time to go

I don't like the day before a big trip, especially if I'm not at work. I have way too much time to pack, repack, change my mind about what books I'm bringing on the plane, worry about what snacks I'm going to eat, worry about my blackberry and MP3 player battery dying, and wonder if it's okay to wear clothes that haven't been washed in 3 weeks for a 28 hour trip.

Disaster was imminent when I realized yesterday that I had accidentally forgotten to remove my crackers from the filing cabinet I've been using at work before I locked it and turned in the keys. I realized right before I was leaving work that my crackers which I had been planning to eat on the plane ride home were in the cabinet and not in R's cabinet (I moved them because he was eating them).

I was stuck in a conundrum. If I asked for the key back they would wonder what I had locked in the cabinet that was so important, and they would send the tea boy to spy on me to make sure I wasn't stealing something. When he saw I was removing my crackers he would automatically assume it was so I could eat them even though we were forbidden to eat anything (some companies cut westerners a break on ramadan - this company is not one of them). As soon as I went back into the conference room where I was working he would tell the whole office I was eating and then people would be rude to me even if I could prove I didn't eat the crackers. So I had to leave them, knowing, since I had dinner at R's, I wouldn't have time to get more (Spinney's sells crackers, sure, but not the right crackers).

Then, today, I had opened a bottle of wine at 5:30 (strictly forbidden to have any alcohol during ramadan, though the shops sell it, you just aren't supposed to let anyone know you have it) to breathe while I finished up my packing. I also had a tea light candle (also forbidden in the hotel) on the desk next to the bottle of wine to make my room not smell like smoke, which seems to be leaking into my room through the air con.

I was opening an apparently highly pressurized box of tea to put into a bag so I could bring it home (best tea, it's arabic, no idea what's in it) when the box exploded and the tea went everywhere. The box also slipped out of my hand knocking over the bottle of wine which also knocked the candle off of my desk. So the wall and the carpet were coated with half a bottle of red wine (wah) and candle wax. I also ruined the ramadam kareem iftare and sohour menu that was nicely printed and sitting like a little tent on my desk.


I've spent the past half hour cleaning the wine off of the wall. I couldn't get it out of the carpet so I trimmed it with my scissors, cutting off the top of the stained parts. It's under the desk so hopefully they won't notice the carpet is a little shorter under there. Not sure what to do about the wax, but maybe they won't notice until I'm gone.

It's definitely time to go.