Dress Shopping

I've been invited to the Marine Ball! It'll be my first ball, so I searched and searched for a dress I thought would be reusable... er, wait, I mean "timeless" and "classy." I found the dress at right on the Neiman Marcus website for $5k. A bit out of my price range, so I instead decided to attempt a tailor in town.

Luckily my friends Tom and Danny are also taking dates, and as they needed tuxedos, I accompanied them to the souk last night. The souk is like a large market area where you can get just about anything! TONS of fabric stores, food, spices, jewelry - they have a large area called the Gold Souk. The streets are narrow and filled with wares pouring out from inside the little shops. Most shops don't have a/c, thus the workers stand outside attempting to grab business.

The guys were easy enough to shop for - they just pointed to what they wanted, the tailor took a few measurements, and they were done. For me, not so easy. It was hard to find a ladies shop - but luckily we ran into a Navy girl we know who was on the same mission. She took us to her tailor, and I bought the 7 meters of black fabric needed - it's just shiny black fabric, not as glamorous as I was hoping, but still nice. They had TONS of fabrics to chose from, but it was far to difficult to decide on my toes.

After I purchased the fabric we went upstairs to the tailor - he had his little sweatshop of 3 people. He was an old, short, chubby Indian man who was probably all of 4 feet tall. He took me into his back room for measurements ... and then he started adjusting the girls.

No major groping took place - just movement of bra straps to make sure everything was as it should be... but I wasn't quite prepared for it, so I giggled. He took about 30 measurements of my body and told me exactly where things would fall, how the straps would look, and so I was happy. Then he reached the topic of a built in bra and asked, "would you like bra, or you wear one?"
"Oh, I'd prefer it be built in please," I replied.
"Ok" he said "I give you bra and little bit of padding"
"Could we make it a lot of padding? I'd like to look good!"
He stopped, looked at me very intently and said "you know you are perfect yes? Very beautiful, you believe me, yes? YES?!"
Um... sure. "yes yes, I know!" I quickly replied, and then I think I saw this serious little old man blush. Awww. He has a crush! hahaha!

Total, fabric plus labor the (perfectly fitted) dress will run about $120. Not too shabby!

My First Car Accident!! EVER!!

It finally happened. I was in my first car accident Saturday night (remember, I work Sunday mornings!).

The evening started off nice. I had plans to meet up with friends and watch a movie at the mall - yes, they have malls with movie theaters, and they're quite nice! We went to Seef Mall, which has two movie complexes. This is also the same mall Michael Jackson used to go to when he lived in Bahrain. Apparently he lived here for quite a long time. The mall is quite nice and they have some of my favorite stores: Mango, H&M, Mac - and a number of European stores. I'm sure I'll return to the States decked out in Euro-trash... I just can't help myself.

To the left is the outside of the mall, while to the right you can see the inside. Not much different than what you would see in the States - somewhere like Phoenix. The only strange part is the clothing everyone is wearing - most women are in their black robes, heads covered (but not full face), men are in their white robes. It's just one of those things it takes time to get used to.

Back to the story - I was meeting friends for a movie and had decided to bring a date. A nice guy I'll call... er... Tim. Tim and I met during our tour of the city - that portion of the blog where I went to the Grand Mosque. I picked up Tim and we met a coworker for dinner at a sushi restaurant in the mall. The sushi was good; Tim, being from the deep south, had never had sushi, but was willing to try anything to impress me... so, I ordered, he stomached it. I don't think he's a fan of miso soup.

