Where is the fall?

I guess Amman is just like Canada...it seems to only have three seasons. In Canada we are missing spring, and in Amman the fall seems to be missing. Although I am enjoying the warmth and the no need for jacket between the hours of 10am and 4pm, but I am kind of missing the fall colours and the crispy weather. Besides I bought a cute long light coat and so far I have not had the chance to wear it! But at home I am already in my “winter” pj’s since it is cold at home after the sun sets. I get tempted to put on my heater, but then what the heck will I do when the cold weather hits?? I am so not looking forward to winter in Amman this is the first time I have ever bought long sleeve on the heavy side pj’s!

Ok for once I will keep my post nice and short and about one, only one subject...there you go this is my missing fall post, and yes the no Halloween for kids thing...it is a good thing Zozo still does not know the days of the month or else we will be in trouble...o speaking of Halloween, 6 years ago today I was a very anxious, very pregnant lady! Waiting for something, anything a tiny contraction any thing to show that the bun in my oven is cooked and ready to come out! But October 31 came and went, and I was still a huge 32lb heavier person. It was not until a whole week later that I was induced and my “bundle of joy” came out, and I was only 10lb lighter to my dismay! Ah first time mothers! I took my pre pregnancy jeans to the hospital to wear home *LOOOOOL*, gosh was I ever delusional! It took 10 months of working out and eating right to fit into those pre baby jeans! Now I know better!

Ok so it is hopeless, I can not only talk about one thing in a single post. O well, since I am at it, yesterday/today is/was my brother’s 30th bday, ha-ha old man!! Happy birthday to my brother! We always fought like cats and dogs, but I always loved him.

Random Rambles

Crossing streets in Amman is making me not like Amman! I wish that there was a traffic light where I live instead of those stupid crossing places that no one notices...it is driving me crazy!

Why is the mouse always the good guy in Tom and Jerry?? Why does he always win? I am starting to feel bad for tom! I have not watched the show for so many years, but it is on every night here. I noticed that there are few things on that did not make sense to me back in the days. Not actions but items, like the Christmas tree balls, the sprinkler , the fire hydrant and so many other things we did not see much of in Lebanon. Kwim?

Why do some Arabic channels think that everyone is so anxious to hear news??? They interrupt a movie to put on a mowjis or the whole news?? Why can’t they time it right? If someone really really wanted to hear news at this time they can log on line...dah! It is super annoying, who the hell came up with this idea??

Why do we have to wait for two weeks know if we are pregnant?? Uggh!

My mother in law is driving us crazy!! Sure she has to take a hundred pills a day, but she is 74 years old. The doctor told her to take two pills of the medicine which stops water from going to her lungs; A very important medicine. What does she do?? She only takes one pill! I do not get it, why take only one when she is asked to take 2?? Is she trying to save money? All four of her children are very well off and can afford to buy her the medicine. Sheesh! So today she was back to the hospital because of water in her lungs again...and you know what? If she was trying to save money on the pills the hospital bill is going to be enough to buy that medicine for few months! And do not forget the worry she has caused everyone in the family...uggh! Well let’s hope she won’t play doctor and pick and chose what medicine to take and what not to take next time!

The kids drove me crazy today, up until an hour ago they were still fighting over the damned play dough! Not to self, always buy two of everything!! Ziad has exams this week and he does not want to study, uggh! The minute we open the books he gets all sleepy! Speaking of test, why do grade one students need to be tested four times a semester? On top of all the homework and the dictations they do everyday. If grade one is like this, I can thank my lucky stars I did not study in Jordan imagine how horrible high school would be! I suck at tests! I do great on assignments and presentations but tests are my weakness! In the Middle East tests are what determine your grade. I would not have been an A student in Jordan! Although some how I was always first or second in my class in Lebanon.

