It's 1:54. In the morning. My child is sitting here with me in the kitchen eating her weight in lunch meat and blueberries (jet lag is a b!). What to do? Blog about what we did today (since Snapfish is still crippled and non-functioning, UGH!). Just a few minutes ago, Maya walked up to one of the stockings hanging on Grammie's mantle and pointed to a Santa and said, what's this? And so it begins. I didn't think we would have long before we faced this question. I thought it might come tonight when we walked around the block and looked at Christmas lights, but she didn't bring it up, so neither did I. I told her he was St. Nicholas and she said, "Oh Nate Sicholas?" Sooooo, any good book titles about the real story of St. Nick? I'm going to go tomorrow to get a book, and maybe some golden coin looking chocolate, so we can tell the story of St. Nick and the stockings. I could just tell her, but I think she believes it more if we read it from a book. And I think it's a special story and I want to have a book about it anyway. So, let me know if you have a great book and we can look for it.
So, we're in America, if you haven't figured it out by lunchmeat, blueberries, christmas lights, and oh yah, we ate MEXICAN FOOD for lunch! The journey was . . . a little bit traumatic. Still too mad to write about it without including a lot of inappropriate phrases. Sorry mom. After the travels to get here, everything has been roses! We have played in the yard in leaves, Gone for two walks, drank two flavors of eggnog, did yoga while three under three's crawled among and on us, matt and his mom rode bikes, niki and i pulled the kids in a wagon, we took naps (apparently too late in the day, because now we can't sleep), it was pretty much all around awesome. Tomorrow is a busy day. Matt to the dentist, both of us to the DMV, me to the sleep Dr (can I get a Hallelujah?!), Paw Paw gets into town, and I think we will go cut down our own Christmas tree! Then the next day I think we will celebrate Maya's birthday! It will be a cowgirl/Toy Story birthday, thrown by Grammie and Niki and they showed us this outfit that they got fo her today and she squealed she was so excited! I can't wait to show you the pics! In the meantime, here are a few moments from our first day in America (oh yah, other funny things that Maya has noticed: putting tp in the toilet, not recognizing a street because it looks nothing like a street in our world (and there were no cars driving/parking on it, so how do you know it's even a street?), a backyard where we can play ball, and the most surprising?--a garage door! We closed the garage door and she said, "What happened?"!! I'll try to write down/remember the things that are new to her and let you know. It's so fun to see it through her eyes! I'll leave you with these and hopefully we will both be going back to bed soon . . .
Well, it seems I have maxed out my free Google storage--which I guess means I can't upload any more pics to my blog until I start paying for it. Commies. So, I'll make an album on fb and link it here. Hang on, I'll be right back
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152334442890204.946798.626700203&type=1
I think that's how you do this. Got Maya back to bed and think I can fall asleep if I try again now. Goodnight America, Good morning home.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Five Minutes (Give or Take)
I am going to only spend five minutes on this post. I have my stopwatch running. That's the only way it will take less than an hour and I have to learn to be less perfectionistic and less editorial of myself. And I hardly ever post because I don't have time to do it perfectly, but really, Nana and Grammie just want to hear about their grandbabies, so here we go!
Lately I have done this in the kitchen (hah, I must have a dirty mind b/c I instantly didn't think of recipes but that was SO not where I was going. I try to follow Pioneer Woman's tip about not talking about that on my blog. . . ).
Pumpkin pie spice that i didn't find here, but I can't find where I did find it (it was somewhere on Channeling Contessa and I have no idea how I found it there, b/c I've never even looked at her blog before). So i found a different one for you that i think is like the one i found. Lost?
I made my own taco seasoning, which then caused both of my kids to cry (I don't consider that a real success--so if any of you have an EDIBLE taco seasoning recipe, send it my way--I've decided that is one EASY way to save some money since the packets are not $.97 here!).
I made this recipe that a friend gave me for pumpkin bars: (I followed her directions but added vanilla and they are yummy, kind of like half cake/half bar, lighter than a bread):
1.5 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c pumpkin
1 c oil
1/3 c water
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp b powder
1 tsp b soda
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix all ingredients, pour into baking dish, bake 20-25 mins at around 180 C (350C).
she says: I never actually follow the recipe exactly.. substitutions and different amounts of spices, but these are YUMMO! I put a cream cheese frosting on them this time, but they are good enough that you can just eat them plain.
In order to make that yummy-ness, I prepared pumpkins, which pioneer woman has good instructions for. It's kind of a fun activity to do with the little shadow in your life. I also made these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins which were wildly popular.
While I was over at Our Best Bites, looking for the pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe, I got distracted and read all about this, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, so I'll probably be making it next. It looks really yummy. But that means gutting and cooking a whole 'nother pumpkin cause I gave my stash away. Why did I do that?
I have also always been on the hunt for a new banana bread recipe. the original one I used to use had crisco, which i could always feel on my tongue when I ate it. And no one wants to feel Crisco on their tongue. So I searched. I used this one from my friend Kelli posted here on our cooking blog, but I didn't like how dark (almost burnt) it was on the outside every time I made it (it did have good flavor though, and I like a crunchy crust on my banana bread, plus it could have been user error. So i tried Ree's recipe (when all else fails, go to Ree. She'll save you (in the kitchen)). Matt asked me to not forget how I made it. That's his way of saying, please don't be airheaded and make this thing that I really really like and then never be able to make it quite the same again b/c you can't remember where you found it, or how you improvised and made it up. I do both quite often. Never fear hubs, here it is.
