Week In Review Sabbatical Style: Week...?

OK, so it has been forever (or at least since Panama) that I did a proper week in review, so here's a go at the old standby:

• Yesterday I bought my tickets out of Santiago in Spain to Croatia. I bought a ticket with Ryanair from Santiago to Barcelona (From the far west to the far east of Spain) for 6 euros including all taxes! Of course then I went to pay and remembered that they charge you 7 euros just to pay with a credit card. Oh well, I won't complain about my 18 dollar flight!
• When I got to Greece it was cold. It was the coldest place I had been in 2011. Colder than London. Colder than Denver. Have I mentioned that there was snow on the ground? Thankfully things are warming up. It's been in the 60s-low 80s during the days!
• Greek food is delicious. 
• I ate Moussaka yesterday, which, while nothing like this one I made, was very, very good. 
• We went to church yesterday at the 2nd Greek Evangelical Church, and as I followed along in Greek as we sang it reminded me of the time I decided I would follow along with the Arabic when I was living in Brussels. I figured one day it might all make sense to me...until I realized that I was following along with the Arabic from left to right instead of the other way around. Oops. 
• I was a bit worried that traveling with the group was going to be stressful. I was wrong. I took a 3 hour nap today.  
• This is my third time to Athens, but the sights are still impressive!
• My usual trick of learning a few words in a language and then using them liberally is still working beautifully. Kalimera, kalispera, efxaristo and yasas (good day, good evening, thanks and hello/goodbye) seem to bring out a smile. I think its just good manners to learn at least a word or two of a language, but it doesn't hurt that it usually brings other benefits... like occasionally a larger scoop of gelato (just sayin!). 
• Today we helped cook and pass out food for hungry people in the neighborhood with the church. One guy came through and only spoke French and Albanian, so I tried really hard to dig back up that tiny bit of that French I learned in Brussels. Let me tell you, it was rough. 
• I'm still catching up on Central America blogs--next up is Nicaragua. Maybe I'll get around to it some time this week. 
• I keep forgetting to take pictures. I'm kind of feeling relaxed about it because I took so many pictures the last time that I was here with bright sun and clear skies that taking more now seems like overkill. I'll have some more pretty Greece pictures up soon though. 

OK, so that is the week in review. I'm a bit out of the habit--I'll be more interesting next week, I promise!

Week in Review Sabbatical Style: Week 3!

So yes, the computer has now offically become a large paperweight I am hauling all over Central America. Boo. But I am at a public library in El Valle, Panama and have a few minutes left on my hourś worth of internet. It´ll be closed tomorrow so I figured Id send out a quick week in review, especially since I havent blogged many of the places I have been recently. Ahem, here we go:

• Foreign keyboards are difficult. It takes me forever to remember how to get the @ sign. Half the time I have to go into my email cut and paste one.
• Also, excuse all the spelling errors, no spell check or time!
• Panama City is fantastic! It is a little intense and a little bit seedy, but fantastic all the same. The old town is a perfect mix of decaying buildings, colonial churches, restored art galleries and the presidentś house. 
• An old man started chatting with me when I was walking around the old quarter and tipped me off that if I went up to the guard and asked nicely he would let me into the street in front of the White House to let me take a picture. He was right! I walked right up front to take a picture. Definitely more access in PC than in DC!
• I had the best snowcone ever. The man shaved the ice off of an actual block with an old school hand scraper. Then he covered it in fresh pinapple juice and topped it with condensed milk. Perfect. 
• I also ended up buying snow cones for two little kids who talked me into it. Eh, it was a buck 50 for the 3 of us. 
• El Valle, where I am at the moment is very close to paradise. Itś in a beautiful valley and the weather is maybe 15 degrees cooler than in PC, which is great because 100 degrees in the Panamanian sun is really hot!
• I went to the Canal! I watched the ships go through the locks and it was fascinating to see it all in person. 
• I also felt accomplished by getting all the way to the locks by public bus. 
• Where do US school buses go when they die? If they were good, to Panama. Either that or Pimp My Yellow School Bus has come through the country. They call them Diablos Rojos, or Red Devils, and they are super tricked out. A lot of them also have some form of religious writing on them, which all things considered was reassuring.
• Costa Ricans all seem to say con gusto rather than the normal de nada for your welcome. It translates basically to it´s my pleasure, and reminds me of Chikfila. It kind of creeped me out. 
• As great as it was, I am definitely putting Panama ahead of Costa Rica on the awesome scale. Just so you know. 
• Delicious food here is so cheap. I paid 3.75 for a 2 course home cooked dinner last night. Maybe the best meal of the trip too.

