Bahrain Take 2

It's Sunday night and I am being a major bum. Exhausted from the weekend and since I forgot my gym stuf to go to pump with Liana, I decided to hit the grocery store, make dinner and relax instead! I also have phone dates with my sister and Julie and wanted to blog so it all worked out well. A plus was that as soon as I came home from the store and started pasta, the Italian job came on....its like being in Italy right?! Ha.

Okay so last week.......

Sunday I was very sore from Saturday's pump workout so was happy for a day off the gym. Liana and I were a mess at work....moaning every time we had to get up...walking very slow...it was great. Liana and I had planned on going to the rugby game but had been procrastinators about getting tickets and were just gonna buy them there. It worked out perfectly as a coworker had free tickets in the premium seating. Early bird gets the worm my a**! So for whatever reason we dressed almost identical that day. Both in black pencil skirts with black/white pinstripe button downs. We also both rocked flip flops to the game. We got some grub/wine, walked around for a bit and then went up the grandstand to sit but the only open seats left would have required climbing over a lot of dudes so we decided it was not the best option. Instead we stood at the top of the stairs and pretended we were ticket takers. We had a number of ppl fooled....all fumbling around for their tickets. Ha. We also met this charming man, I mean douchebag who needed help text dumping his India fling. Love that a 50 year old man is asking advice from us on what to text this chick he brought to rugby and immediately wanted to get rid of. Poor girl...she seemed nice. Anyway, we got bored and it was cold so left as soon as it was over.

Monday I hit body attack with Liana after work and it was a riot. We were in the back (thank god). I don't know how many of you have done this workout, but its essentially an hour cardio class but its a bit strange. I did it once in DC at Golds before coming over to AD but I did it solo so the weird parts I just sort of went with. Well this time I was with Liana and we laugh enough in normal situations, but add ridiculous kicking and jumping around and you've got a recipe for disaster. I was in the back, doubled over, barely breathing, laughing hysterically on a number of ocassions. If only I could post a picture of Liana rockin the moves with spirit fingers and very exaggerated cheerleader faces. Then she tells me to stop laughing. Ha. I made it through the class although during the squat track I thought I might die as I was still very sore from Pump. After we showered and went to get our nails done (very convenient that there is a salon in the gym!)

So last weekend a package I was waiting for containing medication showed up....sans the medication. Customs confiscated it and I freaked out a bit. Had no prescription, and assumed they wouldn't give it to me. It didn't help when an Emirati guy I work with pretty much told me I had no hope with it. So I had my doctor fax me a script, and I showed up at the post office Tuesday morning ready for a fight with them. They didn't say a freaking word. Just took the paper, brought me my stuff and I left. Why on earth couldn't they have just not confiscated it instead of making me waste all that time?! When I walked out Liana goes you know what that is? White girl power. Ha. Essentially in the Middle East if you are a white female you can do whatever you want. Needless to say, Emirati guy was shocked. Anyway...worked..hit gym....nothing exciting.

Wednesday was uneventful. Work, gym again, and then packed for Bahrain.

Thursday was a pretty quick day at work. Did the usual long lunch at Jones the Robber (I mean Grocer) with Liana and then dipped out at 6. Came home to finish packing and got ready to head out. Alice got a cab at her place, picked me up and then we went for Liana who was facebooking about a panic attack and drinking wine instead of actually getting ready to go! So we finally get to the airport and started causing trouble immediately. Nah, its usually not our fault. Ha. So we're in line to get our boarding passes and this guy pulls the "Are you Russian" line. Umm...first of all, who are you talking to? You've got an English, an Australian and an American girl.....which one exactly looks Russian. So he says Liana....ummm...no. Then he was like..well wait...you too (to me) and then claims he's seen me at this one hotel thats known for Russian hookers before. Wow, that makes a girl feel special doesn't it?! So then we just turned our backs to his weird a**. Got to duty free, found the vodka sample guy again although this time it sucked. The flavor of the week was this Coffee and Smoked Almond mix (or something similar to that). It was weird, but I mean it was free alcohol so of course we had some. Alice bought some wine in duty free and then we went to our gate. So we're standing in line but noone is boarding the busses and its getting to be departure time so now we're all annoyed cuz they hadn't said anything. Oh..then this guy standing there was listening to our conversation and laughing so we start talking to him....DC based but originally Texas....so he said something about being a fan of the Cowboys (meaning Dallas) and Liana starts pulling her, I don't know anything about America so I will play dumb and make them fall in love routine. So she turns it into him being a fan of cowboys...like he cheers them on as they walk down the street in their cowboy hats and boots. Lol. After frustrating the hell out of him for about 5 minutes he made some comment that essentially proved her magic had worked and he had fallen for her charm.

