Happy Halloween, everybody!

Bahrain has no free speech

So one of my favorite Bahrain bloggers, mahmood.tv has now been banned by the Bahrain government. Why? 'Cause he calls it like he sees it. Bahrain has its second ever parliamentary elections coming up next month, which is a huge deal for the country. However, about 2 months ago a British guy named Al Bander, who had a high ranking governmental position, published this huge report about corruption in the Bahrain government. It had well documented cases of kickbacks, bribery, you name it. The government quickly put a gag order on the press here in an attempt to make this scandal go away. They deported this British guy and thought all was well. Luckily there are a few people on this small island that can see right through the government's bullshit and this guy is one. He is very well known around the island, and quite honestly we all knew it would be a matter of time before he got the digital ax. Luckily I have a little program called TOR that allows me to surf anonymously and I have no problem accessing banned sites such as his. If you have some spare time I would suggest having a look at his blog. It's good stuff.

Arabs slap, not punch.

And I wish I would have had my camera for this one. I saw my first Arab fight!!!! Scott and I took a cab to the British Club last night for dinner which leads me to a by the way. By the way, we have our own personal cabbie now, he'll take us pretty much anywhere for a dinar or $2.65. Scott randomly flagged this guy down the other day, but he's so laid back and nice (and very, very cheap, might I add) that Scott asked for his phone number and got it. Mr. Hussein the Arab cabbie will come get us and pick us up 6 out of 7 days of the week--FOR A DINAR. Anyway, back to the fight. So here we are having dinner and a beer at the BC at the sports bar on the last night of our vacation. The sports bar is relatively small, it only has one 'billiards' table and 4 or 5 large plasma TVs that are always showing soccer. So last night there were probably 10-15 British guys standing around shooting the shit, a few random people at tables like ourselves, and two tables of middle aged Arabs playing doubles on the 'billiards' table. One table of Arabs were wearing mandresses (thobes) and the other table of Arabs were dressed in what I guess you could call "western" outfits, although I doubt you'd see anyone in America dressed like they were. So all of a sudden I hear a chair being shoved against the wall, I look over, and one of the non-mandresses bitch slaps a guy in a mandress hard enough to knock his head gear (cords and towel) off. So then the mandress just up and WHAM bitch slaps the other Arab dude. He was slapped so hard he fell to the ground, and had a hard time getting back up because he was A. bitch slapped too hard or B. was completely hammered. Which brings me to another point. Muslims aren't supposed to drink, yet you see Saudis--one of the most conservative peoples in the world--come over here by the thousands on the weekends to party it up, and then you'll see local Muslims drinking at places like the British Club. At the liquor stores there is a sign that resembles the ones back home that say "Under state law we are prohibited to sell alcohol to people under 21 years of age" but say "Under state law we are prohibited to sell to Muslims." I shit you not. No mention of a age law anywhere, just the fact that they can't sell to Muslims. So, and here's another I shit you not moment, the guys in mandresses just stand outside and have Indians go in and buy it for them, then they take the booze, throw it in the trunk and drive away. It's just like in college when we were underage and would throw a few bucks to someone over 21 to run into speedway to get us some bud light. Amazing. So if Muslims are prohibited from drinking booze, hell, even PURCHASING booze, then why do establishments around the island serve them? I guess it's all about the power of the almighty dinar, but at least make them look semi non-Muslim. Don't serve 'em if they are in mandresses, I say. If I have to abide by your fucked up laws (such as Ramadan) as an outsider, then YOU, as a native, should have to abide by your fucked up laws as well. I guess the religious hypocrisy exists worldwide. Anyway, back to the story. So security is there is a flash and escorts the guy in the mandress out but allows the other dude, who threw the first punch, I mean slap to stay. Speaking of which, what the fuck is with the slapping? I saw an article in the Gulf Daily News the other day about a guy that died in a "slap fight." Apparently, some guy slapped some other guy--just like what I saw--and when he fell to the ground he hit his head and died. I honestly thought when I was reading that article that because it's Queen English that they use and not American that 'slap' meant 'punch.' Apparently they actually do slap instead of punch. What a bunch of pussies. If you are intending to strike someone because you are angry, make it worth your effort. Punch the motherfucker! Females slap! Men punch, goddamn it. Didn't your father teach you anything? Hasn't the western movies that you people are so in love with teach you how fighting is done? I really could not believe my eyes when I saw them slap each other. I really wanted to just bust out laughing, but that probably would have been very inappropriate considering the bar was absolutely silent. So anyway, like I said, the security guy hauls the thobbie away but leaves the western dressed Arab. Why? As Scott pointed out any bar back home where they happens they throw both of them out. I dunno. If anything that experience is just another I can file away in the culture shock book.

