Time's a Flyin

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you made special memories this year. Scott & I had a very nice & different Christmas this year. We spent Christmas Eve at our friends Gael & Vince's home. There were about 60 of us! Vince made delicious gumbo & we pigged out. After Gael & Vince's celebration, we went to a candle-light vigil service at the chapel. As we entered the chapel there were two female greeters. One was a younger Asian lady & the other was an older German lady. They both greeted & welcomed us and then the German lady started telling us to go on to germandeli.com to buy excellent German food, especially the schnitzel. This was so random. Scott & I just stood there & the other greeter was shaking her head. What was hilarious was that we heard her telling more people about it. We think she had a little too much egg-nog before church. It was really funny & just so "out there." The first reading was done by a little girl, about 9-years old. I was excited because I always love it when kids participate. As she started reading, I couldn't believe my ears. She had one of the worst lisps I've heard in a long time. I wanted to run up there & cue her to keep that tongue in her mouth. Aside from the lisp she did a great job with her reading. We really like the Chaplain. The service was very nicely done & the choir was great, as were a few solos. After church, we came home & ate our Christmas meal. I made a lamb roast, potatoes, peas and yogurt sauce. It was absolutely delicious! I used my mom's lamb recipe so it couldn't have been bad even if I tried. We called our families to wish them a Merry Christmas and then went on to open our gifts. Apparently Scott & I were nice this year because we received some really nice gifts! Benny was a pretty good boy this year. He made out with a new snowman ball in his stocking. He loved it, but then again, he loves any ball we give him!

On Christmas day, we took Benny on a nice morning walk. Scott and I then went to the Gulf Hotel for a buffet brunch. It was amazing. The food was so delicious, the decorations were beautiful & the entertainment was entertaining. It was an eclectic group of people. We were surrounded by many Brits and Bahrainis. There weren't very many Americans, surprisingly. Anyhow, the food included classic middle eastern food, Thai food, Indian food, American food, & a fresh seafood buffet where you hand pick your fish and tell the cooks how you want it prepared. They then bring it out to you to eat. The breads & salads were amazing as were the desserts. I must admit that we both went overboard. It's hard not to go overboard at a buffet. I felt so gross the rest of the day that I couldn't eat dinner. The thought of it grossed me out. Scott on the other hand, had some leftover lamb. I don't know how he does it! He's so darn skinny. It drives me crazy! I weighed my self this morning & I am happy to report that I weigh the same as I did yesterday. This is good news! I bought The Biggest Loser for wii. It is literally kicking my butt! That Jillian is a real drill sargent! I will have to step it up the next week or two. There's still all the eating on New Year's Eve...ugh!

Other than a rainy Christmas Eve, the weather has been ideal. I feel like I'm in LA right now. Breezy, sunny days in the low to mid 70's. Can't get better than that. It is supposed to start cooling off into the 40's in January & February. We'll see if that happens. I'd like to wear some of the scarves I've been knitting. I'd also like to wear some sweaters & boots. Scott & I went to do some after Christmas shopping this morning. There were no sales at the mall. Oh well! We went grocery shopping instead. Today and tomorrow are days of mourning here in Bahrain. We were specifically warned to avoid certain areas due to demonstrations. Odds are very low that anything would happen, but it is better to be safe than sorry. As long as the weather cooperates, we will Take Benny to the beach tomorrow. We really like just hanging out at the beach & Benny loves playing fetch & splashing in the water.

It's hard to believe that 2009 is pretty much over. Time is really flying by. Scott & I know that every day together is a blessing. We hope that 2010 will bring all of our family and friends good health, safe days and tons of love!

p.s. I know the pictures look like they are randomly placed & that there aren't many paragraphs. All I can say is that before I publish the posting it looks perfect. Oh well. I'm just shocked I am able to write a blog at all.

