let's hear it for bilingualists! or something like that...

and

so similar, but oh so different.

flashback three years ago. friday night. sometime between september and june. after dinner. picture a room of no less than nine native english speakers trying to convince two native hebrew speakers that it's really not difficult to play taboo in your second language. "it's so easy!" "you know all these words anyway!" "come ON! it's not THAT hard" (that last one was tinged with frustration in case you didn't catch that.)

one was convinced.

one was not. and she did not play the whole night.

the rest of us rolled with laughter at the verbal acrobatics that each one underwent in order to NOT say:

Finance

Plan

Monthly

Annual

Rental

while causing their team to guess BUDGET before the time ran out!!!

honestly, my heart was filled with compassion for the struggling non-native english speakers. it wasn't easy at all. but I sure was having fun! and laughing my head off! and guessing about a MILLION correct answers!

flashback to present day. yesterday, to be exact. saturday night. october 24. after dinner.

picture a postage-stamp sized yard filled with no less than nine native hebrew speakers trying to convince two...wait a sec! it wasn't QUITE like that. i'm a good sport. no convincing was needed.

okay. waaaayyyy more difficult than i could have imagined. "i mean, sure, i can use that word in a sentence, but do i really have a clue what it actually means???" "are you SURE that's a word?" "you're sure now, cause in these last four years i'm certain i have never seen or heard it...EVER!?"

and just try to do that whole "glance-for-1/8-of-a-second-and-read-five-words-at-once-thing". not gonna' work here friend. i had to actually read each word, and that takes waaaayyyy longer. and all the while the little grains of sand are falling falling falling at an alarmingly fast pace in that little egg timer! hurry! hurry!!! HURRY!!!!!

it was fun.

and my compassion deepened for all second language speakers.

on a different yet related note: i think that this sweeping statement may just be correct. spanish speakers are not afraid to step out on a limb and communicate, even if they make mistakes. hiLARious mistakes. and that is a very endearing quality.

culture shock and libraries

after three weeks of doing little bits of grocery shopping at the local corner store, and walking to the regular grocery store for a bag of necessities, last wednesday i finally ventured into the real grocery store at a regular time of the day (530pm) to do a good sized food shop. i mean, i had to take a cart with me and everything! generally when at all possible, i do without a cart. seriously, who has energy to push that thing around for just a few items. and here, the aisles are so narrow, that two carts can not pass in opposite directions, so it's just easier to load my arms or fill my reusable shopping bags and carry them as i shop.

back to the story. grocery store. evening. obstinate grocery cart that does not go straight. (usa'ers: please thank Jesus every day that your grocery carts go in a straight line. you will never know what joy it is until you are wrestling your grocery cart down narrow aisles packed full of rushing people, stock boys filling the shelves, pallets of dry goods and screaming children everywhere. just fyi.)

okay, story. can we all saw CULTURE SHOCK!?!?!?! yeah. shock. shockingly in shock. this was the biggest culture shock i think that i have had for a while. generally i just float right back into "how-it-is" but somehow the grocery store...i was not prepared.

probably because i went to the grocery store with my mom every time she went. cause it's fun. crazily air-conditioned. full of wonderful food. fun to be with my mom. calming.

things i love about america

line etiquette

drive-thru

bank

restaurant

pharmacy

liquor store

wait...WHAT???

you heard me right. DRIVE THRU LIQUOR STORE. oh, and open 24 HRS !!!

back to the list at hand:

mail boxes

beautiful lovely cozy homey mail boxes

deciduous trees

i must say that there is nothing quite as lovely as the leaves changing colors in the fall

green green oh so green grass

you have NO idea what you're living without until...you're living without it.

wide streets

wide parking spaces
wide grocery store aisles

line etiquette

more than one entrance to parking lots

oh, did i mention line etiquette

there was something vastly soothing that for an entire eight weeks i did not have to guard my place in line by standing practically on top of the person in front of me, for fear that someone would see that six inch gap between the front of my shirt and the back of his and interpret that as an opportunity to "line jump" and get closer to the front.

