Mercedes and Goats.

"Last Post Published on Oct. 28, 2009":  so reads my blog homepage when I signed in.  Gosh it's been a long time since I've posted anything.  Life has gotten busy, but I suppose that's always the way it is.  At the promptings of several friends, I will attempt to make regular posts again.

I noticed something the other day and thought it would make good blog fodder.  The lines between foreign and familiar for me here have dissolved into one another.  Let me explain what I mean by sharing the story which really made me start thinking about this.

I was walking through a neighborhood in a very nice part of town the other day.  Home to large houses, nice to extremely expensive cars, and families probably more well off than I'm used to even in the States.  I walked around a corner to see a Bedouin and his herd of goats walking through someone's yard.  Many of the goats were chomping away at grass, bushes, and anything they could find.  The man was dressed in typical rural-like garb.  I can remember a time when this would've made me think something was odd with this situation.  But somehow over the past year and a half the site of goats being herded next Mercedes and through yards became normal.

This part of the world is so mixed with parts of the old with the new.  So much so that I've managed to compile both old and new into the same working concept in my mind.  Mercedes and goats.  It's just the way it is here.  And it made me realize, this is normal everyday life for me.

No longer is it odd to walk through a neighborhood hung with streamers and full of Arabic graffiti.

No longer is it odd to go for a run and hear shouts in Arabic as the children chase after me.

No longer is it odd to see cats scatter out of trashcans as I throw out garbage.

No longer is it odd to see the dome and minaret of a mosque when I go to the park.

No longer is it odd to see drivers stick their hand out in order to "push" their way through traffic.

No longer is it odd to hear the call to prayer when I'm sitting and reading.

No longer is it a new experience to see a pink and purple sunset over the desert... though it does still amaze me.

No longer is this just some place I live, but it is now my home.  A part of me.  The people.  The food.  The culture.  The language.  The things I love.  The things that I don't love.  The things I still don't understand, but accept because that's the way it is - like Mercedes and Goats.  Who knew?

Back in the Blogging Game!

So it has been a LONG time since my last post. I apologize for the long hiatus. The good news is that I have my replacement computer so everything should be back to normal now. The posting should resume at least once, if not twice, a week.

There is a lot for me to talk about as much has happened since my computer fiasco happened nearly two months ago. The first major thing I want to talk about is our new house.

When I arrived back in October I had a place to stay in a friend’s house. The intention was to find a place for another guy and myself soon thereafter. For some reason it took us several months to find a place. By early February we still had not found an apartment and I was getting quite frustrated with the whole situation. It seemed like no matter what I did I couldn’t find an apartment that fit the bill.

Thankfully we found a place soon after that which fit our needs exactly. Our new place is great and our landlord loves us! With live in a really interesting part of the city, and we’re pretty close to anything we might need. The best part is that we live really close to the absolute best falafel sandwich restaurant in the city. It’s wonderful.

The view from our bedroom windows is amazing. It overlooks downtown and sees some of the touristy areas. The pictures in this post show the view from the roof of our apartment at sunset. It’s quite beautiful; I think once the warm weather returns I may spend some time up the reading.

Next Blog Post: Running from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea…. FOR FUN!

PS – I apologize if the pictures look somewhat poor. I can’t figure out why, but blogspot is adding some nasty compression artifacts to my photos when I upload them. I’ve tried to get around this for the past hour, but I’ve just given up. I wish they would look as good as the originals. Sorry.

My Arab Diet

The food options here are such that if I never wanted to touch Arab food, I wouldn't have to. What I mean is that between the American franchised restaurants (like KFC), the western style grocery stores (such as Safeway), and the knock off restaurants that serve American"ish" food (anyone up for some Burjer Kinj or Chix Filet?), I could go with just eating stuff I'm used to if that's what I wanted.

But that's NOT what I want. My goal from day one has been to blend in with and embrace the culture around me. That's not to say that I don't enjoy food that reminds me of home (we fixed mexican food today and it was great), but I mostly want to eat the food that the locals eat.

