The view from my bedroom window this stormy morning

Taking a post-work recovery day

I walked outside today and was almost blinded by the sun. I realized that I had not been outside for a couple of days and felt ashamed. I’ve been working – every moment that I was not doing urgent housework or teaching – on translations and editing jobs, and since we’ve had a sufficient amount of food and other necessities, leaving the house has not been absolutely necessary. 

(When I have deadlines and big jobs, like this past week, ‘absolutely necessary’ or ‘urgent’ are the only criteria that will put an activity ahead of work.)

Today, having finished all my job assignments for the week (and turned down a number of jobs), I am going over the house doing things that are just necessary (and not ‘absolutely’ necessary – I bet you have no idea how many days your kids can wear the same pair of jeans!), slowly working my way through a long list of chores, to where I can do something I don’t have to.

Boy, do I have plans! (If I get there.)

Discovering new shops in Beirut

So, while wandering away from a disappointing TSCPlus in Jnah the other day, our family accidentally walked into the top floor Monoprix. I had some vague idea of Monoprix being some kind of French version of Piggly Wiggly, but I really had no idea what to expect, and we didn’t see anything that would indicate this was a regular grocery store. Entering Monoprix was certainly a wow-moment even though we only saw clothes, cosmetics and the beginning of a linen/household department. Courtney and I looked at each other when we realized the potential of our discovery, and as we walked through the store, we got more and more excited, “Look at this!” Several things we have spent a lot of time searching for during our first year and a half here in Beirut were suddenly all available in one spot at reasonable prices: lamps, curtain rods, furniture, blankets, toys, and other household goods we still miss. We were so overwhelmed, and Abraham was getting impatient after our first failed attempt to shop at TSCPlus, that we decided not to buy anything in a haste, but to come back another day, more prepared. After all, we still needed to get food for the week. 

Weighed down by our immediate task, we proceeded to try and find our way out and make our way to Spinneys, when we noticed people were coming from somewhere with shopping carts, much like the ones a grocery store would provide. We asked a guard if there was a downstairs and he showed us the way to a set of escalators, leading, at this point in our view, to the gates of salvation: a new, exciting, seemingly nice and well-stocked grocery store, right there in front of us.

Although Monoprix didn’t carry all the things we needed (the cereal section left a few things to desire, and there was no beer (no alcohol section) which I needed for one of our recipes, it had *the* most incredible cheese- and deli-department, with Italian and French cheeses we had not seen since our last visits to those countries. In general, the store had an excellent selection of meats, cheeses, yogurts, and such, and I quite liked the fresh produce department and the bakery as well. Most of the prices were normal, the produce perhaps a little higher than we are used to. We left quite satisfied, although wishing we could have bought a nice bottle of wine with all the wonderful cheeses we had picked out. The guy who helped us out in the deli assured us that they would have an alcohol section ready within a couple of weeks, and I did notice that their advertisement showed that they had special prices on wine. All in all, it was a good shopping experience, and we’ll probably go back there soon, if nothing else to finally get us some curtain rods and lamps.

Welcome back! It's a new year!

A bit of a lapse on the blogging there. First we went crazy with the holiday preparations, with more elaborate recipes, complex food preparation sessions, happier activities, bigger presents and other magnified celebratory undertakings than in the past few years. We also hosted house guests for close to a week, took care of a neighbor’s guinea pigs for over three weeks (never, never again!!) and survived a stomach flu from hell (which we so generously shared with our house guests of course).

And here we are. A little over a week into the new year and I am desperately trying to regain the money spent by taking on more jobs than I can handle. The boys are getting back into their routine with a new schedule (it usually takes us about a week to start following it exactly, and another couple of weeks to completely abandon it again ,but the boys like schedules and lists, so I indulge them), and Abraham is going along with it in his leisurely way. The professor is - as always - in work-mode, with the additional end-of-the-semester exertions disrupting his thought process.