OK, I am right at my time limit on the computer! Have a great week! Pictures to come...some day. 

Week In Review Sabbatical Style: Week 2

OK, I haven't had internet for a while, and only have a few minutes, but I know you've all been curious, so a quick week in review!

• I've been in Monteverde for the last few days--beautiful, but actually kind of cold!
• I spotted a White Throated Capuchin (a white faced monkey) when I was hiking in the cloud forest yesterday! All by myself!
• I think I have learned more taking tours and walking around in the forests here for the last 3 or 4 days than I did in entire years of biology classes I took. 
• I also saw almost a dozen Coati (super cute little racoon looking things), and all kinds of fun humming birds. Just a few: the violet sabrewering, the purple headed mountain gem, and a copper headed ninny muggin. 
• This afternoon I am taking a 4.5 hour bus back to San Jose. From there I'll board a bus to Panama City. 16 hours on that one. Ouch. 
• It seems maybe my luck is changing: I got the very last seat available on that Panama bus. Whew. 
• The super strong Off spray I bought is eating tiny holes in my watch. Makes you wonder what it's doing to your skin...It's also so humid that my watch is fogging over from the inside. It might not make it to Nicaragua. 
• Spanish update: The Spanish is for the most part coming back. I still find myself using random French words or adding French endings to my Spanish words. Most people seem to be at least moderately impressed though (I'm pretty sure this is due to the fact that most all the tourists here don't know much more than "hola.")
• Most common question though: Where did you learn Spanish? That's right, I've dropped the lisp, but the accent/vocabulary is still giving my Spain Spanish away. 
• Costa Ricans love to spice up there budget hotels by folding everything they can into little shapes. 
• In La Fortuna I stumbled upon a little ice cream shop. I ended up with Dulce de leche and Pitahaya (cactus fruit sorbet--that was BRIGHT purple). Yummy!

OK, computer's about to die so I'm putting this up right away! Pictures to come when I get to Panama!

Just a few things...

A) I am in Bath, England! It's beautiful. But FREEZING. Literally.

B) It feels really strange to be back in an English speaking country. For one thing, I feel all self conscious that everyone can understand what I am saying when talking in a crowd/on the bus/etc. And then there is the part where I throw out a bit of French or Arabic and no one gets it. But on the other hand, it is a great feeling--I understand everything! (well...almost everything--the accent is beautiful, but throws me off a bit) And no one makes me feel like an idiot for not understanding.

But, maybe just a little, I miss that feeling?

C) Adjusting back to Texas might be a bit rough. Prepare yourselves to hear me say voilà and ooh-la-la repeatedly.

D) The fact that it should be 72 (more than 4 times tonight's low) on Saturday when I get back to DFW should soothe my pain.

