I found these superstions over the interenet and thought they were amusing:
New Year's Meal... Fish and shrimp for prosperity, black-eyed peas for good luck, rice for abundance in life, 13 grapes for each full moon of the year, something sweet for a sweet new year, something chocolate for love and to comfort the soul, bread to never go hungry, salt for a flavorful life, wine for a cheerful and joyful life.
Clothes... Dress in white for a new, fresh start.. Wear red underwear for love. For prosperity, wear gold underwear and wear something with pockets because you must always have money in your pockets at the stroke of midnight. Some people wear two pairs of underwear on New Year's Eve: one red and one gold."kinky ha?"
Home... Get rid of things you dont need to make way for the new. For good karma, give old clothes to charity on New Year's Eve.9=(NEVER TAKE ANYTHING OUT OF THE HOUSE fIRST DAY OF THE YEAR ,EVEN GARBAGE,ALWAYS DO THAT EARLIER.
First Footing:The 'first footer' is the first man to cross the threshold after the hour of midnight has struck: if he is dark-haired and carries with him such objects as coal, bread, salt and money, the good luck of the household is guaranteed for the whole year ahead. If, however, the first footer is blonde or red-headed, bad luck will befall the house; if the first footer is a female this is even worse, as she ushers in only the direst misfortune. (I've been blond for the last month and turned red head two days ago..i should let my husband in first ..or else?)
Washing clothes on New Year's day is inadvisable, for one of the family will themselves be 'washed away' in the months ahead.
It is bad luck to pay money or loan money, lend precious belongings or break anything. Ideally, any outstanding debts should be paid by New Year's eve to ensure further debts are not incurred in the year to come.
Holding a piece of silver or gold as the New Year begins is said to increase the chances of prosperity in the coming year...some place a silver coin over the doorway or a penny on the windowsill.
The first kiss you get in the New Year is very important! You will love that certain man/woman during the whole year and he/she will be close to you.(So watch out who you kiss !)
Happy New Year Everyone!
There's something about this place that makes you laugh.We couldn't put our fingers on it,my husband and I.It was lunch time and after a stressful morning for both of us,we were looking for something to dig into for comfort rather than hunger satisfaction.So we went to the swefieh branch to try it out after so many wonderful reviews from everyone.I'd dumped my kids at my parents earlier so we could go as junky as possible,who cares about nutrition any ways?
We sat in the glazed pavement,and scanned the menus.They have three of them,different designs,same items.But the variety in there!!!it's one of these places with everything you can think of..from labaneh w za3tar to fajitas..I feel the menu developped as they went, adding more and more items along the way.What is this Francisco sandwich..my husband asked and we later learned (from the egyptian waiter)that it is jaj mashwi on the jrill!!we passed..I had the steak and mushroom sandwich,he had the (zinjur!)Both were good,can't complain,fries and wedges were rather soggy but the combination of carb and fat binge was totally satisfactory.We laughed all the way through the meal,the "khairat urdunia bikhibrat lebnania" motto ,was one funny thing,samarine sandwich was another ,and the jrill on which chicken was grilled was hilarious,reminded me of the waiter in hwarra who was explaining how they prepared something with the mikassar..took me a while to realize it was the mixer we were talking about and couldn't conatin my laugh,however lebnani is one more snack place added to my long list of alternatives for when I 'm too lazy to cook.
