EXPATS AND THEIR PARTIES!

Dearest Friends,

What do you do, when you haven't much to do?  You give parties!

I spotted Miss Nellie in the hotel restaurant our very first morning in Bahrain.  Of course, I had no way of knowing she would end up being one of my best buddies!

By September, thanks to the weekly baseball games, we finally knew enough people, and had our house furnished well enough, to host our first big shindig.  These houses were perfect for parties.  All you had to do was take the furniture out of that big central room and hide it in one of the bedrooms, and you had yourself a dance-floor!  John got busy recording one of his famous dance tapes, and I spent my evenings making party food (the ever popular Bisquick Cheese & Sausage balls, and such) and filling our freezer with it.  Of course, there would be a fondue pot at the party as well -- which I had to borrow from BD, since all my wedding gifts had been left in the States.

Miss Paula

The infamous Toad (Paula's hubby) and JV

I made out invitations and John drew maps, then we both took them to work and handed them out to everyone we knew.  Thirty or forty people showed up, but not one of them was a co-worker of mine.  I remember feeling a little hurt, but also more than a little relieved.  I didn't want to insult them by not inviting them, but on the other hand, I just couldn't picture any of them mixing and mingling with the rowdy B&R crowd! (I think this was the party where Toad grabbed a cucumber off my kitchen counter and stuck it in his pants, just to see if anyone would notice.  Nellie did - and just about passed out)  Well,  my boss's younger sister R. might have enjoyed it, but she was away at school at the time -- in Austin, Texas of all places!  More about her later.

D, T & L, and John's boss DC.  DC liked to tell people that I once threatened him with bodily harm if he didn't get my hubby off that dang platform (he was way overdue, as usual), but he knew I was only teasing...sort of.

The party must have been a success.  We didn't get rid of the last guests until about 1:00 a.m!  The next day we slept until 10:00 (unheard of for me) got up long enough to put the house back in order, then had to take a nap.