Things I want to/will share...

...but have run out of time.

Topics include

• dishwashing liquid
• Juno
• Maseratis
• mosques
• journal
• learning types
• the Ritz
• cookbooks
• river cave
  

Off to Jordan for the weekend! Amman, Petra, the Dead Sea, then home Monday morning.

All the videos for the flip video project were so good! Here is our groups'.

So much has happened!

My birthday! This cake

was from Parsa and Rana. They gave me (and everyone!) presents--their generosity and company has been unbelievably wonderful. Tomorrow night will be the third time we've been over to their apartment for homemade Persian food and swimming.

Today we had class on Mariam's yacht.
The girls made food from where they were from, and we had lunch (and a brief class discussion!)...

and we hung out on the gulf.

That boat in the background, by the way, is the yacht we were on. A motor boat took us to this shallow spot in the middle of the Arabian Gulf. I'm pretty sure we were closer to Qatar than to Bahrain here.

Hard life, right?

[all the pictures are thanks to Emily!]

Community service?

The class is planning a community service activity. The class voted on a few, and delivering gift baskets to poor peoples' houses and spending time with them is the option that won. I had (and expressed) misgivings about participating in that activity because it feels so presumptuous and just kinda weird to do, but was ensured by the people from the area that the poor people are receptive and ask for baskets. I thought at first that my uneasiness with this activity originated in a cultural difference...but realized (thanks to debriefing with Rose) that my uneasiness stems from having a problem with how my/our socioeconomic class (and up) often perceives and executes community service. Basket delivery I'm sure is appreciated by recipients, but it feels really short-sighted. I wonder how/if the community is really going to benefit? I worry that helping a local nonprofit would be more productive, and I also worry about visiting poor neighborhoods like the area and people are attractions. Has anyone else struggled with this? I'm going to consider this experience not community service, but a regional learning experience, as we can learn a lot about a region by seeing the underprivileged living conditions--which I definitely haven't seen yet.

I prefer process-oriented projects--I'd rather a small part of a bigger change that might be long-lasting than have a monumental, fleeting impact. Here's an interesting article about process-oriented vs. monumental community service activities (from Rose).

This really just happened?

Today we went to a movie and dinner with girls from class. One of the girls offered us a ride home to the dorm. She happens to be a part of the royal family. We accepted. Hilarious/awesome experience.

She lives close to RUW, and offered to show us the compound she lives on and her house. Her house was huge, and the compound was gated. Her grandparents, aunts, and uncles live in houses in this gated place, with a courtyard in the middle of them. Her house is decorated with her mother's original artwork. Oh, and with pictures of former and present kings and dignitaries...that are in her immediate family. Including one that was also a feature picture in LIFE magazine. They have their own mosque.

The car conversation was the hilarious part. We learned that has her own clothing line. She pointed to a billboard for Viva, the big telephone company here, and said "That girl on the billboard! She was my model, but Viva stole her from me!" Like, the telephone company bought out her model, and she has to find a new one. For the fashion line she started as a freshman in college. At one point she was complaining about people tailgating her on the interstate, and she said "It's like when people follow you around the mall. Don't you hate that?"...and we all immediately/mindlessly agreed that having people follow you around is terrible, and we really do hate it. What? In case this needs to be clarified, this has never happened to any of us. But, like, if it did, I'm sure it would be really annoying.

Dinner at La Ventana

We spend so much time eating at wonderful restaurants, it feels like we're on a "taste of Bahrain" tour. Tonight was at La Ventana, which had a cozy atmosphere and outstanding food that's definitely share worthy. Really, everywhere is share worthy...but tonight I actually had my camera. and used it.

The owner of this restaurant is also a tailor in the souq, and so he redecorates often with cool fabrics. I looove it!
Apple juice. We heard them pressing the apples. Like, whole apples were juiced when I ordered the drink.

Smoked salmon, avocado, boiled egg, and feta sandwich. The side salad was mixed greens and veggies and pineapple and walnuts and pomegranate seeds and feta and basil dressing.


Brownie cake and orange marmalade.

So, obviously, I'm stuffed. And very happy.

the souq and shisha

Before dinner yesterday we went to Bab el Bahrain, one of the souqs (market) in Manama. "Bab el Bahrain" translates to "door to Bahrain." We were dropped off at the beginning of the souq, and as soon as we stepped out of the van we heard the call to prayer.

This was my first time hearing the lovely chant that is played city-wide five times a day, calling every practicing Muslim to prayer. They are renovating this souq, so soon all of it will look like the beginning part that is in the video. Farther back into the frame is what it really is like, crowded vendors trying to lure you into their shop with "special prices." Within Bab el Bahrain there are gold souqs, which are indoor markets with tens (hundreds?) of vendors/stores that sell 18 and 22 karat gold and natural pearl jewelry. In the main part of the souq the shops commonly sold items like cloth and scarfs, touristy t-shirts and things, electronics, watches, and abayas.

After shopping (which consisted mostly of trying to be polite while ignoring salespeople all but drag you into their store), we went to Veranda's, a restaurant popular with locals, with Parsa and Ranna for dinner. Veranda's had international food on the menu, but also served local/regional dishes. Again, delicious food...but this time followed by smoking shisha, which is similar to hookah. We smoked it fresh, with a piece of fruit was placed on top of the tobacco instead of having fruit flavored tobacco.

To touristy stuff now. Coming soon: reflections on the similarities in privileged students' idealism, and how much Hollywood has shaped perceptions of the U.S.

A typical day

Days 2, 3, 4, and 5 have been pretty much the same, starting and ending in my room at 2 am when I can't fall asleep and at 10:30 or 11 am when I overslept my alarm.

I've been getting up around 10:30 and walking over to the coffee shop before lunch and class.

The coffee shop is nestled in a corner among academic buildings, as seen from the dorm. Walking to those buildings is the most we have to walk all day, and is only about 50 yards...but it feels much longer at 11 am when it's humid and 100 degrees.

There's not much green in the desert, but I did manage to find the one blooming bush on campus.

Every morning I walk by the rec center on the way to the coffee shop, and think about how if I only got up a little earlier I could have gone. It's really nice--there's a pool, aerobics room, and a basketball court outside that I so wish people would play on in the evenings.

The coffee shop, from my seat this morning. The coffee shop men are incredibly friendly. and remember how I like my coffee every morning. And every afternoon.

The inside of the buildings are all open, with beige-toned walls, marble floors, and many windows. The canteen below usually has more tables set up, but I think they were practicing for graduation (which is actually next week...on my birthday!).

After leadership class from 1-4, which happens in a regular classroom next to where the above picture was taken, we go to learn how to speak some way super basic Arabic. We meet our teacher in the coffee shop, which is to the left of the arch below (there's a hair salon to the right), and learn how to greet people and order food and ask for a pencil.

After Arabic, we get ready for dinner, and on most nights go to Bapco. Tonight, though, some girls from Lebanon and Syria took us to a Lebanese restaurant. It was absolutely delicious, and makes me want to start a food journal. They ordered five different appetizers and just as many different dishes for us to share. I think that it may have been the best food I have ever eaten.

So, that's pretty much what I have been doing the past few days. Leadership class is interesting, and class discussions are giving me more to think about than I have time to process. Or maybe sleep deprivation and too much caffeine are hindering my thought-processing abilities?