Time's a Flyin

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you made special memories this year. Scott & I had a very nice & different Christmas this year. We spent Christmas Eve at our friends Gael & Vince's home. There were about 60 of us! Vince made delicious gumbo & we pigged out. After Gael & Vince's celebration, we went to a candle-light vigil service at the chapel. As we entered the chapel there were two female greeters. One was a younger Asian lady & the other was an older German lady. They both greeted & welcomed us and then the German lady started telling us to go on to germandeli.com to buy excellent German food, especially the schnitzel. This was so random. Scott & I just stood there & the other greeter was shaking her head. What was hilarious was that we heard her telling more people about it. We think she had a little too much egg-nog before church. It was really funny & just so "out there." The first reading was done by a little girl, about 9-years old. I was excited because I always love it when kids participate. As she started reading, I couldn't believe my ears. She had one of the worst lisps I've heard in a long time. I wanted to run up there & cue her to keep that tongue in her mouth. Aside from the lisp she did a great job with her reading. We really like the Chaplain. The service was very nicely done & the choir was great, as were a few solos. After church, we came home & ate our Christmas meal. I made a lamb roast, potatoes, peas and yogurt sauce. It was absolutely delicious! I used my mom's lamb recipe so it couldn't have been bad even if I tried. We called our families to wish them a Merry Christmas and then went on to open our gifts. Apparently Scott & I were nice this year because we received some really nice gifts! Benny was a pretty good boy this year. He made out with a new snowman ball in his stocking. He loved it, but then again, he loves any ball we give him!

On Christmas day, we took Benny on a nice morning walk. Scott and I then went to the Gulf Hotel for a buffet brunch. It was amazing. The food was so delicious, the decorations were beautiful & the entertainment was entertaining. It was an eclectic group of people. We were surrounded by many Brits and Bahrainis. There weren't very many Americans, surprisingly. Anyhow, the food included classic middle eastern food, Thai food, Indian food, American food, & a fresh seafood buffet where you hand pick your fish and tell the cooks how you want it prepared. They then bring it out to you to eat. The breads & salads were amazing as were the desserts. I must admit that we both went overboard. It's hard not to go overboard at a buffet. I felt so gross the rest of the day that I couldn't eat dinner. The thought of it grossed me out. Scott on the other hand, had some leftover lamb. I don't know how he does it! He's so darn skinny. It drives me crazy! I weighed my self this morning & I am happy to report that I weigh the same as I did yesterday. This is good news! I bought The Biggest Loser for wii. It is literally kicking my butt! That Jillian is a real drill sargent! I will have to step it up the next week or two. There's still all the eating on New Year's Eve...ugh!

Other than a rainy Christmas Eve, the weather has been ideal. I feel like I'm in LA right now. Breezy, sunny days in the low to mid 70's. Can't get better than that. It is supposed to start cooling off into the 40's in January & February. We'll see if that happens. I'd like to wear some of the scarves I've been knitting. I'd also like to wear some sweaters & boots. Scott & I went to do some after Christmas shopping this morning. There were no sales at the mall. Oh well! We went grocery shopping instead. Today and tomorrow are days of mourning here in Bahrain. We were specifically warned to avoid certain areas due to demonstrations. Odds are very low that anything would happen, but it is better to be safe than sorry. As long as the weather cooperates, we will Take Benny to the beach tomorrow. We really like just hanging out at the beach & Benny loves playing fetch & splashing in the water.

It's hard to believe that 2009 is pretty much over. Time is really flying by. Scott & I know that every day together is a blessing. We hope that 2010 will bring all of our family and friends good health, safe days and tons of love!

p.s. I know the pictures look like they are randomly placed & that there aren't many paragraphs. All I can say is that before I publish the posting it looks perfect. Oh well. I'm just shocked I am able to write a blog at all.

Everything Old is New Again

All of our "stuff" arrived last Saturday. It was such a relief to see my things again. It was also an overwhelming feeling. Where would I put everything? Why did I bring that? How am I (Scott) going to get this to work over here? It's taken a full week but everything has its place. Many things were re-packed & put in our storage room on the roof. As I was unpacking my clothes & shoes and was trying to find a place for everything, I realized just how much stuff I have. Now, before leaving that horrible place....Memphis.....I gave away all the stuff I no longer wore. I gave away quite a bit. I only brought to Bahrain the clothes that I actually still wear. I will no longer complain that I have nothing to wear. I have enough stuff to last me forever. The funny thing is that as I was putting a lot of the stuff away, I was so excited to see it again, it was as if it was brand new. Our home feels like a home now. It's warm & cozy!! I just baked my first batch of cookies yesterday. We are eagerly awaiting visitors....we have a couple friends coming in January but would love others to come whenever you can.

