Dregiyat!

"I have toe polish!" Tala is so exited to have polish on her toenails. She refuses to wear nothing but flipflops and sandals, even if it's cold for that, just so she could show off her "toe polish." First day she went to school with it, she was telling everyone to look at her toes. Later at home she told us that Mrs. Rochon had toe polish too, and Mrs. Parker needs to fix hers. Even days later, we don't seem to hear the end of it!

Apparently, Tala is going through some growth spurt or something in terms of identity and behavior. She'd be so whiny one minute, then apologizes so nicely the next. She sure has been testing her limits to the extreme. I hope to get the time during next break to have some girlie time with her soon and do lots of the girlie stuff.

Moody is growing, and growing, and growing! We turned in his registration this week for kindergarten--he's so elated. It works for us very well and we stress to him that Kindergarteners are mature and remind him he's a kindergartener now not a preschooler anymore.

Among the evaluation testing Moody had gone through was the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC-II), an equivalent of an IQ test. According to this test, his learning percentile rank is 97, and his F-C intelligence is 93! We were told that in reality his ranking is even higher than that and it would have shown if he cooperated more in the test.

The pictures above were taken last Friday at the school outing at Inniswood Gardens. There, we followed the maze to read the story of "The Lady who fell from the sky." It's a neat idea to lay the story on tiles on the ground and end it with the statue of the lady. Next time, I'll document the story in pictures.

Moody is developing an interest in fishing. So one Saturday--that seems a long time ago--we packed the fishing gear and rode the bikes to the park behind our home. Moody and Tala were interested only in reeling and throwing stones in the pond... still fun! Tala fell asleep in the trailer in the way back home--wouldn't you when somebody is paddlling away to drag you and you're just enjoying the ride!

To add to the joy of the outing, the garage got cleaned up that day! We got back, and it was obviously not easy getting the bikes back into the garage. So Sol rolled up his sleeves (umm he was wearing short sleeves!) and cleaned it up. Of course, I helped by dragging more things from way in the garage to th outer limits for him to deal with and went inside. I didn't know that side of the garage is so spacey and has floor!

There's more happening here with Moody and Tala. I feel bad that we haven't been able to document it all... Well, there's only so much time in the day.

Plans for this summer include developing Moody's writing skill, and taking the training wheels off his bike. Mexico is looming in the horizon--would it happen? I wish!

Happy Birthday, Oofey!

Alexandria, Egypt, 2005

Rahaf Kambaraki, my niece, Noha's daughter. Born in Benghazi, April 20, 1997.

I was in Lebanon when Noha was pregnant and was assigned the job of buying the baby stuff for her. I later met with Rahaf's Dad, Khaled, in Damascus and gave him that, a long with two cute dresses of Jenna. I had asked for the dresses back when Tala was born so she could have something of her sister's, and I'm still asking, or is it begging? Bottom line: Rahaf, you owe me, habooba!

Happy Birthday!

A Touch of Spring!

Franklin Park Conservatory

Blooms & Butterflies

Moody and Tala had their spring break this week. Back to school on Monday. It's been easier with them on break; less things to do--no packing school snack, no backpacks and folders to check, papers to sort, and no hurry to get them up and going! Milood has come and gone and I missed it--Happy Milood anyway!

The jrabee3 had a good week with Barbi; went to COSI, the Zoo, parks, many ice cream treats (for being good!) and many other places.

Yesterday, they went to Franklin Park Conservatory for the Blooms & Butterflies. Pictures show that they had fun. Later they stopped by Barbi's house, picked up Keith and went for ice cream together. Finally, Moody got to meet Keith--Barbi's boyfriend. There'd been an element of jealousy there. Last week Moody told Barbi that he doesn't like Keith because he has a gun and might kill him! Keith is in the army and Barbi a national guard; she was deployed in Iraq for a year. We explained to Moody that soldiers protect their people and go and fight for them, not kill them. Took some more explaining that Keith's people are not just Barbi, but all Americans including Moody.

