Detoxing from (yet another) host family experience with help from the Flaming Lips
I….wow. Okay, so every Friday I eat couscous with my host family. The past two days I’ve been sick and coughing so I wasn’t really in the mood to go over to their house today. I didn’t go to work this morning and instead spent the first half of the day wrapped up like a burrito in the World’s Warmest Blanket and counting all the things I should be doing but won’t because it’s too cold outside my tortilla.
I was debating if I should go over and have lunch at all, but decided to suck it up and get out of the house because if I didn’t, they would just come to MY house and then start trying to fix me.
So I get dressed and head over around 1 pm as the mosques are letting out and knock on the door. It’s strangely quiet, considering the general volume of my host mother and the fact that four sugar-fueled small children live there. After some time my brother answers the door and I quickly see that it’s just him and Gramma, who is shuffling around the kitchen making couscous in the absence of my host mom, who usually does the cooking. Mom and the three youngest are out of town visiting her sisters.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Gramma, but she’s a bit bonkers in her old age and the idea of her fiddling around the kitchen by herself seriously concerns me. I ask her if she wants help, forgetting that she never understands anything I say, and she shoos me out. So I sit on the ponj straining to see what the hell she’s doing and if she’s going about couscous roughly the same way my host mom does.
After about 45 minutes she comes teetering out of the kitchen with a huuuuuuuge plate of couscous for three people and we start to eat. So far so good. Veggies are cooked, couscous has the right consistency, I can pretend I didn’t see her pull a dirty spoon out of the sink, shake it a few times then use it to add more sauce. Everything’s going okay until we get to the meat, which, granted, is always a stressful time for me. You never know what kind of meat it’s going to be, or what part of the animal you are eating. She starts tossing pieces of meat my way and I dig in with my fingers, separating the fat from the meat. As I put a piece in my mouth and start chewing, I distinctly hear her say “lehem l’3id!” which means “meat from L’3id Kbir.” As in, the meat I’m now swallowing is a mystery piece of sheep that’s been sitting in a freezer of questionable quality since the end of November. Updates to come on my future gastrointestinal status.
The rest of the meal went pretty normal. Gramma scolded me for “not eating anything” then told me I need to wear more clothes (I’m currently wearing two pairs of socks, long underwear, jeans, a tshirt, a sweater and a really big scarf) then tried to make tea but couldn’t get the lighter to work, at which point I escaped…until next time, that is.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
belated
Typed at precisely 9:24 pm to the soothing sounds of Simon and Garfunkel
I haven’t been able to log on to blogger for some time, so I’m trying a new tactic: ‘blogging’ in Word then posting the blog later at a cyber café, where for some reason blogger will load.
Anyway I don’t really remember where I left off (and can’t check because I can’t get into my blog) so I’ll just start chit-chattin.’
I’ve been busy. Currently I have a project and a vacation in the planning stages, a meeting with my program manager to prepare for (it’s tomorrow), lots of dirty laundry, a two-week training workshop to go to next week, a presentation to do for said training workshop and lessons to plan.
Spirits are high, I’d say. I’m starting to get some compliments on my Arabic and even though tutoring sessions usually leave me stressed out I am definitely improving. I can actually make the “gh” sound now (and spell it!) and my comprehension is getting better slowly. I’m realizing that there are some people I can understand all the time and some people that sound like they aren’t even speaking Arabic when they talk to me.
The past few weeks I’ve also had the pleasure of seeing other Volunteers (always good for the mental health). A couple weekends ago I was out of town for a SIDA training workshop and got to spend three days with other Americans, eating and making jokes that other people understand. It was awesome. Then this last Sunday a Volunteer came through Rommani to square up with me on some grant money and we were able to hang out and eat lunch (in a restaurant, which I never get to do!).
Side note, it’s funny how quickly little oddities about your site become totally normal to you. For instance, I was going to my house with the above Volunteer and when it rains a lot in my site the street leading up to my neighborhood gets crazy muddy. So, I usually go this other way that involves jumping over a big sidewalk gap, climbing onto a low wall, walking it like a balance beam then jumping back down to the street. I do this three or four times a day so it’s pure routine now, but it freaked the other Volunteer out a little, who I think thought I was leading him through some sort of obstacle course/gymnastics routine.
