Video of the King's Parade

I finally got the video I made of the King's parade uploaded, so here it is for you to enjoy!

Proud Sister

I'm sure you're all aware that I have younger siblings, and while this is supposed to be a blog about my year here in the Middle East, I can't resist this small opportunity to brag on my siblings.

On Sunday Reg got the opportunity of a lifetime...playing baseball in Busch Stadium! (for those of you who don't know what that is, it's the stadium where the St. Louis Cardinals, a.k.a. the best team in baseball, play)

Anyway, the baseball team from his high school was invited to play another high school in the stadium after the Cards game was finished for the day, so they did. It sounds like half of Kalona went down for the game. :)

All that to say, I'm super proud of my big little brother. I just wish I could have been there to cheer him on. 

If you want to watch a clip of the highlights, go here. Reg is the one running in to home and scoring at about the middle of the clip. :) At least, I'm pretty sure it was him.

Now, this is not to say I'm not proud of Tony and Kerri...I am very proud to be their sister. This event was just a chance to say it publicly on this blog. :)

A Few Updates...

I realized I haven't updated the blog in awhile...somewhat because I haven't had as much going on now that school is finished and also because I have pictures but don't ever take the time needed to upload them and therefore keep putting off updating. :)

Last week I started teaching English, which so far has been a good experience. My roommates both teach at this center, and with so many people leaving for the summer they needed as many people as they could get. Actually the group of teachers that eventually came together to teach is a great group, and since all but four of the teachers are guys, that will help with the ratios of guy to girl students as well, as far as interacting goes. One of the guys is even going to be at my college next year, so that is a fun connection. :)

I have hung out with Roa'a and Haneen a couple of times since classes have finished...last week I had both of them here and we celebrated the end of the semester and the end of finals. :)

I have pictures I'll add below.

I spent last Friday night with my friends on the other side of the city, and then Saturday morning I went with one of them to meet up with a group who's visiting for a couple of weeks. Along with the group we went down to the main road where there was supposed to be a parade and other such things in honor of the King, and at some point the King was even supposed to appear. Well, we waited...and waited...and got stared at...and waited some more...and finally my friend and I decided to leave since it was getting towards evening and traffic around the area was a mess. So, I didn't see the King, but it was a fun, and somewhat exhausting, atmosphere. 

Anyway, I have a video but it didn't want to load (I've been trying for the past two days) so instead here are the pictures from my times with my friends.

With Roa'a after her last final for the semester.

 Haneen without her hijab

With the girls at my house for our celebration...both of them allowed me to take pictures of them without their hijabs. :)

End of School, Citadel & Olive Wood

Wow, you guys are lucky. Two pictures posts in two days!

Just over a week ago the semester ended at the university and so the weekend before and leading up to the finals my classmates, teacher and I spent some time together. One day for breakfast we gathered to meet her fiance, and then the night after finals were over I, along with three other classmates met my teacher for supper, which was nice. 

Then last Friday my friend and I decided on a picnic at the Citadel, where there are lots of ruins from the Roman period, and the Islamic Empire period. We crazily went through with our plans even though Friday turned out to be the hottest day yet this year. 

And then Saturday I went with a couple of friends from church (the same ones I went paintballing with) and some of their colleagues to an olive wood factory, where they create hand-carved olive wood pieces.  We had a tour and then got to explore their small shop there too. One of the reasons I was glad to purchase things from them was because their goal is to mostly hire people who are disadvantaged, in order to help them. They have beautiful things and they also do online orders, as well as some wholesale, if any of you are interested in checking out their site.  

Me with my teacher, Afnan, and her fiance. They are getting married this summer and she's so excited she's almost giddy...it's so cute!

The famous mosque at the top of my jabel, or mountain. It's quite an uphill walk from my house, but it is beautiful up there, as well as having a nice view of the city.

The remains of a Hercules statue at the Citadel. The only other remaining piece is the elbow in the background. This thing is huge, in case you couldn't tell from the picture.

There are 4 or 5 columns left from the Hercules temple at the Citadel and it's pretty fascinating to stand directly below them and look up. 

