High Kicks

Tigerboy loves his Taekwondo. He's been going since February. Yesterday after class he was showing me a new kick he learned.

Tigerboy: "It's very important that you tilt your head back mummy, otherwise you might kick yourself in the face."

Me: "Of course!" (seriously? How could you kick yourself in the face, wouldn't it be a natural instinct to tilt your head back and just exactly what would you be trying to kick by aiming so high, a bird?).

Apparently it IS possible:



The tooth was already loose so it wasn't really painful. Just lots of blood. Now Tigerboy walks around saying, "I can't believe I kicked my own tooth out!"

Me either.

Poetry Cafe

Last week we had "Poetry Cafe" night at Tigergirl's school. It was such a wonderful event for the parents and for the children. In a nutshell, all elementary school children (teachers and parents too) are given the opportunity to perform an original poem in front of an audience made up of other students, parents, and teachers. The children use time at home as well as time in the classroom during the 2 weeks beforehand to prepare their poems. The parent committee (of which I am a part) decorated 4 rooms with various themes (Spa, Garden, Living Room, and Curtain-call) to make room for all of the poets. The rooms were amazing, covered with meters of gauzy materials and beautiful background collages. I wish I had snapped some pictures but I was too busy acting as one of the MC's. The poems were read simultaneously within the four rooms with 3 sections of 8-10 poets in each room. I think those numbers show you how successful the event was and how much the children enjoy writing and reading poetry. I was especially proud that Tigergirl chose to participate. Here is her poem:

My Cat

My Cat has three colors

Orange, white, and black

With a cute black stripe

Right across her nose

Her eyes are as green

As grass

Her belly as fluffy

As cotton candy

She rubs my chin

Purrs and purrs.

When she is excited

Her pupils open wide

I love my cat

I always will

By: Tigergirl

I'm so happy that the kids can attend a school that encourages and supports events like this. :)

Syria and Jordan Part 2

Our last sightseeing day was spent exploring Mt. Nebo and the site of Jesus' baptism in the Jordan river. We found Mt. Nebo after 2 hours of driving through the back country. It seemed to take a tad too long to get there and we found out later that we were right about that as Mt. Nebo is only 10 minutes from the hotel. That is, IF one were to turn left rather than right upon exiting the hotel. Live and learn (or mutter if you are Tigerpapa). It was too hazy to see anything from the lookout point but here's a nice plaque telling you what is out there on a clear day, The Promised Land:


The Jordan river:


The place where John the Baptist baptized Jesus:


Come to visit me and I will take you to all of these places....without any muttering!

Syria and Jordan

We had such a great trip to Jordan (and Syria)! Jordan was so CLEAN and QUIET and the people knew how to DRIVE without causing me to have a heart attack at any moment. I liked Syria too but in a different way. It's kind of like having 2 boyfriends. One is dependable, comforting, and looks good. The other is dangerous, dirty, and a bit of a bad-ass.

It only takes an hour or so to reach the Syrian border from Beirut. Then we waited about an hour while Tigerpapa sorted out my visa and registered the car. It wasn't unpleasant although the anticipation of "trouble" can be somewhat disconcerting as you never know if some border guy is going to decide that you cannot enter that day. We got through with no difficulty and proceeded to drive to Damascus where we would spend one day exploring before continuing to Jordan.

Damascus was an interesting place and I look forward to going back there so that we can see more of it. Due to our time restraint, we only saw the souk and the Umayyad mosque:



The entrance to the souk from the Mosque. You can see how old the pillars are here:


The entrance to the souk from the other side:


Some of the things to buy in the souk:







The next morning we drove the rest of the way to Jordan after spending an hour trying to get out of Damascus. I heard tigerpapa mutter something about a F-@#*$-ing Labrynth and then something about how my map-reading skills weren't very good and if he had his friend so-and-so with him we wouldn't be so lost.....blah, blah, blah!

Anyhoo, we eventually made it to the border where we waited another hour or so to do all the visa-getting and car-registering we had done at the Syrian border all over again. Soon enough we were pulling in to our Bedouin camp to spend the next 3 nights of our trip. Bedouin Camp:



Near the camp:


The camp was very close to Petra so that is where we spent the first day we were there. Petra:



The second day in Jordan we drove down to Wadi Rum and (using our very own Rav4) explored this vast and beautiful desert area. I started out doing the driving but, after a few fishtails, Tigerpapa took over whilst doing some more of his muttering....blah, blah, blah. Wadi Rum (7 Pillars of Wisdom):


Wadi Rum, The Camel:


The morning of our 3rd day in Jordan, we moved to a really nice resort hotel on the Dead Sea. Here is the view from our room:


The kids enjoying the mud from the Dead Sea:


For some reason I can't add any more pictures to this post so I will end here and put the rest in a "Part 2" post later.

