stinky view

Here, in this town, not much grass can be found. As the spring is here and hot weather is starting to fill the air, a vacant land at the back of our apartment is still pretty green. It seemed to be a perfect place for sheeps and goats to munch their yummy food. But lately the owner is not only bring them to eat, buat also to drink, and to be milked! This is the view from my bedroom window. Pictures was 15x zommed. I even can smell them as I live at 4th floor.

life from a balcony

I live in a top floor of the apartment building number 5.

I love everything about this apartment building, except that it has stairs (in small steps), in the ground floor corridor where the main door is. It didn't really matter before, but now it start to annoy me. It's not user friendly for people who walk in wheels like handicaps or babies in the stroller. I'm not strong enough to carry the whole stroller plus baby in it through the stairs. While I can't be so mobile anymore, it would be nice to stroll outside the house sometimes for a change, especially in the weather like now. It started to get cooler but not so cold. It's warm, not hot. But alas, I can't do it just because of those little annoying stairs around the main door!

What I can do is only take the stroller out to the medium or big size balconies in my apt. Or sometimes I just carry the little boy out there to see things and feel the fresh air. The routine to walk/stroll in the medium balcony has been going on since about 7 weeks ago, around 4-6pm, before the little boy's bath time. This medium balcony is facing east and the main street where other buildings are, so it's busier than the other balcony and not sunny during those hours.

I was not intentionally observing, but went out to the same spot everyday at the same time,... I can't help myself to notice unimportant routines that happened around my neighbourhood:

- a van will deliver a box of meal for the guard of the building next door
- a white-brown cat will move back and fort or sit on the top of the wall fence across the street
- a grey Prado will come and park at building number 4 across the street, then a well dressed women with a toddler and a baby carried by maid will emerge from the front door and jump into the car
- a car will stop in front of my building, the driver will dial his hand phone. Not long after a teenage boy will come out of my building and jump into the car.
- a funky sport car will stop across the street, at the building number 4, to let a trendy women out of the passenger seat then the car will leave with loud sound
-a truck selling gas will pass on the other street, it has loud musical sound like ice cream seller.
- a man who I guess is a driver will clean a car across the street
- two Filipino maids will be at the front of the house number 6 across the street, gardening. Sometimes they chat with the maid who is watering the garden at the first floor in my building.
- my neighbour at the first floor watering her garden every second day.
- a man will walk a dog that looks like chihuahua. The man always busy with his hand phone. Either texting, or talking on the phone.
- a boy will pass by with his bike, with two plastic of arabic breads hanging on each side of the handlebar.

Very unnecessary. But that's one of the thing that keep my mind in place after being at home the whole day.

The Heat Hit Back

Is it only me?? Apparently not.

It is getting hot. The temperature has raised to about 16-28 C in the last 3 days, from average 6-15 C.

Lovely cool breeze yesterday, but not today. Not sure if winter has finished,... but may be it is! All heaters in the house is now off and we had AC on when we sleep in the last two days.

Warm sunny weather is nice,... but cold sunny days are much better for me at the moment. However, as long as we have AC, I will not be complaining.

Pahlawan Perut

Tinggal di dunia antah berantah jauh dari tanah air, tidaklah mudah, terutama kalo ngomongin tentang urusan perut. Sebab yang pertama adalah saya lebih suka makan daripada masak. Sebab kedua, meskipun lidah gak rewel, dalam arti saya pengunyah segala macem makanan, tetapi makanan yang saya nikmati lebih dari tiga puluh tahun adalah makanan nusantara dan rumahan buatan nyokap. Sebab ketiga, bumbu dan bahan makanan nusantara tidak lengkap tersedia. Dan sebab ke-empat, masakan Indonesia cukup sulit dibuat (at least buat saya). Maka jadilah meskipun saya juga menikmati segala penganan asli barat seperti cream soup, steak, panggang-panggangan, berbagai macam keju, berbagai macam penganan dari berbagai negara lain seperti kari-nya India, mezze dan shawarma-nya Arab, pasta dan pizza-nya Itali, laksa dan pad-thai-nya Thailand, pangsit dan ayam asem manis-nya chinese, dll, tetap aja keinginan untuk nguyah masakan nusantara gak luntur dan seringkali terlintas.

