It's been some time, but we're still alive. In the intervening days, we've opened up the office for full operations and had my parents fly in for a visit. With changes at work at visitors at home (and not to mention the internet being out for a week at home), there just hasn't been much extra time!
William's enjoyed having his grandparents visit and loves having the extra people around to talk to and play with. He also enjoyed last Sunday at the Novotel in Hitech city - we went for brunch and to swim in the pool. He was quite the fish! By the end of the morning we had to watch him so closely because he would just jump in the pool not really waiting for someone to catch him! Luckily, there weren't any near misses. Then he swam so long we ended up skipping the brunch buffet, because he was so tired - oh well - next time.
Getting to swim, though, was an adventure. Our friends are members of a pool/tennis club near our house, and we had made arrangements to meet there at 10:30. Three families arrived (with a total of 6 kids between us, all of whom were ready to swim!) only to find that the pool was closed from 10:30 - 4. It is open from 6 - 10:30 and 4 - 8. When my member friend asked why, the guard replied it was too hot in the middle of the day to swim. She gently pointed out that that was the best time to go swimming, but this logic fell on deaf ears.
I can *sort of* understand the public parks being closed from 10 to 3 because of heat. After all, who wants to sit in direct sunlight or play on super hot play ground equipment in 100 to 120 degree weather? But a pool? That's a little weird. So, I asked the ladies at work, and they, of course, couldn't figure out why I was confused. They said maybe kids would want to go out, but the mothers certainly wouldn't because they would get too dark and ruin any attempts at skin whitening. Hmm... that's a new one. I also pointed out that there are brown outs and rolling black outs in the middle of the day, which would make swimming even more attractive. E.g., on Monday we were without power from 10 to 5. But, they still thought I was crazy for wanting to swim in the height of the heat.
So, maybe I'm crazy, but at least the Novotel is crazy along with me. We and the two other families packed up all 6 kids again, drove to the city outskirts, and had quite an enjoyable time. Next time, if William can stay awake for brunch, there's also aparently a bouncy castle - if it doesn't get too hot, that is!
3 comments:
Pam, you really need to be careful not to ruin your efforts at skin whitening! So far, you've been very successful. ;)
There was just a vingette about skin whitening in Asian countries on NPR today on my way home! What a coincidence!
yeah, even in local beaches in Greece they show up at 5pm b/c earlier it's "too hot" to be outside.
Perhaps once you live there you get that attitude...
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