Birthday Soup: A Labor of Love

An old family friend called to wish me a happy birthday.  She asked, "What kind of cake will you have?"

And I said, "Well, I really love soup."

I could get all metaphorical and say that I love how it represents making something from nothing to warm the bellies (and hearts) of many, but I won't go there. Instead I'll say that I simply love soup because it is hot and delicious.  Plus, there's an endless number of souper puns to dish out.

For my birthday this year, I celebrated with many soups.

Soup No. 1: Hot Pot
Hot pot is like the story of stone soup come to life. I'll boil some cabbage and shrimp skins, you bring some mushrooms, we'll add some meat, and voilà! We have soup and we made it together! Don't forget the fish balls.

I don't have a picture of hot pot, so here's a picture of a fantastic birthday gift,
"Everybody Poops" in its original Japanese form. 

Soup No. 2: Pho Sho
Melodie asked what I wanted for my birthday. I said soup. So she boiled me an amazing pot of pho for 2 days, and on day 2 we feasted. It was gone instantly. We will be making this again. 

The Soup that Keeps On Souping
And then Melodie gave me the pinnacle soup gift of all, a Le Creuset enamel coated cast iron pot! This will be host to many a delicious soup I'm sure, the perfect good omen for a fantastic 27th year.  

It was a lovely birthday, truly un-pho-gettable.

AT in UAE: Lexicon Meets Vernacular

Everyone speaks English in the UAE. But similar to Singapore, I'm not sure everyone speaks the same language.

On top of that, I am less familiar with local names for things, so my context clues are off. So far I have learned that souk means market, and that the first letter of the Arabic alphabet looks like an exclamation point. That's how they get kids excited to learn.

Most of the time, this is fine. If it's a personal story, I just smile and say, "That's funny," or whatever star word adjective comes to mind first. If it's for work, then I listen until I can find a phrase to repeat back for comprehension. Or I pretend my hearing is really bad.

What's tricky is when there's a question that requires an actual answer. My colleague asked me, "Do you like gold souk?" 

I immediately responded with a heartfelt "Yes!" because I heard, "Do you like goat soup?" and I do love soup.

But after he talked for a little longer, I realized what he meant and there was no way to politely turn down his offer to take me to the souk because I thought he actually meant a pot of boiled things.

We saw the souk.  Coincidentally, we also had soup.

Gold Souk Goat Soup