PG-13

---

I have been adjusting slowly and steadily for the past few weeks. After some disputes about my contract I am officially part of the Busiateen Volleyball Club. I received my first payment and a car a few days ago and have been enjoying both as much as i can. I have also been learning alot about the culture here and am realizing how different it really is from what im used to.

There are little curve balls all around that keep me constantly on my toes and wondering whats next. The perfect example of this was just last week when I went to the mall. The mall was like any other mall i have ever been to in the states. the food court had a subway, a pizza place, fast food of all kinds, even a dippin' dots ice cream stand. When sitting down to eat there were posters of Rambo 4 and all the other latest movies spilling out of the theater and attacking every corner of the seating area. In such a modern looking place to see 90% of the women wearing black covers over everything but their faces is a sight i have still to get used to. This strange sight, however, was not the curve ball for the day. That came a little after eating when Diego (he is the other foreigner from Colombia) and I made our way to the public restroom. I was not expecting any major surprises here so when i realized there was no toilet paper, and no place to hang the toilet paper even if i could some how magically find some, i was slightly taken aback. Suddenly, and all at once, every bathroom I had seen flashed through my mind and I realized the small hose next to every toilet was not there for aesthetic purposes...... in the hopes of retaining my audience I'll just leave it at that. I found out later that this has to do with the Muslim religion and a desire for them to remain clean. I also found out that when people from this part of the world travel to places that neglect to install this small hose, they have a much harder time adjusting because the inconvenience touches on both social and religious habits. Every grocery store, however, sells the necessary supplies for home so all that is required is a little extra planning before my daily adventures. (and you all thought you going to read about little cultural or social differences....BORING!!)

As i mentioned before Diego is the other foreigner that plays on the team. He is Colombian and his wife is Canadian. They actually met last season here in Bahrain and just recently got married before returning. they have shown me around the island and we even had a BBQ together when i first arrived. With out them around life would be much more boring and i probably would have gotten lost a few more times in my car.

Im also learning alot about the island. I found out that the area of the country I live it is actually all reclaimed land. (its easier to think of the country as a big city. Keep in mind that there have been some big articles in the news paper because the population just exceeded one million) What i mean by reclaimed land is that the construction companies literally pile dirt into the sea until they have land to build on. This is happening all over the north part of the island because the gulf that surrounds it tends to be fairly shallow. This is why the area that i walked everyday had more of a dusty quality and why there was so much construction going on. I may have given a false impression of the island in my last blog. While construction is exploding all around it is not like that everywhere on the island. I have been to a few markets and older parts of Bahrain and will take pictures of all that soon so you all can get a better idea of what this country is really like. Thats all for now.

---

Photos

Busaiteen Cub
The front entrance to the club. They have a soccer team, a handball team, and of course a volleyball team.

Inside the Club
Another day in the office looks something like this.

The Hose
The fact that the toilets here are square was way easier to get used to.

BBQ
We found a little one time use BBQ that worked pretty well. We will probably use it again when the weather warms up and we can go camping in the dessert.

The Escobars
Lesley and Diego Escobar. Diego is also the best magician i have ever seen outside the Magic Castle.

Traditional Dhow
These are the traditional boats used by the Bahrainian people. Because the Gulf is so shallow at points its easy for boats to get stuck like this at low tide.

Comments

[Amy]

World Traveler
Hey Nils- This is really fun to follow your travels... Much more interesting than what Kait has told me! Ok so I know what the green writing in the 1st blog is- STARBUCKS! I'd know it anywhere! Hugs-