We Don't Get Out Much

Many people ask, how do you, a family of seven, NOT have a car!? Good question. And at some point, we will. But for now, you know, we hoof it, ride it, or beg it. (feet, bike or borrow) Lot's of people rent vehicles around here. Sometimes to haul something or they have a crowd going. Last weekend, we decided to join those renting type of folk, and we rented an SUV for the weekend. And whoah Nellie - it was fun! I mean for the grown ups anyway. I think the kids were thinking, 'Uh. You guys are a little too excited. Settle down and let us out of this thing!'

We had one major reason for renting the car; a special meeting on the big camp due to a visit from our dear Elder Holland. There were maybe, 200 or so people at the meeting, and it was wonderful. After the meeting, he rubbed my boys heads and said, "Hey. I used to wear my hair like that. Maybe I should cut it again, like yours, and wear it to general conference. What do you think?" They got a kick out of that. He also said to Chach, who was very done for the day and had taken off his shoes mid meeting and met Elder Holland sans shoes, "Wow. You look great. Like a missionary. Except. Wait. You don't have any shoes on. Our missionaries have to wear shoes." We laughed and I said something in regards to living in the Middle East, what're ya gonna do? At any rate it was great to be in such a small meeting and have such a wonderful person there. The spirit was rejuvinating, just what I needed. He opened the evening up to questions. Anything we wanted. Most of us were too shy, but some asked some neat things about missionary work going forward in the world and what not. Overall, a great and memorable experience. The day before all of this, we decided to take the family to the 'camel market'. The one that the littles and myself weren't able to go to several weeks back. I had an 'ah-ha' moment on this drive. Here we are, all driving along singing our hearts out to our Young Mormons Sing CD, "I'm a Mormon, yes I am..." When it hit me. I have been listening to that album my entire life. Really I can't remember not having those songs. "When I grow up, I want to be a mother..." "Gotta dime in my pocket, I can feel when I walk it..." I never once, not even sort of, ever imagined I would be driving across the Arabian Penninsula, car full of my children, dust storm a blowin', and singing along to Young Mormons Sing. It was kinda neat. And a little wierd.

Can you read Arabic? Bet you can. What does that say in the mirror? haha. Objects in mirror are closer than they appear - I think.

We ventured out into the desert, two hours northwest of here. We were having a small shamal (sand storm), but overall it was really fun. These are some shots of the 'view' during the drive. B000-riiiing. I found it interesting because I was just glad to be off camp. This is more of this country than I have ever seen. Apparently I'm not missing much.

Lot's of tents out in the dunes. Lots and lots and lots of sand. Tons of camels. (I liked this part) And their shepherds, or camel-herds. The first picture here is a bunch of goats, but there were camels all over. Lots even on the outside of the fences, if there happened to be fences, on the sides of the roads.

Coming into the little town that has the market, we saw this sweet peice of art. Yep. That's the baldder (or some internal organ) of a camel? Goat? Not sure. But bedoiun's still use bladders, (not this big, of course) in fact we saw some for sale at the market. I know. Gross. But this picture is awesome. It's on a stand, ready to pour water into the tea cup - for tea. Mmm. Tasty. Tea from a camel bladder. Delish!

Thought you'd enjoy this guy. Talk about balance. Look how strong the wind is. This guy is amazing! I have no idea how he's staying on that bike.

This truck makes me laugh, then cringe in fear. This is totally the kind of thing you see on freeways (and elsewhere) around here. Safety first. That's what I always say...

Here is a picture of our major purchase of the day. Peter has been dying, don't ask me why, for a camel saddle. We bought one, and the kids can't stay off of it. It was 40.00, so I was fine getting one. Heck, if these guys don't quit wrestling, corraling, catching, pulling, jumping/sitting on their new pet (fake) camel - we'll have to go back for another!

Over all? Fun day. I bought myself the middle eastern version of a moo-moo, which I now feel makes me an official mother. They're really quite comfy. I bought a new scart for a whoppin' 2.50, which you'll see below. Of course, due to prayer times, we only have about an hour or so - but we had a really fun time. Aren't you dying to come and visit me? Look at all the fun we could have. Dirt. Dust. Sand. And camel bladders. Whose up for it?

