Around Town

A couple weeks ago an Oxy representative drove me around to show me some useful places on the island and I was able to see a couple interesting places from a tourist perspective as well. It was nice to have the tour after I'd been here a little while so I can actually remember how to get back to the places she showed me rather than just being wide-eyed and confused. She also drove me by some restaurants she recommended, which I am grateful for because Dave and I now have a regular date night (I am loving it!).

Here are a couple pictures from my little tour.

Bahrain's World Trade Center

Notice the windmill arms between the towers. They never turn and there is a tragic story that goes along with them... To celebrate the completion of one of the stages of construction on the WTC, the company had a dinner-cruise party and the boat sank killing 58 people. Since it was a party, it included many couples and left children orphaned. I've heard that all of the engineers who knew how to get the arms turning were killed, but it seems like perhaps them not turning would be in memorial of them that died. So sad.

I took this picture of the bridge before learning that under it is the site where the boat went down.

Nearby is this development that they call the "Floating City."

As it looks, it is Venice-style canals between the homes. Very pretty.

I find the mosques to be very attractive, especially since not too much here in the landscape is all that beautiful. A couple I've managed to get pictures of...

Davey loves the Blue Dome Mosque, as we call it.

Random Mosque

We feel quite fortunate that you can barely hear the call to prayer from our home. It is interesting, even fun, to hear - makes you remember that you live in the Middle East - but only for some, like us, because we've heard many stories of Westerners who are woken by it every morning around 5am. So glad we don't have that to deal with.

So Happy Today!

I know I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog, but I just have to write a quick post to say how exciting today is... our shipment is arriving any minute now and Charlie is officially weaned as of today! Hip, hip, hooray!!

Barker the Dog

We have a dog hanging around our house these days... isn't he cute? Davey is always pretending he is something or other, most often a dog or baby. Davey the dog has named himselef Barker; Davey the baby is a little less imaginitive, always named Charlie. Though I'm half surprised he hasn't called himself Tommy, after his cousin. A couple weeks ago Davey was telling me he wanted me to have another baby. He wanted another brother, Tommy. He made sure he clarified that he didn't want just another brother we were to name Tommy, but he actually wanted his cousin Tommy (Desiree's boy) as his brother. I thought that was sweet and it was fun to know that Davey remembers him even though he's only met Tommy once.


Davey gets pretty into his role, and especially when he is Barker I have to always remind him that I do not like it when dogs lick me, no matter who the dog is. I love watching his imagination develop, though.


Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com
Okay, I think this video is so cute because my boys never run around in their underwear/diapers. It looks so cute to me.
Charlie of course is not so imaginitive, but it amazes me how well he mimics. For months now, he has made his own little "vroom, vroom" sound when pushing a car around and the other day it was so cute to watch him toddle around with his hands high above his head making a shushing sound trying to fly planes like Davey.

Update from when I first wrote this post: Charlie now loves to play doggie with Davey. I was wondering today if Charlie now calls Davey "Woof!" because he does it every time he sees him. At the least, it's Char-char's favorite word.
Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Tree of Life

During the day on Charlie's birthday, we decided to have a family outing. We haven't taken too many yet mostly because it's hard to fit in much between Charlie's two naps, but we decided we really needed to get out and exploring a bit. And it felt good. It made it seem like we actually live in a different, interesting place, rather than just living in a place where everything is a little less convenient than we're used to.

Dave decided to take us to see the Tree of Life. Now this isn't supposed to be the Tree of Life of religious significance, but perhaps some people think it's a miracle. I'll explain more in a minute.
First, a couple pictures of the drive down, getting more of a feel of what things look like here.

A typical roadside view of a residential area.

When we got to the lower/middle portion of the island, the landscape was very barren and we started seeing these little tent things all over...

Apparently the locals all go "camping" for the winter months and set up these tents. Didn't look toko comfortable or convenient to me for such a long time, but I got a peek inside a few and they are quite well-furnished with couches, rugs, etc.

There are seas of these tents.

