Healthy Halloween

Well, sort of. The kids have had the day off school as the spontaneous hay fever symptoms we were all experiencing yesterday have developed into coughs, colds and flu -like chills. Yee-ha! So instead of traipsing around later this evening in a windy, drizzle with a fireman, jockey and a very pretty pirate, who race from house to house banging on doors and begging for sweets we (read: I) have opted to stay home instead. The kids are handling this last minute change of plans so beautifully. We have had no tears, just a moment of resigned disappointment and then they have looked only at the positive, at what we will do. We will still dress up and we will have a candle lit (jack-o-lantern lit) dinner, a special dessert (homemade mango and coconut ice cream served in a orange jack-o-lantern) and a movie. We will also hand out sweets to those that come to the door and so they will get to see lots of different costumes. This is what made me so very proud. Despite the fact that we were not going trick or treating ourselves (something that they were very much looking forward to, even if it was only to the neighbours house and back) the kids were so excited every time there was a knock on the door that they eagerly raced to open it and happily handed out lollies (not once complaining that they really wanted to go themselves, even though I am sure they would have leaped at the chance). They are such great kids. Even Anisa who, when the trick-or treaters started to come less frequently, began discreetly transporting candies to her room rolled up in newspapers and tucked away in pockets. Here is a stash I found hidden in her jacket hood. You've got to admire her determination even while you worry about the manner in which she goes about trying to have things her own way.

Pumpkin Carving

The kids and I spent the morning carving pumpkins in the lead up to Halloween. Traditional jack-o-lantern pumpkins are very hard to come by here and the few you can get are well over 20 dollars each, so we went with the local, sweet pumpkins that grow in abundance and which you can buy for under 30 cents a kilo. The girls each wanted their pumpkins to be like the traditional jack-o-lanterns with triangle slits for eyes and jagged mouths. Which is what they made. I wanted to try something different and so with Bayan's choice of cookie cutters we made a patterned pumpkin lantern with hearts and stars. In the end this actually worked out much better as more air was able to get in to the candle and the flame was able to burn for longer. The overall effect was festive and fun as opposed to spooky and fun. We saved the pumpkin seeds and toasted them with olive oil and sea-salt for snacking and with the hollowed out pumpkin shavings we made a pie from scratch. I am so impressed with this recipe because the crust actually worked. In case you fail to appreciate the immensity of this event I will put it like this: For the first time in 14 years my pie crust turned out. Whoo-hoo! This will be a keeper for Thanksgiving now.

Oh, and by the way, remind me to use larger apples (roughly the size of a small hippopotamus, I think should so the trick) the next time I want to make dried apple faces. Look at how tiny they turned out. Well, at least they were fun to make.

A First

I must admit to being a very non-confrontational person. I would much rather walk away from a situation or simply not say anything at all than enter into an argument. In fact I would be far more inclined to apologize (even if I were not to blame) than to assert my own viewpoint or risk offending someone else.

For the first time in what must be at least ten years I have entered into an altercation with a stranger, have politely stood my ground and feel immensely proud as a result. We had spent the morning running countless errands, the children had been wonderful, very patient and well behaved and I told Anisa that we could stop at the pet shop to see the puppies before heading home. She was desperate to see the animals again. After four hours of patience and being told that we were almost done the moment finally arrived and we headed into the pet store. As I looked back and reached out to take Bayan's hand Anisa plopped herself down beside the glass enclosure where four fluffy, little, Labradors were sleeping. Admittedly she did bang on the glass panel once - in enthusiastic greeting to let the sweet puppies know she had - at last - arrived. Before I even had a chance to remind her to be gentle and quiet because the doggies were sleeping and might be frightened by loud noises a complete stranger (a large, tall man in his - I would estimate -mid 60's) rushed up to her yelled angrily "DON'T DO THAT!" With a fury that caught us completely by surprise. Anisa, who had only done it the once glanced back at him from her crouching position on the floor. We were both momentarily speechless. He took the opportunity to scream at her again, this time his face contorting with rage as he he shouted "DON'T DO THAT!" (She had not done it again.) At which point I stepped in. In that solitary moment of speechlessness the following thoughts had occurred in rapid succession: 1). What the...? 2). This guy has got issues. Just grab the kids and walk away. 3). No.