Sayang di tempat saya tinggal sekarang gak ada restoran masakan Indonesia dan sejauh ini cuma ada satu restoran yang menyediakan masakan khas asia yang cukup otentik, tetapi bukan masakan Indonesia. Bikin sendiri? Selain bahan-bahan susah dicari, bikinnya ribet, dan belum tentu enak. Cari bumbu jadi? Gak ada juga. Jadi gimana?

Saya ternyata cukup beruntung ketemu sama bu Minul (bukan nama sebenarnya). Dia perempuan sederhana setengah baya yang mengikuti suaminya bekerja sebagai staff lepasan di kedutaan Indo dan tinggal disini sudah lebih dari 8 tahun. Hobinya cuma satu; Masak. "Saya cape kalo gak masak", itu katanya suatu hari. Maksudnya dia bosen kalo gak masak. Dia gak suka shopping dan bergosip ria, juga takut kalo bepergian sendirian. . Ia bukan aja bisa bikin segala macam masakan dan kue basah khas indo, ia bahkan bisa bikin tempe! Cuma ada satu pembuat tempe di kota ini, ya si ibu Minul ini. Kelebihannya bukan aja bisa bikin segala macam masakan yang tentunya cocok di lidah saya, tetapi juga bisa mengolah dan menemukan berbagai bahan dan bumbu-bumbu yang ada buat menggantikan bumbu-bumbu asli. Saya seringkali heran bagaimana dia bisa menemukan berbagai bahan yang tidak bisa saya temukan di tempat biasa saya berbelanja.

Karena hobinya itu kadang-kadang ia membuat penganan kecil untuk dijual diantara teman-teman atau membantu memasak untuk keperluan kantor suaminya. Tetapi saya dan teman 'sealiran' (sama-sama senang makan tapi males masak) punya ide lain. Entah bagaimana awalnya, tetapi kami pun mulai mengkaryakan hobi si Ibu Minul ini dengan cara memesan berbagai macam masakan untuk konsumsi rumah tangga kami sendiri. Sejak beberapa bulan belakangan saya pun gak terlalu nge-ces kalo inget dan pengen makan masakan indo. Tinggal angkat telpon dan pesen. Ya tentunya terus harus kami ambil dan bayar. :) Bu Minul dengan senang hati belanja dan membuatkan masakan pesanan untuk kami. Saya senang, baby senang, perut senang, Hubby senang, dan bu Minul pun senang ... ;p

Gak pernah membayangkan kalau ternyata disini saya bisa menikmati sop buntut, nasi uduk lengkap dengan lauk pauknya dan sambel kacang, soto ayam, rendang pedes, baso, berbagai macam krupuk dan kripik, berbagai macam sambel, goreng-gorengan tempe dan tahu, dan bawang goreng, sampai makanan kecil seperti risoles, lemper, martabak, bakwan, dll!!

Buat saya,

Bu Minul, penyelamat lidah dan perut.

Bu Minul, orang paling penting di kota ini.

Bu Minul, is my hero :)

Saya pernah membayangkan kalo gak ada bu Minul di kota ini, aaargh,.... jangan sampe !!

Aneh

Beberapa pesan dan peringatan dari teman dan keluarga hari ini di Yahoo Messager hari ini adalah: "Hari ini Rabu Abu lho. Ke Gereja?"

Iya, gue tau hari ini memang hari Rabu Abu buat umat Katolik sedunia, tapi sayangnya, kecuali untuk dunia bagian sini, dimana gue berada saat ini. Hari ini bukan hari Rabu Abu buat gue, dan buat umat Katolik di negara ini. Aneh?