We watched District 9, which I enjoyed (Tim thought more action was needed), and, as it was late, we decided to head home - it was a school night afterall. As we left the mall parking lot and yielded at the on-ramp to the "freeway," I waited a bit and then saw a gap in on-coming cars. It was definately enough space for me to merge without any incident... or so I thought. Apparently I offended the driver coming up, because I was taking "his" spot in the line of cars, and (quite a bit after I had been driving in the lane, making my way across the ramp), he came blaring out from behind me, then moved in front to swerve and cut me off. Well, there wasn't much I could do. I tried to avoid it, and probably succeeded in making it only a minor accident (thanks to my training in defensive/offensive driving); but we still bumped. As is customary, we pulled over to the side of the ramp and got out. He proceeded to yell at me about not stopping at the stop sign and I just pretty much smiled and played dumb - out here, if you're in the rear, you're most likely the one at fault. So, I went to grab my insurance info and get ready to call the police for a traffic report (at which time they would have instantly declared who was guilty or innocent) - the little man walked around his car, concerned about the damage. We both had very minor problems a $50 repair at most for me, but he seemed very concered about his 2 inch scrape, when suddenly my date, Tim, gets out of the car to make sure everything is alright.

Tim is a sweet guy and I don't think he'd hurt a fly on the wall - but he's 6'3'' and has two full sleeves of tattoos. He comes out "is everything ok?" and the little man I bumped into takes one look at Tim, suddenly says "everything is fine, it's ok" and then gets in his car and drives away.

Thus, my accident was over. Tim saved the day and earned himself another date next week. I, in the meantime, will find a cheap repair man and pay for the damage myself. I consider it a cultural lesson: when it doubt, wait it out.

My Flat

I've found an apartment close to work. I had recommendations to live out, away from the base, but with the way people drive around here, and considering how often I'll be going to and from work, I thought it better to just live nearby. A friend-of-a-friend acted as my real estate agent (they're used here even if you're just shopping for a place to rent), and she knew pretty much exactly what I was looking for. I wanted modern furniture (most places are fully furnished), a nice gym in the building, and a place to park my Jeep under covering. We looked at a few villas, but they were HUGE. My budget allowed for me to rent a 5-6 bedroom place with marble floors and a pool. Sure, it sounds great in theory, but most of the housing here is very cave-like, and I prefer sunlight.

My apartment is located on the 13th floor (dum-dum-dummm!) and has an ocean view but without direct sunlight. It's 3 bedroom 3 bath. I can park in covered parking, and the gym and rooftop pool are quite nice. I've talked to the landlord and he's very well spoken and excited about my interest in the place, so I don't think I'll run into any problems. I plan to move in mid-October. My furniture won't arrive until mid-November, but I didn't ship much - just my bed, art, and a bookshelf. I can just sleep in a spare room until it all arrives.

I'll post more photos later this fall once I move in and get things organized!

Brunch Madness

This weekend I attended my first brunch. As you can see by the crowd, it's apparently quite the event. They're hosted at all of the major hotels every Friday; you buy tickets in advance and are assigned tables. My friend Tom took me to this one and we sat amongst his friends - all female, most from Scotland. Tom was the only man, I still don't know how he arranged it.

After the brunch most of the room cleared out and headed over to the nearest bar. From there everyone kind of spread around the city - we ended the night at an Irish Pub where we continued to run into people from earlier in the day.

Needless to say I didn't really do anything productive Friday.

Grand Mosque still too short for me

I went on a tour of the Grand Mosque today - the largest mosque in Bahrain. It was very enjoyable, and if anyone cares to come out and visit I will definitely take the tour again. Unfortunately we only had an hour to listen to our guide and look around, but I managed to grab a lot of literature, which I'd like to look through at some point in time (then again I'd also like to finish my Master's thesis... we'll see which happens first).

I'm having internet issues with loading the rest of the photos - so enjoy this one for now.

Pool Party

Last night I attended a pool party. My friend, Tom, hosted at his "villa" - really just a large 2 bedroom townhouse. But it has a small pool (maybe 20 ft by 10 feet). Everyone was asked to bring three main items: bathing suit and towel, a drink or dish to share, and a friend. I didn't bring a friend, but I arrived with about 5 other people,and I brought a bottle of Port that's been sitting in my kitchen for a few weeks. Tom was able to hire 3 bartenders for the event. They're rather cheap here - about $180 for three guys for 5 or 6 hours. They walk around and give everyone drinks, and even clean up! They're incredibly friendly, but I can only imagine what they thought of the ruckus.

