Chapter 6

Still In Bahrain

It’s been nearly seven months now since I left home to come here.  Sometimes it feels like I just left, while other times it seems like I’ve been gone a life time.  I don’t regret coming here since it gives me the opportunity to meet new people and take fantastic trips like the one I took last month to Greece.  In the fall we plan to go to Italy and Germany.  In the spring, we’ ll be going to England.  I never would have been able to afford to go to these places if I hadn’t come here.

When I first told people I was going to Bahrain, they were mistaking it for Iran.  These two countries are worlds apart in their ideals.  They both are Arabic and have the same religion, but Bahrain is going toward a freer nation.  In March, they allowed the women the vote.  This won’t happen in the other Arab countries.  My only fear here is from the drivers.  This just means that I have to drive more defensively.  I’ve already written several times about how bad their driving is here.

Here are a couple of things that happened here in March that I haven’t previously written about.  On March 16th they won a trial in the “International Court of Justice” for the island of Hawar. They’ve had this long feud with Qatar over it.  This is a big deal to the Bahraini people since this island is their tourist attraction, with it’s hotels and beaches. After the verdict, the people had a parade to celebrate and on the following day the Amir gave everyone a day off.  Danny liked this since he got to come home and got paid for it.  He couldn’t work with the contractors not being there.  March 26th was their Islamic New Year.  I know they also got this day off but haven’t the foggiest idea how they celebrated it.  I stayed home that day.

I went to one of the grocery stores yesterday and as I was buying vegetables for a salad, I realized that I would be making an International salad.  You see the lettuce was from Australia, cucumbers from Saudi, and the tomatoes were from Egypt.  They have these people who weigh your produce and put labels on them.  Their produce is the cheapest I’ve ever seen.  The only expensive item I’ve found is lettuce, and I can’t get anyone to explain, WHY?  As I bought my food I noticed that nearly everything in the store was imported.  Another unusual tidbit is that the Arabs don’t eat pork of any kind, but they do sell it.  I guess this is to accommodate the British who live here. They have a cornered off area where they keep it…….I guess they are afraid if it were too close to the other food it might contaminated it. Their cashiers sit in chairs to check you out just the same as in France, so I’m assuming this is a European custom.  I don’t know why we Americans don’t do this also. I don’t see any practical reason for standing.

A while back in our newspaper there was an article about Kuwait being upset with Iraq.  It seems that Iraq has included Kuwait as part of Iraq in their new map.  Saddam just won’t give up. He plans to have Kuwait even if it’sjust on paper.

While I’m talking about the newspaper, I finally finished one of the English crossword puzzles. I feel this was a great accomplishment for me even if I never do it again.

A couple of months ago I went to the downtown post office (normally I go to the USA one on base). I wanted to see what their stamps looked like and to mail an Arabic style card to my niece.  I walked in and saw that there were about five lines with fifteen or more people in each.  It was strange to me since they were only men.  I thought, “Oh no”, maybe they don’t allow women in here”.  Well I started to leave when this young Arab guy told me to go to the front of one of the lines.  I told him, “no way, I’m not going to make all these men mad at me”.  He then explained that women are supposed to be waited on first.  I still wasn’t convinced until these Arab ladies came in and went right to the front of a long line.  Well I followed them and asked if this was true. They told me that women always get waited on first in any government building.  I like this custom!!!!!

I know what my favorite thing about Bahrain is now.  It’s the inexpensive 18 and 21 carat jewelry.  I know it’s about one fifth of what we pay for 14 carat back home.  I have learned the art of haggling and I think I’m getting pretty good at it.  I even have my own jewelers who know me by name.  I had to cut myself off, using the heat as my excuse not to go to the “Gold Suq”. Even though the prices are so good, you could still spend a small fortune there.

This will be my last chapter until September since I’m leaving here for Florida and a well deserved vacation……

Sylvia

Comment from the editor or what Mom calls the peanut gallory....we'll be really happy to have you home!