Rachel’s Reflections

Yesterday we had the PRT (physical readiness test) at work.  We all met at 5:45 a.m.  First we did the Sit and Reach, where we sit on the ground and reached forward and touched our toes.  I think this one’s rather silly, and I’ve always gotten the impression others do too.  I’ve never know anyone to fail it.

Then we did curl-ups or if you like, sit-ups.  We have two minutes to do as many as we can.  I did 44, which is the minimum for my age group.  It just wasn’t a good day for sit-ups for me.

Then we did push-ups.  Again, we have two minutes to do as many as we can.  I always reach the “as many as I can” well before the two minutes are over.  I’ve never been good at push-ups.  This time I did 17, which is good for me.  I only have to do 13, so I’m quite pleased with my results on this part.

And then finally, we did the run, the part everyone dreads the most.  We have to run 1.5 miles.  For my age group I have 16 minutes and some odd seconds to do it in, but I was aiming at 15:30 and then I felt I was doing well enough I could maybe do it in 15:00 minutes.  But I did it in 15:18 instead.  So it was a little disappointing for me, but I passed.  I passed everything.  So that’s good.  Now I don’t have to do it again for six months–theoretically–due to the climate here, it’ll probably be in March.  And it was warm (I don’t know the temperature, but when I say “warm” I mean anything between 85F and 99F) and humid.  And I’ve never run well in humid weather.  So I guess I should be satisfied.

Today I’ve been a little sore, but that will pass.  If I ever stop working so many hours (I’ve been working between 60 and 70 hours a week) I’m going to go back to swimming at the pool.  If I can get off by 1700 (5:00 p.m.) every night, I can go to the pool for an hour or so before supper and home.  If I work hard, maybe I can swim the PRT next spring.  That would be cool.  No more running and wheezing and my lungs hurting!  (Hopefully that won’t happen with swimming.)

I also got sick yesterday with a migraine that didn’t respond to medication, even two doses of migraine medication (Zomig).  Up until now, Zomig has worked just fine.  So I had to go home early, and today I still have a headache, but since I’m 90%  better I’ve been ignoring it.  I’ve been really tired and sluggish today, though.  I hope tomorrow’s better–I have a real busy day tomorrow, with a big project to do that I’ve been putting off and which is due tomorrow.  (Isn’t it amazing how many things you find to do when you’re avoiding a particular task?  You can be so productive and get so much done when you’re getting everything but what’s truly important done.)  So tomorrow I have to get it done.

And I have to be at work tomorrow at 0500, so I think I’ll call it a night.  Good night.

Mom’s been visiting me. She got here on the 14th and she goes back soon.  I’m sorry about that; this visit has seemed so short.  But I’ve really enjoyed having her here.

Jeremy and I have taken her around to see various places.  We took her to see several historical sites: a couple of old, traditional Arabic houses where the rooms are built around a central courtyard and to some ruins: notably the oldest mosque in Bahrain and a 4,000 year old village, and an old fort that the Portugese built and also to the Burial Mounds, which just look like mounds of dirt but are actually graves thousands of years old.  We also took her to the zoo where I got attacked by a bird–I’ll try to post pictures later.  We took her to church and she and I also went to base to watch Jeremy play football (American football, not “real” football).  We haven’t gotten to see everything, but we’ve done a lot.  Other sailors are always telling me there’s nothing to do in Bahrain and they wouldn’t bring their families out because there’s nothing to do.  I don’t know what they call “something to do” because I find plenty to do.  We haven’t even taken Mom to see the museum or the other two forts or the Barbar Temple or the Grand Mosque or the Tree of Life yet.  So if anyone wants to come visit us, there’s plenty of stuff to see–unless you don’t like historical things–then maybe not so much.

One way Mom’s been a real blessing here is that she’s been helping me get organized.  I couldn’t get the whole week off, but they did let me work half days, so I would come home at noon and Mom and I would work around the house getting clothes organized and books shelved and boxes unpacked from our move back in the middle of August.  I bought some plastic organizer drawers at the NEX (Navy Exchange), and we used those to organize the clothes.  I have closets and some shelves but very little in the way of drawers, and things like socks go better in drawers, so putting things in the plastic drawers has helped a great deal.  My clothes storage area looks so much neater now.

So I’m glad Mom came.  For those of you in Illinois–thanks for letting her go for a couple of weeks.  I’ve heard that a couple of you (I won’t name names) think she’s been gone an awful long time, but for me it seems that she’s been here just a short time.  I wish she could be here a bit longer.  But I’m glad she could come for the time that she has.  Now if I could just get the rest of my family to come visit me….  (Jeff and Betsy, we should talk about this…)