Lunch: some coleslaw mixed with freshly grated carrots and chopped parsley (no salt or any spices). Sides of sheep cheese and olives.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Today's mood
Lunch and a song:
Lunch: some coleslaw mixed with freshly grated carrots and chopped parsley (no salt or any spices). Sides of sheep cheese and olives.
Lunch: some coleslaw mixed with freshly grated carrots and chopped parsley (no salt or any spices). Sides of sheep cheese and olives.
Friday, June 12, 2009
زيارة
زارني في الحلم ليلة امس زائر ات من الغياب. قال لي ان شِعري يشبهه كثيرا. لذا لم يستطع ان يمدح شِعري قبل ان يخطفه الغياب. لكني كتبت قصيدة واحدة ثم استسلمت للهزيمة. رد علي و قال: لا وسع للهزيمة. ثم رأيت نفسي واقفة على منبر و على جنبي منبرين اخرين و هو واقف امامي
زواري من الغياب كثر. يأتون متى يشأون بلا انذار، بلا دستور. يأتون، يحدثونني، يراقبونني، ثم يرحلون الى موعد اخر لا اعلم متى. أسعد عموما بزيارة الغائبين... فألى لقاء أخر
زواري من الغياب كثر. يأتون متى يشأون بلا انذار، بلا دستور. يأتون، يحدثونني، يراقبونني، ثم يرحلون الى موعد اخر لا اعلم متى. أسعد عموما بزيارة الغائبين... فألى لقاء أخر
Thursday, June 11, 2009
More food pictures
Last night the husband made delicious vegetarian risotto (with basil from the new window garden) and today I made some cheese pies mixed with herbs (including some mint from my new window garden):
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Fun Days
Past few weekends the husband and I have been doing some city tourism. We also made some yummy food. Here are photos:
The statue of Goddess of Hunt Diana at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The metal forest installation at the roof of the Met:
A visit to the Harlem 1970-2009 photo exhibit at the New York Historical Society:
A visit to the farmer's market:
I made mango lassi (recipe):
And a tuna salad (potato, pickles, tomato, spring onions, lettuce, tinned tuna, cucumber, black olives):
My new sink garden:
The statue of Goddess of Hunt Diana at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The metal forest installation at the roof of the Met:
A visit to the Harlem 1970-2009 photo exhibit at the New York Historical Society:
A visit to the farmer's market:
I made mango lassi (recipe):
And a tuna salad (potato, pickles, tomato, spring onions, lettuce, tinned tuna, cucumber, black olives):
My new sink garden:
Monday, May 25, 2009
Blog Integrated
I imported my Arabic blog to this one. From now on I will blog in both languages in Bala Wala Shi. Here's the first post from the other blog.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
When you pretend to work for a living
Very recently we had some hipsters (google that and their haters) move with a repair shop across the street. They repair stuff (as I said before-- can't give in many details) that they don't really sell. I only saw one person buying from them in the past 2 months they have been here.
They came and camped in a neighborhood that used to be industrial. The last factory across the street from us closed two years ago. Factories that were closed earlier were converted to workshops for real artisans-- no trust funds, just working people. Everyone else around here works for a living. Mostly immigrants.
We live 10 minutes by bus from a neighborhood that has become totally infested with hipsters. People who try to look poor and artsy but they are worlds apart from poverty and art or any thing meaningful. They live in their little communities, conforming to dress codes (the current code: Ray Ban glasses, checkered shirts, tattoos, beards for men, asymmetrical cuts for women and skinny jeans that are so low they expose their underwear and they all ride bikes and scream at pedestrians who are in their way).
Those people never bothered me until they moved closer to us. We got screamed at on the pedestrian bridge used by those brats to bike (of course, we screamed back). Just a year ago a bunch of them moved across the street and were getting high on their fire escape at 3 am so I opened the window and shouted "SHUT UP!" and they screamed back "boring." Right. So you see, despite their "street" looks-- they are so unrelated to any street culture. And let me tell you, having only lived and grew up in cities across the world, all street lives are the same. A respectable person would have either shut up when I screamed or screamed back with a *real* insult-- like "bitch."
To prove their lack of backbone, the latest shitsters when we shouted at them from our window to get the hell out of there and get a real garage-- they sheepishly walked away. And sheepishly stayed. Just FYI we did speak to them nicely the first time but all I got was the we are cool attitude.
So today I spoke to a neighbor who has been here for 17 years and another one who has been here for around the same around of time, they all work for a living. Let me tell you: no one is happy and the phones started ringing. Before my glamorous graduation I used to work from home. Now I'm jobless. This is to my bad luck and the even worse luck of the shitsters because I'm turning into a neighborhood organizer.
PS: I forgot to mention, most of those hipsters are white. So it's rather ironic to play poor in non-white working class neighborhoods. Now I'm learning most them actually come from rich families in the mid-west of the US.
They came and camped in a neighborhood that used to be industrial. The last factory across the street from us closed two years ago. Factories that were closed earlier were converted to workshops for real artisans-- no trust funds, just working people. Everyone else around here works for a living. Mostly immigrants.
