I miss being normal!

The Mosque & coffee shop not far from our house

We have some letter magnets on our fridge and this is what I wrote the other day. I miss being normal.
The kiddos reaction was surprising-they don't see their life here as abnormal. For that I am thankful.
It's been one of those months.
Our lovely new house turned out not to be so lovely. Leaks under the concrete floors have appeared and there is water damage in every bedroom. Then a hose from our toilet burst sending water everywhere; flooding our bedroom, family room and the rushing water found it's way downstairs. What a mess.
Now the baseboards/skirting boards all need replaced. The water soaked them. 

One of the bedrooms!

So this is Arabia and nothing happens quickly here. The workers finally showed up today but the mess is even bigger to fix. Taking 6 weeks to come to fix a leak has now resulted in mould in lots of the baseboards. And they dont seem bothered about finding the leak. Trying to explain to the workers in English is hard as it is not their first, second or third language. Hindi, Malayalam or Arabic would be really useful about right now!
We have had other minor issues with stuff like there being no fan in the laundry room, so I get to have a sauna each day when I do a load of laundry! Now this is fixed.
Our sink when it was fitted wasn't done correctly so our pipes have been held up with bricks so that water doesn't leak-glad for my Sweet doing this or else we would have been sinkless for the past month. That's fixed now.

Arabian normal!

Sometimes I joke about wanting to just have a normal life. But what is that really? I miss things most people take for granted. Being able to see family without it being over skype or email-shopping with my Mum or friends-grocery shopping and finding everything you need for dinners available-driving without feeling you might get in a wreck at any moment-not having to say goodbye to friends when they get posted to another country.

Whole lamb but no ground/minced meat!

Then I remember. I love this life. I have lived in 8 countries. I have seen so many beautiful places and got to meet so many wonderful people. I am thankful that there is such a thing as skype to see my family when the missing becomes too much. I am thankful that when I have to randomly change my menus for the week because there is no chicken breasts or ground meat available, I still can put food on the table. I am trying to be braver about driving here, but it still is something I don't enjoy.

Sunset from our house

Perspective in always a good thing. This week a young person who was part of our lives when we lived here before, suddenly passed away in her sleep. An emotionally month, week, day. Life.

Having emotions shows we have something, some people to care about and for. So, today I am reminded. I love this Arabian life with all it's craziness. Even is some days I feel like screaming.

I get to blog today as the kiddos are all out at homeschool co-op. I get a rare few hours to myself while the workers are here. It's not all quiet-lots of banging going on but that means work is being done. I get to run around emptying everything from each room as they need access. Its madness! But soon all will be fixed and I can start all over and enjoy this house once and for all!