Despite my shock and without knowing exactly what I was going to say I knew one thing for certain and that was that I did not want Anisa to think, even for a moment, that it was acceptable for anyone (male or female, young or old) to speak to her that way. And so, with much civility (if I do say so myself) I said that I was sorry if we had upset him, but that he had absolutely no right to speak to her that way. She didn't mean any harm and that he should be more tactful and kind when speaking to others, especially children. At this point Bayan was cowering behind me and Anisa was sobbing into my leg.

I was treated to a scathing response, dripping with sarcasm and scorn and was unequivocally informed that he had been caned every day of his childhood and that it hadn't done him any harm.

Humph. With raised eyebrows and an incredulous look I politely responded that " Apparently it had." I stopped short of heartily recommending that he seek some serious anger management therapy and turned my attention to Anisa whose tears were soaking a patch in my pants, while he shuffled off in a huff, as grouchy and detestable as before.


Our resulting conversation went something like this:

Anisa still sobbing: " I'm sorry Mummy! I'm so naughty!" More sobbing.

Me: "You are not naughty. It was naughty of that man to speak to you that way. He is quite clearly not a happy person and is having a bad day. But we don't need to let him ruin our day. Look, the puppies are still sleeping."

Bystander to me: " Did you know that man?"

Me: "I've never seen him before in my life."

Anisa: Still sobbing.

Bystander shaking his head: "Unbelievable! I though he might have been a relative or something. He was so rude."

Bystander to Anisa: "You're not naughty. I am so sorry he yelled at you."

Anisa sniffing: "That man was scary. He scared me."

Me: "I know honey. He scared me too. But see, he's gone now."

Anisa: " I don't like that man. He was evil and naughty to me."

Me: " He did do something naughty to you. But I don't know that he's evil. Sometimes people have a bad day and take it out on other people. They shouldn't, but sometimes they do. Maybe he was having a very bad day. Did you hear what I said to him? Maybe he is sorry he yelled at you."

Anisa: "I don't like him."

Me: " I can understand that. We aren't going to like everyone that we meet, but we still need to be kind and polite to them, even when they are rude to us. At least we can be proud of how we acted.

Anisa: " Can we see the rabbits now?"


While it was a extremely unpleasant encounter it has brilliantly illustrated how certain tones and attitudes can have a hurtful affect on others. Now when Anisa gets that 'angry tone' I quietly remind her about how we don't ever want to speak to anyone the way that angry man spoke to us.

This Week

I have filled in three passport applications, including driving all over the place to get signatures from witnesses, guarantors and Mehran. Twice.

Attempted to be interviewed for said passports. Not once, not twice, but three times as the initial forms we were given were apparently incorrect.

Worked two full days, including planning lessons for the next five weeks and rearranging my schedule to accommodate Anisa's pace maker clinic at the hospital.

Taken the children for more transition visits at the new school and made multiple trips to a uniform shop over 45 kilometers away in a desperate quest to secure correctly sized and logoed (is that a word?) clothing.

Attended a professional development conference, tidied loose ends in the classroom, cut, copied and laminated nearly 300 keys, restructured my teaching timetable to accommodate an early morning drop-off at school for the girls, prepared lessons and gone to teach children's classes.

Finalized travel arrangements, including hotel accommodation in China, internal flights within the States, international drivers licences and a specialized GPS navigational system to help us once we land over seas.

Searched the web (religiously) for real estate, driven to numerous blocks of land and attended multiple open inspections all with kids in tow.

I have caught up with the laundry, vacuumed the floor, cleaned the car, made numerous appointments, calls and queries. All in addition to the hundred and ten things you do on a daily basis just to keep things running smoothly. There are days and weeks (like this one) when I feel very proud of my juggling act and the fact that I am able to keep so many balls zipping through the air, though-probably more often than not- I am keenly aware of a loud kersplat as one of the balls misses it's rotation and drops to the ground. Oh well, at least this week was highly productive.

The Girls' Room

Over the years this room has served as a storage room, Mehrdad's room, and a guest room. For the last 5 years it has served as Ruhi's room a space that hasn't changed much since she moved in at two, but a space that she has been happily willing to share with Anisa, and even with Bayan. It has gotten far more crowed, since Nushan arrived, as we have had to reorganize the house to squeeze numerous things into a smaller amount of space.The main feature of the room is the bookcase. I love books. I hope that all the children will also develop a a deep appreciation for literature. We read lots of stories. I aim for between 3 and nine a day. It always brings such a deep sense of satisfaction to see them curled up on their beds leafing through a book. Not that that happens all the time, but it is a nice way to have some quiet, down time and it is a lovely way to end a crazy, or hectic day.

