Did You Know...?

That some flies can bite? While working yesterday, a particular little fly decided I was his best friend. I waved him away a few times and didn't think twice. A moment later, my neck was itchy. Upon reaching up, I felt something! I, no kidding, flipped out! I almost swerved in the car out of fear, and I'm sure the driver behind me thought I had lost my mind. I felt a sharp sting and saw the fly fall down. "I killed the sucker!" or so I thought. When I checked to make sure he had fallen to the floor, he was laying on my side. I went to wipe him off, and he flew! The thing could still fly! He was huge, he had bite me, I had injured him, and he could still fly! I squished him one more time, and he flew away. I kept the window down for the next bit and inspected my poor neck. All of this, of course, while driving. Way to go for safety... I know for sure the people behind me thought something had gone terribly wrong! Stupid flies. This is one time that Kuwait just sucks.

Brave Adventures

This year, my New Year's Resolution was to try everything I was afraid of. If it scared me, then I had to do it. I must say, I've been doing amazingly well at accomplishing this and have seen myself grow so much! One thing that I've always been terrified of is trying new foods. I have always gagged and turned up my nose at just about everything. Making friends from all over the world has forced me to change my habits. I have had some Bosnian and Macedonian food, and it has been absolutely delicious. I've had a few small bites of Indian food here and there while they laugh at me because of the spiciness. I also had a mango that was brought all the way from India. That thing was huge! I'm not kidding. It looked like a baby football.

Tonight, one of my friends made me an Indian meal. I had asked him to make it for me because I was tired of trying just a bite here and there. I wanted a full meal to judge by. Here are the pictures of what he made me.

It was definitely quite the adventure! It's not too bad. I was gagging at the thought of trying it, but it was actually okay. I would have to say that the rice looked all right, but the white sauce was very daunting. I'm not sure what the sauce is made out of-probably something I am allergic to, but I tried it. The sauce had red onion and green bean in it. The rice had carrots, peas, green beans, peppers, and some kind of leaf in it also. Put it all together and you get an Indian meal!

Now here's an interesting fact that I didn't know until a few weeks ago. People from India eat with their hands. They have no utensils. In southern India, they eat off of banana leaves during special occasions.

Anyways, this meal was okay. It had a gentle spice that kicked in later on stronger. I ate half of what was on my plate and was already full. Go vegetarian meals! Wish you could have tried some with me.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! First, to my dear sweet husband--even while we have no children, we are still parents in one way or another. Second, to my father. We all know I'm a daddy's girl and nothing will or could change that. I hope his day is lovely and that he enjoys.

More Pictures of Scotland

Well, here's some more pictures of Scotland. I have over three hundred, so I'll be posting a few up for a while.

I hope these were nice also! I'll get around to some details eventually...

A Little Bit of Scotland

All right! Here's a few pictures from Scotland. The trip was enjoyable, and it went very well. There's so much to share and tell, but for now, enjoy the few pictures that I posted for ya! More to come...

Kriket

Happy Mother's Day!

This year, I want to say Happy Mother's Day to all of my mothers. I have had so many wonderful women who have influenced me and my life. I am who I am today because of their teachings, guidance, listening ears, warm hearts, and caring souls. Thank you, dear mothers.

Thank you to my mother who is strict but kind, who is loving, and puts up with everything that I throw at her! I try to be an easy child, but looking back, I see where I put up a good struggle. God bless you. I love you!

Macedonia!

So, of course, as we all know, one of my dearest friends is here in Kuwait! He went home on his vacation during the past month, so I stole some pictures from him to put on my blog. He is from Macedonia, and I can't wait for the day that I get to go and see the beautiful country that he is from!!! Go, Macedonia!Here is a Macedonia Fortress named Kale. It is not far from the city square, and I must say that I love the flag at the top!

Here is a beautiful view from the mountain called Vodno.

This is, of course, my friend's pride and joy: his car! It is a Peugeot 307 XS.

And here is the bus that my friend would ride to school every day. He stalked it around town and took several pictures of it. He's even given me a drawing of it. Go, School Buses!!! Woo-hoo! (But it's actually public transportation that the children use out there.)

Tamil

All right. Here's the pictures, finally, that I promised. These are my notes on Tamil. I do have one magazine in Malayalam, also. So here are pictures of what the languages look like.

This first picture is the collection of most of my books that I have been given or managed to purchase. There are some stores in town that sell the magazines. I grabbed a dictionary and a book with common words.

I have been working hard at learning. I have made labels and have posted them on my belongings in my room. Whenever I use it, I have to say the word. This card says, "Kadavu," which means door.

Here's a page of the writing in Tamil from one of my magazines I was given.