O o o,I finally joined a gym! I wanted a nice fancy gym, but my sister in law wants to swim, so I caved and joined Nadi Amman it is nice to have a workout buddy and now that I do not wear contacts I will learn to swim. It is a 10min walk from our house. If I do not like it I will change later but for now I need to workout so I do not gain those few lb I lost in Ramadan and tone up which is something I need to do so bad! Although I’m kicking myself for not buying size 4 of the jeans I am wearing now! I had a rule, if you find a pair of jeans you love buy two, current size and a smaller size but I was too cheap. So now my jeans are kind of baggy on me! So not nice!

I have three phones at my house. They all different ringing tones, but every time a phone rings I have to guess which phone to answer! The phone in the living room is our Amman landline, and then my mobile which can be anywhere in the house and in the bedroom is our Vonage line. So I have to prepare myself as to who is calling. Will it be a call from Amman or Canada? O speaking of Vonage, I love it! It did take me a while to get it to work. The device is wireless so it is a plus, now my internet connection is wireless. I have to say orange is great! My sister in law has batelco , I was getting wireless from her and it sucked! It disconnected so many time, not just here but downstairs at their house. Orange has not been out of service at all since we got the connection! o no! I hope I did not just jinx it!

Friday morning

It is 8:30 am on Friday in Amman. The whole city is still sleeping. I wish I was too!
We have already been up for 1.5hours. I already broke out two fights. One fight was over play dough and another over Zozo’s wallet.

I put a nice breakfast on the table, labnah, cheese, olives, was getting ready to make eggs, but my kids did not want any of the above. They wanted to eat hotdogs! Yes we have gotten out of the eggs phase, it was followed by the labneh and zaatar phase, now it is hotdogs! Who eats hot dogs for breakfast? O well...at least they are eating them with whole-wheat bread and I make them to put a cucumber and some tomatoes in the sandwich so it is not all bad...

They will be wanting hot dog for lunch as well, so I will not bother cooking today...not that I ever cook for lunch! I just can not see myself cooking tabeekh in the morning...i can’t! And I won’t! When the kids are in school I want to do things I can not do while the kids are home, go shopping, exercise, guiltless computer time, or go see my friends and neighbours without demanding kids around...so we eat a light lunch, turkey, or tuna sandwiches. For dinner at 6pm we have tabeekh, just like we did in Canada, why do we have to change just because everyone eats tabeekh at 1pm here???

There used to be a time when I liked weekend and used them to sleep in and catch up on lost sleep, but these days are long gone! I hate weekends!

do no eat all the honey

I have so much to blog about...but when I come to my laptop to write I forget what I wanted to write! Uf!

See it is happening about, so I am just going to write about something silly because I can not think of anything at the moment.

Ok since this is all hubby can talk about these days, I will complain about his friend.
You know the saying iza 7abibak 3asala ma taklo kolo... (If your loved one is honey, do not eat it all at once). This is exactly what this “friend” did.

Like I mentioned before our house in Ontario is vacant...my poor cute cute house! I did not get to enjoy it at all! Hubby’s friend Y went to Syria a couple of year ago, he got married and stayed there for almost a year. Last march he came back to Canada, and was looking for a place to rent. Hubby and I felt bad for him and told him to stay at our house until he got a job. We said he can stay for free, just look after the house, and clear the snow and stuff until he gets back on his feet.

Few weeks after he was there we got a letter from the municipality with pictures of our house saying the snow has to be cleared off the side walk or else, so Y did not even do this simple task; he was not even working at that time! Uf!

Fast forward to august, Y got a good paying job in May. He is still living at our house. He did paint the fence, when hubby asked for his account number to send him money for what the paint cost he sent it!! And once we got a bill from the lawn care company, $150 and he mailed it to us, did not even offer to pay the amount. All this time we were paying utilities. In July the hydro bill was very high, $200some. Hubby got upset and called Y to ask him to pay this bill; it is not fair for us to pay this bill so he can stay cool.

