Evelyn's activities

Here we are ice skating last weekend. A little mom-daughter time. "I fell 21 times!" she proudly told her dad.

 Here is Ev fighting like a gladiator during an awesome "Greeks and Romans" event my friend put on. (An amazing homeschooler!)

And here is Evelyn and her clay snowman during a "Kids Art Therapy" class. (Love all the fun and free family events here in Bahrain!)

Bits and pieces

I ordered the coolest dessert the other day because it had a crazy description. It was these vermicelli type sweet fried noodles formed in a bird's nest shape, topped with a scoop of rose flavored ice cream, which was wearing a white Marie Antoinette style wig created out of strands of spun sugar (kind of like cotton candy), then plated up with a drizzle of passion fruit sauce. It looked so awesome, but I didn't have the camera. It didn't taste that great- because I don't really care for rose flavor. An unfortunate oversight on my part!
We have been going to more Spring of Culture events and they have been so incredible! Roger went to a Shaolin Temple Performance Group- they gave a Kung Fu demonstration that was amazing- guys breaking boards with every part of their bodies, flipping and landing flat on their backs, demonstrating all the different animal styles. Evelyn and I went to Jody Sperling Time Lapse Dancing. She is a Loie Fuller re interpreter and it was amazing! They have these costumes made out of the most flowy, thin silky material. The sleeves extend out- like they have rods in them, so the dancers are holding these rods creating these wings of fabric. Then they spin and twirl creating the most amazing shapes. Peacocks, butterflies, ghosts. It was incredible. I went to a Loie Fuller exhibit at the Maryhill Museum a few years ago and have always wished I could see something similar. Wish come true! I went to a Susana Baca concert with some of the other teachers. She is a Peruvian singer- such a clear voice. And she just radiated serenity- peace, contentment, happiness. Then Roger and I went to the Mozart Group last night. They are a Polish string quartet and comedy group. They were amazing musicians and terrific showmen. They played their instruments one handed, like guitars, one guy played his one handed while ping-ponging, singing and standing on one leg! The best part: all those shows were free, free, free! Thanks Bahrain! I would pay to see the Shaolin Temple, Jody Sperling or the Mozart Group. They were so great.
And recently, we got to have a breakfast at the school in conjunction with this celebrity golf tourney that is happening at the golf course that surrounds our development. Joe Montana just walked right by us a few times! We had to rush off, so didn't get photos, but how amazing.

One of my favorite things...

When I water the front ground cover the little lizard that lives there skitters over to hide under the rosemary on the other side of the little yard. When we first got here, Roger almost squashed a teeny tiny one in our house- he thought it was a spider- then got a closer look and realized it was "a leetle leezard!" I hate snakes, but lizards are pretty cute.
I have three zuchinni plants coming up now- they are called marrow or courgetts here. I have two strawberry plants that are producing- Edward gets them all first. My Roma tomatoes are going full board. Our sunflowers are getting a little higher. Outside is really nice right now- I am trying to savor it because it won't be too long before it is scorching!

Bahrain Science Center

Over spring break we got to preview Bahrain's new Science Center with some friends of ours. It isn't officially open to the public yet. It is so awesome- like a mini-OMSI. Edward loved the tornado simulator, lava tubes and wooden train room. One of the coolest things was the room full of skeletons of animals found in the Bahrain area, like this Arabian horse Ev is posing with. She also liked the optical illusions room. It was so nice. And when it opens, it will be free! I know where I'm hanging out with Edward! 

Swimming in the gulf

I loved this sign, about going to the beach to escape the hustle of the big city! We swam in the Arabian Gulf over break. It was really warm. Roger and Edward are showing off their beach body muscles! Evelyn and her friend Morgan had goggles and spent the time looking at the coral below- hoping to spot a few fish. You can walk out quite a long ways, the water is shallow for forever. There were a lot of small "unicorn horn" shells and snail shells on the beach- the kind you buy by the scoop in gift shops. Roger was walking around a few days after the beach and felt something poking his foot. It was the smallest, cutest shell- jabbing him!Afterwards we felt all salty sticky. We got cones at McDonalds for .100 fills, which is $.27 apiece, can't beat that for a treat. Then we jumped in the school's pool after desalting in the showers- it was so refreshing.

