Baby born with two faces

Rural India must boast the most cases of abnormal births. I am amazed that baby Lali can eat with either of her two mouths, breathe through two noses, and blinks all of her four eyes at the same time.

Baby Lali born with two faces

Frustration

In my class this year I asked the students to write emotion poems using metaphors. My experiences with the maid today have prompted this poem

Frustration is
the maid turning your favorite pants different colors in the wash
seeing her cleaning the shelves with insect repellent
when she blames the red coloring on me even though I know she did it
when she has no concept of time and punctuality is a foreign idea
when she drops the dishes behind the stove so you can't find them

Frustration is
when she tells me "all the work is done" (sare kam ho gaya)
and there's dirt all over the car
bird poop on the windows
and dust bunnies collecting in all the corners

Frustration is
when she asks for a raise
despite the fact that she's ruined enough clothes to account for 2 months salary

Mercy is
not getting what you deserve

Mercy is
difficult to have when you're frustrated

Mercy is
something I think God wants to teach me about through the maid!

My Favorite Kitchen Appliance

My favorite kitchen appliance has got to be the blender. There is great fruit available in Pakistan, but the funny thing is that most fruit I'd rather eat it blended than as is. For example, mangoes. They are so slimy and have this weird texture when you eat them fresh, but if you freeze them and put them in the blender with some milk you'll get a tasty summer drink.

We use the blender at least three times a day in the hot months. Iced coffee, milkshakes, and various healthier smoothie drinks.

For cooking, I also use the blender/grinder a lot when I want to make curries, sauces or soups. Potato spinach soup, broccoli cheese soup. Mmmm. This use of the blender is more for the winter.

This was a random post, but I'm happy to have the blender and excited for the coming summer fruit! Mmmmm

Duarte and I enjoying a strawberry banana smoothie, for about 1/4 the cost it would be in one of Lahore's posh cafes

Insight on the Election

I gave my students an extra credit assignment to interview their family members and friends about the recent election. It's interesting to see that there are a variety of different political parties represented among the students' families. You can check out their interviews on the Grade 8 English Blog
You can also read some excellent restaurant reviews if you're planning on dining in Lahore.

At least the maid voted

I've talked to the first person I know who actually voted: my maid. She took advantage of the government holiday and didn't come to clean yesterday. I suspected she was having a picnic or just enjoying herself, but she actually went to the polls! She and her husband voted for the PPP (Ms. Bhutto's party as the maid said) and Nawaz Sharif's party. She tried to make an excuse about how she wanted to vote in the morning before it got busy so that she could still come clean, but for some reason or another she didn't get around to coming to work. She tried to explain to me why she voted for the PPP, but my Punjabi is no where near good enough for a discussion of politics.

Things I was able to find out

• the polls were busy
• there were a lot of women
• there were a lot of old women
  
• everything was safe

Voter turnout was less than 40% so I'm interested to see if anyone else I know participated in the election. Things seem calm and secure here in Lahore. The birds sang through two beautiful spring days in Defence, and we didn't have to go to school!