Rupanya gereja Katolik di negara ini berteman sangat akrab dengan gereja Ortodoks. Ternyata pula masing-masing gereja menjalani rutinitas gerejaninya berdasarkan kalender yang berbeda. Ternyata lagi, ada berbagai macam kalender yang dipakai manusia sejak jaman dahulu kala. Kalau mau lihat sedikit penjelasannya (yang cukup bikin pusing), silahkan liat di disini dan disini. Singkatnya, kalender yang manusia sedunia pakai secara umum sekarang ini adalah Gregorian Calendar, yang merupakan penyempurnaan dari Julian Calendar yang mulai diperkenalkan Julius Caesar taun 45 BC (before Christ) - sebagai pengganti dari Roman Calendar yang kemudian dipake sampai dengan keluarnya Gregorian Calendar di tahun 1500-an. Gregorian Calender kemudian menjadi kalender umum yang dipakai manusia di dunia. Tetapi entah kenapa, Gereja Ortodoks ngotot mau pake Julian Calendar, sampai sekarang.

Keakraban gereja Katolik (dan Kristen) dan Ortodoks di negara ini menyebabkan mereka bikin perjanjian untuk merayakan Natal berdasarkan Gregorian Calendar yang dijalani umat Katolik dan dunia pada umumnya, dan merayakan Paskah berdasarkan Julian Calendar, yang digunakan gereja Ortodoks.

Jadi dimana dunia bakal ber-paskah ria tanggal 23 Maret, gue bakal baru mulai masa prapaskah - Rabu Abu tanggal 12 Maret, dan ngerayain Paskah tanggal 27 April.

Ya inilah satu lagi keunikan dan keanehan tinggal di negara bagian sini. Seru? Aneh? Yaa.. gak bisa laen selain dijalanin aja. :)

Tapi ada yang lebih aneh lagi. Gak ada hubungannya sama topik rabu abu sih..... ini nih. ;p

Anyway, selamat memulai masa pra-paskah, I hope that all of you have a blessed Lent.

Unexpected Holiday

Unlike last week’s snow where snow flakes fell down nicely and peacefully, it was only last for about half a day, leaving us only thin snow on the ground which then completely vanished the next day.

It was on Tuesday night, when the snow began to fall again quite heavily together with gusty wind. The city had hit by a blizzard! It went on all night, and didn’t really change on the next day. Though, we woke up in the morning with excitement, look out the window, everything covered in white, whilst the wind and snow still falling quite heavily. Grey sky, gloomy, cold, and silent!

One thing we just realised, that here, snow means time off!
No work, no school, no shopping, no going outside. Everything freezes. Just snow and waiting. Wait for the snow to accumulate, and then melt. Then everything will go back to normal, after a few days.

Anyway, it was gloomy and miserable day. But Hubby and I enjoyed it. We stayed in a warm house (thank God the heating works!), and got everything we need at least for a few days in the house. We looked out the window now and then, waited for the snow to stop falling. We couldn’t wait to go out and play on the snow. It was like a holiday! We went out couple of times that day when the snow and wind wasn't to strong. The snow was about 10 cm deep. It was cold because the wind and snow still falling.

That day was the day when I had my first walk on the snow, had a feel of it on my bare hand, stood under the snow fall, and first time for Hubby and I had snow fight. Was great! Although it was a terrible weather and we were technically trapped in the house, the snow also brought excitement and happy feeling. Wish to have it on Christmas day. That would be perfect.

