Meet the little peapod

Here she is... Elena was born on June 10!

Smelly Cat

This cat looks content sitting in the shade, but this is just one of thousands of homeless, skinny, starving, feral cats. I've seen them all over in both Saudi and Bahrain. The concept of spaying and neutering pets doesn't exist here. In every Dumpster and trash can lives a few of these cats. I've seen many with half a tail, or bitten off ears. I guess they get in some vicious fights. It is too bad.

You don't see any dogs since Islam does not permit owning a dog as a pet. (They are viewed as unclean)

Yogi Berra on my mind

Everyday I am interacting with tons of people for whom English is a second language. Some funny things come out of this:

• "Do you want one ball or two balls of ice cream?"
• "Are you growing a baby in your stomach?"
• "I'm thinking of buying a RangeCruiser"
• "Want to go see Shutter?" (Mark Wahlberg movie Shooter) Jeff's response, "Is that the movie about the photographer?"
• They don't laugh at the fellow pilots' surname of Titzmann.

OK, so maybe these aren't really malaprops, but they do make me giggle.

To C or Not To C

I am very surprised at how many people have asked me if I'm choosing to have a C-section (or Caesars, as I've noticed the British and Australians call it) or not. I realize that elective C-sections are on the rise, but I know for a fact that my doctor in the US would not allow me to choose a C-section if there was no medical reason to have one. I've received this question from Brazilians, British, Bahraini, and Australians.

Thankfully, my pregnancy has progressed normally and as of today, there has been no medical reason found why I would need to undergo surgery. Now when it's time to deliver, who knows what will happen and I may end up in surgery, but that really will be an emergency situation-- not something that I planned.

I didn't realize it was so common for women around the world to choose this option! I always thought it was used as a last resort. Around here, an elective C-section is always an option. Sure, have one because your doctor will be out of town around your due date. Yes, have one because the due date will interfere with the religious holidays. I think I always end up comparing the medical practices here to what I'm familiar with from my doctor in the US (she was very much skeptical of me having the baby in the Middle East, believing that the testing and practices were not up to par), this would be another tsk-tsk to add to her bias.

Our Daily Bread

A piece of bread from the hole-in-the-wall Lebanese place near our house. We often get takeout from here.