I was fooled

Into thinking this was a Mexican joint. The ambiance was correct but the food, as good as it was, was NOT correct. Read the next couple posts and you'll see what I mean. As far as the decor goes, this place was pleasantly surprising. The exterior of this joint would have you believe it was a piece of shit food joint, but inside it's a whole 'nother story. It seems like that's a running theme in this country, however. They don't place much emphasis on exterior looks. You won't know what a place looks like until you get inside--case in point, Senor Pacos.

Now I've had my fair share of beer before

And I would like to consider myself as slightly "beer snobbish." And in all my experience drinking different kinds of beer in the states I have never run across this Mexican beer "Sol." It was one of two Mexican beers available at Senor Pacos. The other was (surprise surprise) Corona. So of course I had to try out this "Sol" beer. The back of the label was covered in Arabic, Turkish, German, you name it but the front label insisted it was bottled and brewed in Mexico. As good as it was, I still kind of doubt that claim. As for the picture, I thought Josh was just taking a pic of the beer, but instead was an ass munch and included me. I've never looked this retarded in any of my pictures. Oh well. It's for the betterment of my blog. OH YEAH, as authentic as this restaurant would have you believe it is, the dead giveaway that it truly is NOT Mexican is what I ordered. It seems that British people (and maybe anyone outside of North and South America) believe a quesadilla is a fajita. I, at first, thought it was only the British Club that was sadly mistaken. But, alas, I ordered a chicken quesadilla from what they would have you believe was a Mexican joint and out comes this pile of shit. Never mind that it was an excellent tasting pile of shit, but it was NOT a quesadilla.

Yeah buddy

Now this, THIS reminds me of home. Look at that thing of beauty. I can smell the BBQ already. We walked by this magnificent trailer on our way into Senor Paco's. God, that's awesome.

Walking towards Senior Pacos...

Normally I wouldn't post a picture like this but there is something in this one that caught my eye. Look at the hours of the restaurant. It's open for lunch between noon and 3. Then it reopens at 6:30 to midnight for dinner. Talk about fucked up hours. The problem with this country is that this isn't an isolated incident. Most places seem to have a "siesta" period in the afternoon when they are closed. I'm still trying to figure out the hours of our local laundry place. They'll be open 7 in the morning, be closed when we come home from school (2:40ish) but open up sometime after that and be open close to midnight. They don't have hours posted, so you just kinda hope they are open. That's the problem with many, many places around here, especially the smaller shops. It's poke and hope for the hours. Bizarre.

New West Mexican Restaurant?

Josh and I went driving around last night looking for somewhere new to eat that looked inexpensive. Eventually we stumbled across this little gem known as "Senior Pacos." We had to know what the hell a new west Mexican joint was, and by the condition of that piece of shit sign, we figured that it probably was cheap eats so we ventured in, and I'm glad we did...

It takes a real man

To be straight and wear these out in public. So Allah bless, Doug. These shoes are actually clear plastic, but Doug prefers to wear them out Rainbow Brite style. :)

Josh, gangsta style

Josh rollin' gangsta style. I've gotta crimp his style though by telling you all this story. See that shirt? I mistakenly brought that over here from home--it's from back in my skinny college days and now doesn't even cover up my baby. Scott and I dared Josh to wear it out because I personally thought he looked ridiculous, but he actually got compliments from people. Huh. Metro is in now, I guess.