Here is the Tamil alphabet. I have written this myself. If you look, you can see the mistakes that I have made. It's not perfect, but you can get the point. The top row are vowels. The far left column is consonants. It's like a times table. I can't get the letters to type onto this page; however, their a vowel + their k consonant = ka, etc. etc. for all the other letters.

This is a close-up of the writing in the magazine. I have amazed myself at the fact that I can pick it up and read it. I just don't know what all of the words mean yet... lol. Guess I might have learned the alphabet a little too well... :D

This is a picture of the writing in Malayalam. This language I am not learning much in. I can say a phrase or two. It is, however, a sister language to Tamil. These languages are very similar so perhaps after learning Tamil, I can make do with Malayalam. Only time will tell with that one.

So here's what's occupying my time. I meet tons of people who speak these languages, and I enjoy the challenge. The people challenge me, too. They teach me words and phrases every day. They also quiz me on things like numbers and colors. I get mixed reactions. Most of them are excited that I am learning. However, one or two of them don't like it because they realize I'll understand what they're saying. But most of them are so excited. They took the time to learn my language, and now I am taking the time to learn theirs. So far, it's working. Wish me luck!

Where does the time go?!?

How does the time disappear so quickly now? I remember being a child and how it took FOREVER (no exaggeration) to get to Christmas or any date of any kind. Now, I wonder how to slow down the time. I mean it. Isn't it still January... or maybe February? How did the end of April arrive? I intend to post pictures and stuff for the blog, but when I turn around to do it, I realize it's been a month later! PS- the pics are still coming. I got my camera back finally.

When questioning my co-workers about my experiences, I was informed that as I continue to grow older, time will continue to move faster. Now I understand a little better the words in the song sung by Kenny Chesney:

Don't blink

Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads next thing you know your "better half"
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think
So don't blink

What the song forgets is that blinking is instinctive and protective. Guess I'll have to watch life fly by and try to figure out how to savor every moment!!!

My Absence Explained...

Okay, blog! Here I am… finally back… for the moment.

I know my poor blog has been neglected, but I have been so very busy as of late. The youth and I have been practicing a musical number at church. I have been working tons! And I have been studying, studying, and studying. First, I do my homework for my schooling, and then I delve into the fun stuff and learn about our world. I have researched Mumbai, Punjab, Hyderabad, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, more about India. I have also researched Islamabad, Swat (beautiful!), Punjab, Peshawar, and Karachi, Pakistan. Next on my list to learn about is Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. My current goal is if I meet someone from that area and I see them frequently, to research their home and have something to talk about. While I am in Kuwait, I want to learn as much as I can and actually talk to the people from there. It’s not every day that I get to meet people from all over the world.

My other new hobby that has been keeping me busy is Tamil. I have never ever, EVER been interested in learning another language, and then I saw the Tamil language. We were a match made in heaven. I researched about it and was given a magazine in Tamil. I looked at the beautiful letters, and I fell in love. I asked the people I knew from that area if they would teach me. They said that Tamil was a little language, and that I should learn Arabic. “Arabic much better, ma’am.” Ha! Don’t tell me what to do! It became a challenge, and I came back to them. “Tamil is used in Sri Lanka, Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu (places I do want to visit). I want to learn Tamil.” They caved in and helped me. I have learned their alphabet (247 letters), and I am now working on words and pronunciations. The funny thing is, I’ve looked at other languages, I’ve thought about learning Spanish or something, but it’s never appealed to me. I’m not sure why I love this language so much, but it is beautiful. The letters are elegant, and the writing is so unique. I have only been studying for two and a half weeks so far. I am amazed at how well I am picking it up.

I have also been working on how to say, “How are you?” in many different languages. It amazes me at how if you learn to say that to someone in their native tongue how much it helps! I have less problems and love to see the smiles light up on their face when I say it to them! At the moment, I can say it in Punjabi, Macedonian, Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Kuwait version of Arabic, Singuhlum, the national language of the Philippines (got to see what that language is called), and Telugu.

And that is the story of why my poor blog has been neglected. I hope to do better, and perhaps I will. But for now, I’m learning so much and enjoying living life. I’ll document it along the way a little better. Also, my camera has been on a vacation in Macedonia with my friend. I hope it was fun. J

I’ll put some pictures of the Tamil alphabet and my books and stuff up in a few days.

My Maid Has OCD...

I swear, my maid has OCD. It's pretty cool. She does such a great job cleaning and is amazing at her job. However, her OCD takes over and attacks my bedroom. When I come home, my items are lightly rearranged. I keep my articles clustered together and make an artistic statement with the way they are sitting on my dresser. She comes in an lines them up and spaces them out. She leaves most of the room alone. She mainly attacks my dresser. So enjoy the pictures. The first one is how she makes it; the second one is the way I keep it.

