Wondering about our days? Well here is an example of one day last week for you to ponder over.
Monday July 25th
5.00am Alarm goes off
5.15am Rex on bike for his morning ride
6.00am Rex getting ready for work
6.30am Wake Jay
7.30am Jay collected for play date till 1.30 / 2pm
7.30am – 8.45am Mop floors, iron, get ready for outing
8.45am Collected by Julie, from Brisbane, Australia (NB: Susie Disley - Looked at a house on Fig Tree Pocket, so she knows the area.)
9.00am – 11.30am Attended a Darhran Women’s Group meeting. About 10 women attended. They are held every Monday, all year long. This was quiet because so many are travelling over the summer. The presentation was on Ramadam and what it means. I actually found it to be very interesting and learnt a lot, some of which I already knew but a lot I did not.
For example during Ramadam, families get up around 3am so that they have had breakfast prior to sunrise at 4am and all food must be consumed before 1st prayer at sun rise. No food / liquid is consumed until sundown after the last prayer around say 9.30pm (in the summer when the days are longer here). Then they literally feast. We can eat and drink in the privacy of our own homes of course. Shopping?? Well, our Commissary is open 24hrs no matter what. Off camp however, shops are open 9.00am – 10.00am opening till about 1pm and then re-open around 9pm – 1am. The sales are in full swing. Somehow I just don’t see myself up and shopping in the middle of the night! We may do it once for the experience. Apparently it is like being in a Mall in the US on Christmas Eve.
11.45am I return home.
Fiddle around with washing and pre-preparing dinner.
1.45pm Jay dropped home and visited with Joy for a little while. (To our friends in La Grange, TX, USA – she and her husband have property near RoundTop and she is building a house for their retirement in 10 years time. They have 40 acres with another couple.)
3.30pm Called for a cab and met Rex at the Al Mujahma (sounds like pjama) building which is our main administration buildings. Had to have visa photos taken to replace the 40 of each of us, that the “administration” had misplaced. There was urgency surrounding this. Firstly, we need our multiple visa entry visas before Ramadam beings on August 1st, so we can leave the country, even get to Bahrain, 45mins driving away. Secondly, we had to be on the 5pm bus back home, otherwise the next bus would be 6.40pm. You’re thinking – cab/taxi? Good idea. Just try getting one from one of the three companies during “rush hour” in the heat – difficult at best. We could walk it, but not in this heat!
5.00pm Catch the bus – yeah!!
Have a quite hour at home with a cold iced tea and the boys visit before the dinner rush.
6.00pm Dinner for Jay
6.30pm Dinner for us
7.00pm – 8.00pm Bath time, story reading and bed for Jay
8.05pm Bed time for Mummy and Daddy
9.00pm Lights out, goodnight!