Things To Be Thankful For

In no particular order

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dinner on USS Dextrous

By: Jessica

  1. people who feed me
  2. the water delivery men
  3. Caleb’s pay check
  4. long hot showers
  5. constant A/C
  6. dog hair on marble floors 
  7. streets that don’t burn my feet
  8. cheap petrol
  9. learning Arabic

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    hugs in Amwaj

  10. living close to the beach
  11. a dad that calls
  12. an uncle that texts
  13. a mom that messages
  14. being unemployed
  15. my iPhone camera
  16. friends who love to laugh
  17. coffee and whipped cream
  18. a husband that bakes

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    Adliya art installation

  19. a beautiful world to explore
  20. the sun and clouds
  21. chocolate
  22. people’s curiosity
  23. dog breath in the morning
  24. YouTube
  25. lost in translation (language barriers)
  26. awesome apps (messaging maps)
  27. a warm bed 

By: Caleb

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sleeping staring contest

  1. relationship with wife
  2. job that affords us hobbies
  3. puppies not being complete assholes
  4. family being helpful and supportive
  5. wife
  6. Sparky’s feet smelling like corn chips and not poo

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    holiday haircut

Caleb got the day off, so instead of getting up at 6a, we stayed in bed till 10am. We went to breakfast at Le Chocolat, went home, and then went to get holiday massages at Coral Bay since Le Fontaine stops accepting people at 5:30 and we got there at 5:45. We got an hour Swedish massage in the same room and it was great, but I still need my neck and back adjusted. 

We met Kate at Seef Mall, had dinner at Papadom (I ate too much of the buffet), and then bought her some flip-flops before parting ways at 10:30. I was going to join the guys at the cafe (they were out till 2a) but stayed home and joined Caleb in bed at 11pm. 

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Weekend With Priya

Caleb putting the boat together

Caleb putting the boat together

Friday

I’m only ten minutes late, at 7:40, picking Caleb up and grateful I showered. We gave Senior Chief Brown a ride home so he didn’t have to walk there with two weeks of dirty laundry over his shoulder.

Caleb took the boat apart from the front yard and aired it up in the backyard while I sat on the couch playing ball with Sparky. I handed Caleb the rigid bottom of our inflatable raft and we now have it tied up in our claimed area of the canal. I was going to rinse the boat but the hose is stuck to the spigot in the front yard. I wait for Caleb to get out of the shower and decide against going in the boat today. I’m too tired.

clouds over Juffair

clouds over Juffair

We leave here at 11:15 so I can escort Julie on base, Caleb can get a haircut, and I can exchange money. He made it to the barber shop, but Julie had somewhere else to be, so she delivered cookies to me at the roundabout. And we both forgot about the cash.

Home at 12:20 and Caleb makes me coffee while cooking the last recipe from ingredients that we bought before he left. I drank half a cup of coffee, ate a bowl of baked fettuccine, and napped on the couch while he tried to buy plane tickets with no success.

Market 338 in Adliya

Market 338 in Adliya

We left here early because Priya texted us. We got to the mall at 4:00 and waited 15 minutes by Theatre One before she told us she was on the other side at Screen 2 and had time to shop at Forever 21. I bought a hot toffee nut coffee and poured it over Caleb’s leftover ice.

We still had 45 minutes to spare after we bought tickets for three dinars each to Interstellar, so we walked around and Priya bought a handmade Swiss roll for 600 fils for us to share. We sat down at 5pm and the previews started promptly at 5:15. We got to sit behind a family of kids that was up constantly, eating popcorn, and talking. Luckily the seats seem to be raised for this reason.

steps to home, but not mine

steps to home, but not mine

We sat there for the next three hours. I probably didn’t get cold till the last one, but I just hugged myself and put my shoes back on. We dropped Priya off after making plans to hang out tomorrow. We got home at 9p and Caleb wanted to eat, so I made us each a bowl of fettuccine and he put on 22 Jump Street. We went to bed at midnight.

