On Naming the Baby

We've been through many a list of names since we found out we wre pregnant. If we were having a girl it would have been easy. I had at least 10 names that I love and was ready to use. But boy names have been more difficult, especially when you try to find a name that fits in two cultures, not just one.

We've been able to rule out some possibilities based on how they would be viewed or pronounced living in the middle east.

For one, we've ruled out names beginning with or containing a lot of P's. The problem here is that people pronounce P's as B's. Pepsi is Bebsi. Pampers are Bambers. If we named our son Paul, he would be called Ball. Just the other week my language tutor was trying to talk to me about another American she also tutors. She was sure I knew her and she kept telling me her name so I would recognize it and agree that yes, I know her. But I kept hearing her say Bowla.

"What is her name?"

"Bowla."

"Bowla?"

"Bowla."

It took me a while and after getting a little more information on who this person was I finally figured out she was talking about a woman named PAULA.

So we just skipped right on past the P names.

Matthew would be a nice name, but Matt sounds just like the word for dead in Arabic.

We have a friend here named Wes and we really like that name, but everyone here called him Wuss, so he now goes by his middle name.

Do you see the predicament we are in? We could find the perfect name for living in the good 'ol US of A, but since we are here, we want to help our son, not hurt him by giving him a name that could leave him scarred from a childhood living in the Middle East.

Our best option is to find a name that works in both cultures and, in fact, there are many that would work. We just have to think about it a little harder. We are leaning toward a name that is well-known in both Muslim and Christian cultures, English and Arabic languages. Want to try and take a guess?

Of course, everything could change once we see this little guy and decide the name we like just doesn't fit. We will go in prepared with one of our lists and pray that we will come up with the right name before he has to get his passport.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas Tree!

Even in one year we've seen how Christmas has changed here in our new little city. We have been told that just a few years ago there was only one place to buy a Christmas tree (artificial, of course), but this year there are grocery stores, stores at the mall, and a few other little shops owned by Christians that sell all types of artificial trees and ornaments and lights. Our local Safeway has made the biggest improvement. Last year they displayed a Santa outfit on a pregnancy manequinn. (see below)

But this year they have some stockings, lots of deocrations and even though they are already sold out of lights, they have done a great job of bringing in some great yet random Christmas cheer. I know it must be hard to get all this stuff shipped in from other places to please the many ex-patriots living in this country. We're just thankful the Butterball Turkey shipment made it in time for Thanksgiving this year. What's funny is that we are just now starting to see the cranberry sauce. Oh well.

We bought a tree this year to try to be a little festive. Of course, we aren't the most traditional people, so we went with a non-traditional tree. Check it out!

It was the cheapest tree at the store - we don't know why - who doesn't want a white and silver Christmas tree?? The hardest part has been trying to explain it to our local friends. They don't totally understand the whole reason behind the Christmas tree, let alone a crazy one. My language tutor came in and looked at it and took a picture on her cell phone. Then she just touched it and said, "mish aadi, mish aadi", which means, "not normal, not normal". I think she was trying to figure it all out. I explained to her (in arabic) that Daniel and I were sometimes a little crazy and we liked things that are different. She seemed to accept that and then we talked more about why we celebrate Christmas and how we don't worship the Christmas tree.

Christmas will be really different this year as we are feeling more settled and not in such a transition as last year (well at least not until we have this baby). I think we are going to be missing family and friends a lot more. But we will have a real Christmas this year in our own apartment, with our own 'not normal' Christmas tree and thankfully, we will also have Skype to see our loved ones!

One Month Countdown

One of my closest local friends called me today to congratulate me - we only have ONE MONTH until our due date for baby #1! I can't believe it has come this fast and I'm ready for him to be here at the same time. His room is slowly coming together. We have a crib, a closet, some shelves, and all the necessities to get this boy started in life (we bought our first pack of diapers today!). Of course we are trying to keep things simple, there is absolutely NO storage in our apartment. So the baby's room is also unfortunately the 'catch-all' room for things like vacuum cleaners and hand weights. I'm sure he won't mind for a while.

I decided to do a little self-portrait picture today to mark the one month count-down. This is me in front of his closet. And yes, we think he's going to be a big boy!

Also in honor of the one month marker, we decided to rent a car for the month at the city's cheapest rate ever! My husband is the best deal shopper. Of course in order to get the cheapest rental rate in the city, you have to rent the city's smallest and brightest car. Oh well, we are just thankful for wheels. The colder and rainier it gets here, the harder it is to find a taxi. We waited for over 20 minutes the other night on the way to our birthing class in the rain and cold - and my rain jacket doesn't fit over my belly anymore! Yikes. This little car will help us get where we need to go quickly and will keep us dry. Oh, and just in case little boy decides to come early, we won't have to walk a mile to find a cab. Yay for a car!

