Ramadan, according to Laura

It’s interesting that I waited so long to blog about Ramadan … today is the last day of it. At least I got it in before it was done. So, now with my knowledge and understanding of Ramadan … regardless of how accurate it is …


Ramadan is, I guess, a “floating” holiday, for lack of a better word. Like Easter … it starts based on, well, astronomy. It runs according to a lunar Arabic calendar and is dependent on when the moon is in a certain phase that marks the 8th month of that calendar year. Because of this, Ramadan starts about 11-12 days earlier each year. Like, this year it started September 1 … next year it will start August 20-ish. So, in like 10 years it will fall in Spring rather than Fall. Since it is all calculated around the moon cycles, nothing is really written in stone with regard to the timing of things and events during this time.


During Ramadan, people get up an hour before sunrise and do some kind of breakfast ritual and have prayer time (this is never the same time twice, since sunrise is different every day). Then they don’t eat or drink anything again until sundown (which, again, changes each day). The idea is that it serves to remind them about the folks who are less fortunate than themselves, who don’t have food and water. It’s a way to commune and connect with those people. A way to remind themselves how fortunate they are to have plenty of food. Of course, it seems to me kind of extreme to deny yourself even water, especially when it’s 115 degrees outside, but no one asked me. I think, if one were REALLY looking, they might could find other ways to commune with the poor other than forcing their bodies into metabolic shock each day for a month. Like, I’m guessing the poor people aren’t sitting at home in their air conditioning watching satellite on their big screen TVs. Or, maybe, the poor aren’t sending their kids to dance/swimming/gymnastics/fill-in-the-blank lessons each week. I’m guessing, too, that they aren’t playing their PS2 or Wii games and maybe aren’t shopping at the malls or going to the movies. It seems like maybe giving up these things might be less taxing on one’s immune system (the whole darned island is sick at the moment, by the way!). Again, I wasn’t called upon for my opinion in the matter, though.


The thing that is the most scary about people doing this to themselves is the effect it has on ME and my family. Here we have people who have gotten up at roughly 3:30 in the morning, are starving and dehydrated, which both lead to irritability at lack of good judgment … most of the people on the verge of getting sick … and then we throw them in CARS and let them loose out there on the roads with the rest of us. Now, the people in Bahrain can’t drive as it is. And, I’m not even just talking the locals … it’s EVERYONE. I will just have to tell you stories about the things I’ve seen on a daily basis on the roads around here … there’s no way I could actually blog that stuff – my hands would go numb and fall off. But, here we’re adding to the ordinarily scary driving conditions with these half asleep, starved people who can’t think right. YIKES! Did I mention that I wasn’t requested to sit on the planning committee?


That being said, things are much quieter and laid back during this time. Most businesses have special hours, generally opening around 9:00 in the morning and closing up around 2:00pm, so people do have the opportunity to go back to bed and get a nap after they have done their morning thing. Also, the early closing gets them out and back home early, before the hottest part of the day and also in time so they can rest before Iftar (which is the breaking of the fast in the evening). The malls close up around 3:00 in the afternoon, then re-open at 7:00 at night. Our newest, biggest mall has just stayed closed until 4:00 in the afternoon, not even opening in the morning at all. And, of course, all the restaurants are closed until time for Iftar. That’s kind of strange, actually, because there are NO open places anywhere for snacks or drinks (except the grocery stores). All the restaurants, all the Starbucks, all the Costas, all the little tea houses and places … all closed all day. If you go to the mall in the morning, it’s weird to see all those places locked up with chairs on the tables. And, last weekend, Van and I went to see Tropic Thunder (HYSTERICAL!) one afternoon, so all the concessions were closed … no popcorn. Strange.


The really cool thing about Ramadan is the emphasis on charity. Schools and clubs all over the place take part in collection and donation. The kids in Connor’s school painted clay money pots and spent a couple of weeks putting loose change in them. They went back to school last week with their pots and they had a ceremonial smashing of said pots and gathered up all the coins. They ended up with DB1300, which is about $3000, that the school then sent off to a charity organization that donates to poor families on the island. It’s a great time of compassion and giving, which is very cool.


Mid-Ramadan is called Gerga’uon. Families will get all dressed up in their finest duds and go out on the evening of Gerga’uon, walking around, knocking on the doors of their neighbors, who will greet them with some blessing of well being and then give them date sweets and nuts. Might make a Westerner think of Halloween, without the scary masks. At Kayleigh’s school they had a festival that day in celebration of Gerga’uon and the kids all went to school in “traditional” dress. I found a little abaya that would fit her and then got her a pretty head scarf with pink-flower bling.

I didn’t know how to do her scarf, but one of the teachers helped us out on that one. It was really cool. Both kids came home with favors and small gifts and had a great day at school.

Not being Muslim, we didn't do the traditional thing of going to the neighbors' houses, but now that I think about it, we could have gone around to our neighbors here in the compound and maybe given them some treats (which is kind of backwards, but that's just the kind of folks we are). Maybe I'll do that next year.

After Ramadan there is a 5 day holiday called Eid Al Fitr. It’s basically just a celebration that people can eat and drink again, as far as I can tell. But, I’m guessing it’s a 5 day party. Again, it’s unclear exactly when Ramadan ends and Eid begins, until the last minute, because it depends on the moon. As a matter of fact, we didn’t know until about an hour ago that Eid actually will start tomorrow … it had been figured for either tomorrow or Wednesday, but it was unsure until the powers that be were able to see the moon and know if it was time (at least, that’s my understanding of it). But, when the kids left school this afternoon, we didn’t know if they’d be going back tomorrow or if that would be their first day of for Eid … so I had to come home and make sure they had clean uniforms, just in case. Now we know … Eid starts tomorrow. Starbucks here I come!!

So, that’s what I’ve learned so far about Ramadan and the customs surrounding it. Next year Ramadan will be an interesting time, with the way it will fall on the calendar. Maybe by then I’ll have learned a lot more and will have more information to add. Here’s to learning and bridging the gap!

Getting Cultured

One of the cool things about getting to come here to the Middle East is having the opportunity to learn about the culture here. Sure, Bahrain is crawling with ex-pats and it’s really pretty westernized, but it IS an Arabic country and it’s neat to be able to expand my understanding about the folks here … which really isn’t a stretch, since I knew nothing about the Arabs and their culture 6 months ago.

For example, here in Bahrain the weekend used to be Thursday and Friday, like it is in Saudi. Friday is the Muslim holy day, which I guess would be like what Sunday is for Christians in the States. It’s pretty quiet around here on Friday morning, and most mom-and-pop type shops stay closed on Friday. But, about 2 years ago they changed the weekend to Friday and Saturday, to make it closer to the weekends we have in the States and Europe. Since more than half of the working folks here are with companies in those other countries and it is easier to run business with the work week more closely following the days abroad. Obviously, they had to keep Friday as a weekend day, so that’s why the weekend is still a day off from the weekend at home. A neighbor of ours had just gotten here from England before they changed the weekend, and they were telling us how strange it was, that one day you just expected the weekend to start on Thursday and then it came down overnight practically that they were changing it. Could you imagine that happening at home? I mean, think of all the red tape, the voting, the congressional meetings, the planning … and that’s just the legislative part of it. Then you’d have all the businesses in the country having to revamp, reschedule, and re-plan everything around the change of days. It would take YEARS to implement something like that in the States. Here, it was just a matter of an announcement, and it was done. I guess that’s how it works when a king is running the show.