Probably the best part of the evening was the pool. No one wanted to get in. Well, none of the LADIES wanted to get in. The mixture at the party was about 25 guys and 10 girls. :) Not too shabby if your a girl, though I've been in "better" ratios - Mosul was nice.... Anyways, the girls present were mostly European: beautiful, skinny, big boobed, and incredibly insecure ... it's GREAT. Tom, a little intoxicated by this time, ran out in his swim trunks, inflatable reindeer under the left arm, dragging an inflatable killer whale (or was it a dolphin?) by the tail in his right hand. He jumps in, and yells an encouraging Austin Powers-styled "come on everybody, it's a pool party!" to the crowd, begging for company. No one rushed to it - as you can imagine, every guy there was trying to get the most beautiful of women into the pool, the girls would make up excuses and shy away... nibbling on crusts of bread... (and probably purging it later).

So it was great when, from out of no where, this 6ft tall American woman comes strolling by in a bikini, no care or concern for what anyone's thinking, and cannonballed into the pool. Yup, that was me. Mom used to lecture me not to waste my early adult years being insecure about my body - I guess it's just one of those lessons I took to heart.

That encouraged Danny and his girlfriend to get in, and we had a good time just being kids - riding the floating animals, doing cannonballs, running jumps onto the animals, water fights, etc. Sure, men stared for a while, but then they stopped, went back to their conversations and drinks, and we just had fun. The bartenders even brought us a few rounds - so you wanted for nothing. Eventually it got old and we got out, but we had ushered the way. Those girls eventually stripped down and I had a few high 5's from dudes "Thanks for taking one for the team Jen!" No problem, that's what the giant's here for.

The rest of the evening I spent attempting to get a date. It didn't work out. I blame my frizzled hair, running makeup, and overall display of how poorly I can ride dolphins - !! I was dropped off at my hotel room around 4am... I think. The desk man greeted me with a "good morning" and the sun was coming up by the time my head hit the pillow.

Photos

I know, my blog is not well organized. Really, I need one topic, to write more often, and break down the days. I blame the effort involved. It requires me to pre-think topics, arrange photos, and create a flowing story. I can barely do one by itself, let alone all three together!

But fear not, I've seen the error of my ways and will attempt to correct; but until such corrections are made, prepare for more randomness!!!

First, I wanted to share a photo from "Tent Movie" which I've now determined is a sitcom. Sure, it has a name (something like Sana'a Al Something), but I usually don't stick around long enough to figure it out. In today's episode, a lost daughter was found! Apparently she was either kidnapped (most likely) or ran away. I'm hoping she ran away, just so we can have an episode on stoning; the side plot shows her living happily in a tent with another man. To the right is the father engaging in a debate, he's most likely to instigate any future stonings (don't they all!). Note: they're in a tent. To the left is mommy dearest talking to her daugther (mom is far left). Mom tries to save them all, and generally knows what's best for everyone, but she's pretty much ignored. Note: they're OUTSIDE a tent.

Next is a photo of my refrigerator in my little hotel room. Who needs ice trays? Yes, I've been forced to live off of TV dinners and fast food. It's horrible. I'm dying to find my own place and break out the crockpot (mmmm, lamb stew!). Of course, that means I'll have to find one rated to 240v. I think my buddy Danny will give me his, so long as I share some of my food....


One of the most difficult aspects of living here is shopping. The food has few preservatives, which means it goes bad VERY quickly. Milk generally lasts only about a 3-5 days, which means planning a meal down to the very nitty-gritty. To the left are two sizes of milk containers (though you can find the 3/4 gal size too). The right one is for one-person consumption - something you'd see at a fast food joint. The larger is like a 1/4 of a gallon - I still don't know how much milk I drink in a 5 day period... sometimes I crave it, sometimes not. I've wasted quite a bit.... and it's pretty much ALL WHOLE (it's tasty and comes from Saudi). Very few low-fat options. Even the bread only lasts a few days. They ship stuff in from the US, but it's usually hard from frostbite. Ah, and the tea in front of the picture is just my daily wake up. I have a friend in the UK willing to ship me some better stuff. I'm VERY much looking forward to it... I like it black. The tea here is much better than what you find in the States (Lipton is actually GOOD and comes in multiple flavors), but it's all still rather questionable.

