Little Kids Playing Video

I was doing the dishes (yes, I do the dishes sometimes) and I spotted these boys playing outside about three buildings down, so I grabbed my camera and ran up to the roof. You need to take a look at this. Most of the kids you know this age are in their rooms playing Playstation and veggin in front of the TV. These kids are livin' it up. Check it out.

Kids and the Tire Video

An Arabic Lesson Learned, A Good Laugh Had By All

This is another one of my Arabic mess ups:

Feel free to laugh out loud at me, all the Arabs mentioned below did and probably still are.

Arabic has a root word for nouns and adjectives. It then adds things or rearranges things for the masculine singular, or the feminine singular, or the dual tense, and the plural. So for each noun and/or adjective you could have as many as four words to memorize. So here is my mistake.

Sometimes after school B goes out with a girl or girls from school and goes shopping or to buy fruit or things like this. When I come home alone the family we live with (henceforth: The Family) always ask, “Where is Bethany?” So I’ve always told them, “Hiyyi ma9 sadiiqha (She is with her friend)” Mama always smiles and just leaves it alone when I tell her that. This has been going on for the past month.

Tonight it all hit the fan. One of Mama’s daughters that live in another town came to visit and Mama evidently told her what I would say about where Bethany was. Then they laughed and told the rest of The Family sitting on the porch. Well, apparently I’ve been using the masculine word for friend instead of the feminine word for friend. So I should be saying, “Hiyyi ma9 sadiiqitha” See the difference? A little "it" makes a big difference. Do you see where I am headed?

For the past month when people have been asking me where’s Bethany, instead of saying, “she is with her friend.” I’ve been saying, “she is with her boyfriend.”

So the past month The Family has been laughing about the mystery boyfriend that Bethany has that her husband not only knows about, but obviously approves of.

More bloopers to come. Allah kariim (God is generous)

Yes, I Have A Mustache

I just want to go on the record and say that I personally would rather not have a mustache. I would rather not look a bad flashback to the 80s. This is one of my many lessons I am learning on "cross cultural communications" You know....fitting in with the people you are trying to reach.
All of you "youth people" know what I am talking about. You guys get to wear cargo khaki shorts and flip-flops and do the cool little "front tuck" with all of you designer T-shirts that say something off the wall and look like they've been wash a hundred times before you even buy them.
I am wearing pants, button down shirts and growing out mustaches...... I am realizing that life here ain't a walk in the park. I am just commenting on how funny we are as people. I didn't mind dressing like a youth or a college student when I worked with them. Why? Because I was in style! I could walk into Wal-Mart and not look like a state trooper!
But all of a sudden I am here and I am freaking out because I have to wear a mustache. Its really not a big thing you know? I just have a mustache and I fit in that much better. But this has been a great lesson for me on whether or not I want to be "cool" in my own American perspective of what "cool" is, or do I want to do all I can, in speech, deed, or dress to knock down as many barriers as I can between the people here and myself. This has been a tool in the hands of the LORD to show me my selfishness and dependance on what other people think. I pray that I will let the LORD make me "the fool" in order to make Himself known to these people.

I feel the mustache is just the first of the "anti-cool" things I am going to have to embrace in order to be effective, so when we get back to the States sooner or later... Please don't treat us like fashion rejects. Just hug us and realize that we......well.....are out of touch.

P.S. I know that my noise is crooked. I, nor my family, nor the doctors have a clue on when or why that happened. In Arabic the word for this is, "hayk" (that's just the way it is).

Things We Miss About America

Last week B and I got together and made a list of things we missed. This is not exhaustive or inclusive or in particular order.

· Air conditioning
· Automatic washer and dryer
· Dishwashers
· Traffic rules
· Wal-mart
· Temperature control knobs on the oven
· Hot water at the kitchen sink
· No water restrictions
· Carpet
· Upright vacuums
· Flushing Toilet Paper
· Microwaves
· Green stuff, shade, trees, flowers for sale in all the stores
· Kraft Mac & Cheese
· Ham
· 5lb. ground beef logs
· Corn tortilla chips
· Taco Bell
· Sonic
· Whataburger
· Well,… any fastfood place at all really
· Bags of Salad
· Frozen Broccoli
· Dr. Pepper
· Strawberries
· Miles and Pounds
· Barnes & Noble