Greece

I saw the Parthenon.
I stood on the Areopagus.

I swam in the Mediterranean Sea.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

This is the "Las Vegas" of the Middle East (except for the weather). I slept in a hotel here for about 3 hours. When I got in at 1:30 in the middle of the night it was 102 F and incredibly humid. In the morning when I tried to take a picture, my camera lense fogged up. Thus, these pictures came from the back of the taxi. It was a pretty place... but I wouldn't recommend it in the summer. Then I flew on the Emirates airline. It was fantastic... definately would recommend them... nice seats (even in economy), footrests, good food, movies, etc... It was definately the best of the 5 different airlines I flew on last week.

Power Lines, Gold Shops, and Satellite Dishes

Leaving...

In less than a week I will be in Greece. Wow... never thought I would make it to Greece. But when you live halfway around the world, you have to stop SOMEWHERE. So, stopping in Greece for a few days de-toxing for re-entry into the States sounded good and actually one of the cheaper options (Olimpic Airlines has some good deals through Dubai!). Being a Classics Minor in college, visiting the Acropolis is an amazingly exciting experience beyond any of my expectations. Then on to some de-briefing in the States and finally back home in the Northwest. It will be a long haul but then I get to spend almost 10 weeks with my family!!! I will have reliable internet, so I might post more... but I will have less to say since my main occupations this summer will be driving my post-op sister around (and having to learn to drive stick shift... yes, I know...), learning Kurdish vocabulary, and exercising (because I have become rather rotund during my time indoors in the Middle East). Those don't provide much entertainment, however. I may have become enough used to this "foreign" culture that American culture could be entertaining... you never know. If any of you nebulous readers have any specific questions (especially anything about Islam, the Middle East, or Christianity) that you would like me to post about... ask... I might be able to answer them...I might not.

The First Fruits

This is the first fruit from our kumquat tree. It was really really good! You know the funny thing about the word "kumquat" is that although I knew it was a fruit and if you had asked me what it was I might have thought I knew... but when I saw these for the first time, I had no clue what they were. Although I have grown up having learned the word "kumquat" and even knew how it was spelled, I had never known what it really was. Now I know... they are a small citrusy flavored fruit with very large seeds in the middle.

Smelly Update...

Yesterday's pungent adventure gave me a paranoid sleep where I was up at 1:00 am sniffing about our house. As of this morning, the house smelled fresh and airy. There is not a hint of the stomach turning smell from yesterday. I came home this afternoon. Entering the house, we checked the air in the rooms... still no smell. We never found the source of the odor. But, for the time being, it seems to be gone. Praise God for this blessing... Pray that it never returns.

Pungency...

It is Tuesday morning. I am sitting in my car in our carport typing because everything that needs done, needs done in the house, and I very well might throw up if I have to go back in there. We awoke this morning to a smell my house-mate declared “pungent”. In addition, this happened on the very day where we were going to clean and prepare our house for our departure. The smell we thought was coming from Autumn’s room. But then we traced it to behind the ceiling tiles in the living room. We still can’t find it. It smells soooo bad. We pulled half the stuff out of the room into the hallway. We opened and sniffed cupboards till we were blue in the face. It stinks. That is all I can say.

Eventually, we gave up. The house is aired out and mostly only the living room smells. We still have no idea what to do about it. We had half our team over for a good part of the day scoping out the stink. Pray for this situation. I don’t want to wake up to that smell in the morning.

This is a picture of our living room: Today we cleaned it out, took up the rug, swept and washed the floor, as well as rearranging some for the family that is coming back soon to live here. Then they will be stuck with the smell problem. I am soo sorry.

In the Middle of the Afternoon

Try to put this image in your head...

A man buying cigarettes wearing his polka dot pajamas.

Go figure.

The Celebrity Life

You know, there are some things about being a foreigner that I think have given me a little clue about what some celbrities in the United States go through. As a little background, I will let you know that I am a blonde in a city full of dark brown/black haired people. I stick out like a sore thumb. And the people here are naturally starers... as in they stare at everyone, but at me more.

The number of double takes or triple takes me and my American housemate get when we walk down the street can be downright hysterical. Today I was approached by a guy who was handing out a local English newspaper. One lady we met in an office one day actually stopped to call her husband at work to say that she was in a room with two foreigners. Then she and other ladies proceeded to evaluate every aspect of our persons. Everyone smiles and gives us preferential treatment. I think we park to go to the grocery store in a parking lot reserved for people who are going somewhere else, but the guards just look at us, get flustered and wave us in. I have gotten my picture taken with strangers in the bazaar. So have some of my other American colleagues. Every shop owner practically neglects his other customers to help us find whatever we need. All this is entertaining most of the time, at least when I am right with God. The staring does get on my nerves especially. I am just waiting for the day when I actually cause a car crash.