Scott left for Virginia the evening of our stuff being delivered. That left me to unpack 90% of the stuff (the other 10% was his). It was a strange feeling being alone in a foreign country. Fortunately, we have many friends here who would help me if necessary & I speak the language. The unpacking & organizing kept me very busy & left me exhausted. I also kept busy a couple of days by volunteering. We stuffed a couple thousand stockings for the single troops. We'll be secretly delivering them late Christmas Eve so that when the young men & women wake-up Christmas morning they'll find a stocking at their door. It was a lot of fun & there was a huge turn-out of volunteers. This will be my very first Christmas away from my family on Christmas. Keeping busy has kept my mind off of this fact. Scott & I will be going to some friends on Christmas Eve & then will be going to brunch at the Gulf Hotel on Christmas day. We feel very lucky to have made a reservation last month for brunch. It's been sold out for a while. I'm definitely looking forward to the food!!!!! We will really miss the food we've been devouring here when we leave. We're always on the look-out for a new place. Our favorites seem to be the little hole-in-the-walls. Such authenticly good food and the people are so happy to have us there as their guests.

It has been raining like crazy over here, which is unusual. The roads are not built to withstand so much water. They do not have a drainage system, so the water just accumulates. You would think that the flooded streets would calm people's driving. Nope. They drive like maniacs in the rain as well. I got splashed so hard driving the other day that I thought I was driving through a muddy car wash. Our car just had mud caked on it. All over. Everytime I would get into and out of the car I would get filthy. The final forcasted rain for the forseeable future was yesterday. What a relief. I've been mopping up muddy foot prints for almost two weeks now. I'm definitely over it!!! Kasim has been on my case since we got the car to wash it. It didn't need it before, but now it needed to be washed. So, he came this morning at 7am to wash the car. He showed up with his own shammy & that was it. He went and retrieved the bucket he uses around our house & the hose and started his washing. It was pretty comical. The water pressure from the hose is just a little more than a trickle. The poor guy spent an hour trying to get enough water to get all that mud off. Finally, he filled the bucket & would throw the water at the car. I stopped watching after a while. In the end, the car looked great. I don't know how he did it but he cleaned that thing really well. He charged 3 Bahraini Dinars ($8.00 US). A little steep but it was nice to have the car washed. The real business here is in car washing. People ring our bell weekly asking to wash the car. Everyday as I drive around I see car washers washing cars. Store parking lots are full of men waiting to wash your car. I guess a clean car is a priority for the Bahrainis.

Scott's picture made the front cover of the Bahraini Desert Times. It's a picture of him putting gravy on someone's mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving Day when we volunteered. I'm standing next to him....I served the guy his mashed potatoes, but you can't see me at all because I'm so darn short. Scott covers me up completely! Oh well!!! They only put one picture from that day in the paper so I was so excited Scotty was in it! He's such a good guy. Benny & I sure missed him while he was gone. Benny more than me I think. He was in a depression the majority of the time. He can be VERY dramatic which really gets on my nerves. To see him when he's in a funk you would think we treat him like crap. The reality is that he lives the life of a prince. I'm learning to just ignore him.

I want to wish all my Hannukkah celebrating friends a Happy Hannukkah!!!

To my family and friends celebrating Christmas, Merry Christmas from Scott, Benny & myself!!! We miss you!

Lights, Camels, (Road) Action!

Christmas is alive and kicking in Bahrain, to our pleasant surprise. Living in a Muslim country one does not expect to see or hear much about Christmas. I assumed I would miss out on most Christmas traditions I'm so used to. Not the case!! While shopping at the mall today, Christmas carols were playing continuously and decorations were up. Tuesday night we attended the Christmas tree lighting celebration on Base which included an adult & children's choir and a live nativity. I think I was just as excited as all the kids to see the camel parade in. When the snow fell I thought I would faint! It was great to celebrate with friends on a very cool and lovely night. We're not putting up any decorations, just Benny's stocking.

An exciting bit of news........our car finally arrived! We are so excited to have the freedom to go where we want in our own clean car. A man named, Ali, picked Scott up on Wednesday at about 2pm to run him around the city to get all the paperwork in order for us to get the car. Scott came back after 6pm with the car but all the paperwork was not done. Ali picked the car up Thursday morning and finished all the paperwork for us. Scott cracks me up! When describing Ali, he tells me, "He reminds me of your dad if he were on speed." Ali zoomed him all over like a maniac, cut in front of the lines at the DMV (which is computer-less), yelled at people and bought Scott snacks and mango juice. Scott said he couldn't possibly describe the experience to me. I had to be there to understand. I think I have an idea, though! When Ali brought the car back on Thursday, I walked to a parking lot to meet him. He was a clean cut, gray haired, 40% toothless, nice guy. He kept referring to himself as my father which I later realized was because Scott told him my dad was Lebanese. He kept telling me he was by baba Ali. When I gave him a tip for all he did for us, he clutched his heart and almost fainted. Very dramatic and might I add very humorous. As soon as Benny saw the Jeep he ran to the back door which opens up to his riding area. Poor guy thought I was going to take him to doggy daycare. He was so happy the first time we took him for a ride. Poor guy!

