The Boot Whisperer

 

So! This month I'm back in Texas! My extended family spent some time together in Wimberley, a quaint little retirement town located in the Texas Hill Country. While there I was almost convinced to buy some boots from a German lady known as "the boot whisperer." Apparently she can look at a person's foot and correctly guess his boot size. She and her husband own and operate a successful second-hand boot store in town. Check out the ones I wanted... too bad they didn't come in my size ;-) just kidding!

Pumpkin

It's fall and I'm missing Bonnie and Russ and friends back home carving pumpkins and roasting the seeds. There are some pumpkins that are grown here in Kstan, but they aren't quite the same as pumpkins back home.

Fortunately, my roomies and I share a love of pumpkin products. Every time someone from the states comes to visit and asks "what can I bring?" we say; "canned pumpkin!" Recently we helped our neighbors "gut" and boil some pumpkins. Then we introduced them to eating the boiled pumpkin with brown sugar and butter, mmm! As they were about to throw out the seeds I asked if I could have them. The first batch I burned to a crips, darn propane oven without any temperature control. But the second batch turned out really good.

Masha'Allah

Beautiful country-side. The mountains of Kstan in the fall! Masha'Allah!

Masha'Allah is an Arabic phrase that expresses appreciation, joy, praise or thankfulness for an event or person that was just mentioned (definition from Wikipedia). It is used to remind people that all things come from God. People also say it superstitiously to ward off the "evil eye," believing that admiring something about another person in an envious or covetous way could cause something bad to happen to that person. So if you compliment a person or their things, always tack on a "Masha'Allah" afterwards so they know you're not saying anything out of jealousy or envy.

That's what neighbors are for

Project 365 Day 26: Our neighbors often send children over with plates of hot food fresh from their stove. It's really nice to know they think about us often. Today was a particularly neighbor-food-full day. From left to right: Lentils, Kitilk (meat and rice stuffed inside rice cakes and fried), dates, honey, fried green beans. We usually send the plates and bowls back with baked goods like pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, and banana bread.

Bubble Tea

Project 365 Day 25: I was craving bubble tea today. Reminds me of great friends back home.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Project 365 Day 24: It's my dad's birthday! In his honor I'm posting a picture of a father and daughter. I took this photo in eastern Turkey last year.

Dr Pepper Day

365 Project Day 23: I had my first Dr. Pepper in over a YEAR today! What a great taste from home! These pics are from last summer while I was traveling Highway 6 through the world's "capital" of Dr. Pepper (Dublin, Texas).

Kdish dinner

Project 365 Day 22: A typical Kdish dinner (from bottom left to right) shredded spiced lamb, deep fried egg, yogurt, and cheese. Each of these dishes is eaten with bread, which is used to scoop the food out of the bowl. No forks or spoons required!

Washing Machine

Project 365 Day 21: Our beloved washing machine. The left side is for washing and the right side is for spinning. Each load of laundry goes through each side twice. First time: Fill with water, wash with soap, drain, spin. Second time: Fill with water again, run with fabric softener, drain, spin. We don't have a dryer so then we have to hang our clothes to dry. Estimated wash time per load: 1.5 hours

Sheep guts

 Project 365 Day 20. When they slaughter a sheep or lamb, the K's use every part of it. They like to stuff the intestines with a mixture of rice, meat, tomato paste, onions, and spices. It's actually pretty tasty.

Toolbox

Project 365 Day 19. We recently inherited a toolbox so I was inspired to organize all the tools in our "man drawer" into the toolbox.

Project 365 Day 18: What Women Want

BEAUTY! No matter the culture, women enjoy beauty in all forms. And women especially want to be beautiful themselves. The Kdish women often ask me for aaslee (meaning "real" or "pure") beauty products from America because most of the products available to them are adulterated. Even if the products are genuine, the consensus among the K's is that American stuff is just better. Except for the awesome stuff that the Swiss company Arbonne makes, I can't say that I disagree ;-) It's been nice to see more quality products coming into Kstan since I've arrived. I think Mary Kay or Avon could be really big here.

Project 365 Day 17: Cell Phones & Text Messages

Cell phones are EVERYWHERE. And they have cutesy accessories for women like glittery jeweled high heels and hearts and butterflies. But the best thing about Kdish cell phone usage are the text messages. They are all very sappy, but sweet. Here's a sampling of some messages that have been going from phone to phone over the past few months. I've left them as they have come to me so please excuse the bad grammar.

"Everyday, Everywhere, Everytime, I may not be with you, but my thinking, my care, my msgs, my prayers & my lovely wishes are always with you."

"One day u will ask me what's more important to you my life or your life...? I will say my life and you will walk away from me without knowing that. that you are my Life...

"One day my heart ask my eyes: whay r u crying? my eyes say: I am looking 4 my love I cannot find her! my heart say: do not cry she inside me. How r u my life"

"Someday you may lose ur hair, your teeth, your looks, or even your memory. But there's something you won't lose. Me, Coz I'll always be your friend.."

