Bahrain Primer

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Trip Start Jun 24, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Jul 25, 2008

  Manama, Bahrain
Sunday, July 20, 2008

A - Arabian Gulf. It may be known as the Persian Gulf elsewhere in the world, but GCC countries aren't too friendly with Iran and prefer not to give them any credit in body-of-water nomenclature.
B - Bakshish. This translates to "request for tips" -- also known as bribing. It's a pretty common transaction around here but maybe nowhere more famously than Kuwait. The tiny country gets the brunt of the heat in the region, making necessary a law which prohibits anyone from working outside if the temperature hits 50 degrees Celsius or above (122 degrees Fahrenheit). In the mad rush to develop, it behooves some to give the official temperature readers a little bakshish to keep the workers working. If you are ever in Kuwait in the summer, turn on the radio. I bet you hear that the official temperature is 49.5 degrees Celsius.
C - Camels. They are charming and true marvels of nature

Spray-painted car

. Also, cars. I can't get over the way people spray-paint them (see pictures).
D - Dhow. Traditional boat. They are everywhere in Bahrain and perhaps one of the few remnants of the Kingdom's past. Fishing and pearl diving used to be the main economies here -- until black gold and cultured pearls were discovered elsewhere.
E - Electricity and other utilities. They are subsidized here. Can you imagine what your A/C bill would be in the summer if the season low (at night) were 87 degrees?
F - Fares in cabs. Totally negotiable.
G - Gulf Air. The Bahrain airline that guarantees to either cancel your flight or be several hours late.
H - Hypermarkets. The Wal-Marts of Bahrain. Geant, LuLu, etc. You can find everything here, from spices to shoes, widescreen tvs to sheeshas.
I - Indian. It seems to be the adopted national cuisine and I'm glad. I've never enjoyed it as much as I have here. The spicier, the better. The more dhal and naan, the happier I am.
J - Juffair. This is the neighborhood in which we live. It's probably the ugliest part of town; it's home to sandlots (good for football games), too many coffee shops (Starbucks, Seattle's Best, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and Caribou -- all in the same block), and the US Navy 5th Fleet

Sheeshas at the hypermarket

.
K - Kindness. Most people really are nice. Last week, we got a little lost trying to find the Gold Souq. We stopped a man and asked for directions; he turned around and led us five blocks out of his way to our destination. It was 107 degrees Fahrenheit.
L - Land reclamation. There's a lot of it going on here. The Gulf Hotel used to be a beach front property -- now it's a mile to the water. Bab al-Bahrain (the gateway at the old customs pier) used to oceanfront, too.
M - Muezzin. Cantor who sings the call to prayer. You can hear him as you're driving around town which, I guess, is the point.
N - Nirvana. Wonderful and aptly named Indian restaurant. Make reservations in advance and go.
O - Oliveto's. Our favorite Italian restaurant on the island. If you're ever here, go and make sure you get some bruschetta.
P - Petrol. It's just about the only thing that is cheap around here.
Q - Qawha. Coffee. Traditional coffee is very, very strong. Despite the numerous American coffee shops around, it is very difficult to find a decent cup of brewed coffee. Starbucks is so terrible that we recently threw out our Venti coffees and walked down the street to another coffee shop

Bab al-Bahrain - formerly oceanfront property

.
R - Road signs. Some translator in the Bahrain Department of Transportation is flexing his/her poetic muscle: "We're on the move to improve!" "Proud to serve our nation - thanks for your cooperation!"
S - Skype. We can make unlimited calls to the US for $5/month. Brilliant -- except that it some weeks it works, some it doesn't.
T - Thursday night. The Saudi work week is Saturday - Wednesday. The Bahrain work week is Sunday - Thursday. These two factors make Thursday night the night to go out in Bahrain; Saudis cross the causeway in droves and every restaurant and club is packed.
U - US Embassy. We dropped them a line to let them know we're hear. This is the email we got in return:
"To send a message to all the people currently subscribed to the list, just send mail to xxxxx. This is called "sending mail to the list," because you send mail to a single address and LISTSERV makes copies for all the people who have subscribed. This address (xxxxx) is also called the "list address." You must never try to send any command to that address, as it would be distributed to all the people who have subscribed. All commands must be sent to the "LISTSERV address," xxxxx. It is very important to understand the difference between the two, but fortunately it is not complicated

Dinner at Oliveto's

. The LISTSERV address is like a FAX number that connects you to a machine, whereas the list address is like a normal voice line connecting you to a person. If you make a mistake and dial the FAX number when you wanted to talk to someone on the phone, you will quickly realize that you used the wrong number and call again. No harm will have been done. If on the other hand you accidentally make your FAX call someone's voice line, the person receiving the call will be inconvenienced, especially if your FAX then re-dials every 5 minutes. The fact that most people will eventually connect the FAX machine to the voice line to allow the FAX to go through and make the calls stop does not mean that you should continue to send FAXes to the voice number. People would just get mad at you. It works pretty much the same way with mailing lists, with the difference that you are calling hundreds or thousands of people at the same time, and consequently you can expect a lot of people to get upset if you consistently send commands to the list address."
V - Vision -- apparently having it is optional if you want to drive here.
W - Windmill Building. It was built with three windmills in the middle to provide the building with energy. Unfortunately, because the engineers didn't take into account the fact that the windmills would shake the building, they are not used.
X - Excess (forgive the stretch, but "x" is a tough letter). I've seen more Maseratis, Bentleys, Ferraris, and top-of-the-line BMWs on this small island than I've ever seen in the US.
Y - Y'all. While it is an expression that goes unused in many parts of the US, people generally know what you mean when you use it. Say it here and be prepared for blank faces.
Z - Zed. Not zee. I don't know if I'll get used to that.

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Windmill Building	Spray-painted car	Michael in the souk	Spray-painted car
Juffair	Spray-painted car	Spray-painted car -- even in green!	Spray-painted car

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