Sarah called a few days ago to ask about something related to translating and pronouncing an Arabic word. After several sentences were exchanged she said in a frustrated tone, and I quote, "Iman you sound so British, it is scary" to which I replied "well I have been in this country for six effing months; it is about time I sound Bri'ish* and say that I ea'* po'a'os* ... "; she didn't like my answer and pointed out that I completely lost my accent and that I don't even sound Lebanese anymore! lol
I don't find that I don't sound Lebanese anymore; I certainly haven't lost my Lebanese accent when speaking Arabic (true Lebanese can never loose their Lebanese accents :P lol); though now I tend to speak full Arabic sentences with minimum use of English words which is weird for a Lebanese lol
* Bri'ish = British, ea' = eat, po'a'os = potatos: to sound like a true British you must swallow your t's and never say them :S (the only exception is if the t was the first letter of the word!)
P.S: Yes, I am now using the word effing instead of f***ing. Sheena doesn't like it; she says that I might as well say f***ing.
Showing posts with label Sheena. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sheena. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Monday, 6 April 2009
Very Quick Updates
Yo people, here are some very quick updates...this is how it is gonna be from now on as I need to do work and focus on my coursework instead of writing very long blog posts:
I celebrated my birthday twice, the first on March 25th and the second on April 2nd.
On March 25th we all went to a Lebanese restaurant in Portsmouth - it wasn't as good as the one in Bournemouth. We were: Sheena, George, Fleur, Becky, Ji, Mien (another ECSWomen member who is a Chinese Malaysian), Badr (who came all the way from London!), Darko, Martin (Darko's friend), and Martin's friend whom I can't remember his name because he has a foreign Lithuanian name. We then all went to Martin's place for a house party, apart from Badr who had to go back to London.
On April 2nd Sheena, George, and three of my course-mates (Ezgi, Li, and Markus) and I went out for lunch. Then Markus and I went to Ezgi's place so we can have arghili. I didn't do any work on my birthday (nor the day after it lol)
On March 5th Badr came to Southampton so we tour here, though to our disappointment we discovered that there is nothing here to tour lol. There are three museums but we only had time to visit one attraction - wasn't that impressive. We also wanted to have Shakeaway but the place was closed lol. But we took a lot of pictures and I am sure they will be posted on facebook soon (I forgot my camera at home so they would be in Badr's profile)
Basically this is it...two weeks have passed from the Easter vacation and two more to go ... I have TONS of work and I am getting stressed out more and more by the hour ... wish me luck people
Miss you all A LOT,,,,I have been thinking a lot about Lebanon lately and I really miss everything about it and I miss you all guys and all the time we spent together and all the places we used to go to and all the activities we used to do :( I think I am feeling homesick a lot lately.
I celebrated my birthday twice, the first on March 25th and the second on April 2nd.
On March 25th we all went to a Lebanese restaurant in Portsmouth - it wasn't as good as the one in Bournemouth. We were: Sheena, George, Fleur, Becky, Ji, Mien (another ECSWomen member who is a Chinese Malaysian), Badr (who came all the way from London!), Darko, Martin (Darko's friend), and Martin's friend whom I can't remember his name because he has a foreign Lithuanian name. We then all went to Martin's place for a house party, apart from Badr who had to go back to London.
On April 2nd Sheena, George, and three of my course-mates (Ezgi, Li, and Markus) and I went out for lunch. Then Markus and I went to Ezgi's place so we can have arghili. I didn't do any work on my birthday (nor the day after it lol)
On March 5th Badr came to Southampton so we tour here, though to our disappointment we discovered that there is nothing here to tour lol. There are three museums but we only had time to visit one attraction - wasn't that impressive. We also wanted to have Shakeaway but the place was closed lol. But we took a lot of pictures and I am sure they will be posted on facebook soon (I forgot my camera at home so they would be in Badr's profile)
Basically this is it...two weeks have passed from the Easter vacation and two more to go ... I have TONS of work and I am getting stressed out more and more by the hour ... wish me luck people
Miss you all A LOT,,,,I have been thinking a lot about Lebanon lately and I really miss everything about it and I miss you all guys and all the time we spent together and all the places we used to go to and all the activities we used to do :( I think I am feeling homesick a lot lately.
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Week of March 8th
Sunday March 8th:
I had Sunday Roast with Ji. It is a traditional English meal that people usually eat on ... Sundays - duh :P. I had agreed with her on Friday to have lunch together, so all weekend I knew I was gonna have Sunday lunch with her which was a weird feeling because it reminded me of the feeling I used to have during weekends at home because I would know that my family always has Sunday lunches together.
I then went shopping with Sheena, George, Becky, and Fleur - to ASDA of course *roll. I bought a new oven casserole because I had dropped the one I had before and it broke. I also bought a new dish because I broke two! OK, so I am clumsy ... :$ and this doesn't even count as news :P. The news is that I washed the new casserole and put it on the dish rack to dry. Then I was putting away the dishes and I took out two dishes and turned my back on the rack only to hear a crash and see George's puzzled looks. The new - washed and UNUSED - casserole had fell on the ground! Sometimes I feel so stupid because I am so clumsy :(. I later bought another one ... let us see how long this will survive :P
Monday March 9th:
Reena and I went to an event organized by BCS (British Computer Society) and WES (Women in Engineering and Sciences) for the occasion of International Women's Day. It was an OK evening. I was handed the task of giving raffle tickets to a free prize draw. The prize was a book published by BCS. I didn't win this time :P. The evening wasn't a big success because the organizers expected 50 people to show up and only about 15 came! There were two talks by two women; the first was a lady from WES who talked about the evolving role of women in science and technology over the past 100-and-so years. The second was a lady who described how they changed the IT structure and applications of the company that runs the airports and flight management. The second talk was really boring for me and I couldn't wait for it to finish. After the talk we had dinner and did a bit of 'networking'.
There is one thing I want to add. An English lady asked me where I was from and I said Lebanon. She then looked at me - in a strange way - and said: "I see you are keeping yourself warm; it must be really cold here compared to what you are used to". That frankly pissed me off. OK so I know that most people are ignorant about the weather and geography of Lebanon and think that it is some hot desert; and I sincerely don't expect people to even know what Lebanese is or where it is. But what pisses me off is when people make assumptions about things they don't know about then declare those assumptions in a not-so-friendly-way. But, I kept my cool and didn't say anything because Reena started talking about something related to the whether blablabla. Then I told the lady: "That reminded me of one winter when we were children and my grandmother came to take care of me and my brothers because my mom had to stay in the hospital with my youngest brother since he was sick and also my dad wasn't in Lebanon because he was travelling. Anyway, it was a very cold winter - we do get cold winters in Lebanon - but it was the first time my grandmother took care of us. So, she was afraid that we would get cold so she would dress up in a lot of heavy clothes. One day she dressed my brother in 7 blouses and sweaters! Can you imagine that! We still joke about it till now!" The lady was dumb-founded ... good thing I didn't tell her that my grandmother made my brother wear three trousers and three hats as well LOL
Tuesday March 10th:
I was intending on going to a talk about swarm robots organized by the IEEE chapter in ECS ... but I totally forgot D'oh! I don't know what is up with me these days - I am very forgetfull!
Thursday March 12th:
ECSWomen and Careers Services organized a Coffee and Cake event. I went along and enjoyed coffee, cake, chatting with people, and a tour in the careers services building. They are moving out of their current small building to new offices next year and they needed to hear people's opinions about how they can improve their services and what services people need from them.
Saturday March 14th:
I went to the zoo :P. Fleur, her uncle Mac, her grandpa Opa, and I went to Marwell Zoo. We spent the day there and then had lunch in Winchester. It was a really lovely day with nice weather and a great company. Fleur's grandpa is so nice and cute ... but hey, I think all grandpa's are cute :P. I miss my grandpa :( We took a lot of pictures of all the animals. I found the nicest were the leopard, flamingos, arabian cats, and lemurs - no wonder I don't get all excited about regular cats and dogs ... it is the leopards and other animals that are interesting to me LOL
Mother's day is in a couple of days and as previously mentioned I was the one who came up with all the ideas for gifts. We have settled on the presents; let us hope the two men in Lebanon (dad and Yahya) are capable of following gift-purchasing instructions :P LOL
I had Sunday Roast with Ji. It is a traditional English meal that people usually eat on ... Sundays - duh :P. I had agreed with her on Friday to have lunch together, so all weekend I knew I was gonna have Sunday lunch with her which was a weird feeling because it reminded me of the feeling I used to have during weekends at home because I would know that my family always has Sunday lunches together.
I then went shopping with Sheena, George, Becky, and Fleur - to ASDA of course *roll. I bought a new oven casserole because I had dropped the one I had before and it broke. I also bought a new dish because I broke two! OK, so I am clumsy ... :$ and this doesn't even count as news :P. The news is that I washed the new casserole and put it on the dish rack to dry. Then I was putting away the dishes and I took out two dishes and turned my back on the rack only to hear a crash and see George's puzzled looks. The new - washed and UNUSED - casserole had fell on the ground! Sometimes I feel so stupid because I am so clumsy :(. I later bought another one ... let us see how long this will survive :P
Monday March 9th:
Reena and I went to an event organized by BCS (British Computer Society) and WES (Women in Engineering and Sciences) for the occasion of International Women's Day. It was an OK evening. I was handed the task of giving raffle tickets to a free prize draw. The prize was a book published by BCS. I didn't win this time :P. The evening wasn't a big success because the organizers expected 50 people to show up and only about 15 came! There were two talks by two women; the first was a lady from WES who talked about the evolving role of women in science and technology over the past 100-and-so years. The second was a lady who described how they changed the IT structure and applications of the company that runs the airports and flight management. The second talk was really boring for me and I couldn't wait for it to finish. After the talk we had dinner and did a bit of 'networking'.
There is one thing I want to add. An English lady asked me where I was from and I said Lebanon. She then looked at me - in a strange way - and said: "I see you are keeping yourself warm; it must be really cold here compared to what you are used to". That frankly pissed me off. OK so I know that most people are ignorant about the weather and geography of Lebanon and think that it is some hot desert; and I sincerely don't expect people to even know what Lebanese is or where it is. But what pisses me off is when people make assumptions about things they don't know about then declare those assumptions in a not-so-friendly-way. But, I kept my cool and didn't say anything because Reena started talking about something related to the whether blablabla. Then I told the lady: "That reminded me of one winter when we were children and my grandmother came to take care of me and my brothers because my mom had to stay in the hospital with my youngest brother since he was sick and also my dad wasn't in Lebanon because he was travelling. Anyway, it was a very cold winter - we do get cold winters in Lebanon - but it was the first time my grandmother took care of us. So, she was afraid that we would get cold so she would dress up in a lot of heavy clothes. One day she dressed my brother in 7 blouses and sweaters! Can you imagine that! We still joke about it till now!" The lady was dumb-founded ... good thing I didn't tell her that my grandmother made my brother wear three trousers and three hats as well LOL
Tuesday March 10th:
I was intending on going to a talk about swarm robots organized by the IEEE chapter in ECS ... but I totally forgot D'oh! I don't know what is up with me these days - I am very forgetfull!