While trying to get over the hump that is January, our post-holiday recovery – pre-spring 2012 interlude, which encompasses mainly dull things like work, diet, and cleaning, I’ve set out to make the best of our daily routine and spice up little moments here and there when possible. (The other day, for example, instead of going to Spinneys in Jnah for our usual weekly shopping excursion, on a whim, we asked the taxi driver to take us to TSCPlus instead as to try something new. The store was really quite horrible and we soon left, however, while trying to figure out how to get to our regular Spinneys and estimating if we could walk, we walked into a different store we had never seen before or even thought of visiting, Monoprix, and boy, oh boy, what a find! More on this in a blog post tomorrow.)

So, if you have any tips or ideas on how to spice up those less exciting parts of life, like grocery shopping, grading, exam proctoring, long hours of translation work, Tuesday night dinner, school-lunches, laundry marathons and hours on the treadmill or around the track, then please, do share!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

May 2012 be filled with blessings and joy. May you prosper and be healthy. May the world be a better place. May I finally have the strength to lose all those extra pounds that are weighing me down, and may all the problems in this part of the world finally be settled and people allowed to move on (why not throw that in there too?).

Christmas concert, 2011

After months of rehearsing and a lot of hours singing, practicing and fine tuning, we finally put on our AUB Choir and Choral Society Christmas concert this week. Assembly Hall was absolutely packed both nights. It was pretty amazing to finally see it all come together, and although I was nervous during the procession, it all went really well. It was fun to sing Britten's A Ceremony of Carols with the smaller group, and Hark! will always make me happy with a couple of spirituals to go, but what really blew my mind this time was the Rig Veda. When we first started rehearsing it I was not impressed at all, but boy did that piece take my breath away! (Figuratively AND literally speaking of course.) We ended the concert with Christmas carols outside, while the AUB Christmas lights were lit. Very festive and Christmas-y indeed.

Our little guy had pneumonia

We are not sure how Abraham got so sick, but it might be a combination of a number of things: 

-a very aggressive bacterial infection

-a lot of new germs (he practically lives in the playground where hundreds of kids play every -day, cats pee and poop, and random strange women kiss him every day)

-the fact that he doesn’t really blow his nose very well, and 

-our inability to get him to take anti-inflammatory medication, such as Panadol. 

It started with a pretty bad cold a couple of weeks ago, including fever, a lot of snot, and a cough. After Abraham got better, the cough lingered. Every night I would put him to sleep and after about an hour he would start coughing, so much I practically had to spend most of the night holding him up so that he could sleep. After about a week it got worse: he was getting a lot more congested, with a runny nose, and a constant cough (sleepless nights) that started sounding worse and worse, and eventually the fever came back. He was obviously suffering and would start crying every time he had to cough, point to his chest or to right under his eyes and say “Mama, that’s a boo-boo here.” After a couple of days of this, I came home one evening from choir rehearsal to find out that he had vomited, out of the blue and not from a coughing fit. Our warning flag went up. That night, as I was holding him in my arms, asleep, feverish, stuffy nose with a wet cough, I noticed that he was panting and wheezing with a heavy chest. My husband and I looked at each other and knew I would spend the next day taking Abraham to the doctor. As parents, we had the below passage practically memorized:

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF PNEUMONIA?

The major symptoms of pneumonia are:

·         Moderate to severe cough - often junky sounding, but not always.

·         Sustained rapid or labored breathing (as opposed to temporary rapid breathing from a high fever).

·         Medium to high fever - usually will be over 102, but not always.

·         Chest pains - not just during coughing, but in between coughing fits as well.

·         Vomiting - not just vomiting from a big coughing fit, but vomiting even in between coughing fits.

·         Blue color around the lips and face - from lack of oxygen.

·         Wheezing - although wheezing is more often a sign of a viral chest cold, it sometimes can mean pneumonia.

HOW DO I DECIDE IF MY CHILD MAY HAVE PNEUMONIA?

·         If your child has ALL the above symptoms, then he probably has pneumonia.