Every day, we’re learning more about the folks and customs here. It’s kind of cool. Like, we found out pretty early on that the Arabs actually smell really good! I don’t know why, but I had it in my mind that the people out here would be stinky, but Arabs are almost obsessively clean people and they all really smell good. Who knew! The Indians and Paki’s … well, that’s another matter.

It’s also interesting that the Muslims pray 5 times a day. No matter where they are, at prayer times, they drop and kneel. Most malls and shopping centers have prayer rooms where folks can go when the Call to Prayer starts ringing out. There are big Mosques, of course, but there are also small mosques around so no one is far from a place to pray when it is time. They are everywhere. And, they all have big loud speakers so you can always hear the Call to Prayer when it’s time. No matter where you are. It’s kind of a cool cultural experience to have that going on. And, even though I’m not Muslim, it’s kind of neat to hear the Call to Prayer, because it does remind me to be quiet for a moment and connect with Spirit in my own terms.

On the 1st of this month, Ramadan started, which is a month long “holiday”, characterized by daily fasting, traditional rituals and charitable acts. It’s kind of a neat deal, actually. And, I’m sure there is a lot about this time of year that I’m not fully understanding yet, but it’s interesting. I will explain what I know about Ramadan in the next entry. I don’t want to make this so long that no one will read it. Ha! I’ve probably already lost half of you.

Now … WAKE UP … because there will be a quiz when I’m done discussing Arabic culture. So, keep on your toes!

All the fun

Oh man ... are we sorry we missed all the hurricane excitment! I love a good hurricane. What's fun is to get a whole mess of folks together in one house and just hole up. Plenty of non-parishables, booze, water, coolers, tubs and buckets full of "flush" water, first aid kits, gas for the grill (or if you're REALLY roughing it, charcoal), Jiffy Pop, batteries, flashlights, candles, cameras, radios on the ready ... then just make piles of pillows and blankets and everyone snuggle in for the excitement. That was back in my Florida days ... before anyone had laptops and cell phones. Now I guess those would be added to the mix, all charged up and ready to go.

With Rita, we didn't get much of a party, despite my efforts. I kept trying to get people to come hunker down at my house, but we didn't have many takers. Van's mom and a couple of her friends came. Of course, AFTER the storm, when everyone was running without electricity, THEN we had people ready to come stay. That was okay, too, though. I'll take social hour whenever I can get it. We were really fortunate with Rita ... nothing happened to us at all. We didn't even lose satellite TV. All around us, though, it was messy. My parents in Woodville really had a time, with their electricity being out for something crazy like 4 weeks.

Anyway, Connor and I have been missing home the last week or so (if Van and Kayleigh are being nostalgic, they are doing so quietly). I had even thought about trying to get back a couple of weeks in December, but decided that it wouldn't be nice to leave Van here and go back to all our friends and family for Christmas without him. But then, with Ike, I really felt bad. Missing everyone ... wanting to be around the people I care about during all the excitement. And even missing the weather. I know that sounds strange, but you guys know how much I love a good storm and here there isn't much beyond 42 degrees C and clear skies. Just nostalgic.

But, I want you to know, Friday evening we went over to some friends house that Van works with and that are also from Houston, and we took a bottle of rum and a packet of Pat O'Brien's Hurricane mix. We toasted to all of you, and sat in the pool drinking Hurricanes with little orange slices and umbrellas in them.

We are thinking about you! We hope everyone fared well.

Cheers.

We SCORED!

Yesterday I saw Charmin Big Roll toilet paper in a 12-pack. Yes! Charmin ... Big Roll ... 12-pack ... at the Alosra supermarket yesterday. WOOHOO!!

If you aren't impressed, let me know and I'll send you a couple of squares of our usual Bahraini butt-scratch fare (2 squares ... that IS the allotted amount of toilet paper for the eco-friendly as put down by Alanis Morissette, right? Or was it Sheryl Crow ... I get them all confused).

And here's an aside that has nothing to do with toilets or soap-box-crawling singers, but I thought it was interesting ...

The other day at Kayleigh's school, her teacher was discussing some learning program online with another European couple whose kid is in Kayleigh's class. She was saying that this program was really good, except it is American, so it is all done with an American accent. Ha! Funny woman! She thinks we are the one's who have an accent ... she doesn't understand that it is the Europeans who talk funny. ;)

The School Drama … how it ended up

Okay … so I believe I left off where I was swearing to the heavens that I would never, under any circumstances, send my child to that mind-numbing, brain-stifling place that someone wanted to call a “school”. That’s a good place to pick back up …

We kept up with the British schools pretty closely after we went back to the States and started getting ready for the move. We made sure to send them copies of all the documents they needed as we got a hold of them, we immediately gave them our address and Van’s phone number as soon as we had those, and we just knew that even though they couldn’t tell us at that moment whether or not there would be a place for the kids at either of the schools, we felt sure that we had gotten our applications in early enough and at least one of them would have a spot for us.

When Van came here in May to get all his documents and medical evaluations, he visited both of the schools and then I got his report … neither of them had open spots for this Fall. It looked like our only hope at that point for Connor to go to school this year was to go back and get him applied at that blasted American school.

I almost pulled the move right then and there (ha! Okay … so that’s a little dramatic … but this IS my drama, isn’t it?)

There were two nightmares I had about this whole thing. One was there being some “I” that wasn’t dotted properly that would either keep Pooka from being able to get on the plane in Houston or off the plane in Bahrain … and two was this school!

I immediately got online and sent emails to both of the British schools, telling them what date we would be arriving here and when could we set up an interview time for them to meet with the kids (this is a common occurrence at schools here). I never heard back from one of them (later, once we had gotten here, I called and they told me there was no purpose in having a meeting like that since there was no way possible there would be a place for them this year), the other one wanted to see the kids right away and we went in the first day we were here. They told us that they would contact us in a week or two.

In the meantime, I went to the mall to pick up the application to the American school. I wasn’t ready to put money down for the application fee quite yet, but I had the paper in my hand if we needed it.

Sure enough, two weeks later, the British School of Bahrain called to tell me that we had good news! Both of the kids had positive interviews and were both accepted into BSB. HOWEVER … at the moment, we were on the waiting list and there were no available spots for this Fall. I asked how far down the list we were and she said that she couldn’t really give out that information, but she could tell me that there were people on that list who had applied back in January for this same term. Lovely.

At that point, we already had the kids in a summer camp program at a British pre-school and they had openings for Kayleigh’s age, so we got her in there for the Fall … Budaiya Pre-School. I was okay with that, knowing that she would be starting with the proper curriculum and when a spot opened at BSB she would fit right in with no problem.

But, I was forced at that point to apply for Connor at my nightmare school. Of course, we knew we were in there. They had a huge new school building they needed to fill up and a lot of really high paid teachers that would be wanting a paycheck, so getting in to this school wouldn’t be an issue. They didn’t have people beating down their doors to get in.