Mata ne!

Preparation

We will go to Jordan next week and stay 3 nights camping under the desert stars at a Bedouin campground. In preparation for all the hiking and sightseeing, we bought the kids some serious hiking boots. Today we walked to the downtown to break them in a bit and get the kids used to how they feel. It was a beautiful day with little traffic and few people out and about (downtown, that is...the corniche was a different story!).



After the Bedouin experience, we will head to the Dead Sea and stay at a resort hotel for two nights. I have been reading up on Jordan and it seems April is the perfect time to go there as the weather will be ideal. I'm really looking forward to exploring Jordan, especially Petra where they filmed some of the Indiana Jones film. Tomorrow night I will rent the movie and we will all watch it together in anticipation of our trip.

Tigerpapa will check and see if he can get an extra day off next week so that we can spend a day in Syria. We figure since we are driving to Jordan (that means going through Syria), we may as well spend a day exploring Damascus!

Just imagine if YOU (and that means YOU!!) come and visit us in Beirut, you could be doing all of this with us! ;) :)

Pay it Forward Giveaway

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it would be fun to participate especially because I live somewhere different from most of you.

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a gift from me some time this year. There's a small catch. You must post this same thing (Paying it Forward Giveaway) on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in, along with a link!

Isn't this fun?!

P.S. My gift will NOT be homemade...just so you know, I'm not crafty.

I'm Still Here

We've had a busy and rough couple of months with lots of sickness running through the household. I'm pretty sure it's all over now although Tigerpapa was feeling rough last night and almost took the day off of work today.

Spring is definitely here with temperatures reaching 26 degrees this past weekend. It's a much more reasonable 21 degrees today. :)

Tigergirl is doing great at school and still getting advanced math homework. She only did 2 months of first grade in Japan but it was enough to put her way ahead of the rest of her class here. I appreciate that they try to keep her challenged.

Tigerboy is finally starting to read some words and has a real interest in building three dimensional objects with his blocks or pieces of origami paper (buildings, spaceships, airplanes, etc.). He's also started Tae Kwan Do which he loves because he thinks it will help him to become a ninja turtle. I will have to get a picture of him in his very cool uniform.

Spring break is from April 10th to the 20th. We are thinking about taking a trip somewhere like Paris but will have to see about Tigerpapa's time off. Of course, we would much rather have someone come here to visit us during that time so, if you are free, please book your flight now so that I can plan a fabulous itinerary for you! There are many vineyards to tour.

I'm very close to booking our flights home for the summer. We will leave Beirut at the beginning of June and come back at the beginning of September, a lovely long holiday! I can hardly wait.

That's it for now.

My Daily Walk to School

We looked at many many apartments before we found the one in which we now live. The most important feature for me was that it be located close to the Tigerkid`s school. The reason being that the traffic in this city is atrocious and we only have one car. If we had to drive to school, I would need to drop off Tigerpapa at work and then continue to the school to be there by 7:50 am. Then, I would need to return to the school twice to pick up the kids because they are let out at different times (Tigerboy is still in kindergarten). Our real estate agent kept telling me that it only takes 10 minutes to drive to the school from here or there but she was LYING. She meant that it only takes 10 minutes to drive to the school if I was living in some freaky parallel universe where I was the ONLY one driving to pick up my children at their respective finishing times. Not only that, there are many days here where the roads are blocked off for various reasons (usually peaceful but you never know....). Also, keep in mind that the Tigerkid`s school is one of 3 schools in the same neighborhood and they are all connected. One of those schools is the American University of Beirut and huge. Anyhoo, I finally ditched the bad agent and found our place all by myself. What I didn`t realize is that the walk to and, more importantly, from school would involve a lot of stairs.

This is where we enter the campus of one of the other schools in the area. It`s really great that this campus opens it`s gates to the parents and children of our school because it is a major shortcut. The entrance is on the other side of the street beyond the red-rimmed triangle sign (notice all the traffic!):


Isn`t it pretty:


Beyond the trees you can see the Mediterranean sea:


Here comes the first set of stairs:


And the next:


Oh look! Some more:


And MORE:


Then we arrive at the school (once again, notice the cars!):


It`s not so bad on the way down. It`s going back that`s the killer. Here is our "resting tree" on the way back:


Continuing back:


Over on the righthand side of this picture is the home of the president of the school we shortcut through. He has two black labs that are very friendly. Most days the kids stop to pet them:


Last set of stairs on the way back:


Home sweet home:


I get to do that 3 times every day...woohoo!

P.S. Look who`s waiting for us every day: