Hooking up to the hookah/shisha pipe...

Within our well traveled circles, our friends sometimes find themselves in the Middle East. And some friends of ours decided to invest in a Middle Eastern (Egyptian) hookah/shisha pipe while they spent some time in Baghdad. This pipe is basically an upscale bong and is quite popular in the Middle East has gained popularity in some European cafes/bars known as “shisha” bars as well. They sell it for small groups and in some establishments have large ones to be shared by many. Remember the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland who was blowing smoke rings around Alice – that’s what he was doing! 

Anyway, the way this works is that you add water to the pipe (it has a water filtration system), add some sweet smelling tobacco, some hot coal to burn the stuff, pass around some mouthpieces along with a hose that you connect to the pipe/mouthpiece and you are set. Take a hit, the water in the pipe bubbles, and you pass it on.

In my not so distant youth, I smoked the occasional cigarette, but asthma kind of curtailed continued use and I never really gave it another thought. Tonight, I decided to try it mostly because the tobacco really smelled good and when else would I get to experience a hookah without getting dirty looks from other people. It was ok, but again, I had been battling a virus for days and this wasn’t exactly the medication I needed.

While I can’t say I am hooked on hookah, I can see why people do it. In a way, taking that “hit” is taking a breath and for most, it may be the first time you actually focus on breathing. It is also quite enjoyable to share this with friends.

Remember that bottle of Absinthe I purchased in the Czech Republic? I told you I would let you know how that turned out. Well, I chose to take a shot only because my chest was really congested after the shisha and a shot of whiskey sometimes helps – why not 90% proof Absinthe? Should kill anything festering in there! You couldn’t pay me enough to take a significant amount in order to hallucinate. Just the little shot that I had prompted a burning in my chest that only a heart attack can relate to. And, then I felt numb for a while. It is supposed to be diluted a bit with water, but I didn’t bother thinking that the small amount I was going to consume would be fine. WRONG! It did silence my cough temporarily, though.

Blinded by the light

The lyrics to this Bruce Springsteen song have been haunting me every morning. I sit here at 6am wide awake. I can't even call it the crack of dawn because that happened hours ago. Living in a country or state, for that matter, close to the Arctic is not all it is cracked up to be. I thought it appropriate to write about this today on this the summer solstice.

We spend about 4-6 months in relative darkness, tired, sleepy, becoming pale and yearning for spring and DST to arrive. Then, it arrives and for a few joyful weeks we come alive. The heavy coats are shed for the latest spring jackets. We feel a weight lifted off our bodies (those coats add at least 5 pounds). We are happier people, trees are growing, flowers blooming, animals are mating. The days start getting longer, the nights shorter.

When I originally arrived in cold, overcast, gloomy Warsaw, I sooo looked forward to this time of year. I mean, I am a Florida/Sunshine State - except for afternoon thunderstorms - native after all. But this year, a realization - I really don’t enjoy Mr. Sun shining down on me at 3-4am. I don’t enjoy my children waking at 5am because “there is light outside, mommy.” I curse the day I ever taught them “don’t get up until you see light in your window.” Now all I get is “…but you said…”

I have blackout curtains in every room but the two windows on our 4th floor do not and they bring in enough light to shine through the hall and into every room. I used to sleep with my door open in case the kids needed me, but I have pretty much had to close it and let them fend for themselves. These 18 hour days of sunlight is damn right annoying and from my observation, this sunlight phenomena affects more than your general sleep cycle.

Maybe it’s the sun or the effect of less sleep, but I have just noticed that overall, people just get upset more easily over these months. It is no wonder that crime rises over summer months and declines over the winter. It’s not just weather patterns – it’s plain sunlight or lack thereof. Couple that with less than an hour of rain since May and you can see why many people around here seem to be on edge. I now understand why our Embassy doctor warned people not to spend more than 15 minutes under the happy lights over the winter months.

