be, I guess!
The lady trimmed it, but suggested that I cut the front a little shorter so that it would fade to the length in the back. But on the first cut in the front I held my breath as she cut 6 inches (I am NOT exaggerating!!) So then I started praying (also not kidding!). For those of you without curly hair, when my hair is wet it is long. As it dries it springs up--which is why my hair looks shorter latter in the day than the morning. (It has taken me years to learn curly taming skills!) So when you cut my hair it looks longer than it is, and then I lose like 2-3 inches as my hair dries. Oh, and some hairs are curlier than others, so there are always a couple straggling ringlets that I have to trim a second time later, because they hang lower than the rest of my hair. So what she said was a fade is now like a steep incline! Thankfully she cut very little off the length in the back.
Anyways, she straightened my hair after she cut it. Which I love! I only do it a couple times a year, because it is so much work. Here though because of the 90% humidity. My straight hair lasts only 45 minutes to an hour. And then it is wavy (which is still cute!) and that will last 2 days till I wash it. So as she was straightening it, my friend's mom (who I really love. I even gave her a mom's day present in the Spring) starts oohing and ahhing over my straight hair. Afterward, we had a miniphoto session in the salon. The stylist was telling me how to pose while mom took pics on her cell phone. Mom even told me that I had to stop by her office building on the way home and get a picture made with my straight hair for her. She insisted, even after I tried to get out of it with the excuse that I didn't have any make-up on. It had all melted off in the blow-drying straightening process. (the stylist took at least 2 breaks in the process to wipe sweat from her face with a tissue!)
So I loved my hair straight, but now that I have washed it, and it has curled back up the front is a little too short (it comes to my mouth and is just barely long enough to tuck behind an ear), and she cut alot of it short, and didn't leave as much long as I wanted. Self consciously, I feel like it is a grown out mullet look, although friends assure me it is not.
I don't have any good pics yet or I would post them. Those are coming soon. Wow, this is a long post and I have not even gotten to the reason for the dermatologist visit which was supposed to be the subject of this post. Please bear with me a little further. Sorry dad and any guys that you had to read all about boring girls hair.
So in the midst of cutting my hair, the stylist stops, because her fingernail ran across a mole on my scalp. She very animatedly proceeded to tell me that I should have it removed because it could break off and get sucked into my brain and possibly kill me. She said that moles below the chest were fine, around the neck was sorta dangerous, but on my head was very dangerous. Then mom starts telling her story about getting a mole removed once. (this is a typical living overseas/difference in culture, and medical practices example. Ask anyone who has lived overseas and I am sure they can list all the medical advice they were freely given which is not true. Like ac or cold water making you sick, or a personal favorite: in Turkey I was told if I sat on the cold concrete patio I would not be able to have children--in the summer heat I took the risk and sat on the cool concrete!)
Back to this story though: I have known I had this mole since I was little, but I had not thought about it as a problem, it is hidden by a lot of hair. Anyways, so after this incident, I decided to look at it for the first time--which involved several mirrors and then a digital camera. haha. And I realized that it was oddly colored red. I had an RN friend and her visiting mother, who she called sorta a mole expert look at it and they suggested that I have it looked at. So I made an apt with a dermatologist. And that is the set-up for my next blog post which will be the visit to the dermatologist this last week.
(As I write this, I am wondering if moles are a taboo subject? Do we talk about them in America? Is it gross that I am writing about them? I mean everyone has them, so it must be okay, right? Also are warts okay to talk about? I need to know about this for my next post.)
