You’d think by now we’d be feeling settled, but we’re not. Everything still feels odd and different. Jay has settled into school. He seems to thoroughly enjoy Ms Helen’s Reading and Math Enrichment program, but he doesn’t seem so keen on “Afternoon School” at the Main Camp. This entails catching the bus to and from the house with his friend Saskia. I’m not sure what the issue is, but he tells me “It’s poison and I don’t love the teachers.” A bit like his reaction to his dinner last night which consisted of grated carrot, raisins, chocolate milk, refried beans, celery sticks and wedges of apple. “It’s poison, I can’t eat it.” head shaking from side to side and body flailing around the room. The plate looked like a face and Rex said how lovely it looked and how delicious it all was and Jay carried on as if it was rat poison and going to be his last meal. No dinner was consumed. He was taken out for a date lunch to the Golf Club which has really good quality chicken strips and french fries and he managed to choke down a couple of strips of chicken. It will look familiar on the plate tonight.
I still feel as if I’m living in the Bermuda Triangle of time, even with a maid 3 mornings a week, the days vaporize on me. Just what exactly I do with my time I’m not certain, but this I do know - I have to lift my game and get to the gym. I keep waiting for the weather to cool, to walk outside, but that surely isn’t happening. Water aerobics starts tomorrow at 1pm, I’ll see how I go with that for a change....... I do walk around in gym gear so I feel as if I’m exercising - hysterical don’t you think. Still too hot for tennis, at least I don’t think I can run around in 105F temperatures at 8.30am, I want to live a little longer.
We had two nights in Bahrain the weekend before last. The hotel was fine, the restaurants were lovely and the food fabulous. The only gripe was that a US ship was in port and there was naval leave, so you can only imagine, no you can’t, yes you can, the poolside area with about 50 members of the US navy and their families relaxing and catching up. I don’t deny them their time off, but I did feel compromised and that the 4* hotel had lost a bit of its glamour, shall we say.
We were there primarily to attend a Chaine dinner at the Tian Asian Cuisine restaurant. It was a fabulous evening and we had a great time. Jay had a sitter at the hotel and was fast asleep when we returned. It was a long night for us, starting at 8pm and returning home to the hotel at 1am. We were exhausted the next day. We met friends at the Dilmah Club for a swim with their son, which we all enjoyed and headed home around 4pm to the hotel for a well earned late afternoon nap. Fortunately, as Jay would say we “made the right choice”. Our original plan had been to go The City Centre Mall and shop for a gown for me for a Chaine event in Riyhad on Oct 5th, but we postphoned that for the next day. Just as well, because at about the time we would have been entering the Mall there was a protest which got out of hand and the Mall was stormed. It is about 1/3rd the size of the Galleria and has equally sumptuous shopping. When we made our way there at 10am the following day, there were road blocks everywhere and we had to pass through several army/police points before we could get anywhere near the Mall. This was serious stuff the police were armed and the Army had tanks out and were carrying AK16s or MK16s - I don’t know but they were real guns! Jay of course was in awe and thought it was so cool. Rex and I kept a low profile did our shopping and scooted back to the hotel as fast as we could. Thankfully our young blonde friend stayed close to us which was a pleasant change and we were all together all the time. Rex was very firm about his little family staying together at all times. To give you an idea, the women working in MaxMara had to turn off the shop lights, lock the glass doors and lock themselves in the changing rooms at the back of the shop on the third level for several hours. They said they were terrified, because they didn’t know what was going on or how long it would go on for. The next Chaine dinner in Bahrain is at the Sofitel at the other end of the island and we’ll just stay there for two nights - no shopping! I’ll get the photos up in a day or two. I’m fine being incarcerated there. In fact, I understand why movie stars and people of great wealth move into hotels and live their lives out in hotel suites, I could do it in a heart beat. We were close to it at the Greenway, we’re now where near it here at Camp Sand!
The gardeners have been busy putting in the landscaping before the grass / plants are installed if you will. Yes, indeed, Versailles in miniature is well underway. There was much talking and shouting and gesticulation in the yard, both back and front the past few days as they put the landscaping in place. I doubt that they have ever done anything like it before and they were totally bamboozled. Can’t wait to get the plants in and growing now that the basics are in place. Of course, in spite of the watering system 4x a day, the challenge will be to keep the plants nourished and watered so they don’t all die off! Perhaps I should get some really high end plastic topiaries sent over and some pink flamingos, oh and a garden gnome or two with fishing lines. Do you think the religious police would let them into the country? I know my husband would probably support confiscation.