Yes, thank you Dr. Sears, my child has all of the above symptoms, except for the blue lips and face, which just meant we didn’t have to rush off to the hospital right then and there, but could get some sleep first.

We first went to see a general pediatrician at the AUB clinic, who after having listened to our story and to Abraham’s lungs suspected pneumonia as well. She sent us to the ER, where we spent a lot of time waiting, but also getting Abraham chest x-rays making visible the nasty little puss pockets on both his lungs. Two more doctors examined him before we left with the diagnosis pneumonia, a sinus infection, tonsillitis, and a mild ear infection in his left ear (which would explain his preference to lie on his other side). We got a nice strong dose of antibiotics as well, which I’ve had to force-feed my stubborn little 2-year old.

It took two days for the fever to break, and although Abraham is still visibly weak with a wet cough, he is definitely on the mend. Alhamdulillah, as our friends in Egypt would say.

Busy December

Happy Thanksgiving?! ... 

Happy 3^rd of Advent! 

While I blinked, 1^st, 2^nd AND 3^rd of Advent rushed by, a lot of work, daily choir rehearsals, parties, school activities, arrangements and sicknesses (including *a lot* of sleepless nights) happened all at once. At some point I found myself in the ER holding Abraham's hand while he was getting a chest x-ray, confirming our suspicion that he had pneumonia. The next moment I’m translating some German text into Swedish at 3 am. Then suddenly we’re having dinner with an old friend and colleague from our Cairo days. Continuously I’m kissing the boys good-bye to attend choir rehearsal. And tomorrow is concert day.

Does this post seem confusing and full of random mentionings and events? Then you got it right. That’s what our life has been like for the past three weeks. 

Inhale.

Happy Thanksgiving from Lebanon!

Because American Thanksgiving is not a holiday here, we celebrated this past weekend. We had dinner with friends at our house – a few families coming together – and cooked all the food ourselves (not a given here in Lebanon, I’ve come to learn). Turkey, a Butterball purchased at Spinney's, cooked to perfection, along with all the dressings, and pumpkin pie for dessert. It was great. The food was awesome, the conversation interesting and fun, and I think everyone had a good time. Almost as a holiday-caricature, half-unconscious,  after all the plates had been emptied a couple of times, we all leaned back, patted our full tummies, and moaned, unable to fit another bite, exclaiming, “Happy Holidays!”

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

11-11 somewhere down memory lane

Deep down in my memory basket I have preserved a cold, windy, dark and cloudy November day in Antwerp just about a decade and a half ago.

Just as it was getting dark, Prof. Husband and I, only young undergraduate students then, stood on the beach with a bottle of 1986 Margeaux that a friend had given us. Rough, black clouds in the distance over the English Channel threatened to launch a storm at any moment. It was too cold to drink and our fingers were almost too stiff from the freezing water the wind kept spraying at us to put our rings on, but there we were, exchanging vowels. Through sickness and health. Until death do us part.

We didn’t linger, but went to a warm, cozy local restaurant with brown wood paneling, red, thick velvet curtains, an open fireplace, warm wine and good food to celebrate the beginning of the rest of our lives.

Making cream cheese

The day before yesterday Courtney made cream cheese.

For some inexplicable reason Courtney’s very much into making things out of living bacteria for the moment - to our Jane-Buddhist maid's great horror. Following the sourdough phase, this apparently seemed like a natural continuation. We both often make yogurt, but this is slightly different, I think, in that it is a little more complicated. He’s currently working on a couple of different cheeses that take time, but the cream cheese was finished in just a couple of days (it's both great and a little disturbing to know how fast bacteria can grow in this climate). It turned out really nice, albeit a bit more sour than store-bought cream cheese.

The biggest problem we had was: what were we going to do with it? 500+ grams of full fat cream cheese. We would either need a lot of bagels, or… that’s right, we made cheese cake! Yum!

Now we just have to wait a few weeks to see how -or even if- the brie cheese turns out.