So, we resigned ourselves to it. We got the school uniform … we arranged bussing for him since the school is roughly 20 minutes away (and maybe longer when school actually starts) and it begins at 8:00 am, which is the same time Kayleigh’s school begins on this end of the island, roughly 6 minutes from our house … and 11 days ago he went in for his interview with that school. At the interview I learned that the school isn’t finished being built yet, but was assured that classes would start as scheduled. It’s actually a wonder that they know the school isn’t finished, since no one at the school office knows how to GET to the school site. When we first applied, we asked how to get there, because we wanted to take a look and see where it was and what progress was being made. No one could tell us. What’s funny about that, too, is they have a big map on the wall showing the area but ONLY the area of the school and housing community … not where any of it is on the island or in relation to anything else. It isn’t even oriented properly … I think they have North pointing kind of down and to the right. They must also take pride in their “temporary map reading” as well.

You can imagine, Connor was accepted. We went down and got our photo badge for the parents, and filled out a medical history form and got the invoice (yeah, that would be that crazy amount I told you about yesterday … plus a BD50 book deposit … roughly $130). Van took the invoice to his office first thing last week and we began the wait for the check to be cut and then for school to start this Tuesday.

Van left to go supervise a bit run on a rig this past Thursday morning, and wasn't sure how long he'd be gone (he's still there, as a matter of fact). The check hadn’t been cut yet, but everything was worked out with a friend of ours who is also waiting on a check for that same school to pick it up from accounting for us and get it to me.

Thursday morning at about 11:00 I get an email that says the following:

“Dear Mr & Mrs Brackin

A space has become available in year 1 and it is therefore with great pleasure that we would like to offer Connor a place in Year 1 starting on the 2th September 2008 at 07h45.

Should you wish to accept the place, please respond by return email or call the admissions office.”

... from BSB.

I got in touch with Andy (our friend who would be helping get the school check to us) who happened to be in the office that day and who happened to be there with the guy who handles such things as school checks ... keep in mind, Thursday is their Saturday) and he sent me an email later to say that everything had been cancelled with that school and that it would be fine for me to submit the new BSB invoice on Monday. I went and got the BSB school packet today with all the things I need to finish filling out and I then took the invoice to Andy’s house so he can submit that tomorrow to the company. I exchanged the other school uniform for the BSB one and I found out what I need to do to cancel the bus service. We made the trial runs ... BSB is about 15 minutes from here and his class starts at 7:45 am ... then it is less than 10 minute from there to Kayleigh’s school which starts at 8:00. Perfect!

We are ready for the British School of Bahrain! And you will all be so excited when you receive Christmas cards from Connor this year using real, honest to goodness, PERMANENT spelling.

As a footnote ... there still wasn’t a spot for Kayleigh at BSB for this term, but we only paid Budaiya for one term at a time and with Connor being a student there now, she has just been moved up on the list. She will probably make it there for the 2nd term. However it works out ... and it DOES work out, there’s obviously no doubt about that ... we’re happy with her at Budaiya for now and if a spot doesn’t open up even until next year, she’s in a good place for now.

The School Drama … how it began

Several of you know some part of this story. But, I have to start at the beginning in order for the ending to make sense. So, skim over the parts you know … but not too fast, because there may be some vital detail that you had missed the first go around.

As soon as we knew we were coming out here, I started looking up the school situation for the kids. I did my research and made my lists. Some schools were immediately disregarded, others needed to be set up with pros and cons in an Excel spreadsheet, and there were 2 right off the bat that were on the “definitely perfect” list … both with a British curriculum. There was a third school … an American one … that everyone was all abuzz about. It seemed like all the people we knew who were coming here, as well as Van’s boss who had already been here almost a year, were ape-poop about this place. The problem was, I wasn’t sold by what I saw on their website.
It was very vague about what they taught, other than to tell that it was an American curriculum and that they were quite proud of how technologically advanced they were. There wasn’t a very impressive syllabus or any real information other than to say “Children will also dictate their own stories and begin to write using temporary spelling.” (and that’s taken straight off their website … they didn’t bother to explain what “temporary spelling” was, but now I have an idea). It also did say that the Kindergarten kids would be learning to “count to 10”, which I really had to read a few times before I understood that they truly believed it was some great feat for a 5-6 year old to count to 10.

Well, I put this one on the list of schools I wanted to visit when we came here in April. The two British ones and this one American one. I figured I’d go in person and see what it was all about and get some real answers about what they thought they would be teaching Connor. I assumed I had to be missing something since everyone we’d talked to was so excited about this place.
We went to the British School of Bahrain first thing, on that first morning we were here. Quite impressed with the tour and information we got about the school. Working on a British curriculum, their school age starts at 3, where ours starts at 5, so Kayleigh would be the perfect age to get into that deal. What we call Kindergarten, is called Year 1, which is where Connor would be. The second British school was quite a bit bigger, but runs on the same curriculum and has the same schedules.

Then we went to this American based school. Well … we didn’t actually go to the school, because there wasn’t an actual school to go to yet. It was a brand new deal and at that time, I’m not even sure they had started construction on it. We visited their office, which is in a mall not too far from our house now. The first lady we met gave me their promotional folder and I immediately started looking through it to find some detailed list of what they taught their kids. All I found was letters to the perspective student family, an artist’s rendering of what the school would look like, and forms to fill out. I asked the lady if they had any syllabus or class schedule … she told me it was posted on their website. Great! So, that would be a “no”, they didn’t have any such thing.

Then, the director of the school came in and was bigger than life. All smiles, all sales, all business. As it turns out, he had to be, because the tuition for this school for a Kindergartener is BD5600, which comes to roughly $14,800. I’m not kidding. For a 5-year-old to spend a year learning to count to 10 and practicing “temporary spelling”. Oh … but here is the most exciting part of the deal … starting in 1st or 2nd grade, each student will have a personal laptop in their classroom where they will be doing all their school work. All the computers are connected to some great mother computer where the kids don’t ever have to pick up a pencil. All their homework is done on the computer … they log on to the main school computer from their house and download their lessons and do them that way. THEN, they turn them in immediately, so the teachers can be grading their stuff before they ever get to class the next morning. Technology.
I told him that I was kind of an old fashioned gal and I wondered where the writing came in … actually putting pen to paper, developing skills to form letters properly. Well, he was glad I asked that question, he told me … they understand the importance of fine motor skills and that’s why they focused on that stuff in Kindergarten and 1st grade … so that then they got to 2nd grade they would be ready to go online. So, there ya go … done working on writing by the time the kids are 7. Oh … but he went on to tell us that the truth is, everything is done on the computer anymore. No one actually writes by hand these days, so it’s most important that the kids learn how to get their point across in the technological age we are in. So, the handwriting thing really isn’t that important, and let’s face it, with spell check on all the word processing programs, perfect spelling isn’t critical. For that matter, by the time the kid is in 4th or 5th grade, if they can’t spell, you just move on. Yes … that is what the director of this school told me. And, it’s darn near a direct quote.

I had just found out what “temporary spelling” was. It’s apparently the sounding out of phonics until you are old enough to get a laptop with spell check.
Needless to say, we applied at both of the British schools and I was certain there was no amount of money that someone could pay me that would convince me to make an application at that place.

Okay … I’ve written a lot here. Take a breather and I’ll get part 2 of this saga working …

Coming Together

Well, it seems like things are starting to normalize. The kids have another week of summer camp before school starts on September 2nd (for Kayleigh) and 3rd (for Connor). People are making it back from their summer vacations … the complex is starting to fill up, which is nice. We applied for membership at a club nearby and were just accepted on Wednesday, so Thursday we went after getting the kids from camp and had lunch at “the club” and were able to act hoity-toity, which is SO like us! The water delivery folks have found us and now we can reliably expect water every Saturday morning … there are actually three fresh new bottles, that I’m too lazy to bring in, sitting out by my door right now as we speak. We went to the liquor store Thursday to stock up … 5 bottles of wine, thank you! With Ramadan starting a week from tomorrow, we need to get what we want now because everything shuts down for a month. We’ve got all our visas and ecomas and CPRs, so we’re all legal to do what we do here for the next 2 years.

