Eureka!

After a year and a half I have solved a problem that has haunted me and discouraged my overtures to my friends: I know why all my baking flopped – I was using the wrong conversion table to get from cups and tablespoons to grams and ounces. As simple as that! I feel such relief and a new wave of energy and desire to try to bake gifts for my friends, and just in time for Christmas. I’m planning to make 60 jam filled sugar cookies to give to staff at school and other friends and their families. Let's hope it works, or I will be sorely disappointed.

How to Change a Light Bulb

...with no electrical grounding.














Complete with rubber gloves, wooden spoons and rubber-soled shoes.

Volleyball Once More

After you leave college, playing team sports is logistically annoying mostly impractical. But now that I’m back in the school environment the opportunity has again arisen: the PE teacher sent an open invitation for us to help with the inter-school volleyball tournament. I was giddy with excitement as I volunteered to keep score and track the substitutions. I didn’t realize it was actually a stressful role. And I also didn’t realize how much volleyball has changed – yes it has been 10 years since I played competitively! That means that there is now a libero where there wasn’t one before and rally-point is standard. It makes me feel old for a sport to change so much. But the PE teacher asked me to help coach next year, which is an exciting idea, whether I do it or continue on as score keeper, I don't know yet.

International Day 2009

Can you guess what Jared is...?

Right to Left (Arabic style, here): teacher in Gulf-wear; staff wearing normal (maternity) clothes; Jared as a cowboy/sheriff (which was a HUGE hit); the gardener in his native Sudanese get up.

Here's a teacher who borrowed a traditional wedding dress. The huge gold necklaces are very flash (usually not of solid gold). She ditched the head wrap because it was hot and hard to maintain while teaching.

Other local dress..

Hot Summer

And this was inside with no sunlight penetrating the shuttered windows...

Crash II (and not the computer this time)

Fitting that I've been blogging mostly about driving because yesterday it happened...our first crash. I dropped off some friends at home and then I got in a wreck. I immediately called Jared who came to my rescue, along with one of my students whom Jared called. I was well taken care of. I'm fine physically - the real set back is to my work on gender role and identity here. Being the one to face the police questions and reporting wasn't a pleasant experience emotionally. The good thing is that my road rage is going; now I just feel defeated!

Besides that, our car is going into the shop under the careful work of a mechanic who is one of my students.

I'll work through my issues and give you the fuller story later! It was an interesting culture learning experience, to say the least.

The Grey Wall

Tonight I sat out on our balcony at dusk to be quiet with some thoughts. As I looked down the dirt road I saw again the large house at the end, and I realized the anger that house inspires in me. The side of the house that faces us is a three-story grey wall with NO WINDOWS. It is rather unattractive to look at, while I long for inspiring scenery around me - grass and trees to break up the sand and concrete would be nice.

This windowless grey wall is hard for me because it shouts in my face about how trapped I feel sometimes. We have few small windows, with tinted glass. There are times to appreciate this: when the sun is trying to beat heat into the apartment, or when the workmen next door are trying to see in. But more often it makes me feel boxed in like a trapped animal wanting to get out and roam and breathe.

I'm already a little rebellious by keeping my shutters open to let in as much light as possible, often going as far as opening the windows when the weather permits. I wonder what the owners would think if I drew some grass and trees on that blank grey wall? Perhaps no one would even notice since most windows are shuttered closed. On the bright side, I'm thankful that my own windowless grey wall faces theirs, so I don't see it that often!

Crash

Yes, our "great-deal" laptop crashed and burned at the beginning of the year. Hence, our long Internet silence. This summer we'll see if we can retreive our hard drive information - possibly a long shot.

In the meantime, through some finagling and the good will of friends who are lending us their internet connection, I am using my work computer. My sincere intention is to put a few updates in from the past five months. Please note these are intentions/hopes - not promises! But, I'll do the best I can with the time, energy and internet connection that I have.

Hot in the Halls

We're living with the AC on and enjoying our recently purchased rotating fans. We also bought linen outfits which are a marked improvement over my old nylon and polyester blends which are like little sweatboxes for legs.

Though we're still not at the peak of heat, I am already recalling one small logicistal problem at school: we don't have central air - only individual units in each classroom (which is enough to be thankful for, I know). However, it does mean that anytime I leave my own little biosphere, I get hot quickly. So trips to the photocopier or worse yet to the toilet, are adventures in sweat minimalization.

