Tagged by Waterlilie

1. Last movie you saw in a theater? Four Brothers.

2.What book are you reading? A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. A Short History of Greek Literature by Said and Trede.

3.Favorite board game? Is Twister a board game? If not, then probably Monopoly.

4.Favorite magazine? Don’t do magazines now. Used to love Ms.

5.Favorite smell? Olive oil and/or fresh baked bread if we’re talking food. Strawberry and Passion Fruits if we’re talking house aroma. Hugo Boss Deep Red if we’re talking me

6. Favorite food? Pasta Pasta Pasta

7. Favorite sound? Waves on a sandy beech

8. Worst feeling in the world? Guilt

9. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up? What are my plans for today?

10. Favorite fast food place? McDonalds

11. Future child's name? Already have 2 boys so this gotta be a girl’s name: I'm liking the name Sara these days

12. Finish this statement. If I had a lot of money: I would.... travel

13. Do you drive fast? Only occasionally

14. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? No and I don’t think I ever did: such a deprived childhood

15. Storms cool or scary? Way cool

16. What was your first car? A BMW that I revolted against and insisted on getting a Honda. Talk about being cheap

17. Favorite Drink? Mango

18. Finish this statement, "If I had the time I would…read and write

19. Do you eat the stems on broccoli? Of course, and those on mushrooms too

20. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice? Black. Lol I love my hair color

21. Name all the different cities/ towns you have lived in? Kuwait, Raleigh North Carolina, Indiana Pennsylvania, Orlando Florida. (Also Egypt and England as a child)

22. Half empty or half full? Half full, I think

23. Favorite sports to watch? Tennis

24. One nice thing about the person who tagged you? She tagged me. She’s sweet. She eats Sushi. She's good looking. She has a blog. I don’t know enough about her to add more. Oops that’s more than one

25. Morning person, or night owl? Morning person. I'm no vampire

26. Over easy, or sunny side-up? Scrambled with tomatoes

27. Favorite place to relax? My bed

28. Favorite pie? My apple pie :D

I'm tagging Shuroq (in an effort to get her back in the game) and whoever else would like to be tagged.

Who's gay? Who's not?

Tight pants, closeted heroes. What’s hidden behind those masks? Ma 3endy salfa but we were talking about that on the way back from Villa Fayrouz.

Villa Fayrouz!!! I thought I liked the place, turns out I only like the music. We had to keep asking for the menu, keep asking to get some dates (finally 5 dates were scattered on a too big of a plate and served), keep asking to get someone to take our order, their desserts menu is a disgrace, their food is lame, and the service!!! OMG those people were dazed for sure. We had at least 4 waiters, each dumber than the next. The Ramadan spirit must really be kicking in there.

I wanna go out but it’s all too crowded. My boys refuse to wear dishdasha for Eid so I have to go shopping for decent clothes. The Horror! The Horror!

My “A Million Little Pieces” just arrived and I’m looking forward to reading a good book. I hope this one proves to be one. My last, “Five People You Meet in Heaven” was a total disappointment. It was in my car forever and I’d read it at traffic lights, waiting for doctors’ appointments, waiting for friends to get in the car, but it never seemed to finish until 2 days ago.
My bookshelves need to be organized again. I have too many children’s books that I don’t wanna throw away ‘cause my kids read them earlier, but the Dr Seuss and Disney collection doesn’t fit in my den, neither do the boys want it in their rooms. And the files upon files of papers to be organized :/

Confusion!!!!!

I've recently come to realize that freedom of choice is over-rated, that you can't always trust adults to be the ones most qualified to make decisions regarding their lives. More often than not, the right thing to do is not just to be there for those you care about, but to occasionally be their decision-maker.

In general I tend to shy away from telling people what to do, or assuming I have the right to decide for them, or even to provide more than a take-it-or-leave-it advice. Even with my kids, I tend to find myself unable at times to tell them what to do; to order them, assuming that they are old enough to see right and wrong and to act upon it. I assumed that one's job is to be supportive of those she cares about, but I know now, rather late in life, that being supportive doesn't mean you allow those you care about to make decisions that might be harmful to them, or ones they might regret later on. There's nothing wrong with interferring with your loved ones' decisions, telling them what they should and/or shouldn't do, stopping them from doing or attempting to do something that might backfire later on.