It was Thursday morning, and snow still falls! But this time not as heavy as the last 2 days. It was nice flaky snow without gusty wind. The sky was clearer too. The snow storm has finished. What happened after snow storm was amazing. The view from the roof of our apartment building was fantastic. Everything is covered with snow,… and it’s thick! Maybe about 20-25 cm deep, made it harder to walk on. Lots of cars got stuck in the middle of the road and abandoned. Cars on the side of the road were buried about half of their tires. Definitely another day to stay at home. Also a perfect time to play on the snow again! Another day for Hubby to skip work, so we had a wonderful time at home and playing on the snow again - just two little kids. (*grin*)

This time we have companies. Some people and kids lives on our street were out too, just to have a little visit to their car or tried to drive their car out. Some people built snowmen in front of their houses, or had snow fight. As for myself, I built a tiny snowman outside my bedroom window. It wasn’t too cold as the gusty wind has gone. Again I and Hubby had snow fight (of course I got hit more!), walked bit further down the road, and took few beautiful photos.

Yesterday is Friday, snow was no longer falling, sky was clear, but still cold. Stack of snow everywhere paralysed city's activity. Supermaket started to run out fresh vegetables and fruits, people dig up the street and pathway so they can get their cars out, snowmen started to melt, snow and ice falling from the roof, and some people start to go to shop or work (only if they really have to - as Friday and Saturday is a weekend days).

And today, the sun is shining, the sky is blue. Snow blast has finished, no more excitement although everything still covered in white. Most of the snow on the trees and roof has gone. Leave alone snow on the ground, on the empty land and streets. The roads are wet and slippery, made it hard to drive on. More cars on the road, piles of snow in the middle or on the side of the road. The city started to be alive, but not completely normal. Snow became annoying. I can't wait to be able to mobile again as usual.

This city and it's citizen has never experience snow this bad since more than 20 years ago! People said they never seen this such of degree, weather, and snow. Apparently weather is going crazy everywhere in the world. Jakarta and NSW got flooded, South Australia got toasted by 47 degree, and many more - at the same time! It's crazy!

Snow is beautiful, it's cool, it's fun. But being snowed in, is not too fun! Back to the old school advise, it's not good to have too much on something, and it applies to everything.

Now it's time to see some cool pictures. :)

Snow In The Desert

My mobile rang, and I groaned. It was only 7:15am, and I was still half dreaming when my Hubby in Damascus saying, "get out of bed and look out of your window!”

What?

And I saw drizzle of ... not rain,.. but something that looks like white cotton falling as soon as I open the shutter of my bed room window. It's snowing! Finally I have my first snow. Hubby got a work call from his colleague in town who also informed it's snowing here and he called me right after.

So the forecast was right! But it still strange waking up to a snowy Amman.

This time I didn't have to be dragged out of bed even though it was early and cold because the heating was off again! (it's been on and off in almost a week, we have problem with the diesel and boiler). Normally I'll be upset and cranky. But this morning I was too excited to think about the broken diesel. After I called the maintenance guy, I quickly looked out the windows in each directions (the apartment gets all the view from each directions). It's getting heavier and heavier when I looked at it. I was sooo thrilled.

It's beautiful and peaceful with grey sky, dry twiggy trees and green pine trees between buildings as the background. I put Vivaldi on and sip my warm tea while I looked out the window through out my balcony and enjoy the sight of snow falling... hmmm.... nice feeling!

Not only it's my first snow, but also it's the first snow in this winter season in this country. I thought I was over reacted,.. but actually I'm not alone. People were going crazy with excitement. Radio keep talking about it and how they surprise with snow today (seems like they have different forecast sources - not BBC), how excited people are, how you have to be careful when driving and telling people to just stay at home and snuggle in bed, have hot chocolate and marshmallow. My mobile didn't stop making noises this morning, all talking about the same topic.

M (a friend - sms) = "Have you looked out the window? It's snowing!"
R (malaysian friend, sms) ="Snow dah turun! Enjoy!"
L (my maid - sms) ="Hi madam, it's snowing. I can't come. Tomorrow morning ok?"
M (a friend - sms) = "I can see not many cars on the main road"
N (a friend - MSN online) ="It's snowing! have you gone out and play with the snow?"
B (maintenance guy-local guy) with the biggest smile I've ever seen, he said = "it's a beautiful day!" "It's good for Jordan. We'll be able to get a bit of water" - This guy was so happy so he told his son to go back to bed, don't bother to go to school today!

