Saturday, January 30, 2010

Stars of Avatar

It was freezing but the producer & stars showed up anyhow!

Thursday the 28th we were treated to something special. The producer and stars of Avatar came on base to say hello, sign some autographs and present their movie to approximately 1,000 people who watched the movie on an outdoor screen. It was the coldest night we've had....freezing! The teenagers were going nuts as were most people when Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver & Stephen Lang took the stage. They were very gracious and said some really nice stuff to the service people & us family members. I don't really get excited about movie stars. To be honest, I had no idea who they were. I could have walked right past them and not known who they were. I haven't seen the movie yet. There was no way I was going to stay outside and watch it while freezing! Scott & I want to go see it in 3D anyhow. It was nice to mingle with some friends for a while. I had Benny with me & he got a lot of attention. I don't know why no one ever takes me up on the offer to loan them Benny for a day or two. They just kinda laugh and move along. My friend and neighbor, Gael, who has taken Benny a few times is going back to the states for two months. She and her husband had a Lab that looked just like Benny so they love having him over, even though he always steals one of their tennis balls! We'll miss having her nearby, but plan to use her babysitting services again when she gets back.


This week was a fairly stress-free one. Poor Scott caught my cold. It hit him a lot harder than it hit me. I think that's partly due to him traveling. I always catch a cold when I fly. All those people that just sneeze into the open air instead of into the bend of their elbow or a tissue. I have every one of my students sneezing into their elbow bend now. They are so proud of themselves when they remember to do it. Now, to just conquer the nose picking. My strategy to combat this bad habit has been public humiliation. It seems to be working nicely!


A bit of exciting news is that we hired a maid to come every afternoon for two-hours to help me keep this place clean. It's hard to explain, but the amount of dirt & sand that comes into the house daily is overwhelming. Add to that all the black dog hair and the white floors look horrible. The house just gets dirty on its own. I can't keep up now that I'm working full time. I'd come home and start working here for a few hours, pick up Scott, eat dinner, go to bed & start the whole process over again the next day. She seems like a nice lady. Her name is, Mary & she's from the Philipines. I'm trying to get used to her constantly calling me, Madame. I'm not so comfortable with that. We often see maids out with the families they work for. They do everything & are not treated so well. In restaurants, nannies stand around and feed the kids while the parents are eating their meals. The whole thing makes me uncomfortable. I always wonder what they're thinking. The kids usually treat them like crap, too! Well, we will be very nice to Mary & Benny is excited to have an afternoon visitor & friend. Kasim will still come on Saturdays. He really just moves the dirt around to a new location. I always clean after him. I'm looking forward to having a few hours when I get home to work out and do what I need to do.


Something I've found very interesting here is that the produce sold in supermarkets is not grown locally. They are all imported form Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. So, I might eat a yam from Egypt, zucchini from Australia & grapes form New Zealand. You'll be happy to know it tastes just like ours! Even meat is from New Zealand, India or Pakistan. I buy the New Zealand meat. It just seems like it would be safer than meat from India or Pakistan. I could be totally wrong, but we haven't been disappointed yet. Most frozen foods are European or from Saudi Arabia. The array of chicken nuggets they have is like nothing I've ever seen. I guess they really like their chicken nuggets here. We don't eat that stuff so I can't report on them, unfortunately!


Work is going well. I'm not yelling as much. The kids, for the most part, are great. They were so jealous when I told them I was going to see the stars from Avatar. They LOVE that movie. It's all they talk about. I told them that if they have good behavior when we get back to school, I would show them the pictures. One girl raised her hand and asked me if Hannah Montana would be coming next. I thought that was cute. I've never watched that show. My students in Memphis loved her and the show. All the girls here have Hannah Montana backpacks & lunch bags. You never know. She may just show up one day! If so, I'll be there with my camera.


Benny's doing all right. He seems a little bored. Out of guilt, I buy him toys whenever I find any. It's nearly impossible to find dog toys, food & treats here. I order most stuff on-line. So, one day I found this little plastic elephant toy for "little" dogs. It was made out of hard plastic, so I figured why not give it a try. He loves that thing. He carries it around all over the place with him. When he goes upstairs to bed, he grabs it to take along. He's so cute. I'm so proud of him for not destroying it yet. We will see how long it lasts. He has destroyed things, out of the blue, in the past. I always seem to step on whatever it is he destroys.


We start month four next week. I just can't believe it. It seems like we've been here for so long. Boy, is time flying! Stay well!!!!!














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