Annnnyhoodle I’m going to get moving. I had a request to post pics on my blog, and maybe I will, but in the meantime I’d be happy to send you links to my Picasa album(s). Just email me.
I haven’t been able to log on to blogger for some time, so I’m trying a new tactic: ‘blogging’ in Word then posting the blog later at a cyber café, where for some reason blogger will load.
Anyway I don’t really remember where I left off (and can’t check because I can’t get into my blog) so I’ll just start chit-chattin.’
I’ve been busy. Currently I have a project and a vacation in the planning stages, a meeting with my program manager to prepare for (it’s tomorrow), lots of dirty laundry, a two-week training workshop to go to next week, a presentation to do for said training workshop and lessons to plan.
Spirits are high, I’d say. I’m starting to get some compliments on my Arabic and even though tutoring sessions usually leave me stressed out I am definitely improving. I can actually make the “gh” sound now (and spell it!) and my comprehension is getting better slowly. I’m realizing that there are some people I can understand all the time and some people that sound like they aren’t even speaking Arabic when they talk to me.
The past few weeks I’ve also had the pleasure of seeing other Volunteers (always good for the mental health). A couple weekends ago I was out of town for a SIDA training workshop and got to spend three days with other Americans, eating and making jokes that other people understand. It was awesome. Then this last Sunday a Volunteer came through Rommani to square up with me on some grant money and we were able to hang out and eat lunch (in a restaurant, which I never get to do!).
Side note, it’s funny how quickly little oddities about your site become totally normal to you. For instance, I was going to my house with the above Volunteer and when it rains a lot in my site the street leading up to my neighborhood gets crazy muddy. So, I usually go this other way that involves jumping over a big sidewalk gap, climbing onto a low wall, walking it like a balance beam then jumping back down to the street. I do this three or four times a day so it’s pure routine now, but it freaked the other Volunteer out a little, who I think thought I was leading him through some sort of obstacle course/gymnastics routine.
Annnnyhoodle I’m going to get moving. I had a request to post pics on my blog, and maybe I will, but in the meantime I’d be happy to send you links to my Picasa album(s). Just email me.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
checking in
ben folds'in it up (i'm a creature of habit)
It's been awhile! The past few weeks have been a blur. My house waged a vendetta against me last week, first the water then the electricity.
Two days after I moved in, a tube thing (pipe?) in my water heater came loose and instead of just being cool it started spewing water all over my hallway. Conveniently, this happened at like 11:45 at night, right after I took a shower. So, wet hair and all, I got to run and wake up my retired landlord yelling "Flood! I have a flood!" Miraculously, I know the Arabic word for flood.
This problem got solved a day later when my friend was able to find someone with a wrench. Being a lady, I don't have such things in my house.
I thought the house and I had made up, but a day later I plugged in my computer and the electricity in the entire place went out. I actually thought in my head "Okay, house, I don't like you and you don't like me...but we have to work together like mature adults." Which is just silly. Anyway, long story short, I had a really nice guy come look at my electric meter and turns out some bozo had taped some wires together with scotch tape. I'm not sure exactly what effect that has on my wiring except that it's bad. So that's fixed now and I think house knows who's boss.
On the bright side, the past two weeks have been really good in terms of food. I had tea with a random family last Wednesday after souk, lunch with the Dar Chebab guard the next day when it was too rainy to go home, couscous with the Dar Chebab director's family on Friday (I'm teaching his wife English), lunch with my host family Saturday, and lunch with them again yesterday. Plus I made pretty delicious macaroni and cheese using Laughing Cow.
Other things going on: I'm slowly but surely becoming more independent. Example: yesterday I re-registered my post office box in my name (the postal workers still thought I was the volunteer that I replaced) and paid to rent it throughout 2010 all by myself. This probably doesn't sound like a big deal, but trust me, it is. It involved paperwork and official stamps and three separate trips to the post office.
Also, I've started learning to read and write Arabic script. It was really overwhelming the first couple tutoring sessions but I'm starting to get the hang of it. The other day while waiting around at the post office (see above paragraph) I realized I could read a couple lines on the paper I was holding. Swiyyyya b swiyya.