People are happy and thrilled, just like I do! I'm not the only one. Some people use it as an excuse to go to school or work because of the road condition. Road will become very slippery and dangerous for small-light cars. The country has been thirsty for water and been waiting for rain and snow that came very late this season.

I wanted to go out, walk on the pile of snow, and play and take lots and lots of pictures from the ground. But it would look so crazy to do it by myself. So I only took pictures from my 4th floor apt's balcony and windows.

Although its beautiful, but I am not looking forward to have too much of it. It's cold, gloomy, and make us hard to get around. Our car is not a 4 wheel drive car, so it's not too safe to drive on the ice slippery road. As much as I like to stay at home, I will need to get out, do my errand and have fun outside the house.

Forecast

Is it gonna be snowing in the next two days? We'll see!

Misty City

Although the temperature considerably cold (2-11C), I surprised to have lot of sunshine rather than rain and gloomy days since my return from holiday.

But seems it will be end soon. The real gloomy winter like what people were talking about, which usually started in November is coming. The city suddenly covered by thick fog the whole day yesterday. Even got worse in the afternoon. The pic was taken from my balcony around 11.30am. I drove up to the hill no far from my house to have lunch with bunch of ladies. The looking distance only about 1o m. Hard to see what in front and around you and still lots of cars didn't put their hazard lamp on.

Yet it cleared up today, the sun is not so shiny as usual...

It's Only 5.30pm

when I woke up from a nap, and surprised that the sun had gone down!! It was completely dark inside the house and and pitch black outside as if it was 9pm. I felt soo strange as if i was dreaming. Usually the sun would set down around 7-7.30pm. Apparently that's how the day light saving in Amman ended. Today we had to switch the time 1 hour backward, and the sun does really rise and go down earlier than usual.

That's explained why KFC which supposed to be open at 12.00pm didn't open when we got there at 11.55am (we got a bit upset to see that they didn't have a single chicken on the shelf when they supposed to be open in 5 minutes). But that was because we didn't know the time has changed! It must have been still 10.55am when we got there. (*grin*)

How's Live?

Chatted with a friend in Sydney this morning. She asked me how is it like living in the middle east and whether I like living here, and whether it feels like home.

Hhmmmm.. what can I say?

This country located in the other part of the world, with its differences and unique from other country. The weather, believe it or not it has 4 seasons. We are going into autumn and will reach winter soon. Yes there is winter here. With snow! As much as I want to see snow, I'm not sure if I'd like the cold. The food, also different. Hard to explain. I might need to take pictures of them to show you. Less pollution, no motorbikes, and not too many buses. Some of places are modern and clean. It has some good malls and supermaket, and I did meet some nice, friendly, and welcome local people.

But in some ways this country does remind me to Indonesia/Jakarta, where majority of people are moslem, how people drive, how people just can not line up, how boys/men stare at women passing by, and how people smoke. This might contribute a sense of feel like home, in which it means I wasn't so surprise, less cultural shock, and able to adapt to the new environment easily.
Some of foreign friends who usually live in western countries have trouble in adapting some of local habits here. Many of my girl friends can't stand how men stare, honk their car, follow them, make comment, or try to make silly conversation. One of my friend really annoyed and hardly get over it. She thinks it's serious harassment to women. Other friends can't stand how people drive. They don't indicate, park or stop in the middle of the road, don't give away in the place they suppose to give away, and honk a lot. Other friends complains about how people don't line up or stand very close when queue in public places like bank, ATM, and other customer service places. Other friends sigh when there isn't any 'Thank You' words came from the mouth of cashier in shops after they made payment. The foreign couple from Canada who used to live in Jakarta love Jakarta better as people are more friendly, welcomed, helpful, and respectful. They even love Jakarta traffic better! I could say at some stage here is worse than Jakarta.

