I just got back from a packed vacation visiting family in Istanbul. We saw alot and played alot. Check out the pictures at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035584&id=79800981&l=ac76db103e
Oh, and on a random side note, as I traveled home, the people got louder. Istanbul was much quieter than my city, even though it is at least 4 times bigger than where I live. Traveling back was an interesting experience, because the airport check in counter was louder than the ferry that I took across the city to the airport, and people were speaking Arabic. I was glad that it felt comforting to hear Arabic; I must be doing decent in Arabic then, if I miss it. And then waiting at the gate, everyone was loud and there was no real line, just a mass of people. It is scary how good I have gotten at pushy through and cutting in lines, just like everyone else. Please forgive me if it takes me a little while to readjust to in the US, and I push or cut in line in front of you. ;) No one yelled on the plane, but it was not at all quite like the busses in Turkey. And, like normal for Arabs, when the plane landed everyone on the plane applauded.
Anyways I am still waiting for the noise to fade away again, but it hasn't. I came back to find that they are daily doing construction on the roof of our building and we live on the top 10th floor. So they are drilling at 8AM and it sounds like it is in my room! I can hear the motorbikes on the street from the 10th floor, and I started counting seconds between honks, and the highest I have gotten is "8 mississippi." Right now two cars are holding down their horns, cause we all know this gets the problem solved faster!! anyways, sorry for that rant. I am sure this is just a culture shock thing, but thought I would share.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Sweet Talk
God has blessed me with 2 really great roommates here. I have learned so much from them both. Today, J and I went to the university that we attended last semester to try and get our deposits back. Through the 3 different offices we went to today, J used all her Texas girl sweet talk! The process was so much easier, because she was so gregarious with all the people! She even made a friend with Mohammad in the last office. We have to go back and see him tomorrow to Lord-willing get our $200 deposit refunds.
But while we were there, she asked him something that I would have never asked him. She asked him for a Spring Sticker for our ids. I don’t know about your universities, but to get a semester sticker is the same as validating your id that you are current student. The problem is although we have current ids, since we are not taking classes this semester we don’t have Spring Stickers, and therefore cannot work out in the very nice university gym. J worked her God-given magic to see if Mohammad had any wasta (or connections) to get us into the gym. You see, here there are NEVER any hard, fast rules here. There are always exceptions. So J pushed to see if we could be an exception, and finally he told us to go and talk to Joelle in another building about it. You see we thought this meant that he would call Joelle and tell her to give us stickers or something, but of course he didn’t.
So we show up and explain our situation to Joelle, and that Mohammad said that they were good friends and that she could help us. Her boss just happened to be there at the same time. And to make a long story short, we did not get stickers, but they told us that we could work out there, and that they would not be so strict about the stickers!!! So, instead of getting our stickers, it seems that now a lot more people can get into the gym, because they are not going to be checking for stickers!! All because J asked Mohammad, the registrar!!! Gotta love that there are NEVER any hard, fast rules here. I hope I don’t go back to America and expect to get outta rules all the time. That won’t be appreciated in America, but it is very normal here.
So then J and I take a taxi home and the driver knew English, French, and Arabic, which is very common. We talked on and off with him. I was a little disturbed when I first got in, because I felt like he was staring at me through the rearview mirror. So finally he expressed what he was thinking. In Arabic, he told me that I was very pretty, but would be much more pretty if I put my hair in a ponytail!! The taxi driver was giving me advice on how to wear my hair. He was trying to say it is better in the summer to wear a ponytail because of the heat and that it makes your face look better. I asked if he meant like a facelift and he agreed!! He also said J would look nice too in a ponytail! Oh country that I live in! Never would I have thought that a taxi driver would tell me that my face would be much prettier if I wore my hair in a ponytail. And he was not even trying to hit on us, he was just giving us advice. Oh, and J being in a great mood after getting into the gym started singing in the taxi, to which he wanted us to sing the oldies song Twist, so just before we got out of the taxi we sang “Twist again like we did last summer, twist again like we did last year!!” Oh country, how I love your randomness!!