Week in Review: Week 11

It's the next to last Week in Review from Belgium! Here goes:

• Here's the count: 13 straight days of headaches, 8 full days of migraines. I've officially turned into a vampire. I'm ready to get off the migraine-train. 
• The painkillers are leaving me relatively "filter"-free. It almost seems appropriate for this time of the semester. 
• Speaking of...I FINISHED ALL MY COURSEWORK. I'll bring back my evaluation and then walk myself across the stage at graduation. Man, this has been a long time coming. 
• I think I've gotten dumber, not smarter, but I won't be opposed to you all calling me Master Brewer. 
• I've enjoyed helping take care of Phoebe this week, but it also makes me miss my little girls in Texas. I can't wait to see Madeline and Emma and see how much they have changed over the last 3 months!
• English classes have also been wrapped up. I have to put the finishing touches on the exams for levels one and two and then give them tomorrow evening. They will come for their grades and certificates on Wednesday. Tuesday we are having a potluck/Thanksgiving celebration in my conversation class. It should be interesting to see what kind of food my students turn up with. 
• With just 2 weeks left I officially gave myself permission to think about Mexican food and Dr. Pepper. 
• This last Tuesday was the Fête du Mouton, which is one of the biggest holidays in Islam. Families get together to sacrifice and eat a sheep in honor of God providing a sheep to sacrifice instead of Abraham's son (Isaac for Christians, Ishmael for Muslims). Part of the holiday includes sharing the meat with friends and the poor. Our neighbors said they would send over their son with some of the lamb, which turned out to be an entire raw leg of lamb. 
• I rode back to Brussels from the neurologist Wednesday with a family from the church who had gone to the hospital to visit Phoebe. The husband is Egyptian, the wife is Syrian. They have two adorable little hellians. He exhibited the best steering wheel drumming I have ever seen. (He drums at the church and was a professional back in Egypt.) They ended up taking me home with them for a while and fed me mashi (sp?)--little stuffed grape leaves. Very, very tasty. Also, I realized after almost 3 months that the husband speaks English! Who knew...
• I cannot say enough for the Flemish Belgian healthcare system. Everyone was ridiculously nice, almost everyone spoke English, and they all went out of their way to be helpful--the neurologist even game me his personal email should I need more information or help filing on my US insurance.  
• The amount I paid to go to the ER, have a CT scan, an appointment with the neurologist and an EEG with no outside insurance? 108.22 euro. Let's all say it together--government healthcare is not the end of the world. 

And, that's all. It has been a long week, but when I look back, most of what I remember is just cooking, cleaning and sitting in a dark room as much as possible. Maybe I'll remember some of the more interesting tidbits later!

Week in Review: Week 10

It's Sunday--Week in Review time!

• Phoebe is here! Janee had her early on Thursday. The whole process was complicated and scary and ended in an emergency cesarian, but both of them are now doing great--hamdula!
• My foot is a mix of purple and black, and I'm still having some headaches, but I'm not too much worse for the wear after my tumble down the stairs. 
• With all the activities of the week, I've already fallen off the whole blog-a-day November bandwagon. But hey, I tried. 
• Yesterday one of Hary's friends stopped by the house here to pick me up and take me to the hospital to see everyone. They surprised me by showing up early. I invited them up for coffee and the whole thing just kept striking me as odd. They live in Antwerp so they don't even speak French (not that my French really does me any good...) so it was just me and 4 Arabic speakers. I was trying to be a good Arab host, serving all the coffee and busting out all of the cookies/seeds/nuts/etc., using just hand motions and the handful of Arabic words I know. Everyone (except me) chatted for about 30 minutes, and then we were off. The subsequent search for a florist and 20 minute drive to the hospital didn't fail to be less interesting either.
• I played video games this week with some of my youth for the first time in probably 6 years. Unfortunately it seems my years of experience driving a car has not improved my ability to keep my car on the road in video games. 
• IT'S LESS THAN ONE MONTH UNTIL I GRADUATE. How bout them apples?! The plan is to finish my last paper this evening and get the portfolio sent off sometime this week. ELF hamdula!
• For those wanting an update...I was pretty sure Mr. Collins understood that I was not interested in marrying him. Unfortunately the hilarious/pitiful texts he sent me out of the blue this week might argue the contrary. 
• Rain, rain go away, come again in 3 weeks when I have moved back to Texas. But seriously, it has not stopped raining for what feels like weeks. 
• I've been doing quite a bit of cleaning, cooking and laundry this week. That also means I've been listening to a lot of This American Life podcasts. Sadly I've gone through almost all of the old episodes Cody gave me. 
• I got the dress ordered (after some creative measurement taking measures). One less thing to do when I get back. 
• It kind of scares me that when I tried to write in Spanish this week that all that came to mind was my crappy French.