So, after just over 2 months, things are settling and we’re falling comfortably into place.

And NOW … we have our stuff!! Our shipment showed up at our house last Thursday, the 14th at roughly 6:00 that evening. It was sketchy, and for a while there we weren’t sure it was going to make it that day, but they pulled through. What took them 2 days to pack up and haul onto a truck, took 2 hours to unload and unpack. Amazing! Of course, they didn’t actually unpack all the boxes … just unpacked all the furniture and stuff that had been wrapped up in their special moving paper. But, they did a fantastic job!

When our container arrived at the port, it went through customs (which we only had one item that was confiscated … a cheap dagger that Van had with his RenFest costume … with all the big, sharp kitchen knives, that ornamental dagger was their safety concern) and then loaded everything on two trucks and brought it out.

It was nice to see our familiar comfys … the couch ...

... CERTAINLY the bed …

... and I was once again reunited with my dirty clothes basket ...

... my fruit bowl ...

...and my towel rack.

But now we have a lot of stuff that we’re not sure what to do with. Boxes and boxes of stuff that we opened and wondered “why did we pack THIS?”. For example, the rain gauge my dad got us for Christmas. Or the not one, but TWO axes that were in the garage (yeah … I’ve heard of an axe murderer, but never a costume dagger murderer … that may be something that happens here that we didn’t know about). We have bits and pieces of stuff, like part of the leaf blower (that wouldn’t work here anyway, even if there were a leaf to blow) and assorted kitchen appliance pieces, like the blender pitcher with no base (which, again, wouldn’t work here, even if we had it).

Then there is the random collection of stuff, that isn’t really related to anything, that had just gotten wrapped up in packing paper. We affectionately call these treasures “crap wads”. One had a couple of pens, a penny, a spoon, a receipt from Home Depot, and a block of silver that I didn’t even know we had … all wrapped together in the packing paper. That was a particularly fun crap wad. Yesterday I found one with an audio tape, a thermometer, an egg timer, and an eraser.

The kitchen was FULL of boxes and fortunately Van got up Friday morning and handled that, because I wouldn’t have known were to start.

The house was a bit of a mess, but now we’ve got everything unpacked with the exception of 8 boxes in our bedroom.

Right now, mainly, it’s just about organizing and arranging. There are still a couple of pieces of big furniture we want to buy and some pictures and things we want to frame before we start putting stuff on the walls and arranging the furniture. It’s funny … our stuff seems so small in this house.

Van’s office and my craft cupboard are scary (although, my scrapping table is organized really nice), but those are things we can spend an afternoon and handle. And the kids’ rooms, although are unpacked, aren’t arranged in a manner that works well, so I’ll deal with that once school starts and I can get in there uninterrupted.

So, there it is. It’s officially “home”. And you guys will be so proud of me, I made it here with only a box and a half of books (fortunately, there are a couple of decent books stores here and I always have Amazon).

Next?

Okay ... the art survey is WAY over and now it's time to pick your brains about something else. What are you folks interested in? What would you like to ask people, but are afraid it would be too silly? I'm not afraid to ask it ... y'all already think I'm silly ... so secretly give me your suggestion and I'll get a new survey going.


But before we leave it behind us ... I have to know, who marked "other" on the art survey and what would the other art form be that you like? And, Dad ... "chick flicks" aren't in themselves an art form.

Two Weeks?

Oh man … has it been two weeks, really? Am I already starting getting lazy and uninspired?

Nah!

Actually, the last two weeks have been chock full o’ fun and excitement. Just after I last shared time with y’all, we hosted Poker Night #2. I won! Here’s the irony of all that … the winner’s pot was just over $100 (BD 45, if anyone is interested in looking up the exchange rate for the exact number) and I ended up using all but about BD 10 of that to pay the maid. Do you believe it! I’m pretty sure that’s not why I was playing Texas Hold ‘Em. But, Ramia was glad I won. Ramia would be the maid.

The following Monday, friends of ours here had a new baby so we’ve been trying to help them out with their other two kids (who are the same ages as Connor and Kayleigh, and are going to the same schools in the same classes) as much as they need. They have 2 cats and a dog that have been staying at their house alone since they got here in May (of course, they go out there to feed them and whatnot) but 2 days after their baby was born, the dog got really sick and it was hard on them to keep having to go check on her and handle all the stuff going on. See, they are still in a hotel waiting for their shipment. So, we brought her here and now we have a new doggie visitor. She antagonizes Pooka and steals clothes, but she’s a sweetheart! She’s all better now, too … she had to go to the vet, but she’s doing great.

So, with all that, I’ve also been trying to curb some of my physical addictions … starting with caffeine and sugar. Holy Crap! It’s probably a good thing I’ve been laying low with the blogging … it’s quite possible that I may not have been a lot of fun to be around for this detox period. I’m telling you, I’m so glad I’ve never had to go through real heavy detox … I can imagine getting off drugs could kill a person. But, so far so good. I had gotten into a habit of dropping the kids off at their summer camp in the mornings and then running over to Starbuck’s or Costa for a fru-fru coffee and some kind of gooey, creamy, flakey baked something or other. Yeah … imagine my system when THAT stopped. For that matter, imagine my psyche!

Tomorrow we get our STUFF!! WOOHOO! Seriously, you can’t imagine how much you’d miss things like your dirty clothes basket or your fruit bowl or your towel rack. It’s a shame that these are the items that I’m going to be most excited to see. Oh … and our kitchen garbage can! I LOVE that garbage can. But, tomorrow, I’ll have them all. I’ll be able to put my dirty clothes in the basket before I go to MY bed tomorrow night … I can put the bananas and oranges in the fruit bowl on the table that will be in the breakfast area off the kitchen where right now there is nothing … and after I eat said banana or orange, I can put the peel in my $100 Woodlands kitchen garbage can. Oh … I’m getting warm and tingly just thinking about it.

So … I’m good, I’m back and ready to roll.

Time and Freedom Lead to Cool Stuff

I have a maid that comes in 40 hours a week to clean and who also cooks dinner for the family (you can imagine how excited Van is about at one!). That gives me a lot of extra time and helps me not feel guilty about not cooking. Both of the kids are in a summer camp program at what will be Kayleigh's school this year. That gives me freedom. I'm not sure what to do with all that!

Mainly, I go exploring of late, and I've really been having fun checking out the local handicrafts and home accessories. Last week I went to Al Jasra to their handicraft center. Neat place. They basically have different little studios where people are doing their craft ... pottery, dow making, rug weaving, painting, doll making ... and then at the end there is a gift shop where you can buy any number of said crafts. I was passing one studio and there was a guy sitting with some people around him. He motioned for me to come in, and it looked like a fun group. This guy was a basket weaver and he was making little souvenirs out of grass.

I was alone, but he asked if I had a family and proceeded to make a ring for Kayleigh and a really cool litte camel for Connor.

