Back online, will hope to post some fun tidbits in a while…
I’m off to another site visit. Will likely return Thursday to Internet land. Enjoy life and happy (late) independence day!
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Let me begin: I am not a chick-lit fan. I don’t watch “Sex and the City.” My life does not revolve around shoe shopping and Vogue magazine. But I won this book in a goodreads give away and thought I’d give it a try. I’m so glad I did!
So the premise is simple, girl loves boy who is engaged to girl’s best friend… Tacky and irritating. And yet, the Molly Ringwalds of the world (myself included) know how we each dream of being the one to get the popular boy instead of the pretty, selfish cheerleader.
I was a bit irritated that the main character is 30 before she realizes her best friend isn’t a very good friend (which obviously makes it easier to love the fiancee) but it is enjoyable to watch her learn, slowly, how to like herself, to find her path, to grow up. Just wish she’d done it in her mid-twenties, but I guess there are just some late bloomers.
The story is good, but I have to admit, I wasn’t moved to laugh or cry. Yet I am curious if further stories by Emily Griffin follow the same characters. I guess because it seems like Rachel (main character) still has some growing up to do, and I want to see her do it.
Heading out to the village, back online in a day or two or maybe more…
I have heard about this org through my minimal participation in socialactions.com (which I’ve mentioned here before). Tho I don’t text so much, this sounds great for those folks who do!
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Lina, Zaid, Nuha and I went to Al-Jubaiha Theme Park yesterday. Think permanent carnival and you’ve got the picture. It was surprisingly inexpensive (usually 1-2 JD/ride) and not crowded at all.
We went on a small version of a looping pirate ship (which didn’t go all the way upside-down) and a 4-seater small roller coaster–like the mousetrap that is common at most US parks. It was a hoot! Lina and Zaid also went on one that flipped completely upside down, but I was too hot to do that one. No caramel corn–but open roasted chickpeas and other Arab delights. We didn’t eat though. Lina and I also enjoyed the mirror house (with silly mirrors that made us look funny). We finished the evening with a pleasant ride on the Ferris wheel, which gave us a nice view of the area. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite high enough to see over the hill to Amman proper, but still a nice night view.
Will post pics if I can get them from Lina…
I just heard about an interesting collaboration happening in my hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota. A group of people hoping to make Najaf, Iraq a sister city of our fair Minne Apple are hosting an impressive cohort of Iraqis in September. I received this News Blast:
The Iraqi’s are coming!
The Iraqi’s are coming!
As you know, the Iraqi & American Reconciliation Project, in conjunction with the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Peace Campaign: Focus on Iraq, WAMM, Friends for a Non-Violent World, and others are hosting a delegation of 12-15 Iraqis visiting the Twin Cities in the second half of September of this year. They will be traveling here with Sami Rasouli, Iraqi-American and Muslim Peacemaker Teams director when he returns for an extended stay.
The delegate planning committee invites your support and participation. We are scheduling visits to the big sites, such as City Hall, the State Capital and Museums, but we also hope to provide some personal unexpected experiences. We invite you to help provide these personal experiences.
For example: Could you provide a 15-20 minute explanation of the Peace Garden at Lake Harriet then join the group for lunch? How about a favorite restaurant that would be welcoming hosts to 13 visitors from Iraq for lunch? We plan to bring them to the bridge on a Wednesday evening and offer the Alliant morning vigil particularly to Professor Askouri whose research is in depleted uranium consequences and who now works in cancer treatment.
Coming as peacemakers and visitors, these professors, city council members, NGO directors and Muslim Peacemaker Team (MPT) members are like us, curious, smart and interested in making friends.
If you think of a way you would like to join us please email info@mpt-iraq.org, call 952-545-9981
Of course, I hope to find a way to be involved. I’ll try to update their actions here and tweet them as possible. BTW, Muslim Peacemaker Teams also seems very interesting. Check it out!
I’m so happy to be in Jordan! I am still adjusting from jet lag. Since I was so out of it, I couldn’t work. Instead I went to the Dead Sea with my Amman hostess/roomie. It was spectacular! I laid in the sun/shade, swam in the pool, read a book, slept. Basically I tried to relax so that I could get on task tomorrow. That’s when I’m arranging field visits, getting my phone fixed, planning public presentations of my work, etc. Should be fun! 
Lina and her friend Zaid went with me. We spent the day at the Dead Sea Spa, the cheapest of the day spots (15 JD). It wasn’t nearly as crowded as I expected, much less that it had been when I went last year in October. It was really warm, and the “unheated” pools were like bathtubs. Lina and Zaid are younger than me, and very active. They spent the day running from one pool to another to the sea itself, and back again. I didn’t keep up with them much–I didn’t want to get too burned (of course, I did anyway). They were so much fun, it made me feel down right youthful again! We even went down a small water slide with a bunch of kids–I haven’t done that in years! It wasn’t 6 Flags, but it was great.
Well, I’ll be working tomorrow, so I’d best get some rest tonight.