The beds are the same ones that Mehran and Mehrdad got when they first arrived in Australia as refugees nearly 25 years ago. They are sturdy, extremely heavy, and strong. They are adorned with princess stickers and matching bedlinen (which I made. Cue rapturous applause.) and are flanked by pink and purple ponies and a small contingent of care bears. There is an extra mattress tucked away under Anisa's bed which Bayan and I share from time to time. The monster that used to reside under Ruhi's bed (and was the cause of much leaping onto the mattress to avoid him getting her feet) has quietly moved on as there is now a mini trampoline, numerous storage containers and the inevitable trove of discarded pyjamas and story books that have inadvertently slipped down the gap between the mattress and the wall, in the space that he once called home.

The closet is filled with the children's clothes, both winter and summer as well as with clearance items put away for next years wear. It contains dress-ups, the games cabinet, wrapping paper and accessories, cards and mementos, some of Bayan's toys and no doubt a thousand things that I have already forgotten we had, or was sure we lost long ago.

There is a small wooden table for working at and drawing on and a fan to cool you down in the hot summer months when the air conditioning doesn't make it to the back of the house. Most of all it is a quiet place where prayers are said each night, lots of cuddles and snuggles are had and many stories told. On the nights when I am not too exhausted (few and far between) or when they beg exceedingly I have been telling them stories about a couple of princesses, coincidentally named Ruhiyyih and Anisa who have grand adventures helping a unicorn save her community by travelling through distant lands, under seas and even to the stars on a wondrous journey to help creatures who cannot help themselves. I try to end it every night in the way of A Thousand and One Nights, with a cliffhanger that they have to wait until tomorrow night to hear the rest of. We left it last night with the unicorns tears leaving a diamond path to the stars which the princess had to follow into the night. I am not sure where we will go from there but hopefully inspiration will strike before bedtime and we will hear the next installment of their magical journey before snuggling into bed.

The Chocolate Factory

We met up with friends for a fabulous day out and about. Our first stop was to an old fashioned chocolate factory where you can see the chocolate getting made, sample all sorts of products and even purchase something from their enormous selection, if you are so inclined. The aroma is so entirely enticing that anyone who is even remotely fond of chocolate will likely swoon the moment they walk in the door. To distract you from this initial impulse they have stationed all manner of antique, chocolate making, machinery near the entrance so that your attention is temporarily diverted by your curiosity about these ancient relics. Once you have thoroughly investigated the mixing apparatus, the cream separator and the old fashioned conveyor belt, your sense of smell has been acclimatized to the fragrances of paradise and you are now capable of heading into the heart of the factory. Here you are dazzled by the dizzying array of chocolate products and paraphernalia and are amazed by the sheer variety on offer. Off this centre hall are numerous rooms where the chocolate is packaged, spun, made, sorted, plunked on conveyor belts, mixed, poured, refrigerated, seasoned and boxed. Along the way at every station are little samples for you to try, everything from chocolate coated raisins, peanuts, and coffee beans to bits of licorice and lollies. Oh my!

Here we watch melted chocolate being poured into molds.

Bayan is admiring the machine that helps give the chocolate the smooth, shiny coating.

It looks like a giant cement mixer and apparently works in much the same way.This next one reminds me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with stack after stack of luscious bricks of chocolate just waiting to be wrapped up in shiny, golden, paper.

Meanwhile Anisa is reminded of the chocolate episode of I Love Lucy while we all eagerly stop to watch as the conveyor belt sends thousands of scrumptious nougats cascading into a large box. Bayan's surprised delight as he watches the first little chocolates slide into the box. Nestled beside the boxes of those succulent chocolate morsels was tray after tray of chili coated chocolate. That would not have been my first choice for a scrummy combination, but these people know what they are doing. Trust me. And our purchases, well we left with a white chocolate bear, two milk chocolate racing cars and a pair of colorful lollipops. How we managed to select those from this... I can hardly say. It was a major process let me assure you.

From the chocolate factory we had a picnic lunch in the hills and then travelled to a toy factory where the children got to experience quality wooden toys and visit a petting zoo attached to the property.