This isn't to say that I am drop-dead gorgeous. I am fairly normal looking in America. Here it sometimes feels like I should be in a freak show. But this is the life. And I have to admit I like being able to park in a nice place.

A Rare Sunrise View

ACTS 28:31

Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God

and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Roads... I have no idea how they got this way!

On a recent road trip....

We have new friends... ew...

There has been this eerie munching noise in our cupboard for months! It gradually grew louder and more frequent as time wore on. We all imagined some large creature with pincers. Finally, it sounded like it was on the very edge. One of my housemates pressed on the plastic laminate and found that it felt hollow underneath. Uh, oh! Desiring to know the extent of the damage she peeled off the pale green plastic. We found this whole system of holes with a very fine sawdust. In addition we found one small red-brown beetle, about 2 mm in length. There is still munching. My housemate tried drowning them, but that didn't work. Next she tried putting boiling water down the holes. We haven't heard from them since, but that was only a few hours ago. We would rather not be a zoo...

And the cat came back...

I forgot to mention it, but according to all your predictions, the cats did come back. They "fell" (we still don't know how) down the hole into our house. Once the momma wandered around for a bit and then took them away. The second time we went on the offensive and lured one out (with bread) and caught it in a bucket. The one we got was the grouchy one! This picture of him may look sweet, but don't be fooled! I think the poor thing was terrorized because they haven't been back for a week now.

Moscow, Idaho Shooting

Pray for my home town if you think of it. There was a shooting, 3 are dead. In a town of 20,000 that is pretty shocking to everyone. Somehow, it doesn't surprise me too much. Maybe living in a country where at least 100 people are shot or bombed every day has made me less shocked at the evil of people's hearts. I am sad for their families and friends, but suffering has so many benefits; it is in God's hands. You can find more online. There is still no known motive (at least that I have found yet) and still some in the hospital. Pray that God's glory would shine out in this.

I have fallen in love!

One of my classes is having their final test tommorraow. I will have to say goodbye and release them to a summer of bad influences (like rap and MTV). I pray for them.

One of these things is not like the other...

A list... now you have to do it too!

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I saw this one another blog and it made me laugh. Laughter is good medicine, right?

1. Your Detective Name (favorite color and favorite animal)
Yellow Dog

2. Your Soap Opera Name (Your middle name and the street you live on)
Christine Ashty

3. Your Star Wars Name (The first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
Mcgco

4. Your Superhero Name (Your 2nd favorite color and favorite drink)
Purple Lemonade (ewww…)

5. Your Iraqi Name (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, any letter of your middle name, 2nd letter of your mom’s maiden name, 3rd letter of your dad’s middle name, 1st letter of a sibling’s first name, and last letter of your mom’s middle name)
Oghelle (I haven’t ever met anyone with this weird of name!)

6. Your Witness Protection Name (Parents’ middle names)
Marie Allen

7. Your Goth Name (”Black” and the name of one of your pets)
Black Freckles (ick)

Meow...

This is where Kitten 1 and Kitten 2 were in residence. And yes, the drop was long; and yes, it echoed loudly! We have no idea how Kitten 2 managed to make the same mistake as Kitten 1 and fall through today... Momma Cat should know better... but more clues on Kitten 2's personality came later...

Since my last post, but a few hours ago, there have been several new developements. First of all, thanks for all of you that prayed... God was good to us. The momma cat returned (despite the fright she received two nights ago from my shrieking roommates) and climbed down the stairs proceeding to retrieve kitten number 1.

I wasn't using a flash on my camera for fear that the momma kitten would be scared and run off leaving kitten 1 on the stairs. Now what? Kitten 2 was out of the hole behind our shower and was now wandering around and crying IN the shower.

This one was considerable nicer than the first one and I caught it easily with a potholder (just in case it was diseased and scratching). Then I proceeded to carry it upstairs to the balcony. We brought the tuna up and it ate a little in between howling. Finally, I saw a shadow move out of the corner of my eye. It was the momma cat, back for Kitten 2. It was here that we discoved why Kitten 2 fell down the hole. Kitten 2 is a rebellious kitten... Despite the whining, Kitten 2 (whom one of my fellow teamates suggested we name Draino) wanted nothing to do with Momma Cat. Kitten 2 ran into the house! What? NO! Not there! So I ran in and did the only thing I could... I grabbed Kitten 2 and put it back outside. Momma Cat was eating the tuna. Then, does Kitten 2 run to missing mom with glee? No, where did it go... back into the house... there was a hole in the screen. Catching Kitten 2 (again!) we returned him to the balcony. Firmly standing in front of the hole in the screen, my housemate chased Kitten 2 back towards Momma Cat, who by this time had finished the tuna. After she picked up the kitten in her mouth, it was a simple leap and a bound over the wall and off to wherever they live. Ahh... no more kittens... at least until one of them falls down the hole again.

