Treasures

Last night we heard from a friend that he had seen some Dr Pepper at the grocery store, they were unloading it as he was leaving. So this morning we got up and went treasure hunting. We arrived at the store and the clerk immediately knew what we were looking for, seeing as how we (or at least I) sure looked like we'd just rolled out of bed for something special. We bought quite a few DPs and they also had some A&W root beer, so I got some of those for my roommate. Because they are imported they were a little pricey, but I didn't care...we'll ration them, they should last until the end of the year plus maybe they'll make good Christmas presents!

Yes I am wearing jeans and my rear is not covered. Yes, I am wearing a fleece...it was 59 degrees last night...freezing! And yes, behind me is a lot of non-alcoholic beer. It's surprisingly popular (and gross) around here.

We also heard that, at a different grocery store, they had Doritos. There is a factory up in Egypt that makes different kinds of chips. About 3 months ago these puffy cheetos started showing up all over the place and at a halfway decent price. Now these doritos have popped up but they're so new and stores are running out quickly b/c all the foreigners are buying them up. So we went to the latest store that got a shipment and bought 'some'. (yes, I even have a rough idea of when stores get shipments, there's only about 4 decent ones!) So this morning I spent as much on Dr Pepper and Doritos as I would normally spend on a month of groceries. Some of that was for my roommate, but still. I just rationalize it by thinking that I don't ever buy anything b/c there's usually nothing to buy, so just this once it's OK.

Ya'll probably think that I'm crazy, going around and buying basket loads of junk food no matter how much it costs and really only because it is available, but that's how things work around here. The selection is severely limited and if you find something good then it definitely won't be around for long so you buy it when you see it and stock up. Last week a friend called from the grocery store to say that they had brownie mixes. The next day I went and there were no brownie mixes. The brownies have come through 2 or 3 times since I've been here but I've heard that they get a DP shipment once a year...you just gotta take advantage of things while you can.

On a totally separate note, I've explained to some of you about Friday prayers and the phenomena that occurs after them. Fridays here are like our Sundays in the States and most men goes to the mosque for prayers and a sermon (which is also broadcast over a loudspeaker so you don't even have to go to get the benefit, although it's not actually called a sermon, that's just what I like to call it). I usually don't understand the entire thing b/c it's in Arabic, but I can pick up on quite a few words like America, government, UN, Palestine, etc...every week they get pretty worked up over one of these topics. When the sermon gets out you have a flood of angry Arab men dressed in white jalabiyyas coming towards you and you know they've just been talking about you...hopefully they're not looking for some innocent white girl on whom to take out their anger. I generally try to avoid being in the middle of this, although I have been known to watch from my balcony just because it's so weird. Today my friend was dropping me off after our shopping excursion and I just happened to have my camera. So this picture was taken discreetly through the back window of her car while we were sitting in front of my house. Sorry it's blurry and has lines but I hope it gives you just a little bit more of a glimpse into my life here.