Ruhi enjoyed a rather repetitive conversation with a Cockatoo, Bayan made friends with a duck and Anisa got to know the local kangaroos. I enjoyed the peacocks. This was the first time that I had seen one desperately strutting it's stuff. I knew they fanned out their feathers but I did not realize that they also vibrate said feathers while emitting an unusual call. (Or perhaps it was just the style of this particular peacock.) Despite his best efforts he did not appear to be gaining any ground. Notice how the female studiously ignores him. In a last ditch effort he turned around and actually shook his bottom at her. The poor dear. This was not his most brilliant idea as his entire audience, both human and peacock, deserted him here. I am sure there is a lesson there somewhere.

After separating to run errands we met up at a playground and then returned to their house for a cup of tea and a short play that ran far longer than I had expected. It was a lovely day. I just strenuously hope that no one caught Bayan's runny nose.

Apple Faces and Alphabets

After a highly (ahem) nutritious breakfast featuring leftover cheesecake and Persian tea we cleared the table and began working on Halloween decorations. The kids and I have decided to have a special Halloween dinner this year (poor Mehran) and are beginning to get things organized now. Well, at least the apple faces as those take at least two weeks to properly dry out.

We began by peeling some apples and coating them with a mixture of lemon juice and salt.

Then we carved out facial features with blunt butter knives, adding whole cloves for the eyes and using grains of white rice to make teeth. The kids had a blast. Ruhi and Anisa each made two. Ruhi created a vampire phantom with horns and a jack-o-lantern and Anisa made a couple of creepy faces. Mostly she just liked poking grains of rice into the mouths she had carved, some were a bit haphazard and crazy so in the end they will probably wind up as a dentist's worst nightmare with numerous clusters of jagged teeth haphazardly jutting out of shrivelled mouths. But freedom of expression and boundless creativity was the point, after all.

Meanwhile Bayan used his apples as a mid-morning snack. I believe it was Anisa who attempted to salvage one of them. Notice the teeth marks around the eye sockets. I am curious to see how that one turns out.

After the apples were placed in a safe spot to dry out I made some alphabet cards, gathered some clothes pegs and hung up some string on the veranda posts. Anisa was given a challenge to see if she could correctly identify all the letters of the alphabet and could hang them in order on the clothesline. She loved this, was super proud of herself and only occasionally did she enlist Ruhi's help.

I have been teaching her the sounds of the letters (in non alphabetical order) and wanted to see if she could arrange them based on their names instead of their sounds. She did great. She also wanted me to include a picture of the pancake breakfast I made for them a few days ago. Bayan's never lasted for the photo op. Anisa's name was jumbled as it didn't quite fit on the plate, but she had fun rearranging the letters in the right order anyway. Ruhi's just fit. They were very yummy. Although next time I must remember to squeeze the batter so that the letters are backwards. That way they will look more attractive when you flip them.

Corners of My Home Part 1

I have been enthusiastically haunting Real Estate.com for nearly two months now, and as it really looks as though we will be leaving here once we return from our trip I want to capture some of the aspects and spaces in our house, a place that has seen many changes over the last 10 years: the birth of three children, a wedding, a memorial, numerous visitors and guests, parties, Holy Days, holidays, play-dates and Persian barbecues in addition to the everyday little things that have made it our home.

In years to come I would like to have a small window on the present to be able to look back upon and say to the kids, Oh look, do you remember that? That's where we used to do all our arts and crafts, or hey look that was our reading corner etc. So, I will start with our "making area" and move to other corners of the house in future posts.

This glass table is where we do most messy crafts and activities. It is great because no matter what you spill on it or do to it is still easy to clean. Mostly. It is also home to the fish who always appear to be hungry no matter how much you feed them. It has seen daily painting exploits when Ruhi was a toddler, to less frequent paint involved pursuits as the children have gotten older and as more children have joined our family. We do scrap booking, playdoh, prayer book pages, gluing, cutting, building, making, drawing, coloring, constructing etc. here in this little corner. The four door side-board is home to our everyday making and crafting supplies (the things that I want the kids to have access to, so that they can reach or find it for themselves whenever the urge greets them) it also houses assorted educational supplies, everything from unit blocks and scales, to globes, maps and a photocopier, everything from craft punches and craft supplies to and abacus and chocolate moulds.

You may notice small transparent splotches on the walls. This is from the small prayers that I have placed on the wall (19 for each child) during the Fast. That reminds me, I need to get a set made up for Bayan. I am also planning to try a longer prayer this year for Ruhi. I should probably get moving on that one as well. Hmmm. It sounds like I've got some work to do. I'd better be off.

