nothing to blog about

I do not feel like blogging anymore...what is wrong with me?? I always had a million things I wanted to write about. I wrote about everything I did and thought..but now I can not think of any bloggable stuff...I thought about blogging about our weekend outings, and about hubby pretending to be sick so he wont go to work, but I keep on thinking no one cares , so what is the point...

Or maybe it is because it is summer, and I have alot other things to do ...going for walks, to the park, out with friends or just working on the yard...and I do not have snow to complain about it...I do have to vent about the bees and the wasps that are making my windows into their homes! or about how my arms and back are getting tanned but my legs are still white and pale! I am sick of using tanning cream on them..and forget about if going to the beach!

If anyone is wondering how I am doing pregnancy wise....(I know now cares) but I am doing well...actually I can not wait until next wed when I have my ultra sound so I can be sure there is a baby in there! (like throwing up for the first time last week does not prove it)..speaking of throwing up, I do not do it much..and this pregnancy I threw up once..Ziad was very amused and told everyone we met at the grocery store next day! how embarrassing! I am still not showing and can still fit into my regular jeans! I spent $60 on maternity Capri's I want to get some use out of them darn it! I hope I will be able to tell what the baby is next week......I think they should be able to know by 13wks no?

I just found out a week ago that I am not invited to a wedding...I do not why I am pissed off! I guess since I got a baby sitter to get used to the kids just because of this wedding in particular! I thought since they came to my wedding and the whole family came I would be invited to theirs...but I guess not! but it is OK I guess! It saves me $100...now what can I buy with that money that I just saved...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....anyways, they are so not invited to Ziad and Bilal`s weddings!

so much for nothing to blog about...I just had to get going eh..(my question mark button is not working..I can not figure out what I pressed to make another character appear..this one É...stupid É)

ewwwwwwwwwwws

If you are a woman and have a beard and/or a moustache shave it, wax it, burn it do anything but do not let it grow! But do not bleach it, which does not do the trick! I do not believe some people live with ugly facial hairs in this time and age! Laser hair removal is pretty affordable these days....so ladies, go for it please!

Very short shorts should be banned! They do not look flattering on anyone unless you are 6yo or are you a very skinny girl at the beach. I do not know what some women are thinking! Do they look at themselves and say yeh I look good this is a great look for the mall??! It is especially disgusting when the women have cellulite and fat thighs! EWWWWWWWWWWWW!

I know I know this has been talked about, but I do not believe there are women out there who are still wearing the MOM jeans! OMG these are not flattering on anyone...If you have the mommy pouch they make it 10x bigger...if you do not they make you look like you have one! I do not know why someone has not burned them yet! A low rise (not too low mind you!) is more affective at hiding that pouch...so Mommy’s go jeans shopping right now and do me a favour and burn those MOM jeans for ever!

This is not the pregnancy hormones talking...just my observations at the mall today! I am in a good mood...I got the cutest pair of shoes ever! Shhhhh do not tell hubby because I just bought a pair yesterday as well...and they were cute as well.

I decided that if you are pregnant and hungry, DO NOT GO SHOPPING! I bought Mac and cheese and some soups, scalloped potatoes and few other things...I do not even like Mac and cheese!!

when everything misfunctions...

Yesterday I had a bad electronics day!

First when I was vacuuming a sheet got stuck in my vacuum cleaner and I the belt broke! Good thing I looked at the manual , the same thing happened to my old vacuum and I threw it out! But since I bought this vacuum two months ago and I loved it I read the manual and I checked the belt. Sure enough, the belt was broken. I had to go out and get a new one!

My cable box was not working! It kept on saying that the channels will come shortly all day long! So for the whole day we did not have cable on the downstairs TV. It worked fine upstairs without the digital box, but I did need to the box to work! I can not stand watching TV without having the information on the bottom of the screen, so I did not disconnect it from the box and put directly to the TV. I was too lazy and what is the point if I do not know what I am watching! So we just watched the leapfrog letter factory DVD all day long! Later at night Bilal pressed something and I figured out that the box does work at channels 900...which are the same channels but I have to put 933 for tree house and so on...so now we have cable with info again!

It was raining and very windy yesterday, so the satellite reception died as well! It was moved by the wind and until Hubby came home and fixed it we did not have any Arabic TV as well!

When I came home at 3:30 after picking Bolbol up from preschool, I came on my laptop to check stuff, and oops! The wireless card or whatever it is, is not working! I had to bring my laptop up here and hook it to the Ethernet...ah I hate being tied down!

