Well.....ummm.....Second Post! Yeah! ;)

 Well, I am def enjoying being here! I've learned so much already since being here, and my perspective has changed so much! in a good, GREAT , way ;) ;)
   ....I'm loving the country and culture ;) last night, we met some muslim friends at the park at 7;30 ......to have dinner ;) and left about 10:30? ;) they said they eat dinner at 10 or 11 pm! ;) (thankfully, we ate before we left for the park! ;)   )

            ...yeah, things are just different here......I used to think "culture" didn't influence anyone much, ie, how you act and what you believe just depends on the individual's decision......

 But here, I see how many diff ideas we have .....I thought, of course, everyone thinks like an American/Canadian;)/Westerner....... But they're raised with , i don't know, just different customs, and priorities.....

          An expat friend said, if you've ever watched any Jane Austen era movies, you know exactly what the culture is like here, ie, getting married is the most important thing in your life (maybe?) [and of course, it IS very important!] .......and who you marry determines social status....

 ......And (I think I understand this right ;) ) ......you aren't independent from your family unit ....comments about someone that I would think would be rude or hurtful back home, ("You'll get 'large' if you keep baking" !) don't seem offensive here....because another friend explained that, those comments don't define who you are.

         Your social status is very connected with who/what your family is.......

And I think that's a pretty good thing! My/Our mindset of being successful in the West, being the best, is usually pretty selfish....and if someone says something like the above, to one of us, it can be depressing, because, "Ok, everybody thinks of me as a "big" person....That's who I am....."

 Here, if your family has a good and honorable reputation, you do, as well, because you're connected to that family, as long as you haven't dishonored them......

 So you personally protect YOUR FAMILY'S honor at any cost......if you do something people look down on, (I'm pretty sure) your family's honor is ruined unless something is done to remedy your wrong......(.?)

 .....anyway.....it's all very interesting!

.....Hopefully I'll start Arabic soon ;) Needa learn the alphabet first! ;)


Well, here are some random pix.....
 Myabe I'll just explain why I took each.....? ;)
 

            ...I maybe should've gotten a pic of this tiny waiting room......but J. and I were at the police station for my month's tourist visa ext., ......the funny thing about this is, we and another woman were the only ones in the room - and she was a maid waiting for the lady she works for....
so no one had this ticket [unless.....maybe it was for the (separate) guys' lobby, as well]

      ....And apparently, even if you get a ticket number, people can push in front of you in line - women, at least.......because they're women. [heh-HA!! *grin grin grin*]
 That's just a diff part of their culture, too - it's not rude - if you need to be served quickly, or ask a quick question, you just barge right in......and maybe the person you need help from, will ignore you till they're done with the first.

 .....But we've found the lesson repeated several times - if you wait in line without going up and telling them what you need, you may be in the wrong office, and vainly wait half an hour! ;-)

J. was saying to some friends tonight, "[......"The Livin' Food Lover's" =D ] future children will prob watch [Arabian] soap operas....."
 I couldn't figure out what she meant ......
But at the police station, they had one of those soaps on......of course, couldn't understand or hear a word.....
 But I was hunched over laughing, trying not to be conspicuous.....

The guy was so dramatic! He was in a suit......
           .........walking by the kids' playground with a friend......
           ........He fell in love instantly with a woman wacthing a boy at the park .....on and on with the drama...

       I couldn't stop laughing; and J. thought THAT was hilarious ;-)

 

      ....THIS was funny, cuz i read it [upside down] as,
 "Oink and Win!" ......

The view of desert mountains/ dunes as wwe pull out of the grocery store =D
  [And hey, I'd never seen much more than the flat state that I'm from......so these are mountains to me! =D
 I don't know what to expect!]

.......In the local mall/ store....
The only thing I don't get is the baggage deposit? like.....well....no idea, actually =)

......THIS has a short story - I had to run to the restroom, which was over by the KFC(! =D) they have in the mall.....
 Getting back to the shopping area, all these lanes had small chains to lock them closed.....
 .....I was about to climb over - but it's rude for ankles to even show here! Much less my knees! =D Caught myself just in time!
 Could've gone under hands and knees.....and still looked like a crazy American =D

 Love this wall ad! looks like a cross between Village Inn logo and Carlos O'Kelly's =D

Aisle of Chocolate (plus the other side!0 =D

        Smallest bananas ever...... =D

 Tonzz of a-gahlic.......=D

Last but not least, the Aisle Solely Ded. To Potato Chips (which, btw, can be a meal here - with their pita-like [delish] bread......plus a spread of ghee [that's butter with all the milk solids removed - just pure fat/oil]
  .......If I remembered all ingred., it's that pita bread, ghee, and finally, crushed potato ships .....and you put the pita in the bag of chips and munch away! =D )






.......and you gotta love the Frying Oil Aisly, too!













And The Giant Tubs of Frying Oil Aisle!! =D

 (ps, all take out food is fried!) =D =D
So of course, fried food is DEAD;-)..... I mean, it's not LIVE FOOD!
 Hopefully not - but possibly - I will change my ID to "The Oil Lover' (?) by the time I leave?