One Year Anniversary!

December 7th marked our one year of being here in the Middle East! I can't believe it has gone so fast. We've learned so much and have enjoyed our time being here. The people are wonderful, work is fun, and life seems to get more interesting all the time as we figure out more about the culture. I wanted to remember all the fun things that happened over our first year so I am posting some of my favorite pics from the last 12 months. Here we go...

Daniel outside out apartment building - we really feel at home here!

First Christmas in the ME. Thankfully some friends decided to decorate - we had just moved into our place and had nothing Christmasy to speak of!

Our first dinner invite into a local home. Seriously sweet family.

This is Daniel with our first language tutor on a walking lesson.

Learning how to use our new dryer. That's lint, not a snake.

We took our first trip to the Dead Sea after a month of intense language studying to celebrate.

Enjoying one of the many gorgeous sunsets here.

Celebrating my 32nd Birthday with some fun friends.

We took a trip to Um Quais for my birthday. This is the view of the Sea of Galilee from the ruins of Um Quais.

Overlooking the view....

This was a great experience - a biking trip at the Dead Sea with some people who have become dear friends to us here. We loved the company, but we will think twice before signing up for that bike trip again.

Who ever heard of the Easter Camel?

My parents came to visit in the spring and it was so fun to have family come to see where we live!

One of my favorite groups of students to teach at the business development center. We have a fun time teaching presentation skills and other business classes to these recent university grads.

Our second group of visitors - Daniel's parents! They were troopers and very adventurous!

And the third group of visitors from our hometown - a very fun and crazy bunch!

And of course, my favorite Becky!

What a year it has been. We are so thankful to have had such a full and fun time here in this area of hte world. Looking forward to the addition to our family in the next month. I'm sure we will have lots to share about what we learn having a child over here.

If you aren't in any of these pictures, it's time for you to come and visit. Ahlain wa-sahlain. You are welcome!!

Turkey Day

We weren't sure how we would celebrate Thanksgiving this year. I wasn't feeling much like cooking a huge meal, and the only Butterball turkeys I saw were about $70. It wasn't really worth it to me and I just figured we would stick to a few favorite side dishes and some chicken. Oh, and then on Wednesday, we both got sick with colds.

But, thankfully, some of our dear American friends invited us over to eat with them. They found a better deal on a turkey and were willing to make most of the fixings! We brought over one of Daniel's favorite dishes - homemade mac-n-cheese - and a salad and enjoyed a HUGE feast with our friends. We had a lot to be thankful for! We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, too!

Daniel and the gorgeous turkey! Way to go, Chef Debbie!!

Us before the food comas we fell into after the meal.

The good, the bad, and yes, sometimes a little ugly....

....of living in a non-insulated concrete block apartment.

I'm a positive person, so I'll start with the good. Of course, I had to think about it a little while. Oh, yes, there is some good. During the winter, when I'm baking, I don't have to wait very long at all for the food to cool after taking it out of the oven. And you can leave food out for a lot longer before it goes bad. Hmmm, what else? OK, when it's 70 degrees outside, but only 50 degrees or so inside, it forces us to open up all of our windows which then allows us to hear our cute neighbor kid singing and trying to play a guitar.

So then there's the bad. Brrrr! You must wear socks and slippers at all times in the winter (cold floors). When getting ready to go out, we sometimes bundle up quite a bit, only to realize once we are outside that it's not really that cold at all, it's just our apartment. When it rains, we get nice little leaks through the walls and the ceiling, which, if not dried out, leads to some serious mold.

There's really only one thing I can think of that makes it on the ugly list......freezing cold toilet seats. I think that says it all. Yikes.

We really do love our apartment and are so thankful for it! AND, we have lovely new heaters for the winter that really make a difference. So this year, maybe we won't have to see our breath in the air while cooking over the stove!

Payin' bills

I think I've mentioned earlier that people don't have mailboxes at their homes here. The government just recently (in the last year) began to put numbers to mark addresses on the buidlings! And of most of the friends here I ask, a lot will have a P.O. box but will rarely check it for mail. They mostly just receive bank statements now and then.

So how do we get all of our important mail like bills, and advertisements, and coupons??? On the front door of the building, of course! That little bundle of paper in the door in the picture above is a collection of electric bills for all of the apartments in our building. It comes faithfully every month and our landlord hand delivers the bills to us, commenting on how much our bill has increased or decreased over each period. She will also comment on the other tenants bills to us occasionally. Gossip is pretty much a part of life over here.