When Ziad came home from school I told him that nothing is working today, he asked is the microwave still working though?? I had to go and check the microwave...alhamdoullah it was working fine! I do not why he asked about the microwave...so funny!

So now everything is working fine...except for my laptop of course...but I watched a mosalsal this morning on the satellite and Bolbol is watching his cartoon on cable...I guess I will get the wireless device from the desktop and put it on the laptop and go downstairs...I hate being this far away from the kids!

the stain

few days ago my kids were eating strawberries...they do love strawberries, and they are very healthy for them lots of vitamin C and other goodies, besides they do taste great!

While I was busy upstairs Bilal decided that it would be nice to share the strawberries with the carpet! MY WHITE CARPET! he squished the strawberries into my carpet with his feet in few different spots! MY WHITE CARPET! Ziad AKA telltale...he reminds me of little me! I used to wait until my brother did the smallest thing and go tell my parents...came running and told me of what Bilal did

I did not even panic! I do have my trusted spray carpet cleaner. Bilal did get a time out for five whole minutes in his room, where he has his books and some of his toys! But he screamed for the whole five minutes! I do not get kids! It is his bedroom where he spends lots of time, not a jail! I got my spray carpet cleaner and within two minutes my carpet was all clean like magic!

My carpet has been through so much! Once Ziad decided that paper is not good enough so he drew on the carpet with green and black crayons and red and pink markers!!!! My trusted carpet cleaner got them out, while I was yelling at Ziad like a mad woman! It was during Ramadan and I had guests coming in less than an hour! poop?? yes it got it out with no stain. Cranberry juice?? Yes it also got that! Chocolate milk? not a problem!

surprisingly I could not get stains this easily out of the dark grey carpet I had in the apartment in Saskatoon or the coloured carpet I had in Amman. Weird eh? everyone keeps on saying how we are idiots for picking white carpet for our house, but seriously after living with darker carpet I would pick the white again! We shampoo it once is a month or as needed..and for spot cleaning I have my trusted spray cleaner and it looks OK , much better than the dark ones in my apartment in Saskatoon or at my parent's family room! In a couple of years we will be getting hard wood installed downstairs, but when we are done through having kids inshallah...I am not a fan since I have lived in my parents hard wood floored house for years and hated it! But it is preferred by buyers so we have to get it done eventually...eh?

I hate snow!

I hate it , hate it , hate it!

I've always hated it, it ruined my 16th bday, my 20th bday, and now it snows lots in a country where it barley snow the day before hubby's flight and two days before my flight! The airport will be a huge mess! Who knows when our flights will take off!

UGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I hate snow! Im so mad at the snow I ruined the taljeh for everyone...hahaha....

O hubby's niece was supposed to go to court get married, but it is not going to happen today, so she is not too happy...

I really really really hate hate hate hate hate hate snow!

Renting an apartment in amman!

This is one thing that is for sure alot easier to do in canada, aint it??

We pay 500 JD to rent the apartment. It is furnished with very old furniture. Everything is pretty much worn out, the apartment was bought from the family that owned it few years ago for 30K with all the funiture and household items now it is worth about 70 something.

This guy wants us to give him everything like we left . He wants us to paint that wall that were not really that clean to start with. The walls in the bedrooms are molded and all black...YUCK! of course it is our fault according to him! The carpets are a million years old and pretty gross, he looks at them and said we made it dirty and wants us to clean it! The 7ares was there and told him the carpet was this dirty when he helped me put it on the floor less than two months ago!

Now the kicker! The water silo was broken, we paid 30Jd to fix it! it is not ours to fix, the owner has to pay for this! But according to him, he gave it to us in a good shape so it is our problem! Ok no problem we fixed it, and deducted it from the money we were supposed to pay him.

Yesterday we ran out of water, no problem turn on the pump and the water will go from the silos downstair to the ones upstairs. Except that the pump was all hot and not working! So yeh we spent all day yesterday without any water! We called him today and he said to get someone to fix the pump and pay him! since he gave us the pump in a working condition!

In canada we never had to worry about fixing things, everyone knows that when you use something there wear and tear! unless we purposly ruin something like making a hole in the wall or breaking the door handle by misuse it is the owner's responsibilty to fix things on the rental premises!

Last year when my house was rented, the renters sent me an email saying that the pipe under the sink has burst open! I did not even tell them to call someone...I was in Saskatoon and my house in Milton, 3000Km away! I called a plumber in the area, paid him by credit card and the problem was fixed within few hours of receiving her email!