Noui says hi

So we had a little get together at Rachel and Doug's the other day and met some new people. This is Noui (sp?), a really cool chick from Thailand. She works for Gulf Air, and likes to have a good time so she fits right in with our crew. At one point through the evening she started rubbing my belly and saying "how far along are you? Six months?" She's lucky I'm as cool as I am and replied "no--actually I'm eight months, thank you very much." I have some friends that would have not liked her comment, but I am willing and able to make fun of myself. You can't go through life with a stick up your ass. That's no fun.

Back in the saddle

So I got my camera back today and.... wait for it... it's... A FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT. Never buy a Samsung camera and move to the middle east. It has been to over a dozen repair shops on the island and no one knows how to fix the fucking thing. So it looks like I'm going to buy another cheap one (NOT a Samsung) come payday. This blows. So, what do I do to make myself feel better? Put on a cowboy hat and listen to some bluegrass.

I wish I would have found this image sooner

I wish I would have found this sooner, but I'll save it and use it for next year.
No Food
No Drink
No Smoke
No Sex
No Pill-Popping
No Ice Cream

And why again is everyone pissed off that entire month?

For two sweet, sweet days

One of the things I miss the most from home is my Sirius satellite radio--namely Howard Stern. I went through a serious Stern withdrawal coming out here. I brought my radio, but it didn't work. At least I tried. However, Sirius is allowing two free days of access to the Stern Show online starting today! Fuckin' A! I'm going to be glued to my computer for the next couple of days--good thing I'm on a break from school...

You CANNOT be serious..

You touch my ta la la... My buddy posted this to my myspace account, and I don't give a shit if it's Bahrain related or not I'm posting it here. For those that don't know, my last name is Gunter. Very often people call me Gunther. Check out this video...

Whoo Hoo! HELL is OVER!!!