Saturday

I got out of bed at 8a. We put on swim trunks, grabbed an oar each, and the boat began to sink when I stepped in. I climbed out and Caleb was upset that the free boat has a leak. I told him he could sink it as a good excuse to get a stand-up paddle board. I walked the dogs to the beach. He joined us for the return.

steps in Monsoon

steps in Monsoon

We drove to Sea Shell Hotel, got there at 10:30, and walked around the Market 338 in progress in Adliya. We went inside at 11am and they were still setting up. We walked around some more while we waited for Priya to show up at 11:30. After she had a look at the expensive handmade items we walked to Monsoon for lunch. We had fried squid, papaya salad, chicken fried rice, and noodle and onion with unordered chicken.

We walked to Sandy’s house, a friend of Priya, and had mint tea. We met her daughter,  husband, and two hamsters. We held them and fed them pistachios. We left there at 3:30p, dropped Priya off at 4p, and stopped at Al Hantour to get some round bread. I asked for two pieces and started counting out fils. The guys asked where we were from, one of them is Czech, and threw in another piece for free and only charged us 100 fils.

Priya holding an orchid

Priya holding an orchid

We stopped by Alosra on the way home to pick up dog food and I grabbed some holiday chocolates too. Home at 4:45, walk the dogs, and feed all of us – leftover rice and noodle from Monsoon with round bread. The dogs like the new food. And the sunset is absolutely amazing.

We meet Priya at the park at 7p and walk until 8:30. She gifts me with some kiwi-looking fruit called chikoo – a nutty flavour with large seeds inside. Back at home we will play Monopoly in bed before going to sleep at 10p.

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Couchsurfers BBQ

 

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Era Tower

Caleb and I had breakfast at Lilou’s. I ordered fried eggs wrapped in vermicelli noodles served in mini frying pans. We walked to PSD (personnel support detachment) to talk about Caleb’s pay as the man behind the counter noticed a few problems – they canceled pay, only paid for one of us to travel, and didn’t pay him enough.

Caleb walked me to the car and I dropped him off in front of the NEX (Navy Exchange) so he could take the pedestrian bridge to the other side of the base. The temperature is 93 degrees and some humidity. I drove to the Lagoon to join Eloise, Carole, Lindy, and Kendra at 11:30; they’d been at Tea Club since 10 am and we stayed another hour and a half.

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Jo and Doc in the pool

The Couchsurfers BBQ group had made plans for tonight, but nothing else was said. There was a half eaten pizza at Tarik’s when I showed up, so we ate it. We started drinking and met another couchsurfer that lives in the tower, Juan from Indiana. He’s been a middle school principal for seven years in Bahrain. We ate bread and meat and I jumped in the pool but got right back out; it was too cold for me.

The ten of us went upstairs at 3 am when the maintenance guy asked us to. Jo and Doc cooked chicken sausages with more bread and got some candy from the building’s store to share. We all split ways by 4:30 and I was home before sunrise.

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A Hijab for Ashura

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Caleb took his bike to duty so that I could stay home and kill a thousand ants. I need to call the bug guy. I met Eloise at her place at 11:20 and she served us a lunch of samosas, bread, and stuffed pastries. I left two hours later to nap for three hours. I went to Lulu’s for Raid after having put down cinnamon in hopes to control the ants while I was gone. 

I got home at 6 pm and soon after drove to Bahrain Mall. I missed the Muharraq turn and had to go close to Priya’s house and take her route to work to get there to find a hijab. There were nice ones for 12 dinars and cotton ones for 7, but I decided to try the souq. The first shop wanted two dinars and I put my abaya on in the store and wrapped the hijab around my head. 

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Out into the street and it began to fall off. I let half my hair hang out as I walked towards a black flag area with almost everyone in black mourning the martyrdom of Hussein Ibn Ali over 1,300 years ago. I grabbed a juice, one of the many options on offer, and went into an air-conditioned room with art on display; one section with women actively painting. I could’ve spent more time in there looking and getting stared at. This opens my eyes to a different side of Bahrain that many expats aren’t privy too.

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I’m grateful and felt out-of-place, but so at home. I was thrilled to be able to see this and to see others taking pictures so that I knew I could take one too. (I went to this event without prior knowledge of what else takes place). I was adjusting my hijab and a girl helped readjust it in a shop. I need to get some hairpins as that’s their trick. 