what else do i love?

oh libraries. libraries. libraries. public libraries.

someone should write a song about the joy that a library truly does give.

i could spend days in the library and not come out. well, except for when the "lets pick up chicks who read" guys hit on you. sigh. true tis true.

scene: abigail with her arms stacked with books and cds, searching for a dvd to borrow. tall african man comes and begins to make small talk. and ACTION!

first of all, help a girl out here! you are ten feet taller than me. craning my neck back to see you and holding a tower of books in my arms equals girl is going to topple over!

secondly, "you're beautiful. i want to take you out." somehow in my mind the logic seems faulty here. if by saying that i am beautiful he expects me to ascent to his spending money on me to get me to allow him to spend time with me, a woman whom he just laid eyes upon for the first time three minutes ago. hello!

the truth be told, though, i was flattered. and he was beautiful. enough said.

being different is really a good thing

while i was recently in the states, i had a few experiences in which i found myself to be different than at least 95% of the people around me.

the dear husband of a woman i know passed away after a long and hard battle with cancer. loving Jesus every step of the way, he passed away with a minimal amount of pain and suffering. this was truly a miracle. after arriving at the church for the wake before the funeral- which was going to be an all day event- i thought very little of the women in white standing around the sanctuary. that is until my mother pointed out that it was good they had enough nurses on hand.

NURSES? whatever for? the man already passed away.

apparently this is for those who may be so overcome by grief and crying that they feel faint or even lose consciousness during the funeral. point taken. i have never been to a funeral where the grieving has even come close to hysteria that people would begin to faint. totally different point of reference for these particular funeral proceedings as opposed to all other funerals that i had witnessed in my life.

who's to say what is better anyway? bottling the grief up inside and it only exploding in bitterness and sickness? hysteria on the point of fainting, but at least touching the depth of grief felt? seven days set aside for a concerted effort to grieve? the outward grieving must be healthier than keeping it in. definitely!

last monday, labor day, after whirlwind of events and changes and upheaval, my parents moved yet again. this is not a shocking event, as they have moved approximately every two-three years the entire 31 years they have been married. my mom hates moving. i was actually around and able to pack up the apartment and help them get settled into the new place. 40 minutes from where they have lived the last 25 years. a different county. P.G. county. if that doesn't mean anything to you, fine. but, really. from montgomery county to PG county. that's not just a move. that's like an entire paradigm shift...at least in some ways.

my entire life my family has always been the minority where we have lived. except for the first neighborhood we lived in while in MD, that is. we were there for two years. i was little. didn't make too much of an impression, obviously. so, we are used to living with all sorts of different neighbors. montgomery county is HUGELY racially diverse.

pg county is not. my parents are still very clearly in the minority. when i went to the walmart (which, by the way, has a nail salon, subway and a branch of the "urban trust" bank located inside) i was suddenly struck, after 45 minutes of wandering around, that there was no one else, of the hundreds of people filling the walmart at 8pm, who looked like me. no blonde hair. no blue eyes. you get the picture. "wow!" i thought. "this is so COOL!" i thought. "i LOVE this!!!"

every store i walked into, people turned to greet me. everywhere i walked, people said hello. even at stop lights, the people in the cars next to me talked, said hi, and good naturedly laughed as i danced and sang my heart out.

and no, it wasn't only men! for those of you inclined to think that it was because i'm a blonde young woman in the midst of loads of other non-blonde people.

it was incredible.

at the gas station.

walmart.

shoppers food warehouse.

the stoplight.

the other stoplight.

target.

old navy.

safeway.

i lived in a snobby county for most of my life, and didn't realize that life could truly be more friendly.

inspiring.

picture of the day

i wish i could have snapped a picture of the 20-something woman at safeway this morning doing her shopping in pajamas and multi-colored curlers.

wish i could have snapped a picture of the man driving the wrong way on the street through the stoplight and into oncoming traffic.

should have gotten a picture of the glass bowl in a million pieces that was almost my new computer. scary!