Oh, the fun isn't over yet. Three -day -weekend! So on pretend Monday, (that's Saturday to you - Thursday, market. Friday, Elder Holland. Saturday, The City. Get it?) we thought we'd brave Crow-bar. (haha, love that) The city. I must tell you. Peter did an excellent job for his first time driving here. This is NOT an easy task. People drive SOOO fast, weave in and out, speed by you like you're standing still while they pass you on the left hand shoulder (or the right, wherever they feel like it) - with inches to spare. Then, you get things like the truck I told you about, right in the middle of the freeway, going like 20 miles and hour. The whole thing is enough to give a person a nervous break down and actually makes me glad I can't drive here. Some days, anyway.

On our big day out, Peter took me to pick something up from my favorite little tailors - Modern Tailor. I wish I could paint a picture for you. Let me think. Hmmm. Roads the size of a back alley, drivers that have never even heard of something called 'drivers ed.', people who cross where ever the heck they want, serious double parking - sometimes triple parking, on both sides of these teeny tiny roads, now make the amount of traffic something like a Jazz game getting out. Got it? Now. Take a giant SUV, full of five kids with Thomas the Tank Engine blasting and a wife saying, 'a little further. a little more. next block. here! let me out here!" This is why Peter wins the best Dad and Driver award of 2011.

We went to the souks, as I already said. Well, drove through them anyway. Then we made it into Johnny Rockets before prayer. Hooray! Did you know they have Johnny Rockets here? Funny, huh? Women have to be covered head to toe, but they have the very symbol of freedom? Cheese burger, fries and a milk shake? You can see. We partook of our freedom. Oh yes we did! Like I said. We don't get out much.

These next pictures are just for fun. We went to the mall for a few minutes. 80% of things are closed from after noon prayers to four in the afternoon. (that's a whole other complaint! whyyyy?!) Anyway. We just wanted to wander around. I saw this floral stand, with some really pretty things. And some really tacky things. This falls in between for me. I'll call it interesting. That seems fair. Anyway. It's a "Welcome Baby Girl" arrangement.

Upon closer examination I noticed though, that all of the little glass things hanging from it - where tea pots. Arabian tea pots. Mmmm? Okay. I know they really like their tea here. But what about sweet little birds or something? Or a baby carriage? Just goes to show that I truly don't understand people or their ways, in this neck of the woods.

One last fun note. We went to a great store, called Desert Designs. (google it if you want to see some fun stuff) While there a lady I didn't know (but do now, Hi Gwen!!) came up to me and said, "Would you think it's totally wierd or freak you out, if I told you that I read your blog, and I love it?" (improvising words here) Turns out Gwen lives in the the big ward in the City. We talked for a few minutes and had a good laugh over block stalking. My response to her question, "It doesn't freak me out. It's so nice of you to say so. Plus. You're Mormon AND American. You're safe." Funny.

Good Nights

Remember the vinyl for my bedroom? Well here it is! Cute, huh? Good nights are on the way.

Tiff and Teresa's Teriffic Trip 3

This was my third trip, although each have been short, to London. And each time I have on my list of things to see, Portobello Road. Mainly because, as I already mentioned, I live my life through movies and I love Bed Knobs and Broom Sticks. So off we went to Notting Hill (what? Another movie I love? Shocking...) to the Portobello Road Market.

It was awesome. A part of London I hadn't seen and I really enjoyed. I could spend days there. I'd say, if you plan to go to London, don't miss this. It was really fun and you really can buy anything there. We didn't even see the whole thing, it just goes on and on down a very long road. Seems like a fun place to just wander in and out of.

We spent the rest of our second day in London sight seeing. Houses of Parliment, Big Ben, Westminster Abby, Number 10 Downing street. And gosh. I'd love to show you the pictures, 'cause they're great. But where the heck are they?! I have no idea. If I ever find them, I'll insert them here.

We did see a little bit of history in the making, and that was some pretty hefty protesting. The War in Libya is of concern around the world right now, and we saw some big crowds yelling, chanting, singing, flag waving etc. From a distance of course, because as my mother warned me before we left - stay away from demonstrators. Words to live by, I tell ya.

Anyway. We had a fun afternoon seeing the sights, enjoying one of my very favorite cities, and got ready to board the Chunnel back to France in the evening. What a great place, London. Someday I'm going to England to stay for a while and just see it. Enjoy it. It's so clean, the people are really, really nice. The food isn't great, but with all of the Asians and Indians, there's great international food. London certainly gets two thumbs up from me. Waaay up!