And...that's it for today. Three weeks from yesterday I'll be back in Texas--which is kind of hard to believe. I know this last month is going to fly by, so I am trying to soak up what I can! OK, marsalami.

Week in Review: Week 9

Week 9? It's already the 7th of November? Whoa! Time is flying. Here is the week in review: 

• Since we opened the Christmas season this week we decided to watch White Christmas the other day. Janee also brought along some Christmas music for the car the other day, which was a nice change from Hary's Arabic music. 
• I will graduate in less than 5 weeks! And I have (drum-roll please) ONE PAPER LEFT! I can't believe it. My portfolio is almost finished too.
• This week I did not have classes to teach--everybody is on a week long All Saints/Fall break. And while we managed to fill each day up, I managed to get a good nights sleep every single day. It might have been the most restful week I have had since...last December? It's been a long year. 
• My mom will be here in a little over 2 weeks! We have decided to hit up England my last few days and are going to go over to Bath. Exciting!
• We went over to the house of an Iraqi family the other day. The tea she made for us tasted different from the Moroccan or Turkish tea that we normally drink. I don't know if it was just the tea or some spices added, but it was really good. 
• Why isn't "other day" one word? I think it should be like someday and stop making my life difficult.
• Anahabuck is Arabic for "I love you." 
• Also, did you know that Gazpacho, the Spanish soup, is actually from the Arabic for "soaked bread"? And while I am at it, hummus, the dip, is actually the Arabic word for chickpeas in general. Arabs seem to be really impressed that I know that word. 
• What do you think--Should I get some henna before I go?
• Sometimes I really do forget that I live in Belgium. We were at a market in the center early today and I was amazed at all the white people. (Abilene is going to be a shock to the system...)
• This week someone told me I looked Chinese. Again, close, but no. I just have small eyes. 

OK, that's about all I've got at the moment. 

Week in Review: Week 8

This week was pretty low-key. It started out inching along, and then was over before I knew it. Here's some highlights:

• Yesterday we had the youth over for a sort of annual fun-day/Halloween celebration. It was a lot of fun, but 7 hours worth of teenagers in small quarters made my head tired.
• We played some dirty/gross games with them. I was proud to say that the two that perhaps went over best were some that I brought over, namely chubby bunnies and the baby shower game where you melt chocolate in diapers and force the participants to taste and identify the chocolate.
• We played these games outside our garage and, for me, one of the best parts was watching the neighbors and people passing by gawk at these kids making toilet paper mummies and eating out of diapers. There were almost a few wrecks.
• My mom has decided to come visit for Thanksgiving! My last week here was free so we are going to spin around England for a few days. I'm excited!
• I will be home in 5 weeks, and I WILL GRADUATE IN 6 WEEKS. I only have 4 papers and a portfolio left! (And, inshallah, 2 of those will be finished in the next day or so.)
• I've decided I am going to incorporate what little Arabic I know into everyday conversations. Consider yourselves barakah-ed.
• This coming week is a class break (to coincide with the break in the schools here). After this week I will only have 2 more weeks of teaching (the final week will be exams, etc.). I finally got my classes up to speed in the curriculum. It should be smooth sailing from here on out. Inshallah.
• We were invited over to the house of some friends from church. It was a lovely evening all around, but one of the highlights for me was being able to see the stars on the way out to the car. I had realized earlier that I don't think I had seen a single star here--it's either cloudy or too bright in Brussels. They live outside of the city some, so it was almost a surprise to look up and see the Big Dipper.
• I had to run to the store earlier to pick up something for lunch. Janee gave me a handful of change and out the door I went. Assuming she knew how much it would cost I hadn't grabbed my purse. I went to the store, grabbed the item and counted the change to make sure I would have enough--I had 1.80 and it cost 1.75. Good deal. Until I dropped one of the dimes...which rolled under the edge of the shelf. I kind of bent and looked but didn't see it. Turns out there was no bottom ledge to the shelf and the coin had gone ALL the way under the huge shelf. Normally, a dime is worth bending over for, but not worth digging around under shelving for--except I had no other money whatsoever on me. So, in the middle of the tiny aisle, in a dress, I had to get on all fours and reeeeeach through the dust and dirt to find the dime. Ugh.
• I know these things have to happen to other people, but I sure feel like these things happen to me in much higher percentage. C'est la vie.
• Faith and beliefs aside, it's nice being a Christian for superficial things as well--like not having to go to the halal butcher. I went this week so we could cook for our neighbors and not only are the lines four times longer but the butcher has a looong scraggly beard. I do not want that mixed into my hamburger meat.

