Number Randomness, and Homemade Hot Pockets

33 DAYS in Kuwait. Really? Already? ONE month plus?? Wow.

 

94 DAYS since we packed out of Amman. I really miss our stuff. And our truck. So…

 

NOT ENOUGH – Things. In our house. We have things, but are still ‘camping’. Ninja is concerned as she notes the lack of stuff.

 

TWO weeks – is the time it took for Ninja to forgive her siblings for this move. I’ll have to blog more about that later!

 

TWO kids in school and settling in well. They really seem to like their new schedules, teachers, and routine.

 

5’6” – the height of one 11 year old boy. He also broke 100lbs this summer. I don’t think he’s going to wait until his teens to be taller than me.

4’7” – the height of one 9 year old girl. She’s working hard to catch up with her brother.

At least 4 – the number of brand new, previously well fitting, purchased in July, school uniform pieces already out grown. (Not counting the Hanes plain white tees for PE shirts… they shrank… about 6 inches!! *shakes fist*)

 

114/74 – This momma’s blood pressure. After a walk to the clinic in 100+ heat and getting a vaccine shot. (Hey, it may be a silly stat, but I’m happy with it… at my age and on no meds, I like to see these numbers, hanging in there at a very good level, consistently too!)

 

99F at 12 noon – and me thinking that it’s cool out there. Summer temps do NOT mess around here and we will no doubt be over 100F soon. This is ‘normal’. Honestly, there’s also a touch of humidity in the air, and often a breeze too. I don’t find it to be all that bad out there. (note: 30 minutes later, and it’s 102F)

ZERO – the number of our plugs and adapters that would fit in the *%#&*$-ing electrical outlets in this house. You’d think, with all of our time overseas and buying basic electronics overseas, we’d have ALL of the needed adapters. Right? No. Our house has US 220V outlets… which, of course, I have NEVER seen in the US. These aren’t the massive appliance plugs, they are completely different and totally useless to everything we own.

Now, obviously, once we obtained adapters, (thankfully the warehouse has them) we could use all of our appliances because most of the items we own our dual voltage, but still… how inconvenient! 

 

2-3 LAPS – that I walk around the embassy every morning. A great way to start the day with a new friend.

1 YOGA class – just started last week. We’ll see how my creaky knees agree with this. So far, really well except one move, the full boat pose. It didn’t hurt. My muscles did not feel too weak, it just seems to be a move which my knees are simply not constructed to make. I cannot straighten/lift my legs straight out in front of me while sitting in a chair either… I can bring them up, but my kneecaps do not track properly and I sort of have to do a sideways motion to make it happen. This one move is not looking possible! (The issue with the knees is not the unknown, I’ve been to orthopedic specialists, but what I can or cannot do with yoga will be a learning experience!)

 

TWO Karate classes a week, for the kids, starting today. We’ll see how that goes.

MULTIPLE – Outings. We’ve been out and about a bit in Kuwait. To a restaurant. A couple of friend’s homes. Shopping. We really have been focused on getting settled into our new routines and have not been interested in exploring much. One thing at a time!

ONE – New online radio channel. ExoSphere radio! Check them out (I’ve added a link in my sidebar) as they really have a great selection of music. From their “About” on Facebook – “A collaboration of friends from all over the planet wishing to share their unique cultural melodies that bring us together in the human symphony of life...”

 
TWO – at least – new pets. We have geckos that run around our house. They use the air ducts. I wanted to name the big guy ‘Newt’ as from the movie Aliens “We'd better get back, 'cause it'll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night... mostly.” … but the kids named it “Greg”. There’s also a very tiny baby we call Gregito.



I think that’s enough numbers, maybe, for now… and so on to a handy school lunch recipe, which is something I need more of because we have to have lunches packed FIVE days a week… I like to have things that are portable, not too messy, and can be eaten without having to be warmed up.

I had made a pot roast with potatoes, onions and carrots cooked with. There was not much left over, it was a small roast, and when I chopped up the remainder (diced it) I had maybe 2 cups of ‘filling’. I added grated cheese and some minced spinach (from frozen) and some spice to make it more tasty, and ended up with about 3 cups of fill. It doesn’t look all that yummy here, but it really has lots of goodness here, all chopped up and mixed together...

Then I made a simple dough recipe, as follows:

1/4 oz yeast (1 packet, 1 tbsp, approx… this is flexible)

1 cup warm water

– Add the yeast to the water and allow to sit for about 10 minutes to proof.