If you haven’t read Madas’s post please do so first :http://www.livejournal.com/users/madas/24247.html
Architect vs Housewife…
I write as both,architect and housewife.When it comes to the design of a villa,there are rarely any rooms that lack space,so the owner can fulfill his dreams of having her majesty over for tea or not.When I design a 600m2 villa,it is not up to me to decide wether 400m2 of it go to the guest entertaining section of the house or the family occupied section.This has nothing to do with creativity,this is someone's house and they know their needs more than I do.Trust me when the salon is something like 15*15m.the bedrooms are quite spacious and so is the living room where the family spends most of their waking hours.I do agree with Madas however on the inhumane ways we are dealing with our maids and the coffins we stuff them in.During the last year when I was looking for an apartment to buy I have seen rooms that are around 1.5*1.5m,that are designed to fit the maid and her belongings,along with the washer,dryer and laundry!!!I was designing a house last month and I tried to make the maids room bigger and the owner refused..it suddenly struck me that the poor little girl will be living in a room that is samller than my daughters queen sized bed!!And we want them to be kind to our kids!!and love them and care for them!!!Everyone’s reasoning is that she comes from a poor country where she lived in a hay hut along with tens of other siblings..how mean!!Anyways,back to the main topic,when it’s an apartment building I am working on,it’s a little different,I do agree that we allocate much bigger areas to our rarely used rooms but trust me,as an architect,you can’t force people to live under your criteria.It's not a showroom or gallery it's their own place and they want it tailored to their liking.And when a building consists of four to ten apartments,it is always necessary to try and do what most people want ,to make it sellable,and as you have noticed most people want bigger larger guests rooms for the wajaha..and who knows..maybe one day her majesty would actually pop in for a visit.Now to be honest,I have to say that after getting married and having my own family and my own messy kids,I started seeing why people think so.My living room,which is by the way quite spacious and which is occupied 95%of the time we spend awake at home,and where the TV is on continuously and where we receive all our friends and close family ,is so messy I sometimes like to call it the pig farm.My kids have this weird habit of making me feel like we work in a circle,I take the toys inside to their room and they sort of always find a way to bring them out immediately ,while I am taking the next batch in they would be getting the first one out again.lego,duplo,little people,Barbie clothes,batteries,tools,computer cartridges,books,crayons,play dough,tiny hair pins and food,you can find any /all of these things under my couches.And my black couches are already worn out from all these sleepless teething nights that often start with barney and a milk bottle and end up with vomit and scrubbing and washing into the early morning hours.This said,you can imagine my need for a room that my kids only enter as visitors,where their stuff is not welcome and my favorite décor items are off limits for their tiny little hands.I had to put the Christmas tree in the salon this year,though I much prefer to have it where we sit to enjoy it, because my living room is in no shape to be seen by anyone outside our small circle of friends.So you see,regardless of the fact that I only use the salon like 4 times a year,when I do it is such a comfort to have,specifically that us arabs,we don’t entertain in small numbers,when I have a family dinner,it’s my parents,five sisters and one brother,my aunts who live with my parents and my husband’s parents and sister and brother and their spouses and kids.How many are those?around 25 maybe ?and this is just the immediate family.I am sure most of the people who read this relate to these figures.
If I didn’t have the space then I can’t have people over.Period.So now I somehow understand why people insist on larger salons.
And don’t get me started how so many people come to you with fixed ideas and beliefs that you can never change ,and sometimes with primitive sketches drawn on wara’ bayani that they need you to realize into professional drawings as is..no changes allowed.In my kind of work you get the client who is willing to let you go as creative as you wish because he a: wants to have a bold different design for his building or b:because he really can’t visualize what the hell are you talking about and wants to get done with it Asap. You also get the client who gets advice from every Tom,Dick and Harry whom he meets on the road and wants to do kol elli fe nifso in this house.It’s a tough business,and takes a lot to get hold of this crucial balancing point between your wishes and the clients commands.I am working on that but when do I get there?I HAVE NO CLUE.
I got stopped by a policeman for talking on the mobile while driving,and this is the exact conversation:
Me:If I tell you this is my first time would you believe me?
Him:Probably not!
Me:Well,you know it's 3eed and I am in a rush and really need to go so balash mokhalafeh?!
Him:Well let me see your licenses please..
and I said to myself..aklat hawa..!!(both my license and car's need renewing)
Him:Salam..your license needs renewing..
Me:Really has it been ten years already?
Him:Car licence please..salam ?(one samll look and ):you car license also needs renewing!!
Me:Oh my God,my husband must have forgotten..
Him:and what do you do for a living salam?
Me:Architect..
Him:well if I need your help with a house or something that would be useful..
Me:ya sure..
Him(giving me back my licenses):kol 3am w inti bkhair salam..don't do it again!!!!!!!!!
I close my eyes..
And look for you in my tomorrow..
I see you there in the future..
But I can't find ME!
If only in my dreams!
