DIARIES, BOREDOM, AND RUMORS

Dearest Friends,

At last we have reached the point in this saga where my memory gets some assistance.  Did I mention that, when clearing out my closet in the townhouse, I found a box of old diaries?  Only, calling this a diary would be a bit of a stretch.  Agenda is probably a better word, for though I wrote down everything I did each day, I never said anything about how I felt, or what I thought!  Too bad.

Me and Young S -- sadly for her, I was the closest thing to a girl her age!

I can tell you what I'm thinking now, though, as I read back through those first few months of 1976.  I'm thinking "Geeze Louise!  My days were a whole lot more boring than I remembered!"  See what you think:

Friday, January 9

Went to exercise group at N.'s house, but no one else showed up, so I came back home and worked on my macrame projects.  Ate lunch, then did macrame some more.  M&C's daughter S came down to visit a couple of times.   The electricity and water went off, so I took a nap.  Did some needlepoint, then finished one of the macrame plant holders.  Fixed pepper steak for dinner.  John developed some film and I started the other hanging basket, then we gave each other pedicures.

The Bandung Man

Here's one of my more exciting days:

Wednesday, January 28

Washed and rolled my hair, then sat under the dryer.  Spent the morning waiting for the Bandung Man and getting ready for Conversation Group, which met here today.  It went pretty well, but there was a lot of food left over.  Fixed shrimp for dinner.  Got a letter from D.  We've had no water upstairs for about 2 weeks, which means hauling buckets up from the kitchen to flush the toilet or take a bath.  All the electricity in the neighborhood went off after dinner, so we went up to Dayeah Kuring for a coke.  Came home and John packed for his trip out to the barge tomorrow.

Speaking of shrimp, I wonder if this was the night I dipped them in that special beer batter recipe before frying them.  I was so proud of myself!  I went on and on about it at dinner, asking John "Doesn't that taste amazing?  Didn't that beer make a huge difference?"  Only, when I went to put the leftovers away, there was my little container of beer batter, still sitting in the fridge, brewing!  Well, if I didn't dip them in beer batter, what did I dip them in?  As it turns out, leftover pancake batter fries up pretty well.

Another Door-to-Door Salesperson

Hope I haven't disillusioned you too much, about my exciting life abroad.  Another thing I can tell you is that, no one is more creative than a bunch of bored expatriate women.  If there's not much to do where we are, then we will make our own fun.  That is how we ended up with a bowling league, coffee group, exercise group, card club, sewing circle, conversation group, etcetera, etcetera.  It wasn't bad, but perhaps you'll understand why I sometimes felt, oh, I don't know, useless?  And then maybe you'll understand why I got so excited, when John whispered the rumor that we might be trading our tropical island, before long, for a desert island in the Persian Gulf.  How could that be a good thing, you ask?  Well, in Bahrain, B&R's people were living in a real city, along with lots of other people from lots of different countries and companies.  And they lived in real houses, of their own choosing, with real furniture and household goods of their very own.  Best of all, the wives were allowed to drive...and get jobs ... and they weren't required to have maids!