On Chicago

I realized that although I've spent nearly my entire life in the greater Chicago area, I wasn't really a Chicagoan until about six months ago, when I moved back to the city. I say "back" since I was actually born in Chicago proper. My experience growing up was radically suburban. Although surburbia has its charm, I much prefer the city, considering our close proximity to everything. I never realized how exciting riding a bus could be for children. Each weekend we ride the CTA to one of the city museums. Invariably we take one of the "accordian" buses and
Susu always insists on sitting in the dead center. Whenever Suraya sees a CTA, she points and exlaims "Bus, Bus!." This past Saturday we visited the Aquarium. While the dolphin show was quite lame (don't be expecting SeaWorld), some of the exhibits, in particular, the lizards, were breathtaking (there was one with a blue tongue!). City living is also great for the kids. There are tons of things to do each weekend--festivals, kid's concerts, art festivals, etc.



Lizards at the Aquarium


S and S on the Museum Campus





Last Saturday, we were graciously invited to friend's graduation party. This was probably one of the best parties we've attended. They rented out an entire swimming pool/waterslide park. The girls had a great time. We stayed in the water from start to finish (both refused to eat).




Yesterday Susu had her graduation from Qur'an school for which I curled her hair. She wasn't in the mood for posing, but I snapped a few anyway:



Finally, our scheduled move date is September 15th, just two weeks after our leases expire. Construction is ongoing. Perfect timing, eh? Not. Anyway, we hope that they can push the close back two weeks, or we'll be out on the street with our furniture (not really, these developers have rental properties in the area, but what a pain to move twice). Here is the progress:





On the academic front, school is just about over. My projects for the summer include reworking a paper that has some future potential (so I hope), co-translating 'Abd al-Razzaq, and finally, working on my proposal (aiming for June, 2007). Summer travel is unclear, but so far it looks like trips to UAE and Minnesota are strong possibilities.