Star Gazing

"Pardon me sir, but is that a rocket launcher you have there?"

"Not at all. This is an Argo-worthy, computerized, super resolution, intergalacticaly enviable contraption that effortlessly highlights globular clusters, asteroids, planetary nebula, comets and earth-orbiting satellites. Not to mention is capable of tracking planets across the sky, showing you Jupiter's rings and giving you a close-up view of the mountains and craters on the moon."

And that is precisely what we saw, well - the last three anyway. Our next door neighbour is an astronomy buff and has the most powerful telescope I have ever seen. He invited us over to have a look at the Australian night sky. Ruhi could hardly wait, the kids were so excited that we actually had to bake cookies to take with us, just to give them some perspective on time...after we bake the cookies... after the cookies have cooled...once they are wrapped up and the kitchen is cleaned... you know how it is.

It was really impressive, we got to see the moon at varying distances, the surface is just incredible and to think that you are seeing it "live" as it is at that very moment in time because it is amazing how fast the stars and planets move across the sky. We also saw Venus, Jupiter and numerous constellations that I can no longer name or identify. But fascinating nonetheless.

Road Trip

Mehran returned from another notoriously long day working (during his 'holiday') in the mood to fish. Of all things. He remembered, from long ago, a special riverside spot (well over 2 hours away) that had excellent fishing and is reputedly the place to go,where you have the best odds of actually catching something. We were just thrilled he was finally prepared to put his father's day gift to good use. The kids could hardly wait. We called friends, packed a picnic lunch and headed off for a very looong drive. After two hours even he began to get antsy: I don't remember it taking this long became his phrase of choice, which he repeated frequently for the last 125 odd kilometers. Both Anisa and Bayan slept on the way there as well as on the way back, Ruhi was as patient as could be and I finished knitting two scarves. Did I mention it was a long drive? We stopped by the side of the road to admire (not that you can really tell from this picture) a beautiful salt lake. That had very distinctive shades of blue and pink. The children were delighted and we had a very interesting discussion about flamingos as a result. I had a perfectly delightful time attempting to keep three children, one young chap in particular, from plummeting off a rickety old jetty while Mehran wrestled with sinkers, hooks and fishing line.

We had a lovely picnic lunch, a lengthy walk along the beach and a play at the local playground. As hard as he tried Mehran didn't catch any fish, apparently there were none to be had. Bayan, on the other hand, caught a cold, Anisa collected a healthy stash of pine cones and Ruhi found a pelican feather. While we did not return with the things we had hoped to, at least we did not return empty handed.

Crafty Afternoon

Bayan has begun to sleep in the afternoons again. He has been dozing off for a couple of hours for a few weeks now and, while I thought we were finished with the naptimes, it has been really nice to have a few quiet hours with the girls again. Today Ruhi and Anisa helped me finish off the papermache for five, end-of-year, pinatas I am still working on for school. Together we made: a fish, a pig, a wombat, an elephant and one undefined creation that somewhat resembles a decrepit teddy bear doing the splits. Tomorrow we decorate them with tissue paper.

Anisa also spent some time at the table with me experimenting with beaded hair accessories. I was trying to make some flowers and butterflies that could sit in the girls hair, or at least be tied to elastics and worn on the end of braids and ponytails. They didn't come out quite as I had hoped, but we will try some more.

This morning we glues on eyes, stuck on ears and added features. Our pinata cast now officially includes: a stripey fish, a hot pink pig, a jet black wombat, a light blue elephant and a dancing cow with hot pink hooves. I am glad the girls had the imagination and intuitiveness to bring that last pinata to life.

Marshmallow Creations

We invited the neighbours over for a play date and after lunch the kids had a brilliant time designing things with marshmallows and dried spaghetti sticks. The only catch was that they were only allowed to eat one, small creation. Here are some samples of the things that they made.

Ruhi made a mushroom (which became the chosen one in terms of eating), a jellyfish (note all the tentacles) and a very elaborate unicorn.

Bayan enjoyed poking a few spaghetti sticks into a solitary marshmallow and then happily scampered off play. Anisa commandeered his share of the marshmallows and created hordes of interesting objects among them: an octopus, a jellyfish, a set of weights, a person, a robot, a monster, a UFO and a scarecrow with a flippy, floppy, hat. I shan't tell you which is which, that you will simply have to work out for yourself.