Another set of random questions that I am answering to procrastinate from writing my 5th grade science test.

1. First thing you wash in the shower?
My Hair

2. What color is your favorite hoodie?
I’ve only got a blue one.

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?
I kissed the cheeks of some of the tenth grade girls… Yeah, I’ll kiss them again.

4. Do you plan outfits?
umm… how do you mean “plan”?

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now?
depressed and sick

6. What's the closest thing to you that's red?
my bedspread

7. Tell me about the last dream you remember having?
I dream so often.

8. Did you meet anybody new today?
yes, I am constantly meeting new people

9. What are you craving right now?
nothing

10. Do you floss?
yes.

11. What comes to mind when I say cabbage?
Katie!

12. Are you emotional?
yes…

13. Have you ever counted to 1,000?
Probably.

14. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it?
chunky=then I bite it

15. Do you like your hair?
Yes.

16. Do you like yourself?
depends on the hour.

17. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush?
I guess, if he really wanted to. But it would be awkward I think.

18. What are you listening to right now?
Noor and Katie talking in the kitchen.

19. Are your parents strict?
nope.

20. Would you go sky diving?
I guess so.

21. Do you like cottage cheese?
sure… in stuff.

22. Have you ever met a celebrity?
I don’t think so.

23. Do you rent movies often?
nope.

24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in?
my jili kurdi is in my closet. Other than that… not really.

25. How many countries have you visited?
I don’t know.

26. Have you made a prank phone call?
no, that’s rude.

27. Ever been on a train?
Yes.

28. Brown or white eggs?
As long as the inside is white and yellow, I don’t care.

29.Do you have a cell-phone?
I do.

30. Do you use chap stick?
Every day!

31. Do you own a gun?
No!

32. Can you use chop sticks?
Certainly.

33. Who are you going to be with tonight?
Katie

34. Are you too forgiving?
Nope.

35. Ever been in love?
This is a stupid question.

36. What is your best friend(s) doing tomorrow?
Probably going to school like a good girl… I love you Laurel.

37. Ever have cream puffs?
I have.

38. Last time you cried?
too long ago.

39. What was the last question you asked?
Are we cooking for team dinner tomorrow here at your house?

40. Favorite time of the year?
Spring in Kurdistan, Summer with my family.

41. Do you have any tattoos?
Nope.

42. Are you sarcastic?
Usually only in my head.

43. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect?
Like, actual butterflies? Or is there a movie? Or the actual process of how one flap of a butterflies wings can change the course of the world?

44. Ever walked into a wall?
many kinds of walls actually… but poles and pillars more than walls.

45. Favorite color?
Don’t have one.

46. Have you ever slapped someone?
hehe… yes.

47. Is your hair curly?
No.

48. What was the last CD you bought?
I was given a Yo Yo Ma CD for Christmas.

49. Do looks matter?
In many things, yes.

50. Could you ever forgive a cheater?
By the grace of God, yes… I forgive my students quite often for cheating.

51. Is your phone bill sky high?
No.

52. Do you like your life right now?
Yes… but why am I so miserable?

53. Do you sleep with the TV on?
Nope.

54. Can you handle the truth?
yes

55. Do you have good vision?
It’s ok.

56. Do you hate or dislike more than 3 people?
I don’t think so.

57. How often do you talk on the phone?
every day.

58. The last person you held hands with?
I held hands with Katie as we ran away from the freaky men in Dohuk.

59. What are you wearing?
purple shirt, jean skirt

60.What is your favorite animal?
Dogs.

61. Where was your default picture taken at?
My default picture? What’s that mean?

62. Can you hula hoop?
I used to be able to. I’d have to practice a lot.

63. Do you have a job?
Yes.

64. What was the most recent thing you bought?
a rolling pin, some thread, some balsamic vinegar, and some other junk.

65. Have you ever crawled through a window?
Yes.

Hundreds of thousands of people on a street

700,000 people on a street, originally uploaded by thebeloved.

This is about half way down the street and downhill. Each Newroz (New Year) everyone in the city goes out and walks up and down the street. Different groups have music or food on the sides of the street. But those aren't the real attractions. The real thing is to see everyone you have ever known and to watch people, especially foreigners or politicians. It is swarming and not the easiest place to walk through. We were exhausted by the time we finished, but it was worth it. Everytime we stopped for anything we drew a crowd of our own. P got interviewed by a news crew on what he thought of the festivities. People followed us around with cameras to take our picture. You'd think we were something special. =) But we did manage to see some of our students and their families which made me feel a little more normal.

Butcher shop saga... my funny story.

So, I have a friendly relationship with my butcher. He admires how we always ask for our meat with very little fat in it and always remarks at how fat he is. He's a little roundish, but not bad really. He looks very normal. Anyway, this last time he was running through the same conversation again about fat in meat and how Kurds like fat in their meat and then he mentioned how I was looking thinner and asked how much I weighed. This is not an awkward question to ask a woman here in this culture. People will regularly tell other people that they are fat or thin and scold them on it. I didn't know how much I weighed in kilos, but then he started guessing. I was stuck... still didn't know my weight in kilos. Then he pulled out a large meat scale. He wanted me to stand on his meat scale so that he could weigh me! There I am, surrounded by large slabs of meat, standing on this scale with my shoes on. I struggled to just keep from laughing.