I made German potato salad from my betty crocker cookbook (after traveling to Austria the week before last I want to learn to make all things Austrian/German, so if you have an awesome recipe for Spietzal, good German p. salad, etc., let me know--this one was just ok.
I tried my hand at a local salad called tabbouleh, and I realized I should have been making it at home for years (hubs orders it EVERY time we eat out at a Lebanese restaurant)! It is easy once you have all the ingredients on hand (and it's always cheaper to cook local and with fresh veggies here). I tried Ina Garten's recipe here, then my battery died halfway through so I finished it on my own, and it turned out bad, plus she puts a lot of stuff in it that they don't usually put in it here, so next time I will go back to the original recipe that I found here, but we like it without the mint, without the onion, and light on the lemon juice. Also, if you dump the liquids and the tomatoes onto the bulgher and let it sit there and soak that stuff up while you are chopping the other stuff, it doesn't take 2 hours to be ready (but it tastes even better after it's been mingling a bit, BUT it's not as good like 2 days later). I tried another local salad that I found here. Her version was VERY wet, so next time I won't use as much oil or lemon, and I left out the onions because I don't always love that raw onion crunch. She has a LOT of great recipes from this part of the world, and has videos, which I really really like b/c I think my learning style requires being able to see it and not just read about it (another reason I love the Pioneer Woman).
I've now been working on this post for 41 minutes. But my kids are still playing nicely, so let's just keep going with this!
Okay, still can't find the chocolate chip pumpkin muffin recipe, but re-discovered this low fat recipe that I knew about once and if ever I see a spice cake cake mix at the store again, I'll snatch it up. But, if you want to make it from scratch, here is the recipe. Sorry I still don't know where I got it (see, hubs has a reason for always asking, "This is really good, please tell me you remember how you made it"). BUT I have it saved in the recipe file on my computer so here it is:
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
1 & 2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 TBS pumpkin pie spice
1/2 TBS cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup butter
1 cup chocolate chips
Mix dry ingredients. Melt butter & add eggs and pumpkin. Pour into dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips. Bake at 350 "until done". (Don't you just hate that? The trouble is, I can't remember how long it took to get them "done". Sorry about that!) My sister gave me this recipe years ago. These muffins are a delicious way to welcome fall, and to bless the fam! Hope you enjoy.
So there it is. That's what we've been up to in the kitchen.
This morning in the kitchen we are listening to this guy, who I've never heard before and know nothing about (Channeling Contessa liked him but called him a little too "religious" for her, so i thought, huh, I'll probably like him, and wow, boy do i!).
And for anyone who wants to know, Zain has been doing GREAT at gaining weight slowly and learning to eat more foods and I've been learning how to be more persistent and patient while feeding him :). Think he's even above the 25th percentile now, woo hoo Zain! He is also "saying" Mama, Dada, hi, and I think even something that resembles Maya. No walking yet, but he's close.
Maya is prematurely aging me with her potty training stubornness (the only thing that has kept her from popping her pants has been to just not let her wear pants until she poops--this slightly limits our social outtings as well as posing a problem now that the weather has finally cooled off). And if the whining of a not quite three year old could kill a mom, I'd be dead three times over. But that's for another post about parenthood, which this one is NOT!
:) interrupted many times and it took way more than five minutes, but there you go. THE END
Lately I have done this in the kitchen (hah, I must have a dirty mind b/c I instantly didn't think of recipes but that was SO not where I was going. I try to follow Pioneer Woman's tip about not talking about that on my blog. . . ).
Pumpkin pie spice that i didn't find here, but I can't find where I did find it (it was somewhere on Channeling Contessa and I have no idea how I found it there, b/c I've never even looked at her blog before). So i found a different one for you that i think is like the one i found. Lost?
I made my own taco seasoning, which then caused both of my kids to cry (I don't consider that a real success--so if any of you have an EDIBLE taco seasoning recipe, send it my way--I've decided that is one EASY way to save some money since the packets are not $.97 here!).
I made this recipe that a friend gave me for pumpkin bars: (I followed her directions but added vanilla and they are yummy, kind of like half cake/half bar, lighter than a bread):
1.5 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c pumpkin
1 c oil
1/3 c water
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp b powder
1 tsp b soda
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix all ingredients, pour into baking dish, bake 20-25 mins at around 180 C (350C).
she says: I never actually follow the recipe exactly.. substitutions and different amounts of spices, but these are YUMMO! I put a cream cheese frosting on them this time, but they are good enough that you can just eat them plain.
In order to make that yummy-ness, I prepared pumpkins, which pioneer woman has good instructions for. It's kind of a fun activity to do with the little shadow in your life. I also made these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins which were wildly popular.
While I was over at Our Best Bites, looking for the pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe, I got distracted and read all about this, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, so I'll probably be making it next. It looks really yummy. But that means gutting and cooking a whole 'nother pumpkin cause I gave my stash away. Why did I do that?
I have also always been on the hunt for a new banana bread recipe. the original one I used to use had crisco, which i could always feel on my tongue when I ate it. And no one wants to feel Crisco on their tongue. So I searched. I used this one from my friend Kelli posted here on our cooking blog, but I didn't like how dark (almost burnt) it was on the outside every time I made it (it did have good flavor though, and I like a crunchy crust on my banana bread, plus it could have been user error. So i tried Ree's recipe (when all else fails, go to Ree. She'll save you (in the kitchen)). Matt asked me to not forget how I made it. That's his way of saying, please don't be airheaded and make this thing that I really really like and then never be able to make it quite the same again b/c you can't remember where you found it, or how you improvised and made it up. I do both quite often. Never fear hubs, here it is.