I've begun research on my Halloween costume. I was invited to a party, and told there's a costume contest. Now, for those of you that don't know, I'm QUITE the fan of costumed events! My HLP (heterosexual life partner), Laura, and I used to attend Pirate Festivals and Oktoberfests if simply for the pleasure of dressing in period costume. There's Laura and I to the left. Ugh, I should never be a blonde again, and thank God for Lasik! sniff sniff... oofta Laura, oofta. (side note: Missouri has a TON of great wineries if you're ever passing through - there are at least 20 within a 2 hour drive of St Louis - I recommend Heinrichhaus! - near the St James Winery - he gives a great lecture on why icewine can't be grown in the US... and he wears lederhosen)

This being my first "coming out" in Bahrain Western Society, I feel it's required I win any type of costume contest - if only to make my mark. So, this year, I plan to go as ... (please, no copying of ideas)... Dot from Spaceballs!! (insert evil laugh: hahahaha!!) Of course, being in my late 20's (ick!) I plan to make the costume a bit more attractive; I've already ordered $60 worth of gold body paint! The idea was really my co-worker, Danny's. I had suggested C3PO, and he suggested Dot. We spent most of the afternoon researching ... I have yet to decide if I will be on skates.

Don't worry, your tax dollars are not being wasted. We've also planned to start a Garmin/GPS initiative. I make maps ... call it cartography... call it GIS.... it's all quite the same. Paper, points, lines... and a pretty background! I feel like a monkey could do my job; but I don't want to prove it because he'd probably show me up. Anyways, back to the GPS bit - there's really no way to get around Bahrain. It's landmarks, mostly temples: the Grand Mosque, the Irish Mosque (because it's green, not because it's Catholic); and then there are other hotels or restaurants, but nothing else. So, Danny and I are going to create a Bahrain roadmap and GPS upload! Quite exciting I think. It'll be mostly based on landmarks (there are no road signs), but it'll point out all of the gas stations, restaurants, police substations, etc. Those little items you need to know, but can't make out just by glance sometimes. If anything, it'll keep ME from getting lost!

Stay tuned for: New Apartment. I found the PERFECT place...

A few random things..

Illness

I’ve caught my first official cold in Bahrain. I blame my co-worker, Tom. I thought two deployments had given me every strain of Middle Eastern illness available, but I was wrong. Still, I have refused to have it hold me back in my attempt to explore the area and make new friends. This past weekend I attended my first large mixer at someone’s villa. It was fairly crowded, but everyone seemed nice. I met two Scottish ladies who seem interested in taking me under their wing. They’ve both been on the island for 8 years, and last night they took me to the British Club. It’s a very laid back atmosphere, and food and drinks are far cheaper than anywhere else in town.

Now on to a few random thoughts…

TV

There are two options for cable here. American Forces Network (AFN) - which used to be called the Armed Forces Network, but apparently that left a bad taste in the mouth; or the local Orbit company. Orbit is a strange package. The first 10 channels are news. I love me some BBC, so I’m quite happy it’s channel 3. There’s also CNN international, Al Jazeera, and some other Asian and European stations. The next 10 channels are sports. The remaining 20+ channels are movies. Not sitcoms, movies. There’s the action station, the hallmark movie channel, Fox movies, and a couple of random Arab movies. All of the shows at least have Arabic subtitles, a lot are full Arabic, but the strange part is the 50/50. Some stations are English stations, but the advertisements for new shows or movies are spoken in Arabic. For example: imagine a preview for a new movie “Thursday night, tune in to see Casino Royal, 6pm!” and then they’ll have a clip from the movie where someone says something important “Bond, James Bond” … but how it works here is “(Arabic) (Arabic) (Arabic) Bond, James Bond (Arabic) (Arabic).” For some TV shows it gets pretty entertaining. The Arabic announcer is usually very masculine sounding, deep throated, and then something like “Spongebob Square Pants!” will be thrown in.