Kitten update..

So I peeked into our hole today... "Hey, one kitten is eating!" I thought. Wait, One kitten? As in one of two? Yep. I don't know how it happened. We had one kitten yesterday, and now we have two kittens. Praise God, they are eating the tuna... So they won't starve to death. But the momma cat is having a very hard time on the roof and it is all very sad. Please continue to pray for a solution... God is going to have to provide one...

Thanks!

Prayer needed...

We have a kitten... not that we wanted it... not that we can do anything with it... we didn't ask for it... it fell through our house... and now is in a hole. It cries. We cannot get it to come out. The mother cries from the roof. Pray that it will be okay.

I would show you pics... but I can't upload them right now... plus it might make you cry.

I was tagged!!!

I was so lovingly tagged by Nic,

Here's the "rules" of this meme: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

My seven random facts...

1. I live in the Middle East. That feels fairly random for a start, despite the fact that most of you know that already.

2. I have, on more than one occasion been the only blonde person in an airplane. This of course is a side affect of random fact number 1.

3. I like to cook... In fact, the more I cook, and the more things I learn how to make (over here especially), the more I like to cook. In our house we have cooked food from America, Italy, Greece, Brazil, Arabic food, Kurdish food, Korea, China, and other concoctions of no place in particular.

4. I once arrived in Istanbul with a total of $13.04. The visa cost $20.00. Yes I realize that was stupid. But at the same time there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for it which I will not bore you with at the moment.

5. I do not like rap and have spent considerable time trying to convince my 6th graders that gangsters should not be their roll models.

6. Dogs regularly pee when they greet me. I have been told that it has to do something with submissive behavior. I have no idea why I am such a scary person.

7. I like toe rings.

I now tag...

Laurel at Why Think in Secret
Thainamu
Nathan at a Jolly Company
Katie (Ibid)
Lydia
Jessa
Pauli

Chuckle... it is good for you.

This made me laugh.

High Voltage Has a Whole New Meaning

Last night our TV went on strike when the city power came on. I haven’t ever heard of someone going on strike for getting over-paid, but the TV was getting a little too much power, I guess, despite the multiple surge protectors. And the dissatisfaction among our household electronics seems to be catching.

Tonight during our International Fellowship meeting, our DVD player decided that it no longer desired to fulfill its assigned role. No, indeed, it wanted to be a fog machine! It would have been a fairly prolific fog machine, producing a curling white smoke that drooped off the entertainment center like the dry ice vapor. Having no use for such an appliance in our household, we had it taken outdoors where it continued to puff in solitude. After everyone had left, I went outside to see what it was up to. It wasn’t doing anything. So I told it that all would be forgiven if it would only return to its previous function. After much pleading, however, the only response given was the emitting of a strange brown goo. Do to its stubbornness it has been permanently moved to the outdoors where it will be shipped off to the dump, where all rebellious electronics belong.

Question...

So I decided that after 1 1/2 years of blogging on the same web page template I needed to make a change. At this point I am undecided--my sister doesn't like the fact that the picture has square corners while the frame is round. But I would like the opinion of any of my various readers on whether I should keep this, change it to something radically different, or just go back to the old and familiar. Blessings on you all around!

Ahh! It's the life!

Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake (from Hershey’s Classic Recipes © 2000)

2 c. sugar
1 ¾ c. all-purpose flour
¾ c. Hershey’s Cocoa or Hershey’s Dutch Processed Cocoa
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk
½ c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. boiling water
“Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans or one round 9x13 inch baking pan (then bake 35-40 minutes).

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large mixer bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Stir in water. (Batter will be thin.) Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

4. Frost with “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Frosting
½ c. butter or margarine
2/3 c. Hershey’s Cocoa
3 c. powdered milk
1/3 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

The English Language

I have had a hard time convincing my students that:

Fastly does not equal Quickly
Hardly does not means some that is firm or difficult.
Tasteful does not mean Tasty.

Picnic-mania!

This picture, although not of the best focal or artistic quality, I thought it accurately portrayed the ultimate chaos of the bus ride to a picnic site. Yes, this was taken on a bus! Here are some guys playing chess, obviously. I played 3 games of chess on one of our picnics.

Water is also a wonderful draw to the kids... It was so hard to get them out! But can you imagine swimming next to such a beautiful view!!

There are some things worth paying for...

Pitted Olives! You have no idea how excited I was to find pitted olives in the grocery store.

Here's a picture!!!

Ha! The key is posting pictures in the morning! This is a pic of our fruit and veggie stand!

Mental Gush...