I wasn't impressed with anything in the gift shop, but it was a fun time playing with the weaver guy and the other folks there who were also taking a look around.

After that, it was only about 9:45am, so I sought out a pottery place that we had seen in our many trips to the car dealerships. Very cool place!

There are some really nice things there. I'm not sure what you do with some of it, but mostly they have a lot of pots for plants and things. I really liked these (the vase-looking things below) ... they are about 3-ish feet tall and I guess you just put some kind of tall decorative feathery plant thing in it. I didn't get them ... I decided that if I could figure out what to put in them, then I might get one.

At this point, it was already 107 degrees F outside and I was ready to not be in the heat anymore. It was still morning and there was more heat to play in later. So, I went to a local indoor furniture place that has the most amazing pieces of furniture that are made out of old doors from houses that no longer exist. They do all kinds of things with these doors. I didn't take any pictures there, but when we buy some of that cool furniture, I'll share pictures with everyone. ;)

I DID, however buy this cool little dresser today. It's about 4 feet tall and just the neatest little thing ever. I've had my eye on it for about 3 weeks now.

I'm not sure exactly where I'm going to put it in the house, but I don't even care about that right now. I'm just so excited to have it. It's a shame. I'm nesting and I have nothing here to nest with. At least I'm finding cool things to play with in the mean time.

So, now you all know what I do in the mornings when I'm not sitting here at my computer. Once it cools down I'll go out and take lots of pictures to share. For right now, though ... I'm having fun shopping!

Important Update!

I've got WINE!

Where am I?

There are certain things here that are different, as you might expect, from what we're used to in the States. Of course, that's part of the experience of doing this kind of thing ... learning the way the world works in places other than what I've known all my life. A lot of those kinds of differences are small, interesting little things that come up and you quickly understand and get used to. For example, I know that when I get in the shower in the morning, I have to let the water run before I get in ... not so that it will warm up, but to give it a minute to cool down to below scalding (that was a quick lesson ... that first shower, I turned on the water and was delighted that initially it was a perfect temperature to jump right into ... 2 seconds later I was out of that shower, dripping all over the floor, checking for 3rd degree burns).

Then, I guess a more "cultural" difference is the lack of closets in the houses. I thought at first it was just our house, but I'm understanding that no one really has any closets. It's just the way they design houses around here. People may not have a lot of clothes or crap they want to store away (certainly, what to do with your 9-foot Christmas tree for 11 months out of the year isn't a big issue for the Arabs). It seems the whole "I have too much stuff and need to shove it away out of sight but I don't really want to get rid of any of it" deal may be more of an American thing.

But, here people have cupboards and dressers and armoires that they use to put their things when they aren't actually using them. Interesting little tid-bit.


But, there is a really big difference that seems hard for me to adjust to. Here, no one knows where anything is. You can't show someone a map and say "where are we on this?" They don't know. It's not any wonder, really, since there are only like 3 streets on the island that even have names. Here's an illustration ... our address is Villa #11, Gate #582, Rd #2619, BarBar 526, Kingdom of Bahrain. Go ahead and plug that into Google maps and see what you come up with ... I'll wait. Did you find us? No? Hmmmm ... neither can the water company who we have water delivery contracted with. Of course, our house number is a little confusing from the start.

Here is a picture of our front gate (yes ... those are our water bottles that have been sitting there on the porch for 2 days waiting for the water people to find us)... what number would you think our house number was? If you said "15", you'd agree with 100% of the people out here, even the people that own the place, but the actual number that is our address is the small little "11" in the blue rectangle on the left hand side. Completely obvious!

But, all addresses out here are like ours ... a list of numbers. The post office won't even try to figure any of it out ... everyone has a PO box for their mail. Everything is found by way of landmarks. If you call a shop and say "where are you located" they don't say "we're at 110 North Shaikh Ave" ... they first say "where are you coming from?" and they then say "well, you go to the McDonald's roundabout and come back the other way, then take the 2nd right just past the gas station and once you see the bakery on the left start looking for the purple 'buckle your seatbelt' sign and just past that on the left is a dirt road that will take you down to us ... we'll be on the right". No one knows what road they are on. When we were still trying to hunt down a car for me, there was one we wanted to look at but we couldn't find the dealership. Van called to find out where they were and the guy who answered the phone didn't even know how to tell him. From him, we didn't even get the standard "where are you coming from?" He DID tell us they were way past the mosque (like there aren't 20 of those in any given area). We gave up on that car.

Yesterday we decided to drive around and go see the Tree of Life ... a national icon. Yes, I did say "national icon" ... that isn't on the map. Well, I take that back, it had an illustration of it on the map down at the bottom of the island with one road going to it. Of course, we couldn't find it. It IS out in the middle of the desert "nowhere", so when we came to some kind of security shack that made no sense we asked them and two different people couldn't tell us. And, of course, when we showed them the map and asked them to point out there where we were at the moment, they completely disregarded it. We gave up the Tree of Life ghost for the time being. When it cools down and the kids are in school, I may go out on a solo adventure and see what I can find. That will be an interesting blog, I'm sure.

If you want to know where I am right now, if you're coming from Manama, head toward Saar on the Budaiya highway, just after the 1st roundabout past the Country Mall, start looking for the "to Saudi Arabia" sigh on the right ... you'll turn right past that at the Rose Cafe sign (if you get to McDonald's roundabout, you've gone too far). At the Jawad Dome, stay to the right and just follow that down past the Japanese Ambassador's house on the left until the road Ts off ... there you take a left and just past the auto repair place start looking for a little road off to the right ... it will have a Manama Resorts sign, but you really have to look for it, or you could miss it because it's a small road ... take that right and we'll be down at the end of the road on the right ... just tell Mamu at the Sercurty gate that you're coming to see the Brackins in Villa #15 ... or is it #11?

Part 3 ... the "Things That Surprise Me" Chronicles

Yes, the list goes on. I'm constantly being amazed by stuff. I have a few things that I can list off here in my on-going Things That Surprise Me Chronicles that don't require a whole long discussion. Well ... maybe just a brief few sentences ... just for clarification purposes, you understand.


Here we go ...


3. The sun rises between 4:00 and 4:30am every morning. Imagine that. Your eyeballs fly open at 5:00 and it's all over ... immediately your brain computes the rise of the sun in the sky and has its Central Time clock determine that it's time to get the day started. Just TRY to go back to sleep after that. And, even if you can roll over and continue the snooze-fest, the kids can't. When the light hits monkey eyes, there is no more rest, for the weary or otherwise.


4. I was surprised the first time I heard a commercial on TV and the nostalgia almost moved me to tears. The television options here are, well, we'll say "lacking". We have one channel that shows cartoons and every once in a while we may stumble over a Tom and Jerry where there is no dialog, otherwise the cartoons are in Arabic. In addition to that channel, we have a Fox Movies channel that seems to have a fondness for war movies, and another American show channel out of Dubai that has stuff like Boston Legal, the Gilmore Girls, and pre-Whoopie the View. We have a buttload of movies ripped onto the computer, so we watch those a lot. Also Van recorded a bunch of shows from television onto the computer before we left, which he had gone through and edited most of the commercials out of. Basically, we watch a lot of "canned" stuff. BUT, the first day I heard an ad for Woolite in the middle of the kids watching Spongebob, I ran into the room to see it. HOME! Just like regular life. I didn't know until that moment how artificial I felt. It was nice to see real people doing things like laundry and playing at Chuck E Cheese's.