Well, that about sums up the highlights of the week. It was long but not too eventful. I've got about a month left here, but the baby could be coming any time now, so who knows what the rest of my time here will look like!

Pardon My French...

Non-English speakers don't really get why I'm giggling all the time. Here are just a few examples:

Asse: The Belgian town Janee and Hary are looking at houses in.

Key fuck: "How are you" in Arabic, for a man.

Daim: A Swedish brand of toffee. Milka also makes a Daim (good) chocolate bar.

Hella: Arabic for "now"

Bonus points if you use more than one in the same sentence. With a straight face.

In other news, Janee and I are going on a day trip to France tomorrow!

Week in Review: Week 3

Whoa, I have been here for 3 weeks! Week in review:

• This week Hary, Janee and I went to the Syrian/Lebanese part of town. The food from these two countries is basically the same. And delicious. We had the best pizza I have ever had. And they were 2 euros each!
• I also had a bite of the worst olive I've ever tasted. One bite and I had a sore in my mouth for two days. Hands down the saltiest thing I have ever eaten.
• Syrians are a lot like the British in that they love to call everyone "love." But more so. Habib and Habbibi ("love" and "my love") get thrown around a lot. When we decided we wanted yet another Syrian pizza, Hary called to the guy--Habib! Another pizza, please!
• The greeting, Key feck habibi? (How are you my love?) cracks me up. There's not necessarily anything romantic intended, but it reminds me of some guy going, what up, baby? Which is an odd thing to say to your 60 year old neighbor.
• While in that part of town someone asked me if I was Syrian. Close, but no.
• Thursday I got to go to the biggest Moroccan market in town (pretty much just like being in Morocco) then walked down the block to a Flemish midwives office (for Janee, not myself obviously). Talk about culture shock.
• This week was my first week back teaching classes. We have about 33 students registered in 3 different levels. So far they are pretty awesome.
• As class began on Wednesday a man came by wanting to register his daughter. I was trying to explain everything to him in my crappy French (which is actually just French sounding Spanish with a few French words thrown in) when he stopped me about 5 words in and asked if I spoke Spanish. Turns out they are from the Canary Islands! Fun!
• For one of our conversation classes we talked about things that annoy you (which is a good way to get people talking!). I realized that I do a lot of things that really annoying people.
• Sorry.
• إسمي لورين
• My name is Lauren.
• We went to visit a friend in the hospital across town and randomly came across a 14th century (?) castle.
• Fanta's Red Berry flavor is not good.
• Arabic orange soda tastes just like whatever it was that McDonald's used to sell when I was a kid.
• It's getting cold. Apparently the weather report on the street is that it is supposed to rain every single day from now until spring. Awesome. We are down to low 40s already.
• Krystal: He was not TDH.
• I took a little break from using my free time to write papers and started thinking through post-graduation trip plans. Who's excited?!?