3 cups flour

2 tbsp oil ( I use olive oil)

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

Combine dry ingredients. Stir in yeast mixture. Knead until smooth and elastic.

For this ‘hot pocket’ recipe, I actually used a batch and a half of the dough.

This is a great dough. You can add herbs, like rosemary or whatever you like, form it into a ball, and let it rise and bake it as a bread. You can roll it out and use it like pizza dough. Whatever. This thing is a working dough. I rolled it out, not too thin, and hacked it into squares of approximately equal size – measuring is for wimps:

Each square got a pile of filling…

and then it was rolled into a ball…

Bake on lightly greased cookie sheet, at 350F, for about 10-14 minutes. You have to watch because cooking time may vary depending on the size of the balls and thickness of the dough… the filling was cooked, so that wasn’t an issue.

Remember to turn them about half way through to brown them more evenly… oops!…

Hand them over to your test subjects for final approval… silly testers will do…

Last step for school lunches …. HIDE the ones you want saved for actual school lunches or they will be eaten!! I had made a pot of chili on the side while prepping these and they (my tasters and their dad) quickly discovered that these filled breads taste great dipped in chili, which is good, but this grabbing and absconding cuts into the original purpose of my making the durn things! They warmed up well and withstood the abuse of transport in a lunch box. I managed to get two lunches (plus two unauthorized dinner sides) out of this batch.

Three Years Already? aka Goodbye Amman

I can hardly believe it. School ended, and the next thing I know, the movers are at the house and in just one day, all of our stuff was *poof* – wrapped up in boxes -

The cats were so confused! They got a lot of reassuring, but they did not like the disruption. To be safe, they spent the two moving days locked up in one of the bathrooms. We locked up all of our suitcases, important paperwork, etc. in another bathroom too. The movers were great about what they did and did not pack, but it is always good to be careful.

Day 2 of packout was simply getting everything weighed, crated, and then, it was gone.

The kids helped by staying out of the way!

With all of our stuff gone, we went out to dinner several times. We had a lovely traditional Lebanese meal at Fakhr El-Din with the office, and after Honor and her best friend had a big play date, we went out to dinner a different night with our friends (who we already miss so much!!!) to Copacabana, a wonderful Brazilian style churrascaria.  The beef was top-notch, but the great company was what made the whole evening unforgettable!

We had no toys left in the house, but give kids some boxes and they’ll have fun!

Ninja is actually in this ‘box apartment complex’ with the two girls somewhere too… she loves to be involved!

Brad took us out to Yoshi for tepanyaki/Japanese cuisine one night. We still had access to loaner cookware in the welcome kit that the embassy provides, once our belongings were packed away, but all of my spices and things were gone! Cooking isn’t much fun in an empty kitchen. We enjoyed our meal on the terrace.

Brian was so hungry that he ate two entrees! He also discovered that crab rangoon is totally delicious. It’s good when kids learn to enjoy good foods, but the bad thing is having to share all the good stuff with the kids ;D !!
 
We had to do some last minute cleaning, including erasing the ‘growth chart’ on the door jamb. So much change in just three years!

Our upstairs neighbors, owners of the building, had us over for a nice ‘goodbye’ dinner too, along with another American family/friends of ours in the building, and then… too suddenly… the van showed up to take us to the airport. It happened that quickly. School ended, packed up, and on the road.

We had a great driver from the embassy. Very nice guy who helped us load our bags and unload everything at the airport. First thing to do upon arrival at the airport, was to go through security. Bags are easy. Cats? Not so much. They had to be removed from their crates, the crates x-rayed, and the cats walked through the inspection/metal detector lines. The airport was loud and scary and the cats did NOT want to come out of their crates.

I was the designated cat wrangler, so Brad went through first to get bags and crates. The kids stayed back to pass things through and watch what was on the outside end waiting. I pulled each cat out of their crate – they huddled into my arms and under my chin… and then I’d walk them around, and put them back in their cage… which they were very happy to return to! It wasn’t really that bad, and we did one cat at a time, but it felt something like this:

(After we got to the gate and were waiting to board, Honor asked me to ‘draw something’… the cat ordeal being fresh in my mind, this is what I came up with.)

Anyway, after security, it was pretty easy. We had to check in, and that involved going to a separate line to pay the extra baggage fees (for the cats – we only had one suitcase each, but the cats were extra), and then we handed over bags and cats, and headed to the gate. The Air France personnel at Amman airport were very helpful and professional.

