The Manama Souq

A couple Saturdays ago we took a Saturday afternoon trip to the main Souk here in Manama. It was, for some reason, surprising to me that it was mostly locals with just a few Westerners/tourists. But it shouldn't have been surprising, this is the main place that (not as well-off) locals go to buy their goods. We didn't buy anything except a $2.50 toy that Davey saw - which was totally falling apart by the end of the day and had to be tossed in the trash. (You get what you pay for indeed.)

The Bab Al Bahrain, or Gateway of Bahrain, which used to lie on the oceanfront, though now its a little drive to the beach due to land reclamation projects. It is the entrance to the souq

Entering the Souq

Dave all dressed in the local thobe (robe-like garment), ghutra (scarf) and agal (cords holding scarf in place) . He just needs some Ray-Bans that he doesn't remove even indoors to be truly authentic. He attracted a lot of attention dressed like this; it was amusing to the locals (it was just for a minute though).

A mosque next to the Bab Al Bahrain. I just think they're pretty.

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed getting another taste of the culture here.

A New Preschool

Davey has been in preschool here in Bahrain since early January. I could only find two schools nearby that would allow him to attend (or at least let us pay for) less than 5 days a week. I'm just not ready to have him gone that many days a week (plus, it's not cheap)! Luckily the two options I had were good ones. We have been very happy with the school he attends and he really enjoys it. Every morning as we walk out the door Davey says, "Let's see what they're going to have," meaning what activities and toys they'll have out when he walks in since they change every day.

Shortly after he began there, I was speaking with another mother who said how her son comes back the best version of himself every day. I thought that was a pretty high complement considering the bad habits kids usually seem to pick up when they start going to school. But I have also found it to be true. He comes home happy and nice and has some good habits and views that I'm sure he's picked up from school. And not a negative one so far. For example, he's always replying to requests with, "Oh, sure!" and, "I'll give it a try." He'll say, "Charlie needs a friend," and go to play with him.

A few other interesting phrases he uses these days that I'm sure must have come from the Brits at school:

• It's not sensible to...


• You're cheeky, Mommy. (What does that mean anyway?)


• Oh deary me!


• I need a friend. (Apparently if they say this at school, someone immediately goes to play with them.)

Another nice touch of this school is that they email a picture of each child at school every week, along with a nice caption or observation about the child. I'll share the ones we have so far (with the commentary from the teacher)...

davey has made a good start at nursery. attached is a first pic of him focusing hard ! great concentrating davey !

(I'm a little embarrased of this pic; how long and scraggly I let his hair get, especially for his first day of school!)

Davey is happy at nursery. He loves to chat and is therefore attracted to adult led work. He is pictured building his representation of your 3D house – in Bahrain and not texas ! great job davey x

(Notice the better hair? I also appreciated their correct observation about him after he'd been there only a week. That's definitely Davey.)

Davey enjoyed stencilling – you tried your best davey …… well done !

this week davey worked with joshy to try golf ball rolling .... good team work davey

this picture says it all ......hmmmm this puzzle is tricky

whilst dismounting from the trampoline davey found a hole in one of his socks. 'come and look. i have a hole in my sock' .... wow, he was excited ... and so was everyone who came to inspect it !

this week we celebrated chinese new year and used lots of red and gold colour in our art. davey worked with joey but was more interested in refilling the glue bottle when we ran out - funnels are very interesting things. good watching davey :)

this week we have been learning about the sense of sight. davey spent a long time in our looking lab, experimenting and doing lots of looking. great work davey :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Well, I've put off this post so long that I can't really remember what it is Dave and I did to celebrate Valentine's Day... But I do remember that Dave came home with some roses for me, I gave him his gift during dinner and he then gave me mine right after we finished dinner. Then I saw Davey whispering something to his Daddy and looking kind of sad. Apparently he had asked Daddy if he had a Valentine present and Dave told him that Valentine's day wasn't for him. Poor Davey thought everyone got presents but him! I had forgotten to give Davey his Valentine treats and Dave didn't know I'd gotten him anything so he said what he could.

The little sweetheart had even made me a whole large envelope of Valentine presents...

Displaying his gifts with a little attitude.

I am so grateful to have my three Valentines!

The Pineapple Juice Box Store

Right across the street from our compound we have a Midway Supermarket, a small local chain similar to a convenience store in the US. Amazingly these place's prices are the same if not better than those at the large "hypermarkets," as they're called here.

Davey loves to frequent the one near us using the money Daddy gives him sporadically for his piggy bank. He especially loves the child-sized shopping carts!

Hmmm... what should I get?

Notice he's standing in the beverage isle. He apparently thinks the best treats of all are the liquid ones, as he never asks to buy anything but...

... a pineapple juice box and strawberry and chocolate milk!

Paying the casheir.

His favorite of all, though, is the pineapple juice box. Hence what he calls the place - the Pineapple Juice Box store. He begs to go there so often that he and Daddy now have a weekly date to go on Wednesdays. I wish I loved going to the grocery store that much!

"I Want To Be A Dentist"

So says Davey.

A few weeks ago Dave and I were getting really worried about one of Davey's front teeth. He had chipped them both when he was just a couple months old and we never had any issue wtih them but one day one of them just kept get darker and darker. I mean every day it was visibly different. We knew it probably was just dying and that there would probably be nothing the dentist could do for him, but we took him anyway.

The dentist told us what we thought we'd hear - just watch it and if it looks infected we'll take action, otherwise there's nothing to do. Apparently Davey really enjoyed the experience and now says quite often that he wants to be a dentist when he gets big.

Saying, "Aaaaah," while we we wait for Dave to pick us up

after the appointment.

Can you see how dark that tooth was? We were kind of sad thinking it would be like that, maring his smile until it fell out (I know, a superficial worry) but amazingly in the last couple weeks it has gone back to its normal color! Yea!

Black Eyes

Charlie has now been inducted into true boyhood with his first black eye. Wish I could say it was more interesting but the poor kid tripped face-first into the bidet.

Trying to get a pic of it...

Looking back, Davey was just a month younger when he had his first black eye...

My two little black-eyed beaux!

Bahrain International Air Show

In January we were able to attend the 1st Annual Bahrain International Air Show. It was fun to see all of the airplanes showing off...

Charlie was a trooper, making the best of a long wait to see the helicopters

Davey was about as happy as you can see him in the pictures...

Charlie - futre pilot? Perhaps. Davey? Don't think so.

Ready to jump!
Okay, not really.

Everything is so kid-friendly here. It almost seemed like a children's fair and oh, we also have an air show going on.

Clowns, magic shows, dance competitions

Davey did enjoy the kid rides with our friends kids

Taking a flight of their own

Davey can't get enough of hanging around with Mallory

A very fun day for all of us!

Ju-Ju

Our friend has this little monkey that lives behind their home, Ju-Ju. Davey had so much fun feeding him little apples, even when the monkey scratched him a couple times (don't worry, no skin broken and cleaned right away). It was so nice that he wasn't scared of an animal for once! It was practically a farm back there with birds, dogs, chickens and goats. A fun place to visit but I'm glad it's not my backyard with all the noise and smell!

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!!