Caleb putting the boat together

Friday

I’m only ten minutes late, at 7:40, picking Caleb up and grateful I showered. We gave Senior Chief Brown a ride home so he didn’t have to walk there with two weeks of dirty laundry over his shoulder.

Caleb took the boat apart from the front yard and aired it up in the backyard while I sat on the couch playing ball with Sparky. I handed Caleb the rigid bottom of our inflatable raft and we now have it tied up in our claimed area of the canal. I was going to rinse the boat but the hose is stuck to the spigot in the front yard. I wait for Caleb to get out of the shower and decide against going in the boat today. I’m too tired.

clouds over Juffair

We leave here at 11:15 so I can escort Julie on base, Caleb can get a haircut, and I can exchange money. He made it to the barber shop, but Julie had somewhere else to be, so she delivered cookies to me at the roundabout. And we both forgot about the cash.

Home at 12:20 and Caleb makes me coffee while cooking the last recipe from ingredients that we bought before he left. I drank half a cup of coffee, ate a bowl of baked fettuccine, and napped on the couch while he tried to buy plane tickets with no success.

Market 338 in Adliya

We left here early because Priya texted us. We got to the mall at 4:00 and waited 15 minutes by Theatre One before she told us she was on the other side at Screen 2 and had time to shop at Forever 21. I bought a hot toffee nut coffee and poured it over Caleb’s leftover ice.

We still had 45 minutes to spare after we bought tickets for three dinars each to Interstellar, so we walked around and Priya bought a handmade Swiss roll for 600 fils for us to share. We sat down at 5pm and the previews started promptly at 5:15. We got to sit behind a family of kids that was up constantly, eating popcorn, and talking. Luckily the seats seem to be raised for this reason.

steps to home, but not mine

We sat there for the next three hours. I probably didn’t get cold till the last one, but I just hugged myself and put my shoes back on. We dropped Priya off after making plans to hang out tomorrow. We got home at 9p and Caleb wanted to eat, so I made us each a bowl of fettuccine and he put on 22 Jump Street. We went to bed at midnight.

Saturday

I got out of bed at 8a. We put on swim trunks, grabbed an oar each, and the boat began to sink when I stepped in. I climbed out and Caleb was upset that the free boat has a leak. I told him he could sink it as a good excuse to get a stand-up paddle board. I walked the dogs to the beach. He joined us for the return.

steps in Monsoon

We drove to Sea Shell Hotel, got there at 10:30, and walked around the Market 338 in progress in Adliya. We went inside at 11am and they were still setting up. We walked around some more while we waited for Priya to show up at 11:30. After she had a look at the expensive handmade items we walked to Monsoon for lunch. We had fried squid, papaya salad, chicken fried rice, and noodle and onion with unordered chicken.

We walked to Sandy’s house, a friend of Priya, and had mint tea. We met her daughter,  husband, and two hamsters. We held them and fed them pistachios. We left there at 3:30p, dropped Priya off at 4p, and stopped at Al Hantour to get some round bread. I asked for two pieces and started counting out fils. The guys asked where we were from, one of them is Czech, and threw in another piece for free and only charged us 100 fils.

Priya holding an orchid

We stopped by Alosra on the way home to pick up dog food and I grabbed some holiday chocolates too. Home at 4:45, walk the dogs, and feed all of us – leftover rice and noodle from Monsoon with round bread. The dogs like the new food. And the sunset is absolutely amazing.

We meet Priya at the park at 7p and walk until 8:30. She gifts me with some kiwi-looking fruit called chikoo – a nutty flavour with large seeds inside. Back at home we will play Monopoly in bed before going to sleep at 10p.