Five Cultural Observations About Pakistan

1. Most houses in Lahore have a square shape, a flat roof and very large windows that are often covered up with thick outdoor shades called chiks. There is always at least one terrace.
2. Cars and driveways are washed every day.
3. Brooms and mops don’t have a stick. Traditional brooms are a bunch of needles that are tied together with a string. The sweeping is done while squatting. I once bought a mop with a stick for my own use, but the handle was mysteriously broken off. The helper claimed ignorance.
4. Windows have, on the inside, a cage of steel horizontal bars.
5. The ashoka tree is very popular here. In my family we call it the Upside Down Tree because the branches grown downward. Father Sez has a picture and the perfect description: it looks like a folded umbrella. I think people like it because space is limited here, and the tree fits in the smallest of yards.

NaBloPoMo: Past the Midway Point

I’ve made it past the hump without missing a day, but it’s been close.

I have plenty of ideas, but fitting in the time to write has been a challenge sometimes, especially because my concentration suffers when I’m interrupted constantly, as it is bound to happen with a young child.

So far, NaBloPoMo has been good for me. It has made me feel like a thinking adult who has something to say and it has forced me to put my thoughts on paper, as it were.

Living in a foreign country is a lonely experience at times. It’s easy to isolate yourself, and to tell the truth, I don’t have any friends here.

I’m not the kind of person who makes friendships quickly anyway, and I’ve always found it difficult to find people who share my interests and tastes. We’re talking Jane Austen and Charles Dickens here, who don’t mesh well with reality tv and the like, so, as a Hispanic American living in Pakistan, a non-muslim, non-religious, stay-at-home mother who likes to read and bake, let’s just say I’m not a sought-after friend.

I’m pretty happy in my own company though, and the things I like are solitary pursuits anyway, but “a change of scene and society” as my dear Lizzy says in P&P2, would not be unwelcome once in a while. In my case, the internet is a “most precious treasure” that I would not give up for anything. I don’t know if I could live in Pakistan without it.

I’m thinking I will make it to the end of the month. It’s 19 Down, 11 to Go.

Wordless Wednesday

Seen on the Street

Neon sign over a take out barbecue restaurant in Lahore:

Peppers

Takeawaytaurant

5 Things I’ve Done as an Expat

That I would probably never have done at home:

1. I’ve had threading done on my eyebrows. Hair is removed with a string that is held taut and pulled over the skin. It hurts. A lot.
2. I have used a squat toilet.
3. I am used to driving in traffic without rules.
4. I have eaten a cow’s tongue for dinner.
5. I have bought meat from a chicken that was slaughtered in front of my eyes.

Postcard from Pakistan No.3

People in Lahore decorate their houses with lights and flowers when there’s a wedding in their family. This one, a few blocks from our house, is done with colors, in the new style.