We had about an hour yet to wait, and fortunately, although Amman’s airport is still rather small (they are working on a big, impressive-looking upgrade) there are plenty of restaurants and cafes to provide a comfy sit down place.

Our first flight, from Amman to Paris, went very smoothly. When we arrived in Paris, we had to collect all of our bags, and the cats, and re-check in. Not very convenient, but it was a good chance to check on the cats. We pretty much had to walk all the way out of the airport, not quite to the curb but almost, and then back in… as if we were coming in from the city… which was odd, but what they heck, it worked.

I have had to completely revise my opinion about Air France and Charles de Gualle airport. We’d had a number of very bad experiences with them long ago… it was just completely uncomfortable, unhelpful, inconvenient, disorganized, etc… and we have been avoiding them for years now. Using them this time was unavoidable though, and we were very pleasantly surprised. Very pleasant, so VERY surprised. It was like a whole new airline and airport!! In my opinion, they’ve gone from totally horrible, to amazingly friendly, efficient, clean, organized, etc. Everything about our flights, baggage handling and cat transport was handled very well, and I am now looking forward to traveling with them again soon!

Anyway, arriving in Paris, we were starting to get quite tired. We’d left the house in Amman at 10pm, after a long day (no, we didn’t nap beforehand – that would have made sense, but we didn’t do it), we’d flown out at 1am, and arrived Paris at, I think 7am local time. Can you tell that the exhaustion was starting to set in? Honor had to hold her dad upright.
No picture of me, but I was looking a lot like Brian… upright, but barely keeping the eyes open.

The kitties were happy to be with us, but did not like all the ‘stranger danger’ surrounding them during check in. This is one reason why I think shipping them in baggage (which is via a special pressurized and climate controlled hold) is kinder to animals… it keeps them out of the airport and airplane craziness. I rather think that being put in a cage and hand carried to my destination might be the preferable way to go… and probably more comfy than riding in cattle class seats for 8hrs… anyway…

Pixie in Paris … totally NOT impressed. She had some things to say about the whole ordeal that probably should not be repeated in polite company…

Ninja calmed down after we talked with her a bit. Pumpkin did too.

Check in was easy, and a special baggage handler took the cats from us to be boarded. We had about an hour wait ourselves. The shopping and ‘hanging out’ area of the airport has been greatly improved since we last passed through, but I was too tired to notice much. Some nice sales guy handed me a lovely bit of dark chocolate and pointed me in the general direction of a specific duty free shop, but I really don’t remember much. I was so tired that I actually slept for about 3 hours on the trip into Dulles, VA. I never sleep on flights, but Brian snuggled onto my shoulder and we both crashed.

Anyway, arrival in Dulles was non-eventful. I swear, Dulles is such a no-frills airport, but completely efficient. I love going through there. It’s so easy. You get off the plane. Ride the weird up/down bus thingy to the terminal. Go through immigration. Get bags (& cats). Go through customs. DONE! Walk out door to rental car shuttle. Easiest major airport. Ever.

Well, it was easy for us… Again, the cats were glad to see us, but were not impressed with the airport chaos or the bus ride.

They got over it. It was really getting hot by the time we got in. Up to 100F. Fortunately, the rental car company was on the ball and had the type/size truck we needed (we’d reserved a big one, but that’s not always a guarantee…). We generally travel light, but we still had 4 suitcases, plus carry-ons, plus cats. We filled up the back of a Suburban, and then headed out to our temp place in Maryland. Quite an adventure, as we arrived just in time for afternoon DC rush hour, the day before the Independence Day holiday, and only a couple of days after the big storm of last weekend. Lots of street lights are still out around town, trees down, etc.

Fortunately, I’d picked our temporary quarters in a good area. We were able to stop at a Petsmart shop on the way in and bought needed goods for the cats, and it’s a good company that we are renting with… the apartment was stocked with everything we needed for the first night. Which was good, because we were tired!

After settling the cats in, we managed one more adventure before calling it a night. We wandered over to Chevy’s Fresh Mex for dinner. Soooo tasty! I barely remember what I ordered… there was a lovely chili relleno, some tasty guacamole, freshly made tortilla chips (we were sitting right next to the machine that they are made on)

and of course, as it is summer time, we had frozen watermelon margaritas… Mmmm!
 
All the above happened on 3 July. I am honestly not sure how we managed to up and functional on the 4th of July. Our good friend here sent me a text around noon, asking us to give a call when ready to get together, and I had to admit to him that we were still in PJ’s and barely staggering around. We’d had a good night’s sleep, but it had been a long flight/bit of traveling!