I have recently started to drive and get used to the left side road and traffic. For me, as far as I have internet and phone connection, know where to get my stuff, more mobile and get to get around by myself, make friends, have some friends to talk and have coffee with, and just enjoy whatever you do, that's enough. In fact I haven't feel bored since I came here. So I guess so far I adjust quite well, but still, far from feel like home.

Back to the local people habits, I recommended you to see this to see that I was not exaggerating . This was posted in 2005, and hasn't been changed much.....

== Dear Olin, thanks for the inspiration ;p==

Let's Go To Pup!

One of the thing I found in west part of the city. I thought I'll share. :)

Nationality Confusion

On one hot day:

me : salamualaikum
taxi driver : .... mumbled
me : ila Mecca Mall (to Mecca Mall)
taxi driver : ok
taxi driver : (mumbled in arabic)
me : la arabic (no arabic)
taxi driver : where are you from?
me : not answering
taxi driver : from Japan ?
me : no
....

Another day in a cafe

me : can I have grilled chicken caesar salad and orange juice, please
waitress : sure, ok. Anything else ?
me : No, thanks
waitress : Are you from Japan?
me : no
...

On one fine day in a salon

me : I want to have my hair wash and blow dry.
man A : of course, come and have your hair wash here (then he started to wash my hair)
man B : (sitting on the sofa near me), where are you from ?
me : Australia.
man B : (smile, looked puzzled)
me : but I'm originally from Indonesia, Jakarta. You know?
man B : Ooooh,....I know Indonesia. I thought you from Japan.
me : (smile, sighed)
...

Another day in another taxi

taxi driver : where from ? china?
me : no
taxi driver : philipine ?
me : no
taxi driver : Japan ?
me : no
...

I don't understand...

Tell me, do I really look like Japanese?

Inget Kampung

Kemarin, tiba-tiba saya pengen nonton Harry Potter. Setelah ngeluarin segala bujuk rayu, akhirnya si hubby mau juga nemenin. Tapi bisa-bisanya kita keabisan tiket, padahal kita datang 1/2 jam sebelum film dimulai. Emang sih disini film ini baru keluar. Masih fresh dan rame, terutama kemarin yang notabene malem sebelum weekend. Ngomong-ngomong tentang keabisan tiket, kapan ya terakhir saya nonton keabisan tiket? Nggak inget. Mungkin juga karena kita gak terlalu sering nonton, tapi juga karena sebelum ini kita tinggal di Darwin, gak ada acara macet dan gak pake acara ngantri di bioskop. Mau film paling top, paling rame, ato paling heboh, kita bisa pegi dari rumah 10 menit sebelumnya, dan nggak pernah keabisan tiket ato dapet tempat duduk yang gak enak. Enak banget :)

Karena gak jadi nonton, jalan-jalan lah kita. Ketika mulai lapar, kita mutusin buat nyoba satu restoran asia yang katanya 'enak'. Setelah nyoba makan makanan asia di 4 tempat, sebenarnya saya sudah mau menyerah buat makan makanan asia di negeri ini. Selain gak autentik, juga rasanya biasa aja. Tapi karena rekomendasi teman-teman, akhirnya saya n hubby mencoba restoran Noodle House.

Aneh tapi nyata, saya hampir gak percaya sama pendengaran saya saat masuk dan memilih tempat duduk. Tapi benar! saya benar-benar mendengar lagu Yang Terbaik Bagimu-nya Ada Band! Lalu disusul lagunya Letto (lupa judul), lalu Satu-nya Dewa... dan seterusnya. Aaah.. jadi kangen Jakarta. Eerm...mungkin buat orang lain biasa aja. Tapi buat saya yang tinggal di negara orang, yang jauh dari peradaban Indonesia, rasanya benar-benar aneh dan surprise bisa mendengarkan lagu-lagu yang biasa saya dengar di Jakarta, dengan bahasa indonesia, di tempat umum di suatu restoran di kota ini. Senyum pun mengembang (*grin*).

