Funny quirks...

Living overseas in a country who's native language isn't English (ish) can sometimes be interesting as far as translations go... we've run into some pretty funny things that don't make a ton of sense and we assume is lost in translation... I've added to this post the whole time we've lived here as I found quirky things! Also living in a place where the culture is completely different than your own makes for some interesting things as well.

By far the funniest and most common quirk is Insha'allah. Insha'allah means "if God wills it" and it is thrown around so casually it runs the gamut of meaning "meh, I don't feel like doing that but I don't want to say no" to "fingers crossed" to "we'll see how this goes" to pretty much anything you can imagine. We get Insha'allah'd for everything. Its turned into a bit of a joke but it can also be really frustrating when your kids art teacher insha'allah's class all the time and cancels last minute when you're driving to her studio (real talk: this happened more than I care to admit). 

As for "same same", people use that to respond when you ask for something and they give you something else. Like, if I asked for Coke and they gave me Pepsi... they'd say "same same" when in fact it is not the same...haha! But its for things like fabrics for a suit, or a specific something in the grocery store. 

On the Road...

Low numbered license plates are a symbol of status. Seriously... they get passed down in families and the lower the number, the more status you have. 

The lowest numbers have the royal crest on them and belong to the royal family or those really close to them 

Two of the lowest ones we've seen without the crest. Its definitely become a sort of game- who can find the lowest number!

Random road signs... why no horses you ask?

Because people ride them as a mode of transportation.... this dude on his cell phone whilst riding cracks me up!

Traffic. Ahh... traffic. The road rules in Bahrain are... there are no rules. Or, at least, it feels like that. On any given day you will see people do the absolute stupidest shit. Like this asshole... he was in the far right lane and decided he wanted to do a U-turn across two lanes of traffic... at a red light... and he did. 

Pedestrians certainly don't help the situation...


No biggie... just a donkey on the loose....

This was a shot taken by a couple of traffic cameras.. just a normal day in Bahrain...

The things we see on a daily basis....

One of the MANY delivery motorcycles on island... this one is for a burger place (obviously) and we love the golden buns on the back where they keep the food hot!

Cutting corners, not measuring, and just generally giving no fucks is the norm...

Around the house

Just like everything about living overseas, things around our house are very different than what we're used to. For one, we have a Watchman. His job is to take care of our house and the compound and to look out for anything we might need for the upkeep of the house. Our watchman is awesome and takes care of washing our car (we pay him for this) and keeping people out of the compound who don't belong. We feel good about letting Stella out to play because he's always out there keeping an eye on the things and making sure everything is okay.

Standards are also very different here- we love our house and it truly feels like home, but the way things were constructed and are maintained is vastly different than western standards. 

Our watchman, Ismile, sweeping with palm fronds- why use a broom when natures broom is readily available?

This is how our kitchen sink is connected. If you're wondering if it clogs up all the time, you'd be right.

A certain someone with an 8 year old sized knee slipped and fell in the shower and poked a hole in the side of the bathtub with said knee....

Christopher freaked out thinking we were going to have to buy a new bathtub but I assured him they'd just patch it. He was adamant that you can't just patch a bathtub, but I reminded him that we were in Bahrain and if it could be rigged, it would be rigged...

This was how they patched it...

Funny Foods

We get really weird and awesome tropical fruits!

Fresh dates


Speaking of fresh dates... there are trees all over the island, but this one in particular right outside our house!


Kaffir Limes!


Mangosteens on top, Jackfruit, and lychee on the bottom


Dragon fruit (which none of us really love... it tastes like crunchy water)


Fresh, green almonds

One of those amazing translation things.... haha!

Canned squid, anyone?

Specifically 1000...

An electrolyte drink with an interesting name

Root beer has to be called a non-alcoholic root beverage or no one will drink it thinking its actually beer.

Just a little Fukien rice....

One of the major grocery stores here had an American food festival...

