Hats

While it is actually overcast in this photo, it is offically hot and sunny every day now. Our white tile outside is BLINDINGLY reflective and covering our heads with hats makes sense. Funny how everyone covers their arms, legs and heads out here......it really does help if the sun isn't on your skin.

This pose totally captures part of Layla's personality (= What?!? a chance to pose in my hat and fancy shoes? Here is I go! Ryan is just happy to be around Layla (=

Ryan's Party

We had Ryan's party yesterday....it came together SO well because of Azeb's help (our house helper). She is so great. She did Ryan's hair like this (=

I made a train cake for him...it was VERY simple. The most difficult thing was to move it from the counter to the table without it splitting in the middle where the two cutting boards were joined 

 

I'm not quite sure what Layla was excited about here but she was  super excited for everything....including all  his presents. You can see the white balls in the foreground which are supposed to be the smoke coming from the smokestack.

I know it looks like I spent a lot of time on it but really I did it all that one morning. It is amazing what folding tables and matching tablecloths will do (=

The super unattractive coke bottle filled with green liquid is the MOST amazing lemon and mint drink that Azeb knows how to make. Mom, I'm so sorry I didn't discover this while you were here! Every week or so she tells me something else she can make (=

 It was a great time of adults chit-chatting and kids playing. Happy Birthday Ryan!! You are a really FUN two year old!

For lovers of Ryan....

I'm partly experimenting here, but really this video is for the die-hard lovers of Ryan who actually want to watch him watch a birthday e-card (=

Ryan turned 2!!

Ryan turned 2 yesterday! We just had a small family party with cake and all the presents from family (= I have been sick the last 3 days so I wasn't up for much but we decorated and sang and played with new toys. We'll have a party for friends today. We WISH it could be a pool party but the water in our new pool is SO HOT that it isn't exactly refreshing (= If you feel like a hot soak in 110 weather, we are the place for you!


 

 

 

 

I love this one of them (= both working so hard with their forks! Layla just started liking to have french braids so i think her hair is super cute...though this is the "after school" messy version. Ryan loved to eat the whipped cream under each cherry on the cake. That was his favorite part (=

Layla's Hideout - for real this time

Last time I tried to post this the whole collage broke apart and then disappeared from my files. Sigh. It was a 6-month process as it was and to have the final "picture posting" get thwarted was too much for my weak little soul (= I waited a couple of weeks and re-did the thing. I know, I know.....it takes like 15 mins to do this, but still. Stage of life and 120 degree weather is to blame big time!!

Musings on identity

I've lived in the Gulf for 6 years now and it hit me the other day that I'm finally seeing some of the way folks here view the world. Just a smidgen, mind you. There's tons left that remains in my blindspot.

One slice of their worldview I saw the other day was when some young men were interacting with Ryan. It struck me that even though these guys are in the late teens and early 20s they have the expectation of being a father in their future. Part of their current identity is that they will one day be fathers. It changes the way they interact with kids and people around them. I can't quite describe it, but they feel it is an obligation, an honor, a totally normal expected thing that they will get married and raise a family.

One small example of this I saw just today at the store was a young man maybe in his late 20s. Following quietly and happily along were SIX, yes SIX children. Can you imagine any guy in his late 20s taking six young kids to the store in the US? I'm sure they were brothers and nieces and and a few friends thrown in to boot. So it is odd to me how out here we have such separate roles for men and women, but that part of the men's role is to be a family-man....even more than we see in the US in some ways. Hard to explain.

I'm not sure how I could explain how this is different for American guys, but there seems to be an expected connection to other people and to children here that I don't see in the US. Not that I'm trying to bash the US. Trust me, this culture could use a little good ole' fashioned American 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' mentality. I guess I'm saying that I can see a significant portion of a man's identity here is as a father. In the US it just feels like a guy could go off and do anything. Literally ANY thing. Americans love to encourage their children to believe that anything is possible....there are no boundaries to your potential....etc etc etc

Here it is a little more contained.....the realm of social and family responsibility doesn't leave quite as much room for a guy to just go off and do whatever he wants for 20 years before settling down at the age of 40.