Oh, and don't worry about the other important documents. We get fliers and coupons galore littered around our door and entrance to our apartment building daily.

Welcome to the Third Grade

We recently started learning how to read and write in Arabic in our lessons. It is amazing how your brain can learn to pronounce words you don't fully understand from letters that are completely different from the letters you know and help you make sounds that you've never heard before. But it takes a lot of work. Thankfully, our language tutors are patient.

We started reading out of these children's school books to practice. We have recently graduated from the 2nd grade level to the 3rd. But I realize how painful it must be for out tutor to listen as we slowly and clumsily make our way through each sentence, butchering most of the words and their beautiful language. But hey, we're just happy that we can read a license plate now on the cars in front of us!

I know, the picture is sort of blurry, but this is what we can read now.

Chili's in the Middle East

Ahh, it's the little things in life and here in the ME that make us happy. Like the Chili's that opened this July. We were warned, "Go to eat there as much as you can the first 4-6 weeks it is opened, because it will only go down-hill after that."

So we went to Chili's a few times in July and August but we haven't been back since...until last night. We are trying to get some good date nights in before the arrival of Baby R and Daniel is always wanting to go to Chili's. We met up with a couple of friends and settled in for some chips and salsa (Chili's is the only place we've found that serves them in the city), some good burgers, and a familiar atmosphere.

I must say, when you walk in to the Chili's here, it looks like you could be at any Chili's in the states. It has the exact same artwork, pictures on the walls, everything is similar---except for the arabic writing in the menus. So it definitely makes us feel at home.

As soon as we settled in, our waiter came by to say hello and tell us what items would not be available that evening. He then proceeded to flip through all the pages of the menu and listed about half of each page as he went. Only a few appetizers were available, NO burgers or steaks (must be a cow shortage), only a couple of chicken items could be scrounged up, and of course, the famous molten chocolate cake was temporarily unavailable as well. Hmmm. I have a feeling that this wouldn't happen in Chili's across America.

The bad news didn't spoil our night, though. We happily munched on way too many chips with salsa, quesadillas, and the rest of the available appetizer menu. The date night was successful, we'll just have to go back another day for those burgers. Mmm.

FYI

Many people have asked us about the hospital where we're planning on having the baby. I thought it would be best to post some pictures so everyone could see what it looked like. I was afraid some people might be worried that we were going to be having this baby out in the desert with camels walking by. Our friend Shelly had a little girl this week so we had a perfect opportunity to take some shots of the rooms.

Most of the rooms have a second door going in to a parlor or receiving room so men and women can visit separately.

People go all out here when babies arrive. Just look what they can do with balloons! Most doors will also have a huge balloon arch in front of them. Oh, and then there's also the GIANT flower bouquets.
Daniel's favorite thing, the flat screen t.v. There is even one channel on the t.v. that allows you to watch your baby in the nursery.
Giant bathroom!!
The reception area. This is a specialty hospital for birthing and is one of the best of its kind in the Middle East. So, see, no camels, no desert. We're in good hands over here!

Parenting Practice

We would practice with this little cutie any day! Our friend's little boy Elijah came over on Friday to hang out. His mom is about to have his little sister very soon and needed a break. If all little boys are as sweet as this one, we'll take a few!

Language lessons

Well, we are advancing to say the least. After meeting for 2 hours a day, 5 days a week for over a month now, we have advanced to story-telling in Arabic. We use these cute little Mercer Mayer books with illustrations only and can tell you what is happening in each picture. We can do it in present tense AND past tense. And since there are 8 different forms in EACH tense for EACH verb, we feel like this is quite an accomplishment! We also know the other tense which is sort of their future tense and it uses a helping verb which can also have 8 different forms according to who you are speaking to or about.

So if you want to know about the boy and his frog in Arabic, give us a call.

26 1/2 weeks and counting...

Getting big but feeling good! Little baby Robards is moving quite a bit these days. He's a strong kicker!

Our famous friend...

The other night, one of our American friends performed a stand-up comedy routine at a local coffee shop. We didn't know it at the time, but it was actually an audition to be a part of a traveling circuit of comics around the city. And he made it on the circuit!! He's the only one who will do his routine in English (which automatically makes him the funniest to us - we didn't follow the other acts very well!) and he has a great act about why Americans love Jordan. We can't wait to see him perform again!

That's him. He's really tall.

The site of the audition. Cool, outdoor ampitheater-style seating at this fun coffee shop.

