Arabian Night

Yesterday, the sun peeked at me through the trees:





I walked a bit and found it again






and was reminded of all the times I had seen it as a student, leaving the library just as the call for Maghrib prayer rang out across the campus.








There's nothing quite like it in the world.

What I Do(n't) All Day

It's 12:40 AM and I am tired.

Just like I've been all day.

Just like I was yesterday.

Because the day before yesterday, I stayed up late, doing nothing in particular. I did go to the grocery store and my friend's office around midnight Friday morning, but was home by one. Still, I didn't get to bed till 3 because there's this thing called Twitter that sucks your life away! I don't even know why I love it so much, or why I find it more valuable than sleep, but it keeps me up late. A lot.

I didn't sleep in Friday morning because I had church and, actually, this Friday I got up early to take a shower, only to find that someone was already using it! So I got up a half-hour early only to be cranky and unable to fall back to sleep.
I didn't take a nap Friday afternoon because I really don't like napping. Sometimes it's wonderful, but mostly it's just several hours that could be spend reading or eating or tweeting.

And that night, I went to two parties. I participated in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which means at the appropriate times I threw toast and rice and toilet paper with about 20 other people. I also danced the Time Warp, and was really weirded out by much of the film.

Then I went to a more normal party, filled with professors and alcohol, and this time I was home by 12. But still, didn't sleep until 3. I'd like to say I was doing something more productive than Tweet-stalking, but I won't.

At noon today, I woke up. A new day! I'm going to DO STUFF!

But my afternoon plans fell through and I soon found myself on the couch with book one of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes propped up on my knees. At 5, I got dressed. And at six, I finally went over to help my friend make dinner. At 8, I fell asleep (on her couch, while my friends and fellow dinnerguests photographed the room's various rugs and vases, and also me).

So here I am, back on the couch but this time with my computer in my lap and Dr Horrible's Sing-a-long blog playing in the background.

Tomorrow, I will resume my babysitting job. It's not much, but it earns me a pittance and gets me off the couch.

[In my defense, I have read several books since being home, and have had a few successful study sessions.]

It's nice to have a break, but this is ridiculous. I feel the knowledge leaking out of my brain and running across the mush that used to be my muscles.
My life is easy and luxurious, and completely unfulfilling. I miss my busy life. I miss earning money. I miss having a job with coworkers and a boss and a punch clock.

I'm writing this to explain why this blog is so uninteresting. Normally I have a lot to say about the Emirates but, since I don't normally spend so much time on the couch, well, I haven't seen much of it.

But more than that, it's to remind myself that my late-night lazy-day lifestyle sucks and why don't I do something already? So here's the plan for the week:

1. Get rid of "stuff" in my room. Find a home for books, CDs, the two drawers brimming with jewel cases, and the t-shirts taking up my closet space

2. After doing laundry, hang clothes in closet on newly-vacated hangers.

3. Take more pictures.

4. Spend some time on campus making observations so I have something to write about.

5. Get some exercise, lest I be rendered unfit for my own wardrobe.

6. Do an hour of Arabic every day.

Also, no naps. No late-night tweeting. Cut back on the baked goods and learn at least one new dinner dish.

To productivity!

To fulfillment!

To interesting blog posts!

An Update About Nothing In Particular

First, photos.
Petra.
Syria.
Facebook tells me anyone can see them. I hope that's true.

Second, we had a blackout yesterday. Rawr.
This is the candle we lit:


And then later we lit more, but they were less interesting and entirely lacking the Arabian Nights theme, so, no pictures of those.

So, how did we pass the 6 hours time?

Well, first we hung out at Burger King, because it was the only place on campus with any power.

The Oasis.

Then we wandered around in the dark until we came upon this streetlamp, which we used to pretend K was getting abducted by aliens:

oooooo

And then we met some ghost-children on the swings:



K joined them:



And then the power came back on and we all went back to doing whatever is it we were doing before it went out. Like Facebooking and watching British cooking shows on BBCLifestyle. This fellow Ramsay is the Simon Cowell of the culinary world. It's really quality television.

Now the weekend has arrived and I am off to enjoy it.

The Week in Pictures...ish

There's not much to say for the week. The most exciting thing that happened was the fried-egg experiment that turned out totally lame. Still, sometimes dull makes for nice photography.