I'm lucky because my house maid, Kasim loves to gossip. He came over Monday to clean and he spent the first 15-minutes giving me the gossip on everything he thought I'd be interested in. I enjoyed every bit of it. Scott isn't always interested in my bits of information, but Kasim will give me his ear easily. The pool guy cracks me up. He is terrified of Benny and won't step foot through the front gate until I hold him like 20-feet from him. The pool guy is from India and even though he is afraid of Benny, he stands there forever saying, "Hi Beddy. You are a good boy, Beddy." The entire time he is speaking, his head sways from side to side. Benny, of course, just wants him to throw the darn ball. He is ball obsessed. It really can be too much.


Scott leaves for Virginia next week (boo hoo!!!). Benny and I will have to survive over here without him for almost a week. The bad news is that he will be gone. The good news is that he is going to bring back all the things we haven't been able to find here and just can't live without, such as corn tortillas and pirate's booty. I was going to go see my cousin Jean-Paul and his family in Dubai during that time but he will be in Cairo for most of the time I could go and our stuff is "supposed" to arrive during that week. I say "supposed" because I learned the hard way with the car. According to what we were told, we should have had the car over two weeks ago.

The weather here went from boiling hot to cool over night. All of my winter clothes and more importantly my winter shoes are packed away and on a ship somewhere. I can't wait to get my stuff. I have been living in the same clothes I brought with me when we arrived in early October. I only have sandals & flip-flops. Luckily, I packed one pair of Roxy's but they don't go with all my clothes. I just really want my stuff!

I'm reading Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. I love her books. She also wrote Snowflower & the Secret Fan. This is another good one. We love Amazon. They get us our order within a week. Also, I ordered a pair of shoes from zappos.com (my favorite shoe website) and they arrived in about 5-days! In the states they get your shoes to you the next day, but I did not expect to get them in less than a week over here. I LOVE zappos!

Until next week......stay well!

Lizards, Turkeys and Beaches......Oh My!

Scott & I want to say that we hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. We did! We started our day off by volunteering to feed the young troops. We signed up for the first hour which started at 11am so that we could get home in time to set-up for our friends. We had a great time volunteering. The young men and women were so grateful & excited to have a good Thanksgiving meal. For many of them it was their first time away from home for the holidays. I was in charge of serving mashed potatoes & Scott had the gravy & sweet potatoes. It was interesting to see how every person likes their food served differently. For example, some wanted gravy poured over everything on their plate. Others wanted their corn on top of their mashed potatoes. It was cute. In my family on Thanksgiving we didn't have mashed potatoes & gravy until about 10-years ago. I didn't know you were allowed to put gravy over anything but mashed potatoes. Good thing Scott was in charge of the gravy because he automatically asked, "What do you want the gravy on?" I would have never thought to ask that. My family had turkey, stuffed grape leaves, rice with nuts, roast beef with broiled potatoes, peas & fettuche (Lebanese salad). Stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy & cranberry sauce were all added after my sisters & I married American men. Scott & I are looking forward to volunteering again next year. It was very heart warming & I thought I would cry about a dozen times. These young men reminded me of my nephews & I just wanted to go give them a big hug. Some dressed up & were so excited.

After we were done volunteering we walked home....we still don't have our car!!!!! I cleaned and cooked. Scott relaxed & took a nap. Doesn't seem fair. Don't worry he made it up during the clean-up afterwards. We invited a few people over, it was very small. I made turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, mac & cheese, corn bread & salad. I really impressed myself. It tasted really good. Everyone really liked the food & our guests were happy to be with friends since they were away from their family. We missed being with family, though. This was my second Thanksgiving away from my family. Scott is used to being away from home during the holidays. I'm trying to get used to it. Christmas will be hard because it will be my first Christmas ever away from home :( I'll get through it. We're not sure what we'll be doing for Christmas. We're thinking of going to this 5-star hotel for brunch. It's supposed to be an amazing brunch. We'll see!

Scott does not believe in the evil eye & thinks I'm nuts to believe in it. I will always believe in the evil eye. I've seen it in action! Thanksgiving was a perfect example & I think I almost made Scott a believer. One of our guests was going on & on & on about how lucky we are to have a dish washer because she doesn't have one. I mean she really went on & on about this. I didn't think anything of it. I just agreed & said it's a must for me. I hate washing dishes by hand, especially after cooking a Thanksgiving meal like I had. Well, after we loaded the dish washer & could barely stand any longer, we started the dishwasher & were heading upstairs when all of a sudden the dish washer flooded the kitchen. Coincidence? I know not!!!!! Why of all things to get messed up would it be the dish washer? Now, this lady is a very sweet person & I don't think she meant for our dishwasher to flood the kitchen, but the evil eye is the evil eye! Fortunately Scott is a handy guy & fixed the problem the next morning.

