Loads on my mind....So stand back!

I loved this snap. A few months back, we explored a drying wadi with some good friends. We came across a bunch of cute little frogs and tadpoles. We held this one just long enough to get a photo before releasing it back into its drying puddle. It's amazing to me how these little creatures survive in their desert environment.

First....I need to shoot my mouth off on the immigration stuff happening in the States. Get ready for some harsh opinion.....here it comes....

The States need to have a very low cost procedure for companies to sponsor guest workers after the company has shown that they can not find Americans to hire. That way, when companies need folks to pick crops, pack meat etc....they can hire the people they need legally. I mean really, how many Americans are willing to work in fields picking crops and in meat packing plants? How many Americans are willing to accept those low wages? How many Americans would be willing to pay higher prices at their super market for food picked and packed by Americans?

Many countries require that babies born on their soil must have one parent who is a citizen (ie passport holder from that country) in order for the new baby to receive that country's citizenship. I keep reading about illegal immigrants to the States having children on U.S. soil. The kids then become citizens while the parents still face potential deportation. Yes, this may sound really harsh, but it would keep non-U.S. citizen people from traveling to the States specifically so their kids can be born in the U.S. thus receiving free citizenship. (Yes, there are other laws involved......don't pick it apart too much....but the U.S. really should start somewhere....).

Care of the elderly.....
http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/dads-new-love-how-it-turned-out/?ref=health
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/science/21delirium.html?em&exprod=myyahoo

Yes, staying alive is important, duh. But so is 'living'. Maybe if we focused more on the quality of life issues as we age, then folks might stay alive longer because they are 'living'. Just thought.

Peace.

Oppression?

I just read a very interesting article in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/world/asia/21kabul.html?pagewanted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Coming from the 'West', I'm used to hearing the word 'oppression' thrown around a lot when reading about certain topics. I'm not actually going to talk about this word, but I am going to talk about some everyday sorta mundane things that I have experienced and seen living where I live. But, obviously, we must be careful about the words we choose.

This area has the cleanest public toilets (specifically in shopping areas) that I have ever seen. Most also have a very nice place to sit down (sofa, comfortable chairs). I have always thought that these would have been wonderful places for me when I was a new mum and still feeding my babies 'the old fashioned way.' I've seen these spots used for this purpose. I have also seen women enjoying these spaces for pulling off a few of the many layers of clothing they sometimes wear here. I have had discussions with a few 'Western' mums here who use these rooms for feeding their babies because they are nervous that doing so in public could get them into a lot of trouble. I have no clue if they could get into trouble for feeding their babies the old fashioned way in public. I have seen some women doing this. As I stated before, I would have enjoyed these spaces as a new mum. But, otherwise, I'm not sure they would have been needed or used back in the town I lived in when my munchkins were babies.

I do not normally wear a head scarf. I own a lot of them however. There are occasionally times and places in the region when I'm more comfortable wearing it. It is very strange to be stared at by strangers. I have found that when I throw on that head scarf in certain places, I'm merely glanced at instead of stared at. Women, however, when I wear it have stared and smiled. They've even come up to me and attempted to begin a conversation. In certain places, the culture to cover is strong. Should I not wear one from time to time? Maybe....but again, the culture to cover is strong.

One of the biggest gaps, as I see it, between 'East' and 'West' is the culture gap. Specifically, culture as it relates to women. How do we bridge the gaps between cultures? I don't know, but I do know that the first step must be respect. The second step must be to realize that we are all human, that we are all women. And that we are all the same deep down inside.

Peace.

What is a Dead Zone

If you've been reading/watching about the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, then you may be hearing more about 'dead zones'. For me, these are even more frightening than the oiled wetlands.
A dead zone is an aquatic area that is low in oxygen. If there's not enough oxygen, than life can't exist. Thus, it's a 'dead zone'. We've known that the Gulf of Mexico has been facing this previous to the massive spill. But, I think it's gonna get worse. Really frightening.

Read on....educate yourself:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37738626/from/RSS/
http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/oceancolor/additional/science-focus/ocean-color/dead_zones.shtml

Some of you may remember the 'Biosphere' built in Arizona in the United States. The Biosphere was, essentially, an attempt to create an entire man-made enclosed 'Earth' with a full mix of habitats. It was a super cool experiment, and I had the extreme honor and pleasure of a behind the scenes tour of the facility before it closed. The greatest lesson of Biosphere was that 'it didn't really work.' Meaning....we couldn't really recreate the Earth's environment. The ocean area ended up looking kinda like clearish pea soup. I don't believe the facility is used for hard-core research any more, but is used for public outreach and education.
http://www.b2science.org/index.html

The Gulf of Mexico and all the 'Fish Friends' are running out of time. Yes, we still at this moment need oil. But, we've got to refocus, re-educate and kick things into high gear.

Peace.

The Top Ten Reasons It's Almost Time to Head for Home

#10 The munchkins are just about finished with school
#9 Many of your friends have already left the country
#8 You'll go nuts if you sit in traffic with dust blowing for just one more day
#7 Hummus, Punjabi samosas and shwarma no longer sound that yummy
#6 Munchkins' lessons are just about finished for the quarter
#5 Your java chip frappachino from Starbucks is liquid goo by the time you walk from the Starbucks to your vehicle of choice.
#4 Jimmy Buffet's "Cheeseburger in Paradise" makes you think of how desperately you need a REAL bacon cheeseburger with a bucket of unsweetened BREWED iced tea (not Lipton from a can!) {My father even told the 'owner' of the most amazing fast-food bacon cheeseburger place in the homecountry just how crazed we were about these burgers! This is stop #1 as soon as we get off the plane!}
#3 It's so hot outside that you no longer want to make the walk between the building and the CHILLED swimming pool
#2 Hanging out at a 5-Star hotel feels 'whatever' (time for some time in the real world!)
#1 MUST PLAY IN TREES AND GREEN GRASS!!!!!!
Peace. The countdown to the home country has begun!!!!!