I’ve attempted to watch a few of the Arab movies, and I’ve seen some interesting things. There’s one movie … or, I THINK it’s a movie, I’ve never watched it all the way through, so it could be a sitcom … but I call it “The Tent Movie” because it’s about a nomadic tribe, and they’re always outside their tents. I think the theme of it is two rival tribes and the relationships within them. Sure, it sounds interesting, but it’s incredibly boring (hence, never having seen it all the way through). I usually get fed up after 15 minutes of watching the women attempt to talk sense into the men, and then the men say something domineering and the women go hide in their corners. For example, today the matriarch of the tribe stopped a big battle where everyone was going to die, and her husband tells her she’s wrong, and to go back to the tent otherwise he’ll divorce her. Sigh…

Then there’s “Indian Singing to Western Woman” … it’s pretty self explanatory. It’s a black and white film from the 50s where this Indian worker is hiding behind screens and singing to a western woman who’s staying in the hotel. She smiles at him, but doesn’t say anything, and then they’re off in his car .. He’s still singing. I should probably have finished it, if only to know how to react to any randomly singing workers poolside.

Poolside

Now, on to the story of the week. Well, it happened last weekend, and I was hesitant to write about it.. But here it goes.

I went to the gym last weekend, then decided to partake of the cooled pool and sat out there for about 1.5 hours without anyone bothering me. It was just me, my iPod, a book, and a few other people lounging nearby - quite serious sunbathers, Speedo and all. Well, this guy, Mark, was at the pool for a while too, and as he was getting ready to leave he comes over to me and sits down on the spare chair and starts chatting. He just asks the basics - where am I from how long am I here, etc - nothing too horrible and I'm not instantly freaked out. I'm thinking "ok, TDY is lonely, maybe he just wants to chat". Then he's done tying his his shoes and says that I can come down and watch a movie with him if i get bored, have a drink, or "ya know" with a big grin and wink. He then told me his room number and left. I was in shock. Did that really happen? Did he just offer to "ya know" with me? Ewww!

Two minutes later another man shows up - Italian looking. I'd seen him at the pool the day before where we'd said a few words to eachother, he seemed nice - he lost his left leg (so I thought maybe a bit more humble about the world), and he was quite attractive. Plus I'm thinking after "ya know" it would be nice to have a conversation with a more humble and decent guy. I waved him over, introduce myself and he says his name is Romeo (seriously?), and It's all downhill from there. He has a HORRIBLE redneck accent (which wasn't there yesterday!) and goes on and on about Islam and how stupid it is (yeah, SO improper considering where we are). Then he talks about Ramadan and what it says about ejaculation (yeah! "ejaculation!" WHO TALKS ABOUT THIS TO A WOMAN THEY'VE JUST MET?!). He also mentions he's married, but he and his wife have a VERY open relationship and he can do as he wants while away, just like she can (suuuuure)!. By this point I'm thinking to myself "Is this all real, or is there a hidden camera??" and the crazy laugh ensues inside my head. I find a reason to call it a day and he offers me the chance (nay, privelage) to partake in a drink in his room later...

Get this. Romeo and Mark are in the same room. At least they keep all the douchbags confined to the same area. Maybe I'll get lucky and a fire will spread in that wing.

I can only imagine what the conversation was that night; Romeo says: "Dude, I met this hot chick at the pool, gave her my room number, so if she comes by she's looking for me"
Mark replies, "Dude, I did the same thing"
"I think my girl's name was Karen"
"Oh, that's ok, my girl's name was Sarah"

Yeah.. neither of them remembered my name as we parted ways

... so I'm starting a spreadsheet on how I've been hit on since arriving. There are categories such as "chance in hell it would have happened," "pick up line used," and "estimated age" to name a few. Romeo and Mark were the worst two, and really everyone else has been nice ... but it should make for some interesting pie charts.