Every weekend we take Benny to the beach. We found a secluded area where he can run free & we don't worry about him getting away. It's the beach area where Michael Jackson's compound is. He LOVES it. To be at the beach playing fetch with Scott is like being in heaven for him. It's as if I don't exist. Benny never brings me the ball, no matter how much I try to get him to bring it to me. So, I usually go shell hunting. I've collected quite a few shells. My favorite is this beautiful orange one. I also found a starfish last week. The water is gorgeous. It's a beautiful shade of turquoise. There are no waves, just calm, still water. I'm so used to hearing the waves crash along the shore, so it's weird to be at such a quiet beach. We didn't go this weekend because we are car less. We returned our piece of junk rental last Saturday because we were told we were getting our car on Sunday.....well gullible me (& Scott) again. It's Saturday of the following week & NO CAR!I can't seem to get used to how they do business out here! I'll learn eventually!

Good news on the home front! The grass is down, we have light, internet & satellite & the doggy door has been installed. I was told that someone was going to be coming by to measure for the doggy door. Well, two Indian men showed up & took the door away with them. They took it at about 9am and brought it back around 4pm. They taped up some sort of long plastic, which was really like saran wrap over the opening. Fine. Whatever. I just wanted it done at this point. They brought it back & I wasn't quite sure what to think. They cut out the opening but instead of installing a "doggy door" they reutilized the piece of door they took out and attached it with screws so that it opens & shuts. It works fine. The problem, though, is that it is so heavy that Benny doesn't want to push it open himself. He's used to a real doggy door. The other issue is that there's about 1/2 an inch opening along all 4 sides of the door & creatures can get in. The creature I'm most afraid of is a lizard. There are lizards all over the place here. They are small and thin and run really fast. I must have a dozen heart attacks a week when one scurries in front of me. So, I tape up the door at night & untape it in the morning. I will die if a lizard gets in the house. We had a dead one along the side of the house a few days ago. Scott got rid of it. He's very useful to have around!

Hard to believe that we're heading into December & that we've been here close to two-months already. Time is just flying by. Until next week, stay well & walk off those extra Thanksgiving pounds!

Isn't Tomorrow Supposed to be Twenty-Four Hours from Today?

We moved into our villa on November 6th. Boy were we excited! Finally, we could really unpack our suitcases and settle down for the next two years. I am aware that I am gullible, however, I have been trying to get better about that...which involves not taking people at their word...which I don't like. I have a long road ahead of me because I fell for every line I was given this last week and a half! Kasim, our house watchman was the first to get me. He is a nice, middle-aged Indian man, on the short side, who smells like a spice cabinet with all the really stinky spice jars left open. He is our "go to" guy for any and all problems. Well, I noticed immediately that there were many touch-up areas to be re-painted and I asked him to please re-touch them. He said, "No problem. Tomorrow." Well, that was over a week ago & I'm still looking at the areas that need to be touched up! About half the lights have burnt bulbs. "Tomorrow" Kasim said he'd have them replaced. I'm still peeing in the dark downstairs. Internet and Satellite service were supposed to be set-up "Tomorrow." but we just got the satellite service yesterday & I'm still jumping on to someone else's wireless internet provider out there. Tomorrow never seems to get here!!! Even Benny is tired of hearing about tomorrow!

We really like our place, though and are happy to be here. Our landlord is laying grass out front (unheard of over here) for Benny & he's putting in a doggy door. Once the doggy door is in & I can leave Benny for extended periods of time, I will start job hunting. There are quite a few opportunities here, I just have to decide what I want to do. Last week was spent waiting around for workers. I read two great books, Say You're One of Them & The Lovely Bones. Both sad but inspiring. I've never read two books in a week, but without satellite or internet what was I supposed to do while waiting around the house?! Included are a few pictures of the house. Once we have it set-up like we want, we'll add more.

Kasim comes to clean the house every Monday which is nice. I have to keep Benny out of the house while he cleans because he's afraid of Benny. So, we sit out front & talk to whoever walks by. The street sweepers here are actual men with brooms and a trash can that sweep the streets. There are two of them on our street & they stop by to say hello every day. The labor force here is made up of primarily Indians and Philipinos. Everyone speaks to eachother in English. So a Philipino can speak to a Bengali in English who in turn turns around and speaks to a Bahraini or Saudi in English. It's pretty funny to watch them all talking to eachother. So after Kasim finished cleaning and we came back in the house, I thought to myself, This place stinks! What the heck does he clean with? I opened all the windows, which I normally don't do because of the heat and the fact that there are no screens & I have about 11 mosquito bites on me. The smell was horrible & I was trying to think about how I could tell him.....& then I realized what had happened. He left the gas to one of the stove burners on. So, the house could have blown-up! Now, I have to watch everything he does. A funny story about getting gas here. You have to hook up this big gas tank outside with a hose that sends gas to your oven/stove. When Kasim was setting this up, he could not tell if gas was getting to the stove/oven so he asked me to smell & see if I could smell any gas. The problem was that his body odor was so strong it overpowered the gas smell. I had no idea. He kept asking, You smell, you smell? and I kept saying, I don't know. I really couldn't smell anything but him. Needless to say, it's all working now. I've been cooking up a storm! On the menu tonight: chicken tortilla soup! Even though I'm cooking, we are still going out to eat whenever we have a chance. We went to an area known as Shawarma Alley. It's a long street with Shawarma restaurants all along it. As you walk down the street each restaurant has a worker outside that practically pushes you into their restaurant, which really is like a taco stand in LA. We decided on one and they really treated us like royalty. We LOVED it. Oh was it so, so, so, so good! The meat was so tender and fragrant! We ordered mango juice as our drink. The guy juiced it right there. It was unbelievably fresh. We also tried the falafel & hummus which were to die for.

