Bahrain - March 2008 (cont.)

by Hannah

Wednesday March 19, 2008

This morning we had a workshop on managing time.  This workshop was led by Wasna.  She told us a story about this boy who was always on time, but when his friend cane to visit for a week, his plans got out of hand.  So we decided to plan his week for him during his friend's visit.  We also talked about why people should be on time.  This are the reasons that we came up with: to be organized, to be on time, so a person won't miss anything import, so a person can get his or her work done on time, to keep up with the work load and there were more, but I can't remember them.
Then we had a discussion led by Susie Grimes who talked about what it is like having a disability and why a person might or might not accept his or her disability.  This discussion included a lot of information and it was very interesting to hear people's opinions.

In the afternoon we were supposed to clean up the beach, but it was already clean.  So instead some of us flew kites, some of us went fishing, some of us rested and some of us swam in the Persian Gulf and in the swimming pools (including me.) The water in the Persian Gulf was very salty.  The water rose up to my waist and parts of it even rose up to my shoulders.  The ground is very muddy with lots of rocks and disgusting sea things in it.  It smelled really bad and because Lydia Shula lost one of her shoes in the deep mud, we decided to help her find it.  It took forever, but I found it and afterward my feet smelled really gross, but I rinsed off in one of the swimming pools before I went up to my room and took a shower.

In the evening we were divided into four groups and each group did a skit kind of thing.  It was pretty fun and the staff members did a fashion show.  It was pretty fun and afterward the shows, people danced and played foot ball (soccer).  It was a fun evening, but tiring.

Thursday March 20, 2008

Cell phones are really common here in Bahrain and people talk on them constantly.  I asked someone why everyone has a cell phone here and they said that it makes communication easier.  Everyone seems richer here and at the resort my roommate told me that they have everything we have in the U.S.  It is really annoying because people don't turn off their cell phones during a meeting or event.  For example, when we were at the Bahrain History Museum, our tour guide had two cell phones and they were ringing constantly and he would answer them whenever they rang, so we would just stand their listening to him talking in Arabic.  The weather here is still about 70-80 degrees and the food is still pretty tasty.

Today we traveled from Hawar Island back to our Youth Hostel in Manama, Bahrain.  It took about two hours (same as last time.) But before the departure, we had a little Bahraini U.S.  group appreciation in which we thanked each and everyone of the delegates.  Well, the group discussion was a little emotional, but I didn't cry because it is not the end of our trip yet.  We are now in the Youth Hostel and some people are playing card games.  Earlier we had to fill out a question sheet for MIUSA about what we enjoyed most and what we enjoyed least.  I said that I really enjoyed learning about the Bahraini culture from the Bahraini delegates for the past five days.  I don't think we are going to do anything more tonight, but tomorrow we'll be doing some shopping and we'll also go to Essam's mother's house for lunch.  We had pizza for dinner and it tasted really American.  Well, that's all for today.

Friday March 21, 2008

This morning we went half way to Saudi Arabia.  We drove on the third longest causeway that leads from country to country.  We went to a huge tower that looks out over Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and it was about 20 or more stories high.  We climbed up the steep flights of stairs and it took forever.  But when we got to the top, I was told that objects below us looked like tiny ants.  We spent about two hours there looking at the view and taking pictures.  Then we went to one of the Bahraini malls and I bought some more gifts for people.  The mall was pretty big and they had an escalator that was like a ramp.  It was the same one that we went to to buy phone cards the first day we were here.  But this time we got to explore more.  This mall had lots and lots of stores and a lot of things seem to be covered in glass.  I even went into a little bead shop that had walls that were completely glass. 

One of the things that stood out for me was that when I went into a perfume shop, I found some perfume that smelled like air and it was supposed to be air perfume, so it had no smell whatsoever.  The mall was very crowded and their shopping carts were super noisy (like a motor cycle.)

As I've mentioned before that we went to see Essam's family and we had a blast.  Well, today we were invited to his house for lunch.  There were a lot of people including family members and friends.  We ate lunch on the carpeted floor that was covered by a plastic sheet because I don't think they had enough tables for all of us.  I was told that men and women eat in separate rooms because that's their custom.  We took a lot of photos and the food was great. 

But what stood out most for me was the fact that Essam's grandmother is 110 years old and she's really small.  In fact I have noticed that a lot of Bahraini people are small.  Essam's grandmother is really cute and she is pretty healthy.  We spent about 3-4 hours there and we mostly talked, ate, received presents and took photos.  It was very fun and everyone had a great time. 

Afterward we went bowling with some of the other Bahraini delegates and we spent about 3 hours there.  They had about 18 bowling alleys and they also had an ice skating rink in the same building.  Everything is like what we have in the U.S. except that their ceiling is really colorful because they have cone shaped lights that were different colors hanging from the ceiling.  We were also joined by another group called the Crowned Prince.

The Crowned Prince is a group of selected people from all over Bahrain who are interested to be a leader for their community or country and they basically do the same things as us except that their program lasts for about 2 years.  We also had dinner with them at a traditional Bahraini restaurant.  The food was really delicious except that I wasn't very hungry because I ate earlier at Essam's.  During the dinner people made speeches about their experience with MIUSA and with the Crowned Prince.  Some of us also sang and played the drums.  It was a fun dinner.  I realized that people like to make things with lamb in it and today I tasted a sauce kind of thing that was lamb flavored; it was not very good.  Tomorrow we will be with the Bahraini delegates for part of the day doing some sightseeing.

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