Again

We didn't give Miriam any presents for her birthday, per se, but today she and I went to Souq Waqif for dinner and a show. I had seen the musical Again advertised on various platforms and it sounded interesting, though it was different from what I was expecting.

I was expecting more of a fusion of storylines between Apartheid South Africa and Gaza, and I suppose it was that, but it was more, like, a performance troupe from South Africa (Isango Ensemble) telling the story of the current war in Gaza with their own little flair. Which, now that I read the description again...also makes sense...I simply expected more Mandela and more story of South Africa. Instead it was like they were...testifying...about the evils of apartheid and genocide, pleading with the audience to trust them because they've been there, to not place the blame on the victims, and to work together towards a peaceful world.

The irony—as we sit on the precipice of "intense renewal" of the war with Iran—is not lost on me and I cried multiple times during the show. Naturally, naturally, I cried when the children got stuck in a drone raid and ended up dying of blood loss through the night because they couldn't get medical help (that was rough; the show is based off the writings of Sondos Sabra, so I assume the general storyline is true). Another time was just...when the father of the family tells everyone to stop the olive harvest and gather supplies so they can be self sustaining. "We need groceries!" he said, and then, "Why are you all just standing there?!"

We have...no food storage...right now. 

We had excellent food storage in Georgia. 

And it's making me nervous to not really have any, with places like Japan and the UK (among other places) urging their civilians to stock up (including the US government preparing military bases to be self-sufficient for 90 days). 

I recently put together our can organizer, so while Miriam and I were out, Andrew ordered a bunched of staples for our family (beans and tomatoes and things like that—several cans of tuna, which made Phoebe really happy). And I feel a lot better having our pantry stocked up a little. 

Anyway, the show was good! 

We bought B-class tickets, but then were invited to sit in the A-class area by the ushers (as in, everyone in the B-class ticket area was invited to come fill in seats in the A-class area—and they really were much better seats, so that was nice).

 

I really enjoyed a lot of the music—this is a number about tending an olive orchard:

The ending refrain was "I remember that I remember and I will not have my memory erased."

Some other lines that stuck out to me were, "We learned the alphabet of letters and we learned the alphabet of war... Oh, and then the children chorusing their dreams for "after the war...after the war...after the war..."

Today in our ScienceMom lesson we learned that "gravity warps both space AND time..."

...and that line really stuck with me during and after the show, as I considered the "gravity" of various situations warps both time and space, how time can seem to freeze and distances expand (or otherwise warp) when things are particularly dire (or, on the other hand, time can speed up and space decrease when things are particularly delightful).

Anyway, all that is to say that sitting around waiting for this scheduled "fury" is...uncomfy...and it really made me feel for those who experience these kinds of threats constantly.

Various families from our ward have evacuated—embassy families last weekend, several oil families this weekend. Miriam was upset yesterday because that's when she heard that so many of the oil families were leaving again—she had just gotten the courage up to invite a few kids over for a game night last week and everyone had a good time and they were talking about doing something again, but...now...

We wait.

So, anyway, after the show, Miriam and I went around the souq to find abayas. But first we got distracted by these pretty lanterns...

They're in the art center at the souq. So we wandered around inside for a bit and found this life-sized penguin:

Now, let me explain...

Many of us in this house (me, Andrew, Rachel, Miriam) completed a very memorable study unit on penguins in elementary school. First of all, what an interesting and random animal to choose for so many of us—why not any other animal in the world? Surely we all studied other animals as well (I know I did!) but how did we all end up studying penguins quite formally? Second of all, how did we all learn this one fun fact: "Adult emperor penguins are 110–120 cm (43–47 in) in length, averaging 115 cm (45 in)."

That perhaps has an easy answer—we learned it because it is true. 

But why did all of our teachers take the time to point out that this height was very close to our own heights...at such an impressionable age?

Some of us (me) realized much earlier than others (Andrew) that, while in our heart of hearts emperor penguins were us-sized, we kept growing after we heard that fact and thus were now significantly taller than the average Emperor penguin. 

Some of us (Andrew) only realized that they were no longer penguin-sized when others of us (me) pointed this fact out to others (Rachel and Miriam) who claimed to be penguin-sized years after having outgrown penguin-size status.

Indeed, Andrew was a fully-fledged PhD-holding adult when he realized that penguin-sized he was not. 

But it was fun imagining ginormous penguins roaming the globe while it lasted (and, indeed, larger penguins did once roam the globe but such "mega" penguins have long been extinct).

Anyway, this has been another fun moment highlighting how little Andrew knows about zoology and we love to make fun of him for it...so we took a picture of Miriam with this average-sized penguin for him.

And then I also made her pose with this ice cream cone:

We found some abayas! Miriam wore hers to the library today and earned some compliments (I did not take a picture). Hers was about twice as expensive as mine; we didn't quite realize that you could (should?) barter in Souq Waqif. Her abaya had a price tag on, so we paid for it. Halas. 

And then we went to a different store and I found an abaya with subtle bronze maple leaves on it...and I asked a worker how much it was. 

"This one?" he said. "Sixty. Sixty-five."

"Sixty?" I asked, pointing to the tag that said «طغم عباية ٥٥ ريال|». "But doesn't this say 55?"

"Fine," he said. "For you 50 riyal! And a headscarf!"

So...I guess a little haggling is expected. And boy was it easier than haggling in Egypt ever was!

With Miriam's birthday gift secured—a beautiful black abaya with a grey floral print—we found our way to the metro and headed home. We were lucky enough to find ourselves on a rather empty train car, so we picked some seats, I pulled out my metro book and started reading. We were really settling in for the journey home!

We stopped at the very next station and were quite surprised there was such flurry of activity. Some people got off, many people got on. The train started moving again. 

"Popular station," I remarked to Miriam.

"Yeah," she said. 

I went back to reading my book...and a few minutes later she said, "Wait a minute! That was Msheireb!"

Translation: that "popular" stop was our interchange to get on the train we needed to be on to get home!

Whoops!

So we got off at the next station, crossed over to the other side of the tracks (it involved going all the way up and over the train—why?!) and got on the train again going the other direction so we could switch trains at Msheireb. We were pretty embarrassed about it. 

I had just texted Andrew to tell him that we were on the way home. So I texted him again to say that after riding a little too far on the gold line we were turned around the right way and were in Mscheireb waiting for our actual train home. 

And then we were walking home from the bus...and Miriam said, "What if...if went to Venice?"

So we walked right past the bridge to our own island and walked to Qanat Quartier instead (so I texted Andrew again to tell him that we were making yet another detour). It was well worth the walk!

We crossed many fun bridges and saw many fun shops! It was very quiet compared to our own luxurious Crystal Walk. We'll definitely have to go again with the whole family.