It's still not unbearably hot, but I don't know the temperature since our thermometer fried last summer. BBC says we're in the mid-nineties; it feels hotter than that, even so there's a long way to go through July and August.

Twins?

...many people here seem to think so. Apparently the blue eyes, stubbly chin/mustache thing give Jared an uncanny resemblance to a much-loved Turkish soap star heartthrob! We often hear the name 'Muhanned' muttered as we walk down the street - some star struck in actually believing the superstar is walking among them, others giggling and nudging friends. And I'm not only talking about girls/women: Jared's barber tried to convince another customer Jared was the real deal, even prodding Jared into Arabic to prove the point. The other man didn't know what to think, but later refused to believe Jared's true nationality.

Road Rage

Many foreigners are too afraid to drive, or their companies won't allow it. This is for good reason: recently within a 14 week period there were 3,914 accidents, 629 deaths and 1,794 serious injuries in our city.

This is hardly surprising when you consider some of the rules of the road. My personal rule is this: expect everyone to do anything at any moment. This means anticipating that there will be a car either reversing back down or driving the wrong way up an on-ramp. It also means there will be cars, four wheelers and bicycles heading into the on-coming traffic on the highway. There will be pedestrians (including burca-ed women) who sprint across the highway trying to make it either to the shop or back home. The car in front will definitely change lanes without warning, and no one will check their rearview mirrors, if they in fact have them. It means that you must stop on the roundabout and yield to those entering it at 60mph. It also covers the fact that men will transport 20 foot pipes by holding them out the window and balancing them on the side mirrors. I know that in heavy traffic some hot-blooded driver will co-opt the opposing lane and claim his own direction.

Definitely we will make an extra lane or two beyond those designed for the road, and if we want to hold our place, we will straddle the lanes to maintain pole position for getting ahead. Of course we will use the right "shoulder" to pass other cars on the highway. We will use the opposite lane to circumvent speed bumps where they have been half-removed, and we will do u-turns indiscriminately since there is no other way to turn around.

I know how to avoid being double parked, and I join them in pulling up so far I can't see the traffic light, waiting instead for the horn honking to know when it's green (all the while assuming others will run the red). I have memorized the potholes on my routes that swallow whole tires, and I watch expertly for the pieces of tree branch or pipe sticking up that mark deep pits. I've got the hand gestures down, which include throwing up an open palm to express frustration at the ridiculousness of the other person's maneuver, or pinching the first two fingers with the thumb to say roughly: "slow down; think about it; get a grip."

Suffice it to say that my response has been aggression rather than fear - maybe it's that L.A. driving experience kicking in. Plus, behind the wheel of a car I have more equal footing with men, though I'm now trying not to use the road as my forum to declare myself! With Jared's encouragement, I'm attempting to become a calmer driver; and he's reforming my gesturing my newly acquired skills for using the shoulder as a fast lane. So, pray for our safety and my road rage!

*It's funny to look back at my May 2008 post about being a passenger - so many more antics to document now that we're driving ourselves.

The Time Has Come - New Wheels

After a year of taxis, we decided it was time to have our own set of wheels. We were skittish in the purchasing process - not wanting to buy a new low-spec, off-brand car; but also not wanting to purchase a reliable brand second-hand considering the way cars are driven here. Fortunately, a friend recommended to us an ambassador's wife's compact Mitsubishi. We were excited by the low mileage, five seatbelts, stick-shift, and hatchback with fold-down rear seats - plus its heat-repelling silver color is of real advantage here. It seemed too good to be true - and in a sense was because we got in quite a predicament during the process of becoming owners - but that's not a story for this forum.


However, now that the car is in our possession - I'll just say Hallelujah! I don't think any amount of potted plants or comfort food can equal the way the car has helped us to settle here. Those scorching walks through "sand dunes" out to the main road were enough to deter all but essential trips - we often skimped on food because we didn't want to go shopping. Additionally, we have the comfort of air conditioning, a smoke-free enviornment, seatbelts for all, four doors and windows that ALL function, our own choice of music, and no bickering over prices with taxi drivers. For me the car also spells freedom, albeit in relative doses. I at least have the capability to go buy water or eggs at our local shop (where they know us) if we get in a bind, and I can visit my friends alone.

NB: This is a genertic pic from the web - there's no way that we have paved roads or picket fences like that!