So my dear sister has been encouraging me to post so-called "embarrassing stories" on this blog. While I am sympathetic to her desire for lighter fare, I must confess I'm just too dignified and savvy to have any such stories. So far.
But, I will humbly present,
Top five quirks of the first five days:
1. Arabic is read right-to-left. I guess I might have known that, but it still throws me off to see a list with the numbers on the wrong side of the page, or a newspaper that opens backwards.
2. There really legitimately is a rooster in one of the apartments on my street. Though it has done me the great favor of crowing at dawn, it also just does that all the time. What the heck?
(Also, Patty says there is a sheep. I haven't heard it yet, but honestly it wouldn't surprise me.)
EDIT: I just heard it. It's legit. Oh my.
3. I think I had some kind of stereotype in my head about long skirts in the Middle East. Women here just wear pants. Mostly just stylish jeans and black pants. Oops?
4. One of my strongest memories from being little is the constant reminder from my Dad to wear my seat belt. Sorry Dad, nobody here wears them :). I've gotten laughed at pretty good for wearing it, but considering the level of crazy driving that goes on here, I think I'll keep it. At least there are no highways in this area.
5. People kiss lots of things here. As you might expect, it's a greeting for your friends, etc. But mostly they kiss holy things. A lot. For example, they kiss the silver star in the ground where Christ was born, the spot where He laid, etc. Not too surprising. But I was in the chapel with the tabernacle in it yesterday and some guy came in, touched the feet of the statue of St. Francis with a kiss, touched the icons right next to the tabernacle with kisses (ie kissed his hand then touched the icons), and then he kissed the tabernacle. I don't know if that's really my style, but I guess he has the right idea.
What about you, dear friends and family who read my inane little blog? What are some funny or unexpected things you're seeing where you are? Remember, it's not stalking to read along if you participate too :).
Alright, so I was eating sushi on the deck of this restaurant with my brother tonight, and apparently the birds were out too. My brother got hit square in the arm with bird crap. I was just pumped it didn't hit the food!
ReplyDeletei was at work and leaned to far in my roller chair and fell over onto the floor in front of a patient (i work at the student health center at Wash U) and my coworker. They tried not to laugh.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my pants were too short that day, and I looked like a nerd.
I also tripped up my steps on tuesday and silled salad everywhere infront of my neighbors. That was fun.
Clumsy.
ps
i apologize for all the incorrect grammer and spelling that i am sure is driving you nuts.
miss you.
FINALLY some funny stories. Well done. You should have posted your ATM story though. Too bad about the skirts though eh? lol
ReplyDelete- kristin
Hi Beth!!!
ReplyDeleteThese are fabulous! As for me:
I've been living in excruciatingly-small town America for nearly a year now, so I've noticed some things:
-people here get very excited about 1) car shows 2) pig roasts. I don't know if this is an exclusive Waupaca thing or a small-town-in-central-WI thing.
-the mythos that everyone in small towns is smiling and accepting isn't always true. There's a "rich" side of town that almost never associates with the "poor" side, even though the differences between "rich and poor" are probably no more than $100,000 in annual icome (as compared to, say, NYC, where the rich New Yorkers might be earning millions and millions, while poor families survive on below minimum wage). This surprised me a lot.
-people are very content to stay at home. Of the seven kids coming on our Baltimore mission trip, only two have ever been out of the state before.
Also, the pilgrimage center you linked to a few days ago looks wonderful. If airfare to Israel weren't pushing $2,000 (and I had more vaction time) I would totally come visit. Alas.