Birthdays present and future

Olivia turned 7 on May 28th. Her best present was an IPOD nano, which she wears constantly. I have downloaded all her favourite ABBA songs and she's perfecting some pretty mean dance moves when she thinks no-one is looking. Hopefully she will also soon get the hang of removing the earphones before she talks to you instead of bellowing at the top of her voice over Benny and Bjorn's lyrics.

Among her other gifts were some bangles. A great choice, as Olivia loves jewellery. The more sparkly and spangly, the better - which is good when you live in the Middle East, as nothing here is understated.

The other day she was rummaging through my jewellery box and found a pair of earrings she particularly liked.

"Mummy," she said, "I know what I want for my next birthday."

"You've only just had this one," I said.

"Yes, but I just wanted you to know. For my next birthday, I want my ears peeled and then I can wear your earrings too!"

"Peeled ears, eh? I'll see what we can do," I smiled.

Tales from the pool

Isabelle competed today in the St Christophers School Open Swimming Championships. She did 50m freestyle in 46 seconds, knocking over 2 seconds off her previous best time.

St Christophers is reputedly the best school on the island and is certainly the most sporty. The standard of swimming on show was quite extraordinary and the competition keen. 

Isabelle has her own special brand of competitiveness. When I asked her if she was pleased with her time and gaining second place in her heat, she replied that she was, but that the best thing was that she had not qualified for the final as she really couldn't be bothered to go. 

She's not got that killer Aussie competitive edge then..........

East meets West?

Saw this sign the other day and had to laugh.

Seems the locals don't like a lot about wayward western culture, but clearly no-one can resist a Big Mac.

Exam technique

Poor Olivia is exhausted. She has been sitting SATs tests all week. It all seems a bit harsh for six year olds.

As a concerned and interested parent, I passed on a few pearls of exam technique wisdom to her.  "Make sure you read the questions" I cautioned. "Don't rush. And try to answer everything. If there is no answer, they can't give you a mark."

Olivia has clearly taken this advice to heart. Yesterday was the English comprehension assessment and she could answer all but one question. 

"But," she told me proudly,"I didn't leave it blank."

"Well done!" I said. "You took a guess then?"

"No," she replied. "I wrote: I am sorry, I just do not know the answer."

Camels

The King of Bahrain has a hobby - camel breeding. He keeps the camels on a farm near the girls' school. He currently has over 400. As we had a friend in town over the weekend, we went to visit them.

According to Olivia, camels:

1. Smell.

2. Have bad teeth.

3. Are really grumpy.

She was persuaded to pat this week old baby though.

More Enid

This is Enid.

She is definitely a she and is about 5 weeks old.

She is eating well and being loved to death by both the girls.

Beware of overspending......

A Saudi judge has told a seminar on domestic violence that it is OK for a man to slap his wife for lavish spending. 

According to the judge, if a wife buys an expensive abaya with money given to her by her husband and if the husband smacks her on the face as a reaction to her action, she deserves that punishment.

I knew there was a reason I don't show Ian the credit card bills.