Listening/comprehension is getting a lot better, too. Yesterday my brother told me a story about how he caught a frog and I understood the whole thing.
In terms of work, things are a little slow right now. I have a few diehard English students that I really enjoy teaching, but the younger kids are starting to lose interest. I don't mind so much because it gives me more time to just hang out with them instead of being their teacher all the time. This morning, for instance, no one felt like learning English so we started playing Uno and it turned into a huge, fun game.
I don't want to teach if the kids don't want to learn, but then again it can be a little stressful letting the whims of an 11-year-old dictate your work day. Last Saturday I showed up with a full lesson plan--we were going to review the vocabulary we'd been studying all week, then start a lesson on opposites where I planned to teach the kids how to sing "Hello Goodbye" by the Beatles. I even brought my laptop, and that bitch gets heavy when you are going up and down hills all the time.
Alas, when I got to Dar Chebab there were only three girls there, all of whom wanted to "play ballet." Hmph. I obliged, and brought them into the big activity room and started leaping around with them. This quickly dissolved into them demanding that I show them different steps, so I was jumping and spinning around in jeans and socks for about half an hour. Not gonna lie, I had a good time and it feels great to have a chance to do a little ballet every now and then, buttttttt I spent awhile planning that lesson and I really want to teach them "Hello Goodbye."
Anyway. Hoping to start some bigger projects, probably after February when I get back from a training session up north. I need to get comfortable living here before I can really work effectively.
If I were to sum up my life right now in a simple sentence I would just tell you that it's going on. Everyday I wake up with an idea of what I'm going to do and go to bed having done something else. I kind of like that though, I guess.
It's been awhile! The past few weeks have been a blur. My house waged a vendetta against me last week, first the water then the electricity.
Two days after I moved in, a tube thing (pipe?) in my water heater came loose and instead of just being cool it started spewing water all over my hallway. Conveniently, this happened at like 11:45 at night, right after I took a shower. So, wet hair and all, I got to run and wake up my retired landlord yelling "Flood! I have a flood!" Miraculously, I know the Arabic word for flood.
This problem got solved a day later when my friend was able to find someone with a wrench. Being a lady, I don't have such things in my house.
I thought the house and I had made up, but a day later I plugged in my computer and the electricity in the entire place went out. I actually thought in my head "Okay, house, I don't like you and you don't like me...but we have to work together like mature adults." Which is just silly. Anyway, long story short, I had a really nice guy come look at my electric meter and turns out some bozo had taped some wires together with scotch tape. I'm not sure exactly what effect that has on my wiring except that it's bad. So that's fixed now and I think house knows who's boss.
On the bright side, the past two weeks have been really good in terms of food. I had tea with a random family last Wednesday after souk, lunch with the Dar Chebab guard the next day when it was too rainy to go home, couscous with the Dar Chebab director's family on Friday (I'm teaching his wife English), lunch with my host family Saturday, and lunch with them again yesterday. Plus I made pretty delicious macaroni and cheese using Laughing Cow.
Other things going on: I'm slowly but surely becoming more independent. Example: yesterday I re-registered my post office box in my name (the postal workers still thought I was the volunteer that I replaced) and paid to rent it throughout 2010 all by myself. This probably doesn't sound like a big deal, but trust me, it is. It involved paperwork and official stamps and three separate trips to the post office.
Also, I've started learning to read and write Arabic script. It was really overwhelming the first couple tutoring sessions but I'm starting to get the hang of it. The other day while waiting around at the post office (see above paragraph) I realized I could read a couple lines on the paper I was holding. Swiyyyya b swiyya.
Listening/comprehension is getting a lot better, too. Yesterday my brother told me a story about how he caught a frog and I understood the whole thing.
In terms of work, things are a little slow right now. I have a few diehard English students that I really enjoy teaching, but the younger kids are starting to lose interest. I don't mind so much because it gives me more time to just hang out with them instead of being their teacher all the time. This morning, for instance, no one felt like learning English so we started playing Uno and it turned into a huge, fun game.
