Trip Loose Ends

A few other things that I've been remembering as I'm trying to capture my experiences and encapsulate them for all time...

• Avery did some pretty funny things. I guess he now associates the phrase, "dang it!" with poop. Laura said it a few times when he would poop when he wasn't supposed to, so it caught on. Anytime she'd be changing a poopy diaper or if he'd poop in the toilet (he's in the middle of potty training), he'd say, "Dang it!" Hilarious.


• Avery also played the attention game. One time he screamed from the back of the car, and Laura turned to look at him. He smiled a sly, sneaky little smile. She said, "You did that just to get my attention, didn't you?" I turned to look at him, and he had a serious crusty on his face! Whoa! That two-year-old can sure throw some daggers!


• The first day I was there, Matt took me to one of the perfume stores in the mall. I got to smell the traditional Middle Eastern smell of oud. I wish I could describe it...if I had to use adjectives, I'd use musky and overpowering. And kind of old ladyish. They all burn it in their homes so it permeates everyone and everything. Let the record show that I am not a fan.


• As I was flying into New York from Salt Lake, back when I was anxious to get going on my vacation, I looked out over the island of Manhattan, right before we landed. I'd been looking at maps of it, and it was really neat to see it all there before me, bird's eye view, lit up and wonderful. Lame, I know, but it was really cool in the wee hours of the morning.


• In the airport in Bahrain as we were making our connection on the way home from Egypt, I had to use the bathroom. I found one, but the only stall available was the hole-in-the-floor version. I decided I'd rather wait. Luckily, Laura and Matt found a different bathroom that had actual toilets, and I ventured out to find those.


• I learned a few Arabic words while I was there. Yellah means "let's go;" la means "no;" shukran means "thank you;" and something I learned in Egypt from Matt was mafiche faloos which means "I am not a rich person." I know these are probably spelled wrong, but in my defense, Arabic is a different alphabet...so sound them out the best you can, and you've probably got it.

And here are some pictures from the first few days of the trip, too...