Week 3 - I'm learning to adapt

So I think I've officially been to every grocery store in Bahrain. I still find that exciting. Not too much happened this week. Still waiting to get my visa, hopefully on Thursday it will be ready. It's taken two weeks now. Ramadan is over, so I'll be discovering all Bahrain has to offer now.

Hotels: Last night I went to the Ritz Carlton but everyone was there partying for the end of Ramadan so we just looked around. The Trader Vic's restaurant there has tons of tropical drinks with semi decent food so hopefully next week I'll be able to discover that. Last night we ate at a wine bar in the Diplomatic Hotel downtown. It was delicious, we had shrimps with lemon oil, blue cheese gnocchi and tiramisu. The wine is expensive because only hotels serve alcohol, restaurants cannot serve alcoholic beverages.

Restaurants: The restaurants can't serve bacon because they don't eat pork here so I've been eating a lot of beef bacon, it tastes the same, but nothing beats real pork bacon. Coffee shops are big here. The mall has at least 5 different ones to chose from, which is nice that it's not always Starbucks. The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is my favorite, their coffee will keep you up all night, but it's delicious. The fresh juices here are incredible, every restaurant has them on the menu: cherry, pineapple, strawberry, passion fruit, guava and even more that I haven't heard of. The only one I don't like is guava because it is very thick, it has the consistency of glue.

Produce: There's tons of new produce to discover, I need to figure out what to do with snake's guard and dragon fruit. The figs here are as big as my fist, they were a hit at my dinner party earlier this week. I discovered that goat cheese and feta cheese have the exact reverse texture as they do in the states. The Carrefour grocery store, which is my favorite, has a huge cheese bar with tons of different olives, all sorts of cheeses to chose from as well as fresh jams (strawberry, fig and apricot) all in this cheese bar. I can't wait to try the fig. I'm still trying to find out what to do with coconut powder. I guess you bake with it or use it in drinks, I'll figure it out. The spices here are inexpensive, I got 2 pounds of chili powder for about $1. They are sold fresh and in huge barrels (I have no idea what I'll do with that much chili powder).

Household Chores: Our landlord just got us a clothes dryer so now we don't have to air dry them in the sandy air outside or in the house. The clothes washers here are very different from the ones in the states. You have to fill up the washer with an outside hose, then let it wash. When that's done, you have to put the clothes in another tank to spin them, and then place them in the dryer. I have to swiffer the floor every other day because the sand gets inside the house everywhere.

Driving: I attempted driving to the 24 hour mart yesterday. I was so scared because the people here drive incredibly fast and people ride their bikes at night and you can't see them, but I did just fine. The roads here are not labeled, there are no street signs, so you give directions by landmarks.

More to come later.

Week 2 - it keeps getting hotter

This week was a ton hotter than last. It's been in the 100's, but there is a breeze. Still waiting for the AFN box (to get American tv), so looks like it's move DVDs for me. As I've been here for two weeks now, I see that it's a huge mixture of people living here, who knew. However, the advantage is authentic restaurants all over the place. Monday night I ate at Swan Lake for Thai/Phillipine cuisine. It was wonderful. It's a tiny restaurant with only two waitresses, but the amount of food they put out is quite impressive. I ordered an iced tea but got this frothy concoction that looked like a milkshake but tastes like lemon iced tea. The coca cola here is much better than in the states. It tastes more syrupy instead of watery. It's delicious. You can also get just a glass of coconut milk if you like. This restaurant is located near the Souq. The Souq is a place that reminds me of Chinatown in NY. You can get anything you want; jewelry, scarves, fake purses and luggage, trinkets, food, etc. It was fun, but I think I'll go during the day next time. Near the Souq is a building called Gold City. This building is three stories of gold as far as the eye can see; all sorts of jewels, gold and pearls. Today I visited my husband's boss' house for an Ethiopian coffee service. His wife is from Ethiopia so her family made us coffee this afternoon. They roasted fresh coffee beans on a burner set on the ground. After roasting, they ground the beans, placed them in water and continued to heat it on the burner. Then they put this blue vessel on the heat and transfered the coffee to it, they poured it out, then back in, out and then back in until the coffee was ready. They served it with sugar or cream in little espresso cups. The coffee was very strong but delicious. That's all for now. Pictures and more restaurant reviews to follow shortly.

pictures of the villa

Here are pictures of the villa we just moved into. It's huge, but there's no dishwasher and the washer/dryer is just a European style washer meaning we have to pour the water in ourselves, there is no dryer. So we let the clothes dry on the couches because if you let it dry outside, it'll be full of sand in two seconds. But live and learn, next time we'll request American specs. The floors are marble, there are three bedrooms with 3 1/2 baths, the view on the top of the villa is amazing of the ocean. We have a teenie tiny piece of grass in the front area of the house. I never thought I would miss grass :(

Week 1 - no sleep

Week 1 has been interesting. I can't sleep with the 8 hours time difference, so everything has been a little hazy. But what I do remember so far...

1. Camel rides for children

2. It's hot and there is sand everywhere, including my shoes (annoying)

3. I live in this huge villa with marble floors, a winding staircase and a huge kitchen, no pool though, boo

4. The grocery store has the most random and awesome produce ever, more pictures to come with that

5. There is a whole road designated to American fast food chains (McDonalds, DQ, Papa Johns, etc), all of which can be delivered to your house, who knew you could have McDonald's delivered

6. Yes, there is Starbucks. Not one on every corner like back home but there is one in every mall, alonng with caribou coffee and gloria jeans. There's no shortage of coffee here, that's for sure

There's more that I missed, I'm sure. As I get some rest and remember what's going on, there will be pictures and video clips of my adventures in Bahrain, England, Dubai, Germany, and many others.