Nanna

Shirley, the boy's grandmother and my ex-mother-in-law, has been staying with us over the past week. There has been a joyous reunion and she and the boys have settled straight back into their usual routines; rummikub, outings, cooking together as well as some new activities like Nintendo Wii. It has been great for me catching up with Shirl and what is happening at home, and she and Ian have started to get to know each other while she has been here. It's all good. The trip has coincided with mid-term break for the boys and the cooler weather. Actually while she has been here the winter has made a sudden transition into spring. One day temperatures of 14 degrees, the next day 24, today 31.

We have been doing the rounds with Nanna; to the souk, into the desert, and other various middle eastern delights. We've organised taxis hither and yon during the day while Ian and I are at work and she declares that the boys have been looking after her magnificently. Scarily, the boys seem to have taken enthusiastically to the taxi idea, suddenly sensing freedom of movement unhampered by inconvenient parental restrictions. She's enjoyed the different kinds of people all around her, their different ways, the different languages.

Speaking of language, there have been some funny examples of english again lately. I had a wonderful coup and found another international supermarket in a neighbouring compound - one even tinier than the one in our compound, but it sells decent bread. The Indian guy behind the counter used to work in our own international supermarket and we greeted each other like long-lost friends. He gave me an order form and assured me that they would deliver to my house if I ordered bread from him. I looked at the top of the order form:

"SUPER.MARKET.BEVERLEY HILLS GARDEN
Every tody order
Tomorrow cuming"

The transition back to work has been proceeding pretty well. There's the occasional glitch. I got a text the other day from our Dina, our wonderful maid.

"Gud am! mam mairi s0ry i wil n0t cme 2day, im n0t feling 0k b'c0z im n0t slep d wh0le night. i dnt kn0w why? n0w feel dizzy nd all my b0dy was wiggle cn't work until afterno0n! s0ry mam mairi but 2mrw prmise i will. thank u! see y0u tmrw. tnx again..dina

Tonight Ian and I are going to our friends Leila and Oussama's house. They are throwing a valentine's bash and there will be quite a few couples. Nanna and the boys will be staying in, doing non-valentines things. We've all got a busy day lined up tomorrow. We're going to show Nanna the golf course, and then drop into the tennis stadium. There's a women's tennis tournament starting next week, unfortunately just as Shirl leaves to go back to New Zealand, but we are going to try to catch a glimpse of the big seeds if we can; hopefully they will be practising. Then we will go to the souq. Let's hope all our bodies don't feel too wiggle from the night before.