the drive through Nescafe stand. I love it. For a megar $.60 usd you can get a freshly mixed cup of Nescafe with chocolate shavings on top and served to you on a silver platter. I swear the life here is so easy...sometimes ;)
Sunday, December 12, 2010
what the...cup o' joe
Just when I think it can't get any better than my breakfast guy (see the previous posts) there is another stand that has my full appriciation...
the drive through Nescafe stand. I love it. For a megar $.60 usd you can get a freshly mixed cup of Nescafe with chocolate shavings on top and served to you on a silver platter. I swear the life here is so easy...sometimes ;)
I know it is not Carabou Coffee but this is great when you need a pick-me-up and you are on the go.
the drive through Nescafe stand. I love it. For a megar $.60 usd you can get a freshly mixed cup of Nescafe with chocolate shavings on top and served to you on a silver platter. I swear the life here is so easy...sometimes ;)
what the...i pledge of allegiance
Let me tell you, I have never seen a country so in love with the leader and the land. There is something special about Jordanians and the way they show allegiance. Every where you go there is a picture of either King Abdullah, his family, the crown prince and even God rest his soul the former King Hussein. And when I say everwhere, I mean the barbershops, schools, grocery stores, ice cream shops, falafel stands, jewerly stores, billboards and yes even sticker decals on cars. I could go on naming places where he is posted but I think you got the point.
So yeah people like to show they love the King and they also love there country so much there is a tv station dedicated to the country. 24/7 there are....get this....music videos that show anything and everything Jordan. There are songs on there about the police forces, the army, the king, the land, the bedouin people, the dead sea etc. I love it. It is my new secret addiction to see how people LOVE this place.
Here is an example of a video they play on this station:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujs6ot9LY1g
But on this note I have to say that I wish the United States was more like this. When was the last time you have seen a picture of President Obama? And I don't mean on the cover of the newspaper. When you see people LOVING there country and proudly showing it? And I don't mean just flying a flag on the 4th of July? When do you hear people sing about there love for the USA??? Besides at a baseball games.
I know that Americans love their country but maybe we should do more to show it.
If you would like to know more about Jordan and King Abdullah II visit his offical page:
http://www.kingabdullah.jo/homepage.php
So yeah people like to show they love the King and they also love there country so much there is a tv station dedicated to the country. 24/7 there are....get this....music videos that show anything and everything Jordan. There are songs on there about the police forces, the army, the king, the land, the bedouin people, the dead sea etc. I love it. It is my new secret addiction to see how people LOVE this place.
Here is an example of a video they play on this station:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujs6ot9LY1g
But on this note I have to say that I wish the United States was more like this. When was the last time you have seen a picture of President Obama? And I don't mean on the cover of the newspaper. When you see people LOVING there country and proudly showing it? And I don't mean just flying a flag on the 4th of July? When do you hear people sing about there love for the USA??? Besides at a baseball games.
I know that Americans love their country but maybe we should do more to show it.
If you would like to know more about Jordan and King Abdullah II visit his offical page:
http://www.kingabdullah.jo/homepage.php
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
what the.....weekend
So we have a basic routine for our weekend in our family. On Fridays after prayers we head downtown and window shop, buy bootleg movies/music, and just enjoy our day without the congestion of cars and people. And on Saturday we head down to our local farmers market and stock up on fresh produce.
I love this place! You can find all kinds of yummy fruits and veggies that are in season and at great prices. It is interesting to shop here because there are so many stands with not only fruit and veggies but a section with fresh meat and a section with eggs/cheese, and I even saw a stand that sold dead fish in a bucket... Yeah that was disgusting I don't think many people purchase the fish, but God help those who do... Anyways it is always fun going to the market, from every corner there are people shouting out prices "dinar kilo bendora" (one dinar ($1.50usd) for a kilogram of tomato" and another 2 stands away yelling about onion, or carrots or sage. It is also SO REFRESHING to see so much green. Jordan lacks water, big time, so it is nice to come here and see all of the color. Espically the green!