Anyway...so finally they start to board...only to 3 minutes later decide something is wrong with the plane and tell us all to sit down. So we decide we'll pop open the wine and get our own party started. Except then they decided that miraculously, the plane was fine and we did board. So we had seats all in the aisles in 2 rows so we could all chat....which in hindsight wasn't the best idea as we were exposed to the flight attendents. So Alice starts pouring wine for us all and one of the nice FA sees and is like..just so you know you can't do that but just don't let them see. So we continue..and then I get busted. B*tchy FA is all....do you have a bottle of wine..nope..I sure don't but she might. Sorry Alice. Ha. So she gives me a lecture about drinking wine bought at duty free. I'm like okay then, can I buy some wine from you? We didn't get the best service after this and they confiscated our wine. Liana meanwhile is sitting directly across the aisle from me and hides hers. Then she proceeds to sew her shirt for the night. What a homemaker!

So we get to Bahrain, much later than we were supposed to and get to the hotel. We chose a different one this time which turned out to be a fairly poor idea although it did have its perks. Like the orange juice they gave us when we checked in. Screwdrivers anyone?! We all get ready and head out since at this point its midnight and sh*t only stays open until 2. Went to Dublins and started drinking quite fast to make up for the frustration with delays, etc. The music when we first walked in was less than impressive, but it picked up. They even played our favorite song, Katie Spencer. Everyone else thinks this song is about Barbara Streisand...so we let them think so but we all know it's Katie's song. Alice and Liana were adamant all night about not taking shots but then we ended up doing jager bombs (my first ever!) with this Irish guy Liana and I had met the last time and who was convinced she was married to an Emirati guy. They both decided that bombs were not shots so it was okay. Whatever makes you feel better ladies!!! Anyway..then we met up with this guy that Liana had met the last time and had kept in touch with and went to a house party after Dublins closed. We all decided we should do more of these in Abu Dhabi....no one ever stays in but sometimes its much more fun. Right after we got there we started playing Kings which turned out (for me) to be the worst idea of all time. The last time I blacked out from drinking was quite a while ago (I'm usually one of the only ones to remember full nights and have to fill everyone else in....oh how the tables turned). I blame it all on the waterfall portion of the game. Liana and Alice thought it would be fun to take pics of me in a state of complete drunkness and I kid you not, they captured the funniest, worst picture I have ever taken in my entire life. Alice was like..Cristina you are soooo photogenic...I've never seen a bad picture of you....oh until this one. Just thinking about it makes me bust out laughing, its that bad. Thankfully I can't post pics on this blog. Ha. Anyway....we had a great time and then went back to the ghetto, I mean the Ramada and passed out. The bed was the hardest bed I've ever been in, ever. And we only had one. Although even with the three of us, there was plenty of room!

Friday morning we went to Ric's so Alice could experience the wonder of breakfast all day. Then there were naps (we really were gonna go shopping this time...but all of us were pretty hungover the whole day). I was thinking I wasn't going to have that much fun that night but I rallied! Around 5 we went to this French cafe..had some grub, coffee, etc (it was really chilly out) and just chilled. Then we went back to hotel, took another nap (but first, Liana wanted to capture us all sleeping in the same bed so she did a self portrait, with her foot!!!). Then we got up and got ready. The girls had met some young guys the night before so we joked that we were all gonna do our 23 y/o look Russian hooker look. I think Alice pulled it off best with her barbie make up (and she's blond so it works). We had dinner at the Meat Co. which was pretty good (but not as good as Zoe's from the last trip), had a drink upstairs and then headed to Havana's (I know what you're thinking, this sounds an awful lot like the last trip! Why mess up a good thing?). No really they were having a Mardi Gras party and Liana wanted to work her DJ moves so we figured it was a win win. Had some drinks, watched Liana gather beads, danced, watched Liana rock the DJ booth...hda some more drinks...watched Liana win the bead contest (like there was another possibility!!!!!). Good times had by all.

Saturday was nap, food, nap, airport. We got there at 5 for our 6 flight which was delayed 2 hours. AWESOME. Etihad really dropped the ball this trip. We had some dinner, spent as much time as possible in duty free, played with a crappy magic 8 ball, and then parked it until our flight. I had picked seats in a similar configuration as our trip over but apparently they got the memo that we were trouble and placed us all in a row in the very last row of the plane. Love sitting in the toilet. It really wasn't bad but just annoying, why let me pick seats if you are gonna change them. Alice had to work, Liana jammed, and I passed out. On the way home in the cab I had a slight incident. We started talking about my lack of memory of Thursday night again and the infamous photo and I had a mouth full of water. I knew it was either swallow it and likely die or spit it out....so I chose to spit it out all over my lap....cept half of it went down my throat anyway so now I'm wet and choking. It was pretty bad. But still pretty funny. Liana said she'd have given me CPR if needed, thanks girl.

Sucked we got home 2.5 hours later than expected but still got home by 11:30pm so it wasn't the end of the world.

I feel like there was other funny stuff to include but I'm drawing a blank. Alice is going on the wagon for 4 weeks, Liana is going half on the wagon and I'm the only one who is honest enough to say that its impossible. Ha. As I sit here and drink my wine and blog.

In other news....the brilliant coordinators of our high school reunion have decided that mid July really means the last weekend in July which is the same weekend that we're hitting Miami for Julie's bachelorette with 7 members of our class (7 awesome members!). We spent all this time working around mid July to get screwed anyway. Oh well....I'm pretty sure a long weekend in Miami with this crowd will be 1,000 times more fun than a HS reunion with kids running around.