But while we were there, she asked him something that I would have never asked him. She asked him for a Spring Sticker for our ids. I don’t know about your universities, but to get a semester sticker is the same as validating your id that you are current student. The problem is although we have current ids, since we are not taking classes this semester we don’t have Spring Stickers, and therefore cannot work out in the very nice university gym. J worked her God-given magic to see if Mohammad had any wasta (or connections) to get us into the gym. You see, here there are NEVER any hard, fast rules here. There are always exceptions. So J pushed to see if we could be an exception, and finally he told us to go and talk to Joelle in another building about it. You see we thought this meant that he would call Joelle and tell her to give us stickers or something, but of course he didn’t.
So we show up and explain our situation to Joelle, and that Mohammad said that they were good friends and that she could help us. Her boss just happened to be there at the same time. And to make a long story short, we did not get stickers, but they told us that we could work out there, and that they would not be so strict about the stickers!!! So, instead of getting our stickers, it seems that now a lot more people can get into the gym, because they are not going to be checking for stickers!! All because J asked Mohammad, the registrar!!! Gotta love that there are NEVER any hard, fast rules here. I hope I don’t go back to America and expect to get outta rules all the time. That won’t be appreciated in America, but it is very normal here.
So then J and I take a taxi home and the driver knew English, French, and Arabic, which is very common. We talked on and off with him. I was a little disturbed when I first got in, because I felt like he was staring at me through the rearview mirror. So finally he expressed what he was thinking. In Arabic, he told me that I was very pretty, but would be much more pretty if I put my hair in a ponytail!! The taxi driver was giving me advice on how to wear my hair. He was trying to say it is better in the summer to wear a ponytail because of the heat and that it makes your face look better. I asked if he meant like a facelift and he agreed!! He also said J would look nice too in a ponytail! Oh country that I live in! Never would I have thought that a taxi driver would tell me that my face would be much prettier if I wore my hair in a ponytail. And he was not even trying to hit on us, he was just giving us advice. Oh, and J being in a great mood after getting into the gym started singing in the taxi, to which he wanted us to sing the oldies song Twist, so just before we got out of the taxi we sang “Twist again like we did last summer, twist again like we did last year!!” Oh country, how I love your randomness!!
Monday, March 8, 2010
When was the last time?
When was the last time you wanted to cross the busy intersection during rush hour, but you couldn't without the help of the Policeman directing traffic at that corner? Okay, so when was the last time that that you had to wait on that Policeman to finish texting before you could cross the busy intersection? Mine was last week! Oh how I love this place!!
When was the last time your street was decorated with multicolored streamers connecting all the buildings back and forth across the street? That would be Feb. 26th the prophet's birthday here. The ribbons are still up, making our street quite festive!
When was the last time you had dinner by a small quaint little port and watched the Mediterranean waves crash against the rocks? Not to rub it in, but that was Saturday night here!
When was the last time I posted? Sorry!!! I am trying to do better.
When was the last time your street was decorated with multicolored streamers connecting all the buildings back and forth across the street? That would be Feb. 26th the prophet's birthday here. The ribbons are still up, making our street quite festive!
When was the last time you had dinner by a small quaint little port and watched the Mediterranean waves crash against the rocks? Not to rub it in, but that was Saturday night here!
When was the last time I posted? Sorry!!! I am trying to do better.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Flexible Weather
Skiing Attempt: We got all the way to the ski town, but had to turn around on the way to the resort, because the army said you had to have snow chains to go further. So instead my friends and I played in the snow and had a nice warm lunch. Check out the pics at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034438&id=79800981&l=2c09ca63cc
It is a good thing I grew up in Oklahoma and am used to frequent changes in weather! Last week was really cold and I went to the snowy mountains twice, but these last two days have been warm enough to open all my windows and wear shorts in the house. The high today is 82 and the rest of the week is in the high 70s! I know all you snowed-in in Oklahoma must be jealous, but try not to covet.
I have noticed that the nationals are not too good about changing as quickly as the weather changes. Even though it is warm, they still dress in warm coats and jackets. I think this is because they don't check the weather everyday to see what to wear, so they just assume because it is winter it will be cold. How silly is that?! lol, just kidding. Seriously though, in Oklahoma I would check the weather everyday, but the longer I live here the less frequently I check the weather forecast. Most often I just look outside or stick an arm out on the balcony to determine which jacket to grab.