Okay, now after proofing my blog post, I wonder if I write poorly. I rarely finish a thought without interrupting it with another thought in a parenthesis (kinda wonder if this is annoying, or makes the story hard to follow?). This would not fly in English class, but this is a blog not English class, so inshallah (Lord-willing) it is okay. One of my pet-peeves about myself is when I don't finish my sentences. It is a bad habit that I do way too often. Even yesterday I caught myself saying, "maybe up on that hill over there, we can ...." instead of a complete sentence "once we arrive at that hill, we can look around, and I can tell if I have been here before." This could be attributed to being an introvert and lots of times we don't vocalize thoughts, comments, or ideas, because we think others won't care or they are not important. I need to work on this. Wow! so that is a whole other topic for a whole other blog post. I was just wondering if using parenthesis to insert little comments, is like speaking in incomplete sentences. (hmmm....)
Sunday, July 18, 2010
ANTS in my ......
okay, now to the post I indeed to make yesterday before I realized that I had not shared my "eat fish and swim" story.
ANTS have invaded! Last weekend I woke up to ants coming out of my laptop! I had left my laptop on the coffee table in the living room overnight. Not the typical place to find ants. After killing at least 20 mini ants, and using an can of air on the keyboard, the ants still crawled out of the keyboard! I did a little research online and it looks like some ants are actually attracted to warm electronics! weird?! I know! So I bought some ant pesticide powder. But I didn't want to just sprinkle it on the coffee table, so I put it in a bottle cap. Not sure if it is working. I used a brand called Baygon. Is that used in America too? Umm, I don't think it is working, or maybe I did not use it right, cause there are still ants on the coffee table. I was reminded of this the other day, because I woke up and realized that I had forgotten to put my computer on the dining room table (which lhumdillia has remained ant free!), I left it on the coffee table and it was once again infected with ants!! I killed over a dozen again!
Any suggestions?
And to the wonderful people who are letting me stay in their house for these last 6 months, who happen to also read this blog: I am sorry that I have let ants invade your house. I will do my best to get rid of them before your return! sorri :)
ANTS have invaded! Last weekend I woke up to ants coming out of my laptop! I had left my laptop on the coffee table in the living room overnight. Not the typical place to find ants. After killing at least 20 mini ants, and using an can of air on the keyboard, the ants still crawled out of the keyboard! I did a little research online and it looks like some ants are actually attracted to warm electronics! weird?! I know! So I bought some ant pesticide powder. But I didn't want to just sprinkle it on the coffee table, so I put it in a bottle cap. Not sure if it is working. I used a brand called Baygon. Is that used in America too? Umm, I don't think it is working, or maybe I did not use it right, cause there are still ants on the coffee table. I was reminded of this the other day, because I woke up and realized that I had forgotten to put my computer on the dining room table (which lhumdillia has remained ant free!), I left it on the coffee table and it was once again infected with ants!! I killed over a dozen again!
Any suggestions?
And to the wonderful people who are letting me stay in their house for these last 6 months, who happen to also read this blog: I am sorry that I have let ants invade your house. I will do my best to get rid of them before your return! sorri :)
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Come, eat fish and swim!
I have gotten kinda bad at updating the blog. I can't believe it has been almost a month since I updated--and it has been a busy few weeks! This is one story that I intended to post from July 3! So I will do this now and then write what I was going to write about for today.
So one Friday night, I was on facebook, and my friend Natalie started chatting with me and asked me what I was doing on Saturday. I didn't have any real plans, so she invited me to go with her and her friend to "eat fish and swim!" It was going to be fun and we would do it in the cultural traditional way, she explained. Well, how could I resist that?! So we worked out the plan for me to take a bus to a city an hour south of where I live--that is where he parents live and she lives there on the weekends. She would pick me up from the bus station and then we would go "eat fish and swim!" Just for you outsiders-the $1 bus did not have ac or comfy chairs, but it did have open windows carrying a nice salty breeze and a great view of the Sea--and it all its blue hues (some days it has a least 5 different blue hues!)
The bus trip went fine, and Natalie picked me up then we went to go pick up her friend Hussein. By the time he was ready the fresh fish market was about to close, so we settled for the fresh fish flown in from Turkey at the local grocery store. You go and pick out which fish you want (there are 20+ varieties) and they clean the fish for you-which is nice! And of course this area of the store had a very fishy smell. So we got 2 kinds of fish and shrimp!
