Decorating Ideas

In an earlier post I mentioned some of the less common furniture and clothing styles that you find in various locations. So to all of my decorating divas out there: Yes, you Joyce! I thought I would share these with you just for inspiration.

Ready for the weekend...

The ladies above are friends of mine from school. From left Tehmina a Pakistani American. She is a US Citizen and has lived in the US for the last 30 years. The lady in the center is Nazren and she is an Iranian American, and the younger girl to the right is Sasha and she is from Minnesota. They are all very nice ladies and a lot of fun!

The work weeks here are Sunday through Thursday and I still really have a hard time with that. I'm always on the wrong day

We had professional learning days the last two days, and they are all the same the world over apparently. My goal is to get what I can out of them. My problem at this point is that it is usually too much information, and I am still trying to digest all of the newness of everything else.

I have been putting in some heafty days and usually don't get home until the evening and work at home until about 10:00. It's a good thing I don't have a tv, or I would probably get less done. My goal is to get things under control now so I don't get back-logged the entire year. Good luck right? Anyway, I try to keep some balance.

A group of us went to the Aware Center last night. It is a non-profit organization that has the goal of promoting positive relations between Westerners and Arabs by organizing social activities and information services related to Arab and Islamic culture. It was started by a woman and her husband . She is American turned Muslim and he is a Kuwaiti Muslim. The Aware Center hosts tours and arabic classes and trips etc. I'd kind of like to go to the camel races just to say I went. While I was there, I was talking to some of the women volunteers and it is interesting because you can ask them questions that you wouldn't just go up and ask someone else.

We got to play dress-up. Yes it was me in the photos, and yes I was smiling. Let me tell you, I am happy that I am not a native of some of these countries. I wouldn't do well with the clothing! I could be a woman in black in this climate for about 2 seconds. In a way though I see why they choose to dress the way they do. No plastic surgery, who cares what you are wearing, bad hair day, put on a few pounds? and sometimes anonymity is nice. From what I can find out, the Abaya and the clothing style has nothing to do with Islam. There is nothing in the Quran that says women must dress this way. It does say they expect women and men to both dress modestly. It is strictly representative of their culture. I believe it's roots are actually in early Byzantine, Christian culture. The traditional dress of nuns of course is very similar.

Muslim women from different parts of the world dress according to the culture in their countries.

One of the girls there was telling me that the sign of beauty in the Arab culture is in the eyes. Maybe that is why that is all some of them choose to show publicly. She was also showing us a lot of the natural cosmetics and natural applications used for various things such as deodorant, shampoo, toothbrushes, hair color, coloring for the eyes etc. It was really interesting. They have had thousands of years to be able to discover these uses from a fairly limited environment.

Time Flys When You Are Having Fun!

October 13, 2009

Obviously since I haven't posted for awhile I am either lazy or busy. Rest assured that I am busy! It's pretty hard to get homesick because you have so much that you have to accomplish here at the school, but then when you have a break from school and nothing planned that's when time seems to drag.
It has been a chilly 100 degrees here all week. It is weird because you do get acclimated. It really does feel cooler to me from the insane temps a month ago. I haven't been checking the weather much but I looked today and I was surprised that the temps were still that high! My kids at school ask me to turn the ac off because they're freezing!
More later

I am into my second week back at school

Ramadan is over, Eid is over and now we are back in school until Thanksgiving. Here of course it is some other holiday, but it works out for everyone. The school and work weeks are Sunday-Thursday which takes some getting used to. I am glad to be back at work, because I had too much time on my hands the days we were off. If I had known of other opportunities I am sure I could have filled my days in more interesting ways.

The head of my department who is going on his 8th year here and another lady teacher going on her third year and myself went to four different furniture stores/antique markets on Saturday. We had a really good time.

The things in these stores were really nice and more ethnic. It is fun to see things that are not common at home. I really enjoy looking through the stores and markets that carry items from Iran, Turkey, Morocco, Tibet, India, Afghanistan, etc. While everyone else is at the malls I enjoy looking at things that someone mady by hand. Some of these items are really remarkable!

On the other hand I have also seen some very uncommon furniture, clothing and fabrics at some of the shops and the friday market. I personally find them unfathomable, but someone must buy them or they wouldn't sell them. I will try to include some photos. They look like something out of "Alice in Wonderland".

The girl in the photo is from Africa. I have forgotten her name, but I thought she was really pretty and had an interesting hair style. She of course is trying to get a visa and find her way to the US so she can join up with her brother, but it is very difficult for immigrants to get visas. I guess that is why so many come illegally.