Now don't get me wrong, on the spectrum of society out here just as in the US, there are the extremes of good and evil. I'm not saying all Gulf Arabs and kindly father types. We have our share of incredibly immature, selfish and out of control youth around us! But I'm talking about the average guy from the average family.

There is much much more to be said on the topic but in the interest of at least getting SOME of my thoughts out, a rough draft is better than waiting for the perfect wording to form! (And that, my friends, is much more of an American idea than a Gulf Arab idea!)

Life here has changed for good!

We live in a small town. It may not be the smallest in size, but there is NOTHING western about our town. The largest grocery stores are basically like a 7-11 in the US.
So when we heard that a big new "Wal-mart-like" store was coming to town, we have all been waiting with bated breath. It opened this past weekend and we arrived just after the opening ceremonies finished. Notice the clean shiny floor, the tiles that all match and that are all the same level. Notice the tall shelves in the background PACKED with food. Notice the cash registers with people really working at them! So so many things that I've never bothered to even think about buying before (=

 

 
This was the place we parked. We drove past all the cars that were stacking up on the edge of the full parking lot...they were starting to pile up in the sand. We took a chance and drove to the other half of the parking lot and found it...empty (= So classic. People just take the first entrance and don't bother to look for the next entrance. We were just happy for good parking!

 

Little town....you will never be the same again!!

Can you see this sibling love!?!?

We had a very talented friend take some photos of us when my parents were here. Isn't this the cutest little progression!? 

A Day in Another World

As most of you know we live in a border town. Crossing the border can usually be a hassle but once we got our residence visas and the all important "Border Crossing Card" it is usually a smoother crossing. 

Still, we usually prepare for the 90 border crossing since they do happen. This means we bring pillows, sleeping music, blankets and toys when we cross the border. A pain. 

This particular day we had been invited by friends to go to a nice hotel and enjoy the pool party discount they were having! It was so fun....so much so that I never stopped to take a picture until the kids were laying still on the chair (= Layla swam without her wings for the first time and put her head under the water a few times. Definately a new things for her. Ryan on the other hand leaps into the pool without a thought (= 

 

Week 5

The After School Club has been going very well. Very smooth and without much excitement. So....it was about time for something to happen.

One of the activities is Sports and Games run by a very sweet gal who is really willing to put up with a great deal for the sake of helping out! She currently has 12 boys signed up. She hasn't ever had that many because regular attendance is not a big deal out here (= Anyone who knows anything about boys out here knows that this situation is a set up for trouble! Boys are given the right of way to do anything and everything and it is just sort of expected that they will misbehave. So big surprise that they are rowdy and out of control much of the time. Layla's school is really trying to reign this in and transform this expectation.

The excitement for this week's Club was my physically DRAGGING and WRESTLING a boy out of her room. The whole time I was thinking "What should I do? What should I do? Is this okay? What on earth do the other kids think of this? There is no way I'm letting this little bugger get the best of me...I WILL get him out of this room" Or something like that.

Man. I'm still not sure what the appropriate thing was, but I finally was able to drag him from around the back of the door where he was crouching. I marched him to the front office where he sat and ignored me the whole time. Typically, the school receptionists were not surprised to see him. Usually kids who behave like that spend a lot of time in the principal's office!

So I have had lots of thoughts going through my mind like:
What are we really trying to do here?
How do we want to deal with "problem" children....typically there is a back story for every child and out here, it can often be tragic.
What in the world will I do next week?
Can I please have 5 minutes with his mom??
What is going on with this kid at home?

Well come to find out from one of the receptionists the next day, his parents are either divorced or living that way. His mom lives 2 hours away and he lives with some relatives. Yikes. No wonder he is out of control.

So...here we are. Not sure what to do next week. I'm sure his mother has very little way of controlling a child she is not even living with. I suppose the easiest thing is to just chuck him out of the program but the bleeding heart part of me (yes, it is there, though small) wants to give the kid a chance since the cards are so stacked against him already in second grade!

I'll let you know how next week goes on Monday (=