I made German potato salad from my betty crocker cookbook (after traveling to Austria the week before last I want to learn to make all things Austrian/German, so if you have an awesome recipe for Spietzal, good German p. salad, etc., let me know--this one was just ok.
I tried my hand at a local salad called tabbouleh, and I realized I should have been making it at home for years (hubs orders it EVERY time we eat out at a Lebanese restaurant)! It is easy once you have all the ingredients on hand (and it's always cheaper to cook local and with fresh veggies here). I tried Ina Garten's recipe here, then my battery died halfway through so I finished it on my own, and it turned out bad, plus she puts a lot of stuff in it that they don't usually put in it here, so next time I will go back to the original recipe that I found here, but we like it without the mint, without the onion, and light on the lemon juice. Also, if you dump the liquids and the tomatoes onto the bulgher and let it sit there and soak that stuff up while you are chopping the other stuff, it doesn't take 2 hours to be ready (but it tastes even better after it's been mingling a bit, BUT it's not as good like 2 days later). I tried another local salad that I found here. Her version was VERY wet, so next time I won't use as much oil or lemon, and I left out the onions because I don't always love that raw onion crunch. She has a LOT of great recipes from this part of the world, and has videos, which I really really like b/c I think my learning style requires being able to see it and not just read about it (another reason I love the Pioneer Woman).
I've now been working on this post for 41 minutes. But my kids are still playing nicely, so let's just keep going with this!
Okay, still can't find the chocolate chip pumpkin muffin recipe, but re-discovered this low fat recipe that I knew about once and if ever I see a spice cake cake mix at the store again, I'll snatch it up. But, if you want to make it from scratch, here is the recipe. Sorry I still don't know where I got it (see, hubs has a reason for always asking, "This is really good, please tell me you remember how you made it"). BUT I have it saved in the recipe file on my computer so here it is:
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
1 & 2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 TBS pumpkin pie spice
1/2 TBS cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup butter
1 cup chocolate chips
Mix dry ingredients. Melt butter & add eggs and pumpkin. Pour into dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips. Bake at 350 "until done". (Don't you just hate that? The trouble is, I can't remember how long it took to get them "done". Sorry about that!) My sister gave me this recipe years ago. These muffins are a delicious way to welcome fall, and to bless the fam! Hope you enjoy.
So there it is. That's what we've been up to in the kitchen.
This morning in the kitchen we are listening to this guy, who I've never heard before and know nothing about (Channeling Contessa liked him but called him a little too "religious" for her, so i thought, huh, I'll probably like him, and wow, boy do i!).
And for anyone who wants to know, Zain has been doing GREAT at gaining weight slowly and learning to eat more foods and I've been learning how to be more persistent and patient while feeding him :). Think he's even above the 25th percentile now, woo hoo Zain! He is also "saying" Mama, Dada, hi, and I think even something that resembles Maya. No walking yet, but he's close.
Maya is prematurely aging me with her potty training stubornness (the only thing that has kept her from popping her pants has been to just not let her wear pants until she poops--this slightly limits our social outtings as well as posing a problem now that the weather has finally cooled off). And if the whining of a not quite three year old could kill a mom, I'd be dead three times over. But that's for another post about parenthood, which this one is NOT!
:) interrupted many times and it took way more than five minutes, but there you go. THE END
Monday, September 24, 2012
our LITTLE guy
Well, It's official. Zain is now, according to our pediatrician, a "failure to thrive" baby. He has never kept up with his own curve (particularly in weight), and even though we've been feeding him special weight-gain formula for a month now, he is still not where he should be. He is in the 5 to 10th percentile in weight, the 25th in head size, and 10 to 25th in length. Every time I look at his little booklet and read the words "failure to thrive", I freak out a little bit. We knew he was small and that he wasn't gaining much (any) weight, but we didn't realize how serious it had gotten. We are recording everything he eats this week, then we see a nutritionist Oct 3rd to try to discern if the problem is diet or something else. As we've tried extra hard the last few days to get this boy to eat, it has become really clear that we have not been feeding him enough and we haven't been patient enough with him. The average meal is taking him an hour. Oh my word. Seriously? He has to carefully chew and swish around every single little bite of smashed beans? He is a very picky eater, and has major major texture issues. He has gagged and thrown up over a single pea. A bite of rice is enough to make him gag until he throws up too. He is a milk junkie and loves to nurse. Still. He still wakes up in the middle of the night to nurse (I know). From the very beginning, he has been less than enthusiastic about food. Maya was an eating machine. Any time you got a spoon near her mouth, she knew what to do with it, and boy, you'd better shovel fast. Zain could not be more different. At lunch today I started with some yummy homemade refried beans (protein? yes! fat? a teaspoon of olive oil! flavor? salt and cumin-super yummy!) From the first bite he locked his lips closed. Then spit out the skin. Okay. Second attempt, some turkey veggie baby food from a jar (he usually prefers the baby food from a jar over my homemade baby food). But it was a wee bit chunky, so no way. Okay, third attempt. Baby rice cereal and half a banana mashed. Only a few bites, then he was no longer interested. Okay boy, I'll bribe you with sweets! Added some peaches (baby food kind from a jar) to every bite, and he finally ate something! I am so frustrated at every meal, and sitting there for an hour, waiting for him to finish chewing a bite, is awful! But what else can I do? Have any of you ever had REALLY picky eaters? What worked? What would they eat? What can I do about his texture issues? What will help him gain weight the fastest?
He doesn't look too skinny here, though, does he?
