Too Courageous To Be Met With

Posted by Kanga.

Hello Kitty and Spaz Cat? or Winky Cat?

Snoopy and Random Duck?

Alacrity? “Brisk and cheerful readiness.” I guess it fits.

We find that they are putting “Angry Birds” on everything, whether relevant or not. “Welcome to my little world. Let’s play together.”

“Train Energy Powerful: Too courageous to be met with”

Serving spoon, anyone?

Ride the Emu Train

Posted by Kanga.

Get aboard the Emu Train. It goes lickety split.

These knock-off Barbies seem to be having costume malfunctions.

For some unknown reason, the store had oodles of smurfs (and angry birds).

Including MacSmurf.

And if ceramic smurfs aren’t enough, there are pictures to hang on your wall.

Plenty to choose from. There were also two poor employees in smurf suits out in the parking lot. In this heat, the thing you don’t want to be wearing is a blue furry suit and a big head.

These are the best doll chairs ever!

I dream of Jeanie…

Say Almost Anything

Posted by Kanga.

I have been looking (desperately) for card and board games to use with my students. The toy stores carry the usual suspects – Monopoly, Scrabble, and Uno – but these don’t fit what I need. I’m looking for games that will make reading fun, so that the students won’t realize that they are learning. The games have to be simple enough to learn in one sitting without being boring once learned. It’s a tall order in a country that doesn’t (yet) have a real game store. [Hint to any budding entrepreneurs reading this, there are many potential customers for a REAL game store here. We do not need more cupcakes or t-shirts. Bring us card and board games, please.]

I have to resort to shopping while out of country. In Singapore, I found a small game store and purchased two items. One is a board game called Say Anything.

In case you are not familiar with this game, it involves prompt questions to which the players write answers. This is golden, because it involves reading and writing. Once I cracked it open and read the questions, however, I discovered it to be very American and in need of some adjustment for my target audience.

So, to make this game culturally/age appropriate, here are the questions I deleted. (My students are Muslim, male, age 13-18.)

• What’s the best thing about being a woman? What’s the worst thing about being a woman? and What’s the most annoying thing about being a woman?
• What’s the worst place for a date? What is the best date movie? What would be the most inappropriate thing to say on a first date? If you could go on a date with anyone, who would it be? What’s the best activity for a first date? What’s the most underrated place for a date? What’s the ideal romantic evening? What’s the most romantic movie of all time? What’s the cheesiest pickup line ever? (Dating, in the western sense is not done. Marriages are arranged as a family affair.)
• What was the best 60′s band? 70′s band? 80′s band? (These boys were born in the late 90′s and I doubt that their parents grew up listening to the Beatles.)
• What should my gravestone say? (Muslim Arab graves are marked only to indicate that it is grave. There are no gravestones engraved with names, dates, and tributes. Visiting graves is rare, usually only at the time of burial.)
• What’s the best song for a wedding dance? What song is most likely to pack the dance floor? What dance would you most want to be good at? (Weddings and dances are very different from Western culture. Both weddings and dancing are done separating the sexes.)
• If you could be the opposite gender for a day, what would you do?
• What would be the worst thing to scream during church? (They don’t attend church.)
• What would be the weirdest secret to hear about your mother?
• What’s the best beer? What’s the best drinking game? (Alcohol is forbidden.)
• What’s the grossest thing to kiss? (First, I’m not even sure why this is in the game to begin with. Kissing is not to be done casually or out of wedlock.)
• What’s the worst thing to say to a cop after getting pulled over? (This rarely happens here. Most traffic monitoring and ticketing is done by camera.)
• Your parents are out of town. What happens at the party? (This is definitely an American thing. I doubt parents travel and leave their teens at home.)
• What’s the most romantic place for a honeymoon? (Honeymoon is a Western tradition, but it is sometimes done. However, this is not an age appropriate topic.)
• What’s the best way to impress a woman?
• What would Jesus do? (This is my personal favorite.)

The following I left in.

• What’s the best way to pamper yourself? (I’m not sure the word “pamper” is in their vocabulary.)
• What’s the best musical of all time?
• What’s the tastiest pie flavor? (Pies are not common here.)
• Who’s the best R&B musical group? (Will they know R&B? If it said Rap or Hip-Hop, they would have an opinion.)
• Who’s the best character on The Simpsons? (Simpsons actually airs here.)
• What’s the best way to spend a day off when playing hooky? (They know the concept of hooky, but I’m not sure they know that word.)
• Who should just shut up? (This could be interesting or chaotic.)
• Who’s the best character from Sesame Street or the Muppets? (I don’t know if Sesame Street is known here, but the Muppets should be.)
• I just got to Las Vegas. What’s first thing I do? (This one might be tricky.)

Some needed modification.

• What’s the sexiest personality trait for a woman/man? – changed that to “best”
• What’s the best present to get for a significant other? – changed that to “loved one” (mother, father, sister, brother, etc.)

Jigsaw Puzzle Cat

Posted by Kanga.

As I am on vacation, I decided to do a puzzle. Oliver, of course, decided to help. He wasn’t crazy about the fact that I wouldn’t let him chew the puzzle pieces.

It always comes down to the sky pieces, doesn’t it?

Oliver is being very helpful by holding down the puzzle box. Boxes have a powerful cat gravity.

Then he decided to be unhelpful.

But, I finished in spite of his help.

Grocery Store Discoveries

Posted by Kanga.

Rocky Road Ice Cream – and there was the sound of angels singing…

Fudgee Bars, which come in “vanilla jolt,” “mocha rage,” “milky craze,” and “durian delight” flavors. The size and packaging led us to wonder if these were like Twinkies, but no, they are not that squishy or lacking in nutrition. Cupp Keyk takes brand misspelling to a new height. Kat Kat Tat doesn’t sound very appetizing to me.

Quaker seems to have thought of everything. Oats to put in your rice, because not just any ol’ oats will do.

Discoveries at other stores:

Pega-bunny jumps over the moon!

These kinds of things always stick out like sore thumbs to us. Apparently, no one is concerned about sexualized toilet plungers.

Joys of Shopping

Posted by Kanga.

The joys of discount store shopping in Fujairah match those of doing it in Dubai. Here’s a few highlights from today’s adventure.

First, some quite realistic looking toy handguns and plastic rifles. I’m fairly sure that these have been eradicated from American store shelves.

Not far away are the Barbie wannabes. There were some brunettes in the bunch, but they were all fair of complexion.

This “one piece mug” apparently comes with two pieces – mug and spoon.

If you wondered where all those summer camp popsickle stick craft projects went, here they are.

Do these remind you of any well known detergent brand? Maybe it wouldn’t be so obvious if they weren’t displayed side by side.

Amusing Duck and Friend

Posted by Kanga.

It’s been a long time since my last toy video. This should make up for it.

Lucky man

Daddybird, being a very lucky man married to a woman who knows where to shop and what to buy, got this for Christmas. And, as you can see, the castle is sometimes under the attack of a dragon.The dragons are now forbidden to get up on the table, but is it a hard lesson to learn. They do like to chew on the trees.

The castle is foam with interlocking pieces. Pretty cool toy. Of course, he wants another set so he can combine and make a bigger castle. Hmm… it’s already taking over my sewing table.

Chicken and Lion

It’s time for another episode of weird toys. Interest Chicken, who ends up being not very interesting, and a lion with a bunny in his mouth.

Toy – Monopoly

The store downstairs had two cheap versions of Monopoly, so we bought them and here is what you get for $1.62 or $2.72.