Thursday March 12th:
ECSWomen and Careers Services organized a Coffee and Cake event. I went along and enjoyed coffee, cake, chatting with people, and a tour in the careers services building. They are moving out of their current small building to new offices next year and they needed to hear people's opinions about how they can improve their services and what services people need from them.
Saturday March 14th:
I went to the zoo :P. Fleur, her uncle Mac, her grandpa Opa, and I went to Marwell Zoo. We spent the day there and then had lunch in Winchester. It was a really lovely day with nice weather and a great company. Fleur's grandpa is so nice and cute ... but hey, I think all grandpa's are cute :P. I miss my grandpa :( We took a lot of pictures of all the animals. I found the nicest were the leopard, flamingos, arabian cats, and lemurs - no wonder I don't get all excited about regular cats and dogs ... it is the leopards and other animals that are interesting to me LOL
Mother's day is in a couple of days and as previously mentioned I was the one who came up with all the ideas for gifts. We have settled on the presents; let us hope the two men in Lebanon (dad and Yahya) are capable of following gift-purchasing instructions :P LOL
Friday, 6 March 2009
Things have been slow lately
So I took a WHOLE month off after the final exams. I didn't do any work for the whole of February and when I did sit down to do work I would end up facebooking or youtubing or reading the news or emailing some friends or chatting with other friends (or blogging) *shame. And when I actually tried to force myself to do work I would get very sleepy and couldn't understand a single word of what I was reading - if I had managed to read anything!
But, I have been feeling very (very very) guilty lately so starting this week I cut down on almost all my activities. I only went over to Verena's on Wednesday for dinner. Verena had invited me along with Fleur, Peter, and Sheena. Peter forgot and Sheena was sleeping so only Fleur and I went but it was full of fun. Poor Verena had cooked for five people so plenty of food was left. The food was good, she cooked pasta and though I am not a fan I liked it. We then played cards and that was a blast.
Also, I spent about two days looking for a topic to do my one of courseworks on and that was really depressing. All the titles of the papers I found were complicated and scary that I just couldn't click to read what they were lol *sigh. I finally decided to go with a topic I was familiar with so hopefully that should be good.
Also, we had a room check on Monday and my toilet seat failed LOL. No, it WASN'T dirty: it had to be de-scaled. That was a horrible chore and I actually had to scrub it for half an hour before the brown limescale was removed. There are still some but they just won't go away. I think I will leave them for now :P. I miss not having to do any chores :(.
I mailed my Mom a Mother's Day card yesterday. Fingers crossed that she receives it by the 21st, wait, fingers crossed that she receives it ever :P. Letters seem to mysteriously get lost in the mail lol. This will be my Mom's first Mother's Day without me; which means that her gifts will suck LOL (if she receives any *shame). For the past few years I have been the one who handles buying the gifts for Mom simply because I know for a fact that men are physically incapable of remembering birthdays, anniversaries, and special occasions (I have three brothers, a father, and a male best friend so I know what I am talking about :P). And, if by some miracle men do remember the event in question (and by some miracle I mean they are reminded by a woman LOL) they are physically incapable of buying presents. So, I start out in the first week of March bombarding my brothers with emails till we settle on a gift. This year, however, I am not in Lebanon so I dunno how we will go about doing this. I was thinking that as a last resort I can buy her flowers and a cake online - at least she would get something.
Final note, Easter vacation is in two weeks; I don't know if I should be happy about it or dreading it because I have been procrastinating so much I may have to work my socks off for that whole month. Well, not the whole month because Badr is coming so at least I will see him a few times and also I will be visiting my brother - and if he is lucky I may cook him some Lebanese meals :P.
But, I have been feeling very (very very) guilty lately so starting this week I cut down on almost all my activities. I only went over to Verena's on Wednesday for dinner. Verena had invited me along with Fleur, Peter, and Sheena. Peter forgot and Sheena was sleeping so only Fleur and I went but it was full of fun. Poor Verena had cooked for five people so plenty of food was left. The food was good, she cooked pasta and though I am not a fan I liked it. We then played cards and that was a blast.
Also, I spent about two days looking for a topic to do my one of courseworks on and that was really depressing. All the titles of the papers I found were complicated and scary that I just couldn't click to read what they were lol *sigh. I finally decided to go with a topic I was familiar with so hopefully that should be good.
Also, we had a room check on Monday and my toilet seat failed LOL. No, it WASN'T dirty: it had to be de-scaled. That was a horrible chore and I actually had to scrub it for half an hour before the brown limescale was removed. There are still some but they just won't go away. I think I will leave them for now :P. I miss not having to do any chores :(.
I mailed my Mom a Mother's Day card yesterday. Fingers crossed that she receives it by the 21st, wait, fingers crossed that she receives it ever :P. Letters seem to mysteriously get lost in the mail lol. This will be my Mom's first Mother's Day without me; which means that her gifts will suck LOL (if she receives any *shame). For the past few years I have been the one who handles buying the gifts for Mom simply because I know for a fact that men are physically incapable of remembering birthdays, anniversaries, and special occasions (I have three brothers, a father, and a male best friend so I know what I am talking about :P). And, if by some miracle men do remember the event in question (and by some miracle I mean they are reminded by a woman LOL) they are physically incapable of buying presents. So, I start out in the first week of March bombarding my brothers with emails till we settle on a gift. This year, however, I am not in Lebanon so I dunno how we will go about doing this. I was thinking that as a last resort I can buy her flowers and a cake online - at least she would get something.
Final note, Easter vacation is in two weeks; I don't know if I should be happy about it or dreading it because I have been procrastinating so much I may have to work my socks off for that whole month. Well, not the whole month because Badr is coming so at least I will see him a few times and also I will be visiting my brother - and if he is lucky I may cook him some Lebanese meals :P.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
London, Pan Cakes, A New Tutor, and "Hi! Kifak? Ca va"
Tuesday Feb 24th, 2009:
I went to London to meet up with Walid. He came to London on Sunday 22nd to attend a two day conference and was leaving on Wednesday 25th so we agreed to meet up to catch up. I had a class from 3 - 4 p.m. so I ran off after class to catch the bus then the train to London Waterloo station. He had told me that he was staying in a hotel near Hyde Park so I took the tube to an underground station called 'Hyde Park Corner'. After I got off I called him and he said that he was near Lancaster underground station *damn. So, I went back and took the tube again to meet him there. We first passed by a Disney shop where he bought gifts for his two daughters. Their favourite Disney character is the little mermaid; so naturally he bought them little mermaid stuff in addition to other toys. We then decided to go for dinner and we walked into a restaurant, which turned out to be Moroccan. The food was nice and the restaurant was very well decorated. We talked about a lot of stuff - none of which related to my previous job lol. After the dinner was over we walked back to the underground station where we departed and I went back to Waterloo station and then to Southampton.
By the time I got home I was tired and it was late; but Sheena, George, Becky, and Hardy were making pancakes because it was Pan Cake Day. That was a sad disaster lol. Frankly, I wasn't impressed by the pancakes - I thought they tasted like undercooked dough lol. Also, unlike Sheena and Becky, I was able to flip the pancakes perfectly (except for one which wasn't properly cooked so it was torn apart) and they weren't able to hahaha. Also, Sheena, Becky, and Hardy suddenly decided to go watch some movie which made me wonder why they made a big deal of the whole evening and then just left (the kitchen in a mess hahaha)
Wednesday February 25th:
We were introduced to our new tutor Adam Prugel-Bennett. Our former tutor Craig Saunders has decided to change jobs and is going to France. He resigned sometime in mid-February and we learned about his resignation by chance when one of our lecturers was telling us that he will change the coursework because Craig has quit. We were surprised by what he said and how casually he said it. We were a bit nervous because we didn't know how we will be assigned a new tutor and who he might be. Steve later apologized to us for making us nervous and for telling us the news without realizing that Craig hadn't told us. I have to say that I am a bit disappointed with all this. The MSc program I am enrolled in is running for the first time this year. Up until a couple of months ago they were still changing some things. Also, the person responsible for the whole program was Craig. Craig has been our tutor since day one and though we didn't need him so far, it is after Easter that we will need our tutor because we will have to choose our topics and supervisors after Easter. So, I guess it is natural for us to feel a bit lost with all this going on.
Also, I was chatting with Nabil - one of my high school friends, today. Nothing interesting there except for the below piece of conversation lol
Nabil says (10:42 PM):
w kif kil shi? (and how is everything?)
Amun.t says (10:42 PM):
cava
kholes semester 1 ekher jan (semester 1 ended in late jan)
w balash semester 2 awal feb (and semester 2 started in early feb)
Nabil says (10:42 PM):
cava in england, ur 100% lebanese
lol
It is really funny, because if you are not Lebanese or you've never been to Lebanon you won't realize that we actually speak (and hence chat online) three languages in our local dialect. Also, one of the things that we - and other people - make fun of about ourselves is the way we greet each others. We use the English "Hi", followed by the Lebanese "Kifak?" - i.e. how are you?, and confirmed by the French "Ca va". It is in fact a 'trademark' and tourists who come to Lebanese buy t-shirts with the expression "Hi! Kifak? Ca va" printed on them :). Which reminds me; I want one so I will email Badr to bring me one when he comes here next month *yeey
I went to London to meet up with Walid. He came to London on Sunday 22nd to attend a two day conference and was leaving on Wednesday 25th so we agreed to meet up to catch up. I had a class from 3 - 4 p.m. so I ran off after class to catch the bus then the train to London Waterloo station. He had told me that he was staying in a hotel near Hyde Park so I took the tube to an underground station called 'Hyde Park Corner'. After I got off I called him and he said that he was near Lancaster underground station *damn. So, I went back and took the tube again to meet him there. We first passed by a Disney shop where he bought gifts for his two daughters. Their favourite Disney character is the little mermaid; so naturally he bought them little mermaid stuff in addition to other toys. We then decided to go for dinner and we walked into a restaurant, which turned out to be Moroccan. The food was nice and the restaurant was very well decorated. We talked about a lot of stuff - none of which related to my previous job lol. After the dinner was over we walked back to the underground station where we departed and I went back to Waterloo station and then to Southampton.
By the time I got home I was tired and it was late; but Sheena, George, Becky, and Hardy were making pancakes because it was Pan Cake Day. That was a sad disaster lol. Frankly, I wasn't impressed by the pancakes - I thought they tasted like undercooked dough lol. Also, unlike Sheena and Becky, I was able to flip the pancakes perfectly (except for one which wasn't properly cooked so it was torn apart) and they weren't able to hahaha. Also, Sheena, Becky, and Hardy suddenly decided to go watch some movie which made me wonder why they made a big deal of the whole evening and then just left (the kitchen in a mess hahaha)
Wednesday February 25th:
We were introduced to our new tutor Adam Prugel-Bennett. Our former tutor Craig Saunders has decided to change jobs and is going to France. He resigned sometime in mid-February and we learned about his resignation by chance when one of our lecturers was telling us that he will change the coursework because Craig has quit. We were surprised by what he said and how casually he said it. We were a bit nervous because we didn't know how we will be assigned a new tutor and who he might be. Steve later apologized to us for making us nervous and for telling us the news without realizing that Craig hadn't told us. I have to say that I am a bit disappointed with all this. The MSc program I am enrolled in is running for the first time this year. Up until a couple of months ago they were still changing some things. Also, the person responsible for the whole program was Craig. Craig has been our tutor since day one and though we didn't need him so far, it is after Easter that we will need our tutor because we will have to choose our topics and supervisors after Easter. So, I guess it is natural for us to feel a bit lost with all this going on.