And this lady's gettin' down. (Insert techno beat here.) Actually, she's begging at the suq. I've resorted to going to webshots.com to "borrow" some photos. My camera apparently has been to at least 10 different shops here in Bahrain, and NO ONE, not even the Samsung shop (it's a Samsung) has seen this particular model. I only bought the fucking thing 3 months ago. Looks like I'm going to have to suck it up and buy another one come payday. I've run out of options, and I feel naked without it. Anyway, RAMADAN IS FINALLY OVER! Yesterday was the official start of Eid, which is like Christmas to these people. In fact, I have this entire week off. Rock on. When we went out yesterday Josh stopped one of our neighbors to ask if it was ok for him to smoke, and he says "smoke? YES! Drink? YES!" with this shit-eating grin on his face. So, I promptly went to the cold store and did something I haven't been able to do all month--buy a water and drink it in public during the day. Damn, did it feel good. All the restaurants are back open, so we don't have to go to the British Club or order Domino's every day (those were the only places we knew were open during the day during Ramadan.) So it looks like things will be back to normal shortly here. Well, as 'normal' as Bahrain is, which isn't exactly 'normal'.
And on another note, we were mistaken for cops last night. That was fun. We started the night being treated to Bam Bu! by someone Josh has known since he was a kid that teaches out here at another school. She was our beer hookup during Ramadan as well because the liquor stores were closed BUT she has access to the American Navy base, which sells American beer at American prices. Beer is triple American prices at a Bahraini liquor store. Anyway, Bam Bu! is this sweet restaurant that I've talked about before. Basically it's 13 dinars (35 bucks) for all you can eat, all you can drink. But it's no ordinary buffet. It's a high end Asian joint where they bring out an assortment of fancy appetisers, soup, etc, then a main course. It's a shit load of food, and the beer of choice is Stella Artois. They have unlimited wine instead if that's your poison. 35 bucks sounds like a lot of a meal, and it is, but for unlimited booze and good Asian food you can't say no. Especially since she paid ;). So anyway, after Bam Bu! we decided to go to a hotel to go have a beer somewhere else for a bit. All the bars and nightclubs here are mandated to be in some type of hotel complex because Muslims don't drink (that's a big line of shit, by the way) and are supposed to be for "tourists." Tourists my ass, there are more Muslims in these places (mostly Saudi, mind you) than expats. Except for the places that only allow Westerners in, but that's a whole 'nother story. Anyway, because they have to be in a "hotel," you'll typically see like 4-6 different bars in any given hotel complex. There will be an Arabic one, a live music one, etc. So we wander over to a hotel that is not only known for the bars, but for other things. Now, for the record, I'm not in to prostitutes. But, at many of these places, like the one we were going to, they have scores of usually Thai girls that you can pick and choose. Then, when you find one you like--get this--YOU PAY THE HOTEL. The hotel is the pimp. Amazing. Then, after you pay the hotel you can do what you want with the girl. Take her home, go upstairs to the hotel, whatever. This is a back-assed country, I tell you. Anyway, I've noticed in the paper the last couple of weeks they've been cracking down on these places for "blatant vice violations." No shit it's blatant. You basically get assaulted by these girls when you walk in, and all you came for was some music and beer. Apparently the way they've been busting these places is for the cops to pay white people to try to go in and get a hooker, and when they succeed, they bust the place. So last night, all we legitimately wanted was a beer. We paid the three dinar cover which has always been good for two free drinks. Well, we go upstairs to the club, and Josh asks for the free drinks. The bartender looks at us, turns around, calls someone, and then says "no." Don't say no to Josh, people. He'll explode. And he did. He goes downstairs and begins to demand for the drinks or the money back. Eventually we end up in the manager's office, and he eventually ended up giving us our money back AFTER Josh shows the guy his CPR (like a green card) to show he's a teacher, not a cop. So then we went into another joint in the same complex and got cold, cold stares from the staff and the girls who obviously were hookers. They all thought we were cops. It was amazing. So, we had a beer and left. Then, I did my traditional cab yell. To get a cab here you have to negotiate the price before you hop in the car or otherwise they'll charge you a fuck ton. It's rare to see a cab with a meter, and even rarer when it's on. So I've developed a tactic where I'll yell to the waiting cabs (usually 4-8 of them) "who'll take us to Sugayya for one dinar?" Someone will yell back "3 dinars!" to which I'll respond "1 dinar!" Someone invariably then says "1.5 dinars!" to which I'll say "I said 1 dinar! We'll walk." Then here's the key. Turn your back to them and start walking and I guarantee you someone will say "OK! 1 Dinar!" Works every time. Anyway, sorry about the long post. Just thought I'd share that little rant with you all. Eid Mubarak!

Eid Mubarak

I wish you an excellent Eid, and may Allah accept your good deeds and forgive you your lapses.

Just call me Ahmed Byron Ashtabula Yousif.

Spice Girls

This photo is courtesy of Kate, a more ballsy photographer then yours truly. I won't take pictures in busy places like this, but she will, and I'll use the photo. This was taken at Geants, a huge store very much like super Wal-fart. This is 1/4 of the spice/herb section which is arraigned in a huge square where they bag and weigh it just like a produce section like home. They also have a rather large fish/seafood section that I wish she would have photographed. Very cool.

