Things I See (Vol 8)

Welcome to "Things I See."  If you want to see the previous installments, you can click on Volume 1 , Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5, Volume 6, Volume 7


Nothing to see here, just your every day traveling Dollar General.

I've always wanted some Shose and Bages!

I have NO idea what this t-shirt is trying to tell me...

I know I've mentioned this before, but I can never get over the size of this bread!

And the taste...wow!

If you are looking for old furniture, you've come to the wrong place.  Only "young" furniture here.

This coffee shop called Cappuccino is also spelled out in Arabic on the left as "Cabutsheenu."

When there is no "P" in your language, you just have to make do...

That's why all the Pepsi here is "Bebsi." ☺

Parking in our old neighborhood was hard to come by.  This guy didn't even try to park parallel.

I'm still taking pictures, so I'll share some more "Things I See" soon.

Garage Sale on Fire

Last fall, one of my favorite places to shop for treasures was destroyed by fire.  Historical and cultural significance were not anywhere near the scale of Notre Dame, but it was just a cool "garage sale" to wander around in.

I've written about this bazaar before, so if you look back at pictures, you can see that there was plenty in there to feed the fire.

Reports of the rescue effort were just as sad as the fire itself.  One news station wrote about shop owners beating up the firefighters.  Each shop owner wanted their shop's fire extinguished first, and in their anxiety and selfishness, they couldn't see that the firefighters were doing the best they could.

With rain falling steadily, the fire department requested help from a helicopter.

But sadly, you can see how little of a difference it made.

This bazaar is a FULL CITY BLOCK of small shops connected by brick walls and tin roofs.

The fire started in the early morning hours, before opening time.  Shopkeepers who arrived early tried to drag their belongings out; however, the bazaar is made up of about 2,400 shops, with long, long walkways far away from the edge.  It was reported that about half (1,200) of those shops were destroyed.

The good news is that they are re-building.

With brick this time.

And it's almost finished.

Surviving a Park

Parks are a favorite place here to hang out, have graduation parties, lay out picnics, let your kids run and play, celebrate birthday parties, etc. 

There are three nice parks here, and they are all very large, but this is the largest.

stock photo

Apparently, this city was more like a town until a couple of decades ago.

I've even heard that there were no buildings over three stories high in the entire city about 20 years ago, so this place has grown at quite a fast rate.

Thankfully, they marked off some land for parks because, there is hardly any green in the city apart from these three locations.

However, up close, the care and maintenance of the parks is a bit lacking.

Just last Spring, this climbing wall was put up in a new area for small kids.  Keira loved it.

It was painted as an outer space scene with different super heroes pictures at the top.  Kids could climb up to different ones:  Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, etc.

And now...

This hop scotch board was painted and cute with grass at both ends.

And now...

This spaceship slide had a great red, twisty slide coming out of this top hole before it had wire barring the way down.

And now...

Keira's favorite slide used to not scratch your legs and rip your pants on the way down.

And now...

The park used to be an all-walk park.  They didn't allow bikes, skateboards, etc.  I will say it would have been nice to drive your car in to your picnic location so you didn't have to carry all of your belongings for what seemed like miles.

And now...

They are apparently renting out golf carts.

We live in a country where road laws are either not taught, or they are just not observed, or maybe it's a combination of both.  Drivers straddle the dotted lines in the middle of the road instead of picking a lane.  Drivers do not yield or stop at intersections.  They barrel out and expect you to be looking for them instead of the other way around.  I could go on and on.

Anyway, this park used to be a safe place, but bringing certain driving skills inside the park may be cause to find a new place to hang out.

Or, I can be like Keira and just stay off the paths.  When all of her favorite places looked destroyed or broken, she simply said, "Let's go lay in the grass.  The grass is why I like to come here anyway."







































And there you have it, folks.

Field Trip Out of Town

A week after Kylie got her knee drained, we took a trip to see an old monastery (Oct 16).  It just so happens that the orthopedist was part of our group, so that was a bonus.

I'm glad we were in a vehicle.  I can't imagine how long it must have taken the people in earlier times to walk up here.

Can you see where we're going? 

This is the view, up from where we parked.

And here is poor Kylie starting the trek up hundreds of stairs.

Sweet Karis stayed right by her side.

Looking back down.

 The long winding road we had taken.

The kids enjoyed climbing everywhere.

Here is Karis at the edge of the wall, and the hole in the wall is empty for now.

Then Karis went into some tunnels below and stuck her head out through the wall.

 Here are Karis and Keira climbing on the older part.

Of course, since we aren't in a country with a lot of regulations, there is a straight drop-off right behind us and no guardrails anywhere.

Right across from where we took this picture was this "prayer" tree.  People come and tie ribbons or strips of plastic bags all over this tree.  Sometimes they tie money inside the the plastic bags.

Kylie started her descent down.

She and her sidekick made it in good time; however, I think she was wiped out.

When we left the monastery, we drove around a nearby town looking for the tomb of Nahum, the prophet.  As we were winding in and out of streets, we saw this.  

I have no words.  There's the birth, Last Supper, crucifixion, hints of Babylonian empire, and who knows what else.

When we finally found the tomb of Nahum, the entire church built over the site was under construction.

Unfortunately, there was no way in, so maybe we'll get to see it another time.

After our long day, we drove to another city to eat, and there are so many things to be said about this menu, but I'll let you check out the other items for yourself.  I've circled the few that made me grin the most.

Fluid off the Knee

Two weeks after the accident, Kylie still had a lot of fluid on her knee.  

It just so happens that God brought an orthopedist here at this very time.

And...he happened to have graduated from Doug's and my alma mater, Texas A&M.

What are the chances of an orthopedist traveling in the middle east just when we needed him!

God is so good, and He cares about each of us so much.

Kylie said it was pretty painful.

I'll take her word for it.

But the knee did look better afterward.

It was still three months after this before it looked like a normal knee again.

Queen Treatment

Happy Mother's Day!

Breakfasts are notorious around here, and there is so much involved!

Every restaurant here tries to outdo the others in what they offer, and the prices are crazy reasonable.

Breakfasts in bed are such a blessing on Mother's Day, usually made by sweet, chubby little hands, but let me show you a couple of breakfasts that you won't see on your comforter this particular morning.

When Doug and I sat down at this small table, it wasn't long before they slid another table next to ours to accommodate all the food.

It started with soup and water.

Yes, soup.

Of course, I forgot to take a picture at the beginning, but you can see some of the goods and the coffee.  

There is no bacon or sausage in the country, but they find all sorts of things to fill up the space.

The chocolate covered fruit and chocolate crepes were nice.  I hadn't seen this at another restaurant.

Another thing I hadn't seen at another restaurant for breakfast was a grilled cheese sandwich??

Another favorite place Doug and I have gone while the girls are dancing on Saturday morning comes with even more goodies and a full pot of yummy tea.

Why do I forget to take pictures??  

Probably because I'm too busy diving into the food.

Our kids' favorite place for breakfast is pictured below.  In fact, it's probably where they will suggest we go today, and I am MORE than okay with that!

So, Happy Mother's Day!  I hope you get the Queen Treatment.