To Western Eyes - a different twist to the niqab?

Staying true to myself....I'm very interested in religious issues and women's issues. So, needless to say, the following story was of tremendous interest to me:
http://gulfnews.com/news/region/egypt/cairo-worried-over-growing-extremism-1.520905

I know women who wear the hijab (head scarf), I know women who don't. I know women who are Muslim, but you'd never know it by the way they dress. I know women who are Muslim who cover-up more in public than say the average 'westerner', but they don't wear a hijab or a niqab. Have I ever worn a headscarf? Certainly, but my hair still showed, and I didn't look nearly as stylish as many other women I know who do. But, it allowed me to maintain a certain level of modesty and anonymity traveling in places where seeing a woman with her hair covered was more the norm. When I have covered my hair, it's been for practical reasons rather than spiritual.

Coming from 'the West', I'm used to reading about women who feel oppressed by scarves and veils. I think this is the image that is usually portrayed 'in the West' about Muslim women. My personal experience in this region has been the opposite.

I guess that's what makes this particular news story so interesting to me. I do think it would be interesting to hear about how women involved in this news story feel/think about it.

Personally, I would find having my face covered to be very uncomfortable. But, that is a matter of personal choice and opinion, isn't it? For me, and again this is all opinion.....if a woman chooses to cover, she should be allowed. But, I (again opinion) do not believe that a woman should be forced to cover her head and/or face. I'm not trying to get into the religious implications with all this, just simply talk about clothing and personal choice.

As a side note, I've known Christian women who also cover their hair for religious reasons. Yet, I never hear word about that in the press. Why? No clue, but I find it interesting. Certainly stuff to think about.

Peace.

Popping the Clutch

I owe a huge thanks to the guys who helped me today! It was totally crazy....

There I was at a 5-star fancy shmancy hotel. I needed to valet my vehicle of choice since regular parking is pretty hard to come by. As I was walking away, I heard my vehicle going 'clickclickclickclick.' Rats, the battery was dead.

My first thought was to somehow quick get a replacement battery via insurance covered road-side assistance. Being in the region where I am, you can well imagine how that plan turned out.

In the mean time, you can probably imagine the chaos caused by my rather dirty low cost-ish vehicle of choice blocking the valet area of a fancy shmancy hotel.

Finally (I was bit more stressed and tired than normal), one of the valets and I came to the same idea: it's a clutch. Pop the clutch. Duh.... We just had to move a couple of smallish tour buses, a golf cart, and a taxi. Now, pop the clutch.

With one valet guy sitting behind the wheel, about 6 more pushing, and I pushing (much to the surprise and dismay of the gentlemen pushing my vehicle of choice) to get it moving fast enough, it worked. We popped the clutch, and the engine roared to life. Yippeee!!!!!

And again, for this whole adventure, the Husband is in another country. Why does he keep missing all this fun? That's ok. I'm using his car. Oh yeah.....

Peace.

FYI: Here's some links that talk about this technique....
http://www.ehow.com/how_7414_push-start-car.html# (not sure if this link will work)
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090807061234AAXVCuB

Starbucks and Feeling Mental

You know how there are lovely little cafes all over Europe? Well, here we have loads of lovely little cafes. Except, they are all inside shopping malls. Really, having them in malls is nice since you're out of the heat and the dust.

One of our faves here is Starbucks. There are several around that we like. This afternoon, Munchkin #1 and I flopped down at one to work on homework and 'take home' work for me. Both the Munchkins love to sit with a cool drink and a snack at a cafe and do their homework. Today's snap is of Munchkin #2 outside a cafe pretending to be a ghost using her napkin. Personally, I love the tongue sticking out! Good fun stuff....

I have days that I feel just mental. Not that I'm nuts, mind you, just that lately, I have gotten so little down time. The husband I and looked at each other the other day as we just sat on the sofa and said, "Wow. When was the last time we just sat together? When was the last time we had time to do this?" I'm looking forward to our winter holiday so I have time to sleep, and sit and just 'be'.

Peace.

Mum and Dad - Please email :)

I loved this old fort reproduction. At least I'm pretty sure it's a reproduction. Still, a neat place. We saw it on a recent weekend trip. Roamed around, went to a museum, found plates and plates of local food and had a bit of a feast with the husband's parents while they were here. All in all, a good visit.