From there, the conversation went on into the normal questions of life here. He was sad that I wasn't married (he was married at age 17) and the Koran says it's a pity to not be married (according to him). I tried to tell him that in the Bible it isn't a pity not to be married and that I was okay. He then got all excited and said he knew all about the Bible and proceeded to tell me the story of Jesus' birth and Mary and how he preached. I stood there nodding and smiling as well as I could. I just wanted 3 kilos of ground beef! It took a while... it always does. But the story was worth it.

The fan club at a school in Hawler

I can't think of anything real to post!

Where is your cell phone.......................on the table
Your hair..........................................blonde
Your father.......................................always available
Your favorite thing...............................my friends and family
Your dream last night............................interpreted by Katie
Your favorite drink...............................fruit smoothies?
Your dream/goal..................................knowing what to do
The room you are in..............................living room
Your fear...........................................having people mad at me
Where do you want to be in 6 years...........I've stopped answering that question
Muffins.............................................it's been a long time
One of your wish list items......................to stop complaining so much
Where you grew up..............................Moscow
The last thing you did............................reorganized my external harddrive
What are you wearing...........................jeans and t-shirt
Your TV............................................in the cupboard
Your pets.........................................imaginary
Your computer..................................an amazing gift
Your life............................................chaos
Your mood........................................concerned and confused
Missing someone..................................always
Your car............................................well loved
Favorite store.....................................don't like shopping
Your summer.......................................uncertain
Your favorite color...............................don't have one
When is the last time you laughed.............last night
Last time you cried................................last night
Three people who email me....................Laurel, my Mom, and Kea
Three of my favorite foods......................cheddar cheese, pomegranate, cilantro
Three places I would rather be right now............nowhere else....maybe Moscow with my fam.

It made me laugh...

http://www.laughitout.com/2009/02/why-werent-you-successful-with-arabs.html

25 things...

So enough people have tagged me to write 25 random things. But you should feel no obligation to write anything. I mean, I'm sure I'd love to know more things about you all, but I understand the busy life so no stressing over this one, alright?

1. I went to Washington D.C. twice as part of Idaho State's knowledge bowl team in high school. I was the good luck charm.

2. I don't have a favorite color. I like some colors in some places and other colors in other places.

3. I have a really hard time remembering to take the trash out. It's a good thing I live with a girl who thinks about that! Yay Katie!

4. I have never worn gray until this year and am still not sure if I like myself in it.

5. I've never been kissed.

6. Cucumbers make my tongue numb.

7. I grew up listening to Keith Green and Steve Green. This made me very confused about music artists' names and musicians in general. I've never recovered.

8. I sing and dance in my kitchen when I'm all alone. But I think everyone does that.

9. My fuzzy blue hot water bottle is named "Derf".

10. When dogs first meet me, many of them pee on themselves. Not kidding--it's called submissive urination.

11. I was invited as an economics expert to speak on T.V. on the current economic status of the United States. I declined.

12. People think I'm nice.

13. I know how many amps most appliances in my house take.

14. I wish I knew more about wireless internet routers. We have five in our house and I can't get any of them to work.

15. I like to have my toenails painted in dark colors.

16. I'm a very huggy and touchy person. I love having my girl-friends or my family stand with their arm around me or play with my hair.

17. I dislike wearing jili kurdi. I always feel so awkward.

18. I have journals from my whole life since I was seven. I still haven't decided if I will ever let anyone read them. (But that first one is hilarious!)

19. I have a fetish for beautiful blank books and nice leather bound Bibles.

20. I'm a fairly private person who has to work to open up to people. That makes things like this tagging-quiz-thing fairly difficult for me.

21. I'm very afraid of letting people down.

22. I am wrestling over the concept of hope. What is it exactly and how does it work as a part in faith? Hebrews 11:1

23. I don't like scotch or port.

24. I wish I had time to write a book, a really good book. I have an intense desire to be a part of creating something grand.

25. I would love to shoot an AK and rappel out of a helicopter--not at the same time though. Can we?

I'm sooo between the trees...

My sister and some of her friends are the only ones who will understand what I mean by this. The rest of you can admire the fashion of the youth in my city.


One way to keep from being between them, huh Laurel?, originally uploaded by thebeloved.

Car Trouble

We've had adventures with our car lately. It's been functioning fine, just the weather and traffic have been funky. 

Just yesterday morning we had 5 near misses in the traffic on the way to school. This becomes only more surprising when you discover that our house is only three or four blocks away from the school building. Later that day after several more crazy situations where God spared us, we saw a rather nasty car accident in an intersection. I'm just glad that day was unusual. 