It has been a long day. And I had some great photos I wanted to upload. But everyone else in the city is on the internet right now so my pictures can't go through. Today was an unusually long day--I spent half an hour at home in between 7:30 am and 10:30 pm. A friend of mind just lost her mother and found out over e-mail. And yet, as I sit here in the dim glow of my computer and a few candles, I know overwhelmingly that God has been good to me. Who cares if you have electricity if you have been amazed at seeing the family of God international, intercultural, crossing all boundaries of race, age, language, culture, even distance. And I am in awe. It is a beautiful thing to be in awe of God. I would unreservedly recommend it to everyone.

From Matthew 3

Matthew 3:8
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

In keeping with repentance… What does this mean?

The command is there: Produce Fruit. My first assumption was that the fruit is supposed to be good fruit. But perhaps that is what the “in keeping with repentance” is there for. Jesus does converse on both good and bad fruit. It could then be describing the kind of fruit that is produced. A repentant heart will not produce bad fruit. So this is saying that we should produce not just any fruit but Good fruit.

In addition, I know that if keep short accounts with God and confess my sins as soon as I commit them then I am more productive. Perhaps the application of this verse includes both aspects: goodness and productiveness.

More on picnics!

My city from the hillside.
Our guard... a funny one. Elaborate food--essential for any picnic.

We eat good...

It is an amazing thing, cooking. The variety, the possibilities are so endless. It is even possible to make great dishes in places that don't have all the ingredients you are used to. It is even possible without box mixes and no canned tomatoes. Amazing things are possible. We eat Chinese food, Brazilian food, Mexican food, American food, Italian, Greek, Kurdish, and Arabic food. Wow! And then we also have things like the "poma-orange" see bottom picture. They combined oranges and pomagranate... not to amazing gustatorial success...but interesting to look at.

Picnics!

The essence of Kurdish culture is the picnic. While I have multitudes of pictures about many kinds of picnics and all their fun, I believe the result is always pretty much the same... as seen below...

Matthew 2

Matthew 2:11
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

What kind of faith must it have taken to see and child and worship him. I am pretty sure Joseph and Mary weren’t hanging out in a palace…it says house. Simeon and Anna in the temple had the same kind of faith so that when God showed them the child they responded openly. Not only were these wise men ready to display their faith, they had prepared for it and were ready for it. They brought gifts, albeit strange ones. As anyone who has studies Christmas much has heard about the meanings behind the three gifts. Gold is for kingship, incense is for priesthood, and myrrh is for burial. This is truly a unique combination and provides a basis for the whole of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus is our high priest, our king and king of the Jews, and he died. It is like Anna’s message to Mary—He will be great and a sword will pierce your own heart also. Greatness and lowness combined to be something greater than anyone had imagined.

Gold Shops

I have always preferred silver jewelry to gold. But here, gold is a sign of wealth and status. And the gold that they have here is stunning! They make jewelry out of just gold with little cuts and surfaces that is amazing! Here is one part of the bazaar full of gold shops.

Google allows you to travel to Paris for nearly free!

Follow these directions.

1) Go to google.com
2) Click "Maps".
3) Click on "Get Directions".
4) Type in from New York, New York to Paris, France.
5) Check out step 23.

[Stolen from Stephanie's Facebook because of the hilarity of it all!]

A Camel and a Penguin...

This is a picture of a journal I just HAD to buy!

My Very Own Brown Chandelier... Thingy

It is hideous. And yet...

There is something strangely appealing... Sometimes.

And you can do things with it... like look out the window!

The most common things...

The Eskimos have dozens of words for snow. Kurds have dozens of words for “maybe”.

Check this out! See how many of the 192 countries in the UN you can guess in 10 minutes. Click the link below. I only got 67 and I am so ashamed of myself for my lack of being able to recall the names of countries off the top of my head...

http://andys.org.uk/countryquiz/

The sweet perfume of ....

So tomorrow is Newroz... or the Kurdish New Year... the streets are packed and instead of being a source of frustration it becomes a social event. Everyone is hanging out of their cars with video cameras. Anyway, it seems to be a tradition to make a fire as huge and as smoke producing as possible. Tires are the preffered option... phew!

It is Jilli Kurdi Time

I frighten myself sometimes.

I am still learning... wierd things.

So I have discovered that I have learned many things and that I have wierd conversations sometmes. Take the other day for example, we were sitting around the kitchen table talking about how many amps each different type of appliance requires. Coffee pots take a lot. Refrigerators are about an amp and a half. Splits (AC/Heaters)are hefty, while lights are just about nothing. The reason for this conversation is the never ending conversation about power: how much, when, and what to do with it. Recently many neighborhoods have been putting in group generators... do we want 10 amps or 15? And shortly after that there were rumors that the city was going to cut off power all together! Yikes... maybe they will be cutting down the amps instead... 10 per household? How will we run the coffee pot!? Or perhaps more importantly, how will we run the washing machine? Air Conditioning? Strange quesitons for a strange place. (This pic is of a new generator and a water tank, I think??)