More on that at a later date!

Economic Tiers

The adjustment to my new life has been very easy and (surprisingly) without stress. I currently have no “home life” as I’m working full days and returning to the hotel only for enough time to workout, shower, and get ready to go out for the evening. Tonight is my first night to do absolutely nothing. I plan to order room service, watch a movie, enjoy a drink, and wash it all down with some Sleep Aid. The jet lag hasn’t been bad, but I’d like to wipe the rest of it out tonight.

I also plan to partake of the gym and (possibly) pool on this hot and sunny afternoon (only 39C, 102F). The gym here is quite nice, and I usually have it to myself. It’s located on the rooftop, with a limited view of the outdoor pool. They have free weights, machines, and all sorts of cardio equipment. There are two large LCD TVs with cable TV and the a/c keeps the room cool while the wall-mounted air freshener machines spurt out some flowery sent every 10 minutes. The only problem - the entrance doors to the gym are glass, allowing visitors and workers to walk by and peak in. Sometimes they stop and watch … strange culture. The pool is usually frequented by ex-patriots (aka white people), but being on the roof it’s often very windy and, again, people stop and watch.



I’ve spent countless hours attempting to figure out how things work in this hotel room. There are easy items - such as the strange door lock (seen at left) that consumed my time simply due to curiosity , and more confusing items, like the washing machine which requires an artistic interpretation of pictograms and an understanding of light switches.




By far the most hilarious item in my hotel room is the tub. It was not made for a tall girl. Another inch on my hips and I'd be bathing sideways.


So on to describing Bahrain. There is only one thing that can sell Bahrain to tourists: Photoshop.


Above is an image of the Grand Mosque. I’ve driven by it many times and, having seen a number of Middle Eastern mosques, can tell you it’s quite beautiful. Is it as shiny as this picture portrays? No. This country is composed of sand. Not dirt. Sand. Everything is built on sand and of sand. Trees grow in sand. Therefore, it should be assumed that all buildings are covered in a fine layer of sand, including the Grand Mosque.



As for the shopping, I’ve discovered 3 tiers to the economy. First, there are the poor. They sell items in the streets, usually from the back of their bicycles. They’ll try to convince you to buy a knockoff Rolex and won’t take no for an answer. You can’t argue with them, just ignore them. They’ll have a comeback for every excuse you try to give them. “I don’t need a watch” “well, maybe you don’t need a watch, but maybe your father could use a watch, a gift, no?”

Tier two consists of the venders who operate outside shops or in small trailers along the sidewalk. For example, the man trying to sell food out of a hot dog cart. He probably makes enough to live on, but just barely, so he’ll call out to you and try to get your attention, but he’s not going to chase you down wagging a wiener after you.

The last, and highest tier, is made up of everyone that owns their shop. Sure, maybe they rent the space from someone, but their business is their own - rugs, lamps, hookahs, etc. They’ll wait outside and, in a very nonchalant way, ask if you’d like to come in. No pressure. If you move along they could care less. It’s as though this economy's main goal isn’t to make money (unless you’re starving). It’s more for the prestige of owning a shop. You can haggle for anything, and probably purchase it for less than it’s actually worth. A lot of stores along the roads are out of business and closed for this reason.

I have yet to obtain a rental car. For now I have a few co-workers in the area who will drive me and I can save my $500 a month. Today we drove around a bit - I sat in front with the map, so at least I now know about 1/4 of the city. There are traffic rules, though I don’t think you’d get a ticket for breaking any of them. Actually, someone I know DID get a ticket for speeding, but he said it was about $40. Ha! About 90% of the drivers are aware of their surroundings and stop at signs, drive a normal speed, etc. It’s that 10% (::cough:: Saudi’s) that have no regard for anything. They’ll park in the middle of the road, run lights, you name it. I’ve seen about 3 accidents so far - nothing too bad, just people not stopping at signs, so they're mostly minor. Still, it’s a good thing I learned to drive on California freeways.