driving down to the post office to put a piece of mail in the bin
listening to the leaves blow on a windy autumn day
the plants which lived on the patio
a fridge with food that i like eating
the feeling of coming home every day after being out
a shower with decent and steady water pressure
wandering down shopping isles full of familiar and enjoyed products
my car and driving
the sounds of squirrels playing in the tree out front
mail delivery
doing my own laundry in a machine that doesn't eat my clothes
whole foods grocery store
the feeling that the holidays are coming
central a/c - heat
my sewing machine
tv in general (with English speaking shows) - TBS and the Food Network specifically
my allergy doctor
having my own bathroom that i don't have to share with 4 - 5 other people
stoplights
thanksgiving day parade
my almost new cell phone (which doesn't work here)
emtpy streets at night
even, clean and paved sidewalks for walking on
seeing houses lit up with Christmas lights
so much rain you think it will never stop
corn tortilla chips
wall to wall carpet
blue skies
a heaven full of stars at night
steamy windows
the library
(this list is not all inclusive, and family and friends are of course a given)
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Who knew?!
I frequently learn words while sitting around the dining room table, either during or after lunch.
Usually what happens is that I'll hear a word and ask what it means.
Sometimes though, someone will ask me what a particular word is in English.
Today, my sister in law was talking about amber, and how women here like to wear it in jewelry. But she was calling it by its Arabic name, which escapes me at the moment. When she asked me what it was called in English and I told her it was called amber, she laughed.
Amber, in Arabic, means big butt. lol
Not just kinda big but I guess REALLY big. :D
So, that's the exciting new word for the day!
:::
The noise level outside seems to have risen quite a bit in the last week or two and we figured out that it wasn't actually the noise level that has risen, it is the fact that the fans aren't on 24/7 anymore, so we can just hear everything better.
As annoying as the fans are to listen to day after day, I think I prefer it as a noise muffler for all of the outside noise. The fan is kind of like white noise, but it does get irritating when it's on ALL the time.
So now instead of slight noise and fan, we hear lots of noise. All the talking, shouting, traffic, horns, dogs barking, vendors walking down the street shouting out the name of what they're selling, kids scampering, etc., it all seems so amplified. And particularly at 3 or 4 a.m., when the rest of the city is quiet and sleeping.
Our neighbors have been quite loud lately as well. Our upstairs neighbors. They fight quite frequently, and I mean knock down drag out fights. Very loud yelling and pounding on furniture and I'm sure there is hitting going on as well. Even when they aren't obviously fighting, they are VERY loud upstairs. They seem to always be banging furniture around. It's quite a mystery as to what actually goes on upstairs, but it goes on at ALL hours and it's really irritating. And not just to me, to hubby as well. The whole family can hear it I suppose, though it seems to be centered above our bedroom. Lucky us.
:::
Couple of pictures.
This first one is hmmm... can't remember where I took it at. Near downtown I think. But what I like about it is the no honking sign. Because really... just... LOL. I've never heard so much honking in all my life as I've heard here. The sign is clearly someones idea of a joke.
And this picture shows the street below us. They were doing a whole bunch of work on the street a couple of months back. At this point, they were doing something with the manhole covers. I think they were making new ones or something, who knows. In any case, what you can see here is the total lack of any protective equipment. No gloves, no safety glasses, no hard hats. And also, no blocking the street off in any way. People and cars went right on by like they weren't even there! Crazy!
Hoping to update soon with apartment news. Nothing for now.
Usually what happens is that I'll hear a word and ask what it means.
Sometimes though, someone will ask me what a particular word is in English.
Today, my sister in law was talking about amber, and how women here like to wear it in jewelry. But she was calling it by its Arabic name, which escapes me at the moment. When she asked me what it was called in English and I told her it was called amber, she laughed.
Amber, in Arabic, means big butt. lol
Not just kinda big but I guess REALLY big. :D
So, that's the exciting new word for the day!