Also, I was chatting with Nabil - one of my high school friends, today. Nothing interesting there except for the below piece of conversation lol
Nabil says (10:42 PM):
w kif kil shi? (and how is everything?)
Amun.t says (10:42 PM):
cava
kholes semester 1 ekher jan (semester 1 ended in late jan)
w balash semester 2 awal feb (and semester 2 started in early feb)
Nabil says (10:42 PM):
cava in england, ur 100% lebanese
lol
It is really funny, because if you are not Lebanese or you've never been to Lebanon you won't realize that we actually speak (and hence chat online) three languages in our local dialect. Also, one of the things that we - and other people - make fun of about ourselves is the way we greet each others. We use the English "Hi", followed by the Lebanese "Kifak?" - i.e. how are you?, and confirmed by the French "Ca va". It is in fact a 'trademark' and tourists who come to Lebanese buy t-shirts with the expression "Hi! Kifak? Ca va" printed on them :). Which reminds me; I want one so I will email Badr to bring me one when he comes here next month *yeey
Monday, 23 February 2009
For the Love of Cinnamon - and THE Cinnamon Girl!
Gassia Anoushig,
I have prepared a video for you. It features Sheena making Cinnamon Rolls! I can imagine you laughing while watching it, and I know you will want to make Cinnamon Rolls once you've seen it (which is actually the whole point of me making this video in the first place :P).
Enjoy it (with high volume)
Love,
Iman
Later Entry: after I posted it, I played it and it had really bad resolution :( I dunno why, it has good resolution locally on my laptop.
I have prepared a video for you. It features Sheena making Cinnamon Rolls! I can imagine you laughing while watching it, and I know you will want to make Cinnamon Rolls once you've seen it (which is actually the whole point of me making this video in the first place :P).
Enjoy it (with high volume)
Love,
Iman
Later Entry: after I posted it, I played it and it had really bad resolution :( I dunno why, it has good resolution locally on my laptop.
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Pillow Fight and A Gig 4 Gaza - And Another Fire Alarm!
Saturday Feb 22, 2009:
I did three major things today. I worked on the Cinnamon Rolls Video for Gassia. It is starting to take shape. The actual time it took us to make the Cinnamon Rolls was about 2 hours - without the time needed for the dough to rise and bake, I have already spent about 5 hours on the video and I am only half way through!
I participated in the first flash mob in Southampton. It was a massive pillow fight in city centre :). People were supposed to gather outside WestQuay shopping centre with their pillows hidden so no one suspects anything. An organizer would sound a horn and everyone would take their pillows out and fight. Fleur, Lotte, I took the bus to city centre. We were excited and we were feeling like kids again lol. We were about a minute away from where the fight was supposed to take place when we heard the horn. We started running but we we got tired really quickly because Fleur and I had been sick for the previous few days. We got there and there were A LOT of people fighting and we quickly joined in. It was so much fun, hitting people and getting hit WITH PILLOWS LOL. The horn was sounded very-shortly afterwards and everyone hid their pillows and casually walked away. People were very surprised with what was going on. A couple asked Fleur and me what the point was behind it and we shrugged our shoulders and said that it was just for fun. Some participants uploaded videos on youtube. We then went to ASDA to do our shopping, and for the first time ever I bought less stuff than Fleur lol
In the evening we went to a fundraising Gig for Gaza organized by the Southampton University Amnesty Club. We were 7 - Lotte, Fleur, Sheena, Hardy, Becky, George, and I - and of course the person who handled organizing the logistics of reserving the tickets and getting people there was me lol. We left Glen Eyre at 8 PM thinking that gigs never start on time. We got there half way through the performance of the first band - which was the band one of my course-mates, Mike, sings in. We only listened to their two last songs. Then a second band played and they were horrible. It took forever for them to finish and they kinda killed our mood. Afterwards a guy sang as well and he was much better than the second band but still not that good. Finally a really good band played and got everyone all active again. After the gig was over we walked home chatting very loudly, telling jokes, and laughing all the way.
Before calling it a night, I told Sheena that there would be another fire alarm tonight because it was a Saturday and a pattern of fire-alarms-being-set-off-on-Saturday-nights has started to emerge lol. And, I was right - of course! :P - and at 2:30 a.m. the fire alarm was set off! I had only gone to sleep at 2:00 and so I was half awake/half asleep and at first thought I was dreaming. But the alarm was so loud that I had to actually get out of bed. I went out to the lobby but then quickly decided to go back in. I snuck under my sheet and placed my pillow on my head. The sound of the alarm was very loud and annoying but I was not willing to go through what I went through last Saturday and decided to stay in bed. Thankfully though, this time it only took the wardens and security guys ten minutes to turn the alarm off and I finally went to sleep at 2:40.
I did three major things today. I worked on the Cinnamon Rolls Video for Gassia. It is starting to take shape. The actual time it took us to make the Cinnamon Rolls was about 2 hours - without the time needed for the dough to rise and bake, I have already spent about 5 hours on the video and I am only half way through!
I participated in the first flash mob in Southampton. It was a massive pillow fight in city centre :). People were supposed to gather outside WestQuay shopping centre with their pillows hidden so no one suspects anything. An organizer would sound a horn and everyone would take their pillows out and fight. Fleur, Lotte, I took the bus to city centre. We were excited and we were feeling like kids again lol. We were about a minute away from where the fight was supposed to take place when we heard the horn. We started running but we we got tired really quickly because Fleur and I had been sick for the previous few days. We got there and there were A LOT of people fighting and we quickly joined in. It was so much fun, hitting people and getting hit WITH PILLOWS LOL. The horn was sounded very-shortly afterwards and everyone hid their pillows and casually walked away. People were very surprised with what was going on. A couple asked Fleur and me what the point was behind it and we shrugged our shoulders and said that it was just for fun. Some participants uploaded videos on youtube. We then went to ASDA to do our shopping, and for the first time ever I bought less stuff than Fleur lol
In the evening we went to a fundraising Gig for Gaza organized by the Southampton University Amnesty Club. We were 7 - Lotte, Fleur, Sheena, Hardy, Becky, George, and I - and of course the person who handled organizing the logistics of reserving the tickets and getting people there was me lol. We left Glen Eyre at 8 PM thinking that gigs never start on time. We got there half way through the performance of the first band - which was the band one of my course-mates, Mike, sings in. We only listened to their two last songs. Then a second band played and they were horrible. It took forever for them to finish and they kinda killed our mood. Afterwards a guy sang as well and he was much better than the second band but still not that good. Finally a really good band played and got everyone all active again. After the gig was over we walked home chatting very loudly, telling jokes, and laughing all the way.
Before calling it a night, I told Sheena that there would be another fire alarm tonight because it was a Saturday and a pattern of fire-alarms-being-set-off-on-Saturday-nights has started to emerge lol. And, I was right - of course! :P - and at 2:30 a.m. the fire alarm was set off! I had only gone to sleep at 2:00 and so I was half awake/half asleep and at first thought I was dreaming. But the alarm was so loud that I had to actually get out of bed. I went out to the lobby but then quickly decided to go back in. I snuck under my sheet and placed my pillow on my head. The sound of the alarm was very loud and annoying but I was not willing to go through what I went through last Saturday and decided to stay in bed. Thankfully though, this time it only took the wardens and security guys ten minutes to turn the alarm off and I finally went to sleep at 2:40.
George's Birthday
George's birthday was on Wednesday Feb 18th. He turned 31! We had agreed without his knowledge to make him dinner to celebrate it. We told him one day before but he decided to go to Brighton to celebrate it with his friends there.
So, we agreed to celebrate it with him on Friday. Each of Sheena, Fleur, and I would make something for the occasion.
Sheena made Cinnamon Rolls (Gassia, I will create a special post for you about that). I made Manakish with Cheese and with Zaatar. The cheese ones were really good but the zaatar ones were OK. The dough rose in the oven :S and when I asked my cousin Ghada she told me that I had put a lot of yeast :$. Also, I almost triggered the fire alarm because I accidentally spilled oil in the grill so it heated and started producing a lot of smoke. We directly controlled the situation by turning off the grill, opening all windows, and covering the smoke sensor! That really makes me wonder what people who always trigger fire alarms would be doing and how they do it. I mean there was a LOT of smoke in our kitchen but we directly acted to prevent the alarm being set off. Why can't other people be a bit mature about how they handle cooking/illegal-smooking-indoors instead of constantly setting the fire alarm off?
Fleur made Banoffee pie. It was really good and we got to keep it in our fridge - George and I just split the last piece.
Becky, Hardy, Peter, and Verena also came along. We played cards and had some "fun conversation" until it got a little late and Peter and Verena excused themselves. Later, Fleur and Lotte also called it a night and left. I had emailed Bassam earlier to come as well because I made manakeesh and he might want to have some. He was out watching some play and came along but there were only Hardy, Becky, and Sheena left. We chatted for a while and he had manakeesh and thought the cheese ones were really good - even though he did remark to Sheena the usual "If you liked Iman's manakeesh (?) then you can imagine how really good actual Lebanese manakeesh in Lebanon are"; sadly though he did have a point :P.
Finally we all decided to call it a night and Becky slept over at Sheena's.
So, we agreed to celebrate it with him on Friday. Each of Sheena, Fleur, and I would make something for the occasion.
Sheena made Cinnamon Rolls (Gassia, I will create a special post for you about that). I made Manakish with Cheese and with Zaatar. The cheese ones were really good but the zaatar ones were OK. The dough rose in the oven :S and when I asked my cousin Ghada she told me that I had put a lot of yeast :$. Also, I almost triggered the fire alarm because I accidentally spilled oil in the grill so it heated and started producing a lot of smoke. We directly controlled the situation by turning off the grill, opening all windows, and covering the smoke sensor! That really makes me wonder what people who always trigger fire alarms would be doing and how they do it. I mean there was a LOT of smoke in our kitchen but we directly acted to prevent the alarm being set off. Why can't other people be a bit mature about how they handle cooking/illegal-smooking-indoors instead of constantly setting the fire alarm off?
Fleur made Banoffee pie. It was really good and we got to keep it in our fridge - George and I just split the last piece.
Becky, Hardy, Peter, and Verena also came along. We played cards and had some "fun conversation" until it got a little late and Peter and Verena excused themselves. Later, Fleur and Lotte also called it a night and left. I had emailed Bassam earlier to come as well because I made manakeesh and he might want to have some. He was out watching some play and came along but there were only Hardy, Becky, and Sheena left. We chatted for a while and he had manakeesh and thought the cheese ones were really good - even though he did remark to Sheena the usual "If you liked Iman's manakeesh (?) then you can imagine how really good actual Lebanese manakeesh in Lebanon are"; sadly though he did have a point :P.