Falafel Sandwiches

So, I thought today I might share about some of the foods that I eat regularly here. One of my favorite foods has been falafel sandwiches. You can find little stands and shops selling these throughout the city. And they are quite good. Each place makes them slightly differently, but the gist is the following:

Take a piece of bread (typically arabic flat bread)
Insert freshly made falafels
Smear in some hummus
Smush up the falafels
Spoon in some sauce made with chunks of tomatos
Add any desired extras (I like peppery hot sauce and french fries thrown in)
Close up and enjoy

Falafel sandwiches are cheap and delicious. I can buy 3 for about $1. And there's a stand that's only about a five minutes walk from my house; I can essentially get them whenever I want. Superb.

Falafel sandwiches are delicious.

Also, instead of going to the huge grocery store on the other side of town I usually just walk to a local store that's about 10-15 minutes away. The selection isn't as large, but I find it's just fine.

On the way I pass several fruit and vegetable stands. At this point I've learned which are the good ones and which are not so good. I have my favorite one that I walk to probably twice a week to buy dates, bananas, and pomegranates. The pomegranates here are superb! Oh my gosh. They are so sweet, and extremely red in color. I usually peel an entire pomegranate and put the seeds in a bowl, and then add plain yogurt. Fresh pomegranate and yogurt is hard to beat.

Doesn't that look amazing?

Also, I buy hummus and pistachios from various other stands and vendors. The hummus here is different than anything I had in the US, but it's very good. The food has been very kind to my stomach, and it hasn't made me sick once. I really was fearing having to be super careful with my food, but so far nothing has bothered me at all. I just hope it stays that way.

By the way, if you've never had a pomegranate, I REALLY recommend that you go out to a store and find one. Surely some organic grocery store has some you can try that would be like the ones I get here. They are so good. And as far as how to eat them, you just cut it open and pull out the little red pulpy seeds and eat them whole. Don't eat the white membranous skin separating the seeds as it is horribly bitter. I promise, pomegranates are extremely good.

Flights and First Impressions

So, everything ended up perfectly, but the road getting there was a rough one. I arrived in Chicago nearly 4.5 hours later than planned and had to try to board another plane going to London. After much waiting and hoping, I was the pleasant recipient of one business class ticket to London. I've never flown anything other than the basic seating; after the quite stressful day, it was a nice treat. I even had one of those seats that laid down completely flat. Awesome. Even so, I couldn't sleep. But I was relaxed and comfortable, which are two words I've never used in conjunction with the word "flying."

I was afraid that my baggage wouldn't make it to my final destination simply because of all the delays and rebooking mess I had to go through to get here. But even that worked out nicely; everything showed up, and in one piece! I was met at the airport and taken to my new home. I crashed into bed soon thereafter.

This morning I got up and have been strangely rested. Little to no jet lag, and I feel fine physically. This isn't usual for me when traveling internationally. But it's a more than welcome change.
I've had the opportunity to meet with some people in a home today and then I went walking around my neighborhood with my new roommate. We walked by a really big mosque and then we headed towards a market. The walk was great. I've been nothing but amazed by the city so far. It's gorgeous here, the weather is wonderful right now. Cool at night and pleasant during the day. Though from what I understand, it's soon to be getting cold. The air is surprisingly clean. Just slightly dusty, but nothing like Africa was. And pollution isn't noticeable at all; I thought it'd be more like India. The driving is calm, and far less "honky" than expected. There seems to be an air of order so that's very welcome. The cultural adjustment isn't going to be as big as it would be for some other places. So far, it's great.

My room in my house is spacious and comfortable with a generously sized bed. I even had a hot shower this morning, albeit a short lived one. I haven't really had a full on Mid Eastern meal yet, but I'll be sure to take pictures when I have my first one. The city is really gorgeous; I live at a house that's close to the top of a hill. The city is generally very hilly and my neighborhood is one of those hilly parts. It allows for a great view. This picture is taken from about 50 yards from my door. Incredible huh?
This is gonna be amazing.