I am only now thankful that we were not posted to Stockholm as it was originally intended. They don't call Sweden the "land of the midnight sun" for nothing. Despite the heat and humidity of a Florida summer, part of me is looking forward to traveling home, as short as it may be, to a place where the sun sets at a normal hour and doesn’t rise until about 6am.

European Kissing Customs

This follows from my last post on hellos and goodbyes. With all the going away celebrations, there are lots of greetings taking place. In the States, when you meet friends, most people shake hands or you may kiss the person on the cheek if you have a closer relationship. Coming from a Cuban family, I am used to kissing everyone on the cheek once as a greeting and in saying good-bye.

In Europe, however, greetings vary from country to country. I have done some informal anthropological research among friends and the results are in.

In the UK, most people shake hands and cheek kissing is highly unlikely. In Spain, Austria, Norway, Sweden and Finland, it is a kiss on each cheek. In France, it actually depends on the region, but four is the norm. The Dutch also give four kisses from cheek to cheek. In Germany, kissing is restricted to family, handshakes being the norm. In Belgium, one kiss is the norm if the person is of similar age. If they are older, you kiss three times as a sign of respect. In Italy, it is 2 to 3 times and is restricted mostly to close friends and family. Confused yet?

In Poland, Ukraine Slovakia and Czech Republic, it is three kisses. This is actually symbolic of the Holy Trinity in these heavily Catholic areas. In fact, many traditions in Eastern Europe are done in threes for the same reason.

So there you have it in a nutshell. If ever in doubt, just follow the head movement from cheek to cheek until the other person stops!

Hello, goodbye....

The title of this Beatles hit epitomizes the state of our lives at this very moment. In this globetrekking lifestyle, every “hello” eventually leads to a “goodbye.” So it is that the month of June has become somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster of sorts, mostly for Thing 1 and myself, since Thing 2 is too young to understand and the Cat learned a long time ago not to make many close friends because you end up moving away in the end anyway.

The moving vans have arrived in Warsaw. Throughout the city, families are packing up, getting ready for a new adventure or repatriating to their home countries. In Thing 1's class alone there are 6 children who will not be returning next year. Between them, they are off to Singapore, Peru, Bulgaria, Spain and the USA. At the Embassy, it is a hectic month, trying to squeeze in last minute get-togethers before pack outs and moves. Last year, it was easy because we had only really known people for a few months and were not very close, but this year it is a bit different. It can only be compared to finishing college and wondering when or if you will see your friends again.

This interesting phenomena plays out in two ways: the closer it gets to moving time, the closer people tend to become and stretch out the goodbye part or knowing that the goodbyes are on the way, you shut yourself off from those that are leaving, hardening yourself a bit in order to sustain the blow. I am the former, Thing 1 is the latter. Already he told me, “I need to stop being friends with them before they go” almost as if controlling who ends the relationship will make it better. It doesn’t and we have had many talks about the importance of saying goodbye to avoid future regrets.

Out of the six children that are moving on, three were good friends to Thing 1. One of these classmates was what I like to call his “classroom wife.” Since day one, they rode the bus together, they were in the same class, they were inseparable, but also fought like an old married couple (hence the wife part). Their last play date is tomorrow. She moves to Peru over the weekend.

Today, I went to the school to help the teachers pull down the many projects that have graced the walls over the year. As I walked in, the children were working on these rubber band puzzles where they stretch rubber bands to create different things. This was the same puzzle that they worked on their first day of kindergarten. I couldn’t help but wonder where the year went.
Lockers and cubbies have been emptied. Projects from the past year fill take home folders. On Friday, all those kindergarteners will walk out of their classrooms and board their buses as incoming first graders until their first “hello” this fall.

As for me, my group of friends has remained largely intact, but that could change at any time. I find it easier to say goodbyes to US friends who I will likely run into in Washington at some point in time. In a way, it’s more like “see you later. “ It is the international community that is more difficult to part with. Culturally, these friends have added so much to my own life that I will truly miss our conversations and exchanges. I can only hope to see them again in the future. Thanks to online communities (for better or worse) keeping in touch is a click away.