Turtle Hunting and Other Random Adventures

Nothing too exciting happening in M-ville these days (and let’s be honest, that is the way we like it).  The weather is hot. A is busy with work. Little t is getting new teeth. I visited the neighbors a few days ago. We are living life…and loving it!  Here are some random tid-bits from our life lately.

***We have several mulberry trees in our yard that have thousands of toots (word for mulberry here) on them.  When ripe, they fall on the ground leaving a gooey, sticky mess.  kAkA has been bringing his kids over to collect them this week so that has been exciting.  He has 4 kids. He has brought the three younger ones and then two of his brother-in-law’s kids. They hold a big sheet out and then he uses a stick to shake the branches and the toots fall out into the sheet.  They put them into a bucket and take them home. He keeps giving them to me, but we don’t like them, so I give them to the neighbors.  Little t has loved having other kids around. They are very very good with Little t and he enjoys playing with them.  The last two times they have been here at least one of them has offered to take Little t home for a few days and keep him for us.  Culturally it would be unthinkable for us to actually let that happen (the women in the office can’t believe that Little t does not sleep in the same bed with us) but it is fun that they offer. 

***On Easter Sunday we went on a hike in the hills (more to come about that later) and found a turtle on the way back to the car.  We were excited about it and it now lives in the garden.  There is another one that showed up here in the yard, so we have two turtles that we see from time to time.  Yesterday while Little t and I were in the yard, he was pointing toward the area where we saw the turtles last time.  I asked if he wanted to look for them and he nodded.  So, we went on a turtle hunt. I said “hmmm, I wonder were the turtles are”. Then Little t said “hmmm”.  He proceeded to walk around the whole yard with his hands on his hips saying “hmmm” as we looked for the turtles.  We didn’t find them in the end, but it was a grand adventure, let me tell you!  The big kids found the turtles later in the day and Little t is fascinated. 

***Our yard is ever the hub of excitement. I saw a neighbor boy beginning to climb over the wall into our yard today.  I left my lunch making to go out and see what he was doing.  Usually they lose their ball when playing soccer, etc.  As I stepped into the garden and asked what he needed (as he was hanging from the wall) he said, “stop, no no no! Don’t come in here! Go get your dog, but don’t come in here!” I told him that I didn’t have a dog and asked what he was talking about as I took a step forward.  Again he said, “don’t come in here! There is a snake! It will bite you!”  At that moment, his mother popped up on her side of the wall and after we had gone through the greetings, she explained that there had been a snake in their yard and when they had tried to kill it with a shovel it had ended up in our yard.  I asked a little more, but still have no idea if it was thrown into our yard or crawled into our yard, or…no idea. 

Anyway, we spent the next 20 minutes tip-toeing through the garden with shovels (him a big shovel, me a hand shovel) looking for this snake.  kAkA was gone eating lunch and A was at a wedding for lunch, so I was left to fend for myself.  To be honest, I was more humored by the whole thing than scared.  We rustled up all of the grass and weeds and found nothing.  Finally, after promising not to let Little t out of the house until he found and killed the snake (he was about 12), the boy left out the gate.  A returned then and I told him about the excitement.  He went to the garden with his shovel and looked some more but came up empty.

A few minutes later there was much cheering on the other side of the wall and the boy climbed on top of the wall to inform A that they had found the snake and we now had permission to let Little t out of the house.  Whew! (By the way, for all you worriers out there, the snake was a little tiny thing and it is very unlikely that it was dangerous.)

***A just returned from a wedding lunch thing…he was shocked that he had to wait 20 MINUTES before the food came.  I was indignant and reminded him that the last wedding I went to, we waited 4 hours for the food to come.  I am headed to the female half of this wedding tonight after Little t goes to bed, so we will see who has to wait for food longer.  

That is a big talk right now…about the difference between the way men and women are served here.  It started with a discussion by one of our co-workers who went to a very poor wedding in a house (most are held in wedding halls).  The families didn’t have much money and had done everything very simply. They hired someone to play music from 10 pm to 2 am.  Aziza, our co-worker got ready to leave (as did many of the other guests) at midnight because the bride and the food still had not arrived. The men had not given permission for the musician to stop playing for them and be able to go play for the women and the entrance of the bride.  Finally at 2 am, the musician quit and left and the bride showed up in tears, to no music and virtually no guests…men here can be jerks (to put it mildly).

A has a beautiful story about a man who was not a jerk, but I want him to tell it before I share…so stay tuned for some a story that will give some redeeming value to those with testosterone.

***In other news…there are big changes for the future regarding our team here in M-ville.  A lot of shifting of people due to the absence of a teacher, roles changing throughout the country, etc. Thankfully, we have peace about being here and are able to just ride the storm out.  Our biggest suspense through this is which of the ‘big’ houses we will get to move into. While we wish we didn’t get to move (because we like our teammates and wish it would work out so they could stay) we are excited about the prospect of having a guest room, outdoor dining area, etc.  So, soon we will be set up and ready to entertain guests…come on over!

***A word of warning – though we have a blimp flying over M-ville these days, there is no Goodyear Tire dealership here.  People are kinda freaked out by the Hindenburg sized balloon that is grazing our blue skies.  Everyone always asks what it is (like I know?!?). We try to ensure them that it is being used by the military to keep everyone safe. And we try to convincingly say that it is not being used to spy on people. Although, I will be honest, I feel a little creeped out being in my yard knowing that it is “watching”.  So, if you happen to be in this area and are in need of tires, don’t migrate towards the blimp, I am told they aren’t too friendly at the military base…

***We were asked if we were from Iran twice while out shopping the other day.  We take this as a compliment (because it means that we fit in-ish).

***I am struggling…some days I feel more proud of my garden than I do of my son.  I mean, I love the kid and all, but he isn’t producing zucchini, cilantro, spinach, lettuce, chives, green beans, strawberries, citrus trees, and flowers, now is he?!?  Little t and I spend a lot of time in the garden these days.  I have given up on my flower pots and no longer get all hot and bothered when he yanks the spindly green plants out of them.  Walking through the poppy patch still gets his momma a little worked up though. But we are both working on understanding each other better.  Basically, I just let him play in however much mud and water he wants to…

I am also very happy to announce that three of our four citrus trees are indeed living!  We planted these four trees (two orange and two lemon) that one of A’s co-workers had given him. They didn’t look that great when we first put them in the ground and admittedly, we didn’t really know what we were doing! Then they just looked downright dead for a few weeks…to the point that I considered yanking them out.  But one of them came around and now has beautiful leaves.  A few weeks later, I was considering yanking the others, but as I weeded around two of them, I realized that they had little tiny leaves coming out at the base of them…and the trunk was green! So, there may be hope after all.  But in all seriousness, we spend at least an hour in the garden every day and we love it.  It has become very theraputic for me and a good bonding time for the little squirt and I.

***Is anyone else blown away by the fact that it is the middle of May already?!?  I just can’t believe how quickly time is flying!  July and Dubai will be here in no time! Yippee!!!

And on that random note, I will end this completely random post. Have a great end to the week everyone!