The malls here are gynormous! They have every store you can imagine and then some. One store they have is called: The Home Store. It's like a high-end Ikea. Our landlord told us to go there and pick out a new sofa & to get new bedding for the bedrooms. Well, how excited was I to shop on someone else's dime? I dragged Scott there & we spent about 2-hours trying to decide and coming to a fair compromise. I found it interesting that they put up signs letting you know what's not on sale, so you don't get confused!

There is a bridge that connects Saudi Arabia to Bahrain. Drinking alcohol is forbidden in Saudi Arabia but not forbidden in Bahrain. Every weekend bahrain is flooded with Saudis (men & women) who cross over to drink. Women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. Once they enter Bahrain they rent cars and drive like maniacs. The unspoken rule here is, do not go out on weekends because you might be struck by a drunk Saudi! The excessive drinking they do is really sad. They start drinking at breakfast & they really don't stop. We went out with some friends who had a Saudi friend visiting. He was in his 50's and is apparently worth $6 billion bucks! He payed for everything!!!!!! Scott & I were very uncomfortable around him though. When we first met him at our friend's house he did not want to talk to you unless you had a beer. He & I didn't talk much. He spoke to Scott, though. Anyhow, in the 2-3 hours that we were with him, I witnessed him drink 15 beers. He could not even stand up. Alcohol is not sold in stores here, but is served at restaurants in hotels. I don't know where they get all the beer they drink when they are not in hotels.

Our car is not here yet! We rented a real piece of junk, but it gets us around. I drove a few times. It's pretty easy here. The only danger seems to be at 4-way stops. Noone stops. They all slow down and maneuver around eachother. Scott keeps yelling at me when I stop. That scares the heck out of me. I've been honked at a few times....oh well I just honk right back, but I do not add hand gestures :) I was walking back from the store two days ago & I was crossing the street at one of these 4-way stops. I was 3/4 of the way through the cross walk when this lady all burka'd up decided to turn left without stopping and missed me by about 2-feet. I put my hands up & yelled and she smiled and waved. I think she thought I was saying hello. The guy driving behind her, an American in his pick-up was shaking his head and put his hands up in the what are you gonna do? motion. I just kept walking.

Thanks to everyone who sent those nice messages to Scott thanking him for his service on Veterans Day via facebook & e-mail. I passed them all on to him. We are grateful to have so many wonderful friends! On a sad note, we can't get Glee over here. I am so bummed out about it. We have the upgraded satellite package & the Armed Forces Network which adds extra channels, but no Glee. I am also unable to stream shows via Hulu or other on-line networks. they don't stream outside of the USA. We have one last trick to try & that is to purchase the episodes via i-tunes and play them from the computer to our TV. We will be trying that soon. If not, we'll wait and buy the first season on DVD. We are slowly realizing all the little luxuries we took for granted and are starting to miss!

Well, I guess we're all caught up for now. Sorry about the delay in this post. Now that I have access to the internet, things should be back to normal! Hope you all have a great week!

"It's not so bad in the shade with a breeze."

That's what Scott told me today as I was complaining about the heat. It's still 90+ degrees here. We don't get cold water out of the tap.....it's always hot! I am so tired of brushing my teeth with hot water. Scott is right. It's not so bad in the shade with a breeze. The trick is to find the shade & hope there will be a breeze. Today is Halloween. We don't expect any trick-or-treaters here. I am enjoying my bag of Halloween York Peppermint Patties I've stashed in the freezer. I love eating those frozen. Frozen Snickers are so good, too. Come to think of it so are frozen Twix & Kit-Kat. I love Halloween candy because I don't feel so guilty eating it. They are the perfect size. I guess the problem is when one piece turns into seven! Oh well!

We've had a relatively quiet week. We decided to lease the house in the city. It just makes more sense & we really like the landlord. He owns a restaurant we've been to & love. He said we now get 50% off our food bill there! The restaurant looks like it's just off Melrose or Santa Monica somewhere. Very "hip" and modern & the menu is ecclectic & fresh. The next step in the lease process is passing the security inspection. Once that is done we can sign the lease.....hopefully next Wednesday. Scott has promised to give me swimming lessons now that we have our own pool. I was always embarassed to take swimming lessons as an adult when there were kids taking lessons. I remember ski lessons & golf lessons....those darn kids were always better than me! As many of you know, I am not the most coordinated person.

