Thomas journals

Thanksgiving in Saudi -- ironically, as Thursday is the start of the Saudi weekend, taking off Thursday is what we do every week, so Thanksgiving is by definition a holiday.  We had long ago planned to attend the St.Andrew's Scottish Gala with colleagues -- 8 teacher-couples all told from our school and Cole's school booked hotel rooms in Bahrain for Thursday night.  We drove over to Bahrain mid-day, went to (fancy) beauty parlor and (Pakistani) barber shop, then got our hotel minivans to drive us out to the party, on a remote British compound.  Very Scottish, indeed...lots of kilts, including the UK ambassador who spoke of his Scottish roots.  After speeches and a surprisingly good dinner, a ceilidh band played and all danced for several hours.  What great fun...and the hotel van took us home.   The next day was easy with some shopping on the way back to Saudi. We were a bit hesitant about Bahrain, as news of demonstrations is troubling.  We saw several police cars, but no ov

We watched the sun set behind the winterline tonight -- the line of temperature inversion at around 6000 feet, where the dust and fog and smoke from ground level is trapped, forming a very distinct curtain behind which the sun's light completely disappears. We are now at 7500 feet, at the Rokeby Guest House in Landour Cantonment, Mussoorie. The guest house is a luxury renovation of Christopher's old school dormitory, so it is a special treat for us to stay a night here. We are visiting Woodstock School for a nostalgic return to the mountains and the campus, and particularly so that Coleman can meet up with his classmates before they all graduate from high school -- he will not be able to attend their graduation here, as he will be preparing for his own graduation in Dhahran next June. Our Eid-al-Adha holiday week allows just a few days in the mountains, given the lengthy travel time and the fact that Air India preponed our return flight by a day. It has been a marvelous