Creepy stares, Filipino waiters & weekends

I'm really feeling tired. And it's not because I don't have enough sleep. I get at least 6 hour or more of sleep every night. So I don't know what exactly is attributing to this feeling of tiredness all the time. Probably it’s the feeling of being homesick. I never thought I’d get homesick. All this while, when I’ve travelled to another country, there’s always so much to do and so much to see and I’m always surrounded by a bunch of wacky individuals who will just find things to do which makes the time just whiz by and before you know it, it’s time to go back home. But this time, it’s different. No doubt the days are also zooming by but the feeling that I have here is that ‘I want to go home’. It’s probably because I’m here alone at the client’s place. And I feel so lost and lonely here. Yes, the people here are nice but at the end of the day, I’m not one of them and am still just the consultant. Thanks goodness for Mel who’s here in Bahrain with me. If she’s not here, I really would be feeling even lonelier. So at least we’ve got each other. Sounds so sad, doesn’t it? But unfortunately, it is. And I normally wouldn’t mind venturing off by myself to explore places but it just doesn’t feel safe here. It probably is, but the stares that I get is just creepy and makes me want to run back and hide. As I’ve mentioned before, even driving in a car, I get stares. And Bahrain is supposed to be quite liberal. It’s just because I’m such a rare species here. And people just can’t get make out what I am. Chinese? Filipino? Japanese? Korean? Singaporean? Thai? Never once, have those who asked me said Malaysian. :p There are even some who don’t know where Malaysia is! Anyway, I really don’t know what I’m going to do when I come back here in January. Probably just stay at home and just go to the malls. At least there, I don’t get stares.

Boss was around the past few days, so we’ve been going out with him every night for dinner then drinks. By the time we get home, it’s be nearly midnight. And we usually sleep around 10 pm here! So anyway, dinner with boss was fun though. Both nights. Tired as we were, drinks were also fun. Had drinks at the Ritz-Carlton’s Trader Vic’s the first night. The second night, we had Thai food at this really posh restaurant. Huge place. As usual, forgot to take photos. Anyway, they were only serving their buffet spread last night which costs 12 BD ++ per person! And there were 6 of us! But boss being boss, said never mind, let’s just eat here coz there was no where else we could think of to go around the area. Anyway, the variety wasn’t that good, but there was an free flow of sparkling white wine J Had a few glasses. Food was so-so. Obviously we can get better back home. Anyway, me being me after a few drinks, started to talk to the waiters and waitresses there. Some of them were actually from Thailand. Most were from the Philippines, though. One of the waiters actually worked in Malaysia before for 2 years. So he started talking to me in Malay. Then, one of the waiters tried to hit on me. :p I just ran back to my seat and didn’t look at him after that. Damn shy.

Anyhow, the weekend is approaching. Am looking forward to it. At least it’d be nearer to my departure date. Plus I’ll get to lame and rest and wake up late. And we can rent a car and drive around to places we still haven’t been to. Better than having nothing to do. But before that, there’s still today and Thursday to get through!

It’s been a busy week… and I just got a mail saying that thing are not going as planned in Qatar. Possibility of me needing to extend my stay here. :p But nevertheless, I’m supposed to be revalidating my ticket today and will stick with the confirmed date as of now.

Had a whole bunch of meetings today. It’s now 4 pm and I’ve got only about another an hour or so before I have to get my ass to the airline office before they close.

One more day to the weekend!