We were ok paying bit extra of hydro and gas he was using, but this was a bit over the top. When hubby told him that this is too much, we still have to pay mortgage on our house, rent in Saskatoon, and rent in Amman. Hubby asked Y to pay rent. Y stupidly said to hubby, “but I will be going to Syria in December, so I will not pay you for that month!!” WTF! This guy has been living for free in the past six months and he has the nerves to make a stupid command like that? If he was renting elsewhere he would still pay the amount, he would have no choice.
So finally he started paying rent, what he would pay for a one room in a house with a shared bathroom mind you, $500/mo.

Well hubby finally gave him a notice to leave, in December he goes back to Syria and will not go back to our house, he will be leaving his crappy car in our garage though, and it leaks oil!
I do not get people!! My mother in law is staying at her daughter’s house for a while until her maid arrives. She is paying for utilities and for the 7ares. Few years ago while waiting for her house to be ready she paid all that and installed a solar heater for them... my sister in law is not expecting her to pay anything, but for her to feel comfortable she feels the need to pay for what she uses. Mish like other people! Use and abuse. Y has this weird mentality, thinking that since hubby makes good money it is ok to let him pay! Sheesh! So no more MR and MRS nice guy here! Y has been kicked out

I'll talk about something more exciting soon ...promise:)

bye bye

I hate goodbyes, especially when you are saying farewell to your husband. Well it was not easy on my mother in law either, so I guess it is hard on mothers too...one day I will find out how hard it is...but lets stay in the present for now.

Hubby left today. He should be on the plane headed home as we speak, unless RJ is late which is very likely...I pray it is on time, since there are only two hours between RJ arriving to Montreal , and his flight to Saskatoon taking off. I wish I was leaving with him. Not because I do not like Jordan, once I get over the stress of crossing the streets, the jerks I have to meet whenever I go out shopping in the neighbourhood, and the fact that my hubby is thousands of miles away, Amman has been a lot of fun and I love living here.

We had a nice visit with hubby, but it was too short! I am not looking forward to the kids coming home and not finding their dad. Ziad knows that hubby is leaving today, and he was not happy when we told him few days ago. He cried and broke our hearts, saying that he does not want his daddy to leave. Bilal still does not get it, I told him that baba is going to Canada today, he just stopped smiling. I can see him mopping around the apartment looking for his daddy, he did this for few days when we first came here.

we did not get to go anywhere. one week was during Ramadan and all hubby did was sleep all day , his mother's orders! so annoying, everytime she sees him she would tell him to go sleep, 7aram inta sayem! we also could not go anywhere because my mother in law is not feeling too great and hubby did not want to leave here, so there goes our planned trip to egypt or lebanon...hopefully next time he is here we will get to go.

It was so much easier for me when he was here. He did a lot of things for us and took the kids places. He did drive us crazy few times, and I wanted to push him off the balcony on few occasions...but I already miss him so much. I booked his flight for December. He will miss Eid, but the tickets during that time are outrageously expensive, since it Eid, hajj, and Christmas time. O well...he comes on the 27th of December and stays for a bit over three weeks. The count down begins. This is the last time I will live away from my husband!

private tutoring...how much??

I have a tiny delimma...like I said in a recent post Ziad is having a problem...ok problems at school. His biggest being that he is in an all arabic class, he was supposed to be in a special class for foreigners, but it will not be ready until next year..so naturally he is waaaaaaaaay behind in arabic.

His teacher has agreed to tutor him for two hours , two days a week at school. He will only be in school for an extra hour, since she is free for the last two periods on those two days.

She will not tell me how much she wants, and I have no idea what is a decent amount of money to give for about 2-2.5hr 2x a week of tutoring. I can not even think how much private tutor charge in amman.

does anyone have an idea? help!

to have a party or not to have...

My baby is turning six next month....he has been lying about his age for six months now!! Isn’t it too early to start lying about your age at 5.5yo??

