Script of Life

We have just recently started a new phase of language study.  One of the things that we are doing now as part of our language study is something called "Script of Life."  This is basically taking a simple task that we are familiar with, breaking it down literally step by step and learning how to say each of those steps in Arabic.  We go over all the new words and then we act out actually doing the steps in order to reinforce the action with the Arabic word.  Our Arabic teacher loves this and she thinks it is a great time to teach us how to make simple Arabic foods (or mostly salads since they are quick and easy).  We have been enjoying learning how to make these delicious foods as well.  So, instead of just pantomiming the actions of doing something, we actually make the food.  One of this week's salads was hummus.

I made a fresh loaf of gluten free bread to go along with our hummus which conveniently finished up about the time we finished making the hummus.  Thus our language study continues to pay off and be rewarding. 

Mom Cave

I really enjoy sewing, crafts and just in general making things.  I get a Quilting Daily newsletter via email everyday.  Today's was about "Mom Caves."  Although I am not a mother, I would love to have one of these!

I have not been nearly as creative as I would like to be since we have been here.  It is difficult to get into the mood of making things and making a home more homier since I know we will not be in this house long term. We do not need to accumulate stuff, and I feel like we have already accumulated enough to make it the bare minimum of homey.  One day maybe I will have my own area to be creative in :)

Parades

People here love to have parades!  I do not mean the kind we usually think of in the States with floats and balloons and such.  No, the people here simply all pile into their cars, drive around town honking their horns, with their lights on, the passengers hanging out the windows and the windshield wipers going (yes, in a country that does not get much rain you got to use them for something).  The people here use just about any excuse to have a parade, be it a wedding, winning a football (soccer) game, passing your test in school or just about anything else you can think of.

Lately we have been seeing a lot of parades with people carrying flags.  When we win a soccer game, people parade around with the flag, but these flags have been bigger than the ones they usually use for soccer, and they are not always our national flag.  We asked some friends and they told us it was for the king's birthday.  We didn't feel like this was a good answer because it is not the king's birthday now, and we figured that many people couldn't have gotten the date wrong.  We finally got another answer that seems to fit better.

With all the unrest going on in countries in this part of the world, people want to have parades to let the king know that they like him and they support him.  With all that we hear on the news, I am thankful to be living in a peaceful country.  A majority of the people are very happy and proud of the king.  Obviously everyone is not completely happy, but the issues that they have are not that big and are dealt with peacefully.

Our Street

We are constantly experiencing new and interesting things in our new life overseas.  Here are just a few of the new things we've gotten to experience this past week on our own street.

Yum yum fish head.  This is actually very surprising because 1) people here usually cook the head along with the fish and eat the whole thing and 2) we have about a million cats in our neighborhood and none of them had eaten this head yet.

For those of you who are wondering about the goat leg, yes, it is still laying in the street.  I have been meaning to take a new updated picture, but it's getting pretty gross so I decided it might not be a good idea.

Random handsome man standing in the street :)

I have just recently realized that I have not put a picture up of the outside of our apartment.  This is it.  We are on the second floor on the right, above the tin covering.

It is also my goal in the near future to make another video.  So, keep a look out :)

Threading

I have always wanted to get my eyebrows threaded.  I had a friend once who said she could do it for me, but I was a little scared and decided not to at the time.  At the gym/spa I go to, they do threading, so today for the first time ever I got my eyebrows threaded!

I can't decide if it hurt worse than waxing your eyebrows.  Waxing is a bigger area, but it's all at once, while threading is less area but lasts longer.  Here are some photos.

They Say You Only Get Married Once...

I should start this blog by backing up a little bit and telling you about how great my husband is.  As you all know, we are currently living overseas, well, we have been here for 4 1/2 months now and are working on getting our residency.  This whole residency thing is a lot bigger of a hassle than we thought it would be in the beginning.  My amazing husband, Andrew, has gone in to the government office every morning this week trying to get all the ins and outs of residency done.  This morning they informed Andrew that they did not believe our marriage license and since we have the same last name, they think we are siblings.  Our marriage license from the states is in black and white, including the stamp and signatures, so they obviously think it is not legit.

So what's the solution?  Get married again!  So, this evening, after going to the gym, we dropped by the local kanisa, or church, to get married again.  I say we got married again, but in reality we really just got marriage confirmation.  We still have our marriage license from the states, it just now has a local stamp and blue ink signature on it saying we are legitimately married.  Tomorrow morning Andrew will go back to the government office and hopefully this new and improved stamp will do the trick.  If not, the third marriage is the charm!  We have already confirmed that if they do not accept this new stamp, we will go back and get a completely new Arabic marriage certificate.  If that happens, we're definitely going to throw a whole marriage party Arabic style!

The Newlyweds!

(I know I look horrible in this picture.  I don't take good pictures when I'm nervous)

Celebrating our Second Marriage out on the Town

Lately...

I know I haven't posted in a while.  Things have been very busy here lately.  Too much going on to even find words to be able to post.  But here are a few pictures to help out.

Break time during our language class.  I made a chocolate cake as a little pick me up for all of us

Hanging out at Starbucks during our trip to the Capitol

Starbucks was in the Mall.  It was great to go to a mall :)

Andrew with vacuum-sealed fish in the nice grocery store :)

Breakfast at Starbucks complete with made at home gluten free bread