Finally we all decided to call it a night and Becky slept over at Sheena's.
Monday, 16 February 2009
Lebanese Valentine's Dinner
After our Lebanese meal during the Christmas vacation, Sheena and I agreed to go for another Lebanese meal on Valentine's. As Valentine's came closer, we started getting more and more excited; mostly because the food is really good and partly because Sheena couldn't stop talking about it (don't get me wrong; I love the fact that Sheena has totally fell in love with Lebanese food :P She also once said: "Once you go Lebanese, you don't go back" lol). Fleur was also excited because she knew that Lebanese food would be great - based on the stuffed zucchini experience :P. I told Bassam and my Korean friend Ji (the other ECSWomen secretary) to come along as well and they were also excited. Bassam later opted out and I didn't ask him why. Also, when I met Noura for coffee I invited her along because I knew she would appreciate it a lot. She told me that she might have to go to London to visit her sister; but if she didn't then she will come along. Sheena invited Becky to come along also :)
Meanwhile, while I was inviting fans of Lebanese food to come along for our Velentine's meal in another city, Sheena was receiving attention from a secret admirer ;) On Sunday Feb 7th, someone blue-tacked a card on our flat door addressed to Sheena asking if she had plans for Valentine's. Sheena thought it was George playing with her. Then, on Thursday Feb 12th, the cleaners came in with a letter from Hardy, the secret admirer, asking Sheena out for Valentine's. They told her that the guy was outside waiting for her answer. She recognized him from break dancing class. She didn't know what to answer so she told the cleaners to tell the guy that she will think about it. Sue, the chargehand, told her jokingly "Do it like the British women, go out with the guy for a free meal. Then when he asks you out another time just tell him that you have a headache" lol. When the cleaners left she told me that she doesn't want to miss our Lebanese meal. She then asked me if it was OK with me to bring Hardy along and I was of course OK with that. He had to be warned though that there will be four girls accompanying them two lol (Fleur, Ji, Becky, and myself duh :P) On Friday night, Noura confirmed that she was coming and she was bringing Reena along. Poor Hardy was now going out with Sheena and SIX other girls LOL. He wasn't scared away though and told Sheena that he was coming along, brave guy!
On Saturday I was planning our trip with Fleur. The reservation was made for 7:00 P.M. We had to walk to the interchange, take a bus to central station, take a train to Bournemouth and then either take a bus or a cab to the restaurant. We left our flat at 4:45 and it all worked out like a charm and we actually walked in the restaurant at 7:00. Reena and Ji, however, didn't come along. I don't remember why Reena changed her mind. Ji had to stay in Southampton because her brother was visiting her. Also, Hardy brought Sheena a very big and pretty red rose.
Noura and I handled the ordering of course. We ordered everything like last time: hommous, tabbouleh, cheese sambousek , spinach fatayer, kebbe. They didn't have vine leaves :( so we ordered batata 7arra. We also ordered grills. And of course we took loads of pictures (there is always time for the silly and the weird :P). Finally we ordered baklawa which were also very nice. The restaurant was very busy though and it took them half an hour to get our check and take their money! We then made our way back home to Southampton very pleased with the evening.
After we got home, Becky, Sheena, Fleur, and I played cards in the kitchen. Darko also came along so we all started chatting (and nagging about ECS :P) till 1 a.m. We then decided to go to sleep because by then we were very tired.
I tidied up a bit, uploaded the pictures on facebook, commented on Sheena's pictures, and finally decided to go to sleep at 2:00 a.m.
I was just about to sleep when ... at 2:45 a.m. ... the FIRE ALARM WENT OFF ... more about that in a later post ;)
Meanwhile, while I was inviting fans of Lebanese food to come along for our Velentine's meal in another city, Sheena was receiving attention from a secret admirer ;) On Sunday Feb 7th, someone blue-tacked a card on our flat door addressed to Sheena asking if she had plans for Valentine's. Sheena thought it was George playing with her. Then, on Thursday Feb 12th, the cleaners came in with a letter from Hardy, the secret admirer, asking Sheena out for Valentine's. They told her that the guy was outside waiting for her answer. She recognized him from break dancing class. She didn't know what to answer so she told the cleaners to tell the guy that she will think about it. Sue, the chargehand, told her jokingly "Do it like the British women, go out with the guy for a free meal. Then when he asks you out another time just tell him that you have a headache" lol. When the cleaners left she told me that she doesn't want to miss our Lebanese meal. She then asked me if it was OK with me to bring Hardy along and I was of course OK with that. He had to be warned though that there will be four girls accompanying them two lol (Fleur, Ji, Becky, and myself duh :P) On Friday night, Noura confirmed that she was coming and she was bringing Reena along. Poor Hardy was now going out with Sheena and SIX other girls LOL. He wasn't scared away though and told Sheena that he was coming along, brave guy!
On Saturday I was planning our trip with Fleur. The reservation was made for 7:00 P.M. We had to walk to the interchange, take a bus to central station, take a train to Bournemouth and then either take a bus or a cab to the restaurant. We left our flat at 4:45 and it all worked out like a charm and we actually walked in the restaurant at 7:00. Reena and Ji, however, didn't come along. I don't remember why Reena changed her mind. Ji had to stay in Southampton because her brother was visiting her. Also, Hardy brought Sheena a very big and pretty red rose.
Noura and I handled the ordering of course. We ordered everything like last time: hommous, tabbouleh, cheese sambousek , spinach fatayer, kebbe. They didn't have vine leaves :( so we ordered batata 7arra. We also ordered grills. And of course we took loads of pictures (there is always time for the silly and the weird :P). Finally we ordered baklawa which were also very nice. The restaurant was very busy though and it took them half an hour to get our check and take their money! We then made our way back home to Southampton very pleased with the evening.
After we got home, Becky, Sheena, Fleur, and I played cards in the kitchen. Darko also came along so we all started chatting (and nagging about ECS :P) till 1 a.m. We then decided to go to sleep because by then we were very tired.
I tidied up a bit, uploaded the pictures on facebook, commented on Sheena's pictures, and finally decided to go to sleep at 2:00 a.m.
I was just about to sleep when ... at 2:45 a.m. ... the FIRE ALARM WENT OFF ... more about that in a later post ;)
Sunday, 15 February 2009
I Walked The Walk
Wednesday September 24th, 2008: My new international friends and I decided to go shopping for stuff that anyone who has newly arrived to a country needs (kitchen utensils, toiletries, food, etc ... ). We had been here for only a day and so we didn't know our way around at all. We met in my room because they were still in their temporary rooms and so didn't have Internet connection - Peter and I were the only ones who were able to move directly into our permanent rooms because Verena's and Fleur's rooms were not yet 'ready' (when I accepted my rent contract, I nagged Glen Eyre management to have my room ready before moving in and they made sure it was lol). We decided to go to a Tesco (some supermarket place someone suggested) which was supposed to sell what we needed so we got directions off google maps and decided to walk there as it was only about 2.0 miles away. We started walking there and it started raining and we were getting frustrated because when we would ask people how long it would take us to get to Tesco's they would say at least 2 hours (then 1.5 hr then 1 hr); so after about an hour - and Peter giving up and going back home - we decided to take a bus to where someone had given us other directions. We met a sweet lady at the bus stop and she told us that Sainsbury (another supermarket) is a better choice than Tesco because none of the Tesco's in Southampton sells the stuff we wanted to buy. She was very nice by giving us new directions (and later even getting off the bus with us to walk us to Sainsbury). I remember that when we were waiting at the bus stop my parents called and I was talking to my brother Tarek to agree on a time to meet him when he comes back to England. He then told me this: "Listen, I didn't tell you this when you were still here because I didn't want to say anything in front of your Mom so as not to scare her. Southampton is not a safe city so be careful where you go and how you go back. If you are outing at night never go back home alone; always go out at night WITH GROUPS and go back home IN GROUPS". I thought he was being overprotective but when I told my friends about it the English lady confirmed what Tarek said. She told us about a man who was stabbed two weeks earlier. She also told us that robberies and attacks are common at night and have a very high rate in some areas. (By the way, the University was very clear on that as they gave us THREE safety and security lectures during International Freshers Week and then ECS also gave us ANOTHER safety lecture during JumpStart Week!!!). So, anyways we finally got to Sainsbury's and then after shopping for our stuff we decided to take a cab back home as it was much less hectic than taking the bus since we were carrying heavy things.
Fast forward five months.
Friday February 13th, 2009: I decided to walk to the same Sainsbury's we went thru the huge hassle to get to on the second day for us being here. I needed to do some shopping but that wasn't the reason. The weather was very nice and I really needed to take a walk so I decided to get to know the city - more like my way around the city lol - and walk a very long way to get my groceries. I used to love walking around in Beirut and taking different routes every time to get to know new streets and sometimes even getting myself lost lol; it is very relaxing by the way - getting lost in the streets between people and their homes, the cars and the children, the trees and the concrete ... and then finding yourself in a very familiar place :). So, I printed the directions off Google maps and started walking. It took much more than the 38 minutes that Google had suggested :P but I didn't mind. I got there in no hassle (thanks to the map lol), went into Sainsbury's, and did some shopping. I was queuing to pay for my stuff when I noticed "Emergency Chocolate" bars LOL. I thought it was the FUNNIEST thing ever :D. I also saw girthControl Chocolate bars. I thought these things were the coolest things so I had to buy them (for myself and also to take pictures and show them to my friends). I then took the bus home and the next day I showed the bars to Sheena, Becky, Fleur, and Darko and they also thought it was the funniest lol :)
Fast forward five months.
Friday February 13th, 2009: I decided to walk to the same Sainsbury's we went thru the huge hassle to get to on the second day for us being here. I needed to do some shopping but that wasn't the reason. The weather was very nice and I really needed to take a walk so I decided to get to know the city - more like my way around the city lol - and walk a very long way to get my groceries. I used to love walking around in Beirut and taking different routes every time to get to know new streets and sometimes even getting myself lost lol; it is very relaxing by the way - getting lost in the streets between people and their homes, the cars and the children, the trees and the concrete ... and then finding yourself in a very familiar place :). So, I printed the directions off Google maps and started walking. It took much more than the 38 minutes that Google had suggested :P but I didn't mind. I got there in no hassle (thanks to the map lol), went into Sainsbury's, and did some shopping. I was queuing to pay for my stuff when I noticed "Emergency Chocolate" bars LOL. I thought it was the FUNNIEST thing ever :D. I also saw girthControl Chocolate bars. I thought these things were the coolest things so I had to buy them (for myself and also to take pictures and show them to my friends). I then took the bus home and the next day I showed the bars to Sheena, Becky, Fleur, and Darko and they also thought it was the funniest lol :)
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Week of Feb 2
Semester 2 has started, oh no! But hey Amber was here to take our minds off that :D
Monday Feb02: back to class! I only have three courses this semester - double credit courses though! It should be less hectic than last semester - same hard work though because two are tough courses. I also have group projects this semester *doh.
