Bahrain - March 2008 (cont.)

by Hannah

Wednesday March 26, 2008

Everyday feels like my birthday because we have been getting a ton of gifts in the past two and a half weeks.  Everyone here is very generous and super kind; it makes me feel right at home.

This morning we went to the University of Bahrain; it is huge! They currently have about 13 thousand students.  Only eight of the students are disabled; six visually impaired and two other physically disabled.  They provide special transportation for the disabled students to go from one university to another.  They have all the technology for the visually impaired students to use, but they don't have a sign language interpreter.  Only 30 percent of the students are male and 70 percent are female at the University of Bahrain.

Students can major at the American Study Center because they have courses that focus on America.  The courses are very popular because it usually offers scholarships.  It is known as the hardest minor at the university.  This major has many courses that are focused on different aspects.  Most of the courses at the university are in English and they only have a few students that study at the university who are from abroad.  Before we left we received a t-shirt and had a little snack/dim sum.
Afterward we went bowling; sponsored by the Southern Governorate.  In fact, half of our stay in Bahrain is hosts by the Southern Governorate.  We had our private bowling room with six bowling alleys.  It was really fun and we had lunch their afterwards.

The food was delicious and for dessert, we had vanilla ice cream with fresh fruit; it was super delicious.  After the lunch, we had speeches from the VIPs.  They gave us a beautiful hand made jewelry box and a book about the government.

In the afternoon we had a workshop on how to be a better leader. The workshop was super fun because we played group games. First we wrote five thank yous and then we had a grid with 9 dots that we had to connect with 4 lines.  In order to connect them all with 4 lines, we had to go outside of the box.  By connecting the dots, we learned to think wider than we did because our instructor didn't say not to go outside of the box.  Afterward we all were divided into groups and each group had to put together a Barbie puzzle.  We did this because it was to build teamwork skills.  Our group worked together well, but we didn't come in first, but it was fun.  These are just a few of the fun games that we played.

In the evening we went to a formal dinner.  It was pretty much like last time, but it was at a different place.  They had a swimming pool in the middle of a huge yard.  It wasn't as lit up as last time, but the food was equally great! Some of us danced before and after dinner, but I talked to Mona and some other people.  It was really fun and everyone was super nice.  Tomorrow we will be doing some more workshops on various things.

Thursday March 27, 2008

This morning we went to the first established Coast Guard center in 1939 in Bahrain.  We had a tour around the center in which the guards showed us the equipments that are used in diving and on boats.  While on the tour, we learned that there are 875 people working there currently and all of them are men because in Bahrain men and women are separated in doing almost everything.  The guards all wear blue and they cover about 2910 square miles of sea.  People cannot enter Bahrain by sea; they have to enter from ports.  Their highest goal is to secure people's safety.  If any Bahraini wants to go out to the sea, they would have to fill out a form stating where they are going, so that the coast guards can keep track in case of danger.

The Coast Guard Center has visitors almost everyday from schools or universities to learn how the center works.  There are also coral reef areas and people cannot go to those areas.In order to work for the coast guard, a person has to do six months training of becoming a policeman, have to go to medical school and have to do a least of three months of exercising such as push ups and sit ups.  In order to join the person has to be a least 20 years old.

After the guards showed us all the equipments and even some of the exercises that they do, we went on a boat.  We went across the Persian Gulf on a power boat that went super fast, which made my hair blow in every direction.  It was really fun because this boat ride was the fastest one I have been on so far.  We even went under a bridge and water was bubbly around the boat's edge.  It took about an hour and a half.  Then we came back to our Youth Hostel and had a break and rested before going to the Youth Innovation Center.

Some of the Bahraini delegates joined us at the Youth Innovation center and we played some group games such as volleyball.  We also did group discussions about our favorite thing so far in Bahrain and what we gained on this trip.  We had barbecue for dinner and during dinner, I met two girls who are in high school and they are super nice.  We hung out for a while and then we came back to the Youth Hostel and rested.

Today I learned that all the government and most of the private schools separate girls from boys meaning that a school is either for a boy or a girl.  I also learned that most of Bahrain is flat with some hills that are called mountains.

Friday March 28, 2008

This morning we had to fill out an evaluation for MIUSA about our trip and how it has affected our understanding.  But before the evaluation, we had a discussion about packing our luggage because we have been receiving a lot of gifts.  And after the evaluation, we had a workshop on creative thinking.

First we talked about the two hemispheres of our brain, left and right and how they work together.  They we discussed about mind mapping.  The advantage of mind mapping is a way of thinking creatively.  After the discussions, we created a mind map on a piece of big paper and we each got to choose our own subject.  I chose religion.  First I had to draw symbols for each religion that I know and then I drew lines for each religion.  After that I drew lines for all the things that I can think about each religion.  It was really easy and fun.  After the workshop we rested and then in the afternoon we went to the biggest mall in Bahrain.

This mall was the first and biggest mall established in Bahrain around the 1990s.  It has between 800-900 stores.  It has a huge play area with video games and rides.  It also has a huge food court with all kinds of food.  The stores are pretty much like ours in the U.S.  Since today was Friday (starting of the weekend), there were a lot of people from all over Bahrain and even Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other neighboring countries. It was so crowded that it was hard to get around, but we managed some how.  It was very interesting and fun.  In the evening we watched a documentary film about the Bahraini people with and without disabilities' daily lives.  This movie was filmed in the 1980s and it won a few awards.  The movie was made in English, Arabic and French, but we watched the Arabic version because they could not find the English version.  It showed people with various disabilities, doctors, mothers with babies, teachers and etc.  It was about 36 minutes long and it had no subtitles, but it was interesting because of how people solved their issues that they faced during this film.  After the film we had dinner with some of the Bahraini delegates.  I had delicious pasta with vegetables and meat in it.  It was very good, but it was not Bahraini.

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