Bitch in a burka

Helwo, my camera is still broken, but do I have a story for you, my eager readers. It is hands down the weirdest cultural shock of my life, and I'm going to share it with you. So it's about 7 at night the other day, and I'm standing outside my building's front door waiting for my buddy to come pick me up. As I'm standing there talking on my phone, a lady was walking toward me. Now mind you, this was no "ordinary" lady. She was wearing a burka (the long black robe) and complete, and I mean complete, face veil. There was ZERO skin showing, no eyes, no hands, nothing. The burka is very common here as is the hijab (head covering), but it's rare to see a complete face veil. Occasionally you'll see them with the 3/4 face veil with nothing but the eyes showing--which is freaky. Anyway, this black bed sheet is walking toward me and I think she is trying to get into the car I'm standing next to so I move over a few feet. All of a sudden I hear "durka durka bakala" or something like that. She repeats it again, at which point I realize she's talking to me. Now the culture here is that men generally don't talk to women unless the woman in question initiates the conversation. And I assumed she was initiating something, although it was in Arabic. So, I turned toward the black blob and said "excuse me?" She then says--get this--"I have no husband. I need husband." What the fuck? I would have loved to see the look on my face when she said that. Anyway, she then repeats the phrase with a bit more urgency, this time pointing at me and then at my building. I'm dumbfounded, and at this point the 10 or so guys standing at the mosque about 15 feet behind me have started to watch the show. Talk about stuck in between a rock and a hard place, damn man. I don't know what to do, so I just say "You have no husband?" She then repeats a few more times "I have no husband. I NEED HUSBAND." All whilst pointing. Finally, her phrase changes and she says "My husband died. I have no money. I need money." AH HA! Money! I can do money! So I said "no money? Hold on." She shakes her head yes while I'm frantically digging in my pockets for some fills. And do I find any? Fuck no. All I have are dinars, and I'll be damned if this lady is getting a dinar ($2.65). By that time luckily Doug had pulled up and I ran to his car and asked for 300 fills (.75 cents). I go back to the black ghost and she extends her hand (which is covered) and I give her the money and run like hell back to Doug's car. So what the hell happened? I've talked to a few locals about it and it could have been a few different things. The least likely is that she was actually propositioning me. If that was the case, and had there not been anyone around, and had a some booze in me, I might have said "sorry, I need to inspect the goods before I purchase them." Or, "I need to make sure the oil has been properly changed every three thousand miles before I buy this used car." Or "I'll give you 5 dinars just to take off the veil." Man, I'm glad this blog is private. The second more likely option is that she was a prostitute and that's why she was pointing at me and the building. I'm told they wear the full face covering so the family doesn't know she's out there whoring herself out. The third option is that she was just a basic panhandler. I've seen women do it before around the island, but they have all been sitting down like big black rocks with the arm outstretched. There is zero communication between you and them. And the fourth option could be that the guys at the mosque were testing the American guys to see what they would do with her. Would I take her upstairs for some Muslim love? Would I run scared shitless (which is what I wanted to do)? Would I give her money? Anyway you slice it that was a situation that I don't want to happen ever again. And it might, because I was told since I gave her money the likelihood of her returning is better. Fuck. I hope she took that mere .75 cents as an insult knowing damn well I had more--because I had about 20 dinars (50 bucks) on me that she saw. I dunno. Just thought I'd share that with you all. If she returns I'll be sure to let you know...

Do I really look like this?

So I gave a test today, and after they handed it in I gave them a blank sheet of paper and told them to "keep busy." This is one kid's drawing of me. I asked him about the dot on my forehead and he said it was what I would look like if I was Indian. I personally like the sailor tattoos on the one huge arm.

And finally,

Numero tres. This is the last one of the videos I have of this little shinding. This one has great commentary from Josh, captain dickhead.

Another one, street level, same night...

Here's another one from that night. At one point Josh says it's an Arabic wedding, which isn't true. It's actually something to do with the Prophet Mohammed. He also pans over to our building at one point. And, notice how the women are separated from the men... they aren't allowed anywhere near the stage.

Check out this video I recorded

About a month ago. This is of the mosque next door having some type of celebration. I posted all kinds of pictures and commentary awhile back, check the archives. There is some good shit in there that you should look at anyway if you aren't a regular blog viewer. Anyway, this is a video I took with my digital cam of the local Shi'a going nuts at some festival next door. Pretty cool, I must say myself...

Since I don't have pictures..

