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I have limited access to my blog, but I think I have changes it so anyone can leave comments, not just those who have registered. Try it out!! All the cool people are doing it.

Making Sense of the Nunsense

I am CLEARLY a pilgrim in that picture. Us Puritan woman wear the white bonnet as a sign of our virtue and Godliness. I know the ship says Nina, but Mayflower was much too long to put on such a small, humble ship. I didn't think the Mahoney brothers would even notice the ship. They do have a history of not seeing vehicles on the side of the road, especially in foreign countries.

About the only wildlife I have seen in Syria involves stray cats, but this week alone, I've encountered two rare, virtually unseen animals. I think they both say a lot about the effects of growth hormones on animals.

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving. Christmas is right around the corner! I'd love to get a few Christmas cards (big hint). Remember my address here is Damascus Community School, Channin Becker 428 Thunderbird Rd Box 149, Phoenix, AZ 85022. I can get photos as long as the envelope has enough postage!

Happy Thanksgiving

From across the global...a very happy Thanksgiving to you.

Ode to Bob's

The taste of grease soaked in a bun,
A trip to Bob's Burgers, great family fun!
Whoever said Disney was the best place on earth,
Never ventured to Bob's to quench their great thirst.
To wait a few hours, a small price to pay,
For the joy of sitting on the asphalt all day.
Never mind when Poopa gets tired and cross,
It'll all be forgotten with the fries and the sauce.
The milkshakes are real, only freshest of dairy,
But what's in the meat? Don't ask, it's quite scary.
Ah, the memories of Bob's, but oh, such a pity,
that we can't meet more in our sweet, Baker City!!

Palmyra

This weekend I took my first big trip outside Damascus. A couple of veteran teachers, Evelyn and Lynn, and Lynn's daughter, Chaeli, Megan and I hired a car to drive us. It was a nice, new 4 wheel drive, the only problem was, it only held 4 passengers. One of us, usually Megan and Spunky, ended up riding in the back with all the luggage. The Syrian man who owned the car kept telling us, "it's new, very nice" and we kept telling him, "yes, it's very nice. For 4 people!". It wasn't a bad ride despite that little issue. They let me play singing games in the car.

We stayed in a nice, little hotel right on the Palmyra's ruins. Palmyra is an ancient dessert oasis that was located on the Silk Road. In it's heyday, it much have been one spectacular place. There were hardly any tourist there, and the ruins just lie out in the the open, no fences, no parking lots. The town is quite small and tourism is about the only thing the town has, so we got haggled a lot. The people are really quite nice despite the desperation. The oasis is something. All you see is desert forever then there's this big, green area with water just springing up from the sand. Damascus look green and lush after two days in Palmyra.

We took a camel ride. I know I swore I would not ride a camel, but it was actually pretty fun. It was a little hairy when the camel got up and down, but once we were riding, it was actually more comfy than riding a horse. I could probably be talked in to during a caravan into the desert for a few days.

We visited the castle and a tomb. We walked on top of the tomb which made me very nervous, but the pictures turned out great. They aren't too blurry from my shaking.