Sugar said to honey: “We are the sweetest people in the world.”

Honey said to sugar: “Apparently you haven’t met the person reading this.”

"Many people come in our lives they come and go and are forgotten but out of them some keep on twinkling like stars on the screen of mine and you are definitely one of them."

"If you live to be 100 years, I want to live to be 100 years minus 1 day so I never have to live without you. I can’t live without you."

"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTVWXYZ….what’s missing?? U!"

Project 365 Day 16: Cultural Values

Russian Customs Form

Look at item 3.4 in the customs form. Not sure what the Russians were getting at. Maybe that people visiting their country must leave their cultural values at the border? LOL. Not a bad description of what it's like to make one's home in a foreign culture.

According to Wikipedia, "Values are an integral part of every culture. Along with worldview and personality, they generate behavior. Being part of a culture that shares a common core set of values creates expectations and predictability without which a culture would disintegrate and its members would lose their personal identity and sense of worth. Values tell people what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful, desirable, constructive...etc. They answer the question of why people do what they do. Values help people solve common human problems for survival. Over time, they become the roots of traditions that groups of people find important in their day-to-day lives."

Living in a foreign culture exposes cultural values. Mysterious behaviors, unpredictability, and conflicting expectations abound. It's good for me to examine my cultural values, to ask why I do what I do, and to put myself in the shoes of someone different than me to examine why he acts the way he does. It's a strange and wonderful journey.

Project 365 Day 15: Bread Shop

Bread is served at literally every meal here. Along with rice. Both of these foods have historically symbolized life. That is why in Kdish culture it is considered sinful to waste even one scrap of bread. Every neighborhood has several bakeries so it is easy to find all sorts of freshly baked breads for very little money. I can get at least 8 of the loaves in the picture below for about $1.

Project 365 Day 14: Women's Basketball in Kstan?!?

BOX-OUT!

Project 365 Day 11, 12, 13 Busy Week

Day 11: On the walk to work

Day 12: Unwanted house-guest

Day 13: A trip to a "REAL" grocery store  :-)

Project 365 Day 10: Fish Sticks Take 2

Ah, I forgot to post yesterday! So here's a series of 2 related photos - one for today (day 10) and one for yesterday (day 9). The way these fish were cooked was really fascinating (see photo on the day 9 post below), and they were really tasty. In a place where there isn't much to do, let me tell ya this is pretty exciting.

365 Project Day 9: Fish Sticks

During the summer and early autumn months, these fish are caught in a nearby ancient river, then skewered and roasted around open flames. Restaurants have outdoor seating on the mountainside nearby underneath grape vines and apple trees. My roomies and I had a lovely evening here with some beautiful Kdish friends.

365 Project Day 8: George Clooney

We have a celebrity in our midst. He keeps such a low profile that the first time I saw him I had only a small twinge of recognition. But now after seeing him several times, my roomies and I are sure…it's George Clooney. Yep, George Clooney's hidey hole from the paparazzi is right here in Kstan. He spends his days running a local grocery store and carrying my roomie's flat of Pepsi Max and carton of eggs to the car for her. What a gentleman. It's true that the camera adds ten pounds because he sure is shorter and thinner in person. I don't have a current picture because I'm too shy to ask for one and I hate to blow his cover so you're just going to have to trust me on this one. Or even better, you can come see for yourself!

Project 365 Day 7: Frivolous Friday

Friday in Kstan is like Sunday in 1950 small-town America - shops are closed pretty much all day and the streets are more quiet than usual because people stay home with their families. More people, mostly men, venture out to visit the mosque in the middle of the day while women stay at home to cook and clean. After the family lunch comes the afternoon siesta. A lazy "Sunday" afternoon. I tend to use Fridays to sleep in, read, reflect on the week, do a little housework, hang with the roomies, and/or otherwise putter around the house. Today I deemed "Frivolous Friday" because I wanted to eat ice cream, a cupcake, and a dollop of imported icing topped with imported chocolate and caramel syrup for lunch....so I did. Mom, in case you're worried, this is not my usual MOA :-)

365 Project Day 6: The Butcher

Being brought up in the "country" and having seen my father gut a deer didn't fully prepare me for a trip to the butcher in Kstan. It wasn't so much the sights as it was the smells that grossed me out, something a picture can't fully convey. Anyway, these baby cows, slaughtered earlier in the day, were reported to be of top quality. I don't really know how to grade meat at this point, but I have resources and I plan to figure that out...