We went out to a Lebanese restaurant last night. It came highly recommended & was delicious. We are trying to be careful because the food here is soooooo good. Scott burns off food before he even eats it whereas I gain weight just thinking of it. The menu was extensive & it was hard to narrow it down. We settled on meza of kibbe, taboulah olives & yogurt and shared a plate of lamb, chicken & beef kabob & kofta. The next time we eat there we will try several other dishes.

I made friends with our waiter, a nice young guy named Asam. He has aspirations of opening up his own Lebanese restaurant in another location in Bahrain. He is Syrian. He told us his life story. He studied for over a year....cooking & management. Well, I asked him if he wouldn't mind giving me and a few other ladies cooking lessons. He agreed & gave me his number to contact him. I hope he understood what I was asking. Sometimes the meaning gets lost in my conversations with people out here. He is apparently leaving in a couple of months. My household goods shipment (all my kitchen stuff) won't get here for another month or so. The cooking lessons may or may not happen. I hope they do!

Benny and I ran into another wife walking her dog, Lucy. She and Benny were jumping all over eachother. We were complaining how there is no grass anywhere for the dogs to walk on or at least go to the bathroom on. Right away I came up with the idea to petition to use the baseball field on Base as a dog park during the hours it's not being used. There are so many dogs and it would be a great way for us all to socialize. I will be bringing it up next week and hope it will be be received positively.

My big dilemma right now is figuring out where to get my hair done. I think this has been the hardest part for me with my moves.....finding a hairdresser I like & trust. I will be starting my search tomorrow before my gray hairs become too obvious! Talk to you next week!!!

Michael Jackson & Stray Dogs

We drove by Michael Jackson's Bahrain Compound on Amwaj Island while we were house hunting with one of our agents. We are considering a house approximately a mile from this compound. We were told that it has been bought by a man from Dubai. The house we like is beautiful. It is brand new & won't be ready for a couple of weeks. The back door opens up onto our own private dock right along the water. The downside is that it's a little above our budget & it would be a long commute for Scott everyday. Also, we'd have to build a fence to keep Benny from jumping into the water or running off. It will be hard to pass this one up! We are also looking at another place here in the main city of Juffair. Scott could walk or ride his bike to work. It's close to all the shopping I would need to do & I would be close to Base to use the gym, etc... It has a nice courtyard with a small lawn which will work for Benny. It also has an indoor pool! We'll be deciding within the next few days. From what we understand things don't always go smoothly here when you decide on a place & go to sign the lease. The owner can decide to give the place away to someone else at the last minute if they are offered more money. This happened to one of our neighbors. So, I'm not getting my hopes up too high.


We've been keeping very busy! This week just flew by. Scott is still going through his check-in process which involves all day boring meetings. I've been busy running around with agents house hunting & of course playing ball with Benny. Fortunately his girlfriend Maggie joins us every once in a while to shake things up. She bugs the heck out of Benny & he gets all worked up when she steals his ball. We went out last night to a dinner party here in town. We met some really nice people. Most Navy guys are here alone, but there were a few wives. We used a taxi service and the whole thing was comical. The driver showed up 15-minutes early. The taxi office called 4-times to tell us the taxi was on its way, even though the guy was already here. Finally while we were driving in the taxi they called again & told us the wrong taxi came to get us. Did it matter? We were on our way to our destination. It was just hilarious. I love it when Scott speaks to the locals here. He speaks very slowly, almost like a robot. He is very patient. I have had to use my Arabic a few times. I am definitely not as patient as he is.

Every two weeks the wives meet at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. There were about 30 of us. It's a nice way to connect with other wives & network. Most wives here are older. Now that the school has opened, younger wives & kids should start coming, most likely in the summer. Apparently 90 new families are on their way here. This is an active Base. There is a weekly social group that meets for drinks & appetizers. I'm signing up for an Arabic class & rug buying & gold buying class. These are all offered for free and should be really helpful. One of the Naval ships is coming into port here today. This means that about 5,000 sailors will be converging on the Base & all over the city. We are staying in tonight. These guys apparently go a little "wild" when on shore because of all the restrictions they have while on the ship.

One of the saddest things to see are all the stray dogs around here. I'm always in a panic that I'll see one get hit by a car. It's sad because they look so hungry & tired. It's still so hot, so imagine how thirsty they are. I was out walking Benny yesterday and a pack of 4 dogs came running around the corner. I was in flip-flops and the roads are sandy & full of little rocks. Benny & I ran from that group of dogs. I'm shocked I didn't twist my anlkle or fall. Benny just thought we were going for a run. He was thrilled & pulling hard! Now I'm freaked out about walking Benny alone. There is one animal shelter here but it is over-crowded & they don't have enough people to round up all the dogs. It's really just so sad!


