Week 10.....seems much longer that that but it also feels like time is flying by.
Lore made me smile this morning. She clocked on at 10am, no-one booked in for her first class so she goes back to the accommodation to shave her legs. No-one for her second class at 11am so she paints her toe nails. I am almost expecting her to announce she is going for a wash cut and blow dry at 12pm. She is taking a weeks holiday and she has had to jump through hoops to get it (unpaid of course). She has been here since September and had no time off except her one day off a week. Holidays are not encouraged, we are only meant to take the one month when the spa closes in August. Lore has had to pay 900 riyals to get 2 exit visas as she plans to go again for a few days to visit a friend in Bahrain. You cannot leave this country if you don't have an exit visa. Anyway, Lore is off to Egypt with a man she has only met once for a few hours face to face. He is originally from Syria and now living and working in Damman. To say that this sort of stuff is not allowed for Muslims is a bit of a joke really, they find ways round it!!! For example, you go to the shopping malls and leave your blue tooth on so the opposite sex can connect to your phone, boys drive around in cars at night holding a laminated A4 sheet of paper with their phone number against the window and then drive alongside taxis with girls in (I've had this happen a few times). Boys display their blackberry pin in the back window of their expensive car that dad has brought them and of course their are loads of social media sites......that is the ones that the mutawa haven't blocked.
Anyway Lore met this guy through a social media site and speaks to him via Skype, WhatsApp and other message options because he doesn't live close by. The only way they can get to know each other and decide if they want to be with each other is to get a room. I worry for her as there are some crazy people in this world but she seems happy to take the risk, so hopefully she will return next week much happier.
May tells me something this week that she has been keeping inside all week (we have grown very close and I trust her completely) I knew there was something wrong with her last Tuesday but she said she didn't want to talk and I respected that. Anyway, she decides to tell me that she has sorted it and as I listen to her story of what had happened my respect and admiration for her grew. She is such a genuine person who just wants everyone to be happy. Kedi looks a little low today, she also has stuff going on with an ex and Valentina looks tired and ready to go home to see her family but only days like this we all try to lift each other and make each other smile.
Hannah text me today to say that she had found a part-time job!!!! relief, I might be able to save a few pounds now and also she told me that her dad (Paul) had managed to find her a nice little first car (her birthday present) so all she needs now is to pass her test and then there will be no stopping her.....my second baby is all grown up. Charlotte sends me regular texts to check I am still ok and also gives me an update on her weight loss. She is trying to get that flat stomach.....aren't we all??? but I am glad she is motivated and whatever she is doing is working. I only had 2 children, I started off wanting 4 but soon changed my mind. The average number of children for Saudis 10 years ago was six to eight but now they are down to an average of 3.....you wouldn't think it because whenever you go to the Malls there are children running and screaming everywhere....they don't know how to control them. The other night when we were out we noticed a pick up style truck with the rear window open (bear in mind this is a road with 4 lanes and everyone driving like a lunatic) out of this window there are 5 children just hanging out!!!! none must have been over 7 years old I couldn't believe it and he must have been doing around 60 miles per hour. Also this week I found a store close by that sells supplements so my mission for this week is to stock up on miracle cures and anything that says hormones on the bottle.
My bed broke this week and no I didn't gain weight and no I've not been jumping up and down on it. A few screws had come lose that hold the lats so it meant that they were just hanging near the floor and nothing was holding the mattress. The events which happen next are true......I go to see Maria and ask if they have a screwdriver so that I can fix the bed. This is what happened next.....she calls a cleaner (with no bucket and towel) to go with me to look at said bed. The cleaner then reports back to Maria and tells her that a screw has come loose. Then they call for Dindo!!! so Dindo, the cleaner and I head back to my room to look at said bed and he establishes that there is a screw loose. He then sends the cleaner to locate a screwdriver to fix said bed....and then he fixes the bed whilst the cleaner and I sit eating dates and watching him, all is well. It just reminded me of how many men does it take to change a light bulb.
8pm the same evening we have a power cut. It just appeared to be the spa and our accommodation that had gone off, the rest of the street looked ok. Anyway we make sure that all the clients are safe as it is dark here by 7pm and then we just sit and wait....if the water situation is anything to go by I think we could be here for a while. I don't finish work until 9pm anyway so we just sit outside the spa. cleaners, therapists from the spa, receptionists, instructors. It sounds so funny to hear four or five different languages talking about the powercut. New words learnt tonight...Crazy and what's happened? The electricity is back on by 9.30pm so off I go home to bed....and I don't fall through the bed base.......all is good.