I have begun many posts that I never finished, since this one goes along with the crazy weather and the new picture album (see the link above) I thought I would share it with you:
My ears are cold, because I forgot to turn on the hot water heater.
Okay, are you ready for this logic?
1. In order to have hot water, you must turn on the hot water heater. (they don't run all the time like the US)
2. In order to shower with hot water, you must leave the hot water heater on for several hours (usually overnight for a morning shower...unless you choose to get up in the middle of the night to turn it on--no thank you!)
3. Last night I went to bed and forgot to turn on the hot water heater.
4. This morning there was no hot water.
5. Because there was no hot water, I chose to not shower. Don't worry I used body spray so I was not smelly! :)
6. So I put my hair in a ponytail, no big deal.
7. But the weather finally decided to act like it is winter here and be cold. (this was last week)
8. So on my 20 minute walk to work my ears froze!
9. I had a scarf on and everything, but my big hair is usually always down in the winter to keep my ears toasty, but that was not the case today, because I did not turn the hot water on.
This is not at all to complain, but just to laugh at the logic of living overseas and how one random thing affects so many other things that you don't plan on (even for a known planner like me). Lets just say I have learned how to be really flexible living overseas. You never know what your day holds, because so many random things happen that plans constantly fluctuate. (like my first ski trip above!)
Now I am off to wash the pants that I just got hemmed, but because the tailor smokes in his shop while he works they all smell like cigarette smoke, so I must wash them before I wear them. (but I got 5 pairs of pants altered for $20, so it is still good) But because we will be on generator for another 1.5 hours, I can't really start the washer till 6PM, and by the time the washer goes through its 1.5 hour cleaning cycle process it will be dark outside so these pants and jeans will not dry till tomorrow afternoon, but I am not complaining, just making observations, because the weather is going to be warm this week so they should dry in 24 hours! Which is very nice! :)
okay, now that I have sufficiently bored you with the daily details of my life, I am really off. Now you see why I saw not much was blog worthy this week....this post just really lowered the small worth of all my other blog posts.
It is a good thing I grew up in Oklahoma and am used to frequent changes in weather! Last week was really cold and I went to the snowy mountains twice, but these last two days have been warm enough to open all my windows and wear shorts in the house. The high today is 82 and the rest of the week is in the high 70s! I know all you snowed-in in Oklahoma must be jealous, but try not to covet.
I have noticed that the nationals are not too good about changing as quickly as the weather changes. Even though it is warm, they still dress in warm coats and jackets. I think this is because they don't check the weather everyday to see what to wear, so they just assume because it is winter it will be cold. How silly is that?! lol, just kidding. Seriously though, in Oklahoma I would check the weather everyday, but the longer I live here the less frequently I check the weather forecast. Most often I just look outside or stick an arm out on the balcony to determine which jacket to grab.
I have begun many posts that I never finished, since this one goes along with the crazy weather and the new picture album (see the link above) I thought I would share it with you:
My ears are cold, because I forgot to turn on the hot water heater.
Okay, are you ready for this logic?
1. In order to have hot water, you must turn on the hot water heater. (they don't run all the time like the US)
2. In order to shower with hot water, you must leave the hot water heater on for several hours (usually overnight for a morning shower...unless you choose to get up in the middle of the night to turn it on--no thank you!)
3. Last night I went to bed and forgot to turn on the hot water heater.
4. This morning there was no hot water.
5. Because there was no hot water, I chose to not shower. Don't worry I used body spray so I was not smelly! :)
6. So I put my hair in a ponytail, no big deal.
7. But the weather finally decided to act like it is winter here and be cold. (this was last week)
8. So on my 20 minute walk to work my ears froze!
9. I had a scarf on and everything, but my big hair is usually always down in the winter to keep my ears toasty, but that was not the case today, because I did not turn the hot water on.
This is not at all to complain, but just to laugh at the logic of living overseas and how one random thing affects so many other things that you don't plan on (even for a known planner like me). Lets just say I have learned how to be really flexible living overseas. You never know what your day holds, because so many random things happen that plans constantly fluctuate. (like my first ski trip above!)