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Easy as ABC
Hey everybody! We've been busy around these parts lately being crafty! In order to preserve my personal sanity, I was looking for something that might lend a bit of structure to our otherwise unstructured days, and since little bit will not be heading off to school this year (although we are considering a part time daycare situation to give her some social outlet-thoughts and advice welcome), we need something new at home. I've started choosing a letter (and sometimes a number and color if I am really on the ball) for each week. It's not something that I have to plan for. It's something I can do on the fly, and then just enjoy coming up with/finding stuff online to do that relates somehow to that letter. We've started out the last two weeks by sitting down and just sketching out things that start with our letter of the week, then Maya colors them and circles all of the letters she can find that are that week's letters (sorry, i didn't take a pic of this part). She also traces the capital and lowercase versions of the letter. Then I just come up with some activities that go with the letter that we can do that week. I find that just this little bit of structure challenges my brain and I am MUCH more creative than I would have been with no structure! I've also used video segments from Sesame Street (on YouTube) (you can find both number and letter specific videos that are very short and are often from the episodes we watched as kids!). Here are some of the things we've done as a result of our Letter of the week activity. We're also trying to learn the phoenetic sound with each letter, but we're not pushing it--just trying to keep things FUN because I think that's the best way for her to learn, and before long, she will have to be in a much too serious learning environment anyway :( . . .
The letter C
Who wouldn't want this little face helping them in the kitchen?! Okay, I confess, sometimes I don't want quite so much help, but I'm trying to learn to enjoy having a shadow because (and yes I am SOOOO tired of hearing it), it will be over so soon and then I will miss it. . . I know. I know.
Then we made some Colorful Cards:
I saw an activity on Pinterest using chalk pastels, which I just happened to have (thank you Katie F!). You shave off bits of the pastels into a shallow amount of water, then just lay your paper right on top of the water, and it makes all kinds of cool designs. Between each paper we would just pick a few more colors to add to the mix.
We mounted our papers on some folded paper to make cards. SO easy and she loved dipping the paper into the water and seeing what colors we created. My only advice would be shave LOTS of the pastel into the water for a more dramatic result, we went easy and the resulting shades were pretty light.
Now Blogger won't let me post any more pictures so we'll talk about the letter W next time!
Monday, August 6, 2012
Cultural Moments
Because this culture has had a lot of Western influence, it feels much more "normal" to me than some of the other places I have lived. China, for example, sometimes felt like living on the moon. Everything was different. Here, not so much. That may be in part due to the fact that we have lived outside of the US for years now. If I count my time in China before I was married, I have lived outside of the U.S. for seven years now. Crazy! At least crazy is how I'm gonna act the next time I'm in the states (family: I apologize in advance for the weird and embarrassing ways that I will behave the next time we are on the continent). So as I was saying. It feels pretty "normal" to us most days, but sometimes I am still surprised at things that happen here--things that feel really foreign to me. Last week we were at an ice cream store and Maya was working on a cone. I had scraped off most of the ice cream into a cup and then given her the cone (because the child cannot handle that much ice cream without LOTS of supervision, and a bib, and a chair, and a bath afterward). This was the kind of store where you just stand around outside and eat your ice cream. So as Maya is trying to figure out how to keep up with the heat that is melting her ice cream, this female employee of the ice cream shop comes up and starts chatting it up with her (read: adoring her). This is extremely common here. Strangers give my kid candy all the time (family: we will need to work on stranger danger when we are there). It is not uncommon to look across the sanctuary at church and see that Maya has left the kids time, snuck back into the sanctuary, and is perched on the lap of someone who she knows will give her an entire package of Mentos! As you can imagine, she loves church. Back to the ice cream shop. After several minutes of this young woman being delighted that Maya will answer with a few words of Arabic, she takes the ice cream cone out of her hand, goes over to the soft serve machine, and tops it off with a few more inches of glorious goodness! This was a first. Usually it's just a sucker, or some gummi worms, but topping off your soft serve? I can get excited about this new perk! Now if only I could get Starbucks employees to love her. . . (read: love me).
The other surprising cultural moment came last night. We were coming home kind of late-ish from friends'. It was around 8 and it was Maya, Zain and I. We happened upon a man pulling his pants down, pooping in the planters outside of our building! It was dark, and sidewalks/streets are poorly lit, so I was hoping that we could get past without Maya noticing. No luck. "What that man is doing?" I am SO not good on the spot. I hate being asked important questions and being expected to answer right then. I would rather write than talk. I love texting because it means I can avoid actually talking to people. I did NOT know what to say, so as best I could, I rushed her into our gate and tried to get her to rush with me. Once we were safely in the house, I tried to explain that it's not nice to take our clothes off outside and it's not nice to poop outside and when someone does something that isn't nice, we don't watch. (because she continued to state, "I want to see what is he doing"). I tried not to freak out and make a big deal about it, even though I was freaking out internally. Apparently, the world is every man's urinal, because it is quite common for men to just pee against a wall, behind their car, you know--wherever. But this was my first poop experience. With an adult. Pooping right into our planters.I'm kind of tempted to look for the evidence today as I pass by the planters! Just curious, what would you say to your kid if they asked, "What he is doing?"?