It was funny to see what another country associates with America.. spoiler: mainly junk food. 

Occasionally we get insanely expensive food imported... note: though we were seriously craving watermelon, we did NOT buy this one!

Talabat and Carriage are two food delivery apps... if you crave it, it can and will be delivered! We had a movie night the other day and wanted movie theater popcorn (because out here its not buttered but cheese and caramel!) and we had it delivered and settled in to watch a movie in our pajamas! Its absolutely wild and we will miss it when we move.

Speaking of restaurants... this gem is trying to be everything to everyone. American, Chinese, and Italian food...from one place...

You can always enjoy some hospital food if the craving strikes...

Shopping/Out and About

Shopping is the national pastime of Bahrain (not really but it should be). On this tiny island there are dozens of giant malls. Mainly because the weather sucks so hard there's nothing to do but walk around inside the mall, but still... its pretty crazy how many there are. Everything is imported and the import taxes are sky high and it absolutely sucks to walk into a store like Claire's and realize that instead of converting some $4 earrings they labeled them as 4bd (which is almost $11). Needless to say, Stella has learned that we do a lot of window shopping and amazon ordering!

Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara is relabeled as "Better than Love"

We end up with lots of knock off things over here and always chuckle when we read the knock off names...

Salaam is a common greeting here so I'm sure this furniture store name stems from that but... Muslims don't eat pork and we cracked up seeing Salami furniture! 

A flask.... in a store in a country where people don't drink...encouraging you to do your best. I can't...

Clothing displays are...interesting...

We went to one of my favorite restaurants with a large group and they split our checks up- instead of just typing my name, they typed a description as well... 

Bathroom sign...

Indoor everything is the norm...including water parks! Its just too damn hot and dusty to do much outside most of the year!

No handicapped people in Bahrain... people of determination (kind of love this!)

Kerbs...

All the major stores in the mall are decked out for Christmas! Exciting, yes, but extremely unanticipated! We also randomly hear Christmas music or Christian music piped throughout shops all through the year... its bizarre.

Random things happen at new mall openings like this Snowman in the kids area... this was August...

There's no health and safety standards (or office that would even enforce standards) to be had here....

There are mens only spas all over the island... I know (or hope) its mostly because the services are performed by men instead of women due to their religious beliefs, but we all know there are those sorts of services available in some of the spas as well...

Weather

Our air quality is intense (some days its worse than Beijing which is touted to have the worst air quality in the world).

Some days its fine and other days it looks like this...

And it goes like this from one day to the next

Sand storms are a normal occurance and the aftermath leaves sand and dirt piled up and even inside (it gets in through cracks around the windows and doors)

The sun during a sand storm

A little rain is never just a little rain...  every time it more than sprinkles, it floods. 

And speaking of rain, occasionally it rains a mixture of water and dirt/sand. This is not having stepped in a puddle or walked a lot- this is walking to the car and being rained on... 

And I can't talk about weather without mentioning the heat...

This was the end of April... at 9pm... and its October now and we are still seeing triple digits and real feel temps of 115F!

For kicks- my weather app (WhatTheForecast) was having issues and this was the weather forecast I got... which is so appropriate for here! Typically in the summer our humidity is so high that our real feel temps hover between 120-135 degrees Fahrenheit for most of July and August. It is a heat that takes your breath away. 

But when it does finally cool off, the locals (and other people from hot areas) think it's freezing. This was in February at our old compound- this little girl wasn't allowed to play outside without a hat that covered her ears! It was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit out there- for reference. All the kids would get on to Stella (or even to me) about her not wearing a jacket or a hat all the time! 

Children

People absolutely LOVE children. It is extremely common for people to come up to her and touch her hair or cheek and make all over her. At first we were all extremely uncomfortable but then we were speaking with a gentleman in a shop and he said he just loved watching her- that she reminded him of his granddaughter in India that he only got to see once a year. We asked him if that was one of the reasons that everyone seemed to flock to kids and he said yes, everyone misses their families and are here working to take care of them back in their home countries.