There are so many things I dislike about AUS. But the symmetry is not one of them:



The security guards? Definitely are:



This is The Ugliest House in the Emirates:

I think it looks pretty cool, but I've been told the night masks its true and overpowering ugliness.


My favorite part of AUS is the library.
The atrium looks like a wedding cake:



And there's a gorgeous spiral staircase from basement to top floor. Unfortunately, the power was out and this was the best picture I could get:

Lame. But do you know what's even lamer? The power being out for three days. In the summer. S-E-W-A spells Incompetent.


Finally, today was Day 1 of the Holy Month of Ramadan, and thus the beginning of the Muslims' 30-day fast. In the UAE, it's against the law to eat in public during this month and so all the food courts in the mall close down for the day, as well as all the restaurants on campus. Business hours are cut to six-hour days (and often fewer), and the whole country turns sluggish--and to an even greater degree this year because its the heat of the summer. From sunrise to sunset, there is no eating, drinking or smoking. That makes a lot of people really cranky, and exceptionally inefficient. These are all reasons to loathe Ramadan.

And then, the sun sets. The cannon is fired, and suddenly there is life once again. People are feasting and partying and inviting each other over to feast and party with neighbours and family members, parties where they stuff you so full you can hardly walk out the door. Malls become packed, restaurants make fortunes, and the land echoes with prayers and recitations of the Qu'ran.

It is a very cool time to be in the Middle East.



Happy Ramadan

The Sidewalk-fried Egg

So are you excited for this? Because no one I know has ever successful fried an egg on the sidewalk. Few places are hot enough to accomplish it and even fewer people are up to the task. It's a good thing we have 8 1/2 year olds in this world.


My brave 8 1/2 year old assistant.






And then we went back inside to wait. Come on, it isn't *that* hot over here.

About an hour later, we returned, ready with plates and a salt shaker.

This is what we found:



Awesome. This kind of heat and we can't even cook an egg properly. Just awesome.


PS But it *did* cook. I'm thinking this weekend I'll try it with a cookie sheet instead of just the brick. That ought to be a lot more exciting.

The Cool Thing About Oppressive Heat

My summer in Jordan left me tired, drained, exhausted! Never wanting to think about moving again! Not even to learn Arabic! Not even for cool---well, okay, maybe for cool pictures.

In the meantime, I'm keeping my days occupied with a little babysitting (the daughter from this post in case you're curious). Today was day 1, and it went swimmingly. L and I baked a delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies, did a sinkload of dishes, and fried an egg on the sidewalk. Sort of. This is something I've wanted to do my whole life but never lived in a place hot enough to pull it off--until today. It was a hot afternoon, but, well, just not hot enough. It took forever to cook and in the meantime it oozed along the maze of mortar cracks in the sidewalk. Such a letdown to, after all these years of fantasizing, be met with such an anticlimactic egg-frying event.

Still.

It cooked.

........

Hmm. I'm supposed to put a picture right here but I seem to have misplaced my cord. BLAST!
Well, stay tuned. I'll post it tomorrow. Get really excited so you can experience the whole buildup and letdown I felt this afternoon. :)

Ba-ack.

Dear Reader,

I'm home. Home! I love home.

I'm sitting at my kitchen table and the only sound I hear is the clock ticking on the wall. Soon, though, it will be joined by the air conditioning.
My dad cooked two great meals today, and even served me a small omelet for breakfast this morning. (How do you spell "omelet" by the way? I thought it was "omelette". Blogger thinks otherwise.)
I watched 30 Rock and napped on the couch this afternoon.
And this evening, we had some friends over and visited for a few hours, all in the comfort of our living room.
It's so good to be here.

I stopped posting because my writing was becoming increasingly bitter. Every time I sat down to compose something, all that would come out was a stream of vile obscenities directed mainly at Jordanian men, Jordanian internet, and Jordanian taxi drivers. I imagine I'll post them someday--perhaps in whole--but for now I want to remember the good things.

Like ice cream. So much good ice cream in Jordan.

The falafel place I went everyday after class.

My roommate, who was so very good to me.

The blue sky.

The breezes.

My amazing teacher.

And all the cool places I went (namely: Petra and Wadi Rum).

Tomorrow, I'm going to the store with my mom to buy a novel. I am so excited.
Pictures to come.
Maybe.
Eventually.

Until then,



Me