The other surprising cultural moment came last night. We were coming home kind of late-ish from friends'. It was around 8 and it was Maya, Zain and I. We happened upon a man pulling his pants down, pooping in the planters outside of our building! It was dark, and sidewalks/streets are poorly lit, so I was hoping that we could get past without Maya noticing. No luck. "What that man is doing?" I am SO not good on the spot. I hate being asked important questions and being expected to answer right then. I would rather write than talk. I love texting because it means I can avoid actually talking to people. I did NOT know what to say, so as best I could, I rushed her into our gate and tried to get her to rush with me. Once we were safely in the house, I tried to explain that it's not nice to take our clothes off outside and it's not nice to poop outside and when someone does something that isn't nice, we don't watch. (because she continued to state, "I want to see what is he doing"). I tried not to freak out and make a big deal about it, even though I was freaking out internally. Apparently, the world is every man's urinal, because it is quite common for men to just pee against a wall, behind their car, you know--wherever. But this was my first poop experience. With an adult. Pooping right into our planters.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Exercise in Futility
Today, I had a plan. Matt is out of town for the 2nd day, so I decided I would actually get up early and have some time with Jesus before my kids woke up. Then I got them both changed and milked up and back in their beds (because that first wake up of theirs is crazy early!) and while they rested/slept, I got showered and dressed and so by about 9 am, things were rolling around here! Kids were dressed, I was getting them fed and we had a plan! The plan was to finish Nana's birthday cards (sorry for the spoiler Nana, but you may never get them, so this might spoil exactly nothing for you!), go to the post office and mail them, while also checking our P.O. box for any lovin' from the ole' US of A. Simple, right? Well, then I thought, "How cute if I take some pictures of the kids and get them printed and put them in the cards!" So we took some pictures. Selected our favorites, threw the jump drive in the diaper bag and we're off. First we head down the elevator (we live on the 8th floor) to the car. Usually when Matt is out of town we don't have a car, but this time he hitched a ride, so I was happy to have use of the car. When we arrive at the car, Zain's carseat has been moved to the trunk. Not sure why-I didn't drive the car last, but no big deal. I figure out a semi safe place for him to sit while I get his carseat put back in place. Then we head to the photo shop. I am surprised and thrilled to find a parking place just down the hill from the shop. Parking is EXTREMELY difficult here and streets are narrow and crowded, so I debated walking, but strapping my 20 lb kid onto my body while pushing my 2 1/2 year old in a stroller (cause trust me NO ONE has time to keep pace with the slowest walker on the planet) in this heat sounded awful (plus it's Ramadan so we couldn't drink any water outside while making this trek, which sealed the deal for me! So we (and when I say we, I mean I) get both kids out of carseats (nearly being taken out by traffic driving very close to us and our parked car) and hike up the hill to the shop where we wait for a few minutes for someone to go get someone else, who tells me their machine is broken. So I ask if they know any other places in the area. Several nice patrons give me directions. We walk back down the hill, get the carrier because now that we're officially exploring, I need Zain in his carrier. We go in search of the other photo shop, which we walk right by without realizing it. Then we ask at another shop. And then we wait for 5 minutes while he yells at someone named Ahmed on the phone. Then he sends us back the way we came. (and I hope my child does not notice the porn sold openly at the magazine shop we have to pass going both ways) Maya announces that she has to pee. Although she is wearing a diaper, (because we have temporarily suspended all potty training efforts to prevent child abuse), I don't want to discourage her being aware and wanting to use the toilet, so I ask if she can hold it. She can, so we proceed to photo shop #2 that we walked right by. We arrive and he boots up his machine. It strikes me as a bit ironic that it looks just like the machines in WalMart, where they have parking. And baby changing tables. And cold drinks. Then he puts the jump drive in. And there's nothing on it. And I realize that I have a folder of cute pictures for Nana's birthday card sitting on my desktop, NOT on this jump drive. I have to decide what to do now. I contemplate mailing the cards without the pictures. After all, we're already downtown, but with a 20 lb kid on my sweaty chest and the planet's slowest walking 2 1/2 year old, there is no way it's within walking distance from where we are parked. At this point I remember that Maya needs to pee. So we go into a coffee shop where I know there is a bathroom. Why are all the bathrooms in this country in the basement or on the 2nd floor?! So we (ever so slowly) make our way downstairs and she uses the potty and we get the diaper back on (while standing, mind you, because there is never a place to change kids here and this floor is DIRTY, so I'm not gonna lay her down on it). I begin to have intestinal cramps and fear I will have diarrhea, but decide there's no way I can do that with my 20 lb kid strapped on my chest. And I can't bear to put him down on this not so clean bathroom floor, so I just will myself well and we move on. We climb back up the stairs, greet a few cute old men gawking at Maya, and hike back up the hill to the car. As we get back in the car and I try to decide whether to go home, put the pictures on the jump drive, go back to the picture store, print the pictures, move the car to the post office, try to find parking (again), go up the stairs to the post office, wait in line forever. . . you're getting the point. Plus Zain falls asleep the moment we are moving in the car again. At this point, I decide we'd better just go home, eat lunch, take naps, and try the whole thing again tomorrow. Wish me luck. . . And Nana? Don't hold your breath. . .
Thursday, July 19, 2012
An Extremely Long Post About a Very Short 24 Hours
I have a hangover. Not the alcohol induced kind (we live under the law apparently), the vacation induced kind. and although our "vacation" lasted all of 24 hours (it was actually a visa run, but i feel better when I call it something fun like vacation), it somehow has ended in the same effect (affect? I never know)--I can't seem to get my butt in gear and do anything (other than read blogs, of course). Because I didn't feel like doing anything practical, Maya and I did a craft, but other than that, I've been pretty lazy all morning. Teeth brushing? Nope (Don't worry, matt left town before 7 this morning so it's ok that I've neither brushed my teeth or showered). About 15 minutes ago I remembered that we have a bag of wet swim-clothes in our yet to be unpacked luggage from yesterday, so I managed to start a load of laundry-so yeah me. Our kids have been sleeping off their hangover most of the morning so it's been a really nice quiet morning to myself (except for the one poop in her pants episode Maya had just after breakfast, just before our craft, in the 2 seconds while I stopped supervising her cute poopy little butt).