Then we headed to a second town, even further south. This town has a special area, called camel-although I am not sure why it is called camel. (It has long been joked that here there are only 1.2 camels in this country--at one of the famous tourist places just to keep the stereotype of camels in the middle east alive for tourists.) Anyways, to get to camel, you go through narrow, windy, 1 lane roads that cars drive in both directions on. But when you arrive the area is full of small family restaurants on the Sea, from which you can swim. So we chose one of the less crowed places, so they could cook our fish faster. It was past 2 by this point so we were hungry! While we waited we swam.
Then the food came:
first came the shrimp:
and then the fish!
They also ordered some traditional appetizers. We had hummus, baba gnanoush (pretty much hummus, but made from eggplant), fattoush (salad), french fries, and grilled eggplant with a pomegranate sauce that I loved! when you grill eggplant, it gets this savory texture and then with sweet pomegranate sauce it was sooo good. I didn't get a pic of the last kind of fish but it was also deep fried whole with head and tail still attached!
After lunch, we rented jet skis by the minute. Natalie and I rode ours for 10 minutes and I got to drive for half of it! It was so freeing to go whatever direction I wanted to go and as fast as I wanted and to hit the waves! I don't drive here so it was kinda nice to be in control of a vehicle for a little bit.
Close to sunset, we settled our bill. I think it was about $20 for lunch--which is the same price just to get into some of the beaches around here, and we got a great meal with our beach day!
On the way home, we had to take an alternate route, because fans of Germany were celebrating their 4-0 World Cup game win! Seriously, there were teenage guys on scooters with flags and cars parading with people hanging out with German flags. And we were leaving an hour after the game had finished! We made it back to Natalie's home, where I met her mom. Her brother was there and was going to give me a ride back to my house in my city, because he was going there anyways to watch another World Cup game with his friends. But first we had to all sit and talk and have their Filipina maid serve us juice and a snack first-which is culturally appropriate.
I got home almost 12 hours after I left from a full, but yet relaxing day! I should "eat fish and swim" more often!
So one Friday night, I was on facebook, and my friend Natalie started chatting with me and asked me what I was doing on Saturday. I didn't have any real plans, so she invited me to go with her and her friend to "eat fish and swim!" It was going to be fun and we would do it in the cultural traditional way, she explained. Well, how could I resist that?! So we worked out the plan for me to take a bus to a city an hour south of where I live--that is where he parents live and she lives there on the weekends. She would pick me up from the bus station and then we would go "eat fish and swim!" Just for you outsiders-the $1 bus did not have ac or comfy chairs, but it did have open windows carrying a nice salty breeze and a great view of the Sea--and it all its blue hues (some days it has a least 5 different blue hues!)
The bus trip went fine, and Natalie picked me up then we went to go pick up her friend Hussein. By the time he was ready the fresh fish market was about to close, so we settled for the fresh fish flown in from Turkey at the local grocery store. You go and pick out which fish you want (there are 20+ varieties) and they clean the fish for you-which is nice! And of course this area of the store had a very fishy smell. So we got 2 kinds of fish and shrimp!
Then we headed to a second town, even further south. This town has a special area, called camel-although I am not sure why it is called camel. (It has long been joked that here there are only 1.2 camels in this country--at one of the famous tourist places just to keep the stereotype of camels in the middle east alive for tourists.) Anyways, to get to camel, you go through narrow, windy, 1 lane roads that cars drive in both directions on. But when you arrive the area is full of small family restaurants on the Sea, from which you can swim. So we chose one of the less crowed places, so they could cook our fish faster. It was past 2 by this point so we were hungry! While we waited we swam.
Then the food came:
first came the shrimp:
and then the fish!