Now I am off to wash the pants that I just got hemmed, but because the tailor smokes in his shop while he works they all smell like cigarette smoke, so I must wash them before I wear them. (but I got 5 pairs of pants altered for $20, so it is still good) But because we will be on generator for another 1.5 hours, I can't really start the washer till 6PM, and by the time the washer goes through its 1.5 hour cleaning cycle process it will be dark outside so these pants and jeans will not dry till tomorrow afternoon, but I am not complaining, just making observations, because the weather is going to be warm this week so they should dry in 24 hours! Which is very nice! :)
okay, now that I have sufficiently bored you with the daily details of my life, I am really off. Now you see why I saw not much was blog worthy this week....this post just really lowered the small worth of all my other blog posts.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Mohammad's Birthday!
So, in my young professional’s club meeting, we are trying to plan a one day ski trip. And realizing that it costs more to go for a weekend than a weekday, they get the idea to go on a national holiday day, because then it would be in the week and everyone would have off work. And this country is in the top 10 of countries with the most national holidays. So they are trying to think of what National Holiday is next.
That is when I (THE FOREIGNER) chime in. “ Mohammad’s Birthday! That’s soon right?” To which the guy sitting across from me and the most devote Muslim in the club says “Mohammad who?” I am like “Mohammad.” We go back and forth a couple of times, before someone corrects me with “The Prophet’s Birthday!” Okay, so I got the title of the Holiday wrong, and he was trying to figure out which one of our million friends named Mohammad had a birthday coming up, BUT I think I deserve credit for knowing the next national holiday as a foreigner. In any case, I provided the whole club with a good solid 2 minutes of nonstop laughter over “Mohammad’s Birthday!” And that is what language and cultural learning is all about…being humbled and learning to laugh at yourself while others are laughing at you for messing up.
Just FYI, The Prophet’s Birthday is February 26th. I was the only one who had a planner out and they wanted me to look it up in my calendar, but I had to explain that my calendar was from America and would not list The Prophet’s Birthday! Lol
That is when I (THE FOREIGNER) chime in. “ Mohammad’s Birthday! That’s soon right?” To which the guy sitting across from me and the most devote Muslim in the club says “Mohammad who?” I am like “Mohammad.” We go back and forth a couple of times, before someone corrects me with “The Prophet’s Birthday!” Okay, so I got the title of the Holiday wrong, and he was trying to figure out which one of our million friends named Mohammad had a birthday coming up, BUT I think I deserve credit for knowing the next national holiday as a foreigner. In any case, I provided the whole club with a good solid 2 minutes of nonstop laughter over “Mohammad’s Birthday!” And that is what language and cultural learning is all about…being humbled and learning to laugh at yourself while others are laughing at you for messing up.
Just FYI, The Prophet’s Birthday is February 26th. I was the only one who had a planner out and they wanted me to look it up in my calendar, but I had to explain that my calendar was from America and would not list The Prophet’s Birthday! Lol
Monday, January 25, 2010
Hummus!
I just finished my Advanced Arabic final presentation! I was supposed to talk about something authentically Arab. Lots of the students spoke on politics, but I am not into politics, so I chose to speak on hummus! Everyone loved it, they all laughed at the right times and enjoyed snacking on the hummus. (yah, that might have been a bribe for my teacher, but oh well, I think it worked)
I thought I would share my English version of the presentation with you. I was really intrigued by hummus for a week! I was surprised about how interesting it is!
Hummus: God’s gift to the region
“Currently there is a war between Israel and Lebanon. In October 2008, the Association of Lebanese Industrialists petitioned to the Lebanese ministry of Economy to request protected status from the European Commission for hummus as a uniquely Lebanese food, similar to the Protected Geographical Status rights held over regional food items by various European Union countries. Fadi Abboud (president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association), stated that "Israelis have usurped several Lebanese and oriental products Israel has stolen our land, and now our civilization and our food!” As a response, food critic Janna Gur wrote: "The success of certain brands of Israeli hummus abroad may have been what brought about Abboud's anger", leading him to claim that Israel has been "stealing" their country's national dishes, like hummus, falafel, tabbouleh and baba ghanouj. Shooky Galili (an Israeli journalist specialising in food who writes a blog dedicated to hummus), claimed in reply that “Hummus doesn’t belong to the country that invented it, but the people who love it”.
