Sunday Brunch at GunsSmoke in Lahore
Goodbye Party at Ali Institute
Our BEEPIN’ Neighbors!
One of the things that drives me crazy is people I call “beepers.” Beepers are too lazy to get out of their cars themselves and ring a doorbell or open a gate. They drive up a house and immediately start beeping. “Beep beep beep beeeeeeep!” Two seconds later (not near enough time for anyone to actually get out of the house and open the gate), “BEEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEP!”
These beepers have no concept of disturbing the peace. At least once every day I am woken up by a beeper. At four in the morning, when even most Pakistanis are sleeping, they seem to beep longer and louder than they do during the day. What a nice alarm clock. “Beep beep beeeep! Beep be beep beep beeeeeeeep!”
They beep in the morning. They beep in the evening. They beep when I am enjoying my dinner .They beep when I am sleeping. They beep when I’m talking on the phone. They beep so loud I can barely hear myself think. This is not a nice little ‘honk honk,’ but a laying on of the horn as if the driver is constantly in an aggravated state.
If you are a Pakistani who gets out of the car to open to your own door, I respect you. Thank you for being considerate and thinking about the sanity and peace of others. Even if you give a missed call to someone, but stay in your car, this is still much appreciated. Beeping is not necessary for doors to open and shut. My gate seems to open just fine without a password of “Beep beep beep beeeep!”
If you are a beeper, you may not think your beeping bothers anyone, but I’m sure you have woken someone up at some point with your incessant honking. If you ever move to a country where disturbing the peace is a crime, you will be faced with steep fines and a lot of angry neighbors. Beeping on the road at dangerous drivers is fine; but beeping in quiet residential neighborhoods is just plain rude.
Fried Chicken Cheese Balls: Wholesome Snacks?
I saw another funny billboard for the new Media institute opening in Defence:
Excited Career Opportunities!
Of course it should have read “Exciting Career Opportunities!” By using ‘excited,’ it makes it seem as if the career opportunities are excited about something. In this way, the ‘opportunities’ are personified and have their own personality.
Why do people spend so much money on advertising and paste it all over town without getting it checked over?
My Three-Year Love Affair with Lahore
This month I wrote a ‘letter to Lahore’ for the Pakistani e-zine The Green Kaleidoscope. It’s a reflection of my last three and a half years here.
Check it out:
Looking for an Upper Portion to Rent in Lahore?
Newly built house with independent entrance; Ideal location facing the park. 3 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms with a spacious living room and kitchen! Large rooms with an open floor plan. All Italian and Spanish fittings, sophisticated layout and contemporary architecture. Spacious master loft suite with luxury closet and modern baths. Available immediately. Must See!
It also has A/C, central heating, remote control main gate, anti-theft boundary wall, Phoenix Security System, central music system, generator, UPS, cable internet, telephone and internet. Wow! Talk about luxury.
To see how much they are asking for the rent or to arrange a visit, contact:
amara.bashir1@gmail.com OR amara.bashir@desconchemicals.com
Email me for her phone number
Ecstatic about Unexpected Study Grants!
We were totally not expecting it, and we had to read the grant letter over and over to believe it! We are so excited, because since I won’t be able to start a degree program until next fall, all the courses I need to take this year we’ll have to pay out of pocket. We were worried about how we’d pay for both of us to go to school full time, since we certainly haven’t saved anything while working in Pakistan.
When we filed our FAFSAs, our incomes were incredibly low based on the US dollar since we’ve been earning in rupees. I think the FAFSA estimated that we could each afford about $345 towards our education fees. I guess the financial aid office took that seriously, and we’re glad they did!
Bible Plagiarizer Confronted
“But miss, I wrote those other poems.”
“I don’t care if you wrote some of the poems, although I don’t believe you did because I didn’t see you write them in the class. Look, here underlined in red, ‘any instance of plagiarism will result in a zero.’ Zero. That’s what you are getting.”
“Miss, miss, can I resubmit? I will email it to you.”
“No. I told you clearly that you must write the poems yourself, and that if you did not, you’d get a zero. If you email me I will not read it.”
You think by now the girl would have some dignity and either confess or give up. She stayed around for 20 minutes begging me to let her re-do the assignment. Two former plagiarizers who had changed their way were also there to witness the scene. They had learned their lessons and handed in excellent work. One of them even earned 97% on her assignment.
I was adamant with the newest plagiarizer.
“Look, would you take verses from your Holy Qur’an, and put your name on them? Would you say that you had written them? This is exactly what you’ve done. You can not steal other people’s work and lie and say that it is yours. This is not acceptable.”
Finally, she gave up. The sad thing is that she’ll surely try it again with other teachers.
Car Air Filters in Pakistan – Change Every 2 Months!
Yikes!
Expat Heather 
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