Everything Old is New Again

All of our "stuff" arrived last Saturday. It was such a relief to see my things again. It was also an overwhelming feeling. Where would I put everything? Why did I bring that? How am I (Scott) going to get this to work over here? It's taken a full week but everything has its place. Many things were re-packed & put in our storage room on the roof. As I was unpacking my clothes & shoes and was trying to find a place for everything, I realized just how much stuff I have. Now, before leaving that horrible place....Memphis.....I gave away all the stuff I no longer wore. I gave away quite a bit. I only brought to Bahrain the clothes that I actually still wear. I will no longer complain that I have nothing to wear. I have enough stuff to last me forever. The funny thing is that as I was putting a lot of the stuff away, I was so excited to see it again, it was as if it was brand new. Our home feels like a home now. It's warm & cozy!! I just baked my first batch of cookies yesterday. We are eagerly awaiting visitors....we have a couple friends coming in January but would love others to come whenever you can.

Scott left for Virginia the evening of our stuff being delivered. That left me to unpack 90% of the stuff (the other 10% was his). It was a strange feeling being alone in a foreign country. Fortunately, we have many friends here who would help me if necessary & I speak the language. The unpacking & organizing kept me very busy & left me exhausted. I also kept busy a couple of days by volunteering. We stuffed a couple thousand stockings for the single troops. We'll be secretly delivering them late Christmas Eve so that when the young men & women wake-up Christmas morning they'll find a stocking at their door. It was a lot of fun & there was a huge turn-out of volunteers. This will be my very first Christmas away from my family on Christmas. Keeping busy has kept my mind off of this fact. Scott & I will be going to some friends on Christmas Eve & then will be going to brunch at the Gulf Hotel on Christmas day. We feel very lucky to have made a reservation last month for brunch. It's been sold out for a while. I'm definitely looking forward to the food!!!!! We will really miss the food we've been devouring here when we leave. We're always on the look-out for a new place. Our favorites seem to be the little hole-in-the-walls. Such authenticly good food and the people are so happy to have us there as their guests.

It has been raining like crazy over here, which is unusual. The roads are not built to withstand so much water. They do not have a drainage system, so the water just accumulates. You would think that the flooded streets would calm people's driving. Nope. They drive like maniacs in the rain as well. I got splashed so hard driving the other day that I thought I was driving through a muddy car wash. Our car just had mud caked on it. All over. Everytime I would get into and out of the car I would get filthy. The final forcasted rain for the forseeable future was yesterday. What a relief. I've been mopping up muddy foot prints for almost two weeks now. I'm definitely over it!!! Kasim has been on my case since we got the car to wash it. It didn't need it before, but now it needed to be washed. So, he came this morning at 7am to wash the car. He showed up with his own shammy & that was it. He went and retrieved the bucket he uses around our house & the hose and started his washing. It was pretty comical. The water pressure from the hose is just a little more than a trickle. The poor guy spent an hour trying to get enough water to get all that mud off. Finally, he filled the bucket & would throw the water at the car. I stopped watching after a while. In the end, the car looked great. I don't know how he did it but he cleaned that thing really well. He charged 3 Bahraini Dinars ($8.00 US). A little steep but it was nice to have the car washed. The real business here is in car washing. People ring our bell weekly asking to wash the car. Everyday as I drive around I see car washers washing cars. Store parking lots are full of men waiting to wash your car. I guess a clean car is a priority for the Bahrainis.

Scott's picture made the front cover of the Bahraini Desert Times. It's a picture of him putting gravy on someone's mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving Day when we volunteered. I'm standing next to him....I served the guy his mashed potatoes, but you can't see me at all because I'm so darn short. Scott covers me up completely! Oh well!!! They only put one picture from that day in the paper so I was so excited Scotty was in it! He's such a good guy. Benny & I sure missed him while he was gone. Benny more than me I think. He was in a depression the majority of the time. He can be VERY dramatic which really gets on my nerves. To see him when he's in a funk you would think we treat him like crap. The reality is that he lives the life of a prince. I'm learning to just ignore him.

