The Farewell Parties of June

As I have mentioned before, June would be a month where many people leave to go on other projects around the world.  We have a couple of ladies going to The Netherlands, one going to Milan, Italy, another to Singapore, one to Thailand, one back to Australia, one back to Canada, one back to S Africa and then possibly back to the Middle East,  one to the US, one to Riyadh and probably others that I have missed in this list.  Supposedly, there are somewhere between 30-50 men leaving.  A big project that involves Exxon, Worley Parsons and KBR is over.  Also, we have several ladies leaving for the summer.  If this keeps up, it will be me and the gardeners here this summer.  :)

This week has been very strange seeing the moving trucks each day parked outside of friends' villas packing up their stuff.  A funny thing happens because  the ladies are frantically deciding what to bring with them and what to leave as it gets closer to their moving day.  They cannot bring food items.  So, they have given me an interesting assortment of groceries from around the world-Asian packaged mixes, tomato jelly, concentrated sugar cane natural vinegar, cans of strawberries, Louisiana shrimp and crab boil,  tons of spices, pasta, oregano olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pomegranate vinegar, Miracle grow, tortillas, fajita mixes, lots of interesting cheeses, etc. 

I have also gotten other things that I needed:  a vacuum cleaner (good timing because my old when just pooped out), a waste bin,  etc.  So, it is a little like Christmas getting all these presents. 

To acknowledge these ladies special contributions to our compound society while they were here, I had a party every week for four weeks honoring different ladies each party.  (Some ladies have slipped out of the Farewell party process by leaving when I wasn't here or when I was just getting back.   :(   )  Yesterday was the last one (until August).  So here is a description of the four parties.  It might take two blogs because of all the pictures.  :)

The first party was for two very young, very sweet girls.  The theme was flip flops and flowers.  We had an amazing assortment of foods.

 Here is the Ma Salama on the door:

The pictures that we signed for them:

One of the ladies here is from Germany.  When her daughter, who is in hotel management visited a few months ago, she taught us how to fold napkins.  And we have really used her info a lot lately.  Eileen has gotten very good at this.  Here are all the napkins that she folded:

Our centerpiece base is a South African Christmas tree base that a lady gave to me.  She and E helped decorate the tree with shells and flowers.

A place setting:

The celebrants:

And of course, the sweet young girls who we told goodbye:

 

The next party was for three ladies who play Mahjong.  So, of course, the theme was "Mahjonging in the Desert".

Ma Salama poster on the door:

Table settings, where you can see Eileen's napkin handiwork again:

Decorations:

Ladies of honor:

The beautiful cake that are compound restaurant made for the occasion:

I forgot to take a picture of the food!  :(

Party #3, Theme:  Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Here are a couple of ladies (British and Belgian) cutting out all the letters:

The two ladies of honor are just the sweetest and most kind ladies, making the theme very easy.
Here is the Ma Salama poster on the door:

 The theme:

On the cut out letters, I glued M&M's using regular Elmer's glue.  Well, unfortunately, I noticed that the glue melted some of the M&M's.  I was very afraid that the M&M's would start dropping, leaving a chocolate mess.  I kept the air conditioner, just below the sign, on all night to keep the M&M's in tact.  :)

 

Decorations (candies and cookies)

Table setting with a new style of napkin folded by Eileen:

Another beautiful cake by the compound restaurant:

 

The last party was yesterday.   K is a fun person who is always ready to help out or participate in an activity.  She is inclusive.  She invited me to engagement parties and to Jeddah, Zumba classes, etc.  Also, K is a very adventurous lady-loves snorkeling for shells and hiking in China.  I thought that the theme should be "Karla, the Adventuress" and have exotic or jungle decorations.  I asked a friend who speaks Arabic if she could tell me the Arabic word for "Adventuress".  She said that it would be difficult, but she would try.  After a couple of months, she emailed me that it was "ilmughara".   I made a big poster board displaying the theme:

 

 But when one of the guests, who is from Lebanon, looked at it and asked me about it, I explained about the theme, Karla, the explorer.  She said, "That is not actually what it says."  I asked what it said and she said, Karla of the Cave.  So, it was pretty funny!

The Ma Salama poster on the door:

Magic carpet of pictures:

Table settings:

 

Decorations:

 

For one of the centerpieces, I picked up tree branches during my farm visit, painted them bronze, and hung apples on it that had peoples memories of Karla on them.  Three friends decorated it with rushed fabric, butterflies, lizards and insects.

 

These were the centerpieces on the other tables:

 

 

Some of the food.  A rice dish made by a Serbian lady, in which she cut tomatoes to look like flowers:

My Belgian friend made this dish of fresh tuna stuffed in peaches on top of pineapple.

 By special request, an Italian friend made her famous Pavlova with fresh berries.

 The Ma Salama cake and the guest of honor (the lady from the cave)

I asked everybody to wear animal prints, if they could.  Unfortunately, I did not get a lot of pictures of the 25 people that were there. 

 

 

 

I was very lucky to meet and become friends with all these very lovely ladies.  I hope that we can meet up again in the future.