Quick Update

This week started off on a bit of a low; Ottilie was a bit under the weather so we decided to call the Pediatrician around to take a quick look (one of the great things about living in Syria that you just have to call the doctors and they'll generally be round later that day, but in this case the Pediatrician was round within twenty minutes!).

He quickly diagnosed, after much screaming objections from Ottilie, that she had an ear infection as a result of the cold she had, which he said was pretty common and one of the first things he checks. So, Ottilie has been on a second (the first being to prevent another Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)) dose of antibiotics and these ones were particularly unpleasant and not at all appreciated twice a day and 3.5ml per dose by Ottilie which made giving them not much fun either.

But the week ended nicely with Ottilie back to her happy self with the antibiotics having done their job, but she's now learning to talk, spending most of this morning shouting "mamama"!

It's been a little bit stressful also this week what with all the demonstrations in Daraa and in support around Damascus and Hama this weekend. Hopefully things will settle down, but who knows? Although it feels safe enough (we're obviously avoiding any demonstrations but can't fail to see both pro and anti Bashar supporters driving around and the sound of ambulance and police sirens on the Mezzeh autostrada) we always have that niggling apprehension of getting evacuated in the back of our minds... so we'll be happy to be out of the country for the next week or so on our planned trip for the girls to see their grandparents.

Time to relax

We have a long weekend here in Damascus this weekend; Monday was a planned holiday but midweek the rumours started that Sunday would also be announced as a holiday and sure enough, midday Thursday it was formally announced at work, typically with such short notice that we're left with insufficient time to organise a short holiday!

What with our short trip to Beirut last week and our planned trip to the UK next week, we decided to take it easy and stay in Damascus, so now I have a bit of time to write a short post while the girls are having their afternoon naps.

Ottile has come on a lot this week. Not only is she becoming more photogenic, she continues to smile lots, is now laughing more and more and for the first time properly ate! She had some Thai sticky rice at the beginning of the week and couldn't get enough of it!

Maybe because she's supplementing her milky diet, but Ottilie's in a rush to put on the weight, now up to 8.6 kg. She enjoys having Beatrice around, laughing at her fooling around and very tolerant of Beatrice when she sometimes forgets that Ottilie is just a small baby and unintentionally is a little rough with her.

To balance things out a little, Beatrice continues to be quite a handful! Her default response to most of our questions is "No" and it gets quite tiring having to negotiate and walk that fine line where it is so easy to spark off a tantrum. But still, she's a pretty, smart and cheeky little two year old, so I suppose it's all part of the deal!

Trip to Beirut

This weekend we decided to brave the snow and rain and venture again over the mountains and across the boarder to Beirut for some retail therapy with the girls. Maybe it was the snow or maybe it was Beatrice's singing while waiting in the queue, but for the first time we were given our visas for Lebanon for free (and rightly so as I've argued before with the passport control guys as the sign clearly indicates that it's free to enter for one day); Flo was very happy at the achievement which she put down to her good humour with the official.

The journey, which is hectic at the best of times, was particularly perilous this weekend as there had been quite a dump of snow up in the mountains and the snow clouds were still thickly smeared across the mountain tops. On the way down towards Beirut the melt waters use the roads as the easiest route down to the sea making it slippy and also difficult to spot the many potholes.

We arrived in Beirut in one piece and had time to visit the little slice of heavenly retail cake (bare in mind we live in Damascus) that is the Grand ABC mall. Here we bought the kids some toys and treated ourselves to some proper burgers at Casper and Gambini's (they serve a selection of mini burgers, one of which Beatrice polished off on her own).

After arriving at the our Hotel (Hotel de Ville), the girls had their afternoon sleep and then we headed out for dinner. We planned to eat at Al Dente, but they don't open until 20:30 which was a little too late for Beatrice. We therefore went to Le Relais de L'Entrecote but were surprised to discover that they ONLY serve steak and frites which was of course not suitable for Beatrice who NEEDS her vegetables.

In the end, we popped up the road and settled on the Japanese restaurant Sake and we weren't disappointed; the food was excellent and Beatrice devoured a plateful of saute'd vegetables as well as helping out Flo and I with our orders; even Ottilie was catered for with some cucumber sticks.

This morning we found a large supermarket (TSC Plus close to the Grand ABC Mall) where we stocked up supplies to the tune of about USD 600 and I'm surprised that we managed to get it all in the car, let alone drive it back over that steep and bumpy road back to Damascus and not get charged for importing goods at the boarder, but the plucky little Land Rover takes it all in it's stride like a little donkey.

The boarder crossing was without major incident and thank heavens Apple invented the iPhone which turns out to be perfect for entertaining Beatrice in the back of the car while her mum is getting passports and visas stamped (blagging her way through the Diplomatic desks to avoid the queues at the normal desks).

A Typical Weekend

You know you're an expat when you have the luxury problem of deciding which club you're going to join this summer. This weekend we visited a place a colleague of mine told me about called the Yafour Hotel and Resort. It appeals because, unlike a lot of places here in Syria, you can use the pool during the winter as they erect a glass house over it and continue to heat it.

Even better is that you don't have to actually join the place to use the pool but can pay per session and so Flo asked if we could come along the following day with Beatrice, to which the response was "of course". So, we arrived this morning only to find that a full on event with children racing in lanes and enthusiastic adults cheering them on was taking place and we had to disappoint Beatrice by telling her we wouldn't be swimming today. It sounds a bit petty, but it's little things like this that can make expat life a bit frustrating sometimes.

Fortunately, we're still members of the Hacienda Country Club, so Beatrice still got to play outside in the fresh air.

Completely unrelated, I took some pictures of Ottilie this morning, including this one of her cute little hands...

Ottilie's Got a Tooth!

The pediatrician came around this week to give Ottilie her vaccinations and while he was here Flo asked him to update Ottilie's stats (it's better to have her measured by the same person for consistency!). She's now 8.1kg and 67cm long, although we doubt the length measured since she's almost out of size 68 and already wearing some size 74 clothes (although that could be her build?).

But the breaking news from today is that her first tooth has poked through; her bottom right front one! Hopefully this helps explain Ottilie's aversion to sleeping at the moment and gives Flo some light at the end of the sleep deprivation tunnel!

Anyway, Sophie the giraffe better watch out... she'll be punctured with little tooth marks soon!