Our second full day in Paris, being happily interupted by London, was again filled with museums. Luckily, we opted for the Orsay (d'Orsay) first. (I say luckily for the sake of my feet - I got to have fresh feet for the Orsay) This has risen to my number one favorite museum. As this was my second trip to Paris, I have NO IDEA how I missed it the first time, but I fell in love. Really. Rick Steves, my favorite travelling companion, describes it as the museum 'where the Louvre leaves off'. And it is. And it's full of all the stuff I grew up with, dreaming about, loving, wanting to see in real life. The Met. in NYC has an amazing collection of this genre, but to see them all here - in Paris; aaaaah. Art Heaven.

Monet. Manet. Renoir. Degas. Van Gogh. Cezanne.

They're all here.

The link above hung in my room for most of my growing up years. The paintings in this museum feel like home to me. Remember how I said I like paintings of every day life? This is it. Dance classes, women working, dining, laundry, nursing babies, being in love, everything. I love The Impressionists. What a wonderful collection. They also have a wonderful Art Nouveau collection, which I totally loved as well. Sorry. This post has a lot of 'loves' and drippy words about art. Too bad for you, huh? That's what you get when a fine arts major has been a stay at home mom for the past eleven years, then gets set free in some of the greatest museums in the world. A lot of gushing over old paintings.

Don't get me wrong. The Louvre is awesome. (more gushing) It's just a much older genre and while I enjoy it, it isn't my favorite. My favorite part about the Louvre? The building. I cannot even imagine that Napoleon and Josephine lived there. What a life. I walk through the hallways (after hallway, after hallway, after hallway...) and am in awe. What a work of art in itself, the Louvre. The pieces inside? They're pretty great too.

Lot's of huge, massive works. Lot's of nakedness. Lot's of Mary and baby Jesus. But it is NOT to be missed. Someone told me you need five days to see the Louvre, and I'll bet they're right. I certainly, two times now, have only seen a tiny bit. But what I have seen I have enjoyed. Someday, I will come and really spend more time. Someday...

Winged Victory. Love her.

Here's me with corn tooth. I HATE that tooth. You see it?!! Arggh! (not to mention, what kind of enormous bee stung me - my face is huge!) I hope next fall, corn tooth will be gone. Hello U.S. dentists - goobye corny!

Mona. She really is the cat's meow. Tiff and I talked about what made her soooo great. And really, for me, it's just that Da Vinci painted her. I can't help but get goose bumps and almost lose my breath when I see her. Leonardo Da Vinci. I truly believe his gifts were from God. Like Mozart and Bach. They are gifts to us, today. So Mona? She's really not that much to look at, honestly. But what she represents? A master.

Did I say I lived through movies? Oh right. And songs too.

Let's recap: From London, I left out Peter Pan at Big Ben, we talked about Harry Potter. All great movies filmed in London, and let's not forget that I visited Harrod's (again) just to see Diana's giant diamond ring. So pretty much any Royal Family mumbo jumbo, I like. Oh. The movie, The Young Victoria. Love it. Have you seen Miss Potter? LOVED it. Love Beatrix Potter, I had to buy some Peter Rabbit items while there.

How 'bout songs? "England swings like a pedulum do" "Portotbello Road, Portobelloe Road..." "Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa, men have named you..." "Starry Starry nights" (Van Gogh). Oooh gosh. I'm waaay to tired to think of more. Feel free to add more in your comments. Did I say comments? Did you leave me one? Hmmm. What a good idea. :)