365 Project Day 5: A little thing called LOVE

The newlywed getaway car in Kstan

365 Project Day 4: I like to move it, move it

My travel last month took me to Hong Kong. One of the most densely populated areas in the world (according to Wikipedia), Hong Kong is an interesting mix of capitalism/western culture and traditional conservative Asian culture. The city was impressively clean and well-run. There were signs posted on business doors assuring customers how many times a day door handles were sanitized as well as signs about hand hygiene and how to properly cover coughs and sneezes. Sometimes I would forget I was in Asia until I would see people wearing avian-flu masks. A foreigner that I met who lived there for a while likened Hong Kong to London. Wouldn't know because I've never been there, but it's not surprising since Hong Kong was once a British colony. I like that this photo displays the orderly traffic lanes and three different modes of transportation: the red taxis, the yellow double-decker bus, and the pedestrian footbridge above the road. Can't you almost hear the rush of millions of people getting to work to make a buck?

365 Project Day 3: Blackout

Tonight we had the entertaining task of watching several men try to fix our electricity for a couple of hours. Our house was the only one that lost power - apparently due to bad wires. Amidst the protests of my roomies, I covertly snapped a picture of one of the men perched precariously atop a ladder. I didn't want to use flash and draw attention so it's dark, but anyway here 'tis.

365 Project Day 2: Lamb Chops

Just a regular day driving around Kstan and BAM you see someone's dinner riding in the back of the truck next to you.

365 Project Day 1: Mom's Chicken Enchilada's

I'm plagiarizing an idea for my blog. The 365 Project. A photo-a-day for a year. Since I love photography and I need blog material that's fast and easy to post...I thought I would give it a shot.

My roomies and I made lunch for friends today. Based on the fact that we miss Mexican food and there have been an abundance of imported tortillas in stores around town for a few months, we had decided earlier this week that we would make enchiladas. Wouldn't you know it, when we went to purchase said tortillas, they were all gone! Instead we substituted some really thin pastry bread "tortilla-equivalent" product. Surprisingly, they turned out better than the last time we made this recipe using real flour tortillas :-)

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

1) I walk, down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost…I am hopeless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place. But it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in…it’s a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.

4) I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

5) I walk down another street.

Copyright Portia Nelson, 1980

T.I.K. #2 The Propane Man

Our stove is a gas stove, but unlike in the states, the gas doesn't magically appear from underground pipes. Nope, we have to purchase individual 20 pound propane canisters like people use for camping or grilling (check out exibit A on the right - our newly installed full propane canister that I successfully purchased last week). We purchase them from a couple of guys who drive a truck full of them through our neighborhood at least twice a day playing a repeating cheesy song like the ice-cream trucks in the states (but more melodramatic). When someone wants propane, they just come out their door as the truck drives by. One guy drives the truck and the other gets out into the back of the truck and slings the canisters over the side of the truck onto the ground. That part is the craziest part to me. When the tank hits the ground it sounds like the cement is breaking and I'm always afraid that the tank will burst. Usually my roomie takes care of buying the propane for our house. When I first moved in I couldn't figure out why sometimes she would just drop everything and run for the door. Now that she's been gone for the past 3 weeks and I've had to listen for the truck to come by, I understand. EVERY time I heard the song I wouldn't make it out of the house until the truck was already down the street. One time I called my neighbors to get them to make the truck turn around, but I didn't know the Kurdish word for propane. They will probably be giving me a hard time about that for a while :-) Here's a video of the truck and its song. I didn't catch them actually slinging the propane tanks off the truck, but you get the idea. Also, please enjoy my first try at video editing with my new Adobe Premier Elements program. More to come hopefully!

Planting Seeds

I enjoy the combined beauty and practicality of a garden filled with flowers, herbs, fruits, and veggies. For the past 6 years I've dreamed of having such a garden, but apartment life combined with the busyness that plagued me since junior high school just really wasn't conducive to that. Ah, so much has changed, thanks to God! Many Kurds have gardens. Like the picture above, roses and flowers and herbs and/or some kind of fruit-bearing tree can be found behind (and is some cases peeking over) many of the tall gates in this city. And many Kurds have grape vines which give them shade to sit under during the hot summer months like the pic below. We don't have a yard, but this past weekend I took the first steps toward a potted garden! A friend gave me some flowers for my birthday and I just planted some Marigolds, African Daisies, and Verbena. So here are my new babies! Maybe some day I'll have a garden like the one above.

T.I.K. #1

Starting a new life in a foreign culture comes with many good belly laughs along with many things that just make you go "hmm." Anything that falls under this category I lovingly label "T.I.K." which means "This is Kurdistan." The following picture adequately sums up driving in Kurdistan.

Birthday

a couple of friends have emailed me happy birthday early and it makes me smile. maybe i have been accidentally circulating the wrong bday date to my friends, lol. actually, the truth is i've never been very big on birthday celebrations for myself. the kurds themselves don't really celebrate bdays either. those who do have either lived abroad or have relatives who have lived abroad. in fact, most of the kurds that are my age or older don't even know what day they were born on - they only know the year. i've heard a theory that this is because of the oppression by sadaam - none of their bdays were written down so they couldn't have large gatherings for that because that could be a good mask for a meeting of conspirators.