My weekend started off with a Indian Night hosted by the Indian Women's Group here on camp. It was an evening of presentations about India, their culture, traditional outfits and dances and my favorite...homemade Indian dishes! I LOVE Indian food and it was delicious! It was a nice Girls Night Out as I went with a group of ladies and enjoyed something different. I wish I took more pictures but I only brought my little point and shoot camera and it was not working well with flash and I just got frustrated. I should have brought my camera. It was a nice night out and it made me very appreciative of the group of people I have found here and get to hang out with!
The Thursday morning we headed down to Khobar to do lots of errands. We had a very detailed plan (written out to every 30 minutes) to make sure to hit every store we needed to before 11:26 AM when prayer starts and everything (besides a select few stores and the grocery stores) close until 4:00 PM.
So this is how our day went...and how most shopping trips have to go...speedy, in and out and no time for relaxing!
- 7:30 AM - Load up car with everything we put together the night before including a cooler in case we decide to get groceries. Start loading up everyone. Get Graham to sleep, Peyton her movie and I find my abaya and get settled
- 8:00 AM - Leave the house...I had the keys in my hand at one point and Peyton sternly reminded me that daddy drive us...Mommy "no drive in Saudi." Thanks for that reminder...I am pretty sure the security guards at the gate would have reminded me and not allowed me to pass through.
- 9:00 AM- Arrive at Silver Museum in the souks to pick up Christmas presents I ordered a couple of weeks ago. Store isn't open yet...wait....finally around 9:15 AM they open. I run in, John stays in the car with the kids. I get the gifts, buy two more and then run out...we are already behind schedule.
- 9:25 AM - Program GPS for next stop, Zamils craft store. It isn't far away but it is on the outer parts of the souk and kind of tricky to get to.
- 9:35 AM- Get to Zamils and start to look for supplies to make a fairy costume for me for a Halloween party we have next week. I managed to find wings, spray paint, different colors of tulle to make a tutu and we are set. I am going to be a dark fairy so lots of black, glitter and hints off dark purple. Also pick up fabric to make an bandana and a straw hat for John's farmer costume. Total cost for everything $35!
- 10:15 AM- Run back to car, jump in and off to Toys R Us to try and shop before prayer.
- 10:25 AM- Run into Toys R Us, shop for new toys for Peyton. She hasn't gotten new toys in forever and I really wanted to get some more age appropriate toys. We find some stuff but like always are disappointed in the selection/quality so I will be shopping again in either Bahrain or back in the states.
- 11:00 AM- Head out of Toys R Us and run down to a wrapping paper store. Picked up some wrapping paper/boxes and walk to Ikea.
- 11:15 AM - Realized we made it to Ikea before prayer so we run upstairs and grab some food before they close down.
- 11:26 AM - Ate during prayer and then picked up a toy shelf/storage thing and headed out.
- 12:00 PM - Decided to not go to the grocery store and headed home for a quick change before heading back out shopping to a bazaar at a friends camp.
That afternoon/evening we went to a bazaar at our friends the Perry's camp and got to shop, play with Gavin and chat with friends. I found a beautiful drawing/etching of a woman in traditional bedouin dress riding a camel which I am excited about getting framed and up in our house (I will try to remember to add a picture of it later). We also got cute personalized cups that my friend Lindsey was selling. Peyton of course picked a dinosaur to be on hers and wanted nothing to do with the flowers and girl stuff. It turned out really cute as she got a blue dinosaur and her name in pink and it totally suits her. Lindsey made one for me to use as a display so I got one for free and then John got a Longhorn one.
And yes....when we came home and put them out we realized we should have gotten one for Graham. But we are working on getting one for him so he won't feel left out!
Then towards the end of the night we managed to end up in the carpet room. We didn't intend on buying a carpet but decided to look around and see what was there. I started to look at runners since we don't have one and we have a long hallway we could put one in. The guy kept showing all these persians and silk blends that I didn't like and then finally came to the hand knotted wool carpets. He showed me one and I loved it! I showed John, he liked it, they bartered...a whole lot and we came away with a great deal on a carpet! We decided it would be our 5 year anniversary gift which has even more meaning because my parents bought us a carpet for our enagagement/wedding that has our name on it and has various symbols in it related to a prosperous, long and blessed marriage. They bought it while in Azerbaijan. Well, now five years later we were able to buy our own carpet! We have several other carpets from my parents and their time in Azerbaijan but it is excitig and fun to buy your own!
I was even more excited when I showed my mom who has plently of experience shopping for carpets and she she loved it and said that we got a good deal and told me more about the details in the carpet and why some carpets are more than others and what to look for and apparently I picked a good one!
I tried to get pictures of all the kids in the carpets but I was not having much luck. I remember shopping for carpets all the time and my parents taking me to these random carpet shops down alleys and sitting in there drinking tea and having a blast. I look forward to exploring the souks and creating similar memories with my kids....but I decided to ease them into it by starting at a very westernized bazaar!
Oh...and when we got it home...Peyton saw it leading to her room and exclaimed, "wow, it is so pretty, thanks mom and dad, I love my rug." John almost died!
A busy but good weekend....two more to go and then I will be spending my weekends browsing Target while sipping a Pumpkin Spice Latte! Mmmmm...
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