Lore made me smile this morning. She clocked on at 10am, no-one booked in for her first class so she goes back to the accommodation to shave her legs. No-one for her second class at 11am so she paints her toe nails. I am almost expecting her to announce she is going for a wash cut and blow dry at 12pm. She is taking a weeks holiday and she has had to jump through hoops to get it (unpaid of course). She has been here since September and had no time off except her one day off a week. Holidays are not encouraged, we are only meant to take the one month when the spa closes in August. Lore has had to pay 900 riyals to get 2 exit visas as she plans to go again for a few days to visit a friend in Bahrain. You cannot leave this country if you don't have an exit visa. Anyway, Lore is off to Egypt with a man she has only met once for a few hours face to face. He is originally from Syria and now living and working in Damman. To say that this sort of stuff is not allowed for Muslims is a bit of a joke really, they find ways round it!!! For example, you go to the shopping malls and leave your blue tooth on so the opposite sex can connect to your phone, boys drive around in cars at night holding a laminated A4 sheet of paper with their phone number against the window and then drive alongside taxis with girls in (I've had this happen a few times). Boys display their blackberry pin in the back window of their expensive car that dad has brought them and of course their are loads of social media sites......that is the ones that the mutawa haven't blocked.
Anyway Lore met this guy through a social media site and speaks to him via Skype, WhatsApp and other message options because he doesn't live close by. The only way they can get to know each other and decide if they want to be with each other is to get a room. I worry for her as there are some crazy people in this world but she seems happy to take the risk, so hopefully she will return next week much happier.
May tells me something this week that she has been keeping inside all week (we have grown very close and I trust her completely) I knew there was something wrong with her last Tuesday but she said she didn't want to talk and I respected that. Anyway, she decides to tell me that she has sorted it and as I listen to her story of what had happened my respect and admiration for her grew. She is such a genuine person who just wants everyone to be happy. Kedi looks a little low today, she also has stuff going on with an ex and Valentina looks tired and ready to go home to see her family but only days like this we all try to lift each other and make each other smile.
Hannah text me today to say that she had found a part-time job!!!! relief, I might be able to save a few pounds now and also she told me that her dad (Paul) had managed to find her a nice little first car (her birthday present) so all she needs now is to pass her test and then there will be no stopping her.....my second baby is all grown up. Charlotte sends me regular texts to check I am still ok and also gives me an update on her weight loss. She is trying to get that flat stomach.....aren't we all??? but I am glad she is motivated and whatever she is doing is working. I only had 2 children, I started off wanting 4 but soon changed my mind. The average number of children for Saudis 10 years ago was six to eight but now they are down to an average of 3.....you wouldn't think it because whenever you go to the Malls there are children running and screaming everywhere....they don't know how to control them. The other night when we were out we noticed a pick up style truck with the rear window open (bear in mind this is a road with 4 lanes and everyone driving like a lunatic) out of this window there are 5 children just hanging out!!!! none must have been over 7 years old I couldn't believe it and he must have been doing around 60 miles per hour. Also this week I found a store close by that sells supplements so my mission for this week is to stock up on miracle cures and anything that says hormones on the bottle.
My bed broke this week and no I didn't gain weight and no I've not been jumping up and down on it. A few screws had come lose that hold the lats so it meant that they were just hanging near the floor and nothing was holding the mattress. The events which happen next are true......I go to see Maria and ask if they have a screwdriver so that I can fix the bed. This is what happened next.....she calls a cleaner (with no bucket and towel) to go with me to look at said bed. The cleaner then reports back to Maria and tells her that a screw has come loose. Then they call for Dindo!!! so Dindo, the cleaner and I head back to my room to look at said bed and he establishes that there is a screw loose. He then sends the cleaner to locate a screwdriver to fix said bed....and then he fixes the bed whilst the cleaner and I sit eating dates and watching him, all is well. It just reminded me of how many men does it take to change a light bulb.
8pm the same evening we have a power cut. It just appeared to be the spa and our accommodation that had gone off, the rest of the street looked ok. Anyway we make sure that all the clients are safe as it is dark here by 7pm and then we just sit and wait....if the water situation is anything to go by I think we could be here for a while. I don't finish work until 9pm anyway so we just sit outside the spa. cleaners, therapists from the spa, receptionists, instructors. It sounds so funny to hear four or five different languages talking about the powercut. New words learnt tonight...Crazy and what's happened? The electricity is back on by 9.30pm so off I go home to bed....and I don't fall through the bed base.......all is good.
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