but in lieu of any really amazing pictures from today, i will post the longest dreds in the world. ever. in the entire world. because i know. i've been everywhere.

teaching time focusing tool

evening walks

walking home from the grocery store through the field next to the basketball courts for the elementary school, this is what i saw. pretty awesome huh?

thankfully the breeze is cooler this evening. the last few days were not pleasant. heat during the day is bearable, but when it's stifling at night, ugh! "i cayn't staynd it!"

who knows what movie that is from? hmm???

going public

it brings such joy to read about the laughs and trials and foibles and sleepless nights and funny experiences in everyone else's lives. maybe you will enjoy reading some of mine.

oh, and seeing what i do when i'm bored and don't have anything interesting to write. :-)

best outfit of the day. (notice the "anklet"- my favorite detail):

say what???

one thing that is so funny are the spelling errors that happen a lot here. because english isn't the main language, and most names at least, are transliterated into english, there are many humorous mistakes that come about as a result of that.

take these examples:



another funny thing is the way people park. parking spaces are not the goal in parking car. space is the goal. take this example. unfortunately my perspective wasn't great, so you miss out on the fact that this is in the MIDDLE of the lane in the parking lot.

yes, the middle.

and then a favorite from today. this is the menu. translated into english. very good. should have had someone spell check though... (bad pic...hope you can read it. hysterical!)

fyi- homos=hummous

got the chocolate but missed the white

yesterday i spend the evening with alonah yannay. her brother had an end-of-the-year party at his kindergarten, and younger siblings were not invited to come. so the two of us headed off for some fun girl time. where did we go? to the mall of course. it's her destination of choice for having fun. such a girl! :-)

while there we ate nuggets and fries from McD's. then we got ice cream. she picked out her own and i searched for something too. and then i saw it. MAGNUM! yum!

for those of you who have never experienced a magnum ice cream bar, you don't know what you are missing. it is my favorite, but somehow for the last two years i haven't had a magnum, not even ONCE! the time had come to rectify this horribly neglected issue.

and then i saw it. magnum desire. dark chocolate. berries. ice cream. really, what more could a girl want (in an ice cream bar i mean). i quickly read the full description- ice cream and cranberry syrup swirled together with frozen cranberries, dark chocolate chips and hazelnuts blended together. perfect! rich dark chocolate with the sour berry taste and crunchiness.



bought it. paid for it. took it outside. opened it and...

it was covered in white chocolate.

now i'm an equal opportunity girl, but some things are just not supposed to be white. and chocolate is one of those things.

sigh. it was still good. but not as good as it would have been with dark chocolate.

next time- brown chocolate. DARK chocolate. no whities. sorry! :-)

more fun with flickr

Rules: a) Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search (http://www.flickr.com/). b) Using ONLY the first page, pick an image. c) Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Mosaic Maker. Change rows to 3 and columns to 3 (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php). d) Save the image and post it! The Questions: 1. What is your first name? 2. What is your favorite food? 3. What is your favorite color? 4. Favorite band? 5. Dream vacation? 6. Favorite hobby? 7. What you want to be when you grow up? 8. What do you love? 9. One word to describe you

cd cover

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band. (You may ignore any parenthetical words if your random article title contains them, at your discretion.)
2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations" or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

rain drops keep falling...

i want to kiss whoever invented rain boots. the most amazing invention. especially for the rare 29 year old woman who like to stomp through puddles and dance in the rain!

movie review

saturday movie night~ generally i and my apartment-mates watch a movie on saturday afternoon/evening. such a great way to relax and enjoy an entire day off! this is what we watched last night.

march 21, 2008
the great debaters

my first clue to the fact that i was going to love this movie is denzel washington. he is a great actor and also a beautiful human being. :-)

secondly, i'm a sucker for the "under-dog that becomes the top-dog" type of plots. and if it's based on a true story, perfect!

another big selling point for me is the time period that the movie is set in. anytime from the 20's-50's and i'm a huge fan.

the plot was great. emotional. moving. dramatic. a bit of romance thrown. loved it!