I want to wish all my Hannukkah celebrating friends a Happy Hannukkah!!!

To my family and friends celebrating Christmas, Merry Christmas from Scott, Benny & myself!!! We miss you!

Lights, Camels, (Road) Action!

Christmas is alive and kicking in Bahrain, to our pleasant surprise. Living in a Muslim country one does not expect to see or hear much about Christmas. I assumed I would miss out on most Christmas traditions I'm so used to. Not the case!! While shopping at the mall today, Christmas carols were playing continuously and decorations were up. Tuesday night we attended the Christmas tree lighting celebration on Base which included an adult & children's choir and a live nativity. I think I was just as excited as all the kids to see the camel parade in. When the snow fell I thought I would faint! It was great to celebrate with friends on a very cool and lovely night. We're not putting up any decorations, just Benny's stocking.

An exciting bit of news........our car finally arrived! We are so excited to have the freedom to go where we want in our own clean car. A man named, Ali, picked Scott up on Wednesday at about 2pm to run him around the city to get all the paperwork in order for us to get the car. Scott came back after 6pm with the car but all the paperwork was not done. Ali picked the car up Thursday morning and finished all the paperwork for us. Scott cracks me up! When describing Ali, he tells me, "He reminds me of your dad if he were on speed." Ali zoomed him all over like a maniac, cut in front of the lines at the DMV (which is computer-less), yelled at people and bought Scott snacks and mango juice. Scott said he couldn't possibly describe the experience to me. I had to be there to understand. I think I have an idea, though! When Ali brought the car back on Thursday, I walked to a parking lot to meet him. He was a clean cut, gray haired, 40% toothless, nice guy. He kept referring to himself as my father which I later realized was because Scott told him my dad was Lebanese. He kept telling me he was by baba Ali. When I gave him a tip for all he did for us, he clutched his heart and almost fainted. Very dramatic and might I add very humorous. As soon as Benny saw the Jeep he ran to the back door which opens up to his riding area. Poor guy thought I was going to take him to doggy daycare. He was so happy the first time we took him for a ride. Poor guy!

I'm lucky because my house maid, Kasim loves to gossip. He came over Monday to clean and he spent the first 15-minutes giving me the gossip on everything he thought I'd be interested in. I enjoyed every bit of it. Scott isn't always interested in my bits of information, but Kasim will give me his ear easily. The pool guy cracks me up. He is terrified of Benny and won't step foot through the front gate until I hold him like 20-feet from him. The pool guy is from India and even though he is afraid of Benny, he stands there forever saying, "Hi Beddy. You are a good boy, Beddy." The entire time he is speaking, his head sways from side to side. Benny, of course, just wants him to throw the darn ball. He is ball obsessed. It really can be too much.


Scott leaves for Virginia next week (boo hoo!!!). Benny and I will have to survive over here without him for almost a week. The bad news is that he will be gone. The good news is that he is going to bring back all the things we haven't been able to find here and just can't live without, such as corn tortillas and pirate's booty. I was going to go see my cousin Jean-Paul and his family in Dubai during that time but he will be in Cairo for most of the time I could go and our stuff is "supposed" to arrive during that week. I say "supposed" because I learned the hard way with the car. According to what we were told, we should have had the car over two weeks ago.

The weather here went from boiling hot to cool over night. All of my winter clothes and more importantly my winter shoes are packed away and on a ship somewhere. I can't wait to get my stuff. I have been living in the same clothes I brought with me when we arrived in early October. I only have sandals & flip-flops. Luckily, I packed one pair of Roxy's but they don't go with all my clothes. I just really want my stuff!

I'm reading Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. I love her books. She also wrote Snowflower & the Secret Fan. This is another good one. We love Amazon. They get us our order within a week. Also, I ordered a pair of shoes from zappos.com (my favorite shoe website) and they arrived in about 5-days! In the states they get your shoes to you the next day, but I did not expect to get them in less than a week over here. I LOVE zappos!

Until next week......stay well!