Did they say 8 weeks? They actually meant two days... We now have genuine, honest-to-goodness, high speed internet. How awesome is that?

Language lessons should start tomorrow. Each encounter we have with shopkeepers where they don't speak very much English and we don't speak very much Arabic reminds us of how badly we need to learn the language. A good sense of humor is very helpful in these situations.

A few days ago, I went into a shop and tried some clothes on and the woman who was helping me didn't speak very much English, but we were doing ok with bits and pieces. When she used the word "anna", I thought she was introducing herself, so I said, "Anna? My name is Christy." "No, no," she said, followed by a long string of Arabic. I finally decided that "anna" meant "hem", as in she wanted to hem my skirt. Later, when I was talking with some friends, I was told that "anna" means "I". So now, I'm fairly certain that when I introduced myself to "Anna" it was in response to her saying "I can hem your skirt." Funny stuff. But I will now never forget that "anna" means "I".

As I write this, I realize that I have only lived here for 9 days. So I'm fairly sure that gives me the right, at a later date, to change my opinion. But for now: I really like shopping here. You just never know what you will come home with.

At the end of our street is a long row of shops along another street. Between the street and the shops is a bit of grass, bushes and trees. Like this:

This is the night that we went and got our cell phones... and here is the cell phone shop:

During our walk, the girls wanted me to take their picture of them in front of a jewelry shop:

And this is our local market where we go to buy milk, diet coke, bread, juice, bassbousa, baking powder, etc. I've also bought dish cloths, jelly, flour, sugar and yogurt there.

I need to get a picture of one of the fruit stands for you. We can buy a kilo of fresh green beans for about 3 pounds: about 60 cents.

I don't like to take my camera with me when we go on a shopping trip, because it makes us look more tourist than we already do. Which makes the shopkeepers charge us more. But at the same time, I want to have pictures to show you! This is such a neat experience. A completely different way of life than back home.

Next up, I hope to show you pictures of our flat. (when I get it clean enough to photograph, haha)

And a big shout-out to my sister, Leigh! Hope you had a marvelous birthday! I've been thinking about you today. Love you lots!