Catching up...

Well things have been a little hectic on this side of the world since Noni and Duke headed back to the states.

When we first arrived in Bahrain we had 45 days to find a house. Now, this seems like quite a bit of time, and it totally is, but when you're moving to a new country and you have no idea about traffic, locations, and the like, its fairly difficult. We really liked the place we originally chose since it was biking distance to the base, near all the good restaurants, and in a good area of town. We were fairly happy in the house despite the teeny kitchen but then, as we settled in and a few months went by, the not so great stuff kicked in and made itself known.

We had some pretty major electrical issues in the house-- light switches that crackled every time you turned them on or off, the kitchen AC that would trip and turn the entire front of the house dark when it was turned on, and lights that constantly flickered, our neighbors that we shared a wall with smoked like chimneys and our dining room and kitchen constantly reeked of smoke, our master bedroom window overlooked a super busy road that had constant, all-night traffic noise going by, and finally, we were treated to really awful neighbors.

And when I say really awful, I mean really awful. Not only were they obnoxious, but they started bullying Stella and me. It got to the point where I hated going out into our compounds main area and even Stella was anxious about it. The night we moved one of the moms came over when I was getting the last of the things and said to me- "its good you're leaving. You need to move." I totally thought she was going to be hateful and mean... turns out- she'd seen it all happening and now it was turning and happening to HER kids and herself. I've got to be honest, after we talked I felt a lot better and a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. For weeks I'd worried that it was me and I was blowing things out of proportion... but nope-- validation! So with that, we breathed a giant sigh of relief knowing that we made the right choice in moving. I have lived all over the world and it lots of different neighborhoods and with lots of different people and I have never, never in my life experienced the kind of nonsense we experienced at this house.

We've started to settle in- in true Jessica form the house is almost completely unpacked-- and would be had I not gotten this nasty virus that Christopher (whom everyone thinks is patient zero on this particular bug going around) brought home and so kindly shared with me. The beginning of this week wasn't spent organizing and finishing off unpacking but on the couch with chills and a body wracking cough. (I'll do an entire new house post once the guest room and master are unpacked and all the art is on the walls!)

For now, here are the main rooms and all their colors-- the owner let us pick out all the room colors- which we've never gotten to do before- so you'll see absolutely no white walls anywhere! ha! (also, note- the school room is purple but the picture shows it super dark and you can't tell!)

This house is SUPER close to the base so we are actually able to see Christopher a ton more-- we've even had dinner as a family quite a bit in the week or so that we've been here! So, definitely a good move. The neighbors seem super nice and the kids play outside most nights so Stella has that going here as well but, so far none of these kids seem like bullies. Which is awesome and a huge relief!

In addition to the move Stella finished out her soccer season-- her daddy is pretty insistent that she plays a team sport to learn life skills and teamwork crap and yada yada. She wants nothing to do with soccer but was content to play with her friends and crawl around like a cat on the field. Maybe baseball?

These cuties! Side note... they're all the same age by a few months... my poor pixie girl...haha!

 

And we've been to a couple of rug flops! (A rug flop is where the guys from the carpet stores come to your house and bring their carpets and they flop them all out, teach you and all your friends about them, and then you can buy them! Its really fun and a big thing to do out here-- and yes, we'll be having one at some point!)

We bought this pretty (the larger one on the bottom) last weekend and its from Afghanistan! Its unique and filled with color and we love it! Its hand woven so its a different style and feel from the thicker bottomed rugs.

And I discovered I can make a pretty decent bowl of Vietnamese Pho! We can't really find it here on the island and with everyone being so sick, we've been craving it! Instant pot to the rescue and bam-- good, dare I say, great, Pho!

On the homeschool front, its going well... we have our great and amazing, productive days where I can't imagine not doing this forever and we have our days where getting her to write her name is challenging. Ebbs and flows, man, ebbs and flows. We're still happy with our decision to homeschool and will definitely continue it for 2nd grade. Stella and I are coming back to the states for visit in May and June and I'll get to do all the fun state requirement stuff of registering our school since she'll be turning 7, so we're working on an awesome name for our school!

Annnnd.... the heat is coming back. Its not even slowly, politely creeping back in, its just here, full force. Seriously. Its March and it was over 100 the other day! I am SO not ready for summer. You'll be able to find me inside with the air conditioning going full blast.

Stella and I leave on Saturday for spring break in Sri Lanka with some friends! We're super excited and I can't wait to post all about our travels! I've never traveled to Asia (unless you count the middle east as Asia, which some do and some don't), so I am super excited to visit. I'm also excited because the weather forecast is calling for rain AND its super lush and green! I'm ready to be out of the desert and the dryness!

More Bahrain Adventures!

With only a few days left until they left, we did a full on tour of our Bahrain favorites with Noni and Duke!

