Bahrain, Explained a Little

(We live close by where the King Fahd Causeway meets the island)

A bit about the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is a small island country in the Persian Gulf, near Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The population is around a million and has just one major city, Manama. Only 50% of the population are Bahraini, the rest coming mostly from South Asia and a handful of Westerners (maybe 100K).

It's mostly hot and dry here, though in the week we've been in Bahrain it's rained two times. Apparently it hadn't rained for 3 years before that, even though the air is often humid in the winter.

Driving around here, the majority of the buildings look similar (no surprise) to pictures I have seen on the news of Iraq. Not to say that the whole place looks like Iraq though; there are lots of modern buildings as well and they are certainly very nice inside. Shopping seems to be the national pass-time as everyone is very fashion-conscious and there are tons of busy, very nice malls (though you wouldn't be able to tell from the outside). Plus, I don't really know what else anyone does besides a little bit of sailing and Formula 1 race watching. I'm sure I'll find out more as I'm here longer though.

As for the culture, it is much more liberal and moder than many Arab countries, which is definitely good for us. Seeing Arab men in a Khandura and women in the Abaya is definitely common but not the majority. Every 1 in maybe 15 of the covered women are fully covered, showing only their eyes and maybe not even that. As much as I see myself as open-minded to other cultures, I'm still a little bewildered when I see a woman completely covered walking with a man dressed in a t-shirt and jeans.

The few locals I've interacted with have been very nice and mostly the interaction was based on admiring my children. Everyone here seems crazy about kids. They get so much attention, which of course a mother likes :) even though I know all kids get that attention.

Okay, I promise the next post will include some pictures we've taken since we've been here.