"It's a Hard Knock Life"

This weekend Gaby participated in her middle school's performance of Annie. She played one of the orphans. She did a great job and thoroughly enjoyed being on stage.

Leprechaun Trap

Andrew has been learning about simple machines (e.g. levers, pulleys) in 3rd grade. His assignment that is due this week was to build a leprechaun trap using simple machines. We had over a month advance notice about the assignment; however, each time we started the project, it ended in tears - to save face, I will not say who broke down in tears. In the end, the assignment was finished. We'll see if we end up catching a leprechaun.

Persian New Year - "Nowruz"

Most Foreign Service Officers prepare for their next assignment by taking language training, learning the history and culture of their assigned country, meeting their counterparts at embassies in Washington, and then ultimately arrive in the country where they are assigned and start working.

Unfortunately, my experience does not follow this pattern. I am learning Persian and the rich history and cultures of Iran; however, at the end of my training, I will not be stepping off a plane in Tehran. Instead I will be working on Iranian issues from Dubai.

This weekend my family and I had a taste of the Iranian culture and history by attending a Persian new year celebration at the Smithsonian Museums (Freer & Sackler Galleries).

Dancers performed several typical dances in colorful, traditional dresses.

One of the many customs of Nowruz is that families set tables in their houses with items that are symbolic of good health, wealth, and good fortune. Some of the items on this table are an apple, mirror, fish bowl, garlic, vinegar, decorated egg, and the Koran.

There were probably 25-30 chess boards set up for people to play. Even though he didn't know the rules of the game, Colin was determined to play. He played against Gaby who in the end outsmarted Colin and her dad.

The kids enjoyed stamping Nowruz greeting cards and doing the other crafts at the event. They also heard a traditional story from Iranian history.

Hockey Sticks

Since our ice skating activity last weekend, Colin has been obsessed with anything hockey related. Anything he gets his hands on becomes a hockey stick, puck, or gear. His brother and sister also immediately become the opposing team and, like the game, fights break out frequently.

At school this week Colin was awarded, Citizen of the Month. So, in addition to the coveted ribbon he received, we thought we would reward with him with a hockey stick. Yesterday I took him to Wal-Mart and a few other stores looking for a stick; however, none of the stores carried them. Although he was initially reluctant about the idea, we went to Home Depot and bought some PVC pipe, glue, joints, pipe insulation, and electrical tape. For less than $10 we made four hockey sticks. Since we made them, Colin has been racing through the house pushing around a puck (roll of electrical tape).

Ice Skating

Last week the local weatherman was predicting snow for President's Day weekend. However, his success rate at predicting the weather is about as good as my success rate at giving the boys a haircut that meets their mom's approval.

So, instead of playing in non-existent snow, we went ice skating at the local ice rink. Our kids spent almost the entire time clinging to the side of the rink or clinging onto us. However, they had fun and were asking when we could return.

Some memorable quotes from the outing:

• Colin: "Why can't they make ice that is less slippery?"
• Gaby: "These skates smells like smelly gym socks."
• Andrew: "When is the zucchini coming to clean the ice?"

Reading Farsi = Reading Customized License Plates

This week as I was sitting in traffic and passing the time trying to figure out the intended meaning of other cars' customized license plates, I had a light-bulb moment: (Drum roll) reading customized license plates is not too different from reading Farsi (and Arabic).

Apart from being an all together different alphabet, Farsi grammar rules and sentence structures are so different from English that usually when I try to explain the difference to people, their eyes glaze over and the conversation ends fairly quickly.

So, for those of you who also tailgate cars to try to read and figure out the meaning of their customized plates, here are some ways reading Farsi and customized license plates are similar:

• Spacing between words is optional
• Vowels are almost always omitted
• Minimal, if any, punctuation
• No distinction between upper and lower case letter

This partly explains why each day, after five hours of Farsi classes, I head to the medicine cabinet and reach for the bottle of Tylenol.

Car Show

Yesterday I took the kids to the D.C. Auto Show. Shelley stayed back at the house and got caught up on projects that are impossible to get done with a house full of needy children and a hyper husband.

When I worked at Gallup and did consulting work for automotive companies, I was surprised by how trendy models such as the Scion xB and Mini Cooper were popular among the younger age groups. We called these type of vehicles "college dorms on wheels." Gaby now seems be falling into this demographic. Her favorite vehicle was the Nissan Cube.

Colin's favorite car was a Chevy covered with graphics of soldiers, guns, helicopters, and patriotic images. If they would have had a Lego or Star Wars-themed vehicle it would have also been in the running.

Andrew's favorite car was a yellow, souped up Camaro that had Transformer hubcaps.

What impressed me was the come back that American car manufacturers have made. They have sharpened their image, become much more fuel efficient, and are serious competition for Toyota and Honda.