Senyum semakin gede setelah melihat apa yang tersaji di meja.... pot-pot sambal! termasuk salah satunya cabe ijo kegemaran saya! Jadi saya bisa bebas ngambil sambal semaunya. yay! Catatan: Ini pertama kali saya liat ada sambal nangkring di atas meja restoran. Makanannya pun ternyata gak mengecewakan,..seenggak-enggaknya jauh lebih baik dari pada restoran asia lain yang pernah saya coba.

Kesana lagi? Pastinya!

Morning Has Broken

After not being able to sleep until 3am last night, sleep-in was what I need this morning. But unfortunately I couldn't. A very annoying-noisy noise woke me up at about 8am. So loud that I couldn't go back to sleep and had to get up. Hhhhh....

Found out that the noise came from the apartment building about 3 blocks away from my apartment. An empty land at the back of my apartment made clear and loud sound went straight to my bedroom.

Here is what happened, taken from my bedroom window.

Yep, bunch of men were cleaning apartment building's wall. They certainly did a good job, in cleaning the building (the wall looks white rather than brown now), but they also has successfully ruined my morning.

Anyhoo, interesting to see how they do it. That's why I took the pic.

What Has Happened

Here is what has happened in the past few days

Unpack our stuff (of course!), which packed in 71 boxes, weight more than 1400 kg.

Taking out things from the boxes are easy. It finished in 3 days. But arranging and tidy things up around the house, that does took more than a week.

House is more like a house now. No more echoes because of empty big space. All drawers and cabinet filled. I’m surrounded by things that familiar to me. Even the smell of the house changed. Smell like our house.

Found a scale from one of the boxes. Found out I put on weight. 2 kg. (oops!). Exercise! I need exercise!

Had gain another bad habit. Lucky if I can sleep before 2am. Then I’ll get up very late and feel tired the whole morning. Will feel better and have more energy around 5pm onwards, and less and less dream! I found this very very strange.

Had enjoyed a few drinks since I've been here but no allergy reaction. Yay! But I drank the most poisoned cocktail I've ever had last week, one glass of vodka with mix fruit juice. Not only it calm me down (very strangely too “calm”) (*grin*), but also gave itchiness for a week. The worst I've ever had!

Attended the weirdest wedding I've ever been to. For the start, reception started at 8.30pm (which make me eat something before we go) Women guest placed in different room with men guest. Then the meal didn’t come out until 11.30pm (glad I’m smart enough to have noodles before we go). Few big round tables and chairs, big video screen screening what the couple’s doing before and at the reception, a decorated stage for bride, cheerful and romantic music with a blast sound system, and dance floor in women’s room. Only tables and chairs in men’s room, but they got appetiser first. The strangest thing was that men’s guest can’t see the bride! What’s the point to go to a wedding if you can’t see the bride and groom? But apart from all odd, we are glad we were invited. I was lucky enough to be in women’s room as I could see both bride and groom. The Bride was beautiful and gloomed. The Groom looked happy. They danced on the dance floor so romantically, like they were the only people in the world, whilst guest and cameramen were busy taking pictures and video. They looked very relax, happy, and in love! I’ve never seen anything like that in a wedding party. I almost burst in tears! We wished them a happy new life together.

Had been hearing lots of ‘local’ top-40 music. I think my brain and ears have finally agreed to accept peculiar melody, beat, music, and language local music have. Simply to say that I didn’t have headache anymore when I hear them and I started humming some of local songs now. ;p

Had abandoned Peter Carey’s “My Life As A Fake”. I think I’ll give it a break and shift to Harry Potter, since Harry Potter season is here. New movie and new book just came out. Harry Potter is everywhere. It reminded me that I haven’t read the last book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Good time to be back to reading routine.

Old Music, Old Theatre

In an old Roman Amphitheatre at downtown of Amman last Thursday, we sat under the stars and spent the night listening to classic music concert complete with the Choir. They played famous classical numbers such as Choral Fantasy (Beethoven), Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin), and Carmina Burana (Carl Orff).