Life's never certain but some things remain the same

I went back to school after finishing university - twice. Once, for extra coursework and the 2nd time for my master's. Since going back the first time, I've bought and sold 3 houses, and bought and hung on to one. I've moved out of the home country and changed career paths more than a couple of times. But through it all, my family and my friends have stood by me. The night I gave birth to Munchkin #1, one of my closest girlfriends drove for something like 5 hours through the night, in the middle of horrific storms, to be there with me. Those kinds of gestures one just doesn't ever forget.

The husband and I decided to lease out our villa in the home country rather than put it up on the market. I can't say how tickled I am at the happy response to that news from our family and friends. It means so very much. Living as an ex-pat life is this totally out of control uncertain thing. Now, I love adventure, so being an ex-pat is not a bad thing in my little world. But, I like to 'plan,' and living this life one simply can not 'plan' like one does back in the home country.

Well, I'm off to school parties for the munchkins. I promised to bring the grapes - an expensive and favorite snack food here!

Oh, and today's snap is from a fave playground we visit if we're out and about. We put a munchkin on each end and the Husband swings them around. The centrifugal force is awesome, and it's awesome good fun.

Peace.

Stranger in a strange land

I know I'm living in a 'strange' place. I have bag here in the hallway of clothes etc...that don't fit our whatever anymore. We're going to donate the clothes (mostly the munchkins' clothes) to be sold for charity through a little local shop kind of place. Well, driving home morning errands today, I drove past a donation box for just such items. Sitting outside the box was an item much to big to put in the box door. It was a piece of Louis Vuitton luggage. Here's a link to their website: http://www.louisvuitton.com/en/flash/index.jsp?direct1=home_entry_gb0
My guess, that to buy the bag new, would have been between $600-$800 U.S. Was it real or a knockoff bag? I don't know. Now, you may be asking yourself, "Why didn't this goofy blogger pick it up?" I didn't because #1, that was not left there for me. #2, I love good bags, but I'd feel weird carrying something donated for someone with less than I.

Yes, there are many days that this place even though I've been here for 3 years now still feels a touch strange.

Peace.

Focus on What is Important

We've been living outside of our home country for 3 years now. There's a German family I met through the course of what I do here. They were coming into this country to 'check things out' at the same time the husband and I were. We were all making the agonizing decision whether or not to move our families here. In the end, we did all end up moving our families here. I found out this afternoon that this family I felt a special bond with are moving back to Germany. I'm happy for them, but I will miss seeing them around. Their oldest child is now totally fluent in English; it was a hard earned skill. For my munchkins, coming here has made them more resilient; that is another hard earned skill.

When making the decision to move to another country, it is so very hard to maintain focus on what's important. Why do people leave their home countries? To make more money? To provide a better life for their family? Maybe, they move so that they can keep their family together? But, I feel, that in so many of these reasons, there is a common thread - family. For those who can maintain the focus on family, I believe that they 'last it out' a bit better. For those who come mainly for money - to just put more money in the bank - I don't think they are as happy.

It is really hard, I think, on folks who leave their home country and their families behind. So not only is that ex-pat trying to adjust to a totally different place, but they are trying to adjust to being alone, not an easy road to travel. I can't fathom how hard it must be to leave family behind. I know a few women here who have left newborn babies back in their home countries so that they can come here to earn enough money to see that their baby is provided for. The babies are then raised by grandparents and/or aunts and uncles. Imagine working in an office, or as a housekeeper, or as a nanny caring for the children of others all the while your own babies are thousands of kilometers away. Yes, this is not an easy road to travel. But again, that common thread is so very often 'family.'

May peace be upon all these hard working folks.

No way to predict the future

As a university student I proclaimed, "I'll never live in that big city." But, we lived there for four years. I also recall proclaiming that I'd never live in the Middle East. Ha! Well, we all know where I am now! There's just no way to predict the future.

The husband and I keep going back and forth - do we sell the house/villa in the home country? Do we rent it out? What's the right decision? Are we ever going to have need of that house again? We just have no way of knowing. There's just so much uncertainty! For someone like me who's a 'planner', not being able to 'plan' is painful.

At least my faith stays steady. Without the assurance of my beliefs, I think I'd go a bit nuts. Or at least, be more of a nutter than I already am.

Peace.

Summer is upon us

The temperatures are reaching above 100F, the wadis are drying up for the season, and it's time to soon head for the home country.

This time of year, kids are winding up their lessons and dreaming of summer, and so are the teachers! I never know who looks more forward to summer, the kids or the teachers! Frankly, unlike so many other mums, I LOVE summer. I LOVE having all that time to play and explore with my munchkins.

My thoughts and my heart go out to the folks living along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in the States. A long time ago, I used to work in and around wetlands, and for an aquarium. I can only imagine the horror of what's happening to the wetlands and saltmarshes along the American Gulf coast.

Peace.

Lots on the mind - An Old Rat

I can't even begin to share with you all that is on my mind. Some of it has to do with the volunteer work that I do. I just want all people involved, or at least as many as possible, to be satisfied and at peace. It's a long story....but those of you who know me will know where/how I volunteer. Just know that it involves politics and is all rather sad. Sigh...

We have a vet appointment for Daisy Rat tomorrow morning. I tried to hold her tonight, but she squeaked in pain. I did manage to trim up her little back nails, but the poor little critter is in really rough shape. I expect that tonight will be her last night with us.

I'm more ready for summer holiday than I can say.

Peace.