And speaking of that 24 hour vacation--it was awesome. I'm not sure how 24 hours with so many hiccups could be considered awesome, outside of the grace of God. And years of living in a kind of chaotic country dulling our sensitivity to chaos. But it did and He is and it was. We started off on shaky ground b/c our flight left Beirut after bedtime. But we had a picnic dinner at our gate that included chemical filled cheeseballs and PB and J, so how could we not be happy? The flight was a breeze (it's so short that they don't even have time to get out the beverage cart, so they pass out juice boxes before the plane even takes off). The landing was a breeze. The arrival was disorienting--why don't European teenagers wear any clothes? And why do they say the F-word all the time? Wow, we are in EUROPE! A 20 minute flight, and we are worlds away!) We landed in Cyprus without knowing a word of Greek (although after me making fun of him for having studied Greek in seminary and not remembering ANY of it, Matt came up with the word Oikos--useful honey, thank you!) we entered the Greek speaking island of Cyprus.
Thankfully Matt splurged on a guidebook of Cyprus in the Beirut airport, so we weren't completely ignorant. Although we have flown into Cyprus quite a few times to renew our visas, this was our first time to actually leave the airport--and my what we have been missing! It was cute! It was quaint! It was RURAL! It reminded me of a mash up between a VanGogh painting, and Kansas countryside. I got to explain hay bales to Maya! Real live birds ate her crumbs at lunch on a veranda! We saw camels! Say WHAT?! We left the middle east for Europe and ended up at a place that had camels? Camel Park to be exact, but I'll tell you more about that later. After we arrived in shocking Europe (I kept reminding myself that it's rude to stare in Europe. I don't know that for a fact, but I decided it was a safe assumption.), we headed to the rental car area. We got a car secured and two car seats, then we walked like a thousand miles in 200% humidiity with one big duffle, two carry on's, a diaper bag, 2 kids and 2 carseats. When we finally found the car and figured out how to install Zain's carseat (in the dark b/c the lights inside the car didn't work), we took a moment to try to orient ourselves. You see, Cypriots have some historical connection with the Britts, and therefore, many of them speak English, and all of them drive on the left side of the road.
If you have never experienced this, just trust me in that it is extremely disorienting. Add to that that the car was a standard (NO problem for my awesome hubby though), with the shifter on the LEFT! Someday I'll tell the story of our comical honeymoon in the Bahamas and driving a scooter on the left side, when I perfected my Brittish driving mantra, "Look to the right, stay to the left." Once again this cheer came in handy as we nearly avoided collision on a number of occasions (we actually read in the guidebook that Cyprus has one (if not THE) highest rates of car accidents in all of Europe. I'll tell you why. Visitors. They even have big signs as you leave the airport telling you to drive on the left.) Now speaking of signs. Much like the Lebanese, the Cypriots do not seem to put much stock in them. Conveniently, the signs that they do have are in both Greek and English, but that somehow was not enough. In our bewildered left side driving, getting in so late, feeling tired, trying to read the map in the dark car and find our hotel state-of-mind, we needed some reliable signage. We ended up in driveways and on dead end roads and in the seeming middle of nowhere. Several times. Did I mention what time of night it is at this point? I can't remember, but it was late. Like maybe after 11 p.m.? One man told us to drive toward the sea, but in the dark, a big field and the sea are pretty much identical. Maya, from her booster seat in the backseat seemed to be keenly aware of the fact that we did not know where we were. She was asking, almost constantly where we are and what we were doing. I tried to stay extremely calm and upbeat, while feeling increasingly unsure and concerned on the inside. Were it not for the wonderful Cypriot people themselves, we surely would have had no chance. There are SO SO many similarities between our beloved Lebanese and the Cypriots. One being that they all socialize out on their verandas late into the night b/c it's the coolest time of the day and it's cooler outside than inside. That being the case, it was quite easy to just pull up alongside someones house and ask, "Do you speak English?" and always, someone did. We got directions from a nice group of folks, tried to follow them, and ended up lost once again. Then we drove around some more. Then we got lost again. Had it not been the pitch black of night, it would have been a very pleasant tour of all of the little villa-type homes, the beautiful flowers growing around each home, and the big open fields of hay and groves of olive trees. We pulled over at a kebab restaurant, and asked directions again. In broken English they gave us directions, but something got lost in translation, because after about 15 minutes, we were back at the same Kebab place!
At this point, Zain threw up all over himself. I jumped out of the car and went around to the back to get him out, and try to clean him up. So at this point, Zain and I are sitting on the curb in front of Kebab stand, trying to clean up the vomit. This precious lady who could have come right out of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" brings me a bottle of water and another brings me a glass and we give Zain some water and get us both mostly cleaned up. We chat and she realizes this is our first day in Cyprus. At that point, there is no way she is going to let anything else bad happen to us--she assigns her husband to jump in his car and lead us to our hotel. And it's a good thing he did, because we were so far from getting there it's not even funny. Maybe it was the difference between getting directions in meters/kilometers instead of yards or miles or whatever we do. This wonderful man led us right to our hotel, but not without Zain puking on himself one more time.
We thanked him profusely and headed into the hotel. We arrived in our room (which is nice and well decorated, so I am very happy). Aren't the acid dyed concrete floors pretty?