5. I am surprised at how much work it is to keep everyone's days and times straight in my head. The weekends here are different from home. In Bahrain, the weekend is Friday and Saturday. In Saudi (where Van works) the weekend is Thursday and Friday. So, he is off from work tomorrow, but the kids still go to school because their weekend doesn't start until Friday. So, it follows that Van goes back to work on Saturday, and the kids and I have a day alone because their week doesn't start until Sunday. Keeping all that straight along with what you folks are doing at home on YOUR weekend, Saturday and Sunday ... well, it gets kind of crazy in my head. To make it MORE interesting ... I am constantly trying to keep the time in check with us being 8 hours ahead of y'all. Sunday morning for us, when we're getting kids out to school, and Van is already on his 2nd day of the work week, y'all are still watching Saturday Night Live.


6. I am surprised by the attention Kayleigh gets. Everywhere we go, at least one person stops and touches her. Certainly more than that will come over to talk to her. There have been a couple of people who even kissed her on the face. It's crazy. And it's EVERYWHERE. We can't walk out of the house without people wanting to touch and talk to her ... even just wave at her through a window. I feel bad for Connor, because no one gives him the time of day. They completely ignore him and he's the social one. HE'S the one who has never met a stranger. The other day the guy at the Ford dealership took Kayleigh by the hand and asked her if she wanted to go with him to make some copies and Connor was running behind them saying "I want to make copies" over and over again, and the guy just kept looking at Kayleigh and didn't even acknowledge him. But, it's really strange the way people are with her. Those of you who will be visiting us here will see what I mean. Weird.


Okay ... that's enough surprises for today. Don't want to wear you guys out just yet.

... stay tuned for the next installment of the "Things That Surprise Me" Chronicles.

Booze and Social Hour ... Bahraini Style!

Now, when I talk about Booze and Social Hour, I'm not actually discussing getting down with the Arabs on Wednesday night ... although they are certainly not opposed to boozing and social-houring and getting-downing. Believe me, if you want booze for the weekend, you'd better get to THE liquor store early on Wednesday, because if you wait until Thursday there won't be any Cuervo left!


No, I'm discussing the same people that we work and play with back in the States. Yes, the ones who will bring to the hoo-hah a 6-pack of some undrinkable malted barley swill and then hide it way back in the fridge (or even bring their own cooler to hide it in ... that works best, actually, because then they can sit on it an be SURE their loot is protected from the rest of the booze hounds at the gathering) to insure that when they leave, they will be able to take home with them the exact difference between what they brought and what they (themselves) guzzled. THESE are the folks. And let me tell you, something happens to them after they've sat on a plane for 16 hours one way and are 8 time zones away from home. They turn into a whole new Booze and Social Hour critter!


In the month that we've been here, we've hosted 2 such social hoo-hahs. We hadn't been here a week yet and we invited some friends over to socialize and order takey-outty. We had 3 people over (for the purposes of this discussion, the 2 kids don't count) ... after walking our guests to the door and locking it behind them, we had all drunk a pitcher of Strawberry Daiquiris and had left over a half bottle of dark rum and a bit more than that of vodka. We started out with zip. No booze in the Brackin house. All of a sudden, you invite a couple of people over and your liquor cabinet has begun to produce itself.


Then, last Thursday evening we hosted Poker Night here at the house. The 1st of what has been requested to be a new monthly Texas Hold 'Em gathering. We had 8 guests. Can you imagine how much booze we have now after THAT?! One guy came in with a 24-pack of decent beer, some Vodka, chips and dips, brownies, Pace picante sauce, Velveeta, limes, and Sprite. Another guy brought a 24-pack of Heineken tall boys, drank 4, let 2 explode in the freezer, and left the rest of the case in our pantry. We have Coronas in there, too. The fridge is loaded with beer, of several different varieties. Someone else brought mixers for Margaritas.


A week later and we are LOADED with alcohol to satisfy any number of varying desires.


A wife brought me a Yankee Candle. I haven't burned it yet.


I DID have a Fosters the other night.


I'm still grateful for my candle. I'll burn it the next time I drink a Fosters. Or Corona. Or Heineken.


Makes it easy to volunteer your home as a party spot! Not having to clean up before or after it also helps (I'm already thinking how we can bring the maid back home with us when we return). I wonder, though, when all is said and done ... when we're all back in the Woodlands where booze flows like water from any number of liquor stores within a 2 mile radius of where ever you happen to be standing at any given moment, AND where you don't have to pay 100% tax on the gods' nectar ... will these same people still show up at my door (after I've cleaned all day for them to come trash my house, mind you) with liquid sin in overflowing amounts, ready to donate it to the cause? Let's not ruin a good thing!


I will say, though, I haven't had any wine since I've been here. Let me give that a moment to sink in for some of you ... I, ME ... I haven't had ANY wine. I know ... it's worse than just a shame. It's a DOWN RIGHT shame! I had some of the generic stuff they give you on the plane that simply says "red wine" on the label. Some might argue whether or not that counts. Guess we'll just have to host something else soon.



... Connor's brithday is tomorrow ... hhhhhhmmmmmmmm ...

Fun with Polls and Surveys

Our "stuff survey" is closed and it looks like we're pretty much tied up with most folks saying they could give up 50-75% of their possessions if they had to whittle down to the bare necessities. That's an impressive percentage, there. I mean, think, then, about how much stuff you have that you don't need. And, the truth is, that's probably a modest estimation, because I know that there are things we have forgotten we even have, so naturally those items didn't make it into the calculation. I got rid of probably about 30% of the stuff in our house before we moved. If I had just had my own belongings to deal with, I think I would have gotten rid of more. Of course, we bought a bunch of NEW stuff, so I wonder how that all works out in the wash. What I know is that all our stuff ... the stuff that is on the boat coming over here now AND the stuff that went to storage ... didn't even fit in a 40 foot container. They were shoving boxes of our stuff into the cab of the truck because we completely filled the back. I need a lesson in Zen, I think.

But, back to the whole poll thing. We had 12 folks participate in the poll. Not shabby. I have a fondness for polls and surveys. There was a time when I would put out some good ones in emails to get a feel for where my friends and family were on certain issues. The most memorable and cool was the "Cheese Survey" where I was polling everyone I knew about how much extra they would be willing to pay to have cheese put on a hamburger. The details of this one, from conception to fruition, actually have turned into one of the coolest lessons in my life ... magical, comical, and just plain fun. I found the results of that one while I was getting my stuff organized for the move. I don't remember what the outcome was, but that paper is on it's way to me as we speak.

Again, I've gotten away from my point. Are y'all SURE you want a scatter brain like me to be doing this blog thing?

My POINT is that doing this survey here about "stuff" has gotten me excited about surveys again and I think it will be fun to come up with different ones each week. I want to give all of you an open opportunity to get some of your questions answered, too, so at any time if you think of something you'd like to see other people's thoughts on, shoot me an email and I'll get them on the next week's poll.


Audience participation is fun for all!

Residential Update

News from the homefront ... our Woodlands house has now been leased! WOOHOO! I was just telling Melinda the other day that if something didn't happen soon, I might suggest to Van some Plan B. The next day, we got the news that we have renters. And, I think they are coming in NOW. May already be moved in ... you Alden Bridge folks may need to help me out with that one.

