I have had a couple of those moments, this last week, where one says, 'only in Pakistan'!
The first was whilst shopping for food on Thursday. Many of my readers may know that I am a 'part time vegetarian'. Personally, I have no moral objection to the eating of meat. However, I do have a real issue about how animals raised for meat are treated. I can see no reason, other than financial, for the obscene factory farming that goes on in the UK. This is particularly true in the production of poultry and eggs. Confining 4 or 5 chickens to a cage not much bigger than a microwave, is to my mind obscene and totally unnecessary. In my mind all animals should come under the personal care of Hugh Fernley Whittingstall and live as a good a life as they can before coming to the table.
Imagine my dilemma when I bought eggs at Ebco, to find on the label, not only were they battery eggs, but there were photos and an explanation of the virtues of the said methods of production!! Usually, it is very difficult to find information on the source of meat and eggs in Pakistan, so I avoid eating meat whilst here. It looks now that eggs may also be off the menu!
The second moment came on Saturday. Now, Health and Safety are two words that do not figure largely in the Pakistani vocabulary! After all this is the country where the electrician 'plugs' his extension cable into the wall by inserting two bare wires into the socket on the wall!! So imagine my surprise when I was told on Saturday that I couldn't buy matches at the petrol station, because it was unsafe!!!
Last night was Chand Raat (Moon night) which marked the end of Ramzan and the beginning of three days of Eid. this means that school is now closed until Thursday which is great. Tomorrow, Mr and Mrs Ryan and I am off to the country club for a day by the pool and then they are hosting a brunch at their house on Wednesday.
Saturday saw a select birthday party for Tamkeen (Mrs Ryan), chez nous. It was presents all round as the Ryans presented me with my birthday present, a beautiful Afghani rug and I had bought Tamkeen an earthenware cat from Prague. This was to replace her real cat that had to be rehomed after Andrew developed an allergy to him.
Swimming training starts in earnest on Thursday for the school swim team. A small squad are entered for the Sindh Open in October and we have about 3 weeks to get them up to scratch, so we will be training 5 nights a week. We are also entered for the BSME Inter School Swimming Chamionships, but theses ar enot until April so we have time yet to prepare. One of the jobs ofr these days of is to come up with the trainning schedule so I hade better get on with that.
May I wish all my readers Eid Mubarak...
Monday, 21 September 2009
Saturday, 5 September 2009
Here I go again...
I had very similar feelings on landing back here in Karachi, on Monday morning, as I had had when arriving in Manchester. That being a feeling of never having been away! Everything was much as I had left it, and I was welcomed back home by the sound of generators running!!
The other slight inconvenience was that the fridge had given up the ghost, whilst I had been away. Thankfully, a couple visits by the engineer and Mr Habib doing a little shouting the fridge is now functioning normally and Biquees is able to fill it with lots of delicious food.
School started back on Wednesday for the staff, and we have a series of meetings and CPD sessions. I have also finished the timetable, which I thought I had done before Wednesday. When I arrived in school I was told that our part time maths teacher had resigned, as her husband had a new job in Jeddah! So it was back to the drawing board. I now have a version that works, and although it's not perfect I am pleased with the outcome.
Friday after school I needed to pop to Clippers for my pre season beauty treatments. I had two very enjoyable hours in the chair, in the capable hands of the marvellous Mavis, and I also discovered that I am part Ferengi!!
I have spent today in my jarmers and it has been nice just to lounge around. Tomorrow will be church followed by a trip to the supermarket to stock up on a few essentials and then finishing getting for Monday morning. The best news is that Ramadan is half way through and that Eid will be in two weeks, so that means school will be closed, it's a hard life being a teacher...
The other slight inconvenience was that the fridge had given up the ghost, whilst I had been away. Thankfully, a couple visits by the engineer and Mr Habib doing a little shouting the fridge is now functioning normally and Biquees is able to fill it with lots of delicious food.
School started back on Wednesday for the staff, and we have a series of meetings and CPD sessions. I have also finished the timetable, which I thought I had done before Wednesday. When I arrived in school I was told that our part time maths teacher had resigned, as her husband had a new job in Jeddah! So it was back to the drawing board. I now have a version that works, and although it's not perfect I am pleased with the outcome.
Friday after school I needed to pop to Clippers for my pre season beauty treatments. I had two very enjoyable hours in the chair, in the capable hands of the marvellous Mavis, and I also discovered that I am part Ferengi!!
I have spent today in my jarmers and it has been nice just to lounge around. Tomorrow will be church followed by a trip to the supermarket to stock up on a few essentials and then finishing getting for Monday morning. The best news is that Ramadan is half way through and that Eid will be in two weeks, so that means school will be closed, it's a hard life being a teacher...
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