I don't want to teach if the kids don't want to learn, but then again it can be a little stressful letting the whims of an 11-year-old dictate your work day. Last Saturday I showed up with a full lesson plan--we were going to review the vocabulary we'd been studying all week, then start a lesson on opposites where I planned to teach the kids how to sing "Hello Goodbye" by the Beatles. I even brought my laptop, and that bitch gets heavy when you are going up and down hills all the time.
Alas, when I got to Dar Chebab there were only three girls there, all of whom wanted to "play ballet." Hmph. I obliged, and brought them into the big activity room and started leaping around with them. This quickly dissolved into them demanding that I show them different steps, so I was jumping and spinning around in jeans and socks for about half an hour. Not gonna lie, I had a good time and it feels great to have a chance to do a little ballet every now and then, buttttttt I spent awhile planning that lesson and I really want to teach them "Hello Goodbye."
Anyway. Hoping to start some bigger projects, probably after February when I get back from a training session up north. I need to get comfortable living here before I can really work effectively.
If I were to sum up my life right now in a simple sentence I would just tell you that it's going on. Everyday I wake up with an idea of what I'm going to do and go to bed having done something else. I kind of like that though, I guess.
Friday, January 1, 2010
no children are grabbing me right now
currently listening to The Arcade Fire
I should note that I'm listening to music sans headphones. That's right, because I'm in MY OWN HOUSE BY MYSELF DOIN' WHAT I PLEASE. Today I went crazy-go-nuts and went food shopping, unpacked and showered. I know, I'm out of control.
I'm really happy with my house right now. It's not perfect--one of the windows leaks a little on really rainy days, the butagaz in my kitchen scares the hell out of me and my landlord hung the mirror over my sink really crooked (intentionally, I suspect)--but the important thing is that it's mine. I finally have a place to go where I can just be.
And unpacking was FANTASTIC. I forgot about some of the stuff I brought. It's hard to keep track of everything when you live out of a duffle bag for four months.
Also. It occurred to me today that I've never lived alone before. Away from my parents, sure, but I've always had a roommate: my best friend from college and I lived together for three years then the summer before moving here I lived with some British exchange students. I'm hoping that living alone for the first time in a (very) foreign country is one of those rash decisions that work out really well.
One funny thing to end on: yesterday I was explaining to a kid at Dar Chebab that I had been really sick this week and she asked me "shrbti nkila?" which means "did you take nyquil?" But the thing is, in different contexts, shrb means drink, and when she said nkila I heard tequila. I think you can see where this is going.
I responded with a nervous laugh and said "No! Shame on you!" in Arabic while thinking a swirly margarita from Lauriol would hit the spot right about now. She looked at me funny and then I looked at her funny and then I kind of figured out what she said. Awk.
I should note that I'm listening to music sans headphones. That's right, because I'm in MY OWN HOUSE BY MYSELF DOIN' WHAT I PLEASE. Today I went crazy-go-nuts and went food shopping, unpacked and showered. I know, I'm out of control.
I'm really happy with my house right now. It's not perfect--one of the windows leaks a little on really rainy days, the butagaz in my kitchen scares the hell out of me and my landlord hung the mirror over my sink really crooked (intentionally, I suspect)--but the important thing is that it's mine. I finally have a place to go where I can just be.
And unpacking was FANTASTIC. I forgot about some of the stuff I brought. It's hard to keep track of everything when you live out of a duffle bag for four months.
Also. It occurred to me today that I've never lived alone before. Away from my parents, sure, but I've always had a roommate: my best friend from college and I lived together for three years then the summer before moving here I lived with some British exchange students. I'm hoping that living alone for the first time in a (very) foreign country is one of those rash decisions that work out really well.
One funny thing to end on: yesterday I was explaining to a kid at Dar Chebab that I had been really sick this week and she asked me "shrbti nkila?" which means "did you take nyquil?" But the thing is, in different contexts, shrb means drink, and when she said nkila I heard tequila. I think you can see where this is going.
I responded with a nervous laugh and said "No! Shame on you!" in Arabic while thinking a swirly margarita from Lauriol would hit the spot right about now. She looked at me funny and then I looked at her funny and then I kind of figured out what she said. Awk.
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