Last year we had a party for him at fun factory in Saskatoon, but only few people came! I had no idea that Remembrance Day is a holiday in Saskatchewan! It is a normal day in Ontario, and since it was the last long weekend during what is supposedly good weather on the year everyone was going away to Calgary, Edmonton and other neighbouring cities to visit family... to top it off Ziad was constipated on that day, the first time he ever gets constipated so he could not even enjoy his time with the four friends that did make it.

This year Ziad is upset and going through a hard time, he is not doing well at school, as I expected but my annoyingly stubborn husband would not acknowledge. But I think he is finally convicted that putting Ziad in a mostly Arabic school, with kids that have had exposure to the language for the past 3 year is not fair for him, so hopefully they will allow him to go into KG2 where the kids are supposed to write and have dictations with words simpler word than bostani and madrasiti in Arabic. He is only two months older than the oldest kid in KG2...but he is 10months younger than the oldest kid in grade one. So he may be more comfortable with KG2 kids than with grade one kids, especially that they are way ahead of him in Arabic...he is still learning his alph ba’ and they are way past that point, so I want to do something fun for him...

Ok back to the birthday party thing...I think I want to have a birthday party for him somewhere...but I don’t know what places I can have it at...

I know it is not fair for Bilal, since his last three bday were not really celebrated. His first we were in Edmonton so we just had cupcakes and sang happy bday...for his second bday we were in Toronto so we got to have a nice party at my parent’s backyard so that was ok, but his last bday was on July 20, so just before we left for Amman and I was too busy doing this and that and getting ready for our move here....the only thing that makes it ok is that he is too young to care now at 3. Although he does love singing happy bday to you and would start singing any time he sees a lit candle...hint hint to me??

I promise that I will have a nice bday party for him next year; I guess having a summer bday is not that much fun after all! People are too busy and away in the summer! But it is better than my birthday, in middle of January is bad, and it never fails Allah always sends me a snow storm on my bday! One year I decided I do not care, I am not staying home even with a snow storm...hubby, my then fiancé had a surprise for me in Mississauga and no snow storm was going to let me miss it! Haha...I did miss it because just few miles on the highway my car skidded my daddy’s car was ruined and I came out with some scratches and bruises...while I was in the middle of my car was skidding un controllably all I could see is what could be written on gravestone...born January 15, 1976 died on January 15, 1997. Ok so as you see I did not die, I was lucky that there were no cars on either side me, and my car stopped in the middle divider of the highway facing the opposite way after turning few times...and did not keep on going to the other side...but ever since my back has not been the same and I still petrified of driving on the snow...I do not make any plans for my birthday anymore not that I want to, who wants to celebrate being so old?? I do not even plan on going anywhere not even to work... my old boss knew about my birthday curse so I always got the day off for my birthday...I wonder if there will be a snow storm on my bday in Amman this year?

some blah blah

Finally Eid is over and the kids are back at school. I hated Ramadan school hours...now we are back to normal...More mommy time for me...yippy!

Yesterday we spent the day at the Marriott at the Dead Sea. It was so much fun. I could not swim but I got a message and got to sit around sipping on a pina colada and enjoying myself. Of course we got there too late so we could not get a tan. O well!!

We stayed there until 12 am...there was a dancer and it was fun...Zozo drove the dancer crazy last year, he was following her all over the place while she was dancing and during her break. This year he was better he only danced with her few times...so cute!

It is annoying how everyone here is so into everything foreign. Everyone brags about their kids going to American, British and other foreign named school...what is up with that? Some people I have spoken with brag that their kids live in Jordan and Egypt and do not speak any Arabic. I do not see anything good about this...why are we so impressed with everything foreign.
At many stores you find all sorts of books and toys that teach English hard to find Arabic ones. I looked all over the place for a work book that has Arabic letters you trace, but I did not find any. I wanted to buy Arabic DVD’s for the kids, but there are so few.