    ..........=D =D Jk =D                                                                          

Very First Post..... with a crazy video .... ;-)

Take a look at this crazy video of the tricks they can do =D

 .....Hey, it's the desert - you can do this ....or go to the mall... ( =D )

 Great, huh?? =D
 ....Did you notice they had their hazards flashing? "......Just in case you TRY to pass us....." ......=D

Well, I've been here maybe .....25 days?...Wow =D

 It's been one of the best experiences of my life....of course =D


.....I went with J.  =) to her language tutor's house.....she has a once per week lesson.....and hopefully I will be going from now on and learning some Arabic, as well =D
  Very excited! It's such a beautiful language, and it will be fun to at least go beyond the memorized greeting =D .....which is .....
  
 "As-salaamu alaykum" (Peace be unto you) ,
 "Alaykum salaam; Kayfahlich?" (their reply ..."...(same thing, and ) how are you [female]?")
  (my/your reply.....something that means, "I am well," ....[then, "Hu'umdu Allah" ] - "Praise be to God")
...And I/you repeat the same to them... =D

......It's a great way to greet people, huh? =D
 Except you're not sure how people are REALLY doing..... =)

 So here are my "notes" from being at J. 's language lesson ....I'm going to go over them again in a few months, and see what words I actually heard! =) I was just listening and writing down random things I heard the tutor say to J. =)
 .....If you're reading the words, I wrote "wella-dich" ....  J. said later that "well-ed" means boy .....or maybe it's baby? ...anyway - I put the female ending on boy [yeah, it must be boy] =D
 [but the male ending is just "-ick" =D...so .....I was close =D ]

....And also, I wrote 'musa-allah" for what J. said was "help'....... but I know Musa is "Moses", and Allah is "God".....so it probably......just ......sounds like that?? =D

 .....I looked in the Arabic textbook later, at the English translation of the conversation the tutor read from the Arabic script (and acted out with plastic Smurf people =) ) ......
 and it went something along the lines of,

   "hello, Fatima, how are you?"
 "I am well! welcome!"  *  "Where is the book, Fatima?" "The book is not here."

I laughed when I saw how simple it was, and told J. it must be very funny for her her family in the house, to here her teach us baby words! =D =D


*(welcome is day-fal-thal-loo, or something that starts with dayfahlthal.. =D
  I LOVE  the way it sounds, for some reason! ;-)

 ....For the sake of time, I'm just copying and pasting something I emailed for some kindergarten-age kids..... =)

Hi, guys!

I miss you all so much!....

Right now I am in an area of the world called the Middle East; I have some friends here who are teaching people how to speak English, and I am helping take care of their two little boys; I have

a lot of fun with them! =D

....

The people here speak Arabic....

This is what their writing looks like!  =D

… So this is what kids are learning to write in school here =D

Another part of the culture here is that everyone wears good clothes that cover your whole body … only your hands and feet (and your face!) show =D so that people think good thoughts when they look at you... =D

....

....a lot of the ladies here wear something like this:

It's called an abaya (uh -BYE-uh) =D

The men sometimes wear a white robe with a turban on their head...

Or they will wear jeans and a button down shirt, kind of like a shirt you would wear to school. But the Arab men always wear long pants, even when it's hot outside! So some of the men just wear the white robes, because they're much cooler than pants! =D

I am living in a town in the desert, and here are some of the mountains... =D

It gets very hot here – I think it will be the hottest in July! … A few weeks ago, it was 113 degrees!! =D (Very hot! And I think one of my friends said it can even get up to 130 degrees! You would die if you were outside very long when it was that hot! )

This is a sweet and chewy fruit they have here ….. but I can't remember what it's called! =D

It looks crazy, huh? =D

And this is some of the bread they make – most people say it only tastes good for 30 minutes after it comes out of the oven – but I think it's good all the time! You can see that it's like a soft, puffy pizza crust ….and it tastes amazing when it's fresh-baked! =D

This is the gate – it's very heavy and sounds like a huge prison door when you pull it shut! =D

Here is my house – I mean, the front door – these are what all the houses look like! They are made out of concrete, and they have this big concrete wall around the outside – it's called a courtyard. So your yard is very private, and no one can see in!

Our doorbell sounds very funny! Guess what? It's the sound of a very loud bird chirping!

The first time I heard it, I was pretty confused, because my little friend Izzy ran outside to try and open the gate! And I thought it was just a bird singing! =D

  … The windows look golden because they have a special coating on the outside so no one can see in during the day; but the wall is very tall, so you would have to bounce really high to try to see in anyone's house! =D

  And it might look like a fancy house, because it's so different from our houses,

but ours is pretty plain inside...

  But part of the culture here – it's very, very important what people think of you, so even if you don't have a lot of money, the parts of your house that your friends will see when they come to visit, have to look very nice.
 (It's important to us in America,too - but very important here....) =)

This is called the MED-jool-lus (I don't know how to spell it =D)

It's the room where you sit down with all your guests and have coffee and tea =D

This is at an American friends' house – and the Arab people here would say it needs to be much fancier =D

I only know how to say a few words in Arabic – this is how you say “thank you”:

“Shoo-KRAHNN” [and you roll the “r” =) ]

So, “shukran” for reading and looking at the pictures! 

 [end quote] =)