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.