As I mentioned before, on Sunday (9th) I turned 30. The festivities for this momentous occasion were due to take place on the preceding Friday, but – as the title of this post may have given away – an outbreak of plague interfered with our fun and games over the weekend.
O and I both have stinky colds. That’s right… have! We’re both still suffering. Woe is us.
O spent last week stoicly pretending that he was alright really, while steadily getting worse and worse. I started to feel the onset of my cold on Wednesday but thought it would be the usual case of the sniffles and that by the weekend I’d be fine.
Friday morning saw us both feeling terribly sorry for ourselves and I was able to convince O that we should reschedule the birthday festivities for the next weekend. After a couple of hours of protesting on his behalf, he gave in and rang the restaurant. Ten minutes later we were both gently suffering on the sofa watching episodes of the US version of The Office and he told me how relieved he was that we’d cancelled. By 7pm (the time that we would have been sitting down to dinner had we not cancelled) we were quietly dying, each in our own personal circle of hell, and the relief that we had cancelled was immeasurable.
Sunday rolled around and I had to go to work… boo! Though I wasn’t feeling too much better I thoroughly enjoyed the special birthday breakfast (with a toast tasting experience – half marmite and the other half cut in two again with black-current jam on one bit and a praline spread on the other – tea, juice and a little dish with vitamins and a decongestant) and beautiful gift, both provided by O.
Work was work and not over quickly enough. On Sunday evening we went to one of our favourite restaurants, Rodeo Grill at the Beach Rotana hotel, for dinner with our friends D and R. The food was lovely as ever and the company was superb, but unfortunately I was still feeling pretty rough and couldn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to.
These last couple of days have seen O get better and then worse again and me just get worse. We are keeping our fingers tightly crossed that we both feel human again by this Friday coming for the Celebrate/Commiserate Foreigner Turning 30 – Attempt #2 because if we cancel again then I don’t think there will be an Attempt #3.
On a slightly more fun note, last Thursday I was invited (along with my deputy editor) to the launch of a Korean food night at a hotel not too far from work. It was great! I got to meet the Korean Ambassador, ate some delicious food and got a teensy bit tipsy on Soju – a Korean drink that kind of like Sake, only much sweeter. If anyone in Abu Dhabi is reading, I thoroughly recommend heading to the Holiday Inn on a Thursday night for some delicious food!
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