Culture Shock

I realized more about how different the culture is here from our home culture during the recent holiday of Eid. The Eid takes place after Ramadan and lasts for 3 days. During this time, people buy new outfits, make special cookies, and spend the days visiting family and friends (it feels a lot like Christmas in the states). It was a fun time for us to go and visit all of our friends on the final day. Day one is for visiting close family, day two for extended family, and day three for friends.

Although there are some similarities to some of our holiday times in the states, I saw how different things are here as well.

First of all, the Ramadan and Eid celebrations are timed according to the moon. And according to when you can SEE the moon. To find out when Ramadan would end and the Eid would begin, somebody official had to see the moon and the moon had to be at a certain point in it's cycle. So, when I was trying to get information from our friends here about when they would be off work during the week of Eid, they told me know one really knows until they see the moon. That means, if it was cloudy or overcast and the moon wasn't visible to the guy in charge, the holiday didn't start the next day. That also means all government offices, banks, other large offices and the majority of people in the city, didn't know wether they would be working on Sunday or if they would have Sunday and the next 3 days off. It could have been that their holiday started on Monday instead. Can you imagine that happening in the states?? Talk about disorder!

Another difference is the crowds. Now, similar to our culture, the malls get crazy busy during the holidays with people shopping last minute and such. But here, the malls get crazy busy at ALL hours of the day and night. One of my friends here who is also pregnant wanted to take me shopping for maternity clothes on the first night of the Eid. She picked my up at my house at 10. P.M. We had a blast, and ended up shopping for over three hours. By 1:30 a.m., we decided that our pregnant bodies needed some sleep. But the malls were still packed. And with KIDS! That's another thing. Kids don't go to bed here early at all. Especially when there's no school the next day. Our downstairs neighbor has a 4-year-old who is always up later than we are. So at the mall that night, I saw a ton of families walking around with their babies, toddlers and school-aged kids who looked like 1 a.m. didn't even phase them. Amazing.

The holiday is finally over. Another Eid will happen in a month or so, celebrating something entirely different. We'll let you know more about the cultural differences there when it comes.

My First Craving

He just had to do it. He had to read the article in the NY Times online and then he had to tell me about it. Thanks a lot.

Well, as the article informed us, there is this arab guy who grew up on an ARAMCO compound in Saudi Arabia and enjoyed eating his American friends' cookies and cupcakes better than his mom's arab pastries. He ended up training as a pastry chef in New York and has since opened up a few bakeries in the Middle East with American-style cupcakes and cheesecakes.

We planned to have a girl's night out with some American friends to go test out the bakery last week but a few girls got sick and we cancelled. Of course, I had been thinking about those cupcakes all day and I really wanted one, so I asked Daniel to go and check it out for me (he had the business car and was out and about - and he's a good husband!). He came back with a box of goodies, some to share with neighbors. That night, I slowly ate and thoroughly enjoyed a 'Pink Cadillac' (white cupcake with icing with strawberry chunks) and a Carrot Cake cupcake. That's right, TWO cupcakes in one night. It was awesome!

I consider this my first craving because I really haven't craved anything yet during the pregnancy. But after tasting Sugar Daddy's cupcakes, I have found the possibly one and only craving I need for baby number one. Mmmmmm.

Cloudy with a chance of....anything

This August has been a very unusual month concerning weather. Normally, in the summer months here (July, August, September - and even October) the weather is pretty predictable. It's always hot, sunny, hotter, or sunnier.

This August, the weather has been so pleasant, I'm not sure people know what to think of it. One thing they do, though, is worry. I'm not sure what it is with cool weather or air conditioning around here, but people are scared of it. It seems like anytime the air is too cold, people start to get sick and blame it on the weather. They don't like to drink really cold water because they think it will make them sick. When we go to the gym and it's a nice day outside, the other women scoff at me if I try to open a window or two to get some air. It's too cold! Not good for the body! I tend to think overheating on the treadmill is worse. And if you have a baby who is not wrapped in 5 or 6 blankets when outside in the middle of the summer, you are a horrible parent! Wow, you'd think with all the fear of the cold, they would try putting insulation in houses.

What's crazier, this week we had some clouds in the sky - gray clouds. The last time it rained in the summer here was in the late 1980's and I was told that people thought the world was coming to an end. We didn't actually get any rain this month, but the weather forecast showed a chance of it. I would have liked to see the local's reactions to rain in August. Maybe we'll get some yet. I'll be sure to do some 'man-on-the-street' interviews if we do.

