Some beautiful Art: a visit to Silsal

Next week my really good Danish friend is heading home to the cold, home to Denmark for good with Bibs' best friend. We (the mums from our baby group) wanted her to have something spacial and Jordanian to take with her, so she doesn't forget us that fast. Upon recommendation I went to Silsal. It is such a surprising place, with the most tasteful and modern ceramics. It is nested between the 4th and 5th circles.

You will find everything there and for most budgets as well (don't be fooled by the prices you see on their web page). Beautiful vases, salad bowls, lamps, coffee sets - they even have a Christmas collection.

If you are looking for a little something (or a bigger something) to decorate your home in Amman or for a gift to bring back "home" this is really a place in Amman to consider going.

My salad bowl... I love it!

This is my first buy at Silsal and definitely not the last. I absolutely adore this shop. I read in their small leaflet that you can also see the "atelier",will do that when I go without Bibs. She thinks this place is a bit too interesting.

Unfinished posts & holidays

For the past week I have started several posts and for some reason, I haven't been satisfied or I haven't been able to finish them. I think it has something to do with Bibs' sleep pattern. A few weeks ago she got sick (she is much better now), but it has completely disrupted her sleep and I am up again between 2 or 3 times a night to nurse and it is not what had become the usual 5 minutes but we are back to 15min. So, I am tired. No, I am exhausted. Specially now that the days are over where she would just sit a play a bit in her playpen. She is now crawling all over the place. So a tired mummy I am. Am starting to wonder if my daughter will ever sleep through? Maybe when she is 10?

Anyways.The good news is that we have finally booked our holidays. Bobs can unfortunately only take a week off, so we have decided to go to London and then I will take Bibs to my parents for a couple of weeks. Ah I can't wait, specially because I love to see Bibs & Bobs enjoying eachother, and during the week they don't get that much time together. Bibs loves to play with her daddy, they have their special games and she giggles all the time. When we are going to London we will enjoy the English countryside and live in a small village in Buckinghamshire. I am so excited to see my sister and her 3 kids and our friends that we left behind when we moved to Amman. Then of course we will have some proper Chinese food, and Malaysian, and Italian, oh and Indian as well. Shopping. Am going to shop till I drop! Mamas and Papas for Bibs, it's my favorite baby shop. Selfridges, Harrods, Oxford, Bond or Regent Street for us. Did I mention Westfield, the shopping heaven in South East England!? And Bicester, the outlet village close to Oxford, I nearly forgot that. Walks with Bibs on streets with pavements and in parks with trees and shade and water and animals.

These are some views from Green Park in London.

Am sure Bibs is going to enjoy having a talk with the geese, the ducks and the squirrels!

Then Bibs and I will be off on the plane by ourselves to Nice where a very excited Mormor and Morfar (the grandparents) are already waiting. Ouch, scary, just the 2 of us, I am not the big plane fan already, but I'll just have to be a big girl! Bibs has liked it the other times, so I hope that she'll continue. In south of France we'll enjoy the pool everyday, go for walks in the mountains and see old friends that I only see once a year or even less - maybe a day-trip to the sea.

Some views from South of France - the 2 first ones are on the old road to St Tropez and the last the view from my bedroom in my parents house

27 days to go and we'll take off and be on our way to London Heathrow! Can't wait...

a thought about expat life

Everyday I am learning a bit more about expat life. Most of the time it's good stuff, but the occasional difficult thing comes up as well... I have found, I guess, The Thing I don't like about this lifestyle.

By the end of the summer, I will have lost 3 friends that I have met since we arrived to Amman! If I am loosing friends, it means that Bibs is loosing her friends as well... And that gets me wondering how it will be for her when she grows up. I am used to it, usual it's me leaving though, but how will Bibs react when she grows older? Seeing her friends come and go again? Will it make it easier for her to meet new people, a more sociable person? Or on the contrary will she get shy and fed up because she has to make efforts every time? Will she become restless and a globe trotter? or will she find a small village somewhere where she'll stay because she has done enough travelling and she wants stability?

I guess all this depends on the character, but I do wonder... Of course today with all the social networks it is easier to stay in touch with people: Facebook, MSN, Twitter, Skype... All this makes it so much easier to follow people around, know where they are, what they are doing, keep the contact so that friendships don't just disappear. I am back in touch with many people I had lost contact with because of these networks. When I was kid we had to exchange addresses and write letters. You do it a couple of times if you are motivated, and then you stop because there are other things to do...

One of the good things with this lifestyle, is that Bibs will know people from everywhere, and I hope that she'll grow up to be tolerant and curious about the world. I also hope that she won't be too angry at us when we will be going from one country to another! Is it selfish from our part to "oblige" our daughter to follow our lifestyle? Well well... so many questions and they will only be answered in many years! Until then I'll just have to do my best.

Well, well anyways. Tomorrow we are off to the Hot Springs in Ma'In, you can read about last time we were there here. Going to enjoy a nice massage and this time I have the backpack for Bibs and my walking shoes! So I hope I'll bring back some new stunning pictures.