Month: August 2011

Finally, a Facebook App I actually Like

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Today I checked my App and Game requests on Facebook, and found that I have a closet full of HOT clothes. I’ve also been accepted into the school of wizardry, appointed starting pitcher, and put on the library staff. Several acquaintances have admitted to stalking me (isn’t being “friends” on Facebook already stalking?), I’ve been passed an Argentine mate, and people want me on their birthday calendars in various different languages, each of which (annoyingly) has its very own app. Smiles, hugs, diamonds, zombies, time machines, and empires are all mine for the taking. I guess life is full of opportunities.… Read more

Keeping Faith, Falling Leaves, and A Thousand Splendid Suns

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I love reading, but finding English-language books can be something of a challenge for an expat. Yes, I miss my library. And then a couple of months ago my Kindle broke (sad day!), leaving me high and dry when it comes to reading material. I wrote quite a bit of poetry in the interim, and got some other equally practical stuff done. But I’ve been in serious literary withdrawal.

Enter Jo Ann, who in addition to being a fabulous artist, spearheading the clean beach campaign, and giving us dog care advice, loaned me some books! I must confess that I shamelessly gobbled them, mostly simultaneously.… Read more

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

What is it with us and garbage problems? First there was the Italian fiasco, in which we had to evade law enforcement to get rid of our garbage. And next, we got in trouble for throwing bread to the birds, because I’m apparently the only one on the planet who somehow missed out on how taboo it is to throw bread on the ground in a Muslim country.

Now we have this problem:

This lovely little pile is located just around the corner from our house. It’s the neighborhood dumpster/garbage mountain, which happens to be sandwiched between the 4-Star Miramar Hotel and the main entrance to world famous Hammamet Beach.… Read more

Euphoria in Libya; Saif is Safe

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Looks like months of desperate fighting and daily NATO strikes have finally paid off. The Libyan rebels are largely in control of Tripoli. We’re not sure where Mad Qaddafi is now, as he’s been missing for quite some time. Rumor had it that last week he’d escaped into Tunisia, but I haven’t seen him anywhere around here. Today he sent someone over to blow up an unspecified embassy in Tunis (the would-be terrorist defected instead), so it’s probably much more likely that Qaddafi will be landing in Cuba or Venezuela within the next few days.

However, his son Saif al-Islam has been taken captive by the rag-tag rebel army, and will soon be on his way to the Hague to face trial for crimes against humanity.… Read more

The Dog That Walks By Himself

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Perhaps we are in need of a dog after all. Before last week we had no one to steal our socks, lick up spills from the floor, or cover our hands with warm kisses.

I guess we can consider him an “oops baby” of sorts. After further grilling of all our neighbors, we were able to uncover the story of how a little black puppy came to be all alone yelping in the street outside our house. Apparently, the nice old man who lives across the street and spends hours every day sitting outside on his front porch was sitting there as usual two Fridays ago at 7:00 in the morning.… Read more

Ramadan Observations

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Now that we’ve passed the full moon halfway mark of Ramadan, I thought I’d let you know how we’ve been faring. I also feel a little guilty about all the good Muslims who’ve landed on my previous Ramadan post via google, searching for advice on when is the last time to eat in Ramadan, whether or not shaving is allowed, how to pass the time until sunset, etc. I’m afraid I answered none of those questions, and provided no helpful advice at all for those who were preparing for Ramadan in a religious sense. I still don’t know about the shaving, and I haven’t personally heard the drum that they supposedly go around beating in the wee hours of the morning to remind people to eat for the last time before sunrise.… Read more

Mormons Abroad

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

One of the things Mormons love to say when they travel (whether it’s across the ocean or just to the next town over) is that they’re so thankful that “the Church is the same no matter where you go.” And to a certain extent, it’s true. We all sing the same hymns, although every ward congregation seems to have its particular favorites. We all read the same scriptures. Sunday meetings follow the same general format, with everyone meeting together first, then separating into adults and children, and then further separating the adults by gender and the children by age. Sunday School lesson manuals are standardized and translated into over a hundred languages, and on any given Sunday the whole worldwide Church is studying the same lesson, give or take a week or two depending on how organized the Sunday School teacher happens to be.… Read more

How Much is that Doggie in the Window?

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

We are not a family in need of a dog. Yes, it’s true that we’ve always kind of wanted one, but we are certainly not at the point of going out and buying a puppy. In fact, we exercised remarkable restraint a few months ago when the half wild dogs on the beach had six cute little roly-poly puppies, and Rambo kept asking us if we wanted one.

Yesterday, though, as we were heading off for our morning time at the beach, we walked out our front gate to so much yelping I thought there must be a dog fight. It turned out to be just one dog, and not a very big one, at that.… Read more

Teaching Math to Children

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Sometimes I get so upset about all the problems in the world that I just want to write an endless stream of depressing rants. It’s nice to focus on the positive sometimes too, though. And homeschooling is usually positive for us. Learning happens in the least expected places, and my children are always surprising me. They seem to breathe in knowledge like air. I guess I should have expected it, but children begin as such an extension of oneself that it is a startling delight to see that they’ve developed their own unique ways of looking at the world.

I think four-year-old Dominique expressed it best a few weeks ago when he informed Tony, “I know a lot of things; and not all of them are from you.”… Read more

Institutionalized Sadism

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

The Assad regime specializes in torture. After every demonstration, security forces round up hundreds of protesters, suspects, and random passers-by. In some areas, they go from house to house, dragging out every young man they find. Once detained, these people can look forward to savage beatings, restraint in stress positions, filth, humiliation, rape, mutilation, or worse. Although they brave bullets every time they go out on the streets to protest, many are more afraid of being detained than shot.

And the reach of the Syrian government is long. Those the regime cannot get at directly, it targets indirectly via threats or actual violence against friends and family in Syria.… Read more