I hope this isn't just talk and I actually find it in me to take a more active role in my loved ones' lives.

London Baby (a la Joey Tribbiani)

Planning a trip to London during the Eid vacation. Haven't been there in ages. Know any good hotels? Any ones I should avoid?

What's frustrating is that I still don't know when that is. When are we gonna move into this century and have some system in our calendar? How are we supposed to plan anything with this bendy system? And what about celebrating New Year on the Saturday following New Year's day? So New Year is on the 7th of January now!!!

Say what?

He's 12. OMG I had to consult my sister to get to the bottom of this. But my main attack of course isn't on my struggle to understand it, I am willing to admit that that may be my own problem. But why all this negativity? A friend of mine keeps repeating that Islam derives from Salam; peace. So why is the second 'religious lesson' my son has to learn still talking about sins? Why does Islam, taught in our schools, mostly focus on sins and punishments?


This is dediated to Ayya who asked for another sample of that endearing Arabic text book.

I miss blogging. Between this mind-boggling daily dosage of the most endearing Arabic homework, the classes I teach, housekeeping, raising two boys who seem to be straying in the wrong direction, socializing (a necessity unfortunately) and of course shopping and going out (come on, I need an outlet :), I barely have time to read/comment on people's blogs lately. Anything new and interesting I'm missing?

School ... Actual and Official Week 1

Following D&G's account, here's mine:

Week 1: The Official Week 1
Which I usualy set aside for casual introductions and getting to know you kinda sessions.

Sunday 18 Sept.
This is supposed to be where I just to show up, introduce myself, and handout my little let's-not-waste-paper-notecard, telling students they can get all information pertaining to their classes on the website. Go there, register, and start reading the assigned material. Knowing how students don't usually show up during the add/drop period, I choose not to prolong my introduction so as not to repeat myself after days. What I expected to be short sessions evolved a little as many students choose to stay in and chat. Cool.

All my classes are co-ed. Yippee. However, one of these classes was opened for males only and only got changed into a co-ed the last weekend before school "officialy" started. So I end up with one sole female student amidst about 7 or 8 males.

Tuesday 20 Sept. This is when we're supposed to go around introducing ourselves. I'm a teacher, so naturally talkative but the students, well, at least most of them, limited themselves to the name, major, and year intros. Of course there were come exceptions, but not many.

I need datashow for my classes. I asked for it and it was hooked up in my classrooms. It was not the best of datashow machines. Picture continued to appear and disappear during my presentation. So a room change is needed. We must find one with datashow hook-ups ready.

Week 2: The Actual Week 1
In which I begin my teaching, or at least wish to do so.

Half the population in my three classes (OK I might be exagggerating) are attending for the first time. So I had to do a quick intro, for the third time, into what needs to be done. Not enough have done the reading required for the week so discussion is limited.

The new room has datashow connected already, but I had to struggle a bit to get the sound to be loud enough.

I'm sleepy and tired. The movie was longer than I expected last night (though much better than I expected too) and I ended up sleeping at 1:30 only to wake up at 6:30 :( Not enough sleep. So I decide on a nap upon returning today. I hate naps. They pull me down when I finally do wake up.

I'm also bored and my friends are all held up at work still.

Attack, Destruction, Occupation, Enemies

From Arabic School Book, Year 7

Is it just me or is this a little aggressive, or a call to be aggressive? Is talk about enemies the best of topics for 12 year-old school kids?

I love helping my son with his Arabic language studies and homework, but the subject matter ticks me off. Among other words, I had to teach him these:

اعتداء
قضاء
احتلال
أعداء

A criminal mind in the making :(

Too noisy to work

Sound is muted under water.

In my office building, we used to have some chairs for students' use. A while back, teachers complained about the noise those students make and the chairs were removed (on the claims that it goes against our segregation policy). In reality, it is the teachers themselves who create the most annoying noise. They tend to stand in the hallway to my office and talk in the loudest voice ever.