We took them the Souk and had Haji Cafe for dinner--

We introduced dad to a proper souk (which he loved) and Christopher's tailor where he got fitted for a suit! We shopped around our favorite shops and they bought souvenirs. 

 

We also took them carpet shopping! 

And we all came home with carpets! 

I got this beauty for our living room! A Super Kazak from Kazakstan

Mom and Dad got this Kashmiri from Kashmir, India

And this gorgeous 100 percent Persian silk stunner from Iran. 

On Monday we met my friend Tammy for a tour of the old capital, Muhurraq. She does tours for the family readiness group and offered to do one while Mom and Dad were here and it was great!

We started off at the Sheikh Isa Bin Ali house which was home to the great, great grandfather of the current king of Bahrain. It was built in 1830 by Sheikh Hasan, the grandson of Sheikh Ahmad The Conqueror. It was the residence of Sheikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa and seat of power for the Al Khalifa family from 1869 to 1932 when he died.

The drainage system for when it rained!

The whole castle/house structure has beautiful examples of Bahraini architecture from the arches to the courtyards. 

There is the oldest working wind tunnel in Bahrain located in the entry way. It provided cool air to the house and you can feel the air blowing through it even now. (Also helpful for keeping the house cool are the meter thick walls)

There are beautiful imported wooden doors they brought in from India

The ceilings were done in date palm tree trunks and branches

And these stained glass windows in the guest room were hand cut. 

Part of the Sheikh's bedroom

This is a door leading from his room to what look like servant quarters-- apparently he was a very short man!

After we finished with the house we went to the Kurar House. This house is a gathering point for Muharraq women intent on preserving the craft of al korar (gold thread weaving), which three generations of a local family have saved from extinction. Once the intricate threadwork was the occupation of all resident women; now only a handful of people know how to weave the elaborate braid that once adorned all Bahraini ceremonial gowns. It is believed that they pressed real gold into the thread in the past. Now, they use gold thread from India.

On the day we went the women weren't there but there was a video of them playing and this cool art sculpture that showed how it was done.

We headed to the oldest coffee shop in Bahrain after that but we found out they weren't serving coffee on that day-- the kings wife was coming through Muhurraq and everything was spotless and ready for her to visit.

They did let us come in and look around though-- the kitchen would have never passed any type of inspection in the US! But I bet their coffee is delicious!

They also have old pictures of how things used to be in Bahrain. Before oil was discovered the big money maker here was pearls. There were loads of pearl divers and fishermen and they all came to this coffee shop. This picture here is how they used to keep track of everyone's coffee tabs to charge them!

We left there, went to a more modern coffee house and grabbed a quick drink and snack before continuing on our tour. We walked a little bit of the pearl walk and saw the old part of the city where the pearl divers lived and worked and its been restored and is now home to murals and art!

We stopped in to the Al Zayed House which was home to Abdulla Bin Ali bin Jabber Al Zayed. He established the Bahrain Modern printing press and Library in 1932. 

The Bahrain newspaper was founded in March 1939 and was the first weekly newspaper in the gulf area! The entire house is gorgeous and has been restored to its former glory. What was once an open air courtyard is now this stunning glass ceilinged area that leaves this modern looking home feeling like you're outside without dealing with the elements. 

I totally loved how it was set up. There was a large sort of courtyard/living room space in the middle with a fabulous reading nook built into the wall under the stairs

The upstairs reading room

The ceilings in the reading room... just gorgeous!

Heading to his bedroom

The bridge connecting to more stairs and a seating area. It was a really cool set up-- the arches and details of an older home mixed with the modernity of the glass and enclosed space. 

We finished up there and walked a little further into downtown Muhurraq.

We were hoping to stop by a store that makes replica dhow's but they were closed. We did peek into the window though and I'll definitely be going back to check them out!

That night was actually Christopher's birthday so we celebrated with Indian food and cupcakes and a movie on the couch. It was low key, but what the birthday boy wanted! 

The next day was Mom and Dad's last full day in Bahrain. We packed, went to the rug shop to pick up the rugs that had had loops sewn into them for hanging, went back to the souk to get Dad's suit, and then came home for comfort food... burgers and fries. We were all pretty sad and mopey. Their flight left at 2:30 in the morning so we had to get them to the airport at midnight. Stella tried so hard to stay awake, but crashed on her Noni. Needless to say, waking her up to take them to the airport wasn't fun and it made goodbye even harder to say. 

We had a wonderful trip with them, even though 3 weeks flew by in a blur! Living overseas is an incredible experience. We are able to see and do so, so much, but leaving or saying goodbye to our families and friends is the absolute hardest part. Its been a rough week of bad moods and tears and attitudes since they headed back to the states, but we're rallying knowing that our trip to visit is coming up in the next few months!