I hope and pray that leapfrog makes Arabic cartridges for the leapster game; I wish I wish I wish!

Everyone frowns upon us for putting Zozo in an Arabic school. They may be right since he is having some issues, but the school is great. When they dealt with some of Ziad’s behavioural and academicals issues they dealt with them as good as they would have in Canada. The whole school is involved and working as a team to help him overcome the problems he is facing...I am very impressed! I did not expect this from a school in Jordan. I actually heard lots of bad stories about schools neglecting children and causing them to hate school.

Ok I know the last paragraphs have nothing to do with what my post started out like. But since this was the main topic we were discussing while argeeling and drinking bad American coffee last night at the Dead Sea, I thought I’d throw that in there.

Eid Mubarak

Eid mubarak!!!

Yippy Ramadan is over...I love it when it is 29 days instead of 30....we all sat near the TV with the windows open last to hear if it is Eid or one more day of fasting...we had a jumping up and down party when they announced Eid ...I love Ramadan...but it gets to me near the end. The waking up early for suhor (hubby not me) and the dehydration and all...

Anyways...I just wanted to shout a quick happy Eid...Eid Mubarak to everyone who reads my blog!

We bought the kids dishdashes and white hats to wear in the morning...it was different and they loved them!! Hubby and Zozo went to Eid prayers....I wanted to go but got lazy....the masjid is right across the street so I could see them praying. The prayer was done right in the middle of the street...cool eh?

I have so much to post about...Ok not so much just two things...but I am so busy with hubby and all...and yippy I got Vonage to work, so now I can call Canada and my newly found best friend (I will be posting about this soon) in the US as much as I want...Without breaking the bank.

So much for a short post!

sho badik?

Isn’t it enough that I see them on the streets wherever I go...They are taking away my precious change that I need for taxis. Now they are bothering me at home!! Nothing be3abi 3eenhom! You think I will give them 1JD and they will 7elon 3ani! Nope! Bel3aks they betma3oo feeni aktar! From now on I will not give any beggar more than 5 or 10 kroosh! No more Ms generous! I have had enough of them!!

Today I was sitting peacefully sipping on a cup of coffee! Ok yeh I am not fasting because I did not sleep all night due to my baby being sick. At 9am my head was pounding like crazy so I decided I will break my fast and give someone poor 1JD. Someone knocked on the door. I opened the door thinking it is my mother in law or my sister in law’s maid. Oops it was a woman holding a paper saying that someone in her family is in the hospital and needing surgery or whatever! So I gave her 1JD. She made me feel bad about how bad his case is...ok I did not believe her but I did want to give a maskeen money because of my broken fast. Then she asked me if I have any clothes I do not need. I did actually have some clothes my kids have outgrown so I collected them and gave her a bag full of clothes. She talked and blah blah blah...I ended up giving her another dinar. So that is 3JD in less than five minutes plus a bag full of clothes from old navy, Gymboree and children’s place. These clothes are worth at least $150 all almost new bought from Canada few months ago. But nooo it is not enough...She wanted to read my palm and take the 7elwan. Three other women came up...to tell you the truth I got scared at the point... She asked me to get a thread... to break a si7r or whatever...she did say some accurate things when she read my palm so I was shocked about that...but then again “kathab elmonajemoon walaw sadako”..I went in closed the door and called the 7ares to come kick them out. I am never opening the door for these people... Allah gave us plenty Alhamdulillah and I would love to give to the needy...but someone who is really in need does not do this...ya3ni 3an jad uuf!

This is my third post venting about this...I really did not expect it to be this bad here. So tell me when someone stops you on the street or comes to your home, how much do you give them??

I am not used to giving less than $1...because in Canada $1 does not buy much. But here 1JD can buy few things. I mean I feel silly giving someone 25 kirsch...But then again a taxi driver gets about that much for a good distance...so it should be more than enough for beggars eh?