As DJs would put it:This one goes to all JP citizens who will be celebrating Christmas away from home....yes even those cranky one who have had it with Christmas Carols...cough/jameed/cough!!.it took me a while to figure out how I can do this..
I'm technologically challenged you see,,but I think it works now..listen to the song here: http://www.ourmedia.org/node/121109
(hope it works and if it does thanks to Knight)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!!
tiles guy: ths is where you will hang your built -in mirror on top of the sink.
me:but I already have a mirror and I want to hang it on a tiled wall !!
him: but everyone is doing that nowadays.do you want me to leave it like this..
me:yes they are but no thank you!Do you have extra tiles..
him: yes I do..
me:then?
him..ok I guess..if you insisit!!
me- to froeman now:and why is the bath tub white when the tiles are beige?
him:you know bash mohandiseh..el abyad malek el alwan..it suites everything.
me:yes it does..but do you have a beige tub?
him :yes..
me:so can you put it in here instead of the white one?
him:yes no problem but i still think white looks better.
me:yes it does ,but I still want a beige one..thanks.
و يعطر الشاي بالقرفة
يعود الى المائدة صحن الزيت و الزعتر
و شجر السرو و الصنوبر
يصير لونها اخيرا أخضر
الشوارع السوداء تلمع تحت أنوار المصابيح
"الناس تخرج من المخابز تأكل الخبز" الحاف
فمن يقاوم تحت شتاء عمان رغيفا من الخبز الساخن؟
في الشتاء ،وحين ينزل المطر...نحن نقرأ أكثر
و في الشتاء حين ينزل المطر..نحن نحب أكثر
... و نحضن أبنائنا أكثر
First of all i want to thank Sha3teely for his interesting post .
These are some projects that I have designed..(well my colleagues and I to be politically correct)I have these pictures on my p.c...Sorry they are a bit old..taken before the buildings were finished ..These are examples of how we used coloured stone and/or glass.I don't mean to imply that this is better or worse than the buildng that sha3teeli mentioned in his post http://sha3teely.blogspot.com/2005/12/blog-post.html but you know..different people different tastes....I would like to see what you think of these designs..I will try and get newer pictures and post them later.
First building is a villa and second an apartment building ..an example of using yellow stone..when we started using it ,it was a novelty now..I am sort of fed up with it..white remains the classic color that always looks good.
I like listening to radio fann in the morning ..mohammad al wakeel plays the allo allo..el bath el mobasher?role very nicely,and the things that people complain about are sometimes quite amusing..yesterday a man called to ask the government to reconsisder giving a raise to nurses.He was so much against it for the simple fact that the nurses who helped in his wife’s delivery wore too much make up as if they were ray7at 3ala 7aflet 3oros!!!Also the taxi driver who complains why he got a ticket for smoking behind the wheel when he smokes two packs a day and can’t stop every time he wants to take a puff!!But what I heard today really saddened me.This man from Aqaba has been bringing his daughter for treatment in Jordan University Hospital from a case called cystic fibrosis.To be honest I don’t know what this is nor how serious it is..but regardless…the girl was taken to Italy for check ups by a fa3el khair only to discover that she has been wrongly diagnosed and has been treated for 15 years with the wrong medications..How furious would that make you?I am very frustrated,I always thought that we have good hospitals and doctors ..we attract medical tourism from around tha arab world and we have some medical breakthroughs every now and then ..this should give us some credibility ..no? Poor girl!
It is a shock to me that for 15 years no one suspected that something is wrong in the picture..and sometimes I think we should be suing doctors and hospitals for such mistakes.
My husband,who also grew there not far away from my home,but whose paths chose not to cross mine till much later in life,had a dream of buying an old house there and renovating it.Unfortunately,none of our families still have their houses there,and we never found one to buy.There came a point in time when everyone was leaving,some to abdoon and some to swefieh and newer parts of jabal amman.In the late eighties and onwards ,Jabal lwebdeh was somewhere you never went to if your granparents didn't live there,or maybe your barber still runs his business there.One walk there and you see all these little old ladies in their dark clothes and grey hair,little old men in there flannel robes enjoying the sun in their well kept gardens.
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