Pictures I Took On a Sunday Walk In Ljubljana

Ljubljana

The last few days in Amman...pt.II -- Downtown with Lina

Last Thursday, I finally had the pleasure of meeting Lina in person. Just over a year ago, I had sent an e-mail to Jordan planet asking about interesting things to do in Amman. Lina was kind enough to reply, which was when I began reading her extremely interesting blog Into the Wind.

Lina is someone that I'm sure everyone loves when they meet her. People sing her praises all the time (Kinzi, Sandmonkey)
and it isn't surprising! She truly is a wonderful person and no words could do her justice. This is why I'll keep the rest of mine simple...
Some more reasons why Lina is cool:


She'll take you to those hidden urban treasures that show you a part of Amman's soul...



Her smile brightens up a room...

She knows where to find good books... and from what I gathered, calls everyone "uncle"She knows where to find excellent knaffeh...

And cozy places to enjoy a nice warm beverage (Jafra Café)

She doesn't make fun of me when I make mistakes in Arabic :) And according to Omar, she's very good at bargaining (thanks for getting me a deal on the scarves...)


And I'm sure that everyone who knows her will agree that she's great to hang out with; you can't help but be in a good mood around her.
And she gives amazing tours of downtown... Thanks Lina :)

Some more pics I took that morning:

The last few days in Amman... pt.I

Back in Ljubljana now, back to work, back to the routine, back to procrastinating... Two weeks passed by so quickly and so much happened that I need an extra week off. I'm already being hit with translation deadlines, but prefer to take a break and share with you some of the nicer moments of my last few days in Amman...

Like having a coffee and smoking a shisha with my friend Sona...

Trying the best hummus in town :)

Seeing something that Slovenians could learn a lot from: a mosque and a church, side by side...


Meeting up with Mira, Rania and Hind at Wild Jordan. I absolutely love this place! The company was great....


and so was the view :)Ok, back to work... coming very soon: Downtown Amman with Lina :)

Amman
Wild Jordan
Jordan

Some pics taken in and around Amman

Amman
Jordan

Amer, you crack me up....

Ok, some might see this as offensive, but it's a joke ok!
These pics represents what you get when you cross an Arab with a Slovene:


A drunk terrorist!
The guy in the pic is my significant other's brother Amer. Dude, you are hilarious!
drunk
Jordan
Slovenia
terrorist

Never thought I'd have to go to the Middle East to see snow this year...

Back home on the sunny side of the Alps, Christmas was a green one this year. I had been complaining about missing the snow since the beginnning of December. Who would have guessed I would have to go to Jordan to see snow this winter?
Here are some pics:


Amman
Jordan
snow

On My First Day in Amman and Jordan Planet Quiz Night

I arrived in Amman early yesterday morning, though a couple of hours later than expected. It is wonderful to have a change from my routine and relax a lot more than I'm used to. I feel so much better to be back with Omar after such a long time. Long distance relationships are a pain to say the least.
Roba had invited me to the Jordan Planet blogger meet up. I was not sure exactly what to expect. I didn't really know anyone there. I originally discovered Jordan Planet, right after my bf moved back to Amman and I was going to visit. Since he hadn't lived there in many years, he wasn't up to date with what to do and where to go. I began browsing and found Jordan Planet and wrote an email asking for some info. I immediately received a wonderful and very informative reply from Lina (who I unfortunately did not meet yesterday). Slowly I began to discover other interesting and amusing blogs like Mira's, Khalidah's, Roba's, Hal's (Hal, where the hell were you last night?), Moey's, Qwaider's and many others.
This quiz night was a good time overall. The only complaint I have was the dudes at the table next to us made it hard to hear what was going on. Yeah, you know who you are... I have nothing against you guys otherwise and actually think you're cool, but playing the music on the cell phones and overdoing it with the yelling was a bit much. Smart-ass comments are amusing, but there's a point when it's just not funny anymore.
Our table came in second place, after being asked the tie-breaking question. Turns out we need to brush up on our knowledge of history. Or maybe it's because Roba was cheating (ok, you had to be there for this to make sense).
I'll end this with a few pics I took.





Some more pics from the evening available at Qwaider's and Hala's (plus a very thorough description of the evening -- in Arabic)


Amman
Jordan Planet

On the fears we face...

While enjoying my Sunday morning coffee and reading blogs and the like, I read a post on Bakkouz's blog about Parthenophobia, the fear virgins or young girls. I have to agree with him. This is a rather strange phobia for a person to have. In my life I have heard of or read about various types of phobias that human beings suffer from. After having done some browsing, and seeing lists of phobias that have been documented throughout the years, I know that many of them are more bizarre than I could have ever imagined.

In my opinion, the weirdest one has got to be:
Arachibutyrophobia - fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.

Here are some others I found rather amusing:
Geniophobia - fear of chins
Peladophobia - fear of bald people (I suppose this makes sense if it's a group of skinheads chasing you with baseball bats)
Consecotaleophobia - fear of chopsticks
Nomatophobia - fear of names (So do these people spend their lives walking around calling others "Hey you!"?)
Bibliophobia - fear of books (I suspect that some of my students suffer from this one)
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia - fear of the number 666 (I'm not even sure how to pronounce that one)
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - fear of long words (And then they give it a threatening looking name like this?!!)
Barophobia - fear of gravity (Ok, and how are you supposed to deal with that? Go live in space?)
Phronemophobia - fear of thinking (Not quite sure how one would deal with this either...)
Linonophobia- fear of string
Ithyphallophobia - fear of seeing, thinking about or having an erect penis
Xanthophobia - fear of the colour yellow or the word yellow
Lutraphobia - fear of Otters (huh?!!)