Once we realized that, we all relaxed a little bit and are just used to people talking to her or touching her. We've told Stella that she still has her body autonomy- if she isn't comfortable with a stranger giving her a hug or patting her back or shoulder, we absolutely understand and she can ask them nicely not to, and we'll be there to back her up. She doesn't love the physical attention and usually says no to a hug but she's been fine with people touching her hair or patting her cheek (most days). Once we even had an Uber driver FaceTime his friend and point the camera at Stella in the backseat because she was "just so cute" and he talked to Stella from some other country somewhere...haha!

And because people love kids so much, Stella has been SPOILED rotten. Candy from grocery store workers and our watchman, trinket boxes from the souk...

Free stuff from Lush


Even a garnet ring sized FOR her as a gift from our jewelry guy.... just because she's cute...(that's a direct quote from her...)


A camel bone box from the souk (she puts her teeth in here for the tooth fairy...haha!)

Kids run absolutely wild... example... this feral child on top of a wall at a restaurant... oh wait, that's my kid! But seriously, kids run wild out in public and no one bats an eye. Coming from the south where kids are seen and not heard, this is massive difference. On one hand, its pretty awesome- kids are free to just be kids. They can run and play and no one gets angry if one of them acts up in a restaurant. They have some freedom to just be kids. On the other hand? This creates a lot of little entitlement and lack of manners in a lot of the locals. 

Because those wild kids are wild, there are drop and shop type places everywhere so parents can get a break. This is an art place where you drop your kids off and they get to do art projects while you shop. Theres a movie theater that offers babysitting, dinner, and a movie while parents go the another screen to watch whatever they want! 

Also, the king can just declare a holiday and call off school whenever he feels like it...which he does, regularly...

~

When we first moved to Bahrain I wanted to learn more about Islam and the different sects. I was watching a YouTube video and when they spoke about the Prophet they blurred out the rendering of him. There are no pictures or renderings of him to be found here in Bahrain- it is absolutely against some sects of Islam-specifically those who follow along with what Saudi style of Sunni believes and dictates (that's coming directly from a Muslim friend of mine...lol) though there is nothing in the Quran that explicitly bans images.  

But others, like the Shia Persians and Iraqi's are gifted in the arts and use their talents to paint and portray the Prophet Mohammed, his grandsons, and the Imams.  I have a friend who is Muslim and grew up in Saudi. She had never seen a depiction of the Prophet she had spent her whole life learning about until she went to Iran. She said the art there is beautiful and it is incredible to see. She sent me this picture to show their portrayal of the Prophet (she also said it was cool for me to post this).



There are religious movies made in Iran and the person who portrays the Prophet or Imam isn't shown but the reasoning there is that they don't believe they are worthy enough to portray the Prophet so that's more of a respect thing- but painted? They approve and love. She did clarify that when the Muslims got angry about the contest to draw the Prophet in Europe, it wasn't because there were renderings of the Prophet, but because it was done in poor taste. 

The government censors the internet ALL the time. From what gets reported as news, to what you can search for. And the most random things get blocked. And if there is anything going on- the anniversary of the Arab spring for instance, the internet is too slow to do much at all. It's wild! 

The government also censors literature that comes in. There was a label on a book that we bought Stella at the American Girl Doll store that confirmed it had been approved by the Bahraini government.

~

Overall, its been an amazing experience to live in a place where English isn't the native language and Western ideals aren't the norm. We've had to alter our views of what is a cultural norm and remind ourselves that things are just done differently here because of where we are and the culture that they were raised in. I think, in experiencing all these things, it really, truly opened our eyes and given us a larger and deeper understanding of the world and our place in it. 

Its easy to stay in your own little spot on planet Earth surrounded by what's familiar and comfortable. To let go of that safety net and immerse yourself in another culture with an open heart and an open mind is not easy but it is SO worth it!