We live 10 minutes by bus from a neighborhood that has become totally infested with hipsters. People who try to look poor and artsy but they are worlds apart from poverty and art or any thing meaningful. They live in their little communities, conforming to dress codes (the current code: Ray Ban glasses, checkered shirts, tattoos, beards for men, asymmetrical cuts for women and skinny jeans that are so low they expose their underwear and they all ride bikes and scream at pedestrians who are in their way).
Those people never bothered me until they moved closer to us. We got screamed at on the pedestrian bridge used by those brats to bike (of course, we screamed back). Just a year ago a bunch of them moved across the street and were getting high on their fire escape at 3 am so I opened the window and shouted "SHUT UP!" and they screamed back "boring." Right. So you see, despite their "street" looks-- they are so unrelated to any street culture. And let me tell you, having only lived and grew up in cities across the world, all street lives are the same. A respectable person would have either shut up when I screamed or screamed back with a *real* insult-- like "bitch."
To prove their lack of backbone, the latest shitsters when we shouted at them from our window to get the hell out of there and get a real garage-- they sheepishly walked away. And sheepishly stayed. Just FYI we did speak to them nicely the first time but all I got was the we are cool attitude.
So today I spoke to a neighbor who has been here for 17 years and another one who has been here for around the same around of time, they all work for a living. Let me tell you: no one is happy and the phones started ringing. Before my glamorous graduation I used to work from home. Now I'm jobless. This is to my bad luck and the even worse luck of the shitsters because I'm turning into a neighborhood organizer.
PS: I forgot to mention, most of those hipsters are white. So it's rather ironic to play poor in non-white working class neighborhoods. Now I'm learning most them actually come from rich families in the mid-west of the US.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Stay tuned...
Recently some idiotic hipsters opened a repair shop across the street from us. I can't give many details but I can tell you this: they are noisy, they work odd hours (1 pm - 10 pm), they are clueless, their idea of cool is retarded, they are always high and hanging out at the corner while they are at it, they have a stupid blog, all below 25 years old, and the list continues.
Their stupidity and "life style" is their business. But the noise and pollution and occupation of a street and side walk corner is unacceptable. Courtesy of us and with some collaboration of other neighbors they received visits by the police and fire department for various violations. Today we delivered another complaint which we hope will set everything straight.
Needless to say when I tried to call to file complaints people had hard time understanding my accent. You would think I have a thick one. I don't. Anyway. The husband put his native English speaking skills at work and, to the sad fortune of the idiots next door, his lawyer training as well. So fingers crossed the corner will be liberated from the stupid and noisy hipster living fantasies (I doubt they run this shop for a living given how and when they work).
Once this is over I will post full details.
Another exciting development: I have a camera now! woohoo! This is my parents gift for all the happy things that I'm celebrating this month: birthday and graduation.
Soon there will be pictures.
Their stupidity and "life style" is their business. But the noise and pollution and occupation of a street and side walk corner is unacceptable. Courtesy of us and with some collaboration of other neighbors they received visits by the police and fire department for various violations. Today we delivered another complaint which we hope will set everything straight.
Needless to say when I tried to call to file complaints people had hard time understanding my accent. You would think I have a thick one. I don't. Anyway. The husband put his native English speaking skills at work and, to the sad fortune of the idiots next door, his lawyer training as well. So fingers crossed the corner will be liberated from the stupid and noisy hipster living fantasies (I doubt they run this shop for a living given how and when they work).
Once this is over I will post full details.
Another exciting development: I have a camera now! woohoo! This is my parents gift for all the happy things that I'm celebrating this month: birthday and graduation.
Soon there will be pictures.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Moving To A New Blog
My blogging (and blog reading) have been very sporadic. Some of you may know that I have another blog where I practice my Arabic writing. I used to be very good at writing in Arabic and I'm worried that all my English writing will make me forget ...
Since I don't seem to have the energy or patience necessary for maintaining all blogging activities I decided to consolidate my two blogs into one.
Bala wala shi will no longer exist. I will be posting from my Arabic blog Sha3shabuneh in both languages. It will be a bilingual blog. BTW, Sha3shabuneh (read: sha'shabuneh-- 3 is for the letter 'ain which does not exist in English) means a spider in colloquial Shami Arabic. This was one of my nicknames as a child because of my spider-like hair.
The move will take place in few days, once I get my act together ;)
Since I don't seem to have the energy or patience necessary for maintaining all blogging activities I decided to consolidate my two blogs into one.
Bala wala shi will no longer exist. I will be posting from my Arabic blog Sha3shabuneh in both languages. It will be a bilingual blog. BTW, Sha3shabuneh (read: sha'shabuneh-- 3 is for the letter 'ain which does not exist in English) means a spider in colloquial Shami Arabic. This was one of my nicknames as a child because of my spider-like hair.
The move will take place in few days, once I get my act together ;)
Friday, May 08, 2009
the other news
just got news today that i did not get an offer at the job which i interviewed for few weeks ago. my guess is that i wasn't political "sciency" enough. but who cares. anyway, on the bright side of things, i don't have to move again to a cold place. maybe i will open that pickle shop after all!
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