A few days before that it snowed. It was lovely, but pretty wet. It froze overnight and our windshield was covered with snowy ice. In the morning as we prepared to leave for school we dug all over in stuff trying to find something that would work to scrape the windshield. Too thick for a plastic business card, the CD case was getting scratched, finally we happened across a large blue plastic funnel. The top part of the funnel worked great at scraping the ice off... well... pretty good at least. I've never seen a windshield scraper here, but we need one so rarely. 

Hope everyone else is driving safe! 

Christmas

I'm somewhat torn this Christmas. I usually take a nap on Christmas day and read some books... just lay around, maybe play games with my family. But while I'd really LIKE to take a nap... I won't. I have to stick to schedule and keep myself on track for my smooth adjustment from jetlag. I'm doing really well so far... but just a short nap? No. Bad me! Haha... But life is lovely just now, as I sit and listen to my new CD of YoYo Ma, and the only presents under the tree are for my friends that I haven't seen yet. I just have to figure out how to get it all in my suitcase... hmm...

Moving Day

It is approaching... The whole thing still feels a little surreal. I've lived in this house for 2 and a half years! The idea of calling somewhere else home is awkward and makes me feel distant, but at the same time the responsibility of this new home makes me feel more attached. It all smooths itself out in the end, I suppose. But I'm going to miss this funny place with its strange steps in the doorway and hallways, with the hideous brown glass chandeliers, and the ceiling stained by some man's smoking buddies some years ago. I'm going to miss the view from our roof (although we'll get a new view) and our very kind neighbors. But there is something exciting about starting somewhere new, knowing that there is no junk stashed in corners that belonged to someone from five years ago or more. It will be clean and fresh and put together. It will be nice.

Thanksgiving...

This Thanksgiving Day I went to school in the morning and taught as usual. I'm not in America so it wasn't a holiday. I came home to struggle with my propane tank which, after an hour of annoyance, I gave up. So I sat on my living room floor and ate leftover cold chili. I sat there and thought of the irony of being there in front of my kerosene heater mostly alone... Katie was in the house, but alseep. But at the same time as I began to feel a bit sorry for myself, I realized how silly it was. Not only was I scheduled to go to three thanksgiving meals over the weekend (Friday and Saturday), but in my bowl of chili I had more good food than many of the pilgrims had. And I have never been without. So, Praise God for his provision.

Places...

I is funny how we can get attached to places... even places that are not what we would have chosen or what we like. The family downstairs had to leave last week because of some medical issues (pray for them!) and most likely we're looking at packing it up and moving and selling. And while the house is a bit awkward, they and I have built memories here and know how things work. I understand the water and electricity, for example. That is no small task here sometimes. You know which faucet is hot and cold (backwards in our shower), and which one actually works--only the right hand faucet handle works in our kitchen. I can walk through my house safely in the dark. I'm a person that likes to be pretty settled; I'm working at learning how to handle change. Yet again, God takes my weakness and leads me through, teaching me to rest on his strength.

We have too much fun...

Jumping Cave 2, originally uploaded by thebeloved.

Okay... so we work hard a lot... and then to retain sanity we do silly things out hiking and in caves. Isn't this neat?!

Lost Cause

Man watering grass by hose, originally uploaded by thebeloved.

We saw this man watering the grass in the park... with a hose. He wasn't making much progress, as you can tell by the color of the grass.

Some of our Mountains and Hills

Moonshine...

So, us girls had some fun the other day. We decided to play a moon prank. The moon story is long and on a recent bazaar trip we came across a small yellow moon to replace the one we gave away long ago in Texas to someone who was less than appreciative. So we gave the little moon away along with a poem reminiscent of "Hey Diddle, Diddle!"

We set up the little moon playing a game of backgammon with some forks. Then we laughed heartily. It was a good day.

Dust...

Sometimes I feel like a broken record. I feel like I always am talking, writing, and even singing, about dust. Even the sermon last night had dry bones and dust.

We've been cleaning out a school building lately and one of my friends commented that things weren't just "dusty" but that it was more like something out of Indiana Jones. That imagery is perfect.

Even last night, it rained. Here they call this kind of rain "xol baran" or "dirt rain". Everything is covered in a layer of dirt and dust. And here we live... washing constantly, fighting off the inevitable return of the tan and glorying in the days where the sky is clear so that you can see the mountains.

Today's Lesson

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing.
(John 15:4-5)

The part that really resonated with me and my housemates today was that whole thing about "apart from me you can do nothing." We were trying to do stuff all day long and almost went batty with it. We couldn't even make meatballs. None of our plans came out with any sort of smoothness. It was funny and frustrating and silly altogether. For us to think that we could plan our own day... plan our own lives. Today was just a small picture of life, I guess. Like those panorama boxes that fourth graders make of the jungle or a historical event.

Have you ever....

Laughed until you cried and couldn't breath?

Sat in a room full of people from all over the world?

Had a taxi driver tell you how to say the street you live on?