But, I wanted to report that we have THAT little issue handled. And, also, mainly, I want to thank you folks that have diven by the house and sent me reports on what you've seen and how the place looks. It's comforting to know that we have friends looking out for us and keeping our best interests. Now let's just hope y'all have good neighbors moving in there. If y'all don't like them, give me the word and they'll be OUT. And I'll force Lynne to move in. ;)

Part 2 ... the "Things That Surprise Me" Chronicles

Exactly 15 years ago from right now, my younger sister, my sweet Jenny-Pooh, and I started making plans to take a back-packing through Europe trip. We got all the books on the subject, figured out how we'd spend our money, the cheapest way to travel and sleep while still having the funds to see the cool stuff along the way. We made lists of the things we'd need to take with us, the things we could sell to help fund our adventure, the things we could just plain give away so we wouldn't have to worry about a bunch of "stuff" that we'd have to do something with. We had a year, we figured, before we'd be done at the community college where we were students at the time, and that would be just enough time to save up some money.

Well, we both ended up deciding to move on to Universities after that year ... she became a Gator and I joined the ranks of the Seminoles. Of course, 15 years later, ask us what either of us are doing with those degrees.

The whole point of this little story is to show that at some point in my life, I was pleased as punch to sell all my stuff and put some clothes, a couple of CDs, a couple of books, a camera and a journal in a back-pack and take off. Now I can hardly fit all the stuff I need for the next 6 WEEKS into 8 suitcases and two carry-bags.

This brings me to the next installment of "Things That Surprise Me":

2. It surprises me how much I miss my stuff! They came in on June 13th and started PACKING up my stuff. That marked the first night in a hotel WITHOUT my stuff. Already I was missing certain things that I wished I had put in the suitcase. Important things like the empty scrapbook that will eventually be my wedding album, that I wouldn't have been able to do anything with until our shipment got here anyway, but I still wanted it. Kayleigh's water shoes for her to wear in the pool that it's too hot for her to go in. Surely, you see the gavity of having these items right now.

Beyond just the stuff, I miss my furniture. We do have furniture here that we're using until our stuff gets here, but it's certainly not MY furniture. I should really be more gracious, shouldn't I? And, I am thankful that I'm not sleeping on a sheet on the wooden floor ... although I have wondered on more than one occasion if it wouldn't be more comfy to do that. The beds are like cement blocks. After the first night we started scouring the lands for an egg crate cushion thing and there are no such critters around here. The couches, aren't very comfortable,either. And don't let their classic beauty fool you! Just because they scream with bling, with all the gold accents and stain-resistant maroon richness (and believe me when I say this picture doesn't do them justice!), they are deceptive. Not only are those hard, too, but they have a few layers of pillows and cushions all over them that leave very little butt space. And, you know how much space my butt needs!

Speaking of what is or is not comfy for my butt ... take a look at what is acting as my "desk" area for the time being. You guessed it ... that is a little bench made of marble. Oh sure, I could swap it out for one of those fancy armed chairs that are flanking the little table, but that would mess up the look of things.

Very Stylish!

As I said before, I really am grateful that we do have this furniture that we can use, as ugly and uncomfortable as it is. One guy who also just got here a month or so ago is still in a hotel with this pregnant wife and two kids, while their 3 pets are staying at their empty house. All awaiting THEIR stuff. I'm glad we can be in our house! And, we did manage to bring the really important stuff that we really couldn't live without. I tried to make sure that we had enough stuff to keep the kids comfortable and secure, so we brought some of their favorite toys and books, fun activities that they like to do, their bedding and their stuffed critters that they cling to. So I think we did good with our choices for suitcase fodder. Connor kind of got lonely and was missing home about a week ago, but I sat him down with the calendar and showed him when our stuff would be getting here (July 24th-ish ... keep your fingers crossed) and we discussed how cool it will be to get certain things again. For a couple of days after that he would ask me if he could look at the calendar again, but that seems to have faded for the time being. I figure maybe having our stuff around us is less about being gluttonous and more about feeling secure and safe in a strange new place.

I have been chatting with a friend of ours who had been in Malaysia for almost 2 years, swapping stories and bonding with new common understandings. He told me "when your goods arrive, it will feel like Christmas!!" Kind of cool ... Christmas in July. Ha!

... stay tuned for the next installment of the "Things That Surprise Me" Chronicles.

Suggestions Welcome!

We have a "thing" in our house. It is a marble, well ... thing ... that lives between the living room and the dining area. It's definitely built into the house, making it a permanent fixture. Made out of the same marble as the floor, so even if it weren't a permanent fixture, WE wouldn't be picking it up to move it!

We aren't sure what to do with it. Our maid (who has worked in this house for at least 3 years that we know of ... maybe longer) said that the people before us brought in the sand from our beach and then put in plastic plants. Preeeeeeetty! Of course, that's not as bad as the people before them who had it set up as a litter box for their cat. Can you IMAGINE! There are just so many things wrong with that picture.

Since it's part of our existance now, we'd like to do something cool with it. It's not all that pretty to look at just as it is. Plus, the sand is almost too much for the monkeys to take ... it's hard to resist an indoor sand box, y'know. There's no drainage in there (that I know of ... now once we take all the sand out we might find a drain in there somewhere), so I hesitate to put real plants in there. Unless maybe we put in individual potted plants and then fill in the rest of the area with wood chips or something.

Here's where the audience participation comes in. I'd love suggestions about what to do with this. Y'all know us and our personalities, so I trust (most of) you to come up with some cool ideas. Of course, we'll update this later when we actually do something with it, so you can all see what the final outcome is. I KNOW you're all on the edge of your seats for that one!

Let the games begin ...

Travel day ...

Monday, June 16, 2008 ... the Brackins pack up their car with everything they will need for the next 6 weeks; 8 suitcases, 5 carry-on bags, 1 pet carrier, 1 PC computer, 2 kids, a mom, a dad and a Pooka pup. They pull out of the driveway of their Houston home at 9:05am and the adventure begins.

Of course, with international travel like that, you can have 2 checked items per person, so if you're a math wiz you may calculate that to be 8 total checked items ... that accounts for the 8 suitcases. But, didn't I say there was also a PC computer and a Pooka pup in a pet carrier? Yup! We went over the 2 checked items limit. There's also a weight limit for checked items of 45 pounds. I think we may have had a bag or two that was actually under that limit. We need LOOOOOOTS of heavy stuff to get us through until our shipment gets here. The airlines saw us come in and started counting the fee money in their heads!

But, everything panned out nicely. The check in was smooth, the fees didn't seem too bad, we had all Pooka's papers right (which was a relief to me!), we got the rental car returned and even had time for a bite of lunch before our plane left at 3:30-ish that afternoon.

Second to getting Pooka on the plane, was my concern about how my monkeys were going to do on this trip. The actual in-the-air hours of the trip are 16 ... figuring we spent 5 hours at Bush Intercontinental before we actually took off and then the 5 hour lay-over in Amsterdam with about another hour at the airport here after it was all done, well, that makes for a long day for a 5- and 3-year-old. But, they were AMAZING! I was completely blown away. Those angels watched their little video shows, and they played their Leapster games and they napped ... completely stayed in their seats without running up and down the isles or or constantly popping up to bother the folks around them. They never yelled or threw any fits. They ate when it was time to eat, they politely asked when they needed to go to the restroom. I was honestly not sure whose kids we ended up with. What a relief to know we have good travelers! It will make it much easier next summer if I decide to come home earlier than Van does and I have the kids by myself.

