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.