That's all for now. A few pictures below!

Clockwise: Cheese, Cheese, lamb, tomato and peppers, and olive oil and herb. The cheese was definitely the winner in my opinion.

We also picked up some Halawa--kind of like a soft, slightly sweet peanut brittle made out of tahini and pistachios. Or something.

Spices at the market

Why hello castle!

NOT recommended.

Week In Review

Welp, I have finished my second week in Brussels! A few random bits from the week:

• Today (Saturday) we fed the homeless--we made at least 400 butter and ham/cheese sandwiches and a giant tub of soup then fed almost 200 or so people at the main train station. I had a blast.
• It was nice to do something where language wasn't an issue.
• Afterwards we ate Domino's Pizza, which tasted almost exactly the same as Domino's stateside.
• Ta Sharafna--That's Arabic for Nice to meet you, but it's so fun to say it that I like to use it as an exclamation and/or insult.
• Friday I helped with the youth. For fun I gave them a random assortment of items and told them to build something that could transport an egg safely to the sidewalk from the third floor balcony.
• They were 2 for 4. I was surprised no one used the pillow case or trash-bag I gave them to make parachutes.
• By Tuesday I was really fed up with French.
• By today I had reconsidered. I also realized I have already picked up a surprising amount of French (at least when it comes to understanding).
• Probably the most used French word I have learned so far is méchant which translates more or less as mean, or mischievous.
• Hary told me I seemed older than 24. Why? He said it was because of my big head. Janee tried to persuade me that he was trying to say it's because I had such big (mature) thoughts.
• Méchant
• After dinner conversations have ended almost every night since I got here with Hary trying to persuade me to marry some random Arab guy or another.
• We registered 29 students for English classes. We are offering 2 grammar courses and a conversation class. Students range from Moroccan, Belgian and Brazilian to Congolese, Syrian and Sri Lankan.
• I adore our Moroccan neighbor's tiny 14 year old son Houssin. He even offered to bring over tea for us when we were doing inscriptions (registration).
• Actually, I pretty much love the entire family.
• The African church that meets downstairs in our building is LOUD. I mean, crazy Hell-fire-and-brimstone loud.
• I have started thinking through travel plans for after the beginning of the year. Very exciting.
• Greetings I have received so far: wave, handshake, head nod, one cheek kiss, 2 cheek kisses, 3 cheek kisses. It is incredibly hard for me to judge what I am supposed to do. Needless to say I have already created some awkward moments.
• The songs/instruments/rhythms of the Arabic music last Sunday made me feel like I was going to church where they were singing flamenco

OK, that's probably enough to give you a taste! I should probably also mention that I have been tasting Moroccan/Turkish/Syrian/Iranian/Iraqi sweet after sweet. Life's not too terrible these days! : )

It's All Greek To Me!

Some Greek fun...

The phrase thank you in Greek is Ευχαριστώ, which is pronounced "Efxaristo." Sound familiar? It's where we get the word Eucharist from. It means with literally grace, or gratefully. Interesting no?

I kept saying it to our server tonight as we ate dinner, and he told me I needed to learn another word. So I tried the word for OK, "endaxi," (which I learned from my Couch Surfing host!) and that went over pretty well. Then he told us that the english word "OK" is actually from Greek.

Apparently the Greek sailors in New York would write όλα καλά, or "Ola Kala"--which means basically all good, on ships or packages that were ready to go, ready to be shipped. Huh.

And then, the last Greek word I could throw out there?

OPA!

Anyway, we had a FULL day of trekking up and down the Acropolis (we were not quite following my philosophy of "work smarter, not harder"). I'm beat, but so far so good!

OK (remember--its Greek!) some pictures below.

My couch surfing host Filenia and me at the port

Her super sweet mom came with us and bought us lunch!

Parthenon

View of part of the city (5 million people!) from the theater in the Acropolis

Tough life!