Not far past all the campers, there stands the Jebel, or one mountain, on the island.

The Jebel

Near the Jebel is where most of the oil fields are. We went to the site of the first oil well sunk in the Arabian Penninsula.

Then we turned off into the desert along unmarked paths and drove and drove. I have no idea how Dave found it, but eventually we saw the Tree of Life. It was pretty obvious to find once we were in sight distance, a large, lone tree in the middle of a very barren landscape.

They call it the Tree of Life because it has supposedly lived several times as long as the typical tree of its kind and with no water source anyone can find. People have sunk wells nearby to try to find its source but can't find one.

Unfortunately there was grafitti all over the branches and people were climbing all over the tree. Davey wanted to join in so we compromised by letting him sit on a branch for a picture.

We took a more scenic drive home along the water. I am amazed by how little of the coastline has been developed. If it were in the States I'm sure it would be difficult to find an empty piece of beachfront property.

One of the views. I'm not that great at these shots.

Merry Christmas, Again

Instead of celebrating New Year's Eve traditionally, we decided to have our second Christmas with the boys since our air shipment with most of their gifts had just arrived. Our tree was battered by that time, but the boys didn't mind of course.

Ready to tear into the presents!

The aftermath.

Dave was most excited to give Davey some Hot Wheels cars and some track. They have had so much fun setting up ramps and jumps.

Ready, set, go!

Yea! It made it over the ramp and into the goal.

Maybe a boring video, but I like to get a bit of Davey talking on camera. It's so hard to get him to do it and I know I'll miss him at this age when he's older... (I can't figure out how to turn it. If anyone knows, please let me know!)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Birthday Charlie

Charlie turned on on Monday! It's hard to believe he is already that old... practically a toddler! Time seems to always fly by, but this year has gone by faster than most it seems when I think in terms of Charlie. I guess each child's first year must seem to go by faster and faster as the parents get more and more busy! The year seems to have gotten away from me so much that I think I treat Charlie as more of a baby than he is and forget about the advancing skills that he should have. Not saying he is beind at all, just that I guess I am sometimes surprised when I notice him seeming more mature than he seems like he should be since I still think of him as a baby baby. Make any sense?

Our big boy is beginning to toddle around and very proud of himself when he manages to cross a room or distance further than from the coffee table to the couch. He loves to jabber and is quite good at mimicking sounds (a click of the tongue, flubbering lips, shushing sounds, etc.). I'm having visions of two children who talk non-stop...

Charlie is totally in love with his big brother. It is so amusing to me to watch how excited and animated he gets when we climb the stairs to get Davey after his nap. Body convulsions, squeals of delight, laughing like crazy. And it is reciprocated by Davey once we enter his room. So cute. Each afternoon it's like a reuion of two long-lost brothers.

Charlie is still a very happy boy who plays well on his own. He is quick to smile, loves to be silly and will laugh even through tears.

I am having a bit of a struggle with feeding Charlie now that we're in Bahrain. Babies must be fed mostly home-made baby food because jarred baby food is in extremely short supply here, even in the more western-geared stores. I have only found one store that carries any jarred vegetables and it is just one jar of mixed vegetables, which Charlie does not care for. Everything is fruit, and only apples an bananas. And everything has added sugar. I have been trying to get him to eat my own home-made baby food but have not had much success so far... There are a few foods, however, that Charlie absolutely loves and will eat until he vomits. Thus each feeding of these things always ends in a screaming fit worthy of a full-on tantrum because I have to cut him off before he wants to be done. They are yogurt, bananas and spaghetti. Luckily I have recently realized that spaghetti sauce can hide a multitude of mashed vegetables, so it may be spaghetti for dinner every night until I can get him to expand his horizons.

A happy boy birthday morning in the midst of eating his yogurt.

Dave had the day off so we used it to go exploring a bit around the island. I'll include a separate post about that adventure.

At 5:30 a neighbor family (the only people we know outside of Dave's work!) joined us with their twin boys for some cupcakes...