I'll post other random shit. See this? This is a screenshot of my computer screen doing something I've done everyday since I've had the Internet--read the news. See what doesn't fit? Yep--that advertisement for you to get your green card in the US. Those pop up EVERYWHERE. Apparently, these big websites (yahoo!, CNN, Google, you name it) read your IP address, know what country you are in, and then cater the ads to you. So all I see everywhere I surf are these fucking "live and work in the US!" ads and "get your green cards, NO HASSLE!" I find that highly amusing, in a weird way.

Another post, not another picture

So no pics yet because my camera is still in the repair phase. Pushkaren took it to one guy who couldn't fix it and wanted the receipt to send it in to Samsung--well, I have news for ya, buddy. The camera might only be 3 months old, but the receipt is not one of the things that was on my checklist of shit to fit into two suitcases coming out here. So, he's sending it to another guy. Let us hope this douche can fix it. I really can't live without my digital, especially out here. So on other news--and since I don't have a camera, I guess I'll rant. Fucking Ramadan is almost over--the end of this week--and apparently they have this huge celebration that is the equivalent to our Christmas that is a week long. To me, it means I get all of next week off. Kick ass. Except I don't have much money, so it's not like I'm going to be doing anything out of the ordinary except not go to school. Speaking of school, since I'm on a rant, it's been going great. The kids are learning, I'm having fun, and no parents are bitching. I guess it's only inevitable for one of those three to change but right now it's all good. I have parent teacher conferences the beginning week of November--THAT should be fun. We let the kids out at noon, and then at 12:10 I have my first parent-teacher conference. Every 10 minutes it switches parents until 3:30, when I'm finally done. Talk about a few hours of hell. The kids can speak pretty good English, but it's a whole 'nother story when it comes to the parents. Basically, I can tell you what they will all say. "I want Ahmed at the front of the class by you. I want you to give Ahmed undivided attention because Ahmed is special." Basically, fuck all the other kids. So, I'll smile, say "I'll see what I can do. NEXT!" for three hours. What else... oh yeah, Josh talked to the Imam of our neighborhood mosque a few days ago. The Imam is the towel-headed, bearded, Osama bin Laden looking guy who is the head of the mosque whose voice shatters my windows every 4 hours or so with his prayer call being belted out of megaphones. The same dude that wakes me up every morning about 4:10am or so with "ALLLAHALLLLAAAAHALLLLAAMMMMMUUUALLALLA" or something equivalent. Some call that noise beautiful, I call it "shut the hell up because I don't have to be up for another hour and I'm not fucking Muslim." But I guess that's what happens when you live in a Muslim country. Where was I... oh yeah, so Josh strikes up a conversation with this terrorist looking dude and the Imam apparently knows all about the three of us, where we work, where we live, everything. But--and this is the most important part--he's cool with us. In fact, he even was joking around with Josh for a bit. And you know what that means? We are safe in this blag flag ridden neighborhood. Everyone in the neighborhoods leader is this Imam. They do what he says. So if we have his approval, then all is well. As scary as this neighborhood appears, and as cool as I've been trying to pass myself off as being about living here, I've still always been a bit guarded and apprehensive. Not anymore. If the Imam is cool, we're cool. Thank God. Or, thank Allah. What else, what else. Can't wait for paychecks to come (you only get paid once a month here), my cold is almost gone thanks to the arsenal of shit I got from the "chemist," and I'm fairly close to smoothing over the ripples with certain teachers at work about my blog. So all is well. Till next time, shalom.