I'm not an expert in music, but I love classic music and enjoyed listening to it every now and then. The concert was good. The Orchestra and Choir were professional. The musicians played very well, and the choir did a great job especially on Carmina Burana. But there's something I can't explain that I think was missing. I didn't get a dramatic sensation or goosebumps I thought I would get. I'm not sure why. Might be the sound system, or might be my expection is too high, or might be because I didn't sit at the middle,...I don't know.

Anyway, listened to old classical music at the old ancient Roman Amphitheatre..... I would say that's a rare experience and I'm glad I was there to experience it.

and here is a bit of the video from the concert when they performed Carmina Burana. This time the video is originally uploaded by me. Yes, I'm starting to upload own video on utube now. :)

Enjoy!

It's All About Waiting

Another weekend has gone

(have I mentioned that weekend here is Friday and Saturday?)

and here I am, still

waiting for our stuff,

waiting for car registration and paper works,

waiting for other paper work (better not to mention what it is here),

waiting someone to fix air con,

waiting for someone to fix the floor,

waiting for someone to fix kitchen's plumb,

waiting.. waiting...

Inhale.... exhale....

patient,

lots of patient,

relax,

and enjoy the wait

(*sigh*)

PS:

Pretty sure I'll lose my temper if i didn't get my stuff by next week.

From My Old Mailbox

I didn't get many letters for myself, what we received were mainly bills, and lots of advertising 'junk' mails every now and then. But also from it, I received some good news, packages and interesting things to read.

Now I miss it.

Here, there's no such thing called 'mailbox' in houses or residences. No mailbox on the street for people to send letters. There's no such occupation as a Postman. People don't usually know and recognise name of the streets. They have to go to post office if they want to send letters or package. People have to rent mail box in the post office. So most of postal address here are PO Box.

This is only one of many unique things this country have.

First Concert

Last Monday we went to the a concert of a female singer called Souad Massi. Who the hell is she? we did not know. We never heard her name before, nor hear her songs. But we don't care. We were still very interested to go. Why? Because of where the concert gonna be held. It would be a concert under the stars, in one of the roman amphitheater in the ancient city called Jerash, about 1 hour drive from Amman. How cool would it be??!!

And I was right. Everything was great. The singer, the songs, the location, environment, crowd, all were fantastic. Only one thing, I couldn't understand any words they said. People on stage, including the singer spoke and sang in French and Arabic. But it's ok, not too annoying. I was surprise that the performance was far from glamorous. Massi looked very modest and simple, nice and humble. She wore very simple white top and pant, not much make up, no special hair style, and no jewellery. Most of the songs have nice beat and rhytym, mix of folk, rock, and traditional Algerian music. Very easy to listened and enjoyed, especially for us who listen the songs for the first time. She also play guitar. Always like singer who can play music instrument. And apparently she is quite famous. Chek out more about her in here. If curious what kind of music and song she had, check this out.

And about the place itself, the amphiteater... it was amazing. Was built thousands and thousands years ago (sometimes BC!), I was thrilled! Kind of place that gave me goosebumps. I imagined people who built it, try to picture this place and Roman people and the small village surround it at the time when it was built. How they died and the place extinct and buried....... Hiiii.....
Was it looked like roman village we saw in the movies ??? Who knows....
Another thing is the village of Jerash used to be called Gerasa or Gerasene. And Gerasene is mentioned in bible! (Mark 5:1 and Luke 8:26). Am I a little be too excited here? :D
But truly, standing, sitting and looking at that historical place, it's just.....amazing....(*excited sigh*).
As I am now live near to all the places that also mentioned in bible and all of historical places, dont be surprise, dont get bored if I say 'amazing'... over and over and over again. ;D

Anyhoo, time to shut up and start cook dinner. Here is some PHOTOS for you to enjoy.