:::
The noise level outside seems to have risen quite a bit in the last week or two and we figured out that it wasn't actually the noise level that has risen, it is the fact that the fans aren't on 24/7 anymore, so we can just hear everything better.
As annoying as the fans are to listen to day after day, I think I prefer it as a noise muffler for all of the outside noise. The fan is kind of like white noise, but it does get irritating when it's on ALL the time.
So now instead of slight noise and fan, we hear lots of noise. All the talking, shouting, traffic, horns, dogs barking, vendors walking down the street shouting out the name of what they're selling, kids scampering, etc., it all seems so amplified. And particularly at 3 or 4 a.m., when the rest of the city is quiet and sleeping.
Our neighbors have been quite loud lately as well. Our upstairs neighbors. They fight quite frequently, and I mean knock down drag out fights. Very loud yelling and pounding on furniture and I'm sure there is hitting going on as well. Even when they aren't obviously fighting, they are VERY loud upstairs. They seem to always be banging furniture around. It's quite a mystery as to what actually goes on upstairs, but it goes on at ALL hours and it's really irritating. And not just to me, to hubby as well. The whole family can hear it I suppose, though it seems to be centered above our bedroom. Lucky us.
:::
Couple of pictures.
This first one is hmmm... can't remember where I took it at. Near downtown I think. But what I like about it is the no honking sign. Because really... just... LOL. I've never heard so much honking in all my life as I've heard here. The sign is clearly someones idea of a joke.
And this picture shows the street below us. They were doing a whole bunch of work on the street a couple of months back. At this point, they were doing something with the manhole covers. I think they were making new ones or something, who knows. In any case, what you can see here is the total lack of any protective equipment. No gloves, no safety glasses, no hard hats. And also, no blocking the street off in any way. People and cars went right on by like they weren't even there! Crazy!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
In with a gust
It seems Fall is here at last, though I see a temp of 89 forecast for later in the week.
It's been down into the 50's at night, which is pretty chilly and requires the use of a cover while sleeping.
And after a very long summer of 100+ degrees or so every day, let me tell you, anything in the 50's feels VERY cold. lol
It's also strange to feel the onset of Fall but without the usual visual cues.
There are no shopping ads or displays, no Christmas music playing, no one talking about Thanksgiving or other holiday plans.
I think the thing I will miss the most is the lights that people put up on their houses. Even though Muslims don't celebrate Christmas, that doesn't mean we can't appreciate the beauty in something, and many people create quite a beautiful display of lights during the holidays.
In Islam we have the two Eid celebrations, which happen a couple of months apart from each other, but they are not always celebrated on the same date, since the calendar we use is based on moon sighting. So, the holidays move forwards by about two weeks every year. Right now the second Eid is around the holidays in the States, but in a number of years they will be closer to summer. Which makes Winter seem long with nothing to break up the dark dreary days.
However, I will say, I've never seen so much sunshine in my life as I have since I moved here, and while I've enjoyed the recent few days of partly cloudy skies here, that's really enough for me. I always got so blue in the winter and spring in the States, because even though it wasn't always raining, we had gray skies for sometimes weeks at a time.
So... maybe it won't feel so much like the Winter needs breaking up if it isn't so gray and dreary all the time?
We will see.
:::
Nothing to report on the apartment.
:::
We've been watching some older movies lately. The original King Kong (which we then followed by the newer version), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, South Pacific (which we're in the middle of) and I think I mentioned we had recently watched African Queen.
It's nice seeing the older films. The acting was different, the clothing styles quite different, and the feel overall is just very different than the films of today.
We still have some oldies to watch, not sure what's next.
It's been down into the 50's at night, which is pretty chilly and requires the use of a cover while sleeping.
And after a very long summer of 100+ degrees or so every day, let me tell you, anything in the 50's feels VERY cold. lol
It's also strange to feel the onset of Fall but without the usual visual cues.
