Heh

TL’s last name means, literally, “the beloved” in Arabic. Someone who is working with us from the Washington office has, in her correspondence, slightly misspelled his name, so that she’s now addressing him as something akin to “Dr. Love”. It’s not the first thing that would come to mind if you see him, and it certainly gives us both a very good laugh.

Yesterday the manager of the restaurant where we eat lunch, let’s call him The Kabob Nazi (although he’s really very nice – I can’t imagine him saying “No kabobs for you! Come back – one year!”), was taking our orders, and N mentioned that he’d like potatoes instead of rice. He didn’t have them for us yesterday, but promised to make us potatoes today. They were so yummy. It was like someone took Greek-style potatoes and mashed them. Dee-licious. The reason we’re able to go to the same restaurant every day and not go insane with boredom is because they have specials every day, so we can change things up often. They also know what we like, what we order regularly, and will make things especially for us. (The benefit of being a regular customer!)

I was walking through the hotel lobby this evening, and they told me I had a package waiting for me. I wasn’t expecting anything else from my parents that I know of, so I was both excited and perplexed. My friend Abigail sent me a box of goodies! There are hazelnut-filled wafers, chocolates, lollipops, crackers, jam, mushroom paté, and jelly beans, among other things – she went a little nuts at World Market, apparently. It was such a great surprise! (It shouldn’t have been a total surprise, though – she *did* say she was going to send me something.) I think my favorite is the bag of Jelly Bellies – a certain newlywed former roommate and I share a particular weakness for all kinds of gummy and jelly candies. I shudder to think how quickly we’ve demolished embarrassingly large quantities of gummy bears, gummy fruits, and jelly beans in our time. I can’t fully explain the appeal, but part of it lies in the unabashedly artificial, sugary, preservative-y goodness – which isn’t something I typically go for, but I do get cravings for it. In any case – THANK YOU Abigail!

For some reason, we get Turner Classic Movies (TCM) here. Lately they’ve been showing a lot of old musicals, and they’ve been really fun to watch. I do have a weakness for some old movies – Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Cary Grant and the like. I rarely indulge it, but they do give some warm fuzzies. Maybe I’ll have to bring a few on my next trip. The oldest movie I have with me now is Johnny Dangerously (“do you know your last name’s an adverb?”) – but I don’t think it counts as a classic. So between this, the tomato soup I just made, and my box full of goodies, it’s a good, relaxing night! Plus, I got everything done today that I needed to get done, so I’m feeling pretty good about that.