They don't need doctors in Bahrain

So get this--I've got this bad cold (could be the flu) right now that I probably picked up from the little bastards and I needed some medicine. So, yesterday Scott advises me to walk to the "chemist" as they call them here or as we call it the "pharmacy." Chemist seems a little weird, but I'll run with it--esp after this story. So anyway, the chemist is literally 2 blocks away, so it's not a far walk for me. But this is where it gets weird. I walk in, and the professional Indian looking guy behind the counter shakes my hand, asks me my name and then what I "need." I tell him I'm congested, runny nose, etc etc. He then grabs four boxes of medicine--a box of the antibiotic Zithromax, some high power pain reliever, some weird high power cough syrup, and some wicked looking cough drops. Mind you, every single one of the things he gave me is NOT an over-the-counter drug in the states, especially the antibiotic. He then proceeds to tell me dosages, etc and while he's explaining the drugs I happen to look around and this place had EVERYTHING available for over the counter purchase. I'm talking Viagra, zanex, birth control, blood pressure medicine, the whole nine yards. You apparently don't have to go to the doctor here, you just go to the chemist and ask for it. I asked a local about it and he confirmed what I was thinking. There are no such things as prescriptions in Bahrain. That is completely fucked up, but hey, I got the goods to take care of my cold for 13 dinars without having to go make an appointment with a doctor. I love the middle east...

This is why Navy guys aren't allowed into our neighborhood

Photo credit goes to Scott. This was taken literally a block from our house. I don't know what that says and quite honestly I don't think I really WANT to know. And those are pictures of Hassan Nazrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the group that Israel just went to war with.

A closer shot of the kids

And the black flags they were waving. Scary, man.

The Mosque, up to scary shit again

So we've been told that solid black flags are bad. And that black flags with red, bloodish Arabic writing are REALLY bad. So bad, in fact, that the Navy guys here aren't allowed into areas where there are black flags. Well, this is the Mosque next door two days ago having what appears to be a black flag festival with all those types of flags. The kids were running around with huge black flags, and everyone was dressed in black t-shirts. I had plans to go somewhere that night, but as we were leaving the crowd was getting much larger, and they were pulling out loudspeaker after loudspeaker. Josh stuck around to watch, but I got the hell out. He said they began chanting and beating their chests like conan the barbarian. Then they marched around the village chanting and beating themselves, with the kids in front waving the black flags and holding some huge black banner. I have since found out that this was in honor of one of prophet mohammed's sons that was wrongly murdered. Either way, I'm still glad I got out because it looked scary as hell...

I don't like ladders

Especially ones like this that are a good 60 feet up in the air. But at least I went up, Josh.

On top 'o the world

Or at the very least our apartment building. Gooooo water tanks!!

I've got bigger balls than Josh

Case in point. Josh wouldn't venture up here, and I did. He's standing on what is the roof of our flat. Those big tanks next to him are our water tanks. They gravity feed down to the apartments, which makes for some weak pressure, me thinks...

Same shot

So this is the same shot, one with a flash (and a view of the top of the water tanks) and the other without the flash. This was taken from the top top top of our building on top of the servants' quarters. I've never ventured up this high because of the rickety ladder. But Shamsu, our watchman, conned me up there to take a few pics. This is looking back south over the older part of Manama. You can see a soccer stadium in the distance...

My camera is broken...

So my camera, which is only about 2 months old, is now broken. When you press the shutter key it wants to take a picture but won't. I gave it to Pushkaren (our houseboy) and he's sent it off to some Indian somewhere. I hope it comes back fixed. Josh's camera took a shit as well and Pushkaren managed to get it back working. So we'll see. In the meantime, I've got a few pics left to post, and I'll just use Josh's camera when I can to take pictures. Rock on...

Some of the kids

And here are some of my kids. This is a 5th grade class. In total I have about 150 kids, 4 groups of 4th graders and 4 groups of 5th graders. Notice how there is only one girl with a hijab on. That is her father's decision, and between all of my students I only have maybe a dozen that wear them. Even at the high school level, they will wear them to school only to rip them off once the parents--or in this country, driver--is gone. But, all in all my kids are pretty kick ass. You have your few problem kids, but that's anywhere. Just threaten to call the parents and they will usually shape up because in this country the kids still get beaten by the father. Notice that chubby kid staring at me closest to the camera. He asked me one day when we were talking about America if all Americans carried guns in their pockets. Its funny what they think of us because they only get it from movies and TV. But the same goes for the American viewpoint. Half of you looking at these kids assume they will be terrorists because they are Muslim. And that couldn't be farther from the truth. Since this is a private school, most of these kids are middle to upper middle class kids and will most likely go to college abroad and become bankers, lawyers, etc. Just like home, man. Just like home.