I usually work best in crowded, noisy environments. Whenever possible, I take my work to a coffee shop where the noise people make there helps me stay attentive to my work and neither fall asleep nor wonder into my own stream of thought. This noise outside my office, however, is more than I can handle.

So now I have an hour to kill before my class starts but can't seem to concentrate enough to do anything productive.

Blogging, on the other hand, is always do-able :)

Coffee, Ryan, and work

I'm sitting at Starbucks Behbehani. I thought I liked the place the first time I came as it was rather quiet. But now it's just like all the other starbucks. Maybe worse. Too many kids in here.

Why don't we have a decent coffee shop that overlooks the beach? We have such a beautiful sea (OK a sea at least, even if not so beautiful anymore) but no place to sit and enjoy it. You have to settle for those noisy Nino, Fridays, Chillis is you want a sea-view.

And why are coffee shops becoming such a typical Kuwaiti hang-out visited by that same crowd who used to pollute Sharg and has now moved to Marina? What attracts those noisy kids to Starbucks anyway? It's a coffee place for god's sake. Kids shouldn't even be drinking coffee, should they? (When I took the kids to school today, my 14 year old nephew had a coffee mug in his hand. When asked, he told me that it helps him wake up in the morning. Really? Coffee as a morning meal for a 14 year old!!!!)

Ok I'm going on and on here. About what? I don't know. I'm trying to finish editing this translation so I can begin working on my sullabi for next term. 50 pages left.

My rambling on in this blog isn't gonna help me finish the editing so I'd better say bye for now.

This post is not about The Amityville Horror. I went there needing to be scared and that movie failed. And it didn't help that my movie buddy went crazy everytime Ryan Reynolds appeared topless and deprived me from even a little scare.

In a smashing mood

I'm hurt.
I'm angry.
I'm frustrated.
I'm terrified.
I'm confused.

Damn it I just feel like smashing something. If I were a guitarist this would be the moment I'd smash all my guitars as hard as possible.

Can't use friends to steam off. Can't use family either. I hate this feeling and my only smashing abilites are this f***ing blog.



I hate being the adult in a relationship of two adults. It sucks and I refuse to play it.

Diving

I took up diving last summer and eventually got my license last August but haven't gone diving since. So this weekend, I decided to put that damn license to use and actualy go diving with my brothers who have been nagging on me to accompany them. I thought I needed some coaching but it's like riding a bike, you never really forget it. I had some trouble with my ear pressure going down but nothing substantial. Unfortunately the water wasn't too clear that Wednesday.

I can't say I enjoyed the dive that much. We stayed in the water around 40 minutes and I was ready to surface after the first 10 minutes or so. Feeding a Dory-look-alike was fun though, those blue fish actually come and nibble at the oyster I held for them. I doubt if it's the same species as Nemo's Dory; they look flatter and the tail's a bit different. I got a picture here but with the water being this murky, you can hardly see a thing.

Swimming wasn't that much fun either as the water was a bit hot. So after the dive, all we did was stay on the boat, eat, and listen to music. And I was so eager to go swimming last week. I don't know what happened when I actually got there.


Here's a close-up of the blue blob:

New Look

I'm glad Katrina left Cecilia and her family untouched. I'm also glad I'm no longer in orlando to have to worry about yet another hurricane. When I asked a friend in Orlando about why he choose to move into an area flooded by hurricanes on a yearly basis, he said that the risk of hurricanes is made up for by the beautiful weather that state has year round. I didn't think it was worth it when I was there. I still don't think it's worth it. I lived in Pennsylvania for over 3 years and all the snow that they all complain about is nothing compared to the threat of hurricanes in Florida. But what do I know?



September aproaching. New school year. So why not a new template? Blue because I like blue.

The chef at Sakura managed to entertain me as though I'm a 7 year old. Food wasn't too bad either but I think I'm losing my interest in Japanese food. Their salmon crab and avocado salad is great though. I'd go again just to have that dish.

No books to report on this time. Just food. And now I'm hungry and feel like a good piece of juicy steak. Not the ones they serve in our crappy seaside restaurants. Anyone for Terrace Grill? I love their Fillet Mignon (sp!). Or maybe LeNotre for their sole. Hmmm. I'm hungry. Ciao.