Tiff and Teresa's Terrific Trip 2

Remind me, if I ever go on a totally fun vacatoin again - to go with a friend whose husband travels a lot, and has a lot of 'miles' we can use. Because this is exactly what happened for Tiff and I in London. Mmmm. It was wonderful. We stayed at the Intercontinental Park Lane at Hyde Park Corner. A wonderful five star hotel with an oh-so-delish breakfast buffet the next day. (and when you live where I do - good food is hard to find!) The flowers below were to lobby floral display. Lovely, aren't they? The hotel was so nice, the location perfect and we completely enjoyed ourselves. ( Thanks Rich!) We took the early Chunnel from Paris North, arriving London St. Pancras around 8 a.m. We made our obligatory Harry Potter stop to take pictures for Tiff's kids, then onto the Tube to Picadilly to buy tickets for a show. Rush hour was a piece of cake with only the two of us, remember last fall with nine? Not so easy. London's public transportation is wonderful, BTW. After Picadilly, we were heading for the Tube. Really, I swear. But we got a liiiittle caught up shopping. Remember, I live in the desert - in more ways than one. There's no where to shop where I live, so I went a little crazy. Ever been to Hamley's? It's a a seven story, 250 year old toy store; and I went nuts! It was so fun. I spent waaaaay too much and had a great time doing so. My kids were thrilled! Tiff was drooling over the many H and M's, and all of the other fabulous stores. We really had a fun time. And I don't even like to shop. :) We finally made it back to the hotel to deposit our goods, change and head out again. This time we were going to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Which I enjoyed, but Tiff could have done without. But she was a trooper and only complained a little. (threast of poking her eyes out and what not - I'M TEASING) Anyway. Fish and chips at a near by pub, a fun night of fancy people watching, and off to the show. Yeah. We went to Wicked. No big deal. HA! Just kidding! I have been dying to see Wicked for years now and I finally got to - IN LONDON! It was wonderful, fun, amazing. All of those great things it should be. Tiffany had seen it, but I think she enjoyed it the second time just as much as the first. (not sure how she'll do with the third time in May, but I appreciated her coming with me anyway!) Some how, I seem to be missing photos from most of day two in London. What the heck?! Sheesh! The day consisted of a very uneventful Changing of the Guard in the morning, and museum in the afternoon. I have seen the Horse Guard change before, and it was wonderful. The actual Changing of the Guard? Snoozer. I'm just sayin'. Glad I got to see it. But if you get the chance to go - make an effort to see the horses, it's much more exciting. And the museum of the day? Ahhh. Be still my heart. The Tate Britain. Truly in my top five fav's. Some beautiful well known works, including the Lady of Shalott. There is a lot to see here, from many different time periods, but it was awesome. I love pieces about everyday life, and there was lot of that here.

Hats can make you Happy!

Tiff and Teresa's Totally Terrific Trip: 1

My wonderful friend Tiffany and I started talking about this trip last July. We have been friends for nearing 20 years, but had lost contact during ten of those. Over the last few, she and I have reconnected and found that we have even more in common as adults than we did as college students. Planning this trip has been so fun as we laughed, almost daily, on the phone from across the world. She lives in Idaho now, and of course I live here. The trip has given me something to look forward to as I mark the months off, waiting for our repat to arrive. I couldn't have even imagined what a fantastic time we were going to have. We found that we were perfect travelling companions, having the same tollerance for the same things. (times in musuems, crowds on the trains, what to eat, etc) We just laughed and talked and ate and walked through Paris and London. I feel so spoiled to have been on two amazing trips this year. To say it was a trip of a lifetime is true, but I have now been on at least four 'trips of a lifetime' in my lifetime. So, I'm not sure what to actually call it. But I think AWESOME sums it up.

I'll admit though, that things started off a little rocky. I bought my ticket in January, for a great price. Only to find out in the middle of March, that things weren't looking good, political unrest, in our neighboring island country- where I was flying out of. So I cancelled my ticket and bought a new one, flying from here, and adding 200.00 to the cost. I was scheduled to leave at 2 a.m. on a Saturday. Tiff called me from the airport in Boise at 6 p.m., day of departure, my time, "There's a huge snow storm in Salt Lake, plan on me being very late. Up to a couple of hours. Things aren't looking good on my end." I was a little worried, as I don't speak a word of French, but figured I'd manage. We were scheduled to arrive 30 minutes apart. I was planning to leave my house at 11:30 p.m., my branch President and his wife driving me. At 10 p.m. I looked out the window as I finished my final packing. I was astonished to see the wind blowing like I have never seen in this part of the world, and the street lights so dim, I wasn't sure I was seeing things properly.

It was a sandstorm. And a sandstorm like I have never seen. In fact, I heard people that have lived here 20 years say they have never seen anything like it. We weren't sure if we should even try for the airport, but in the end, we went for it. The guards at the gate thought that the airport would be closed - who could fly in these high winds, let alone the sand in the engines. But where I live, you can't just 'call the airport.' No one would answer, and no airlines would know what to do, even if they did answer. So as we left camp, we needed to stop for gas, and this is what we saw.

Yes. This is the attendant with a plastic bag OVER his head! Nothing surprises me, living here, any more. I swear. I guess if you don't want to get sand in your face, you don't want to get sand in your face. Right? Well, at any rate, we pressed forward. Sand was blowing against the car the whole way. It was tough to keep the car on the road, it was really hard to ses, and the noise was so loud. All in all - I think we all felt very nervous.