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Back on the street, I walk past the mosque and another parade. Summer is over but the humidity is more noticeable with an added layer of clothes on. I walked back to the main part of the souq so I could remove my abaya.

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Shopping for Laughs

shopping with Caleb

shopping with Caleb

Caleb has the day off and tries waking me at 8am – at least one of us is sleeping in. I don’t budge until he goes downstairs to do dishes and then lay in bed while I listen to him sew. He fixes my baggy pants, a pair of shorts from the souq, and starts on my shawl/hijab. Then he hems one of my skirts up by four inches so I don’t have to roll it up three times to keep from tripping on it.

Breakfast is an apple smothered in peanut butter – healthy, crunchy, and delicious. We head to base and get to the gate before Caleb realizes he forgot his ID. The guard would’ve let him on with his driver’s license, but the base has upped security, so we wait while they log the incident and then turn around. I drop him off to walk to Dome while I go back on base. I get in line at the Post Office after helping a woman in front of DHL shove some carpets in a box only to be told she has to repackage them because they’re over the 70 pound limit by eleven.

view from City Centre Mall parking lot

view from City Centre Mall parking lot

I mail the naval paddles to Coleman and Sperry in San Diego for $24, then go in the NEX to buy straight razors and senior dog food. I walk to the other end of the Freedom Souq to drop Caleb’s blues off at the dry cleaners and am told they won’t roll his neckerchief. I pick him up and he has an Espreski with Snickers on top in-hand. He already downed his. I drink mine on our way home to get his ID.

We let the dogs out and head to City Centre Mall to pick up the dress that I tried on twice the other day but didn’t buy because of the price tag. We end up buying three for half the price of some of the single dresses we’ve seen, but also triple the price of what we could find. We go to Seef Mall to look for Red Tag and Twenty4 with no luck, but almost get me a pair of gray ankle boots. I want to try them on with socks as that’s what I’d be wearing them with. My feet were slipping around in them due to sweating in my sandals.

fun in Priya's office

fun in Priya’s office

We went over to the Zain building at 5pm to sit with Priya until she got off work at 5:22 instead of 5:30. We spent the time sipping on coffee and playing with stamps. We were able to get on base with only one group in front of us, use the toilet, sit in the second row back, then go to the food court for a cranberry-granola thing for me and a stale brownie with marshmallows on top for her before the comedy show started after 6pm.

The Band of Brothers Comedy Show is inspired by the work of Bob Hope, so the comedians wrote a ditty in the military’s honor. Praise be to all service members and their families and spouses, etc. Some of the guys know how to beatbox which was impressive and they all have embarrassing moves of their own. The first act is supposed to warm up the crowd, and that’s what it did, but with fewer laughs than I expected.

card signed by Band of Brothers comedians

card signed by Band of Brothers comedians

The guys increased in hilarity and by the time the headliner was on stage I was being called out on my freakiness. Keith had tried getting the girl in uniform to interact with him, but she wouldn’t move and a guy in the crowd had responded to going on a blind date, but froze up and wouldn’t give details. I pointed to Priya to share the moment, but Keith said she was too quiet. Perhaps I learned my lesson for being one in three of the women in the room and sitting in the front – always do it because it’s more fun than sitting in the back.

After the show we got in line to get a card signed by the Band of Brothers and Brett wrote, ‘Wave his freak flag’ on mine. Priya wrote her name instead of spelling it to one of the guys and we were out of there by 8pm. We decided home was the best option so we could get back to doing laundry. I put the clothes in the dryer at 9pm, we split my leftover caprese sandwich, then Caleb got out some noodles and pushed play on episode four of Orange Is the New Black.

Caleb eats and then cuddled with Sparky on the couch for the duration of the show. I took the sheets out of the dryer and Caleb made the bed. I thought about the brownness of our mostly white sheets and the cleanliness of Caleb’s head. I add sheets and shampoo to my list of things to buy and he suggests color-safe bleach – if only I could pour that on the house and let the heat evaporate the dirt and smells of living in Bahrain with two dogs and an engineer in the navy.

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