Glad to Be Here

I'm glad I'm here.  Thankfully more and more this seems to be the thought I have.  Here are some recent things that make me glad to be here.

Where did you see the news announcing Mubarak leaving?  Well I was here in the Middle East, watching Al Jazeera, with an Egyptian.  Kinda hard to beat that for really being in the moment.  He had to be my translator to let me know what was going on. 

Then last week here is some of what my week looked like:

Tuesday morning invited to a friends home for tea, snacks, coffee, and conversation.  Got the chance to hear his perspective on a variety of issues that usually I only hear from one side.  Found this gentlemen to be well read, thoughtful, and generous.  What a gift to ask questions and listen.

Wednesday night my roommates and I had friends over and we got the chance to play host.  It was a great night.  Had about 7 guys in our place talking, joking, discussing and my roommate and I trying our best to match Arab hospitality.

Then Thursday morning myself and two other American's were walking in downtown.  The sweet grassy taste of whole sugar cane ground into an "interesting" drink.  The heavy aroma in spice shop crowded with bags and bags of pure ground spices and flavorings.  Then we were greeted by a man on the street who worked at a local barber shop.  We soon found ourselves inside the shop greeting his customers and coworker and sitting down for tea with cinnamon bark.  We stayed a short while sipping tea and talking between their broken English and our broken Arabic.

Lots of times I experience things and I am like, "That wouldn't ever happen in America."  I think often times these are the things I came for.

What Can Food Teach You?

 

Variety Is The Spice Of Life –  Its not that there aren't multiple places to eat, there are.  Its just that before long you begin to realize the menu's look quite similar:  Chicken Shwarma - Chicken Shwarma - Chicken Shwarma.  I’ll be the first to express praise for chicken shwarma, it's good stuff.  But at times here it can seem you are surrounded by menus with nothing but chicken shwarma.  When options one, two, and three start to look remarkably similar you realize that truly variety is a thing desired.

Be Brave To Try New Things –  I am finding that most people here are not so bold to try new things.  This is especially true with food.  Where I on the other hand am always ready for trying something new.  For sure not everything is a success but I am finding with food that bravery has its rewards.  I think the balance of regrets will rest on the things left untried in life.

There Is No Place Like Home –  I get excited every time I am invited over to someone’s home.  Get inside the homes here and you get to the good stuff with food.   This is where the food really distinguishes itself.  Coming into its own with delicious varieties and tastes.

When In Rome . . . – Don’t always do as the Romans.  Falafel is all the rave here. Falafel and hummus in the morning.  A falafel sandwhich for lunch and a convienent dinner.  Hungry for an afternoon snack?  Grab some hot falafel from a sidewalk stand.  Well I was here living as an Arab and jumped right into the falafel craze.  It wasn’t the taste that got me, I enjoy it.  But about a week or so in my gastrointestinal system was bit off track to say the least.  I’m not sure if one can be constipated while also experiencing diarrhea, well I should say I wasn’t sure that was possible.  Now I believe it.

Spring Please Hurry

If this postng i bit unclaer I aplgize.  yousee I am a bit handicapp .  I am wrting iwth only one hand as the other I accidenlty placed on the counter top and it is now frozen stuck to it.  and wll it can be ahrd to see what you type when your breath keeps foging  up the screen.  I do have more time to focus on what I write as myfingers are slowed by the chilling air in our home.  Thankfully I will soon be headed outside to warm up. 

Houses here have a way of sucking out and releasing any heat that might otherwise be found.  Outside it is a sunny and pleasant morning.  As you step inside it seems the AC was running.  As you sit inside you can feel the cold seep into your very bones.  Thankfully the winters are fairly mild here b/c otherwise I'm not sure what my odds of survival would be.  The homes have no central heating and are made of essentially cinderblocks.  These material has a way of absorbing and then dumping outside any heat in the home, they serve literally has a heat sink in winter.  Inside homes is quite cold.

And  though I am asking Spring to hurry and come I will then ask her to tarry and stay.  I am told news of quite a marvel that just as the homes steal away the heat in winter they somehow also trap and keep the heat in summer, so it will be a nice and toasty and stifling come summer.