Geometry in action

Pre-fab...

Madaba, Jordan
Friday, November 30, 2012

While Frank was out on a 23-mile run this morning, A and I passed the time by making our first-ever gingerbread house. I must say that it really felt like "geometry in action"--which is something my students seem to doubt actually exists. I had help from a pattern I found on the internet, but I had to re-size it because I didn't seem to have enough dough for the larger size. There I am cutting down the roof and the walls and wondering, "But will it still fit together?"

Happily, it did fit together. I covered a McVities box with aluminum foil and stuck in on the inside to give it some extra structure, just in case my frosting was not strong enough to hold everything together. Great fun!

Home sweet home...

Blanket irony

Madaba, Jordan
Friday, November 30, 2012

One of the first things we did in Mongolia was to rush out and buy lots of warm blankets. The apartments in Ulaanbaatar were so overheated, however, that we ended up using all those blankets approximately once. Imagine my surprise, then, when I realized that we were going to need heavy, thick blankets to stay warm here in Jordan during the winter. Finally, a colleague took me blanket shopping yesterday evening. I think we are ready for winter!  

She misses Windows 7

Madaba, Jordan
Saturday, November 24, 2012

This morning A and I did a little painting. When I looked over to see what A was doing, I thought she was painting the four seasons. "Nope," she said, "I am painting the computer flag. I miss it."

Frank recently "upgraded" us to Windows 8. Turns out that I am not the only one who misses the old format.

It's amazing what kids notice...

Blast from the past

Madaba, Jordan
Saturday, November 24, 2012

Several weeks ago we were wandering in downtown Amman when we happened on a street seller demonstrating a cheap imitation of a spirograph. For 1 JOD I bought the thing and brought it home to A. This morning she designed a garden and added fruit to the trees.

 As a kid, I loved that spirograph...

Grandma's rolls, the Jordanian version

Madaba, Jordan
Thursday, November 22, 2012

Today was a work day here in Jordan, of course, but we still had time to gather for a Thanksgiving potluck after work. The school provided the turkey, and we teachers made all the trimmings. At first it seemed that my locally purchased yeast (from Russia?) was not going to do the job, but with a little extra rising time, Gram's recipe pulled through!

Here's the recipe...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baking by the numbers

Madaba, Jordan
Friday, November 16, 2012

Events in Jordan over the past few days gave us more time at home than expected so we did some baking. Some of my students joined us and things got quite creative...

Hashem's at last!

Amman, Jordan
Saturday, November 10, 2012

Hashem's at last! I ate at this icon of Amman "street food" dining three months ago when we first arrived, but Frank didn't get to try it out until today: falafel, hummous, foule, pita bread and sweet mint tea. Lovely food! And a bargain, too.

We'll be back!

Halloween, one week late

Madaba, Jordan
Thursday, November 8, 2012

With all the students back from Eid break, it was time at last to celebrate Halloween. It was a campus filled with ghoulies and ghosties and glowing pumpkins...

And the weather was cool enough to make it feel like Halloween for sure--even this far from home.

The Noodles

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Saturday, November 3, 2012

After our adventure at KL Bird Park, we headed into Chinatown for a delicious lunch of noodles, pork, and chicken--and a light bowl of wonton soup. Wandering among the small streets, even with not much time to spare, was great fun.

Tonight I fly home to Jordan. It's been a great trip, both professionally and personally.

KL: We'll be back!

The Birds

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

You get to feed the emus...

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Yippee! I had this morning off from my course so I headed out to the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park with a former student of mine. What a fun place! Birds of all kinds flying about (under a huge netting system), artificial waterfalls, screeching, flapping, plummage waving....a verdant 20 acres.

The birds were truly spectacular and many of them about as tame a barnyard chickens.

I recommend it--for kids, too!

Lots and lots of peacocks...

Where's my lunch?

His profile was even more amazing...

Yes, I know they're not birds...

The Desserts

Just as tasty as they look!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Friday, November 2, 2012

Tonight was the fancy reception at the conference I am attending. More fun than eating some of the (many) desserts was just wandering about and looking at them...

Are they tasty? I was too full to find out...

The Rain

The daily downpour...

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Friday, November 2, 2012

A daily feature of Kuala Lumpur this time of year is driving rain every afternoon. This afternoon I was free for a few hours from the conference so I had this idea to visit KL's Bird Park. One look at the torrential wall of rain outside and I thought, well, we'll try tomorrow morning instead.

After two and half months in the dry world of Jordan, though, the warm rain is a welcome delight...