We spend a lot of time on American Alley. It's close by and we can walk there. Our car should be here in a couple of weeks...so they say! We celebrated our second wedding anniversary with a nice Italian dinner. These two years have just flown by! I've enjoyed talking to everyone who has called. Our skype number works great. Our moving notices that I ordered could not be delivered to our FPO address. So, here's our info:

Address: Scott & Monique Loeschke
PSC 901 BOX 50
FPO AE 09805-0001

Phone Number (home): 310-584-7374
Scott Cell: 011 973 3941-3674 Scott e-mail: s_loeschke@yahoo.com
Monique Cell: 011 973 3618-4979 Monique e-mail: mesplang@yahoo.com

Talk to you next week!

One Week Down.......103 to go!

Hard to believe, but we've been in Bahrain for over a week now! I am happy to report that we are out of the majestic Majestic and in a villa until we find our permanent home. We did not think we'd get out of The Majestic but Scott ran into a lady and her dog on Base one day & asked her where they were staying. She said they had been in an awful place called, The Majestic, and she was miserable there. She and her husband stumbled upon a compound of villas right by Base which allowed dogs. They had been in their villa for about two weeks and liked it. She said she believed they had an opening.....so Scott jumped into action. Sure enough we moved into the villa Monday afternoon. It's a 4-bedroom 3-bath. At one time it must have been beautiful. Now, it's nice but outdated. The marble floors and wall & ceiling mouldings are still beautiful. We are all so happy to be here. Benny's demeanor changed completely once we moved here. Just look at the before and after pictures. The before picture shows him depressed on a chair at The Majestic and the after shows him smiling by the pool now where we play ball several times a day. Of course he has thrown the ball into the pool several times already & almost jumped in once. We often have an audience of Saudi & Kuwaitis who are renting out the other villas. There are 7 villas here. Three of us are Americans and we all have dogs. It has been nice to have other dogs to play with. Bailey is 7-years & a bit grumpy. Maggie is 8-months-old & a wild woman. The two wives and I went out Thursday. One of them was stationed here 11-years ago with her husband so she is pretty familiar with getting around. She and her husband bought a car when they arrived so she's been keeping busy. Driving in Bahrain can be crazy but nowhere near as crazy as Egypt. People actually stop at red lights and stay within their lane. There are round-abouts all over the place so you're always circling. It seems unnecessary to me but I'm sure there's a reason for it. It was nice to get out of the house and to go somewhere other than the Base to shop. We went to an amazing fruit & vegetable market. The produce was incredibly fresh and made me want to cook up some healthy meals. I actually miss being able to cook. Our kitchen here is functional but we don't have all our kitchen supplies. The dishwasher pipe burst & flooded our kitchen the first time we used it! After the fruit & vegetable market we went to the fish market. Smell aside, it was amazing! The seafood was just freshly caught and put out by each vendor. They all fought for our business. I felt bad saying no thanks to so many of them! The vendors all said the same exact thing to us. They asked and answered their own question. They would say, " Hi ma'am how are you I am fine thank you." all in one breath. Their most popular fish is called, hamour. It is in the grouper (sea bass) family. I bought a nice fillet and Scott made it last night for dinner. It was delicious. The heads are sold separately, I'm assuming for people who want to make broth. Who knows! Aside form the hamour, we have been enjoying shawarma sandwiches, falafel and other yummy foods. We are close to an area known as American Alley. It's really just a very long street. You can find most famous American fast food restaurants there along with a mish-mash of Asian, Indian and Middle Eastern restaurants. Of course there's a Chili's and Macaroni Grill. Most importantly, there's a Starbucks! Because Benny is still under quarantine, we have not been out that much. Luckily, his quarantine ends in 3-weeks. After the fish market we went to one of the malls. This mall puts our malls to shame. It is state of the art and very accommodating. The women's bathrooms have suites for mothers to go into with their children along with a personal attendant. I was shocked to see so many women in Burkas. Only their eyes were visible. I would say about 80% of the women had some level of head covering on. Of those 80% about 60% were in full burkas. The three of us stood out, but there were several other Americans as well as British women shopping. I was pleased to see so many of our stores in the mall. One of the ladies I was with is originally form London and she said most of the stores were European. This mall had better stores than the mall in Memphis. I can get used to this!!! We can start looking for a place to live beginning Monday. Scott & I both have to go through a housing "brief" before we're allowed to start looking. There are many rules we need to follow and I think it will be helpful. I would prefer to live as close to the Base as possible. I don't think I'll be comfortable driving here. Not so much because of the way people drive but more because it's so confusing. Street names are limited. They primarily go by road numbers and the round-abouts are in the most random areas. Apparently if you get in an accident here, both parties pay the cop on the spot regardless of whose fault it is. My beach cruiser is being shipped here and should arrive in 6-weeks or so. A lot of people get around on their bikes here. I would love to be able to get around by bike. I'm sure it will be an interesting sight to see a pink beach cruiser zooming around on the streets of Bahrain. My basket will come in handy when I ride to the store or out on errands. I am considering applying for a job at the Child Development Center on Base. They are reopening now that families have been allowed back to Bahrain. The pay is minimal from what I hear. We'll see what I decide. It will all depend on where we live & what the hours will be. I will have to be able to get home a few times to let Benny out so he can take care of business. Also, if the pay is so low that after taxes it's nothing, then forget it. I'd rather volunteer there a couple days a week. I'll keep you posted. I definitely miss the USA! There absolutely is no place like it. It's nice to experience other cultures and to travel, but there really is no place like the USA! Until next week, stay well!!!