We all know that renters income is not a net income! When doing our taxes I was asked for any maintenace I spent on the house and those were deducted from the income!

This dude in Amman does not even pay taxes on his rental income! Otherwise he would have caused hell and would not have settled for the 800JD to break the contract! He does not want to fix anything, he wants us to do all the cleaning, fixing, painting and blah blah blah! ugggggghhhhhh!

The clueless Doctor

Last week Ziad started limping. It started on Sunday after he came home from winter camp. He said his leg hurts from our long walk on Friday morning. He is always saying his legs hurts and then after putting on cream it miraculously gets better. He kept on pointing to different areas of pain, one minute it is his ankle, the next it is his calf and so on. So we thought it is the same time and didn’t pay it much attention.

By Monday evening he was still limping and the cream did not make it better. Upon examining his leg we found the problem. His knee was swollen! He could not straighten his leg and it only hurt when he tried to straighten it.

On Tuesday we wanted to take him to the doctor we usually see, but it was snow day so she was closed. We took him to Ibn Alhaitham sure there is something broken! The x-rays show the knee bones in great condition. The doctor said so when he first saw the x-rays! But then changed his mind when he saw Zozo could not straighten his leg! He was dumbfounded and went back to the x-rays! He started saying maybe this, maybe that! He ended up putting a cast on the back of his leg going from his upper thigh to this ankle! Well there was nothing broken so why the cast, but he is the doctor what do we know!

The cast was annoying Ziad and making him walk weird. His knee was even more bent than before. So the cast was not doing what it is supposed to do!

On Friday hubby and I decided the doctor is an idiot and did our own research! We googled and found something called a jumpers knee, in medical terms it is called patellar tendonitis ...it sounds like exactly what Ziad has! Ziad loves to run! He is always running and jumping in the apartment ,outside, wherever when doesn’t have anything to do. The swollen knee, unable to straighten, caused by too much running and jumping!

We called hubby’s uncle in Aqaba who is a doctor, and he confirmed our opinion! If the bones are not broken or fractured then it must be something with the muscle! What ever you do, do not try to straighten the leg he said! This is what that doctor was trying to do! I am sending him an email soon, to give him a piece of my mind!

If you are unsure about something ask another doctor for god’s sake! I am sure this doctor is great with bones, but when the bones were perfect he had no idea what to do, so he puts a cast on! Dah! We will not think he is less of a doctor if he went to someone else! He is a young guy and probably just recently graduated. If the bones are perfect then go to a muscle doctor Mr. Bone doctor! Same goes with any other profession! If you are not sure how to do something, ask someone more experienced for help! This is how you learn and gain experience! Sheesh!
After a day of resting, applying ice and taking medicine Ziad’s knee is not swollen. He is still not able to straighten it, but it will take few weeks to get better!

annoying!

Do you know what is more annoying than Barney??? Barney in Arabic! OMG kill me please!

Pre kids I always said I will never let my kids watch Barney! I also said my kids will not use a pacifier, will be breastfed for 1yr, will be talking in full sentences in both lanuages by the time they are two, will not watch more than one hr of Tv a day, will be potty trained by two(hahahhahahahahahahahahahah), will not throw tantrums in public(haaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaa)! Will never be allowed to sleep in bed with us, will not eat candy except on occasions, and they will do whatever I tell them to do...but things do not always go as planned, especially when you make these plans as a naive none parent and you think you know it all!

My kids love Barney! I am starting not to mind it so much, we sing the I love you song a hundred time a day! But I will put my foot down to Barney in Arabic! Now that is beyond agony!

Puhleeeeeezzzzzzzz

Few days ago as I was walking down the street in search of taxi, I had the misfortune of running into a very obnoxious,rude and annoying person. It was during the noon athan, and I hate to wait for a cap in front of the mosque so I decided to walk to the gardens. It is two blocks away. A car passed me, and then he turned around came back and stopped me. he asked me for my number and I said no and kept on walking, but this idiot would not take no for an answer, he kept on driving beside me for the two blocks asking for my number and trying to give me his number ! It was creepy! I was glad I was on a busy road in the middle of the day; otherwise it would have been scary!! He did not get lost until I got into the taxi and somehow we lost him in the traffic, yes he followed the taxi!

I was very grossed out and very offended by this experience.

