Day 3

August 4, 2009

Awake @ 0400, my mind churned over how I could make that ill designed house a home. In anticipation of negotiating such challenges, I marinated in Phil. 1:27 "Only let my manner be worthy of the gospel of Christ." This is my prayer for all of us as we move in unfamiliar territory where the best intentions may prove to be offensive to someone. Today, Emily smiled at a couple of Muslim women; the younger one pushing the older one in a wheelchair returned the smile, but the older one tucked her face down and pulled her scarf over her eyes to avoid Emily's gaze.

Robert & I walked the beach at 0600 & enjoyed the best part of the day before the temperature soared to the teens. As the tide was out, we found lovely shells of red and yellow hues. Sadly, we also found a lot of rubbish and exposed bits of cement, pipes, and glass that drastically increased just past the hotel property. Some Muslim families played in the water and I discovered the women have "swim suits" that look just like the black full coverage they always wear but don't appear clingy when wet.

Our morning paper's headlines were about Obama's positive meeting with the Amir of Kuwait. The most urgent issue seems to be the Middle East Peace Talks: the Israeli Palestine situation seems central to all important negotiations. With our usual American bias towards Israel, the pro Palestinian slant here challenges me to engage with this very hot & murky issue.

Robert & I went to the US Embassy to continue In-processing with our sponsor. Our badges were not ready due to some mix up so we sweltered awhile outside the second ring of security with all those waiting in line for US visas. The Embassy has layers of protection and tighter security than any military base. All cars are searched inside and out every time they enter the compound. The Marines run 24 hour security operations inside the embassy and provide roaming security that patrols even the residences of diplomatic employees out in the community. We all have this Marine desk programmed into our phones in case of any type of concern or emergency--even if we think we are being watched in the grocery, they will come to our assistance. We may well be safer than ever before!

We met many useful contacts and were pleased at the friendliness of this community. the Ambassador's compound is right in the middle of the embassy and she has her own Di wan (?): a tent set up for entertaining which is full of cushions for reclining & eating dates...that's what lines the roads we learned; date trees with funny bags attached to catch the fruit.

An unexpected meeting with the generals deputy (Steve, who we met in FL) was reassuring that storage issues with our house could be negotiated with the landlord and with housing...we were very honored by their concern.

As we left our sponsor's place, he very kindly gave us a cooler of beers and a bottle of wine which I presume he needed to clear out of his apartment before leaving country. In this "dry" country, this is precious cargo; especially since we don't yet have the connections to obtain alcohol through the base. He also brought us some of our luggage he had stored for us. When we returned to the hotel, in my haste to get inside, I quickly unloaded the car in front of the guards who insisted on helping me place it onto the xray machine where a beer rolled out of the cooler...I thought Robert was going to have a stroke when he saw what I'd done, and rightly so! AL-HAMDU LILAH! The guards waved us on in! Such an incident could result in serious consequences I've since learned, but hopefully this hotel wants the continued business from the embassy enough to be forgiving of such grievances and not get us kicked out of the country!!!

In the late afternoon, Steve's wife, Stephanie and her 3 sweet boys met us at our hotel for swimming. Her enthusiasm for living here was refreshing and it was great to make such a lovely American friend. Steve joined us for a poolside dinner which took longer than expected but we're learning to expect that! Being outdoors, we heard the call to prayer which blends into the sounds of the night. Depending on how close we are to the mosque, it is not always heard. Such are the rhythms of life here.