Gardenias and more

The third book I read during my European Vacation was in Arabic. After my disappointment with عمارة يعقوبيان I decided to brave it again and hit another one in my mother tongue. The choice this time fell on رأيت رام الله for مريد البرغوثي . Now let me switch to Arabic for a change:

في هذه الرواية يعبر البرغوثي عن رفضه للنظرة الحالمة للمدن الفلسطينية والتي يريد منها معظم الكتاب الرجوع إلى ما كانت عليه تلك المدن في الماضي، ويرجح أن تتغير تلك المدن وتتطور نحو المستقبل كما الحال في باقي الدول. كما ينتقد أيضا إعلان الهزيمة كنصر للمهزوم. ويعبر البرغوثي عن آرائه تلك من خلال سرد لحياة مريد البرغوثي و رجوعه لبلده رام الله بعد 30 سنة من الغربة تلت نكسة 1967، افتراقه الدائم عن عائلته الكبيرة وإسرته الصغيرة. لقاءات صغيرة تجمع العائلة وتكشف عن ما يسميه البرغوثي "طرافة المأساة" حيث يمتلك أفراد الأسرة الواحدة جوازات سفر ما يزيد عن 7 دول.
من أكثر المقاطع تأثيرا كان موت أخيه في باريس بعيدا عن أهله وحيرة مريد في كيفية إبلاغ والدته دون التسبب بوفاتها.

OK back to English now. I get tired typing in Arabic. :) The book is wonderful. ALbargothy tells his story beautifully, succeeding in gaining the reader’s empathy away from the dramatic/romantic grieving of a man without a country. I recommend this book strongly.

Now to less literary matters. The weather’s improving slightly. Either that or I’m just bored limiting my self to indoor outings (I love that oxymoron) so I decided to go walking by the scientific center. It wasn’t too bad; a little humid but bearable. I don’t think I can manage jogging yet. It’s still too hot for that and I’m still not totally back in shape. Isn’t it totally annoying how easy you can fall out of shape and what a drag it is to get it back again. Age doesn’t seem to help there either. Our bodies become so stubborn as we grow older. Urgh.

Oh and I got myself a gardenia. No flowers yet. Hope it stays green. Plants tend to die in my care. :(

I think I’m gonna brave the weather again and try our mamsha in jabria now. Later amigos.

The Da Vinci Code?...Really?

So what's all this fuss about? There's nothing artistic about the telling of this novel. The search for the Holy Grail reveals many secrets and hidden stories to the grand-daughter of the leader of an organization whose main aim is to preserve the real story of Jesus; his humanity, as opposed to the Church's rendition of him as son of god. My 16 year old son, currently obsessed with finding codes and conspiracies within every feature of life naturally loved the book, as a code-breaking sort of game maybe. As for a novel, this book fails miserably. It's gripping indeed and you would want to finish exposing its codes, but that's about it.

OK and now I'm sounding a lot like my dad in his reaction to our visit to the Museum Der Moderne in Salzburg: THIS IS NOT ART

Side-note: Members in my book club, dwindling in size after my abandonment of it for a year, loved this book almost as much as my son did. Go figure :s

Portrait of the Snail

ONCE upon a time and a very good time it was there was a girl who went on a family trip for 4 weeks...

Since the highlights of my trip have already been listed here , I think my after-vacation highlights will be on the books I managed to finish during. For now anyway. I might mention the trip later on. Italy is amazing. A family trip isn't.

I finally finished reading Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce. I'd read his Ulysses in a hurry for a course in Irish literature and my boring Irish teacher turned it into a wearisome book. Either that or I was too cramped with all that I had to read that a big book of beautiful verse caused me nothing but stress in trying to decipher its many allegories. Portrait is less elusive and more coherent. It reads like a dream, naturally, in a very Joycean manner, even when it's not a dream that Stephen is recalling, and those are many. It's one of those books that I would be willing to read again (as I would Ulysses...sigh...when I can actually find the time)

The German Snail is symbolic of how slow the 4 weeks passed, though how beautiful. I suck at symbolism, which explains why I struggled with Ulysses. J

On Vacation...

Or soon to be on vacation. Leaving with La Familia tomorrow so will be off-blogging for about a month. You will be missed.