Frame one: Charlie desperately trying to get that cupcake

(how do kids instinctively know when something is sweet?

I swear he's never had a cupcake before)

Frame two: Distracted a bit by the Happy Birthday song

Frame three: Delight when he is finally presented with the cupcake

Frame four: No hesitation to dig in once he tasted that frosting!

No explanation needed here!
There was nothing left of that cupcake but a few crumbs!

Afterward we opened a few gifts that I had to run out and get at the last minute (his bday gifts were in our shipment that was supposed to be there before Christmas but still hadn't arrived as of his birthday).

Apparently I picked well; the toys were a hit!
Charlie often has to wrestle the little cars from Davey, but he got the hang of it right away.


Having fun with the twins.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this darling little birthday body!

Of course Davey didn't want to be left out.

We hope you had a great birthday, Charlie! We love you so much!

No Maid for Me

Well, I tried to have an open conversation with her. I explained that we have a particular way we would like things done and we need someone who is willing to listen and do it that way. We need someone who is willing to get down on their knees and scrub at a spot on the floor if that's what it needs (that's where we were getting the most push-back). Apparently, she cannot/will not.

I've been thinking that I would be more comfortable with someone younger (this lady is probably 50 or so) who would probably be more open and flexible. I've been thinking that this lady is not the one for us, though I'm sure other people have thought she was good for them.

Turns out, she's been thinking the same thing. She speaks pretty good English, but I still felt like I had a hard time knowing exactly what she was saying. What I took from it was that she has been cleaning in Bahrain for 2.5 years and apparently no one has ever been so direct with her and wanted things done their way. Other people must not be very particular about their cleaning. But I find that hard to believe. I think she just wants to do what she wants to do and not have anyone bother her. Well, that doesn't work for us.

So today was her last day. Now I'll be trying to clean this big house for a while. Hopefully not too long because its really just too big and there is too much dust everywhere for one person to keep clean on their own (unless they're a maid and it's their job ;).

I've Got it Made

I mean, I've got a maid. Well, I might have a maid. We're in a trial week to see how we like her and she can see how she likes us. I am definitely enjoying it but it also is a little uncomfortable. It probably sounds crazy to anyone else for me to be anywhere other than in heaven with this, but here's the dilemma as I see it...

First, it's difficult to discern what a good wage is for them. We had heard one price (lower) before we got here and now we're hearing differently from some people, but not others. I want to pay someone fairly and higher rather than lower to keep them happy and honest, but I need to feel like it's worth it/I want to fit it into my budget.

Second, providing housing for the maid (we have a *tiny* maid's quarters behind our garage) is worth a lot to them; i.e. pay for a part-time maid is only slightly higher than having a ful-time maid who lives with you. So having the maid live with you seems obviously a better deal, right?

(Third) But that's the part I'm uncomfortable with. When the maid lives with you, you basically become completely responsible for them in the eyes of the law here. And I would feel that way as well. I would be providing all of their income, which means all of their sustanance. Maybe it shouldn't, but that is something I'm not comfortable with when I'm providing such a low wage. I know it's not low compared to other maids, but I just can't wrap my head around it. Get over it and go with it, I know, but I don't seem to be able to. It's totally stressing me out.

Fourth, the hard part about having someone live with me is that I want them to be happy/pleasant to have around and unintrusive in my life. So far this maid began by being pretty chatty and felt free to let me know everything I needed for my home; i.e. you need a shelf here, you need a basket there, you need, you need, you need. On the second day, I let her know that we do not have all of our belongings here (neither of our shipments have arrived yet) so I know our home does not have everything we need to be completely convenient and organized yet and, most importantly, that I know what I need for my home and don't need her to tell me. After that, her demeanor changed and she seems to be sulking. I don't like the feeling it's giving me when she's around.

I need someone who is going to take direction and be compliant with cleaning my home exactly the way I want it cleaned. I understand she is older and has been cleaning for a long time and thus probably feels like she knows how to do these things better than I do, but that doesn't matter to me. I am paying someone to clean my home the way I want it done. If I am going to get pushback all the time, I don't want her.