My Burka

Can you believe I bought a burka?! When I first arrived in Kuwait, the burkas and scarves were all intimidating. Now, almost three months later, I have fallen in love with them. They are beautiful and elegant. Even though burkas are mainly black, they are so beautiful and can have such detailed decorations. I was out in town the other day and saw 'the burka'. It was calling my name. So I enquired as to how much it was. We debated over the price, and in the end, I paid 12 KD. I probably could have gotten it a little cheaper, but I'm not that great at haggling. So 12 KD it was.

So this is what I look like in my burka. They tailored it to fit me right there on the spot. No, "Come back later, ma'am." They had me sit down and we talked and talked. As well as could anyways. I looked at some of the other burkas and determined that my decision to like them was a good one.

I love the long flowy sleeves on this one. Not all are this big, but I was fascinated by it. I also love the sequins and the design.

And then there were blue flowers... Blue flowers are my thing! Each sleeve also has this huge beautiful blue flower, and I just fell for it. So pretty...

This is the scarf for the headdress. They showed me how to put it on, but I fought with it so bad today. It's suppose to lay like this in the back with the flower in the middle and the decorations going up to the shoulders. I think...

And one more picture of the beautiful blue flower. In case you didn't notice in the first picture, the burka is trimmed with blue on the front.

So that's my burka! While I'll never really wear it, it is enjoyable. I'll be able to have it on display when I get back to America, and it will be a great conversation starter.

Next on my list to get, a sari! Oh, how I want one...

Kuwait's 50/20 Celebration

Kuwait had it's 50/20 celebration! What that means is that they had their 50th national day and their 20th liberation day. My day started off with this yummy meal that one of my friends gave me. I had made mention I was hungry, and he said, "Here. Take this." I felt so bad, but he wouldn't let me not take it.

It was actually really good. I was a little worried to try the food, but it was delicious! Wow. I had no clue it could be that good. I'm glad I was adventurous and tried it.

This here a picture of some random people from in the middle east. I was informed that these flags are from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. The unity that they felt towards each other was wonderful. One actually said, "I will give my life for you." I was told that that is no small thing.

These are some of my dear, close friends out here. We'll call the one on the left Checkers and the one on the right Spike. lol. They'll kill me if they ever read this... :D

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I caught myself off guard and actually went out and celebrated. People were everywhere! The traffic was stop and go and mainly stop. People were walking up and down in the middle of the road. If your window was opened, they would spray you with a water gun. It was so enjoyable. Music was everywhere. People were dancing on the side of the road, and it was a once in a lifetime experience. I'm glad I went and became a part of history.

What I've Been Up To Lately

So lately, it's been work, work, school, and more work which is fine by me. It's a good life when I can do my job and enjoy my time. Anyways, I've had a few fun adventures and some pictures to share. My friend from Utah mailed me out a Valentine's Day package. I knew she was sending me some stuff, but I didn't know that it was for Valentine's Day. It had come and passed and then I got it. And it was so awesome! I thought I had been forgotten and then this showed up. I would have to say that a year or two ago, I would have thought, "It's okay." But now, after all the people I'm meeting, I love it! It means so much to me! The artwork is wonderful and just what my room needed. Thank you, my friend!
I went to church the other day. That's another thing that is wonderful. I was able to change my day off to go to church every week. Apparently, we have monthly pot lucks. Someone brought Mountain Dew, and I was so excited! The DFAC only has coke products, so it was a good treat. I grabbed one and took it home. I was so excited and proud of my discovery. When I opened it and drank it, I almost spit it out. I know that sodas taste different in different countries, but they really messed up the Mountain Dew. It was just pathetic. But the can was really pretty and had cool arabic writing on it.

Basically, it's the same for Coke. They pretty much suck at making Coke also, but it's not as bad as Mountain Dew. I got this one from church also. I'd never had coke out of a bottle before, so I figured I'd try it. It had a lid that popped off, and in the process, I ended up with a fair amount of coke on me and my dress. Oops... Sounds typical for me. The pictures didn't do so well since the bottle is clear, but I thought I'd try.

And then one of my favorites. They sell knock off purses here, and it's AWESOME! So I bought myself an orange purse. Now orange can be a difficult color. If it's not done properly, it looks awful. I took quite a while looking for a purse that was decent, but I found this one with a matching wallet. I wasn't too sure of it at first, but I took it. Now, I'm in love. I don't think you could separate me from it. The drop cloth is actually a scarf that I bought in the airport at Bahrain. I had to fly there for a day for work. (Pretty cool, right?)

That's a short quick summary. Hope you've been doing well!