bright spots

I think I've figure out what my problem is (at least one of them): I was expecting to soothe my disappointment at not going home this summer with a fun introduction to Bahrain. Sightseeing, eating out, discovering new favorite spots . . . and my expectations haven't been met.

Poor sweaty, tired baby in the middle of her 10 minute cat-nap as we ride the shuttle

The plan (see my mistake there?) was that Josh would check in so we could start looking for a place to live, then take leave and we would enjoy exploring the country together, just as if we were on one of our trips. I'm still waiting for leave to happen. He arrived, they piled on work, and he's been working 11 hour days. So while I'm waiting for the fun to start, here's a little of what we've been doing:

It took me a while to figure out that these signs aren't actually adversing a toilet.
(For Kristy: it's a For Rent sign -- 'To Let.' I'm not sure why so many of them have the words run together)

OK, I can be happy here. They have my favorite cookies (a 3 pack for $5 is a bargain!)

Grocery store games -- trying to crawl out from under a moving cart. See all the water? A source of dispute here. Josh keeps telling us to drink tap water, but none of us like it and when the bottles run out we all slowly dehydrate until we get more bottles. It's not environmentally friendly, but not much here is. When we're in our house we'll have bottled water delivered in the big 5 gallon reusable jugs.  

A ramadan special: buy a 2 liter bottle of coke and get a free bag of macaroni? Cause that's always what I crave when I open a Coke . . .

 

The bright spot of every day is when we go out to dinner at night. It's a chance to get out of the hotel and walk around in the not-so-blazing heat. Oh, it's still hot and humid, but at least the sun isn't baking our skin. We've tried a bunch of different restaurants in the neighborhood around our hotel. This night we did schwarma (the meat on a spit that is shaved into flatbread along with tomatoes, lettuce and sauce.) Cheap and really good. Like Oman, food is expensive here, but schwarma can be had for about $2 each. 

 

Walking the streets -- it feels much more like a big city than Muscat

Stopping at a juice stand for an after dinner drink -- fresh fruit goes in the blender with ice. 

A bunch of red grapes tossed in the blender = Grape juice

   

Totally unrelated, spotted in the Navy Exchange: it says "Cruelty Free, Tested on Humans First." It wasn't cruel to those first humans who tested it?

Another evening, walking by the Grand Mosque. 

In the huge dirt lot, men are playing games of cricket and football (soccer)  

All these tall buildings are much different than what we would see in Oman -- I don't think there's anything over 4 stories there. Most buildings are only 2 stories. 

Another day, another dining adventure. (Not very adventurous that night since we ended up at TGIFriday's.) So far it seems like the only thing to do here is eat out. If my Arabic-speaking tour guide ever has time to explore, maybe we'll find a different side to the island. Hoping that time comes soon!