They also ordered some traditional appetizers. We had hummus, baba gnanoush (pretty much hummus, but made from eggplant), fattoush (salad), french fries, and grilled eggplant with a pomegranate sauce that I loved! when you grill eggplant, it gets this savory texture and then with sweet pomegranate sauce it was sooo good. I didn't get a pic of the last kind of fish but it was also deep fried whole with head and tail still attached!
After lunch, we rented jet skis by the minute. Natalie and I rode ours for 10 minutes and I got to drive for half of it! It was so freeing to go whatever direction I wanted to go and as fast as I wanted and to hit the waves! I don't drive here so it was kinda nice to be in control of a vehicle for a little bit.
Close to sunset, we settled our bill. I think it was about $20 for lunch--which is the same price just to get into some of the beaches around here, and we got a great meal with our beach day!
On the way home, we had to take an alternate route, because fans of Germany were celebrating their 4-0 World Cup game win! Seriously, there were teenage guys on scooters with flags and cars parading with people hanging out with German flags. And we were leaving an hour after the game had finished! We made it back to Natalie's home, where I met her mom. Her brother was there and was going to give me a ride back to my house in my city, because he was going there anyways to watch another World Cup game with his friends. But first we had to all sit and talk and have their Filipina maid serve us juice and a snack first-which is culturally appropriate.
I got home almost 12 hours after I left from a full, but yet relaxing day! I should "eat fish and swim" more often!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
The Wedding!!
This Saturday night was my language teacher, N's sister's wedding. I have gotten to meet all of their family, so I was so excited to be invited to her wedding. She has been engaged to her fiance the whole time I have been here and the wedding was really a celebration that she was finally able to get married. I would love to share the story behind it, and about all the wedding traditions here---and how much I LOVE them! But that is going to have to wait. I have been packing and moving ever since then, and am exhausted.
If you can't tell by my facebook status: I love dancing here!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037278&id=79800981&l=6d931b6fb0
Enjoy!
If you can't tell by my facebook status: I love dancing here!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037278&id=79800981&l=6d931b6fb0
Enjoy!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Un Noche Mexicano!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31258576&l=fb3574897a&id=79800981
So last week, one of the young professional clubs here hosted a Mexican Night! They put alot of work into it. They got authentic costumes from the Mexican Embassy. A local Mexican restaurant (which is decent, but nothing like El Zarape) serve tastes of quesadillas, nachos and tequila. Actually, the quesadillas that I tried were either just motzerella cheese in a tortilla or chicken, peppers, onion, and OLIVES!
They had a mariachi band and everything. Let me tell you that the people are here are so educated! They knew many of the songs already! La Bamba!
Even the local MTV station was there-which I thought was cool. You know how part of you always wants to make it on tv. Yah, I thought that would be cool too, until it hit me that they were broadcasting in Arabic when they were interviewing one of my friends. So then I tried to hide behind my friend, but that didn't work! The reported asked me in Arabic where I bought the flower in my hair. (see the picture link above) I panicked. I can definitely answer that question in Arabic. "starat hayde warde min Marji 500 mahal bihamra." But as I learned when a camera is shoved in your face, and you realize you are about to look like an idiot on tv, all the Arabic somehow just falls out of your brain! So I answered in English. And the reporter looked at me funny, realizing I was not from here. And asked me again in English, and wanted to know if I studied here or not. Thankfully, my friends helped me out, so I didn't look like a complete idiot--at least that is what they kept telling me.
Oh, and let me explain to you where I bought the flower. I got it at the local version of the Dollar Store---not the typical place the MTV watchers shop! That was kinda embarrassing! Many times, covered ladies will put these flowers under their veils, because they give the illusion of more hair--which is supposed to be attractive. Yes, just because you wear a veil, doesn't mean that you don't know how to dress to attract attention! Maybe this is similar to the poof alot of girls wear in the States! But my red flower was a huge hit! I bought extras for friends and they all wore them. And even had a couple people want to buy them from us! And it was my flower that originally attracted MTV to me, they thought I was dressed authentically! With my skirt from Turkey, and top from here! lol! fun times!