I checked in at my gate and the attendant said that at that point, midnight, my flight was still leaving at 2. So my ride left and I waited. (side note: they got lost for nearly two hours in the storm, and only through miracle did they make it home. Yes. This was a scary night.) Just as I was supposed to board, I heard some other expats talking about the flight, that it had been cancelled. (thanks for telling me) With so much luck, I called for a taxi, and there was one at the airport just getting ready to head back to camp. I hopped in and was home by 3. Peter was able to just catch Tiff on her cell phone in Salt Lake to tell her I wouldn't be there, but that I'd get there as soon as I could.

The next day was a blur of trying to nap and trying to get a ticket out. The airline could offer me a stand by for the next night, and a for sure (flying through the rioting country!) 36 hours later. I decided to just buy a different ticket, please add another 200.00. This ticket though, would take me through Beruit, Lebanon in the middle of the night, with a two hour layover. I didn't have much choice; my trip was happening without me! I talked to Tiff, as she had arrived right on time, with no troubles at all, and I was feeling so sad to be missing what we had been planning for so long! So. I decided to be brave and get on the plane. I think I was the only Westerner on the flight. My stomach hurt the ENTIRE trip, and I don't usually get an upset stomach when I'm nervous. And while there were A LOT of armed guards in Beruit, things were just fine. I didn't even need to worry.

And that is how I got to Paris. Almost one day late, very tired and frazzled. But to Paris, I did get!

Meet Tiff.

She speaks French. Like, really speaks French. Which let me tell you, was awesome. She picked me up at the airport at 6 a.m., we got a taxi to our totally adorable apartment, I cleaned up and we were off for the day. Day one was Notre Dame, a quaint little market, another HUGE market, and the Eiffel Tower in the evening.

I couldn't resist taking pictures of the flowers. They were heavenly. It's amazing how much you lose living in a desert. You forget until your senses are awaked with live, fresh flowers!

And it being Spring in Paris, they were everywhere.

Fresh eggs at the market.

There was a large portion of the market that was devoted to the selling of animals, as well as animal products.

Notre Dame.

I had been here before, but wasn't able to go in. What a treat that Sunday mass was going on, so we got to hear the organ. Being the daughter of the church organist my entire life, I can tell you that I appreciate the organ. I wish my mom were with me to hear it. It truly was fantastic.

Okay. Fine. I did want to climb the stairs, saying, "sanctuary" the whole time, in my best hunch back voice. Luckily for Tiff, there were SO many people - we didn't go up. Nuts.

I will tell you that the architecture here is some of the most amazing I have ever seen. It's just astounding. All of France is just lovely to look at. Oh sure, the people aren't very friendly (Paris, that is), but their buildings are gorgeous and their food is Dee-Lish!

I'm not gonna lie. The other market, the largest flea market in France, was a little shady. I really wanted to go, because I like those kinds of things. But I'll tell you, it was a little rough. While we stood out in Paris in general, nothing like visiting a place for locals, to make you feel really out of place though. It was very international, and we saw a lot of neat things. I think our favorite spot was an antique fabric store. Not fabric on bolts, but like, textiles. Beautiful old dresses, and bedding. Linens, curtains, hand bags and tapestries. It was so fun to just feel all of it. But I have to tell you, I think someone forgot to tell the French that 'flea market' and 'outrageuos prices' usually don't go hand in hand. We didn't buy one thing. Not one. Becuase it was SO expensive. Not even a little token or something. It was ALL soooo much.

There she is folks. What a beauty. I know people think the Eiffel Tower is over rated. But I still think it's awfully cool. This time going up though, it was reeeeeally crowded. Oh well. It was still really fun. We got a little impatient for the elevator going down, and the genius that I am suggested, "Let's just take the stairs." (still laughing) We made it more than 350 stairs, I think, before our legs just about gave out. We caught the lift from one of the lower levels down to the bottom. My legs may OR may not, still be shaking. We were a little wobblie after that. Believe you me.

This says how far it is to my current country, and on the exact other side is how far it is to the U.S. But the lighting in the other picture is so lousy that you're just getting my side.

Ah. The end of day one. What a delightful day. We are up the next morning at 4:30 to catch the Chunnel to London. Look out Portobello Road, here we come!

BTW, I like to live my life through movie references, in case you didn't know. So on day one, I fulfilled The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Ratatioulle, and French Kiss. Don't worry. I'll fill you in on more...