So, after all was said and done, we got to our hotel at about midnight:30 Tuesday night, Bahraini time, which would be 4:30 pm on Tuesday for our Houstonian friends. And, the rest is history. A very pleasant trip, all in all. It actually seemed more tolerable than when just Van and I came out here in April. Who woulda thunk?

Perspective ...

Here's the deal. I may have been over-sensitive about the price of entertaining the kiddos. Sure, it's not cheap to take them out and let them play at the various monkey-run places, but I am realizing that there are things that offset all that.

Like gas prices, for instance! Yesterday morning I filled up the rental car and it cost a whopping $8. Filled it UP! As in, E to F ... on $8. And THEN I drove all around the island for 2 hours scoping things out and sight seeing, and it's STILL touching F. Really can't beat that! At home, I would fill up for nearly $60 and then have to go back in 3-ish days and do it again.

And the good for you food is cheaper here, too ... the fresh whole grain bakery bread, the produce, fresh dairy. Of course, the processed mess that we all love like Kraft Macarroni and Cheese and Prego Spaghetti sauce is pricey. Not a bad time to look at better eating habits!

So, it all works out in the wash ... to my advantage, actually. It's an exchange that puts us in the black. NICE!

When I start rambling about the high cost of this or that, someone smack me and remind me that we're really doing okay ... even better, actually, than at home.

For Goodness Sake, Keep the Kids Entertained!!

Today, it was me and the monkeys. No plan, no direction. Where we live, we have a really nice playground and pool, and of course the beach just 6 houses down the drive, but it's just too darned hot to do any of that during the day. Around now (6:00pm) is good outside time. It's probably cooled down to a more tolerable 102 at this point ... and without the sun beating down on us, it's actually quite pleasant.

So, the question was, what to do with the day?

There are a lot of indoor play areas around here. Perhaps we're not the only weenies on the island. And all these wondrous venues of flailling monkey entertainment are open for everyone, provided, of course, that you have the required wad of green in your pocket (well ... I guess it's more like a wad of pink and blue ... I think there may be a bill that is green, but I don't remember. I haven't seen the higher monetary denominations. I'm still working out the whole money thing, anyway ... there are the new Dinars and the old Dinars, so there are 2 different bills for BD1, BD5, BD10 and so on, plus the Saudi money is also in circulation here and is altogether different ... makes me crazy, along with the people behind me in line at the grocery store tapping their feet while I'm lining up bills and coins on the counter).

Early last week I took the kids to a place called Bizzi Bees. It's basically a big house that has different rooms ... one for crafts, which is basically painting and Play-Doh, one with a Lego table, one will puzzles and books and one that is set up like a play grocery store. It's new and someone told us they had seen something about it, so we decided to go check it out one afternoon.

It was roughly $11-ish EACH for the kids to paint, play with Play-Doh, and sit at a Lego table for a couple of hours. I thought that was a bit steep. I also thought that we might spend more time at home with our own Play-Doh and Legos. Therefore, today, we skipped Bizzi Bees and sought out something different and hopefully less painful to my wallet.

We started out at one of the dozen malls around here at a place where the kids pick a piece of pottery and paint it. It was a great time and we have some BEAUtiful pieces of original art to proudly display. It was about $24.

Then we went to Toys R Us to scope out the scene since Connor's birthday is coming up and I need some idea what he wants. They also have a play area in the back of the store, complete with a ball pit, a big bouncy thing and a big climby thing. We stayed there about an hour before Kayleigh needed to go to the bathroom and they lost interest in the bouncing and climbing once they were reunited with the actual toy store part of the deal. To get into the play area and play for that hour cost $22-ish for the both of them.

I suppose if we want to go out and do things during the summer, these are the kinds of prices to expect for air conditioned entertainment. That's probably a huge reason people go home as soon as the kids get out of school. Believe me, I'll be joining the July exodus next year with the rest of the smart (and thrifty) moms.

We haven't tried the movies yet. We may look at doing that this coming week. I need Safari Stop and Jumpin' Jacks!!

The “Things That Surprise Me” Chronicles (originally written on July 1, 2008)

In the last two weeks I’ve come to understand some things about me that I never knew. I expected this whole adventure to be a learning experience, but I guess I didn’t really think about it being an opportunity to learn about myself. I thought more in terms of getting to expand my knowledge about other cultures and geographies. There has been that, too, don’t get me wrong. I guess I just thought I knew myself better than I did. Me, the World, and how the Universe can unexpectedly hand us comfort when we need it … all are infinitely wondrous miracles. Here are some of the things that have surprised me … things I’ve learned … in the two weeks I’ve been here …

1. It surprises me how dirty the air can get here. And when I say “dirty”, it really is dirt. Not smog with a bunch of chemicals and deadly stuff … just plain dirt. Dust. I don’t know why it gets like this, but I know it’s like a cycle. For the first couple of days we were here the air was really bad but it cleared out and has been beautiful. This morning it was like this again, and will probably be like this for a few days before it clears out to what I’m optimistically calling “normal”. My own personal thought is that maybe since there is very little grass (and by “very little” I mean “none”) there’s nothing to keep the dirt on the ground where it belongs, so when the air currents pick up, so does the dust. It’s like when it’s windy and you drive by a place where they are working on the road (and in Houston, where AREN’T they working on the road?) and the wind kicks up all the loose dirt to make the air dusty just right there. I’m guessing it’s the same deal here … only it’s the entire island rather than just a spot in the road. At first I was really afraid that it was just going to be this way all the time, never again to know a happy sky. But, there really is a beautiful blue sky against the white sand most of the time … when the air gets brown, it surprises me all over again.

Above: The date palm and beach at the end of our drive taken June 24th.

Above: Same date palm and same beach at the end of the same drive ... except it is July 1st and a baaaaaaad air day!

… stay tuned for Part 2 of the “Things that Surprise Me” Chronicles.

YES!

Oh man ... finally! We've been here for about 2.5 weeks and I FINALLY have the opportunity to set up a blog. Honestly, I'm not the bloggie type, I don't think. I mean, I enjoy writing but there's something about knowing that there will be (or at least that there's the potential for) some kind of audience that gives me pause. Most of you know that I have a rambling problem when it comes to writing, so I just have to assume that you all will skip over the dull stuff and love me anyway. Remember, it was YOU people who said you wanted me to do this, so the creation of this monster is on your heads!



So ... Friday evening. Happy 4th of July, America!! We had a quiet day. Went and got me another rental car and did some shopping at our local example of what would be Wal-Mart. Van bought a waffle iron today. Just to show where our priorities lie at the moment. But, certainly no fireworks or outside grills. I think there are enough Americans living here to have put together a cool day of celebration (even here in our little complex of 15 villas I met a neighbor across the drive from HOUSTON!), but most folks head out during the summer so there's basically us and a few working stiff husbands and that's about it in July.



This first post is basically just to try out this blog site and get my feelers for it. It's 6:00pm here (we're 8 hours ahead of Central Time) and my kiddos haven't had dinner yet. The maid is off today, so it's up to their parents, of all people, to find something to push down their gullets. Does the horror EVER end?! But, I'll be back periodically with all kinds of posts and pictures and cool things for y'all to do and know. I'll just be one-stop-shopping for all your entertainment needs!