So last week, one of the young professional clubs here hosted a Mexican Night! They put alot of work into it. They got authentic costumes from the Mexican Embassy. A local Mexican restaurant (which is decent, but nothing like El Zarape) serve tastes of quesadillas, nachos and tequila. Actually, the quesadillas that I tried were either just motzerella cheese in a tortilla or chicken, peppers, onion, and OLIVES!
They had a mariachi band and everything. Let me tell you that the people are here are so educated! They knew many of the songs already! La Bamba!
Even the local MTV station was there-which I thought was cool. You know how part of you always wants to make it on tv. Yah, I thought that would be cool too, until it hit me that they were broadcasting in Arabic when they were interviewing one of my friends. So then I tried to hide behind my friend, but that didn't work! The reported asked me in Arabic where I bought the flower in my hair. (see the picture link above) I panicked. I can definitely answer that question in Arabic. "starat hayde warde min Marji 500 mahal bihamra." But as I learned when a camera is shoved in your face, and you realize you are about to look like an idiot on tv, all the Arabic somehow just falls out of your brain! So I answered in English. And the reporter looked at me funny, realizing I was not from here. And asked me again in English, and wanted to know if I studied here or not. Thankfully, my friends helped me out, so I didn't look like a complete idiot--at least that is what they kept telling me.
Oh, and let me explain to you where I bought the flower. I got it at the local version of the Dollar Store---not the typical place the MTV watchers shop! That was kinda embarrassing! Many times, covered ladies will put these flowers under their veils, because they give the illusion of more hair--which is supposed to be attractive. Yes, just because you wear a veil, doesn't mean that you don't know how to dress to attract attention! Maybe this is similar to the poof alot of girls wear in the States! But my red flower was a huge hit! I bought extras for friends and they all wore them. And even had a couple people want to buy them from us! And it was my flower that originally attracted MTV to me, they thought I was dressed authentically! With my skirt from Turkey, and top from here! lol! fun times!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Random Pics
some random thoughts and pics from this last week:
I found this at the Dollar Store today. I have not seen one like this in the States with interchangeable cutters. I bought if for $2.
Just in case you buy one, oneday, I thought I would share the instructions and warnings with you (also because the English is horrible!)
“Multi-use Strip-Cutter: The main body mixes theresin metal stainless steel”
Characteristic
1. This product specialized uses for to cut the fruits and melons class vegetables and the fruit, for example: the potato, the apple, the advantage, the cucumber, and so on, cause it to become the strip shape or the laminated shape.
2. This product makes for the high quality material and the staibless steel, environmental protection product, clean health, durable.
3. Easy to clean, disassembles and assembles conveniently.
4. Is the modern family essential good helper.
Attention
1. For the health in order to, please first cleans this product before the use.
2. After the use please clean this product, in order to avoid multiplies the bacterium, and lays aside in the suitable position
3. Cannot let the child independent employment
4. When use please note, do not have to use the finger to push the bit directly, in order to avoid cuts the finger
Also it is cherry season! I love cherries!
I just bought some HUGE cherries for $1 a pound! I also bought some plums. But look these cherries are huge (the plums are a little small) but still the cherries are almost as big as the plums!
And since cherries, plums and peaches are in season, I got all these below for $3.60! Yep that is 9 plums, 6 peaches and 2.5 pounds of cherries, 1 pound of plums, and ½ pound of peaches.
OH and while I am sharing pics. I came home late on night this week and found a visitor in my living room. I leave all my windows open, because I live on the 10th floor and can get a nice breeze through the apt with the windows open. Being on the 10th floor, I hardly ever get any bugs or mosquitoes, but this huge cockroach made all the to the 10th floor! 10 cm-really! This is after I stepped on it. Look at the hairs on its legs!