Here is a list of phobias that people suffer from. What phobias do you have?

phobias

Exploding Phone Charger (enough to ruin my day)

I had never thought about this before. I had never even heard of it happening (though apparently it does).
Had you asked me about mobile phones before I moved to Slovenia 10 years ago, I would have just rolled my eyes at you. My friends and I would actually make fun of people we saw talking on their cells. I suppose the fact that phone calls from landlines and pay phones are much cheaper in Canada than they are in Europe had something to do with this. After coming to live here and witnessing the mobile boom in the 90s, I eventually gave in after receiving several complaints that it was impossible to get a hold of me. Since then, using a mobile phone and everything that comes along with it has become daily routine, every day stuff… not really something I think about twice. Well, until now…

I recently purchased a new charger for my mobile. What happened the first time I plugged it in? It exploded! Seriously! There was this loud pop sound and the thing blew up! I couldn’t believe it!






This was on Sunday and unfortunately, the shop where I had purchased the charger was closed. I immediately looked up the manufacturer’s website and wrote them a letter strongly suggesting that they do something about quality control. They still haven’t responded. After taking a more careful look at their packaging, I also noticed that their English and German instructions really don’t make any sense. For example: “Vor dem laden ist die Cebrauchsanweisung zu lessen” Huh? This means absolutley nothing! Millenium, you people suck!

On Monday, I went to the shop with the remnants of the blown up charger. Our conversation went something like this:
Me: I bought this charger here on Friday and when I plugged it in, it exploded.
Guy: That shouldn’t happen.
Me: No shit, Sherlock. Did you accidentally give me a model from the “Suicide Bombers’ Series” or something?
(Guy gives me a perplexed look…)

The guy didn’t give me any hassle to exchange it. I also made him plug the new one in the shop before I agreed to accept it.

Just as a warning to all of you… these things do happen. From now on, I’m always going to have things tested/plugged-in at the shop before I take them home and they blow up in my face!


exploding mobile charger

The Autumn View

Kids are off from school this week over here, which means that I also get a vacation by default. If only it were that! My boss at the agency I translate for is on the ball and figured out that I won’t be busy with teaching this week, so my e-mail keeps getting flooded with new documents to be either translated or proofread. Then there’s this freelance job I took on (big mistake) and I have kind of been ignoring it (perhaps hoping that when I wake up in the morning, the work will magically have gotten done). Some vacation!
It’s nice to take a break and enjoy the view…



It was such a beautiful autumn day that Mica had to check it out too!


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cat

A Video of Great Social and Political Importance

Muppet Show

Sushi in Ljubljana (@Sushimama)

Ljubljana
Sushi
Sushimama

Five years ago today…

This post is not about politics. It’s not about conspiracy theories. It’s about what I was going through, 5 years ago on this day, at this time.

September 11th 2001 began as any other workday had for me. I woke up, went to the primary school I teach at, taught my classes… It was the beginning of the school year and early on that particular evening, there were going to be the first parent-teacher meetings. After my last class had ended, I had a couple of hours to kill before the meetings. Three coworkers and I decided to go get a coffee and snack at a nearby café to pass the time. It was 3:20pm when one of my colleague’s mobiles rang. It was her daughter, freaking out: “I don’t believe it! America is under attack!”. My first reaction was to look at my co-worker and say “Umm… your daughter has obviously been smoking some strong shit again… She’s probably watching some freaky movie…”
Well, I decided to give my mother a call; I assumed she’d know what was going on since Montreal isn’t that far away from NYC. My mother confirmed the story we had heard and I was suddenly overcome with horror! Julie! Oh my God! Julie! She only lives a few blocks away from the WTC! She works there!
Julie was my classmate and best friend all through high-school. We stuck by each other through everything and anything, shared many fun times, many tears.
After university, I moved to Europe. Julie moved to NYC to attend law school. She had been working as a corporate lawyer for less than a year; it had been her first job. I couldn’t believe what was happening.
Julie’s parents still live in Montreal. I immediately told my mom to call her mom to see if everything was ok.
It was time for the meetings. I didn’t know whether my friend was alive or dead and I was shaking.
I was like a zombie during the entire meeting. I can’t remember a damn thing I said to those parents. I don’t even remember which road I took to get home. I remember going into my room, turning on the TV and staring at the images on the screen as tears streamed down my cheeks. Until came the call of relief…
My mother called me back. She had spoken to Julie’s mom. Julie had called her parents to let them know she was still alive. It turns out she had pressed the snooze button a couple of extra times and was running late. So rather than already being at work, she was just leaving her apartment when the first plane hit, and that was what saved her.
She would have to evacuate her apartment, she was covered in soot and was having trouble breathing, but she was still alive!
I am and always will be thankful that Julie was spared.
To all of those who have suffered because of what happened on that day, my thoughts are with you.
9/11
NYC
WTC

Me & Mat' Kurja (Mother Hen), Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Some pics from Saturday's Antique Car Show, Ljubljana

Ljubljana