dar jadeeda

Take a glance at our new house. These are the "before" pictures. Hopefully, we'll be able to show ya some progress soon!

After topping a flight of stairs, you step into our hallway. I love the tile and arched doorway!

one of the bedrooms - pre junk.

a partial view of the living room. Can you spot the palm outside?

kitchen sink, with more pretty tile!

Cabinets galore!

Our little balcony! We're so excited about being able to be outdoors.

the kitchen counters need a lil work. ;)

Apparently one toilet isn't enough. I don't get it either.

So that was just a glance, you'll have to come for a visit to see the finished product. ;)

Gruesome Gossip

In American (and African society, as it turns out), we wink at it, laughing when someone calls us out on gossiping. It seems that women everywhere are prone to attempting to the fill the gaps caused by their insecurity with cutting others down. James tells us that the tongue is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. In Arabic the word for gossip (يقطح ويريش ekuT Ha warayesh)  literally means to tear off another's flesh and pick it apart into little pieces. What an mental image that is! Let it be a reminder to us the next time we're in a situation where we must choose to speak words of life or death.

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." Ps 19:14

the yellow ones

Last Sunday afternoon we decided to find some greenery to fill our apartment. 

We hailed the taxi and with big smiles told the driver, "We want to go to a place where they sell flowers and trees that you plant in the ground." Well, I meant to say flowers, but I actually told him I wanted to plant leaves in the ground. He got the idea. 

He didn't know of a place so he called his buddy and took us to a nearby nursery. 

So now we have some lovely flowers adorning our window sill. ;)

Flowers always remind me of the brevity of life:

The grass withers and the flower fades but the Word of God lasts forever!

Bnaya found the open window to be most intriguing. 

On the way home one day, we realized that the music that the taxi driver was playing was actually rap in the local dialect. Generally, we can't understand a word of the music because they listen to French or traditional Arabic music. So we were thrilled and asked him who it was singing and how we could get the music. He literally drove us to the music kiosk and bought the CDs for us while we waited in his taxi. It was really nice! I'm sure he made a little money out of the deal, but still he was more than willing to help.

I think all these great taxi drivers have spoiled me, but they aren't all like that. One morning last week, when the taxi driver didn't know where I wanted to go, he literally told me to get out of the car and get another taxi!! I was appalled! It's such an unnatural, inhospitable thing for someone to do here. Like I already mentioned, they are usually more than willing to help. I found another taxi, said the exact same thing, and got to where I needed to go, no big deal - just 20 minutes late and a little shocked. ;)

Hearty Fruits

These past few months of Arabic learning have definitely had some ups and downs. Some days the "logic" of this language utterly blows my mind. Other days, I don't know if I've lived here long enough or if some things simply make sense.

For instance, today I learned that the word for a fruit seed (from an apple or orange) is called قلب (Kelb) which is the same word used for heart - but not to be confused with كلب (kelb) which is the word for dog. We once told a taxi driver he had a kind heart...or dog. Who can really know? So fruits with few seeds have a heart but things like watermelon or cantaloupe, well, they obviously have hearts (plural). And there's your Arabic lesson for today and most of what I remember from 2 hours of study (I kid).

Festive Happenings

I feel quite behind on the blog updates. Sorry to the masses who read this, I know you've been dying for a new post, but this one's a little random. ;)

With December came the hunt for Christmas decorations. This year more than ever I realized that decorating for Christmas doesn't necessarily make me feel religious but American. It's the attitude of my heart that makes Christmas so special as I reflect on the greatest Story ever told, but it's the decorations and delicious food that cause me to identify with my home culture.

We started with a Charlie Brown tree that we found at a used clothing/nik nak store called the freep.

We also found this funny ornament. It says,"First Born (Mom's Favorite)." Which I feel is quite accurate for me...and all my other siblings - Mom makes us feel like each of us is somehow her favorite, even miles away. ;)

December 1 a local French store hoisted up their selected number of trees and we upsized (don't worry we didn't abandon the Charlie Brown tree. It got decorated with a string of popcorn and placed on the opposite side of the tv). We were also able to watch CBC's Christmas program! At random sections, David O and Scott R sounded more like chipmunks than grown men though.

Bnaya even got into the Christmas spirit by unraveling half the ribbon in North Africa. We decided she just meant to be festive because out of 4 different colors, she only unravelled red and green and...well, just look at that "I didn't do it" face.

It got a little chilly here for awhile, so I was quick to bundle up - 2 pairs of pants + 3 pairs of socks + feet on top of the space heater = it's just time to go to bed and get under 3-4 blankets!

Spent one Saturday morning baking 8 dozen sugar cookies for a friend's English Club, where we were able explain the reason for the season!

yum, yum!

And one of my favorite events of the season was singing Christmas carols with friends! It was delightful. It is, however, not exactly easy to take a photo while holding an open flame...sorry for the blurriness.

Aajej

Aajej = duststorm

Last Saturday, after enjoying a coffee at a nearby hotel, we decided to see the city from the roof (we'd been told it offer the best view of the city). Impeccable timing we have because just as we stepped out, a mighty storm blew in. I was telling a friend that if we'd been back home, I wouldn't said a tornado's coming because the sky was the strangest color. Fortunately there were no tornados, a surprisingly little amount of rain, but my oh the dust!

1:15 pm

1:19 pm

1:22

1:23 pm

1:24 pm

Sitting with the carpets

Sitting with the carpets

Somehow, I always end up holding the bags. haha! We went to the "old city" this week, walked through narrow walkways crowded with people, and shopped for a carpet. Let's be honest, Beth did the shopping, and I did the bag-holding, observing, and nodding of approval. But, oh the amount of people watching one can do from within a carpet store. If only there were a way to discreetly photograph it all!

The man across the walkway, tying off the fringe of his carpets.

This one covered alley is full of seemingly small vendors, but they can really pack some stuff into those little rooms!