By 3pm we managed to get our act together enough to go grocery shopping, and by 5:30ish, we’d managed to get out and go over to our friend’s home. It was so nice to see him and his son again, and meet his new lady friend. Our traveling life is good, but we do miss out on important ‘home stuff’. Our friend grilled some sausages and burgers, and we spent a great evening catching up with each other. The kids haven’t seen each other in three years, but they picked right up where they left off and disappeared to do their own catching up.

We went out after sunset to catch a bit of the local fireworks, but traffic was insane-crazy! We caught part of the show from a distance… I’m actually glad we didn’t go earlier and get further into the area, as we’d probably still be in there, trying to get out. It was PACKED. As it was, we parked at a distance and walked several blocks in, with dozens of other people on foot too, to see some of the show, and that was actually fun. It was kinda crazy and crowded and last minute, but very festive. And… bonus… we didn’t get stuck in hours of traffic!

By the time we got back to our friend’s place, it was 10pm. The adults were tired, but we had to pull the kids apart. Well, they were actually quite tired too, but there was still some complaining about leaving. Fortunately, we’ve just arrived and will be able to get them together again soon.

Today, Brad had some admin stuff to get done, and the kids and I stayed in to figure out the washer and dryer and other routine things. Boring but important! I think we are still a bit jetlagged and more tired than usual, but we’re getting there! Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July celebration. We did, and we think it pretty cool that we managed to make it back to the US in time to celebrate the day here. That doesn’t happen very often! We’ll miss Jordan very much, but we’re looking forward to spending some time getting re-acquainted with our own home again this summer. Until it’s time to move again …

Did I mention that I also went to JoAnn’s crafts today?? Oh yea.. aisles and aisles of yarn and string and crafty stuff! Yep. We are definitely home!

Heading Back to Amman

I suppose, that driving back home is less exciting that driving to a resort, but I would be a poor hostess if I did not see that you made the return trip properly.. although, if I were to virtually strand you somewhere, the resort at the Dead Sea wouldn’t be too cruel. Anyway…

Heading back last Saturday took place on another very HOT day. Jordan had about a week long heat wave and the weekend was right in the middle of it. Today, Thursday, we’ve barely made it up to 81F by noon, but on Saturday, it was triple digits. People, and animals, were taking advantage of shade where ever they could find it.

We passed a mosque on a hill.

And a small village of tents.

More critters, goats, and their shepherds, trying to beat the heat.

Dry, arid rock and sand… with a lovely green tree…

The kids looked over this valley and claimed that it looked like it belonged in a video game. I rather wish it hadn’t been so hazy so you could see how vast it looks in real life!

Melons… YUM!

Weighting station? Ah… close enough…

Watch out for houses and football games.

Small town traffic jam ahead…

More shops with floaties!!

Seriously, we loved the bright floaties!

A colorful truck

How hot was it?? Enough to make a little kid go right to sleep!

Ready the Foton Torpedoes Mr. Sulu! (sorry… geek moment… )

I believe that I have mentioned before, we must have flag photos when driving around here. I love the flags.

Getting closer to the city, there are more roadside vegetable vendors.

And a Harley Shop

This next photo is to show that, even way off down south yet, you can (start to) see a major Amman landmark. About 2/3rds across the photo (left to right) there is a skyscraper on the horizon… it’s actually two tall towers with cranes on top. They’re at 6th Circle Zahran, and you can see them from pretty much anywhere. If you know where you need to go in relation to 6th circle, look for these big blue towers!

Amman is GROWING. New construction everywhere. Here are a bunch of new buildings going up… and down below, a village of tents.

Need some clay pots?

Gas Station with newly increased prices listed. (That’s price per liter/JD – a bit less than $6 a gallon for premium, about $4 a gallon for regular unleaded)

Getting closer to town. The blue towers can now be seen behind the first light post here. Some drivers use modern navigation techniques…like GPS…  I do things the old fashioned way and use landmarks, a compass, and following taxis that look like they know where they’re going…

More flags!

And a couple views of Zahran, a main street through Amman, and a much better glimpse of the two towers.

Notice that the traffic signs are very clear in Arabic and in English. It really helps with navigating!

Ok… so driving through town is not quite as fun as going to the beach, but the tour wouldn’t have been complete without some Amman area sightseeing too!

And of course… a shot of Brian looking cool in shades… under his regular glasses, so I guess ‘acting silly’ is a better description, but he’s still looking cool in my book.