In October 2009, Lebanon made the world’s largest hummus. They made 2 tons (900 kilos) of hummus to prove that hummus was Lebanese. But then this last month, January 2010 Israel took the world record from Lebanon by making 4 tons of hummus (1853 kilos). Lebanon will not let Israel wins, so they already have plans in place to take back the world record title.
This is one of the nicest/tastiest wars in the region. If all the wars in the Middle East were like this, there would be peace everywhere.
There are many different kinds of hummus and several differences between Palestinian, Lebanese, and Israeli hummus. In Lebanon, hummus with Tahini (sesame paste) is the norm, while other traditional kind adds ground beef and pine nuts. Palestinian hummus has mint in it, and paprika, parsley, and cumin. They also substitute yogurt for the Tahini that Lebanese hummus has. Israelis like hummus hot (unlike Lebanese or Palestinians who eat it cold.) Israel also adds olive oil, cumin and Tahini in their humus. Also in Israel, there are places that sell only hummus, called Humsoit.
Hummus is cheap, nutritious, and tasty. It is good for your health. It is high in iron, vitamin C, protein, and fiber. But be careful, because hummus can give you gas! There is only one thing that can unite all Muslims, Jews, Christians, Israelis, Arabs, Phoenicians, and Palestinians, and that is a love of hummus!
Hummus is one of the oldest known prepared foods, eaten in the Middle East for centuries. In 400 BC Plato and Socrates wrote about the benefits of hummus in their diets. The chickpea was used in Palestine before 4000 BC, and was one of the earliest crops cultivated in Mesopotamia (which in Arabic is translated as the land between 2 rivers---that thought was cool!) And according to Wikipedia, Cicero, the Roman orator was named for an ancestor who had a wart on his nose shaped like a chickpea.
So, how do we make hummus? If you are me, I use a can of hummus ready to serve with Tahine and add garlic, a little lemon juice and olive oil. And then I would eat it with Arabic pita bread.
But this hummus (whip out the famous restaurant hummus) is homemade. They even make homemade Tahine. They add garlic, lemon juice, olive oil. And this is the traditional bowl that hummus is served in. When it is finished, spread it in this bowl, and top it off with a few whole chickpeas and a little oil. (The bowl is small and rust colored with large smudged triangles of a tanish/orange on this sides pointing to the center of the bowl.)
Hummus is to be eaten as an appetizer with Arabic flatbread (pita) or you can add it to a schwarma or falafel sandwich, or eat it with grilled chicken or fish.
Finally, I closed my presentation with this video. It is in English but about hummus and Arab life, so my teacher let me show 30 seconds of it, before my time ran out. Enjoy the hummus rap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIybz6axr1Q&feature=fvw
If you wanna try:
- Mix/blend 10 oz. chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans in America) with 2 large cloves of garlic, salt, 8-12 tablespoons tahini (pureed sesame) 10 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Serve in a large flat bowl
- Sprinkle paprika over the hummus
- Add more lemon, salt or garlic for taste
- For softer/richer add oil
I thought I would share my English version of the presentation with you. I was really intrigued by hummus for a week! I was surprised about how interesting it is!
Hummus: God’s gift to the region
“Currently there is a war between Israel and Lebanon. In October 2008, the Association of Lebanese Industrialists petitioned to the Lebanese ministry of Economy to request protected status from the European Commission for hummus as a uniquely Lebanese food, similar to the Protected Geographical Status rights held over regional food items by various European Union countries. Fadi Abboud (president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association), stated that "Israelis have usurped several Lebanese and oriental products Israel has stolen our land, and now our civilization and our food!” As a response, food critic Janna Gur wrote: "The success of certain brands of Israeli hummus abroad may have been what brought about Abboud's anger", leading him to claim that Israel has been "stealing" their country's national dishes, like hummus, falafel, tabbouleh and baba ghanouj. Shooky Galili (an Israeli journalist specialising in food who writes a blog dedicated to hummus), claimed in reply that “Hummus doesn’t belong to the country that invented it, but the people who love it”.