A man from India gets a pack n play all set up and goes to great trouble to turn the couch into a bed for Maya, we get the essentials unpacked and then realize the air is not working in our room. Move rooms. At this point, I think it must have been after midnight, which is no big deal, but when you are 9 months old, or 2 1/2, it's a real big deal. We got settled in our new (cool) room and after a long time of struggling, the kids finally fell asleep. And then the really cool Ipod docking station/alarm clock on my bedside table goes off and I swear we are sleeping in a fire station it is so loud! I finally figure out how to turn it off. And then I'm guessing about 15 minutes later, right after I've finally fallen asleep, it goes off again. at that point I have the sense of mind to unplug the crazy thing! (Do people do that on purpose? Like a prank? Mean. So mean.) Did I already mention that the bathroom has a window that looks into the bedroom? So strange. Also, when 2 children are sleeping in the room with you, so annoying, b/c if the light in the bathroom is on, it shines all over the bedroom. We managed around it somehow.
Somewhere in the hand-off, Maya didn't get a 2nd application of sunblock and got a sunburn. Ouch! Zain took a very abbreviated nap, so after the swim, we still had a bit of time before we had to be out of the room so we put both kids back down for a nap, which Zain talked his way through and Maya fiddled and fidgeted and stalled until almost time to check out, at which time she fell fast asleep. Ugh! So we wake her up, get all the bags down to the car, and decide we will go back to the kebab folks to thank them for their help and to eat some lunch.
It's after 2 by this point so we are getting HUNGRY! We realize in the daylight just how beautiful it is, and just how clueless we were driving around lost the night before. We find the restaurant, but apparently, because it's so hot, and they don't use much A/C, people here stay up very late, and don't do a whole lot in the morning (or early afternoon?). So the kebab shop was closed. Plan B: any place that was open that had A/C so we could keep our little lobster child and our very sweaty selves in from the heat. About the first five places we found had all outdoor seating and no A/C. Then we found a place with the doors closed, which we took to mean sit in the A/C-yeah! So we parked, got kids all unloaded, walked in, and realized while they did in fact have A/C, the seating was OUTSIDE only! You could buy your goods in the air conditioned glory, but you had to eat them in the sweltering humidity of a Cyprus 2 pm. At this point, I give our family a speech about how bad running the A/C is for the environment, how so many in the world don't even have the choice to run it to escape from the heat, how the growing threat of global warming is real to these people because they feel it with their bodies, etc., etc., but all i really wanted? Some d*** A/C. And something to eat. The hungry grumpies were all over me. We got lost again at this point. I'm serious. We really did. And passed quite a few cafes with tons of little old men sitting outside on the verandas, drinking what is called a frape. I think this was the forerunner for the frappuccino. It is a famous Cypriot cold coffee drink, and it is YUMMY!
At this point, Matt approached one of these groups of old men (why didn't I get a picture of the groups of little old men, sitting outside the cafes, drinking their frapes (frape rhymes with cafe)?! Anyway, he got directions. Again.
At this point, Maya has asked for a snack about 10 times and we decided the next place we find, A/C or no, we will stop and eat. That's when we end up at The Camel Park. That's right, we have left the Middle East for Europe, only to eat lunch at a place that is decorated with camels and other Middle Eastern kitch, and is within smelling range of a camel farm/petting zoo.
And there's no A/C. We eat some yummy food (that is very similar to Lebanese food-they even use some of the same words-maybe these words come from Turkish and the Ottoman occupation?) and do a great deal of sweating.
We decide next that we should head into the city (where the airport is) make sure we can find the airport, then if we have time, try to find a Mexican restaurant that Matt read about in his guidebook. Oh my word. I think we asked directions 3 or 4 more times. No kidding. I finally took a picture just so I could document the thing we did the most while we were in Cyprus.
Also, just to keep us on our toes, Zain threw up another 2 or 3 times during this drive.
We finally found it-Nuevo Mexico. It was literally on the road that we came in from the airport on. We probably drove right by it, before driving around the city for at least an hour looking for it. We unloaded the pukey kid, walked inside, then Matt noticed that the menu said "French". Thankfully we were in the right place, just the wrong floor--the place we wanted was just upstairs from the French place. . .
Here's what we did at Nueva Mexico:
. . . that and we had the best Chicken Enchiladas we've had in at least two years! Corn tortillas, how we love you!! Even here, there was no A/C, so we sat out on the veranda, devoured our Mexican, and sweated some more! We quickly loaded up the car again, drove for the airport, got the car turned in, got the bags checked and made it to our gate with all kinds of time to spare. And by all kinds of time, I mean our flight was an hour late taking off, which is, again, no big deal if you didn't start out with exhausted, hot, sunburned kids. . . ;)
Did I mention that Zain had an allergic reaction (mild) to the baby food I fed him on our picnic at the departure gate, or that Maya pooped her pants at the rental car counter while we were picking up the car?
And speaking of that 24 hour vacation--it was awesome. I'm not sure how 24 hours with so many hiccups could be considered awesome, outside of the grace of God. And years of living in a kind of chaotic country dulling our sensitivity to chaos. But it did and He is and it was. We started off on shaky ground b/c our flight left Beirut after bedtime. But we had a picnic dinner at our gate that included chemical filled cheeseballs and PB and J, so how could we not be happy? The flight was a breeze (it's so short that they don't even have time to get out the beverage cart, so they pass out juice boxes before the plane even takes off). The landing was a breeze. The arrival was disorienting--why don't European teenagers wear any clothes? And why do they say the F-word all the time? Wow, we are in EUROPE! A 20 minute flight, and we are worlds away!) We landed in Cyprus without knowing a word of Greek (although after me making fun of him for having studied Greek in seminary and not remembering ANY of it, Matt came up with the word Oikos--useful honey, thank you!) we entered the Greek speaking island of Cyprus.
