Children & My Veiled Sistafriends

Children and My Veiled Sistafriends
Current mood: chipper

**Warning: Long Blog Ahead**

So yesterday was a very busy, very interesting day for this (not so) lil' mama..

I took Drake to the hospital to update his shot records (he has to get a tuberculosis shot it seems.. It's pretty much eradicated in the US but is still very prevalent in eastern communities so it's better to do it than not..) – They are so vaccine happy over here.. they give so many.. Even to pregnant women! (I am, however, opting out). But he's healthy and normal (relatively) so 5 yr checkup all okay jumpmaster!

I then walked down to the dental clinic to see about getting him an appt cause his tooth has been bothering him lately (the one he rammed up back into his gums a year ago.. his one front tooth had to be pulled but he got to keep the other) – I talked to the receptionist a bit and admitted that even I haven't seen a dentist since I was 17! She was horrified and insisted Drake and I be seen @ once.. So we were ? (another thing I love about this place – you come early enough in the morning and you can be seen @ any type of clinic).

So we were seen.. I had my teeth cleaned first and yay! NO decay or anything else wrong for that matter.. Sugarcube did NOT like all the noise the dental equipment made and she took out her displeasure on my womb.. Then Drake got a quick look-see in that little cookie hole of his.. It seems as if that other front tooth is already loose and he has an abscess above it, so to prevent further spread of infection and more tooth pulling he has to get that tooth extracted.. it'll be a lovely look for him for the next two years.. front tooth-less.. I also don't even want to know how bad this is going to affect his speech therapy.. It's really the last thing he needs but trust I'm gonna keep up the prayer chain on that one..

After all that, Tatum had her speech therapy and Drake and I ran some errands while we waited for her.. She was such a good girl and is making great progress there (she's actually giving me simple answers to questions I ask her now – yay!). Drake didn't get to play like he usually does when we wait for her so I wanted to treat them to an hour on the playground.. Only problem is, is I can't really find an appealing, clean and SAFE playground here.. And if there is a good one it's always packed! I had seen a long string of playgrounds along 40 and always wanted to check them out so that's just what we did..

When we got there it was deserted and it's all fenced off (actually something I really like about it). I wasn't really certain we were allowed to be there but I found a gate opening and we went on in anyway.. It's actually pretty decent but the only interesting thing it had for my kids was a slide.. It's a great place to bring bikes and a soccer ball though!

Eventually people did start to trickle in (everyone must have been getting up from their 1 pm naps).. All the people coming in were like hardcore Muslim families though.. One family came in a made a little picnic spot under some palm trees while their nannies took the older children to play on the equipment ( and when I say family I mean a traditional Muslim family – one man, multiple wives and a plethora of children). After awhile the man got up to go play soccer with some of his older sons (funny to see a man do that in a dishdasha btw). My back had about had it and I think the kids were all slid out so we made our way back to the car.. In doing so we passed two of the women from that family and they called out to me "Hi! Hello! Come, come!" – and motioned me over. Now, these must have been Saudi women I take it, from the fact that they were wearing the full hijab that veils the face – so needless to say I was pretty damn shocked they were initiating conversation with my white Christian ass..

I was so excited so I shimmied the kids over there in order to talk to them.. Unfortunately they deceived me with their hellos and I quickly came to the realization that they couldn't speak English.. But they were so enthralled with us and asked (with lots of gestures) if it was okay to take pictures of me and the kids (something their culture is very touchy about but I think they knew since I was western I don't have any hang-ups on that note..). They took buttloads of pictures and rubbed on my belly, wanting to know how far along I was.. Then they gave Drake and Tatum their own bags of chips and sodas.. I didn't know what else to say except "Shukrahn" (thank you in Arabic) over and over.. I didn't feel right, them sharing so implicitly with us and not being able to give anything back but it's impolite to refuse things and I doubt they wanted the small pack of lifesavers in my purse anyway – lol! They also kept wanting to grab and hold Tatum (they LOVE children and white children are especially novel to them). But since they were wearing veils I think that freaked Tatertot out cause she kept clutching on to me and shrieking.. lmao – poor baby, she must have though she was in the twilight zone.. But when they weren't trying to grab her she was very friendly with them jabbering on with her hellos and munching on her chips..

I didn't want to stay too long incase their husband came back (that would be improper for me to be around then without my own husband) - and I had to get home to make dinner so I thanked them profusely and we made our way home..

It was really damn refreshing though and I think my heart softened a little bit right there on the spot towards Kuwait and the arab community as a whole.. I love it when people go against my expectations (most of the time). But I think that's what I've been missing here.. I really do need to make friends with some locals to endear this place to me.. I think it would make this place seem more personal and intimate, and I in turn wouldn't be so bitter towards it.. I'm also extremely interested in befriending people of different faiths.. I'd never push my own and won't tolerate pushing on me but a better understanding from the horses' mouth so to speak, would be immensely fascinating to me..

We'll see.. @ the rate I'm going I'm expecting another random conversation with an Arab woman by tomorrow! Lol.. Speaking of tomorrow I am Uber excited about Kevin and Julie's Wedding.. I'm finished with all my cakes.. I made a pineapple upside down cake (Kevin's fav and it'll be their "cutting" cake) and then I made two dozen each of white chocolate carrotcake cupcakes with creamcheese buttercream and German chocolate cupcakes.. This is all going to go on my white wooden three tiered stand so I'm expecting it to look really nice.. Best part is, I was invited by the resort's Executive Chef to finish my production in a private room in his kitchen! I still have to ice the cupcakes so I'll need a space to do that in.. I'm super stoked about being in a "real" kitchen again.. And then, honored gal that I am, I get to get ready in the bride's suite so we'll be getting' purty together.. Yay yay yay.. Catch yall in a couple days! I am BEAT