The days and hours are speeding by now. We paid what I am sure was our last visit to Sports City today. Maybe my folks will want to check it out--we shall see. After Yumi left for camp and we completed our morning routine, I took the two little girls to meet friends at the Sports City pool.
We had a great time! We found an innertube for the Chub with which she was able to zoom around the shallows, tripping and falling face first into the water only 25 times. Luckily I was right there, every time. And that kept me busy the whole visit but it was still fun. Amy's boys were in love with the diving boards and her 7 year old boy jumped off the highest diving platform--something I would never do even if you paid me. Nate arrived and dropped Yumi off after camp. I had wanted to meet her at the hotel but Amy and crew were not quite ready to leave by the time Nate needed to pass Yumi off. She arrived as we were packing up and was inevitably mad about not getting to swim with us. We barely made it out of there without a full-scale fit. Luckily, Amy and crew were coming back to the hotel with us for lunch--our first (and only) lunch playdate of the summer. Seven kids and two adults in a small hotel room; crazy, but fun. Pita sandwiches, fruit, veggies. Yumi definitely has a crush on six year old Cyrus and I don't blame her; he is an awesome and cute kid. Amy has all boys and all are fortunately typical unemotional boys--else this little lunch date would never have worked.
I managed to nab a bit of quiet time for myself before my Arabic lesson with Nisreen. I learned the word for anti-social (Nate) and threaten (what I have to do to my girls every two minutes). I returned back to very cranky girls. Things only got worse as I had to load them all up to go drop off laundry. So much contention and anger from them. I had come back from my lesson in a perfectly good mood and yet had to put my own self in time-out for a few minutes just to regain control of my temper.
Getting out the door took so long that we did not get back from our Bayrouni Street errands until nearly 7pm. I had to "fix" dinner from scratch (microwaved potatoes and smoothies) so we did not begin eating until 7:30pm. Everyone went to bed just fine but Nate and I were hammered. We are at out wit's end. I am noting how Emi is picking up a lot of Yumi's antagonistic behaviors, such as threatening to hit or saying that we don't love her. Rarely does Emi pass Aya without knocking her down. It is enough to break your heart. It IS breaking my heart.
Sigh. Since I have given up all hope of a positive attitude today, I might as well report about another "incident" with our hotel today. Emi dropped a commemorative Ramadan class someone gave us and it shattered on the floor. I called down to the reception for help and a broom and was told "in ten minutes.". Sigh. For ten minutes I tried to keep the girls away from the glass. Finally, we cleaned it up ourselves with paper towels. No one ever came. Can you believe this place?
On a positive note: I AM GOING TO THE TURKISH BATH TOMORROW! I am pretty thrilled about it. So I guess I cannot feel too sorry for myself.
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