On Tuesday, I woke up with a headache, but went to school thinking it'll go away. Apparently it was part of that flu I had for days. The headache got worse and turned into an upset stomach. I dropped my assignment, gave notice to the teachers and headed home. I was sleeping in the basement when the kids got home. Moody snuggled with me and then said, “You need a teddy bear to make you feel better.” He ran up to his room and got me Big Teddy! Both Moody and Tala stayed away from the basement to let me rest. When I woke up, Tala said, “Is your headache gone, Mom?” And then she said, “Because we made the puzzle, your headache will go away!” And then started throwing me kisses and said, “Kisses make headaches go away!” MY sweet guardian angels!

With spring come more activities for the kids and the yard. Sol has been taken care of that this year. The yard looks nice and things are blooming already. I love working in the yard and tending to my flowers, but I have lots of studies to do.

Tala and Moody started soccer. All of their activities are on the days I’m at school. The upside is I’m relieved from getting them and their bags ready, driving them around, but I really do miss being with them. I miss spring!

Hyacinths in our yard

Our Pansies

Growing Pains

This was a week of bodily transformations, some quite painful, unfortunately! The top event is Moody's getting his first set of glasses on Wednesday. This is not really painful to him, but to us the parents, the experience is a little unfamiliar. Both of us have very good vision, although my near sight has finally started to degrade, or is it my arms getting too short? Anyway, as of a few months ago, I started using reading glasses. Since both of us lack the experience of childhood glasses, the event was a little hard for us; I suppose, we thought of glasses as a limitation of sorts. But, it's actually not bad, and I think we're starting to see the benefits already. Moody did great in soccer yesterday. He saw a lot of action as goalie, letting in one goal but stopping two others. On the field, he mainly ran around tackling and trash-talking the other team players, which made them less of a threat. Yesterday, he also hit some baseballs in the yard and seemed really excited about it. He wants us to go to the park today and play more ball. Also, he has been quite accepting of the glasses, no complaints at all. Of course we have to thank the Harry Potter phenomenon for Moody's excitement. The first day, he would look at himself every time he passed by a mirror, and he would ask everyone he saw, "Do I look like Harry Potter?" Thanks, Harry.

On the dental front... We discovered on Tuesday that one of Moody's permanent teeth is coming up behind a baby tooth. Nothing is easy! I told him that had happened to me once, which is true, and he is taking it in stride.

The real pain, though, was Tala's share. The poor girl slipped on the driveway and scuffed up her chin and upper lip. The next morning she didn't want to go to school because her "lip is getting fat!" A similar thing happened to Moody last year at school. He was recalling to Tala how he got to go everywhere, "School nurse, children's hospital,..." Even in pain, there is competition.

A Day of Excursions

The kids paid Sol a visit at work this morning. They brought back "materials, atoms, and treasures," said Moody. When I picked them up, Moody's first comment (when Sol was not there to hear) was "Dad's office is messy!" Tala was quiet all the way to the mall.

The mall trip was supposed to be two stops for specific things and then home so I can do some studies before we head out again to meet Corey and Ann. Well, it didn't exactly turn that way. At the cosmetics counter, Tala, spent some time trying on makeup with Moody lending a hand and offering advice. She put loads of powder on her face that made her look dusty and ashy! Walking by CPK, Tala said, "I'm hungry for pizza." Moody seconded, "I'm starving for pizza." So I promised them we'll have lunch there if they were good shoppers. We troted from one store to the next, trying things and forgetting about time. I bought myself a nice everyday handbag, and I realized that I haven't had one for a long time since it was diaper bags and backpacks for years.

More trotting and some more buying, and then Moody realized that he left his coat at Macy's. So we walked back across the mall to get his coat when I realized I forgot a shopping bag at the handbag store at the other end of the mall... more trotting back with couple more stops. We finally made it to CPK and had a nice lunch as the picture proves. When we got to the car, Tala announced that she left her lunch tote somewhere in the mall. It was too late to walk back in, but I promised her to go back for it another time.