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I found this at the Dollar Store today. I have not seen one like this in the States with interchangeable cutters. I bought if for $2.
Just in case you buy one, oneday, I thought I would share the instructions and warnings with you (also because the English is horrible!)
“Multi-use Strip-Cutter: The main body mixes theresin metal stainless steel”
Characteristic
1. This product specialized uses for to cut the fruits and melons class vegetables and the fruit, for example: the potato, the apple, the advantage, the cucumber, and so on, cause it to become the strip shape or the laminated shape.
2. This product makes for the high quality material and the staibless steel, environmental protection product, clean health, durable.
3. Easy to clean, disassembles and assembles conveniently.
4. Is the modern family essential good helper.
Attention
1. For the health in order to, please first cleans this product before the use.
2. After the use please clean this product, in order to avoid multiplies the bacterium, and lays aside in the suitable position
3. Cannot let the child independent employment
4. When use please note, do not have to use the finger to push the bit directly, in order to avoid cuts the finger
Also it is cherry season! I love cherries!
I just bought some HUGE cherries for $1 a pound! I also bought some plums. But look these cherries are huge (the plums are a little small) but still the cherries are almost as big as the plums!
And since cherries, plums and peaches are in season, I got all these below for $3.60! Yep that is 9 plums, 6 peaches and 2.5 pounds of cherries, 1 pound of plums, and ½ pound of peaches.
OH and while I am sharing pics. I came home late on night this week and found a visitor in my living room. I leave all my windows open, because I live on the 10th floor and can get a nice breeze through the apt with the windows open. Being on the 10th floor, I hardly ever get any bugs or mosquitoes, but this huge cockroach made all the to the 10th floor! 10 cm-really! This is after I stepped on it. Look at the hairs on its legs!
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.
.
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Monday, May 24, 2010
touring the country
Last week, I got to travel around the country to places I have never been before with some other Americans.
Here are some pics from the week: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036627&id=79800981&l=ce30df99ed
We had the rare privilege of seeing how clay is made, molded into jars and water pictures, fired, and then painted by a man who has been doing it for over 50 years!
Here are some pics from the week: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036627&id=79800981&l=ce30df99ed
We had the rare privilege of seeing how clay is made, molded into jars and water pictures, fired, and then painted by a man who has been doing it for over 50 years!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Shopping
I went shopping with a friend for a baby swimming suit. I was not looking for anything for myself, but you know how sometimes dresses jump out into your hands and say “BUY ME!” So, I ended up buying a dress and a pair of flip flop sandals too. I needed a good pair of shoes for summer. I walk so much here I have worn out the soles of my sandals from last year-except my Chaco’s-but those are not always good when I need to dress up. Anyways, I found a good pair of sandals that will be dressy with nice soles, which are comfortable and all at a reasonable price—which is just about a miracle.
I really did not need the dress, but at this store, which is similar to a Ross, I found this dress that I am pretty sure is from Ann Taylor Loft! (they mark out the brands so you can’t tell) Like I have said before quality clothing is rare here, so I tried it on. It is a simple black dress that is long enough and has sleeves so I won’t have to layer-and it will be cool in the summer time. The dress was actually 1-2 sizes bigger than I am, but I tried it on anyways, and it didn’t look too bad. A national definitely would have worn it tighter, but I am not into tight clothing so much. Haha
My friend talked me into getting it, affirming me that it looked good on me. OH and my dad would be disappointed in me if I do not include that everything was on sale, so I got both my items 25% off! Lol. So when I go to check out, the lady at the counter looks at the dress and then at me and tells me that the dress is too big for me. She sees that the size in the dress is an American size so she converts it to metric sizing and asked me if I realized the dress was a 44-48 or something. I smiled and said yes I know. But still she held out the dress and was not bagging it for me. I explained that I did, in fact, try the dress on and I liked it big. For a moment there, I actually thought that she may not let me actually buy the dress. I would have to either lie and say I was buying it for someone else, or just not buy the dress at all. And then she decided to let me buy the dress. I thought she said that it was okay, because really she likes bigger clothes too. My friend thought she said it was okay, because bigger clothes liked her too. Either way it was funny! We both left the store laughing that only here would the sales clerk tell someone that the clothes they were buying were too big for them!