The man in the car was from Saudi Arabia, I did not really look at him, but I’d guess he is in his late twenties. He is riding an expensive Mercedes, with which he is aparently trying to impress. What the hell makes him think that he can come to Amman, and pick random girls off the street. Does he think Amman girls will be so impressed by his car, and will give him what he is apparently here for? This is very offensive in my opinion. No?

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...and other blah blah

Is anyone else cold or is it just me??

It was nice and warm in the sun, but at home I am freezing! I am still in my PJ’s. They are long sleeves and fleece, and I’m still cold!! I am even wearing socks!! I never wear socks at home...and I never wear long sleeve, long pants PJ’s either, so there you go! Ah my laptop’s keyboard is nice and warm, it is warming me up! Is it too early to put on my electric and gas heaters?? Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

Maybe a nice cup of tea will warm me up! This is going to be one cold winter, not as bad as the

last two winters in Saskatoon, but still! Yesterday I saw few people wearing winter gear. Heavy coats, hats and gloves! It was cold, but gosh not that cold!

Yesterday we went to Amman mall. We ate at MacDonald’s... blach...the kids wanted that...and then we went to dream park for Ziad’s bday. After that we went to Ctown to get cake...but oops, the cakes were all gone! Zozo was very upset, I finally convinced him that it is late and everyone is probably out so we will get cake tomorrow and have happy birthday for him on Saturday. This kid has some temper! When we were all done we waited and waited, and then waited some more for a taxi! It is moments like this that I have being here and want to be home where I have a car! O speaking of cars, I’m so looking forward to buying a new car!! I think I’d like a burgindish red one this time! I want an Acura or a Toyota...we will see, I love buying new cars!! And after spending so many months without a car, I so appreciate having a car, I promise I will keep it clean, I will take it for washing once a week, and I will kiss it everyday morning and night! She will sleep in the garage and will go to for maintenance regularly.

So back to waiting for a taxi, a taxi finally came and a jerk that just got out of the mall just went in, the guy that works at the mall told him that we have been waiting for a while but he did not care, stupid jerk! I hope one day he is stuck out in the rain and does not get a taxi, and when one finally comes I happen to be going out and hop and he is left out waiting....how cool would that be??! I hate annoying people who only care for themselves. I was cold, the kids were cold, and we had been waiting for over 20 minutes and he just goes out and hops in...What a 7mar! I hate him! I was so glad to finally get a cap that I gave him the whole 1JD, I guess that was good because he actually got out and helped me take my groceries into the building! It is a trip worth less than 0.400 JD.

So right now Zozo is at the farm...he left this morning. I guess it was not a bad birthday. Playing at Dream Park, ice-cream, having an adventure while waiting for a taxi, and then going to the farm, he is hoping his uncle will allow him to herd the sheep! So now we have cake, but the birthday boy is not here yet! O well...

Wow I guess typing warms you up, I am not cold anymore...but wait my hands are still cold and so is the tip of my nose! Never mind!

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:)

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?

grrrrrrrrrrr...............

Sometimes it is unbelievable what happens in Jordan and other Arabic countries. People are worth nothing. Unless you have a name or are related to someone with big shot name you will not get a just and fair treatment. Look at what happened to a fellow blogger dear who-sane’s dad. You can read the unbelievable account of what his father had to go through here if you have not already. I am in shock and feel horrible for who-sane and his family and mostly I feel horrible for what his dad had to suffer on the hands of sick, pathetic, heartless humans that call themselves nurses and doctors. I thought that was the noblest field one can get into! I pray that abu who-sane recovers and that Allah punishes those heartless scumbags soon... I do not believe that in the whole hospital there was not one decent person that owns a heart!!

I pray that no one else ever has to deal with them and be treated like this..no one, no one deserves such treatment! I would love to ring these nurses' and doctors', and especially that lazy receptionist's worthless necks...

Annoying people...

I should be studying for my exam right now! I am all studied out. So I can post

Hubby has a co-worker who is super annoying. We were talking about last night and I am still annoyed at him. Lets call him Mr annoying…

Few months ago we were at a small gathering at hubby’s work and of course Mr Annoying was there. He is so annoying I can just kick him right now!

