A day of note(s)

I'm going to start this entry straight off with something absolutely amazing that's going on right now, even as I type this.

It's raining!

Incredibly, unbelievable, verifiably - there is water falling from the heavens. Not from an air-conditioner, or from God-knows-where (consisting of God-knows-what) - actual rain.

I was so astounded when I walked out of my office, I stood there like the proverbial turkey, gazing up into the sky. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not exactly pouring. I wouldn't go out and build an ark tonight instead of preparing for class. But the wind is just whipping through the city, carrying with it the occasional aliquot of rain. The wind was so bad last night I had to shut all the windows, and this afternoon I've moved all the patio furniture against the building to try to avoid giving a donation to the Indonesian embassy.

I also had trouble sleeping last night because Miss India and I had different ideas of what goes on when I go to bed. Finally, finally, I managed to get her to ignore me so I could get some sleep.

She had a present for me this morning, though. Not that kind of present - she seems to be well-enough trained. She jumped in the bathtub after I was done with the shower, and well, wet dirty cat feet plus white linoleum equals ....
And, of course ....

She danced on the toilet too, but I even I shrink from posting pictures of my toilet online. Call me old-fashioned. At least Fawzeya is coming tomorrow, so I don't have to clean the little love-prints myself.

Speaking of Fawzeya, another major milestone was passed today. I wrote my first letter in Arabic! It was my special request for my tutoring session this afternoon. And here it is:

I might as well have written, "Dear Mommy, I love you, and I like pizza. Love, Tiffany." I thought finishing my Ph.D. was going to gain me some dignity, but apparently I was sorely mistaken.

Now I'm off to practice my talk again before tomorrow. I'd casually invited an acquaintance of a friend to come hear my talk, mostly to touch base and ask to have coffee again. To my extreme consternation, he emailed me today and said he'll be coming for sure tomorrow - and bringing ten of his colleagues from the lab.

The theme of my stay so far has been, "What have I gotten myself into?!"