Next excursion was to meet Corey and Ann at the Recreation Outlet. Corey visits "Granny" from Indiana and we try to get him and Moody together when he does. The recreations Outlet is an interesting nice place. It is a showroom for playground equipment that later turned into a playplace and birthday-parties place for children. Smart idea. They charge $3 per kids and have rest rooms, water fountains, and benches for adults. A good place to go to in rainy or cold days. Apparently not many know about it; it wasn't crowded. Hush! Don't tell!

Last excursion of the day is taking Grandma Jazz et al out for dinner... Off we go!

Hanu in the news!

The MidEastConnect e-zine says it is "dedicated to young, driven, forward thinking and like-minded Middle Eastern professionals." They publish weekly features on individuals and organizations. This week, there's a feature on the Tibra Foundation; and the managing director, Hanu, is front-n-center! We can confirm the "long hours" part mentioned there, but we are also very supportive of the Tibra project and proud of Hanu, our own special Tibra. Way to go and keep up the hard work!

The Bird Curse!

I have posted the following as a comment in Highlander's blog, From the Rock, but then I thought I might as well document it here so my children would know what awaits them if they decide to adopt birds!

My family, Dad's side, believe that birds bring bad luck to whoever owns them in the family. It goes a long way back, when my father's uncle had hens and his house was burnt down. Another had hens, years later, and his son died. My family took in the neighbor's birds while our neighbors were out of town and I fell really sick (I was about 2!) My mother took the birds out of the house and put them on the roof; I got better, I was told! My cousin came from Uganda to Benghazi with that beautiful parrot. A caravan of cars headed to Derna with my cousin, parrot, and all. The car that had the bird started fuming... The elders in the family demanded the bird be released at once and so it was! There are many other ancient stories of the bird curse in my family but can't remember them all...

Back on track... My mother doesn't want any birds around our house (in Benghazi,) so my parents sprinkle bird poison on the roof so no birds would nest there. The other day, they found a dead pigeon, and guess what. Gloves and masks came out... "The bird flu is here," declared Dad. After consulting with the neighborhood "experts" and “dignitaries,” they opted to bury the bird instead of burning it, and to sanitize the whole roof. Now, everybody in the neighborhood is on alert for dead birds.

I looked for a bird's picture to add to this post, but then decided not to... Better safe than sorry!

Big Ohio News!

OK, our local news media in Columbus... hmm, how can I be diplomatic? Let's say, they work very hard to define mediocrity. Almost daily, Hana and I would make bets on the number of crime items that would lead the evening news. What do we have, two shootings and an armed robbery, any straight up murders? Sometimes when things are fairly peaceful in town, you can really see their desperation! They'll go for anything, cheap imports from other cities, weird animal births, you name it! Well, tonight, I think I already know what will lead the evining parade of News without Clues... It's from Athens, our Athens here in Ohio, not that other place!

Burglary suspect flags down wrong car
Friday, March 24, 2006
Randy Ludlow

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Two men driving the back roads of Athens County spied a muddied figure frantically motioning for them to stop. The man walked up to their pickup and asked for a ride, saying his car had broken down. They were more than glad to give the hitchhiker a lift — straight to jail. They were deputy sheriffs, and the man was the burglary suspect they were looking for.

and there's even more...

Hanu is 40!

Happy Birthday!

You look bossy, Mom-- Moody.

Make room for the birthday girl, y'all, it's the big Four-Oh for Han-nu today!

Welcome to the age of maturity, Hanu, we love you and look forward to keeping you forever.

Our friend Nadia made a wonderful 'Aseeda for Hana's breakfast today, with honey, date syrup and all the fixin's. It was really delicious, and I am not usually a big Aseeda fan. Interestingly, Aseeda is made on various special occasions, including the celebration when a newborn reaches 40 days old. Well, thanks, Nadia, for making Aseeda on my baby's 40th.

عصيدة الأربعين

Suisse Almond

Is it spring, or is it not?

It was very sunny and bright over the weekend--so deceiving, yet tempting! On Sunday, the kids rode their bikes to Hoff Woods. The sun was nice, but the temperature was only in the forties. There were many people out, on the roads, at the park, and all garages were open—a sign that spring is here. It's amazing how the neighborhood seems deserted in winter as if nobody lives there; come spring, people come out of their hibernation!