So, it should be obvious, right? Just try a different maid. This just isn't the one for us. But, good maids seem to be hard to find. I've heard she was quite good and I didn't like the other one we've tried. This house is so big that I don't want to be without help, but it may have to just be that way for a while. Its just so hard to be able to immediately have the level of trust you need with someone to bring them into your home every day, but how do you get to know them and trust them without doing just that? Go with a referral. But no one seemed to have anyone until my neighbor recommended her. We'll see. Today is the last day of our trial and I'm going to see if she will do one more week of part-time to give us more time to think on what we want and evaluate her.

Around Town

We went to the mall for some after-Christmas-style shopping (though no big sales here) for Dave to exchange one of the gifts I got him. Most stores seem like they don't let you return things here, only exchange, and this store only gave 7 days for that! Definitely different. Anyway, our camera was working this morning when I played with it again... yahoo!! So I took a few pictures (from the car again, sorry) of what things look like here.

Headed toward Manama's city center

One of the malls

The twin financial towers - one of the city's most prominent features

The Pearl Monument

Bahrain used to be a huge place for pearling; they still don't allow cultured pearls to be sold on the island.

This "boat" and a few others are scattered around to "beautify" the place. Interesting.

Merry Christmas

Christmas in our home was pretty low-key this year. We were pretty hopeful that our air shipment that included our tree and almost all the Christmas gifts for the boys (luckily I took a few in my suitcase) was going to arrive in time. We were told it was scheduled to arrive in Manama on the 19th and would go through customs and be delivered to us on the 20th. No such luck.

I won't go into the annoying details, but let's just say I made a late-night run the night before Christmas eve to find a tree, some trimmings and a couple more gifts. Davey was excited to trim the tree with us and we tried to make it feel a little like Christmas by baking and decorating cookies and making a countdown chain.

Christmas eve we spent at the home of one of Dave's co-workers. It was nice to finally meet a bunch of nice, friendly American women. I am looking forward to getting to know them better. Someone else is having another party tomorrow night, though we'll have to see if we're going to go. 7pm parties are difficult with our children.

When Davey went to bed Christmas eve he kept saying he didn't want Santa to come and he didn't want presents. Finally, though he changed his tune when we were talking about how Santa has to bring the gifts to children all over the world. He then asked, "Can Santa come to my house first?" Uh huh. We knew you wanted those presents.

As I mentioned, our camera was broken so these pictures aren't really great, but at least we have some halfway decent ones from Dave's phone.

Our sparsely-trimmed tree

Christas morning Davey showed an incredible amount of self-restraint when we asked him to wait to open his gifts until Charlie woke up an hour later. He passed the time enjoying the Starburst the elves left in his stocking...

I got distracted and I think he ate 8 red starburst before I realized it.

Davey and Charlie ready to tear into the gifts!

Davey loves to plaly doctor so he's been loving the doctor kit!

After opening gifts, I had an adventure in the kitchen trying to make a chocolate cream pie without a fully-stocked kitchen. Not sure why I thought I could do it, but it turned out okay in the end even though I had to mix the crust and wisk the pudding and whipping cream with a fork and make the pie in an oval pyrex dish. Then it was off to church, since church here is on Friday, for just Sacrament meeting and then a pot luck. It was nice to have some time to chat with people at church and get to know them better.

After church, Charlie and I took naps, which was so nice, while the turkey cooked. Then we had a simple dinner with just turkey and sweet potatoes. I still haven't gotten much into cooking here (as you can imagine with my limited kitchen supplies - also groceries are pretty expensive here since everything is imported and I never want to buy too much...). I'll have to get over that soon.

Anyway, even though it was very low-key we had a very nice Christmas! It was nice to be able to talk with Davey more in-depth this year about the true meaning of Christmas and let him know how grateful we are for the gift of the baby Jesus. Merry Christmas everyone!