There are no shopping ads or displays, no Christmas music playing, no one talking about Thanksgiving or other holiday plans.
I think the thing I will miss the most is the lights that people put up on their houses. Even though Muslims don't celebrate Christmas, that doesn't mean we can't appreciate the beauty in something, and many people create quite a beautiful display of lights during the holidays.
In Islam we have the two Eid celebrations, which happen a couple of months apart from each other, but they are not always celebrated on the same date, since the calendar we use is based on moon sighting. So, the holidays move forwards by about two weeks every year. Right now the second Eid is around the holidays in the States, but in a number of years they will be closer to summer. Which makes Winter seem long with nothing to break up the dark dreary days.
However, I will say, I've never seen so much sunshine in my life as I have since I moved here, and while I've enjoyed the recent few days of partly cloudy skies here, that's really enough for me. I always got so blue in the winter and spring in the States, because even though it wasn't always raining, we had gray skies for sometimes weeks at a time.
So... maybe it won't feel so much like the Winter needs breaking up if it isn't so gray and dreary all the time?
We will see.
:::
Nothing to report on the apartment.
:::
We've been watching some older movies lately. The original King Kong (which we then followed by the newer version), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, South Pacific (which we're in the middle of) and I think I mentioned we had recently watched African Queen.
It's nice seeing the older films. The acting was different, the clothing styles quite different, and the feel overall is just very different than the films of today.
We still have some oldies to watch, not sure what's next.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Walky talky
We had a nice walk tonight down at the Nile. The weather has been much cooler and there always seems to be a breeze down at the river anyways, so it wasn't too warm, even with the generally too fast walking speed of hubby.
I love to hear stories from his childhood or teenage years when we pass something that will bring a memory to him. So many little bits of information gleaned this way. And always surprising and making me smile or laugh.
:::
I picked a light to medium color wood stain for the kitchen sink cupboard. It's hmmm... not sure how to describe the material. It's possibly made of wood but more likely I think it's plastic. Not positive. But the outside looks fine, it doesn't look cheap and plasticy, it just looks like a nice wood grain finish.
Still not sure when it will be done though. I imagine sometime this week.
:::
My cinnamon roll obsession has yet to abate.
And that is all!
I love to hear stories from his childhood or teenage years when we pass something that will bring a memory to him. So many little bits of information gleaned this way. And always surprising and making me smile or laugh.
:::
I picked a light to medium color wood stain for the kitchen sink cupboard. It's hmmm... not sure how to describe the material. It's possibly made of wood but more likely I think it's plastic. Not positive. But the outside looks fine, it doesn't look cheap and plasticy, it just looks like a nice wood grain finish.
Still not sure when it will be done though. I imagine sometime this week.
:::
My cinnamon roll obsession has yet to abate.
And that is all!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sunny days, chasing the clouds away
Well, I went out onto the balcony this morning and looked up at the sky and it was magnificently blue!
Believe me, this is quite a change from anything we've seen lately, and quite welcome.
There is still smog if you look some distance off in the skyline (not in this picture, just looking from the balcony), but this is definitely a step in the right direction!
There's also been quite a bit less burning at night, though there was some last night after a period of none for some days.
:::
I guess maybe I'm becoming just like the Egyptians. Because it seems that we all, everyone living here, both love and hate Egypt.
There is so much to love, and so much to hate...
The complaints are the same for any big city I would imagine - traffic, pollution, crowding, noise, litter.
So what are the things that we love?
There is still smog if you look some distance off in the skyline (not in this picture, just looking from the balcony), but this is definitely a step in the right direction!
There's also been quite a bit less burning at night, though there was some last night after a period of none for some days.
:::
I guess maybe I'm becoming just like the Egyptians. Because it seems that we all, everyone living here, both love and hate Egypt.
There is so much to love, and so much to hate...
The complaints are the same for any big city I would imagine - traffic, pollution, crowding, noise, litter.
So what are the things that we love?
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