Today—the official first day of spring—the high is 30° F and it's snowing!

This morning, Moody and I went to get some flowers for Grandma Jazz. He helped pick the flowers for the bouquet, and picked a rose for me. "You're a mother too, Mom," he said, and I thought, heck why not celebrate two mother's day a year.

Next, we picked Tala up from school. Morgan's mom said Morgan told her that "Tala should come and play with me. She doesn't have a sister." When her mother told her that she didn't have a sister either, she was surprised by the fact and felt bad for herself!

At home, we put my Libyan-Mother-Day-rose in a Libyan vase (it's actually Tunisian, I believe), and placed it near the children as per Moody's suggestion.

I'm in spring break and the kids are in school--sucks big time!

Happy Mother's Day, a la Libie!

Today, March 21st, is Mother's and Children's Day in Libya.

All you mothers out there: Happy Mothers Day!

Thought of the Day!

I'm in Spring break--finally! This past quarter seemed to stretch and stretch and stretch. Like Moody, I'm so proud of myself; I got the grades for two classes and still waiting for the third. Lately, I haven't been keeping up with the blog and the same trend will continue next quarter too with me taking four classes and one group studies. There's so much to do around the house and we have to get to some of it during the break. Sol and I committed to cleaning closets... It seems like I'm always cleaning closets; in reality I'm always only talking about cleaning closets. There's also the yard with some prep work for the Spring. The tulips have already come up and got snow over them a couple of times, but they're still doing fine--I hope they survive.

Tala has a habit of making things disappear. For example, her Cinderella doll disappeared for months and months; we looked every where but couldn't find it. Every time we're at a toy store, she'd want one, but we remind her of the no-replacement policy for lost toys. Few weeks ago she told me it's under her bed, and sure it was. I struggled with moving the trundle, the rug, and keeping her and Moody out of the way, till we were able to "rescue" Cinderella. Coincidentally, she found the Barbie Fairytopia doll, that was missing for quite some time, on the same day.

In the house, Tala is always in her Cinderella dress... and I'm always "Stepmother!" One time I said to her "I love you, Cinderella." She replied, "you're my Stepmother, you should be mean!" For weeks, she had been wearing the dress with one slipper, because the other one went missing. She'd be walking around the house limping with the awkward sound of one slipper clicking on the floor. It fit the story perfectly to have one slipper and we were waiting for Prince to knock on our door one day with the missing slipper.

Yesterday, she came running, yelling with excitement, "I found my slipper!" Bummer, I guess we can't expect a prince to show on our door with a slipper anymore.

Now to the thought of the day. Yesterday, Moody was doing well eating his dinner, while Tala was only eating salad and nibbling on baked potato. Sol pointed to her that Moody is growing because he's eating his dinner, and she's not. She faked some sobbing and said "I'm not going to grow. I will not see my parents dead. I will not see my Mom when she's buried." Such blessing to have a daughter who knows her priorities in life.

"I Can Read!"

Tuesday, March 7, Moody read a book all by himself for the first time—cover to cover!

Barbi started him on sight words and then moved on to the Scholastic Phonics Fun Reading Program. His first read was "I See My Dad."

I wasn't home on Tuesday and came after the kids went to bed. Wednesday morning, he was all over me wanting to read me the book. He read it for me many, many times that day! He took it to school and Ms. Mason made him read it to the whole class. He's so proud of this achievement, he'd been telling everyone he meets "I can read!" That's what he told my Dad on the phone yesterday after telling him "Hana told me you are her dad."

Since that first reading victory, Moody reads more of those books in the series by himself and has taken interest in reading everything that comes into sight: street signs, store signs, traffic signs, restaurant menus... And now he's more interested in learning to write. If you come to our house, you'll find papers everywhere with "I my Harry Potter," for "I am Harry Potter." He's been on my case while I'm trying to write this post; he wants me to spell "Goblet of Fire" to him while he writes it down.