Wednesday Feb04: I cooked Stuffed Zucchini in Yogurt Sauce (كوسا بلبن). YES! I cooked that! I had been postponing cooking it because it is a lot of hard work, even though it is one of my fave Lebanese dishes. I was telling Fleur about it once and she was impressed by the description so I decided to make it and invite her over. Since Amber was here I thought it would be fun if I cooked for them both. I also invited Sheena, George, and Bassam. George wasn't at all impressed by the description and declined the invite - his loss *roll. Bassam had other plans with friends so he also declined. So, it was us girls and it was FUN :D. Fleur and Amber came over to help and they were impressed by the way I emptied the courgettes and then stuffed it. That was even trickier as the courgettes were slightly bent so I did end up breaking two. Then when it was time to cook them, we discovered another problem. None of our pans were big enough for all 8 courgettes! lol we are all students and our pans are not made to feed more than 2 people, let alone 4 haha . So, we split the courgettes into two pans and cooked them separately! All in all, the whole meal took THREE HOURS to prepare! But it turned out to be great :D yeeeey for me! They all expressed their hmmm and yummmm and 'this is so good' :D
We then had Oreo Cheese cake that Fleur and Amber had prepared earlier and it was also very yummyy :)
My friends and family also expressed their opinions about me cooking courgettes:
Badr: "bass shu hayda ya naja? koussa b-labaaaann ?!!?!?!?!?!?
2aleeleh...wein elli ma kein ya3ref ya3mil pasta? halla2 sorna mna3mil koussaaaaa? :D :D :D...yalla bravo *clap" -- that was immediately added to my list of fave quotes LOL
Souha: "KOUSSA B LABAN eh bade 100 sene ta2a3mela hala2 na2arte koussa w hashaytiyon????????? Walla walla smalla 3layke"
Ghada: "WALLA BRAVO 3ALAYKI..KOUSSA FI LONDON :)"
Mum: "walla ana halla2 khalas ma ba2a lezim 2e3tal hammek"
Sheena named me a Culinary Goddess lol :)
Thursday Feb05: Amber and I went to the City Art Gallery. It was a lovely visit though we only had one hour so we couldn't tour it all. Later that evening I went over to Fleur's to watch a Dutch movie about "Sinter Claus", which is the Dutch Santa Clause except that he visits Holland on the 5th of December not the 24th! It was a lovely movie. It had the same theme as 'Love Actually' so it made us all feel good about everything. We also had Apple Crumble that Fleur and Amber made. George joined us half way through the movie because he had to work. He told us about two of his mental patients who walked out of the hospital and didn't come back! They did eventually find them, thankfully!
Friday Feb06: I made Lebanese Manakish! Finally! Sheena and I had been talking about that for ages as well and so we also said that we should make them while Amber was there so she can have some as well. We made Zaatar manakeesh and Cheese manakeesh. The cheese ones were a bit undercooked but both were really nice. We later went out for dinner as it was Amber's last night in Southampton. Sheena took loads of pictures and we made all sorts of silly faces :) It was a really fun night that ended with lots of hugs because Amber was leaving :( It was fun having her around and we will all miss her!
Monday Feb02: back to class! I only have three courses this semester - double credit courses though! It should be less hectic than last semester - same hard work though because two are tough courses. I also have group projects this semester *doh.
Wednesday Feb04: I cooked Stuffed Zucchini in Yogurt Sauce (كوسا بلبن). YES! I cooked that! I had been postponing cooking it because it is a lot of hard work, even though it is one of my fave Lebanese dishes. I was telling Fleur about it once and she was impressed by the description so I decided to make it and invite her over. Since Amber was here I thought it would be fun if I cooked for them both. I also invited Sheena, George, and Bassam. George wasn't at all impressed by the description and declined the invite - his loss *roll. Bassam had other plans with friends so he also declined. So, it was us girls and it was FUN :D. Fleur and Amber came over to help and they were impressed by the way I emptied the courgettes and then stuffed it. That was even trickier as the courgettes were slightly bent so I did end up breaking two. Then when it was time to cook them, we discovered another problem. None of our pans were big enough for all 8 courgettes! lol we are all students and our pans are not made to feed more than 2 people, let alone 4 haha . So, we split the courgettes into two pans and cooked them separately! All in all, the whole meal took THREE HOURS to prepare! But it turned out to be great :D yeeeey for me! They all expressed their hmmm and yummmm and 'this is so good' :D
We then had Oreo Cheese cake that Fleur and Amber had prepared earlier and it was also very yummyy :)
My friends and family also expressed their opinions about me cooking courgettes:
Badr: "bass shu hayda ya naja? koussa b-labaaaann ?!!?!?!?!?!?
2aleeleh...wein elli ma kein ya3ref ya3mil pasta? halla2 sorna mna3mil koussaaaaa? :D :D :D...yalla bravo *clap" -- that was immediately added to my list of fave quotes LOL
Souha: "KOUSSA B LABAN eh bade 100 sene ta2a3mela hala2 na2arte koussa w hashaytiyon????????? Walla walla smalla 3layke"
Ghada: "WALLA BRAVO 3ALAYKI..KOUSSA FI LONDON :)"
Mum: "walla ana halla2 khalas ma ba2a lezim 2e3tal hammek"
Sheena named me a Culinary Goddess lol :)
Thursday Feb05: Amber and I went to the City Art Gallery. It was a lovely visit though we only had one hour so we couldn't tour it all. Later that evening I went over to Fleur's to watch a Dutch movie about "Sinter Claus", which is the Dutch Santa Clause except that he visits Holland on the 5th of December not the 24th! It was a lovely movie. It had the same theme as 'Love Actually' so it made us all feel good about everything. We also had Apple Crumble that Fleur and Amber made. George joined us half way through the movie because he had to work. He told us about two of his mental patients who walked out of the hospital and didn't come back! They did eventually find them, thankfully!
Friday Feb06: I made Lebanese Manakish! Finally! Sheena and I had been talking about that for ages as well and so we also said that we should make them while Amber was there so she can have some as well. We made Zaatar manakeesh and Cheese manakeesh. The cheese ones were a bit undercooked but both were really nice. We later went out for dinner as it was Amber's last night in Southampton. Sheena took loads of pictures and we made all sorts of silly faces :) It was a really fun night that ended with lots of hugs because Amber was leaving :( It was fun having her around and we will all miss her!
Saturday Feb07 and Sunday Feb08: I did fuckall and I enjoyed it LOL. I had been planning to study during the weekend but I ended up marathon-watching the Lebanese series Ghariba! Fleur and George went to see My Bloody Valentine on Saturday but I decided not to join them as I was totally in doing-fuckall mood. I should feel guilty about that but I was also in a don't-care mood LOL (apparently these two moods accompany each others most of the time :P). I think I still haven't gotten back to studying mood because I only had a few days of rest after my final exams.
New week tomorrow, should be busy as well. Wendy Hall's talk is on Monday. Grandpa's birthday is on Tuesday (I can't remember if he is turning 83 or 84 shame-on-me). I miss him loads and I can't wait to see him again! I am planning to attend the ECS career fair on Wednesday. I am meeting up with a Syrian friend on Thursday and I have no clue what I will be doing on Friday :P
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
When All Else Fails, Go to Bournemouth!
Sunday Feb 1st, 2009:
We missed the bus!! Oh, No! But hey, we can always hop on the next train going anywhere!
Two days earlier my friends and I held a very important meeting in my room, we were deciding where we wanted to go on Sunday :P lol. No seriously, we considered a few choices and then decided to go to Bath. We checked the attractions online, and we printed the bus and train schedules, and we agreed to meet at 9:00 A.M. outside Glen Eyre to catch the bus to the train station and then on to Bath.
Sunday morning: Sheena, Verena, and I missed the bus LOL. Sheena and I were all ready even before 9, we thought we would wait for a few minutes before going together and suddenly Peter came knocking on our door urging us to run as the bus was due to arrive (apparently we lost track of time and stayed in for a little longer than we had intended to). So, we ran outside but we missed the bus by just one minute. Oh, No!
But, Verena wasn't there. She had overslept. The reason for that was her alarm didn't go off. She had set it on the proper time but it rang one hour earlier. Her alarm is German and though she tries to put it one hour behind; the very-German clock keeps adjusting itself to the proper German time! So, Verena woke up an hour earlier and decided to re-set the alarm to an hour later but the alarm never went off again!
So, we were standing there looking at each others discussing what to do next and someone said let's go to the station and check when the next train leaves to Bath, Sheena and Peter said that it would be two hours before the next one, and so I suggested that we can hop on the next train going anywhere!
So, we went to the station and sure enough there were trains going to Bath every two hours. We looked at the train schedules and there were trains going to Reading and to Bournemouth. Peter went to ask the salesperson which choice is better and he was told that there was nothing in Reading and that we would be better off going to Bournemouth. So, we bought tickets to Bournemouth and went there :)
We got there and walked to the tourists information office where we were told that there was an Oceanarium (yeey :D !) there. We took a map and decided to walk there. The street that led from the station to the Oceanarium was named Bath road! There was also a hotel named Bath! (signs :P) LOL
We got to the Oceanarium which was next to the beach. I was very pleased because I miss the sea. Back home I used to see the sea every day. Also, one of the reasons why I chose to come to Southampton was because it was on the sea-side. But, I rarely go to the sea-side and there isn't even a beach here! Anyways, we took some pictures and went in the Oceanarium. It was lovely and I took loads of pictures especially of weird fish like the razor fish and the transparent fish. I was thinking about Yasmin most of the time knowing that she will enjoy the pictures once I post them on Facebook.
We then had lunch and some rest and then decided to walk to the City Center. We passed through a park where there was a bird aviary. Again we acted all touristy and took loads of pictures. We continued our walk to City Center where it started snowing so it was nice. We finished our tourism-round :P and then decided to walk back to the station and back home.
So, that was it for that weekend. It was fun forgetting all about coursework and exams for two whole days :)
We missed the bus!! Oh, No! But hey, we can always hop on the next train going anywhere!
Two days earlier my friends and I held a very important meeting in my room, we were deciding where we wanted to go on Sunday :P lol. No seriously, we considered a few choices and then decided to go to Bath. We checked the attractions online, and we printed the bus and train schedules, and we agreed to meet at 9:00 A.M. outside Glen Eyre to catch the bus to the train station and then on to Bath.
Sunday morning: Sheena, Verena, and I missed the bus LOL. Sheena and I were all ready even before 9, we thought we would wait for a few minutes before going together and suddenly Peter came knocking on our door urging us to run as the bus was due to arrive (apparently we lost track of time and stayed in for a little longer than we had intended to). So, we ran outside but we missed the bus by just one minute. Oh, No!
But, Verena wasn't there. She had overslept. The reason for that was her alarm didn't go off. She had set it on the proper time but it rang one hour earlier. Her alarm is German and though she tries to put it one hour behind; the very-German clock keeps adjusting itself to the proper German time! So, Verena woke up an hour earlier and decided to re-set the alarm to an hour later but the alarm never went off again!