Our Villa

The fruit & vegetable market & the fish heads.

The Road to Bahrain

Our plane finally landed at 1:30 am on Friday, October 9, 2009. It was a humid 84-degrees. We were supposed to have arrived Wednesday the 7th but lots happened to change our schedule. First our flight out of Norfolk was delayed 8-hours. We were stuck in the terminal for the night with Benny in his crate. Benny was the lucky one. He had a place to sleep. Scott & I, along with all the other stuck travelers tried to sleep sitting-up. Didn't work. The good news is that we got a free meal out of the deal! At 6:30am we crated Benny up & left him for the baggage handlers to load him in the plane. We boarded a HUGE plane and finally took off. A little more than 4-hours later we arrived in Portugal. The usual 2-hour layover was cut to 30-minutes since we were off schedule. Some service members & their families got off the plane to either report to duty or to go sightseeing. Scott ran off the plane as well. We were supposed to be able to walk and give water to Benny at each stop. At first we were told we couldn't get Benny because of the short stop. Then Scott talked to someone who allowed him to quicly take him out for a quick pee & a drink of water. Scott said that Benny peed a bucket! Poor guy. When it was time for him to go into the crate again, he wouldn't go in on his own. I was so sad for Benny boy! He was so scared. Anyhow, we took off for Naples, Italy. That too was about a 4-hour flight. Again more service members and their familes got off the plane. The captain then came on the speaker system to inform us that we were not going to be flying to Greece but would rather be spending the night in Naples. Normally I would have been thrilled to be in Italy, but we were pooped at this point. We had to get all our luggage and the dog and board these buses the airport had provided to take us to our hotels. These were big luxury buses. The bus driver was going to put Benny down below with the luggage and shut the door on him. I refused to let that happen. In the end, Benny sat next to Scott in the bus. From this point on Benny became everyone's dog. They LOVED him!!!! We spent the night in Naples, which I really was unimpressed with. It's very industrial & "gray." Benny could not stop looking at the statues in front of our hotel....he'd never seen Italian nude sculptures before. We were happy to take a shower and sleep in a bed. It was over 24-hours since we "slept." Our next stop was Crete, Greece. We had the full 2-hour layover there. Scott was able to walk Benny for a while. The rest of us were locked in the holding area. Literally locked in. Smoking was not allowed and all the smokers had to watch the airport employees smoking outside our windows. So, they decided to liquor up. I was so pooped I could care less about all the noise they were making. People were laughing & hugging eachother. Most of them had never met before. Fun stuff to watch. Fortunately there was a small Greek food stand in our holding area. Scott and I shared one of my favorite things to eat in Greece, feta cheese pies. It absolutely lived up to my expectations. Scott seemed to really enjoy it as well. From Greece we started our last leg of the trip. Four and a half hours later we landed in Bahrain. Our sponsor was waiting for us when we landed. We felt like those important people at airports who have drivers holding signs with their name on it. We found our bags & dog & loaded up into the Excursion waiting for us. It was really heartwarming watching the kids that made this long trip with us reunite with their dads. We checked into our apartment within this beautiful resort & finally relaxed. The next morning Scott ordered a Lebanese breakfast. It was soooo good. Reminded me of my dad's morning breakfasts! For lunch I ordered delicious chicken kabobs & fettuche salad. Delicious! We were also so happy that right outside our room were the tennis courts. We could easily walk Benny over there and throw the ball around with him for a while. At one point, we had an audience of women and children on the other side of the fence watching Benny run after and catch balls. All of our relief & relaxation ended when a manager came up to us & politely told us we had to leave. Apparently his BIG manager told him to tell us dogs were not allowed. Funny how no one mentioned it when the reservation was made, when we checked in or for the day and a half that we were there. In fact all the employees came up to Benny, pet him and complimented us on him. We called our sponsor who made the reservation and explained the situation. They wanted us out that night so our sponsor found us a place at The Majestic Hotel. Well, The Majestic is not so majestic. It's actually a dump. We are totally grossed out over here. We are looking for a house to move into right away instead of taking our time as most people do. The positive side of staying at The Majestic is that we are a five minute walk from the Base. We took a nice walk in the 94-degree heat and bought a few groceries. I was finally able to use my Arabic with a guy named, Osama, who immediately recognized it as Egyptian Arabic. I was very impressed. While sitting outside a Navy guy waved at us and came over to talk. Apparently, he had been on the plane with us throughout the trip. I didn't remember him. We met so many people because of Benny. Many people came up to us to share stories of their dog and to tell us how much they missed their dog. Benny loved all the attention. So, that's just a little bit of our road to Bahrain. It was tough but we're glad to be here and look forward to our adventures to come. I plan on sharing stories weekly, so come back & check it out!!!!!