Still can't fit in all my pants, can't swim, can't take really long walks (as will be a must in Europe), which means I'd have to do alot of reading as La Familia intends to leave me with my book(s) while they enjoy Europe. Lot's of reading, lots of coffee.

I'm taking رأيت رام الله and Portrait of an Artist. My book club will meet over Da Vinci Code in August so must try to find a paperback in the airport. Something tells me I'd need more books.

Do people smoke less or more in Europe? S, how about we campaign against N?

Smoking and عمارة يعقوبيان

So smoking is not allowed in closed public areas in Kuwait, right? Or am I wrong? Wasn't Marina Mall smoke-free when it opened? Can't one go shopping without having to put up with arrogant selfish smokers blowing their fumes everywhere. They seem to be encouraged by the mall too since they have those huge trashcans/ashtrays scattered everywhere now. I can't enjoy sitting outside in restaurants anymore in Kuwait since sheesha's becoming a fad with everyone and it's ruining all those otherwise pleasant outdoor areas.

I just finished عمارة يعقوبيان and I don't seem to find it as interesting as everyone was telling me. Somehow when I haven't read Arabic in a while and then pick it up again, I don't seem to be able to enjoy it. I know people would argue that the language is rich and more poetic, but I can't seem to find myself into it as much as I do when I read an English book. Well, that's not always the case of course. Occasionally I do find books that are gripping and hard to let go of, but in general I think I am more receptive to English.

Pindakaas

So the setting was much better this time. Darker and simpler. They still insist on the school-style guitar figurines at the corners of the stage, but they're not too noticable. So Nazzal, you were partially right. It's not that we lack aesthetic appreciation. It's just that we are simply a "Don't give a damn" people, an "I don't wanna bother" nation. Music was good. Light and easy-going.

Nino's pasta was even better.

And spending time out with my sisters was even bester.

Syrian Rock

Last night I went to Kelna Sawa in Meshref. Cultural activity in Kuwait. Such a stretch from the Sarah McLachlan and Tori Amos concerts. The music was good, but the setting is 80's school days. The majlis elwatani need to employ some people with taste to take care of presenting those artists. Why do Kuwaitis, or is it Arabs in general, pay so little attention to presentation. Whether it's our food or our music the general trend seems to be that its the content that matters. Why this lack of interest in appearance? Looks do matter. When are we gonna learn that? Our cuisine could use a great deal of improvement in that. I mean seriously, machboos or ghozi are so ugly-looking. And now our music, or the music presented in our theatres, seems to be served as un-stylistically as our food.

Am I rambling? Kaify it's my blog :)

My stitches are finally removed. I can start exercising in 10 weeks, and heavy swimming in 6. Not too bad.

Hodgepodge

Still no internet at my house so my visits to blogville are meager. Have a few hours online only and that is when I'm at my parents' house next door. Used to be online 24/7 so this is new to me. But I think I'm liking the break.

What got into my head that I can go shopping a week after a major surgery? I hate staying home so I ventured to the movies last night and that went fine. From the car to Fanar movie theatres is not much of a walk and the seats there are comfortable enough for me to relax. So today I thought I could go shopping. Nothing major. I needed trashcans, ended upp buying a desk and bookshelf for my son. I thought Landmark for a short stroll won't be too bad. WRONG. My right leg and arm hurt like hell right now. Some numbness accompanied by some muscle aches. It might be the effect of the anesthetics or maybe the blood loss.

So what to do tomorrow? Should I listen to my body and stay home? Or can I venture into a leisurely hangout at a coffee house? We'll see.

There's a planned trip to Europe in 3 weeks. I have a list of reasons why I shouldn't go. I still miss family and friends here, I have work to do, I'm on a very tight budget, I don't know if I can enjoy Europe with a body that don't seem as strong and don't know if 3 weeks is enough time to get my strength back. But how can I tell my parents I don't wanna go without upsetting them. Ever since my mom suffered from an angina attack I find it hard to do anything that upsets her even slightly.

I just added the LR3 to the list of cars I'm looking into. Still car-less, which isn't too bad since I can'd drive yet anyway and friends and family seem more than willing to drive me anywhere.