So, we were standing there looking at each others discussing what to do next and someone said let's go to the station and check when the next train leaves to Bath, Sheena and Peter said that it would be two hours before the next one, and so I suggested that we can hop on the next train going anywhere!
So, we went to the station and sure enough there were trains going to Bath every two hours. We looked at the train schedules and there were trains going to Reading and to Bournemouth. Peter went to ask the salesperson which choice is better and he was told that there was nothing in Reading and that we would be better off going to Bournemouth. So, we bought tickets to Bournemouth and went there :)
We got there and walked to the tourists information office where we were told that there was an Oceanarium (yeey :D !) there. We took a map and decided to walk there. The street that led from the station to the Oceanarium was named Bath road! There was also a hotel named Bath! (signs :P) LOL
We got to the Oceanarium which was next to the beach. I was very pleased because I miss the sea. Back home I used to see the sea every day. Also, one of the reasons why I chose to come to Southampton was because it was on the sea-side. But, I rarely go to the sea-side and there isn't even a beach here! Anyways, we took some pictures and went in the Oceanarium. It was lovely and I took loads of pictures especially of weird fish like the razor fish and the transparent fish. I was thinking about Yasmin most of the time knowing that she will enjoy the pictures once I post them on Facebook.
We then had lunch and some rest and then decided to walk to the City Center. We passed through a park where there was a bird aviary. Again we acted all touristy and took loads of pictures. We continued our walk to City Center where it started snowing so it was nice. We finished our tourism-round :P and then decided to walk back to the station and back home.
So, that was it for that weekend. It was fun forgetting all about coursework and exams for two whole days :)
Friday, 30 January 2009
Fire Alarm at 3:33 A.M.
:@ :@ :@ ... for the fourth time the reckless residents set the alarm off AND there was actually NO fire ... how you ask! by smoking (possibly weed) indoors ... they had returned (obviously dunk) from a party at 3:33 A.M. and walked into their flat smoking and ...
that set the fire alarm off at 3:33 A.M, have I mentioned it was at 3:33 in the morning? and have I mentioned it was the second night after my exams that I was actually gonna get a decent night sleep; and did I mention I WAS SLEEEEEEEEPING AT 3:33 A fudging M .......can you imagine anything more inconvenient? and it is not an alarm you can ignore; they make it so loud that you have to go outside (in the freezing COLD) or else you would get deaf inside
enjoy
that set the fire alarm off at 3:33 A.M, have I mentioned it was at 3:33 in the morning? and have I mentioned it was the second night after my exams that I was actually gonna get a decent night sleep; and did I mention I WAS SLEEEEEEEEPING AT 3:33 A fudging M .......can you imagine anything more inconvenient? and it is not an alarm you can ignore; they make it so loud that you have to go outside (in the freezing COLD) or else you would get deaf inside
enjoy
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Cinnamon-Bread House - the Pictures
I uploaded the pictures of the Cinnamon Bread House on my Picasa Web Album, they are on this URL: http://picasaweb.google.com/i.z.naja/CinnamonBreadHouse#
Also, another special addition to Gassia:
How to make Cinnamon Rolls: (courtesy Sheena & Lindley)
go to this website: http://www.gordonfamily.com/Recipes/cinnabon.htm
and also to find the unit conversion guidelines http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Cup-to-Gram-Conversions/Detail.aspx
They are not as difficult as they seem. And they don't have to be as perfect as the ones described; the ones Sheena and Lindley made were really really good and I don't think they were that picky on details. Just know that you should divide the work into 1. preparing the dough 2. preparing the filling and 3. preparing the icing
I want to see pictures of you Gassia making AND enjoying Cinnamon Rolls :)
Later entry: Gassia Anoshig, Sheena has uploaded the pictures of the Cinnamon Rolls and Cinnamon Bread that she and Lindley made :) She named the album "Cinnamon Rolls and Cinnamon bread for Cinnamon Girl !". They are on this link: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5528777&id=286103961#/album.php?aid=167690&id=286103961.
Have I told you that Sheena also loves Cinnamon rolls and Cinnamon bread - and in fact she is nicknamed Cinnamon Rolls :) And I have of course told her about you and she likes you because you are THE Cinnamon girl! :D
Also, another special addition to Gassia:
How to make Cinnamon Rolls: (courtesy Sheena & Lindley)
go to this website: http://www.gordonfamily.com/Recipes/cinnabon.htm
and also to find the unit conversion guidelines http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Cup-to-Gram-Conversions/Detail.aspx
They are not as difficult as they seem. And they don't have to be as perfect as the ones described; the ones Sheena and Lindley made were really really good and I don't think they were that picky on details. Just know that you should divide the work into 1. preparing the dough 2. preparing the filling and 3. preparing the icing
I want to see pictures of you Gassia making AND enjoying Cinnamon Rolls :)
Later entry: Gassia Anoshig, Sheena has uploaded the pictures of the Cinnamon Rolls and Cinnamon Bread that she and Lindley made :) She named the album "Cinnamon Rolls and Cinnamon bread for Cinnamon Girl !". They are on this link: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5528777&id=286103961#/album.php?aid=167690&id=286103961.
Have I told you that Sheena also loves Cinnamon rolls and Cinnamon bread - and in fact she is nicknamed Cinnamon Rolls :) And I have of course told her about you and she likes you because you are THE Cinnamon girl! :D
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Lots of Updates
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY
Exams are over .......
so here are some updates of what has been going on since my last blog about Christmas dinner
Fleur came back on Friday Jan 2nd WITH A HAIRCUT lol her hair had grown and she waited till she went back home to have it cut
Sheena had her birthday party on Saturday Jan 3rd - I got her a neck key ring holder because she could never find her keys lol and also a cute pink bracelet ... I bought them off amazon before the Christmas vacation because I was afraid that they won't be delivered on time during the Christmas/New Year days off ... but I didn't have time (nor the wrapping paper) to wrap them properly :$ so I hand-made a wrapping package :D thank you Internet :P
Lindley left on Monday back to the US
I went back to uni on Monday 5th as well .... I wasn't that into going back because I had 3 weeks of vacation but also I had so much coursework to submit
Tuesday Jan 6th: I had a small quiz but it was worth 4% of a 20 credit module "Foundations of AI"- but it was about logic so it was easy and I got an A on it :)
Wednesday Jan 7th: I had to submit a program that is a 'medical expert'. It is worth 20% of a 10-credit module. We were supposed to acquire some medical knowledge and formulate it in rules and facts so that the program can deduce what disease a patient has given the symptoms. Of course I "elicited the knowledge" from my dad - which basically meant that I spent loads of money on International phone calls. I actually ran out of credit in the middle of a phone conversation so I emailed Tarek asking him to SMS dad and tell him to call me LOL. Also, every time I call home my dad asks about "his grade" and I keep telling that the grades are not out yet and that the knowledge is only worth 5% .....
Thursday Jan 8th: I had a group presentation which was worth also 4% of the Foundation of AI 20 credit course. We did better than the previous presentations but we still got a B ... Our group was so inefficient in all presentations, we were never able to produce any proper work and our meetings were very unproductive. Reminds me of one of my favourite quotes: "If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings”"
Friday Jan 9th: I had to submit a 2000 word essay on a topic I chose. It was worth 80% of a "Research Methods" module. I worked hard but kinda messed up the final part because I was sick of it. I chose Biometrics as a topic; something I was always interested in learning about but never had the time/bothered to actually do the reading. We had to use a 'professional' format so the final report was really cool, with an abstract, appendices, and a proper font! Made me feel like a true academic LOL :P
Monday Jan 11th: I had to submit a program and a report worth 25% of a 10 credit module. I worked on that a bit but the results produced were not as expected. I was very frustrated and sought the lecturer's help. We emailed each other a bit until he finally helped me sort things out and I was less frustrated. I submitted it but I wasn't very happy with it but I was glad it was over and done.
Tuesday Jan 12th (are you still reading? :P): I had to submit a report and a programming assignment worth 30% of the Foundation of AI 20-credit-module. That was the neglected coursework. I mean SERIOUSLY how can anyone cope to do all this. We had to do background research and write 1000 words about it then program something related to the research then do some reasoning about the topic. I worked on the background research and chose to code the simplest thing. But still, I didn't manage to finish it on Tuesday so I decided to submit it the next day even though I would be penalized 5%. I finished it and submitted it on Wednesday but I thought it wasn't that good. It is very clear that I rushed through it. Also, the 'reasoning' part was worth 35% of its grade and frankly I wasn't able to do any reasoning about the topic.
Oh well, done with the coursework ... on to the final examssssssssss
I had four final exams:
One on Wed Jan 21: was very long so there were some parts that I didn't manage to answer but was OK
One on Thurs Jan 22: was good, it was the easiest module so better results are obtained for less work :)
One on Tues Jan 28: was tricky, we were supposed to answer 2 out of 3 questions which I thought was soooo unfair given that we had to study 18 lectures!!!!! I was so pissed off the whole time I was studying it. Darko and I expected that we will get a Search question and a Probability question. I was 100% sure we will get a Search question and 90% sure we would get a Probability question. There were 5 lectures I decided not to study, two which I decided to read only, and the rest I studied but not that well. We did get Search but we DIDN'T get the Probability question!!! We got a Machine Learning question instead! But for me it was OK though it wasn't OK for Darko. He just told me that was the worst exam he ever sat for ... but I think he will survive :P.
The last final exam was on Wed Jan 29: That course was the hardest course. I was very very worried about that course since the first lecture. It was all about Maths. I was very good in Maths in high school but I kinda wasn't that interested in it in uni AND after four years of not taking any Math courses I had totally forgot EVERYTHING. So, I had to work double for that course, first refresh my high school Math knowledge and second try to understand the Chinese being spoken in class. But by the time I got to the exam most of the Chinese had turned into comprehensible English and there were only a few ideas which I didn't understand. I did OK on that exam. There were a few things which I didn't know. But, to my bad luck I noticed just about five minutes before the time was up that I copied a function from the test paper to my answer sheet incorrectly Oh NO! ... so instead of solving for a function I ended up solving for another function :( I hope not a lot of marks are deducted because of that !
What else?
Fleur's parents were here last week. They invited us over for dinner. Sheena and I couldn't stay long at Fleur's place because we had to study which was a shame because her parents are really nice and they are a great company. The food was good and the desert was GREAT :)
Speaking of desert, yours truly has gained A LOT of weight over Christmas and exam period :( :( :( All in all I have gained 5 kilos since I came to this country....SHSHSHSHS don't tell Mom and Dad!!! Dad would go crazy and Mom might end up crying. But, starting tomorrow NO MORE EXECUSES ... no exams and exam stress so no more binging on chocolate and loads of time to cook healthy and walk around for a bit ... keep your fingers crossed for me
Exams are over .......
so here are some updates of what has been going on since my last blog about Christmas dinner
Fleur came back on Friday Jan 2nd WITH A HAIRCUT lol her hair had grown and she waited till she went back home to have it cut
Sheena had her birthday party on Saturday Jan 3rd - I got her a neck key ring holder because she could never find her keys lol and also a cute pink bracelet ... I bought them off amazon before the Christmas vacation because I was afraid that they won't be delivered on time during the Christmas/New Year days off ... but I didn't have time (nor the wrapping paper) to wrap them properly :$ so I hand-made a wrapping package :D thank you Internet :P
Lindley left on Monday back to the US
I went back to uni on Monday 5th as well .... I wasn't that into going back because I had 3 weeks of vacation but also I had so much coursework to submit
Tuesday Jan 6th: I had a small quiz but it was worth 4% of a 20 credit module "Foundations of AI"- but it was about logic so it was easy and I got an A on it :)
Wednesday Jan 7th: I had to submit a program that is a 'medical expert'. It is worth 20% of a 10-credit module. We were supposed to acquire some medical knowledge and formulate it in rules and facts so that the program can deduce what disease a patient has given the symptoms. Of course I "elicited the knowledge" from my dad - which basically meant that I spent loads of money on International phone calls. I actually ran out of credit in the middle of a phone conversation so I emailed Tarek asking him to SMS dad and tell him to call me LOL. Also, every time I call home my dad asks about "his grade" and I keep telling that the grades are not out yet and that the knowledge is only worth 5% .....