Oh, what joy! Barbi, you're awesome—thank you, thank you, thank you!

On Wednesday, last week, I spent about an hour with Moody on adding the numbers from 1 to 5. He didn't need more than that hour! He amazed us how quickly he picked it up.

Lately, both Moody and Tala have been artistic. This painting on the right is of our family by Tala. Moody gave me the one above and said, "Keep it in your room to remind you of me when I have my own house."

Happy Birthday, Nahla!

Benghazi, March 15, 1983.

Happy Birthday!

My sister, the youngest in the family. Here she is in this picture taken a year ago or so with Mom. She's engaged and to be married this summer! Unfortunately, I don't really know the Nahla in this picture. The Nahla I know is the one in these pictures here.

We had a special bond in those days. She visited and spent times with me, when I was studying in Geneva, on her way to and from Pré Fleuri in Villars. Together, we used to go shopping for her at 012 in Malta. It was fun, and she was the best shopping companion, given her age. I remember her ballet classes at that place in Sleima on top of the movie theater at the corner of that one-way downhill street.

I was told that after I got married in 1991 and moved to Beirut, she spent times in my room crying. Mom keeps saying that I left another Hana there--Nahla looks, walks, talks, and behaves like me. Others in the family agree... Good for her!

Happy Birthday, Suliman!

Born in Mesrata, Libya, March 12 (not really,) 1960.

Happy Birthday!

The Many Meanings of Tala

In a comment on a previous post, our friend Aisha (the Misratiya) asked what the name "Tala" meant and whether it was Arabic. So I started to put this post together back then, and finally it is done! So here is the story of Tala's name to Aisha and all.

By the time Tala was born, my mother had passed away, and there was some expectation perhaps that we would name the baby after grandma. Perhaps the expectation was stronger because of my special love and care for my mother, and because it would have been the last (planned) chance to name a grand daughter after her. But when she was here for Ahmed, we talked about the subject and she made it clear that she really didn't want to put any pressure on me one way or the other. For my part, I think the gesture of honoring someone is out of place or misdirected if the honoree is not there to receive it. I also had "gotten my way" with naming Ahmed, which is a story in itself for another day. So, I was completely open minded about naming the second child and Hana and I picked it together from a name book, believe it or not! We both liked it, and in Arabic it happens to mean the same thing as the Libyan Wishka (young palm tree), which is very special to any Misrati.

When each kid was born, I got Hana something with the birthstone to commemorate the occasion. For Tala, the birthstone is Peridot, which is an appropriate color for a palm tree! And in Tala's case, I also found an interesting piece that relates to her name in a special way.

Tala's name in Arabic (تالة) has a lot of symmetry: It starts and ends with the same double-dotted letter, but the left one, called the "Ta" of femininity in grammar, looks and (informally) sounds quite different from the first "Ta". Visually, the name also has mirror symmetry. Now, with some calligraphic imagination, you might see how the pendant in the picture can be viewed as a rendition of the word (تالة), sort of transposed, with the gem representing both the first and the last letters, the four clamps representing the dots, and the upward arms representing the Alif (left) and Lam (right).

Shortly after Tala's birth, it occurred to me that the word seemed so simple and fluid that it porbably existed in other languages. Thanks to Google, I compiled a collection of the meanings of Tala in various languages, which is listed below.

In Libya

* Arabic: Tala (تالة) Synonym: Faseela (فسيلة) In the Libyan dialect: Wishka (وشكة)

A young palm tree, usually an offshoot growing next to a larger mother. Similar woman's name in Latin-based languages is Palmetta. But Tala in Arabic can be used on any kind of tree that is transplanted, as opposed to a tree/plant started from a seed.

* Berber: Tala (in Arabic letters تالا ) means Spring or Fountain.

Famous Person: Nana Tala, i.e., Grandmother Tala, a pious woman buried outside the city of Jadou, I believe.