Time to catch up

So, I work a lot. I homeschool our boys, I take care of a two-year old 24/7, I manage the majority of our household duties, organization and planning, I help my husband with his work, and I work - as in; I have an actual paid job. For fun - and to keep my mind from going bonkers - I sing in a choir and in a smaller group, and I run.

I am always busy, but I don’t get overwhelmed, and I can usually manage all these things all at once. 

Yes, really. 

However lately, I haven’t been able to keep up. I don’t know if it’s the extra choir group or maybe I’ve taken on too many editing/translation jobs. It could be that my husband has been extra busy, that Abraham is getting more demanding, or that the older boys need more attention with regards to school work, social arrangements or sports. Whatever the reason, I’ve been in that perpetual state where I’m constantly playing catch-up for the past couple of weeks.

This weekend, extra long courtesy of Abraham’s faith in God, gave me a good chance to catch up. I only had one small, easy translation to do, and along with only two sports events, one administrative task and one social event, this provided me with some extra time to get things done. I didn’t go into it with an exact plan, but since I had an idea of all that had to be done, I decided I would just let urgency decide. When I woke up on Saturday morning, around 6:30 am as usual, it became clear to me what I needed to start the weekend with. I got Abraham some fruit and cereal, set him up with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and went back to bed. I slept another two hours, then I had a light breakfast and spent the next hour on the treadmill at the gym. I felt so much better. It wasn’t on any list, not even my mental running list of things that need to be taken care of, but boy was it urgent. I needed some rest and a moment to myself.

I spent the rest of the weekend more relaxed than in a long time, going through my chores with fewer sighs, and paying more attention to my family. Out of all the parenting advice I see, setting time aside for yourself is one of the most common articles, however I always look at them and think “Yeah, yeah, whatever. What parent reads this and has a revelation?” I do set time aside for myself – my scheduled music sessions every week, and exercise several times a week – but this weekend was different. I took a moment for myself, when I needed it, without working around some schedule, or putting everyone else first. 

Yeah, I know; what possessed me, right? 

I don’t know, but it sure felt good. Let me conclude this with the cliché:

This happy mother is a better mother.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween in Beirut, 2011

Since we are finally getting to know more people here in Beirut, and since we’ve pretty much settled into our apartment, we decided to throw a Halloween party this year. Our invitations went out very late, and it’s a busy time for most, but a nice group of people still came. Courtney made some really nice dishes: lamb curry and chicken curry with rice and mint-yogurt sauce, gravlax, a thai salad, a Turkish carrot and garlic dip; and I made quail eggs, vegetable dip, and Halloween punch with gummy worms and ice blocks the shape of a hand (very popular with the little ones). Courtney also made a lemon meringue pie and a black bottom pie, and people brought cookies, cakes and more sweets than we could ever eat. We had the sliding doors open with tables and chairs on the balcony - it was a perfect temperature outside – and the kids stayed at the playground until it closed. In general, a good first party in our new home!

Later today, the kids get to go on their very first real Trick or Treat. Obviously we never went out in Belgium (trick or treat’ing has just started picking up there over the past few years) or in Cairo. At the yearly Halloween party that the CAC organized in Cairo, the boys would walk through “Trick or Treat Lane” where high school kids would hand out candy to the kids from class room doors, but that is as close to trick or treat’ing as my kids have ever got. Today, AUB has announced an official Trick or Treat time, and the boys will walk around the campus houses (knocking on decorated doors only) wearing their Halloween costumes and bringing Trick or Treat bags.

Art morning

Finger paint: one of this homeschooling mother's least favorite crafting tools. But this boy loves it so, that sometimes I make myself go through the effort of cleaning up the post-fingerpaint disaster that always follows.

What do you think the chances are of our Middle Eastern finger paint being harmful if ingested? 50-50? I could tell from the face he made though when he got some in his mouth, that it doesn't taste good at all. So at least I know he will not be eating it on purpose.