You have to love living here because you can never predict what will happen or what someone will say.
Oh, and my friend did find her baby swimming suit, so it was a successful venture for everyone. She got the swimsuit for $6 too-can’t beat that!
PS-I have not forgotten about Joha, but like a girl, I wanted to share this shopping story with you.
I really did not need the dress, but at this store, which is similar to a Ross, I found this dress that I am pretty sure is from Ann Taylor Loft! (they mark out the brands so you can’t tell) Like I have said before quality clothing is rare here, so I tried it on. It is a simple black dress that is long enough and has sleeves so I won’t have to layer-and it will be cool in the summer time. The dress was actually 1-2 sizes bigger than I am, but I tried it on anyways, and it didn’t look too bad. A national definitely would have worn it tighter, but I am not into tight clothing so much. Haha
My friend talked me into getting it, affirming me that it looked good on me. OH and my dad would be disappointed in me if I do not include that everything was on sale, so I got both my items 25% off! Lol. So when I go to check out, the lady at the counter looks at the dress and then at me and tells me that the dress is too big for me. She sees that the size in the dress is an American size so she converts it to metric sizing and asked me if I realized the dress was a 44-48 or something. I smiled and said yes I know. But still she held out the dress and was not bagging it for me. I explained that I did, in fact, try the dress on and I liked it big. For a moment there, I actually thought that she may not let me actually buy the dress. I would have to either lie and say I was buying it for someone else, or just not buy the dress at all. And then she decided to let me buy the dress. I thought she said that it was okay, because really she likes bigger clothes too. My friend thought she said it was okay, because bigger clothes liked her too. Either way it was funny! We both left the store laughing that only here would the sales clerk tell someone that the clothes they were buying were too big for them!
You have to love living here because you can never predict what will happen or what someone will say.
Oh, and my friend did find her baby swimming suit, so it was a successful venture for everyone. She got the swimsuit for $6 too-can’t beat that!
PS-I have not forgotten about Joha, but like a girl, I wanted to share this shopping story with you.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Joha and his sheep
I thought I would share with you some of the stories I have been reading in language class the last few weeks. I think you could classify them as Arabic fables—but I could be wrong. Unlike the ones you and I grew up with, these don’t really have a moral to the story, except to connive and trick people-which makes the stories even more interesting. I was sharing the stories last night with a friend and that is when I realized that they would encourage kids to lie and cheat. They definitely illustrate how this is a shame culture and you never do something wrong unless you get caught doing something wrong.
In class, my teacher reads the short story and then I butcher the story trying to read it as fast I as I can just to get through it. And then we go through and translate sentence by sentence. A lot of times I know the words, but the sentences don’t make any sense until we translate them. It is a good sign for the teacher then that on the third time around, I understand and laugh in all the appropriate places! I am not blonde, I am just an Arabic student! Lol. And then after reading the story, I have to answer questions about the story do excercises using putting new vocabulary words in correct forms in sentences. And conjugate the new verbs in past, present, and command forms for I, we, you (masc.), you (fem.), you (plural), he, she, they.
Here are the stories in my rough English translation. I think they are funnier (and of course less time consuming) if I don’t clean up the stories and translate literally.
Story #1: Joha and his sheep.
Joha cared for a sheep very pretty that he loved. His friends wanted to mock him because they wanted Joha to kill his donkey for them (“him to slaughter for them”=all one word (6 letters) in Arabic---let’s just say verbs are complicated in Arabic) to eat the meat from the sheep. So one of them told Joha: “what are you going to do with your sheep?” Joha answered: “I am going to hide it for my winter supply.” (meaning: care for my sheep and save him to eat in winter). His friend said: “What? Are you crazy? Do you not know that judgment day is coming tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? Bring your sheep here that we may eat of him.”