Thursday Jan 8th: I had a group presentation which was worth also 4% of the Foundation of AI 20 credit course. We did better than the previous presentations but we still got a B ... Our group was so inefficient in all presentations, we were never able to produce any proper work and our meetings were very unproductive. Reminds me of one of my favourite quotes: "If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings”"
Friday Jan 9th: I had to submit a 2000 word essay on a topic I chose. It was worth 80% of a "Research Methods" module. I worked hard but kinda messed up the final part because I was sick of it. I chose Biometrics as a topic; something I was always interested in learning about but never had the time/bothered to actually do the reading. We had to use a 'professional' format so the final report was really cool, with an abstract, appendices, and a proper font! Made me feel like a true academic LOL :P
Monday Jan 11th: I had to submit a program and a report worth 25% of a 10 credit module. I worked on that a bit but the results produced were not as expected. I was very frustrated and sought the lecturer's help. We emailed each other a bit until he finally helped me sort things out and I was less frustrated. I submitted it but I wasn't very happy with it but I was glad it was over and done.
Tuesday Jan 12th (are you still reading? :P): I had to submit a report and a programming assignment worth 30% of the Foundation of AI 20-credit-module. That was the neglected coursework. I mean SERIOUSLY how can anyone cope to do all this. We had to do background research and write 1000 words about it then program something related to the research then do some reasoning about the topic. I worked on the background research and chose to code the simplest thing. But still, I didn't manage to finish it on Tuesday so I decided to submit it the next day even though I would be penalized 5%. I finished it and submitted it on Wednesday but I thought it wasn't that good. It is very clear that I rushed through it. Also, the 'reasoning' part was worth 35% of its grade and frankly I wasn't able to do any reasoning about the topic.
Oh well, done with the coursework ... on to the final examssssssssss
I had four final exams:
One on Wed Jan 21: was very long so there were some parts that I didn't manage to answer but was OK
One on Thurs Jan 22: was good, it was the easiest module so better results are obtained for less work :)
One on Tues Jan 28: was tricky, we were supposed to answer 2 out of 3 questions which I thought was soooo unfair given that we had to study 18 lectures!!!!! I was so pissed off the whole time I was studying it. Darko and I expected that we will get a Search question and a Probability question. I was 100% sure we will get a Search question and 90% sure we would get a Probability question. There were 5 lectures I decided not to study, two which I decided to read only, and the rest I studied but not that well. We did get Search but we DIDN'T get the Probability question!!! We got a Machine Learning question instead! But for me it was OK though it wasn't OK for Darko. He just told me that was the worst exam he ever sat for ... but I think he will survive :P.
The last final exam was on Wed Jan 29: That course was the hardest course. I was very very worried about that course since the first lecture. It was all about Maths. I was very good in Maths in high school but I kinda wasn't that interested in it in uni AND after four years of not taking any Math courses I had totally forgot EVERYTHING. So, I had to work double for that course, first refresh my high school Math knowledge and second try to understand the Chinese being spoken in class. But by the time I got to the exam most of the Chinese had turned into comprehensible English and there were only a few ideas which I didn't understand. I did OK on that exam. There were a few things which I didn't know. But, to my bad luck I noticed just about five minutes before the time was up that I copied a function from the test paper to my answer sheet incorrectly Oh NO! ... so instead of solving for a function I ended up solving for another function :( I hope not a lot of marks are deducted because of that !
What else?
Fleur's parents were here last week. They invited us over for dinner. Sheena and I couldn't stay long at Fleur's place because we had to study which was a shame because her parents are really nice and they are a great company. The food was good and the desert was GREAT :)
Speaking of desert, yours truly has gained A LOT of weight over Christmas and exam period :( :( :( All in all I have gained 5 kilos since I came to this country....SHSHSHSHS don't tell Mom and Dad!!! Dad would go crazy and Mom might end up crying. But, starting tomorrow NO MORE EXECUSES ... no exams and exam stress so no more binging on chocolate and loads of time to cook healthy and walk around for a bit ... keep your fingers crossed for me
Friday, 26 December 2008
Cinnamon-Bread House
Thursday Dec 25th: Sheena had been looking forward for Christmas Dinner for a long time now. She had decided that she wants to bake a Cinnamon-Bread House for Christmas for a while as well. I was also very excited about the idea because I have never seen anyone make a cake-house before. Sheena and Lindley cooked their Christmas Dinner and I cooked mine (oven-cooked chicken breasts and potatoes and if you must know I think I added some un-needed extra lemon juice :P lol). We all had dinner together with Arabic music playing from my laptop. Sheena loves listening to Arabic music but Lindley wasn't as impressed. Then it was finally time to put the dough in the oven and prepare the icing. The dough was baked in no time but the icing took at least half an hour of mixing (electric mixer) before it was ready to act as the glue of the house.
Lindley held the pieces together and Sheena applied icing between the 'walls' of the house to stick it together - and I was the designated camera-person. You could tell I had never seen anyone attempt to build a cake-house before - possibly because I took a little more than seventy pictures LOL. The house wouldn't stand still even though Sheena was very generous with icing - a bit too generous as she also iced Lindley's hand, the dining table, and the kitchen floor hehehe. It did stand short enough for us to take more pictures. We also decorated its surrounding, we made a garden using sugar candy and the fence using finger chocolate. Soon enough the house collapsed so we started eating it and it was GOOD! I think Sheena is a talented baker- so does she ;) she even joked that she wants to name her children Cinnamon Roll and Moldy Bread - or maybe it wasn't a joke :D
Lindley held the pieces together and Sheena applied icing between the 'walls' of the house to stick it together - and I was the designated camera-person. You could tell I had never seen anyone attempt to build a cake-house before - possibly because I took a little more than seventy pictures LOL. The house wouldn't stand still even though Sheena was very generous with icing - a bit too generous as she also iced Lindley's hand, the dining table, and the kitchen floor hehehe. It did stand short enough for us to take more pictures. We also decorated its surrounding, we made a garden using sugar candy and the fence using finger chocolate. Soon enough the house collapsed so we started eating it and it was GOOD! I think Sheena is a talented baker- so does she ;) she even joked that she wants to name her children Cinnamon Roll and Moldy Bread - or maybe it wasn't a joke :D
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
Lebanese Food :D yeeey
If you've never had Lebanese food then you don't know what you are missing. Our mezza and our variety of grilled meat makes up the staple Lebanese food that everyone adores. Apparently some English people know some of the mezza dishes but have no idea that it is Lebanese.
So, I have been here for three months and the only time I had a mezza dish was when I bought canned hommous (your hearts go out for me - I know :P). It was OK but not as good as the real thing. The reason I didn't have any Lebanese mezza dish - even though I love it so much - is because there are no Lebanese retaurants in Southampton :(. I had been nagging about it a lot lately and I even showed some pictures to my flatmates. They got interested in trying some out so we looked for Lebanese restaurants online. We found that the nearest one was in Bournemouth. We agreed to go during the vacation on the 23rd of December because on that day Lindley - Sheena's boyfriend - would be in Southampton. For the past few days all Sheena and I have been talking about was Lebanese Food. We were SO excited. I couldn't believe I was finally going and Sheena couldn't believe she was gonna be trying new food. I was hoping that the food would be good because it would be such a disappointment and waste if it weren't.
On the 22nd, I called the restaurant and made reservations - not that any was needed because it was a weekday but I wanted them to know that a real Lebanese was coming :P. I told some of my friends and Sarah we would have to drive to Bournemouth to have a meal, she answered 'Bournemouth, that's in the middle of nowhere England!" hehehe
The 23rd finally came. George asked me to check Google maps and see how long it will take us to get there. I did and it turned out that Bournemouth was 45 minutes away! "That food better be good", Sheena and I commented. We agreed to leave the dorms at 7:20. As always, we left 15 minutes AFTER the agreed on time - my Lebanese lack of respect to appointments was not the reason behind it :P. My flatmates and I never leave on the agreed on time :D
The car ride was quite. Everyone was quite and secretly hoping the food wouldn't turn out to be a disappointment. We got there and were seated. The manager was Lebanese but our waiter was Syrian. I handled the ordering because my flatmates wouldn't know anything. I ordered hummus, mtabbal, tabbouleh, vine leaves, fatayer sambousek cheese, and kebbi. I also ordered a mixed plate of grilled kafta, chicken tawouk, and beef meat. As Lebanese we always refer to these as: chicken, kafta, and meat. So when they asked me what I ordered and I replied meat I unconsciously thought that was clear enough. They had to ask me two time what I ordered before I realized that answering meat was not sufficient hehehe
The food came and it was amazing :D they loved all of it. George and Lindley didn't like the vine leaves but Sheena and I thought it was well nice. Then the grills were served and everyone was impressed as well :D By the time we finished we were very stuffed. To end it nicely we also had baklawa, it was amazing AND on the house - how cool was that? We decided we should go back there once again and Sheena and I agreed we have Valentine's meal there :P hehehehe
One last note, after the meal was over Sheena commented that Lebanese food is so good and that she couldn't believe I made it through three months without having any "I can now imagine how you were feeling. It must have been torture" she rightfully stated
So, I have been here for three months and the only time I had a mezza dish was when I bought canned hommous (your hearts go out for me - I know :P). It was OK but not as good as the real thing. The reason I didn't have any Lebanese mezza dish - even though I love it so much - is because there are no Lebanese retaurants in Southampton :(. I had been nagging about it a lot lately and I even showed some pictures to my flatmates. They got interested in trying some out so we looked for Lebanese restaurants online. We found that the nearest one was in Bournemouth. We agreed to go during the vacation on the 23rd of December because on that day Lindley - Sheena's boyfriend - would be in Southampton. For the past few days all Sheena and I have been talking about was Lebanese Food. We were SO excited. I couldn't believe I was finally going and Sheena couldn't believe she was gonna be trying new food. I was hoping that the food would be good because it would be such a disappointment and waste if it weren't.