as you can see i'm not such a snobby movie connoisseur. this one great and definitely worth the investment of time, energy, emotion...and popcorn preparation. very important aspect of movie watching- snacks. popcorn. guacamole and tortilla chips. chocolate. carbonated drink. any of it or all of it! as you like.

currently reading

the reason for it all

why start a blog? well, actually i was very faithfully blogging for a time, but have had a serious break for the last 3+ years. so much happens in life. see so much. experience so much. every day there is something memorable- no matter how ho-hum or exciting it may be. and that needs to be remembered. pictures. words. thoughts. feelings.

first of all this is for me. and second of all, for you.

to look at my past blog life: www.xanga.com/abnergirl

bird on a wire part II

edit: just ran back to my office to get something i forgot and wasn't i lucky to see the big cranes leaving the television studio! guess you can't make celebs sleep in a cage 30 meters in the air. my photography skills leave much to be desired...especially while driving.

bird on a wire...or something like that

there is no end to the mania and utter bizarreness that happens every day. usually it is not quite this extreme. in the way to the third in a series of budget meetings (can you hear the joy in my voice?) a sudden sound erupted from the entrance of the driveway to our offices. honestly my first thought was that someone was being attacked by a wild animal. more accurately, that a group of teenage girls was being attacked. the incessant high pitched shrieking was terrifying! what are they shrieking? "SHIMIIIIIIIIII! SHIMMMMIIIII!!!!!" what in the world...????

big brother is a television show not only in the usa, but in other locations around the world. copy-cat shows. in the same way that "american idol" is a take-off of a british program and "america's next top model" also has "australia's next top model" and "the taliban's next top model" (just kidding about the taliban) we have our own "big brother" here. with cable service you can order a channel which runs a LIVE broadcast 24/7 of these people stuck in one house together.

oh...and let us not forget, this season is "celebrity big brother". sigh.

and for the record, their studio location is, that's right, 100 meters from my office. double sigh.

so we have many rabid star crazed fans coming to our office not to try to see the stars, but to SCREAM loud enough to be heard. and today, being like every other day, had those fans coming again. yet today, unbeknownst to us, there is a twist. do you see that picture above? yep, you guessed it. the celebs. from big brother. hanging in a cage. from a crane. over the tv studio.

"SHIIIIIIMMMMMMMMIIIIIIIII!!!!!" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimi_Tavori)

at least the girls weren't being attacked by a wild dog.

fruit actually grows on trees!!!

growing up in the suburbs around washington d.c. the closest that i got to nature was either 1) at butler's orchard to pick pumpkins and see how apple cider is made and 2) on our family fun day visiting a local "farm" (aka a small stable with two horses and one cow). by the way, on this family fun day at the farm one of the lovely horses took the opportunity to sneese directly into my face. thanks to that lovely animal, i am now, sadly allergic, to lovely horses. extremely. to the point of not being able to breathe. oh well. that was the extent of my exposure to nature, crops, animals, farms, et al...

on that note, i clearly remember the first time that i saw fruit actually hanging on a tree. gorgeous orange clementines hanging between branches full of dark shiny green leaves. the next most lovely fruit on the tree that i found is the lemon. the smell of the lemons is just incredible. when i was in cyprus last month i went for a walk one evening and passed by a lemon tree on the side of the road. full of ripe lemons glistening in the moonlight after the rain had fallen. it was too tempting and i couldn't resist. the fragrance of lemons filled my pockets.

ceramic tiles

on friday night i went out to eat with two of my dear friends. generally this is a time to eat with family and friends...at someone's house. however this time we went out. and it was lovely. we ordered steak, steak and fish. my fish was whole- scales, fins, bones, eyes, tail...the whole package. absolutely deliciously served on a bed of greens.

and this? this is the tile on the floor next to the table. gorgeousness. love the beauty.

pondering thoughts

a reflective introspective processing and method of appraising the current state of thoughts, life, emotions, motivations and actions. if there was one motive for writing a blog, that would be it. it remains to be seen if this will take...