Joha didn’t care about what his friend said, but his friends came one after another and gave the same speech, until Joha was bored. So Joha promised them he would slaughter the sheep the next day and would invite them with a special invitation to the countryside to slaughter and eat the sheep. So Joha started a fire and began roasting the lamb on the fire. But his friends left him alone with their clothes while they went skinny-dipping in the river while Joha worked on the fire. Joha became angry that they left him and did not help him, so he gathered all their clothes and threw them in the fire, until they burned. And when they returned to him, they looked for their clothes, and saw that they had burned. They wanted to attack Joha, but Joha told them: “What benefit do you have from your clothes if you are sure judgment day is coming today or tomorrow?”
Joha always wins! Here the “phrase tomorrow or the next day” is very common. Nothing is ever for sure, but I have learned that if a repairman says tomorrow or the next day that maybe he will come the next week. The phrase is used to get out of a lot of things. Originally when we read this story his friends went on a stroll leaving their clothes with Joha, and this didn’t make sense to me, so my teacher and I both agreed that skinny dipping made more sense so we changed it!
Okay, this is a long post and it’s dinner time, so I gotta run, but I will post more stories of Joha soon!
In class, my teacher reads the short story and then I butcher the story trying to read it as fast I as I can just to get through it. And then we go through and translate sentence by sentence. A lot of times I know the words, but the sentences don’t make any sense until we translate them. It is a good sign for the teacher then that on the third time around, I understand and laugh in all the appropriate places! I am not blonde, I am just an Arabic student! Lol. And then after reading the story, I have to answer questions about the story do excercises using putting new vocabulary words in correct forms in sentences. And conjugate the new verbs in past, present, and command forms for I, we, you (masc.), you (fem.), you (plural), he, she, they.
Here are the stories in my rough English translation. I think they are funnier (and of course less time consuming) if I don’t clean up the stories and translate literally.
Story #1: Joha and his sheep.
Joha cared for a sheep very pretty that he loved. His friends wanted to mock him because they wanted Joha to kill his donkey for them (“him to slaughter for them”=all one word (6 letters) in Arabic---let’s just say verbs are complicated in Arabic) to eat the meat from the sheep. So one of them told Joha: “what are you going to do with your sheep?” Joha answered: “I am going to hide it for my winter supply.” (meaning: care for my sheep and save him to eat in winter). His friend said: “What? Are you crazy? Do you not know that judgment day is coming tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? Bring your sheep here that we may eat of him.”
Joha didn’t care about what his friend said, but his friends came one after another and gave the same speech, until Joha was bored. So Joha promised them he would slaughter the sheep the next day and would invite them with a special invitation to the countryside to slaughter and eat the sheep. So Joha started a fire and began roasting the lamb on the fire. But his friends left him alone with their clothes while they went skinny-dipping in the river while Joha worked on the fire. Joha became angry that they left him and did not help him, so he gathered all their clothes and threw them in the fire, until they burned. And when they returned to him, they looked for their clothes, and saw that they had burned. They wanted to attack Joha, but Joha told them: “What benefit do you have from your clothes if you are sure judgment day is coming today or tomorrow?”
Joha always wins! Here the “phrase tomorrow or the next day” is very common. Nothing is ever for sure, but I have learned that if a repairman says tomorrow or the next day that maybe he will come the next week. The phrase is used to get out of a lot of things. Originally when we read this story his friends went on a stroll leaving their clothes with Joha, and this didn’t make sense to me, so my teacher and I both agreed that skinny dipping made more sense so we changed it!
Okay, this is a long post and it’s dinner time, so I gotta run, but I will post more stories of Joha soon!
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