these aren’t my words and photos, but it’s a really interesting look at where I live. There are about 60 photos and captions that capture everything from how our island made of reclaimed land (why we have no beaches), some of the endless construction, and the heat (no protest coverage though!).
Month: February 2013
The well is dry
I’ve been blogging regularly, almost daily, for over two years. It really is amazing to me that I’ve had that much to say over such an extended period of time. And that people keep stopping by to read it. For the past two weeks or so I’ve been kicking around the idea of taking a break. I don’t like to do something if I’m not doing it well and I know I haven’t been blogging well lately.
I got several lovely comments/emails about my most recent blog post and it made me waver in my decision, but then Camille started throwing up last night and I was up for several hours with a linen closet’s worth of towels, Diego, and a toddler who was violently opposed to the idea of a towel anywhere near her — as if it were making her throw up instead of just being there to catch whatever escaped from her clenched teeth. A creative and refreshed me would have turned it into a funny blogging opportunity, making lemons out of lemonade and having a laugh about it, but instead I’m home all day with crazy kid and crazy dog and I’ve got nothing. I’m perfectly content, but I have no words left. I’m tired. Not sleepy tired, but brain-dead tired.
So today going to sit and play nursemaid and watch re-runs of Downton Abbey while I knit and eat chocolate and tomorrow I’ll keep plugging along with life here on the island. But I probably won’t be blogging about it for a bit. I’m hoping if I let the well fill up again, I’ll have more to draw from and won’t feel so dry for ideas all the time.
But I’ll leave you with some photos from a really fun day with my dad. While the boys were at school, the 3 of us went to the park, played on the swings and the slides and then went up in the tower for a coffee date:
Ta-ta for now!
play on
I finally got around to getting the pirate playground photos uploaded — this is the new indoor play place near our house. Since it was Feb 14th and much of the island was in a state of protest, this was both fun and didn’t require leaving our neighborhood.
This pirate ship ride looks like it might be exciting, but this is about as high as it goes. The boys had fun laughing and waving at their friends on the other side, but it was more like a baby swing than a thrill ride.
In order to use the rides you have to buy a rechargeable card for the equivalent of 50 cents and then add as much money as you want. The rides are 2 dollars each and the video games are something ridiculous like 2.50/play. No such thing as .25 Pac Man or Space Invaders. The most humorous part of the entire thing is it took the guy about 10 minutes to ring up the card and then he had to make change out of his own wallet. Nothing runs with efficiency here.
Behind them is the playground. $6/kid, but they could play as long as they wanted. Since we stayed almost 4 hours, it was worth it.
Papa showing off videos of the cousins
In the baby ball pit (they also had one for the bigger kids, but since the playground had no employee supervision, everyone went wherever they wanted).
I had never seen these before, but I guess they’re in all the malls here. They’re electric animals that are silent like a golf cart, but completely smooth (no jerking starts and stops).
Everyone had fun riding them.
Everyone.
Arrgh!
is the title I was going to use for the photos from our trip to the pirate play place, but since Picasa isn’t working at the moment, it’s appropriate anyway. Hopefully the system will stop being buggy soon and I’ll be back to uploading photos to my blog.
In the meantime, my dad is currently in the air on his way back home to CA. We had a fun several days here even though he didn’t get to see much of the island because large parts of it were in states of unrest because of the February 14 anniversary. Josh found a few videos on YouTube that cracked me up because they are incidents that take place where I drive every single day, but I’ve never come across them in my driving to and from school, base, etc. Thankfully.
I’m linking to them directly on YouTube because you may want to check out some of the other ones listed in the sidebar. If they say “Juffair” or February 14, they’re probably from this weekend.
Bahrain After Dark
This one is typical of the stuff that happens at night all the time. This corner is right by the boys’ school and every day we see burn marks on the sidewalks and walls and debris in the street. The cops are the guys with white helmets that throw something back that explodes into sparks.
Boat Show
Displays like this is why the base decided to close the school for the anniversary. This is on the street where the boys’ school is located. It’s less of a personal safety issue and more because the disruptions impede traffic and create a general mess. They also don’t know when things will escalate between cops and the protesters and don’t want anyone to get stuck in the middle of it.
It’s all a little insane, isn’t it? The craziest part is that we can live and work here and much of it goes unnoticed or we just change our route to avoid the planned protest areas. There are still displays of resistance that happens every day, but now that the weekend is over, it seems to have settled down a bit.
Snow Day — Bahrain style
Today is the 2nd anniversary of the (failed) Bahraini revolution and in anticipation of tire fires, protests, tear gas, and road closures, they cancelled school. Valentine’s Day parties will have to be held next week, but that doesn’t phase the boys any. They’re thrilled to have an extra day to sleep in.
Aside from the extra frequent text messages that I’ve been getting (Alert: Tire Fire on Sheik Salman Avenue — avoid this area), it’s going to be a pretty normal day for us. Josh is at work, we’re lazing around in our pjs and then going to pick up a few groceries, coffee, and let the kids play at an indoor play place that just opened near our house. What makes it extra special is that my dad is here visiting so the extra day off school is even more appreciated. Even if there is tear gas involved.
Just kidding.
In other news, Camille is feeling much better. I’d say she’s back to normal, but I’ve said that a few times before and then watched her fever come back so I’m giving it a few more days.
Waiting to pick up dad at the airport
Poor nanny. The kid knew she was not his boss. He was running in the off limits area where passengers exit the terminal and she had no luck convincing him to move. (Of course his mom was standing right behind me doing nothing . . .)
The dog whisperer. Micah was less scared of dad than any new person we’ve ever had in the house.
Happy VD!