Breaking the fast with friends

Last weekend we had our first invitation to a friend's house to break the fast during this month of Ramadan. Ramadan is a holy month where Muslims often refrain from eating or drinking from sunrise until sunset. When they break the fast in the evening, it is called If-tar. We were so excited to be able to experience a real, local If-tar with friends. We learned the traditional ways they break the fast like what they eat and drink and when.

Here is a picture of our friend's daughter, Farah. I helped the wife in the kitchen before If-tar to finish preparing all of the food. The things on the round silver tray are like tiny pancakes filled with cream and pinched together on the sides. She then baked them, dipped them in a syrup (water and sugar mixture) and placed a pistachio nut in each one.
These are the larger pancake type desserts. We filled these with a mixture of cinnamon, sugar, coconut, and chopped walnuts. We then pinched the sides together, baked them, and drizzled them with the same syrup. These were my favorite! They totally melted in your mouth!

These were the main dish of the dinner. The dish is called Mashi and it consists of all types of vegetables cored or hollowed out and filled with rice and ground lamb. They are baked in the oven sitting up in a pot of tomato sauce with herbs. This is Daniel's new favorite local dish.

Once you hear the call to prayer which is the sign that If-tar has begun, you start out by eating dates. They believe this is the healthiest way to break an all-day fast. Some types of these dates are only sold during Ramadan. We were also served a fresh apricot juice that is only sold at this time of year as well.

This is the whole spread. After dates and juice, you normally eat a simple soup, then proceed to the main course. Besides the Mashi, we also had a rotisserie chicken, a salad, and special Ramadan bread. Then it was the yummy desserts, coffee, and later some fresh fruit. We experienced some seriously good hospitality that night!

A hamam in the hammam? Haram!

Here's your Arabic lesson for the day. A hamam is a pigeon. A hammam is a bathroom. Haram means, "God forbid!" The title of this post was the joke I made to help me laugh at the little situation that happened the other day.

I was dropping Daniel off at our friend's home and needed to run inside to use their restroom. Well, as I was in there, I suddenly heard something bang against the window right above the toilet. There are always a couple of bathrooms in every apartment that have a window that opens into the inner building shaft which holds the pipes and stuff like that. This was one of those bathrooms. I've never been in that little shaft, so I had no idea what else was in there except for the necessary pipes and plumbing. So when something from inside that shaft banged against the window right above my head, it startled me. I looked behind me and saw something pressed against the window and heard a sound that reminded me of the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. I don't know why I got so scared, but I immediately thought that I had to get out of there as fast as I could because of this 'thing' or person or whatever was lurking in the window, looking at me! I got up as quickly as I could and ran out the door finishing the last button on the way out.

Daniel and our friends heard the commotion (oh yeah, I think I might have screamed somewhere in that time) and came to see what was going on. Well, our friends just laughed at me and told me I had just been totally freaked out by a pigeon who likes to sit all smashed up against that window. My heartbeat finally slowed down to a normal pace as I wondered how a pigeon could sound so much like a prehistoric creature. Oh well.

So, using my arabic knowledge, and knowing how it is so easy to mistake the arabic words for pigeon and bathroom, I made the above statement and felt pretty clever for the rest of the night.

Daniel in the 'pigeon bathroom'

Things to love

We have really been enjoying our new home here. It's always the little things that make it seem special and fun. Here are a few of the little things that we have been loving lately:

1. COOL nights - even after a long day of the hot sun and high temps, the nights are always cool

2. Unexpected clouds - There are usually no sign of clouds throughout the summers here, just plain, blue skies. This month there have been some unusual days where we get a cool, windy breeze and a cloud-filled sky. Since I miss summer thunderstorms (did you know that it only rains here for about 3 months out of the year, in the winter?), I love seeing any kind of clouds to change up the scenery.

3. Tofu is now being sold in our favorite grocery store.

4. Friendly taxi drivers - Lately we have had a string of some really nice taxi guys. They are warm and outgoing and when you leave the taxi, you feel like you've made a new friend.

There are many other things to love, but those are the things that have made us especially thankful these past couple of weeks!

Floaters

Our friends from AR really enjoyed their experience floating on the Dead Sea, even if the temperatures down at that level of the earth were around 105 with 150% humidity!

Sand and Sunsets

We recently had a group of friends come to visit from AR. We showed them one of our favorite spots - Wadi Rum. Unfortunately, we got there too late for a normal jeep tour, but fortunately we found a guy to take them on a new route to an area of the desert we had never seen. It was beautiful.

The group with their jeep tour guide.

Trying to get some air.

Contemplating life.