Thinking of parents, Mum and Dad - if you read this, please email me. That way, I know I'm still in touch with you via this blog.

I'm very busy these days as you can imagine, so I'm sorry if I'm not posting regularly. Here it is, just past the half-way point through the 'Fall' season, and the munchkins and I are ready to begin the Winter Break countdown. We'll be buying plane tickets very soon. I'll stay in touch about plans. As it looks now, we'll only get about 2 weeks, maybe less, in the home country.

Now, a brief story about something this last weekend.

I was at a park with the munchkins, the husband, and the husband's parents. We were all having a lovely time. Munchkin #1 wanted to use the see-saw/teeter-toter at the park playground. He asked me to ride with him, so I happily obliged. Well, park security hurried over and loudly proclaimed to me, "This is for children!" Is my son not a child? How was my son supposed to ride by himself? Evidently, seeing a grown woman on a see-saw/teeter-toter was a bit difficult for the guard to fathom. Clearly, he thought I was some kind of trouble maker when he proceeded to follow me with my entire family through the park. I stopped to use the ladies toilet, came out, and he was still there. The husband was really annoyed and was ready to go ask the guard what kind of problem he had with me! So why was this all such an issue for the guard? I got off the equipment immediately, so did my son for that matter! Was it that I was a woman? He didn't seem bothered by the husband and the husband's father playing with our kids. I just don't get it. It only reinforced to me that I may be happy where I am living, but this region will never be truly home. Some things I just don't 'get'.

Peace.

One week since last post, but lots happening

Things have been busy. I'm now 'back at work' for the next month or so helping out a sick colleague. Prayers and good thoughts for her. I will happily give her back her spot once she's recovered, but I'm going to have fun in the spot until then!

I loved this snap for today. It's from Khor Fakkan. The husband and I saw this little hermit crab just doing his crab thing, and we just had to take his picture. If a crab can be cute, this little guy was.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113852383&ft=1&f=1001 This link is to a story I just read. Needless to say, I'm greatly saddened by it, but I'm not surprised. I've lived in places where this judge's behavior is the norm amongst people. For many people, those who are different are hard for them to accept. If an individual doesn't fit into a certain category, than some people just don't know how to deal with that individual. Do I personally agree with what this judge did? No way; I think it's sad and wrong. But, if I was a betting woman (which I'm not, but....), I would be willing to bet that many in this judge's community knew what he was doing and may have even supported him. I've known WAY too many folks who will say one thing in public to save face, but in the privacy of their own homes believe and act in a totally different way with regards to 'race.' There is still much work to be done.

I wish we could just all be 'human'. I wonder if hermit crabs have these issues? Nah, probably not.

Peace.

Can Cuttlefish Smile?

These shots were taken just off the beach in a rather rocky area at lowish tide at Khor Fakkan, UAE. I'm not sure who was looking at whom here. Were the Husband and I looking at the cuttlefish, or was the cuttlefish looking at us? He/she actually followed us a bit. Totally awesome stuff... This critter was over 20" long. May have even been as long as 22" ?

I'm officially exhausted after a full week back on 'full time' work type duty. But, it's a good tired. It's so very satisfying to know that I'm spending my time doing something worthwhile.

Peace.

Green turtle at Khor Fakkan

What a week! At least we got in a good weekend holiday. I'm 'back to the grindstone' full-time for the next couple of months. It's good to flex the mental muscle again. I just hope I'm doing some good in the process!

Things are going to remain busy. We are having a big bash for the youngest munchkin this weekend, the husband and I have been invited to a party for Diwali next week, and we're showing the husband's parents around this part of the world. Busy, busy, busy.

I'm really excited about the Diwali party. Part of Diwali is getting and wearing new clothes. My friend who's giving the party, met me a local fabric/dress place this evening. Two hours later, I've bought a gorgeous silk set, tried on and picked a 'pattern', and it's being made. I'm SO excited about owning and getting to wear a fancy Indian style outfit. Women from India sure know how to dress! Gorgeous! I have my outfit from the wedding we attended in Pune, India two years ago, but it was very non-traditional. The one I'm having made is a traditional pattern but very modern looking silk fabric. Here's a link on Diwali to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali

Peace.