Thankfully Matt splurged on a guidebook of Cyprus in the Beirut airport, so we weren't completely ignorant. Although we have flown into Cyprus quite a few times to renew our visas, this was our first time to actually leave the airport--and my what we have been missing! It was cute! It was quaint! It was RURAL! It reminded me of a mash up between a VanGogh painting, and Kansas countryside. I got to explain hay bales to Maya! Real live birds ate her crumbs at lunch on a veranda! We saw camels! Say WHAT?! We left the middle east for Europe and ended up at a place that had camels? Camel Park to be exact, but I'll tell you more about that later. After we arrived in shocking Europe (I kept reminding myself that it's rude to stare in Europe. I don't know that for a fact, but I decided it was a safe assumption.), we headed to the rental car area. We got a car secured and two car seats, then we walked like a thousand miles in 200% humidiity with one big duffle, two carry on's, a diaper bag, 2 kids and 2 carseats. When we finally found the car and figured out how to install Zain's carseat (in the dark b/c the lights inside the car didn't work), we took a moment to try to orient ourselves. You see, Cypriots have some historical connection with the Britts, and therefore, many of them speak English, and all of them drive on the left side of the road.
"Look to the right, stay to the left!"
The Kebab Shack in the daylight
We thanked him profusely and headed into the hotel. We arrived in our room (which is nice and well decorated, so I am very happy). Aren't the acid dyed concrete floors pretty?
the view from the balcony
The next morning we all woke up too early and decided we would head down to breakfast, and then take turns taking Maya to the pool and keeping Zain in the room (hopefully sleeping). Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9ish that night so we needed to kill appx. 12 hours in Cyprus. We got a late check out of 2pm so Maya and I headed to the pool while Matt stayed with Zain for a nap. Then after a while Matt came down to swim with Maya so I could go up and shower and pack up our stuff.
It's after 2 by this point so we are getting HUNGRY! We realize in the daylight just how beautiful it is, and just how clueless we were driving around lost the night before. We find the restaurant, but apparently, because it's so hot, and they don't use much A/C, people here stay up very late, and don't do a whole lot in the morning (or early afternoon?). So the kebab shop was closed. Plan B: any place that was open that had A/C so we could keep our little lobster child and our very sweaty selves in from the heat. About the first five places we found had all outdoor seating and no A/C. Then we found a place with the doors closed, which we took to mean sit in the A/C-yeah! So we parked, got kids all unloaded, walked in, and realized while they did in fact have A/C, the seating was OUTSIDE only! You could buy your goods in the air conditioned glory, but you had to eat them in the sweltering humidity of a Cyprus 2 pm. At this point, I give our family a speech about how bad running the A/C is for the environment, how so many in the world don't even have the choice to run it to escape from the heat, how the growing threat of global warming is real to these people because they feel it with their bodies, etc., etc., but all i really wanted? Some d*** A/C. And something to eat. The hungry grumpies were all over me. We got lost again at this point. I'm serious. We really did. And passed quite a few cafes with tons of little old men sitting outside on the verandas, drinking what is called a frape. I think this was the forerunner for the frappuccino. It is a famous Cypriot cold coffee drink, and it is YUMMY!
At this point, Matt approached one of these groups of old men (why didn't I get a picture of the groups of little old men, sitting outside the cafes, drinking their frapes (frape rhymes with cafe)?! Anyway, he got directions. Again.
At this point, Maya has asked for a snack about 10 times and we decided the next place we find, A/C or no, we will stop and eat. That's when we end up at The Camel Park. That's right, we have left the Middle East for Europe, only to eat lunch at a place that is decorated with camels and other Middle Eastern kitch, and is within smelling range of a camel farm/petting zoo.
And there's no A/C. We eat some yummy food (that is very similar to Lebanese food-they even use some of the same words-maybe these words come from Turkish and the Ottoman occupation?) and do a great deal of sweating.
We decide next that we should head into the city (where the airport is) make sure we can find the airport, then if we have time, try to find a Mexican restaurant that Matt read about in his guidebook. Oh my word. I think we asked directions 3 or 4 more times. No kidding. I finally took a picture just so I could document the thing we did the most while we were in Cyprus.
Also, just to keep us on our toes, Zain threw up another 2 or 3 times during this drive.
Daddy on clean up duty post another puke episode . . .
Here's what we did at Nueva Mexico:
. . . that and we had the best Chicken Enchiladas we've had in at least two years! Corn tortillas, how we love you!! Even here, there was no A/C, so we sat out on the veranda, devoured our Mexican, and sweated some more! We quickly loaded up the car again, drove for the airport, got the car turned in, got the bags checked and made it to our gate with all kinds of time to spare. And by all kinds of time, I mean our flight was an hour late taking off, which is, again, no big deal if you didn't start out with exhausted, hot, sunburned kids. . . ;)
Did I mention that Zain had an allergic reaction (mild) to the baby food I fed him on our picnic at the departure gate, or that Maya pooped her pants at the rental car counter while we were picking up the car?
All in all, our 24 hours in Cyprus were great, and other than the porn sold openly in the duty free shops and thong wearing, topless sunbathers, it was good clean fun!!! I even got to wear a sleeveless shirt and eat pork! We will go to Cyprus again for sure! It was awesome!
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