Life Is Good

Aaah, it's good to be back.
Not really:P

Well, I missed mommy and daddy that's for sure! I'm no longer used to staying for extended periods of time away from them, so 10 days did feel like a lot:)

But after my first day back to school today- I'm starting to think maybe I shoulda stayed for another coupla... dunno...YEARS?

It was such an awesome break! Being with my awesome sis:) I loved everything about it.. even the times when we'd cancel our plans for the day and just sleep in and spend it cooped up in her residence house giggling at the silliest things!

Can you believe she actually had an Exel sheet ready; where she devided it by days and hours and color-coded them according to different activities.
I found it hilarious- but useful! More than once you'd catch me staring at the PC screen and yelling at my sis: "Hey! it says here that now is our together time! Where are you running to? COME BAAAAAACK". (You'd think I'd take a hint, but no.)

Boston is very pretty; a stroll along the Charles River is sure to take your breath away (it sure did mine...). I loved it there, but I'm pretty sure I woulda had just as much fun no matter where I was. After all, it's really not the place that matters, it's who's in it. And I was with my sis, and I woulda been ecstatic no matter where. I know it sounds corny, but it's true:)

If you qualify as a family member (official ID required:P) or a friend (you just have to had given me chocolate at some point in my life!), you should've received an email from me with a link to some of the photos we took. If for some reason you didn't, just drop me a line and I'll fix that.

I'm not about to share every single thing I did or loved out there, but I'll just mention a few of the highlights:

1. Squirrels! Oh yeah, and lots of them too. Ah the excitment I got each and every time I saw a squirrel. Are they like the cutest things or what? Of course, in squirrel language, I'm preeetty sure I am known as the "crazy shrieking woman with a camera at our tails".
*innocent look* What? I couldn't help it!

2. Ice-cream. Oh My God. You have got to see the size of the ice cream scoop. It's AT LEAST 3 times the size of any ice cream scoop I've ordered in my life. I wanted to hug the ice cream guy! (not really, but you get the point:P) Boston is definitely the place to order ice cream (and get fat, but that's besides the point).

3. Smiles! Yes, strange people in the street nod and smile at you, and I just love that. I remember a few years back when we went to Malaysia, I was totally awed by how friendly strangers are to you. Everyone- and I MEAN everyone- in the streets smiles at you. I remember returning to Kuwait vowing to smile at everyone I met. Well, ummm, that didn't exactly go so well. Lets just say there were some "grave repercussions". So the plan was quickly aborted, naturally.
But now I'm inspired to try this out again, with a few necessary modifications. I will smile at every FEMALE I pass by and every male over the age of... I think 70 would be a safe bet, don't you think?

4. Meeting the islamic community and being called a "sister".
"How are you sister?"
"Can you pass me that please sister?"
"Who's the sister over there?"
In the muslim community, everyone refers to each other as "sister" and "brother". This may seem like a trivial thing to you, but believe you me, it does wonders. I was an outsider and all of a sudden I felt so welcomed and so integrated into the group, whether it was in the prayers or the daily Ramadan Futur they held. Afterall I was a "sister";)

5. My sister's cooking. My tummy started squeeking at the mention of that. She is like the best cook ever (but that's not the only reason I love you sis! I think:P). Be it main courses or desserts, she's got 'em all. I can rave about her dishes for ages... she actually made me Atayef from scratch!! Man, you gotta love this girl.
But of course it's her righteousness and strong character that I admire most, and what makes me aspire to spend as MUCH time as possible with her, no doubt about that. Ending up in the kitchen is purely "happenstance".

6. Life Is Good shop. This is absolutely the cutest shop ever. Everything it has is so colorful and adorable and I just wanna own the whole place! The good news is, you guys can stop worrying about what gift to buy me next time you see me-ANYthing from that shop would make my day! (For those of you thinking "What makes her think we were considering getting her a gift in the first place, let alone WORRYING about it"- I can only say: SHAME on you people:P)
My sis bought me a bunch of things from there before I left- is she an angel or what?

Oh I could go on forever spilling out my thoughts, but I probably shouldn't. I'd bore you to death and I'm no longer free as a bird! Lots of lesson plans to prepare.

Speaking of lessons and school. You might like to know that my cute little monsters are just as monstrous as I left them before. But they still make me laugh. I mean how can I not laugh when I'm trying to line them up and I'm so distressed and it's such chaos and this boy is punching this boy and this boy has his shoe off (you don't even wanna know) and then one of the boys yells:
"TEACHER, he says I am baloo3a".

You gotta give 'em credit. They are something!