In October 2009, Lebanon made the world’s largest hummus. They made 2 tons (900 kilos) of hummus to prove that hummus was Lebanese. But then this last month, January 2010 Israel took the world record from Lebanon by making 4 tons of hummus (1853 kilos). Lebanon will not let Israel wins, so they already have plans in place to take back the world record title.
This is one of the nicest/tastiest wars in the region. If all the wars in the Middle East were like this, there would be peace everywhere.
There are many different kinds of hummus and several differences between Palestinian, Lebanese, and Israeli hummus. In Lebanon, hummus with Tahini (sesame paste) is the norm, while other traditional kind adds ground beef and pine nuts. Palestinian hummus has mint in it, and paprika, parsley, and cumin. They also substitute yogurt for the Tahini that Lebanese hummus has. Israelis like hummus hot (unlike Lebanese or Palestinians who eat it cold.) Israel also adds olive oil, cumin and Tahini in their humus. Also in Israel, there are places that sell only hummus, called Humsoit.
Hummus is cheap, nutritious, and tasty. It is good for your health. It is high in iron, vitamin C, protein, and fiber. But be careful, because hummus can give you gas! There is only one thing that can unite all Muslims, Jews, Christians, Israelis, Arabs, Phoenicians, and Palestinians, and that is a love of hummus!
Hummus is one of the oldest known prepared foods, eaten in the Middle East for centuries. In 400 BC Plato and Socrates wrote about the benefits of hummus in their diets. The chickpea was used in Palestine before 4000 BC, and was one of the earliest crops cultivated in Mesopotamia (which in Arabic is translated as the land between 2 rivers---that thought was cool!) And according to Wikipedia, Cicero, the Roman orator was named for an ancestor who had a wart on his nose shaped like a chickpea.
So, how do we make hummus? If you are me, I use a can of hummus ready to serve with Tahine and add garlic, a little lemon juice and olive oil. And then I would eat it with Arabic pita bread.
But this hummus (whip out the famous restaurant hummus) is homemade. They even make homemade Tahine. They add garlic, lemon juice, olive oil. And this is the traditional bowl that hummus is served in. When it is finished, spread it in this bowl, and top it off with a few whole chickpeas and a little oil. (The bowl is small and rust colored with large smudged triangles of a tanish/orange on this sides pointing to the center of the bowl.)
Hummus is to be eaten as an appetizer with Arabic flatbread (pita) or you can add it to a schwarma or falafel sandwich, or eat it with grilled chicken or fish.
Finally, I closed my presentation with this video. It is in English but about hummus and Arab life, so my teacher let me show 30 seconds of it, before my time ran out. Enjoy the hummus rap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIybz6axr1Q&feature=fvw
If you wanna try:
- Mix/blend 10 oz. chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans in America) with 2 large cloves of garlic, salt, 8-12 tablespoons tahini (pureed sesame) 10 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Serve in a large flat bowl
- Sprinkle paprika over the hummus
- Add more lemon, salt or garlic for taste
- For softer/richer add oil
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
December Pics
Picture Time! December was really great! It was packed full of traveling, my brother visiting and celebrating Christmas. Earlier this week, I celebrated my one year anniversary of living in the middle east! Yay!
There is so much to update you on, I hope you got a email from me about all the great things in December. If not leave a comment below, and I will send an email with more details.
For now, though enjoy some pics:
Travels:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033663&id=79800981&l=e9d1f5a8dd
Christmas:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033591&id=79800981&l=7684e9a639
BCRAC:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033590&id=79800981&l=53a026008f
There is so much to update you on, I hope you got a email from me about all the great things in December. If not leave a comment below, and I will send an email with more details.
For now, though enjoy some pics:
Travels:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033663&id=79800981&l=e9d1f5a8dd
Christmas:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033591&id=79800981&l=7684e9a639
BCRAC:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033590&id=79800981&l=53a026008f
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