Oddly enough, according to Libyan law today, it is illegal to name children with non-Arabic names, especially Berber names, even though the official government line is that the "Berbers are ancient Arabs." So, they're ancient Arabs, but their names are illegal because they are non-Arabic, OK? Go figure! This makes the name Tala uniquely qualified for the ultimate naming conondrum for Libyan official record keepers! She has no official record of birth in any language but English, which means her birth name is "Tala." If we were to register her in Libya, we would have to decide on whether to spell her name as (تالة)، which would be perfectly legal, or (تالا), which is different by one letter, and is strictly illegal as it would be explicitly non-Arabic! The only thing approaching a commitment on our side is probably the pendant in the picture above, but still, the possibilities are certainly worth contemplating to understand something about the reality of life under a totalitarian dictatorship. Can any law be more asanine than that?

* Places Named Tala: Across North Africa there are a bunch of different villages/towns named Tala, often with a spring and of course palms. In Libya there is a village in the central region, near Hoon/Waddan area.

In India

Tala: A music term meaning rhythm or beat. Also means palm tree, interestingly enough, as in the name of a palm forest Talavana, or just tree as in Imli Tala (Tamarind Tree), and apparently Tala can also mean shade.

In Thailand: Tala means Green.

In Samoa: Tala is the name of the currency, some say a modified version of Dollar.

In Persian: Some sources say Tala means "gold," but I found out the persian word is really written as طلا not تالة or تالا, so this one counts coincidentally: the words happen to look the same in Roman characters, but the originals sound quite different.

In Filipino/Tagalog: Tala means star, or bright star, or morning star, which is also used for Venus.

In Estonia: Tala means Beam.

In Mongolia: Tala means Land. (As in Bayan Tala = Fertile Land).

In Greece: Tala means to bear, support or hold up.

In Native American: A female hunting wolf.

In Burma: It means Owner and a title like King. [oddly enough, there is a closeness of the Arabic words Mellik (ملك) = King, and Malik (مالك) = Owner.]

To us... Tala means all that and some! A palm, a cool fountain spring, a beam of bright morning starlight... simply heavenly, and that's how she evokes memories of her grandmother.

Goblin, gooder, scientifc... What do you know!

Hip Hop, picture Day

Today, we decided to go to the movies. The choice was between Nanny McPhee and the Goblet of Fire, and of course, Harry won. Well, it passed our minds to check the ratings and realized way into the movie that it must have been PG 13. It wasn't really bad, but we had to distract the kids on one bloody scene toward the end. Moody is excited and he's going to tell his friends he's "the first to see Goblin of Fire!"

Barbi said that Moody doesn't like to wash his hands before eating, and the other day he told her "In our culture, we don't wash our hands before we eat!" I wonder what else he would tell her about our culture.

Yesterday, he finished all his dinner while Tala didn't touch hers, so he got treated to an ice cream and she didn't. He said "I'm gooder than Tala; I finished my dinner."

The other day, He and Sol were having a "conversation," and Moody ended it saying "I'm scientific."

Delirium!

The whole house is down with the flu. It's not the type that comes with fever, sinuses and nasal congestion, but it does make one very lethargic. I brought it home last week and it ended with three days of severe headache that no medication would take away. Tala has a headache today!

I started writing this post at 8:30 when I got Fairouz on messenger and ended up with her on the phone, and it was past 10 when I hung up--I hate phones! I wasn't able to reach Benghazi by phone to make sure all is OK after this fiasco. I'm still in a state of delirium for all that has been and is happening... When will my people have a decent life? Will it ever happen?

On the bright side of the delirium, yesterday, Sol and I went to Cirque du Soleil's Delirium, their first live performance, and with songs made of real words. Cirque du Soleil is performance art at its best; really! Delirium was their third performance in Columbus; we've been to the three and were really amazed by each one of them. When you think they can't be any better, they outdo themselves again! Coming out of the arena, despite the freakingly cold night of about 10°F (-10°C), people looked happy and cheerful--Cirque du Soleil does that to you. This is a quote from the Cirque du Soleil web site:

"DELIRIUM is the quest for balance in a world that is increasingly out of sync with reality."

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday, Ennis!

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, February 11, 1995.

Happy 11th Birthday!