Happy Easter!

Our quote of the day, spoken with a chocolate covered face: "Where's candy basket? Where's at?"

More fun...

Here are my spring break cuties! We hung out at Magic Island at Seef Mall- a big arcade type place. Then we rode the kiddie train, drove remote control cars around a replica Formula One track and took photos with the stilt walkers. Evelyn is having fun taking pictures of us in the car with her new camera- love her self portraits.

Riffa Fort 2

One of the coolest parts of Riffa Fort was the fact there was this state school across the street. There were bars on the windows and these little kids were climbing the bars and walls. It sounded and looked totally nuts. They saw us and started waving and yelling all the English they knew at us: "Hello!", "New York!", "I love you!". It was pretty neat.

Riffa Fort

We are on spring break! We are exploring / enjoying more of the island while we are here for the holiday- so here is our trip to the Riffa Fort. Edward loved marching around. Evelyn now has her own camera and took a ton of self portraits- I'll have to upload hers later!

Animal fair

Bahrain had this really neat animal fair. Part pet show, part county fair, it was its own brand of familiar and totally new. I took Edward during the day and we got to look at all the animals. There were a lot of schools on field trips while we were there. This Bahrain girls school of fourth or fifth graders were there and the girls had gotten this great idea to buy pet baby chicks. The vendor didn't care, money is money, so each girl got her own small paper bag with air holes poked it and a baby chick. They were in this science exhibit room and they all had their bags, maybe sixty of them. Some had their chicks out and were just man-handling the poor things to death. Like that monster that cuddles Bugs Bunny? I was a little intrigued and horrified! What were their parents going to do with those chicks when they got home? If they made it that long after being so loved! Luckily another white lady decided to go on a crusade and I overheard her talking to the event organizers about the importance of not selling animals to school children. My moral responsibility to baby chicks was relieved, so we went and caught the mascot show, where after 45 minutes of singing and dancing in Arabic, the audience was invited onstage with the mascot boy, girl, fish, chicken and cow to dance, sing and wave Bahraini flags while confetti cannons showered us. It was a lot of fun. We saw more cows, sheep, chickens, camels, horses, goats, birds, cats and dogs. Then got face paint and a twisty balloon, took the mini train around and then headed home. That night we went back with the whole family for the horse show. They started out by showing some of the finest Arabians in Bahrain then they had this incredible performance by  these Andalusian horses. They jumped in the air and kicked, danced, raised their legs, it was incredible the amount of control and training. It was really beautiful. It was such a fun family event. And free, free, free!

Kid's birthdays

We've attended three birthdays in the past week and they were awesome. The first was for one of Edward's friends and was held on base and featured these bouncers. The second was at the Bahrain Rugby Club where Evelyn and her classmates played football / soccer. The third was a disco party for one of Ev's friends where she got to bust a move. We were invited in to all and given cake and food- it is part of the legendary Middle Eastern hospitality- so nice- warm and welcoming. Also, some of the gift bags might have cost more than the presents I sent. People here are so incredibly generous. What's a teacher's wife to do? So now Evelyn has her own digital camera that is just as nice as mine- and works better because it didn't get taken out in the middle of a sandstorm! Lucky duck. To return all this nice hospitality, I should have a party for all her classmates and their nannies or families next year for her birthday, but just don't know how that is going to work. Start saving now I guess. Because you can't have just one main dish- you have to have three or it is considered insulting to your guests. We went to one birthday Evelyn was invited to thinking we would just drop her off, but the parents insisted we come join in- they were so very nice. They had it catered by one of those Brazillian barbecue places. The food was incredible! Professional catering hasn't ever been a line item in any of my budgets- so we'll have to figure that out in the fall I guess!