It is also a common practice that you 'taste then purchase' you see, it is wrong to cheat someone, so if someone tells you "the watermelon is sweet" you say back (bad translation) "on your knife" meaning they crack open the melon and you taste it to make sure before you buy it. This is a common practice.
Yusuf has picked up this habit now and every time we go he finds something he likes, like a pear, banana, apple etc. and he asks if he can taste it... well you know a farmer cannot resist cute kids so they cut it open and he tastes it and then we purchase based on the sweetness.
Here the weekend is Friday and Saturday. Because as you may or may not know in an Islamic country the holy day is Friday, so Friday is like Saturday and Saturday is like Sunday... at least in comparison to the States.
I am still getting used to this system. It is weird transition but the only way I can explain it is that it feels like there are 3 Mondays for me, awful isn't it. Let me elaborate...
Friday here feels like a Sunday back home. Everyone goes to prayers and everything is closed, so it feel like Sunday to me. So when I go to bed I feel like the next day will be Monday (1), like a work day back home, but really it is Saturday, the end of the week. So after I get over that realization when I wake up Saturday morning I realize it is the end of the week and Saturday is really like Sunday (back home) so then my Sunday here really feels like Monday (2). Now if that isn't bad enough, there is the real Monday (3) which is just a normal work day here, but because this whole different weekend schedule here still gets me I still feel the Monday blues like I did back home....Are you confused yet???
I love this place! You can find all kinds of yummy fruits and veggies that are in season and at great prices. It is interesting to shop here because there are so many stands with not only fruit and veggies but a section with fresh meat and a section with eggs/cheese, and I even saw a stand that sold dead fish in a bucket... Yeah that was disgusting I don't think many people purchase the fish, but God help those who do... Anyways it is always fun going to the market, from every corner there are people shouting out prices "dinar kilo bendora" (one dinar ($1.50usd) for a kilogram of tomato" and another 2 stands away yelling about onion, or carrots or sage. It is also SO REFRESHING to see so much green. Jordan lacks water, big time, so it is nice to come here and see all of the color. Espically the green!
It is also a common practice that you 'taste then purchase' you see, it is wrong to cheat someone, so if someone tells you "the watermelon is sweet" you say back (bad translation) "on your knife" meaning they crack open the melon and you taste it to make sure before you buy it. This is a common practice.
Yusuf has picked up this habit now and every time we go he finds something he likes, like a pear, banana, apple etc. and he asks if he can taste it... well you know a farmer cannot resist cute kids so they cut it open and he tastes it and then we purchase based on the sweetness.
Here the weekend is Friday and Saturday. Because as you may or may not know in an Islamic country the holy day is Friday, so Friday is like Saturday and Saturday is like Sunday... at least in comparison to the States.
I am still getting used to this system. It is weird transition but the only way I can explain it is that it feels like there are 3 Mondays for me, awful isn't it. Let me elaborate...
Friday here feels like a Sunday back home. Everyone goes to prayers and everything is closed, so it feel like Sunday to me. So when I go to bed I feel like the next day will be Monday (1), like a work day back home, but really it is Saturday, the end of the week. So after I get over that realization when I wake up Saturday morning I realize it is the end of the week and Saturday is really like Sunday (back home) so then my Sunday here really feels like Monday (2). Now if that isn't bad enough, there is the real Monday (3) which is just a normal work day here, but because this whole different weekend schedule here still gets me I still feel the Monday blues like I did back home....Are you confused yet???
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
what the....ta-tas
All I could do was laugh when I saw this manaquin.