On the 22nd, I called the restaurant and made reservations - not that any was needed because it was a weekday but I wanted them to know that a real Lebanese was coming :P. I told some of my friends and Sarah we would have to drive to Bournemouth to have a meal, she answered 'Bournemouth, that's in the middle of nowhere England!" hehehe
The 23rd finally came. George asked me to check Google maps and see how long it will take us to get there. I did and it turned out that Bournemouth was 45 minutes away! "That food better be good", Sheena and I commented. We agreed to leave the dorms at 7:20. As always, we left 15 minutes AFTER the agreed on time - my Lebanese lack of respect to appointments was not the reason behind it :P. My flatmates and I never leave on the agreed on time :D
The car ride was quite. Everyone was quite and secretly hoping the food wouldn't turn out to be a disappointment. We got there and were seated. The manager was Lebanese but our waiter was Syrian. I handled the ordering because my flatmates wouldn't know anything. I ordered hummus, mtabbal, tabbouleh, vine leaves, fatayer sambousek cheese, and kebbi. I also ordered a mixed plate of grilled kafta, chicken tawouk, and beef meat. As Lebanese we always refer to these as: chicken, kafta, and meat. So when they asked me what I ordered and I replied meat I unconsciously thought that was clear enough. They had to ask me two time what I ordered before I realized that answering meat was not sufficient hehehe
The food came and it was amazing :D they loved all of it. George and Lindley didn't like the vine leaves but Sheena and I thought it was well nice. Then the grills were served and everyone was impressed as well :D By the time we finished we were very stuffed. To end it nicely we also had baklawa, it was amazing AND on the house - how cool was that? We decided we should go back there once again and Sheena and I agreed we have Valentine's meal there :P hehehehe
One last note, after the meal was over Sheena commented that Lebanese food is so good and that she couldn't believe I made it through three months without having any "I can now imagine how you were feeling. It must have been torture" she rightfully stated
Monday, 22 December 2008
Movies, Shakeaway, & Downtown Southampton
We went to see "Four Christmases" last Thursday. I was very excited about it because the trailer was funny. However, I thought the movie turned out to be a disappointment. George said that the movie sucked and Sheena said it was an average movie. Some scenes and jokes were funny but most of it was a cliche and a repeat of a lot of ideas from previous movies. All in all it was OK, the sort of movie you would watch at home when you are kinda bored but not the sort you would bother going to a cinema to see.
Also, on Friday Sheena and I went shopping in City Center (i.e. downtown :P). It was very lovely because the streets were decorated for Christmas. Sellers had put up their stands everywhere offering all different types of Christmas goodies and food. There were also some games for children like the merry-go-round. We walked a bit, enjoyed the smell of fresh bread and the sight of chocolate and sweets. Then we went to get shakes at a specialty shop named Shakeaway - simply because they only sell shakes. The shop was impressive, you can put anything you want in your shake ... chocolate muffins, marltesers, kinder, nutella, sneakers, Oreo ... you name it they have it and are willing to put it in your shake. Sheena bought me the shake as a treat. She recommended chocolate muffin with marltesers topping and so I had it and and it was good. I know that I will be going there more and trying all sorts of mixtures.
Then we went to shop in ASDA. It took us more than usual because Sheena was shopping for Christmas Eve Dinner. We finally headed home and I was so tired by the time we got there.
I can't believe it is Monday already. One week down and two more to go and then it's back to uni :( I want and need more days just to finish all the coursework I have to do (OK, I know I haven't been as productive as I wanted to be but give me a break I am bored and tired of studying and I really needed the day off yesterday - so don't make me feel guilty about it :P)
Also, on Friday Sheena and I went shopping in City Center (i.e. downtown :P). It was very lovely because the streets were decorated for Christmas. Sellers had put up their stands everywhere offering all different types of Christmas goodies and food. There were also some games for children like the merry-go-round. We walked a bit, enjoyed the smell of fresh bread and the sight of chocolate and sweets. Then we went to get shakes at a specialty shop named Shakeaway - simply because they only sell shakes. The shop was impressive, you can put anything you want in your shake ... chocolate muffins, marltesers, kinder, nutella, sneakers, Oreo ... you name it they have it and are willing to put it in your shake. Sheena bought me the shake as a treat. She recommended chocolate muffin with marltesers topping and so I had it and and it was good. I know that I will be going there more and trying all sorts of mixtures.
Then we went to shop in ASDA. It took us more than usual because Sheena was shopping for Christmas Eve Dinner. We finally headed home and I was so tired by the time we got there.
I can't believe it is Monday already. One week down and two more to go and then it's back to uni :( I want and need more days just to finish all the coursework I have to do (OK, I know I haven't been as productive as I wanted to be but give me a break I am bored and tired of studying and I really needed the day off yesterday - so don't make me feel guilty about it :P)
Friday, 19 December 2008
Changes & من عاشر قوماً أربعين يوماً
An Arabic proverb states that if someone lives amongst a group of people for 40 days he becomes one of them ... or he would leave them because he couldn't adapt ...
I have been living here for almost three months now and so I think it is time for me to write down some of the changes that I have been going through
1) Biggest and most important change: swearing! I never sweared in public before (except if I am really angry and only my close friends are around). It is not lady-like in my country and people would be insulted if someone swears around them. Guys swear but never in front of girls - out of respect to the girls present. My brothers don't swear in front of me and one of them uses the word fudge instead of fuck when needed. Fuck is a very expressive word and I have been using it a lot recently. There were also some times when the word fuck can be heard more than a few times in sentences coming out of my mouth, for example (please go to point 2 if you would feel insulted from reading the examples :P):
oh, for fuck's sake
The fucking broken laptop screen will cost me 100 fucking pounds to replace
I have to fucking finish 5 fucking assignments in the Christmas vacation - that is only 3 fucking weeks; and i haven't done fuckall
Well, you get the point (i am having second thoughts on publishing that now out of respect for the people at home hehehe)
2) Second most important change: my accent! I have officially lost my beautiful American-like accent and I speak more like the British now - wait make that like the Bri'ish now. OK, so I can't yet be mistaken for an English but the changes to my accent are noticeable to everyone and to me as well. My flatmate Sheena commented on this change by saying "At least now you're speaking proper English" hehehe
I am also using some British English words now, the most common of which are: cheers (an informal Thank you), ini' (= isn't it), quid (=pounds), ... I wonder when I will stop saying elevator and start saying lift instead hehehe ;)
Again, من عاشرقوما اربعين يوما صارت لهجته مثل لهجتهم :p
I have been living here for almost three months now and so I think it is time for me to write down some of the changes that I have been going through
1) Biggest and most important change: swearing! I never sweared in public before (except if I am really angry and only my close friends are around). It is not lady-like in my country and people would be insulted if someone swears around them. Guys swear but never in front of girls - out of respect to the girls present. My brothers don't swear in front of me and one of them uses the word fudge instead of fuck when needed. Fuck is a very expressive word and I have been using it a lot recently. There were also some times when the word fuck can be heard more than a few times in sentences coming out of my mouth, for example (please go to point 2 if you would feel insulted from reading the examples :P):
oh, for fuck's sake
The fucking broken laptop screen will cost me 100 fucking pounds to replace
I have to fucking finish 5 fucking assignments in the Christmas vacation - that is only 3 fucking weeks; and i haven't done fuckall
Well, you get the point (i am having second thoughts on publishing that now out of respect for the people at home hehehe)
2) Second most important change: my accent! I have officially lost my beautiful American-like accent and I speak more like the British now - wait make that like the Bri'ish now. OK, so I can't yet be mistaken for an English but the changes to my accent are noticeable to everyone and to me as well. My flatmate Sheena commented on this change by saying "At least now you're speaking proper English" hehehe
I am also using some British English words now, the most common of which are: cheers (an informal Thank you), ini' (= isn't it), quid (=pounds), ... I wonder when I will stop saying elevator and start saying lift instead hehehe ;)
Again, من عاشرقوما اربعين يوما صارت لهجته مثل لهجتهم :p
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Road Trip to Kent and My New Monitor
NEW MONITOR!!!!!!!!!!!!! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
FINALLYYYYYYYYYYYYY more like it hehehehe
but we had to drive to Kent to get it!
George was so nice to offer to drive me to Kent to get the new monitor we bought on ebay. We got into the car - loaded it with fuel - and started our trip at 4:45. It took us only 2 hours to get there. Probably because George was driving at an average speed of 100 miles per hour - I didn't mind it but I kept my eyes on the speedometer and the heat-indicator during the whole duration of our trip (talk about bad experiences hehehe). Sheena came along but she slept almost all the time; and when she didn't sleep she was reading in her book (it gets dark after 4:30 so she brought a torch along so she can read in the dark car hehehe)
Although it was really dark, we thought that Rochester, Kent was fancier than Southampton. The houses were bigger and more elegant. It looked nicer because there is a lake with hills surrounding it and the lights shining around the lake were beautiful. We went to the seller's house. His house was overlooking the lake. We tested the monitor, paid him, and left - the whole thing didn't take more than 10 minutes. So, we decided to shop in Kent's ASDA hahaha. I am starting to think we are ASDA addicts :p. We shopped, used the toilet, and were back in the car by 7:55. Off to Southampton - this time with an average speed of 120 mile/hr and with Arabic music playing from my laptop (yeeey). I had to blindly navigate to the music directory because I just can't see anything on the screen! We were back in the dorms at 9:45!!!! I directly hooked up my monitor and was so relieved because I can finally use my laptop properly. The monitor is really BIG and everyone is so jealous hehehe George didn't accept that I pay him for the fuel; so we agreed that I either bail him out of jail or pay for his pizza next time we buy takeaway food hahaha
FINALLYYYYYYYYYYYYY more like it hehehehe
but we had to drive to Kent to get it!
George was so nice to offer to drive me to Kent to get the new monitor we bought on ebay. We got into the car - loaded it with fuel - and started our trip at 4:45. It took us only 2 hours to get there. Probably because George was driving at an average speed of 100 miles per hour - I didn't mind it but I kept my eyes on the speedometer and the heat-indicator during the whole duration of our trip (talk about bad experiences hehehe). Sheena came along but she slept almost all the time; and when she didn't sleep she was reading in her book (it gets dark after 4:30 so she brought a torch along so she can read in the dark car hehehe)
Although it was really dark, we thought that Rochester, Kent was fancier than Southampton. The houses were bigger and more elegant. It looked nicer because there is a lake with hills surrounding it and the lights shining around the lake were beautiful. We went to the seller's house. His house was overlooking the lake. We tested the monitor, paid him, and left - the whole thing didn't take more than 10 minutes. So, we decided to shop in Kent's ASDA hahaha. I am starting to think we are ASDA addicts :p. We shopped, used the toilet, and were back in the car by 7:55. Off to Southampton - this time with an average speed of 120 mile/hr and with Arabic music playing from my laptop (yeeey). I had to blindly navigate to the music directory because I just can't see anything on the screen! We were back in the dorms at 9:45!!!! I directly hooked up my monitor and was so relieved because I can finally use my laptop properly. The monitor is really BIG and everyone is so jealous hehehe George didn't accept that I pay him for the fuel; so we agreed that I either bail him out of jail or pay for his pizza next time we buy takeaway food hahaha
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