One thing I love about this country...you can get up close and personal with the ruins. They aren't roped off and inaccessible. 

Trying to stay in the shade when at all possible

These are some of the roughly cut shepherd figurines at the factory. They are carved like this on a larger machine, and then someone carves the details into them, before they are sanded no less than 5 times, and then finished. The end result is beautiful!

Some of the men working on the pieces

This woman is sanding ornaments, and she's deaf. It was fun using sign language to communicate just a bit. And the camels at the bottom of the picture...super cute!

Pictures from A Month Ago...

Finally, finally, finally!

Here are the pictures I promised a long time ago from our afternoon of paintballing. :)

Enjoying the scenery between lunch and our "battle". :) Everything was still so green then! Now all that green has probably turned brown and dry.

Lunch with a good friend. She's from Chicago and actually went to the U of I! :) 

(Cue, "It's a Small World After All")

The group minus one.
We were trying to look tough...
I don't think any of us pulled it off.

Our team. That's my tough face...it actually makes me laugh instead :)

We've now added the protective gear...

The whole group with our paintball guns. 

I Have Some Changes To Propose

...To English vocabulary that is. 

I've found that as I continue to learn Arabic there are certain words or phrases that I use all the time, even when the rest of the conversation is in English. Somehow these words capture a thought or expression better than any word English has to offer. So I think that we should think about adding them to regular English vocabulary. Or at the very least, be prepared for me to have them in my vocabulary when I come home. :)

Here are the words I have thought of:

SHA-BOB

Literally translated this word means "youth" or "young men", but I use it to describe the teenage/post teenage young men who prowl the streets like they own them, using their profound grasp of the English language ("Hello! How are you?" in a strong accent) to attract any foreign woman they see, along with other catcalls and kissing noises. Really, what woman wouldn't be attracted to sounds like that? 

(please read this description with a heavy dose of sarcasm) 

I think the worst part is that any sign of acknowledgement (even a glare) on my part is tantamount to saying, "I want to sleep with you." I mean, really. 

I love how this one word sums up that whole description. In any conversation I can say, "Oh those shabob" and the other person knows exactly what I'm talking about. 

Brilliant!

YAL-LAH

This is basically like "let's go" or "come on". This a great little phrase that you can use as a response, a question or any time you want to move from one place to another. 

HUL-LAS

I think the literal translation is "enough" or "finished". I'm not sure I ever got the exact translation although I learned very quickly what it meant. :) I use it as a question, but also like, "...and then, hullas." Another time I use it is at the end of speaking in front class, sort of like a "the end" type of word. It's a fun word to say too. 

INS-SHA-AL-LAH

It means "if God wills it" but I use it more like "I hope..." Everyone here uses this phrase, all the time. Sometimes even in taxis, when I tell the driver where I want to go, he will respond, "Insha'allah". :) This phrase encapsulates the mentality of Arabs...only what God wills will happen. Whatever happens in life must be because God wills it, so they don't worry about it. 

I think independent, politically-correct West has lost sight of the truth within this phrase, because we think we can control our own destinies, forgetting how wrapped up they are within the Plan of our Father. 

Anyway, those are just a few I thought of this afternoon. There's one other I thought of, but it's more of a very descriptive sound that's too hard to put into words, so that one will have to wait 'til we meet in person. :)

Hullas.

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile...I just haven't had a lot to talk about I guess. I was hoping to get some pics from my friend of our paint balling adventure, but alas, her flash drive decided not to work right as she was trying to put them on to bring to church. So those will have to wait 'til next week. 

This is my last full week of classes, after which I will enjoy not getting up at 6 am every morning. :) But I will have things to keep me busy this summer. I will be teaching English two days a week and inshallah spending a few hours a week with a tutor, maybe spending a few evenings learning to cook Arab style, hanging out at the university with my friends during their summer classes and then if everything works out, I'll be heading back to the States on July 28th or 29th. :)

Oh, tomorrow I'm visiting Roa'a's house with my friend, and maybe on Thursday I'll visit Haneen. So, I'll try to remember my camera and then I'll actually have pictures to put on here.

Anyway, since ya'll didn't have questions, that's the best I can come up with... :)