Can you see it? Well I don't know where this store went wrong... they have great wear but the manaquins look like they should be at V-Secret. I mean those nips are like 2 inches out there. NO JOKE! So much for a modest country.
what the...disney
So I was visiting our local grocer...Carfoure.. this is the French version of 'the evil empire' aka Walmart and I was stopped in my tracks becase there is a bottle of non-alcoholic champange for kids, with non other than Mickey Mouse plastered on the front of it with the text "happy kids." I don't know is this sending the wrong message??? We do live in an Islamic society and as you may or may not know muslims are not suposed to drink alcohol. So why promote this... espically to children? I don't know, it is kind of weird to me.
what the....breakfast
Well today we had a bit of a dilemma; mama didn't feel like making breakfast. Usually we eat one of the following eggs, pancakes, cereal, olives, cheese, bread etc. Deep down inside all I wanted to do was go through McD's and get a few egg and cheese biscuits and call it a day (shhhh, don't tell my dad)
But then a light bulb went off in my head and I remembered there is a guy with a little cart that stands on the sidewalk and on this cart there is, bread, eggs, cheese, tomato, lettuce, zatar, hot sauce and even a big boiling container of tea. So I decided that on the way to drop Yusuf off to school I will get a sandwich. Yeah it is not the greasy biscuit that I want but it did the trick and Yusuf loved the fact that the guy took his order of a cheese sandwich and then he went to his stand and made it! And the kicker is that it only cost .500 piestars or $0.75 now if only I could have this guy deliver ;)
You know this guy is an entrepreneur and I like to support people with good ideas and good service, everyday he has a lot of cars pulled over to the curb to enjoy a healthy meal.
I know it made my kiddos happy!
But then a light bulb went off in my head and I remembered there is a guy with a little cart that stands on the sidewalk and on this cart there is, bread, eggs, cheese, tomato, lettuce, zatar, hot sauce and even a big boiling container of tea. So I decided that on the way to drop Yusuf off to school I will get a sandwich. Yeah it is not the greasy biscuit that I want but it did the trick and Yusuf loved the fact that the guy took his order of a cheese sandwich and then he went to his stand and made it! And the kicker is that it only cost .500 piestars or $0.75 now if only I could have this guy deliver ;)
You know this guy is an entrepreneur and I like to support people with good ideas and good service, everyday he has a lot of cars pulled over to the curb to enjoy a healthy meal.
I know it made my kiddos happy!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
what the....filipino christmas party in november
you know one of the many reasons i love this country is that you can have hired help for about $2usd per hour!!! i know be jelouse... but what is even better is when you grow to be friends with the ones that work for you. in my case Anna is a 27 year old filipino girl who lives right around the block from me and she is a jewel to have around.
well today she invited me to a christmas party... a bit early... but none the less it has renewed my sense of normalcy here in this backwards country. they had it all at this party, a christmas tree, the mistletoe, lights, a santa statue next to the 3 ft. hight virgin mary statue and even there cute dog 'nimrod' (yes that is the dogs name) was dressed for the occasion with a t-shirt.
the mood was set by traditional filipino holiday music, mixed with a little olivia newton john, circa....greese. and the food was delicious. there was everything from a spicy noodle dish, coconut flavored sticky rice, a giant baked fish with all kinds of yummy in it and kentucky fried chicken...
needless to say i enjoyed myself although i wanted to stay longer and really get to know people and just have fun.
you see in jordan and probably in the entire middle east where there is hired help you don't find that the madam and the housekeeper get together and hang out, but when you treat eachother right and you become friends it can be a great thing.
what the....begining
WELCOME! MY NAME IS KATIE. SO THIS BLOG BUSINESS IS NEW TO ME SO BEAR WITH ME... SO YOU ASK WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH YOUR NAME 'WHAT THE....' WELL I AM NOW LIVING IN JORDAN WITH MY HUSBAND AND KIDS AND JUST ABOUT EVERY DAY I FIND MYSELF SAYING SAYING 'WHAT THE....' FOLLOWED USUALY BY A PROFANE WORD OR TWO. WELL IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND JORDAN AND WHAT HAPPENS HERE I AM GOING TO BE WRITING ABOUT MY "WHAT THE..." EXPIRENCES AND HOPE YOU CAN ALL APPRICIATE WHAT LIFE IS LIKE HERE.
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