*Sniff*

Hopped up on Arabian Claritin in an effort to stem the amazonian flow from my stupid nose and to pop the bubble of my head. I woke early yet again to find that I was feeling even worse this morning than I was last night, when I wobbled around the flat, sneezing unnecessarily often, eyes glazing over mid-page. A fine way to spend my last week off. In an effort to ease the brain drain, Azzam gave me the Claritin, which stated that I must look at the enclosed paper in the box for dosage information. I carefully unfolded it and tried to focus and refocus my eyes in an effort to make sense of it until I realised I was reading the Arabic side.

Still recovering emotionally from yesterday's great excursion out into the shopping malls of Dubai in a futile exercise in buying trousers. Apparently I can't even squeeze into a British size 16 here, even though I could have sworn I was swimming in 12s back in Turkey. My ego is pretty bruised from the effort, especially since I tried trousers from a number of places in both Lamcy plaza and the Burjuman. I eased my turmoil and tried to foster hope with a low fat latte and macrobiotic detox plan book at Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf, up on the top floor of the Burjuman.

I suppose this all means I must go trouserless from now on. I shall teach in underpants and blouse. I dare my students to question me.