Everyone knows since we are Muslims we do not drink alcohol and we do not eat pork.
I am not a very religious person. But I still do not drink. Besides the fact it is forbidden, I cannot stand the stuff! Ewww…it is worst than Arabic coffee, even without the million spoons of sugar I put on when forced to drink the coffee! As a teenager I tried beer few times and I hated it, I tried it again as an adult and it is still digesting. Do not get me started on wine. I drank one tiny sip once at a work luncheon to be polite. I had to eat three pieces of bread to washout the taste and was still grossed out! I am never drinking anything just to be polite ever! YUCK! I love bloody Marys, but of course I always ask for a virgin Caesar, one time they made a mistake and put vodka, it freakin’ tasted like cough medicine, ya3ni what the hell?? I just do not understand the deal with alcohol! It is so over rated!

Of course we are also forbidden to eat pork. Hubby and I are not really meat lovers. I only eat it because of the high protein. It is really hard to get over 99grams of proteins without having at least some chicken and turkey for lunch and dinner. And I will not touch tofu! So really meat does not strike my fancy. And it all tastes the same to me. If someone asks me to differentiate between the taste of lamb, beef or any other red meat, I would never be able to. So really I do not feel I am missing out on anything because I cannot and will not eat pork! It s not like it is chocolate or icecream! It is meat for god’s sake; it all tastes the same to me! I can eat lamb, beef, chicken, deer, buffalo (bison), duck, turkey, chicken, or fish. The list of things I can eat is endless!

Now back to Mr annoying! At that party mentioned above he kept on shaking his beer bottle at hubby and I and saying “don’t you wish you can have some of this, come on try it?” hmmmmmmmmm are we teenagers or what?? Hubby used to drink and made the choice to stop few years ago, and like I mentioned above I have tried it and hated it. So khalas leave us alone you stupid bald man! Then every little while he would say how much this food would have tasted if it were cooked with pork, blah blah blah.
That party was over, and I did not see Mr annoying again. \

Poor hubby has to deal with him every day at lunch. He starts with you poor people cannot eat pork. Few times hubby had to explain that we do not care for pork and really stop feeling sorry for us you idiot! We are not missing out on much. It is useless though, I guess all the alcohol and pork have gotten to his brains rendering it unusable! Thankfully there aren’t too many of those narrow minded people in Canada, or not many that we came across, but in Germany hubby had to put up with too many of those remarks and bull, so I guess he is used to it now J


I knew a guy like that in high school. He was annoying bas ya3ni he was hot so it was more tolerable, he was mostly joking around. He was sixteen years old, ya3ni immature so it is understandable! And he only made those comment less than a handful of times, but Mr annoying is a 50-year-old man, what the hell is his excuse?? Too annoying I tell ya!

just be nice

Is anyone else sick of thinking of a title for their posts??

Once upon a time we were staying at Mrs A’s house in Amman for few weeks along with Mrs B and her family. Mrs A had a next door neighbour named Mrs C. Mrs C is an older lady in her 60’s, she lives alone. She is a very nice lady, well educated, speaks English and French. She is well travelled, and overall a very interesting and pleasure to talk to person. Mrs B was somewhat of a snob to Mrs C. Whenever Mrs C stopped by Mrs B would barely utter a very dry hello and go to her room or to the balcony with her argeelah, she never sat and had a conversation with Mrs C, because who the hell was Mrs C, no one important or interesting. I used to like chatting with Mrs C, but sometimes had to leave the room because my kids were being a bit exasperating and Mrs A and C wanted to get to know each other as they have both just moved into the building.

One day, on the day Mrs B and her family were leaving Amman to the gulf country they were living, Mrs C came to say her farewell to them, out of respect to Mrs A.
Mrs C said a polite Hello, Mrs B answered with the driest, rudest Hello back I have ever heard, quickly dismissing the existence of Mrs C and asking her husband about something then leaving the room.

After a few minutes of conversation it came about that Mrs C is a very good friend with a princess from the country where Mrs B and her family are living. Mrs B’s hubby calls her to the room and passes on new piece of I guess important information.

All of the sudden Mrs B lost interest in what she was doing in the other room. She grabed a seat and joined us. Now she was very interested in Mrs C and wanted to be her friend. She gave her their home phone number, her cell number, husband’s cell number, and her daughter’s cell number so she can call the very next time she is in the gulf country they live in, in the hopes that maybe, just maybe Mrs C will introduce them to her princess friend! All Mrs B saw in Mrs C was a new wasta.

Moral of the story: Arabs are weird. Never dismiss anyone as an unimportant person until you know who he or she is and whom he or she knows. Or for god’s sake just be nice and polite to everyone, regardless of who they are, what they do, whom they know and how much money and property they have. Sheesh!