Girl's Day Out

Today I got up at the usual time.  Ibssa and I decided to go and have breakfast while Paul slept.  It was the least I could do since I slept for 12 hours.  I was feeling pretty crappy when we got home yesterday from the Sheraton.  I still wasn’t ready to eat breakfast but of course Ibssa was.  After breakfast Paul woke up and we kind of had a lazy morning.  I was supposed to meet Candy and Heather for a girls shopping day at 10am.  Rob came over and said Candy was sick and Heather said Dave was sick.  We postponed our shopping until 1.  Funny how 4 of us were sick and all 4 of us had hamburgers at the Sheraton yesterday.  I guess it doesn’t matter if it’s a fancy place or not, you can get sick from eating anywhere. 

Paul and Ibssa played for the rest of the morning outside while I decided to make pasta for lunch.  The plan was that they would be able to eat this for supper as well if I wasn’t home in time.  No such luck, Paul finished it all.  Oh well, at least he had a good meal. 

The 3 women loaded up in Markos’s car.  Candy and I both filled up on immodium before we left so we wouldn’t have any adventurous bathroom breaks.  Our first stop was the weaving place where Markos and taken me the other day.  The girls wanted scarves, and this was the place to get them.  However, they were having some meeting so they said we had to wait 10 minutes which is really half an hour.  We waited and then Markos got a call saying another 20 minutes.  We decided to walk up the steep hill so Heather could shop for traditional clothes and tablecloths.  Again, I had done this the other day.  So I huffed and puffed and made it up the hill.  The air is very thin here.  Markos just laughs at me, but I did it like a trooper.  The beggers were really bad today.  I didn’t have anything small for money at this point so I couldn’t help them out.  I was the target because the other two ladies were doing all of the shopping.  I really couldn’t wait to get out of there.  Just as we were pulling away in the cab we were able to give a few people money.  It is really hard because once you give one money, you get swarmed by beggers….some in need, some not so much. 

After we had put a dent in this market we headed to the leather market.  I was kind of drooling about this place.  I knew leather was cheap here.  Markos said nothing is a fixed price.  Time to barter.  I ended up picking up a few purses, SURPRISE!, most are gifts.  A wallet for Paul and I, and a belt for Paul.  The purses were larger than what we in Canada prefer for a handbag, at least me anyway.  You can buy a really nice purse for $30.  Completely leather.  The wallets and belts were $5.  Crazy huh.  I would have liked to buy a jacket for Paul but he wasn’t with me and that is too much to spend if they don’t fit.  They are beautiful though.  Markos said they were between $50-$100.  Too bad, they are the really soft leather to.

By this time it was time to head home. We had stopped at a Chinese restaurant by our guest house when we first ventured out, to place an order for supper.  That way we could just pick it up when we were on our way home.  The waiter suggested we call when we are about half an hour away.  Probably the wisest choice because traffic is so bad at this time of day it is hard to know how long it will actually take to get there.  I phoned in our order…..I wasn’t really sure what we ordered, and that maybe we may have enough for a few days.  Once again, communication is tough.  We also had to bring our own take out containers.  So we had to make another pit stop at a grocery store.  We got there after about half an hour.  I made Candy come in with me.  As soon as they saw we had money they started to make our order.  Man oh man, we thought we were so proactive on pre-ordering.  We could have just had our families meet us there and it would have been just as fast.

By the time we got back to the guesthouse it was 7:30.  I said Ibssa would probably be in bed by now.  Almost, he was in his jammies already and had eaten supper.  No worries, he was ready for another supper. LOL.  He loves hanging out at Heather and Daves because they have so much playmobile toys.  Ibssa absolutely loves them.  All the miniature men and pieces.  If we have a shower when I get home we will definitely suggest playmobile stuff.  Also, any yardsale gurus out there, I would love it if you picked up some for me.  I digress!  The food was fantastic!  It was very close to what we have here.  It’s kind of like Russian roulette.  I wonder who will be sick tomorrow. LOL. 

Well, I must say that the Dad’s did a great job today while the mom’s went on their shopping fix.  I think Paul had it the easiest.  It was the first time Rob was left alone with baby Ephrem.  Poor Dave was sick and looked after 3 busy kids.  Now I am yawning as I am writing this so I know that my bedtime isn’t too far away.  Tomorrow is our big adventure going out of the city.  Can’t wait to blow the city stink off of us.

Chow for now,
Karen