Sheesh. April was wash as far as the blog goes, sorry ‘bout that. Only nine posts, what was I doing? No idea. Which is usually what I am doing. Something that seems really busy, but nothing to show for it. At any rate, here I am. And, may I add, I am on the countdown. 29 days ‘til we are homeward bound! Hooray. Let’s all just hope and pray that things stay quiet around here near the end of the month, due to recent events, I’m getting a little worried. Word on the street is stay on camp for a week and if you have to go out, cover up your Westerness; as in, my hair and face. Oh yeah, and my kids. So, we’ll be sittin’ pretty around here for a week or so. No worries though, I have a secret. Pssst. I ‘got out’ last weekend. Yep. O.U.T.
My dear friend and I escaped to our neighboring island nation for the day, last Thursday. (pretend Saturday) We took the 7:30 bus, taxi at 8:30 and were in a free-er nation, by 9:30. Totally fun. We ate breakfast at a very fancy Middle Eastern mall. LOT’S of money, fancy cars, and BIG head scarves. We shopped for a while, found nothing to speak of, and then headed for a pedicure at a fancy-schmancy hotel. (We tried for the Ritz, but they were booked. SUPER fancy, btw.) Ahhhhh. Heaven. I wear flip flops every day. In case you didn’t know, Tiff had to bring me shoes in Europe. I wear sneakers for exercise and that is it. So my feet are thrashed, and the poor woman earned her money on that day. Yikes. It was like peeling a potato, poor thing.
After a lovely hour of trashy tabloid magazines, lots of chit chat, and newly soft feet, we went to the Navy Base for some grocery shopping. My friend’s family is still technically in the military, or at least has the I.D. This allowed us (her, actually, I wasn’t allowed to touch anything. I guess flying in an entire American grocery store is a little pricey and is ONLY for the troops – alright, already. I won’t touch.) to get on base and do some shopping. Have you ever seen a person smile at pork? Get giddy over beef jerky? Nearly cry at FROSTED MINI WHEATS? And, of course, hug my box of Lorna Doones? Yes. I did laugh out loud when I bit into REAL Dorito’s and sipped my – gasp - FRESCA! Ahhhhh. Be still my heart. This place had everything! (all of the above mentioned items are not available where I live. ) There was much more. Like liquid Tide that I paid regular U.S. prices for. How ‘bout scrubbing bubbles? Ooooh. It was so fun. Don’t worry, I didn’t smuggle any pork. But my riding companion may or may not have…
The best part of the day? Seeing real live American citizens. Lots of them. Cute, young, buff soldiers. They opened doors for me, said “after you”, and called me” ma’am.” Loved it. And they sounded like home. It really was wonderful. Who knew the simple things in life would bring so much joy? Oh, but they do.
3 comments:
Peeling a potato? The visual imagery is disturbing. Yikes. Poor pedicure lady!
When we heard the news last night, the first thing I thought of was you. So I'm happy you get to come home for a little while now.
And also, I'm with Tiffany. I physically recoiled from the computer when I read peeling a potato. You are a master of description my dear!!
Sounds like an awesome day! It's really awesome that you get to come home soon! We have to get together while you are here. I have the same phone number so call me when you get into the states!
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