Sacred Ground...

During Ramadan, that is. This is inside the British Club's sports bar. One of about 2 places on the island open during the day (or night, for that matter) for beer consumption. Rock on. For those that are looking on tap there is Carlsburg, Strongbow, Stella Artios, and about 10 other wierd English beers.

Bar flies...

These are Scott's friend Winnie's sisters. They are here at the BC all the time. I know one is Janet, but the other? Who knows. I do know one is married to an Austrailian, and the other to a Brit. Very cool people. They are from India and it's interesting to hold conversations with them because you get an insight to the world that one might not otherwise get--such as views of westerners, caste systems, the whole 9 yards.

Futbol Sucks

But if you told all these people here at the British Club that you wouldn't walk out of there alive. This was the other night--apparently there was a huge match between England and who gives a fuck. I was pissed that there weren't any tables ANYWHERE. I guess it would be equivalent to Ohio State games back home. If you look closely, that's a projector on a huge screen on the side of the building that everyone is looking at. And, this is one of the largest outdoor pools on the island. And it's chilled. I knew my 70BD membership fees went toward something. Oh yeah, they do. They allow me to get food at one of the only places open on the island during the day during Ramadan. I forgot.

There's the little guy...

Who says size matters? This little fucker boats an open source linux operating system that I can access via my computer, and can descramble ANY SATELLITE CHANNEL IN THE WORLD. All in about a box about the size of a paperback book...

Josh is gay for football

And actually, I was too at this point. There are only a select number of satellite providers here (there is no cable) that feed football, not futbol. The satellite provider we had didn't have any football AT ALL (or any MLB, NHL, NBA, WNBA, NCAA, BEG, etc...) So to make a long story short we had heard about this "dreambox" from some of our students. We had called a few weeks ago, and found out is was an insane amount of money. 100BD for the box, and 100BD for six months service. Well, we just happened to find the dreambox at a small hole-in-the-wall electronics store for 90BD for the box AND six months service. Let me tell you about the dreambox, ladies and gentlemen. It uses the Internet AND every satellite dish on your roof (on ours there is 12) to get well over 5000 channels. You heard me. 5000 channels. We can get every fucking channel you can ever dream of with this thing. It is sweet. And that's a huuuuge understatement. And the best part? Every 6 months it's only 45 BD. That's $119.25. That's less than my cable bill in Columbus for ONE month.

Older part of Manama

This is looking straight up from where I was just looking down at the new build. This is looking back at the older part of the city. If I were to turn around you would see all the huge, new, shiny oil-bought skyscrapers...

Holy slave quarters...

This is taken off the roof of our building (actually directly on top of my bedroom.) This is a new build behind us that wakes us up every morning about 4 am with WHACK WHACK WHACK coming from a crew of about 30 Indians. It's literally 2 feet from my wall to the wall of this place. Notice how small this apartment is. Three really really small rooms. Somehow you have to fit a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom in this. And the sad part? I am 99% sure a FAMILY will occupy this.

Cold stores

I don't think I've posted anything about cold stores yet. These SOB's are EVERYWHERE. There are 6 in my little 2 block neighborhood alone. They usually are very very small convenience stores, peddling anything from fruit to pop to phone cards. They are usually run by Indians, and are dirt cheap. This one made me laugh because it's no where near the tree of life. And it was closed. They never close.

Minus Cartman

And Kenny, Stan, and Kyle for that matter. Actually, now that I mention South Park, it just so happens to be banned here. So when Nate or someone else comes out to visit PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE bring my DVDS!!

Yep

That's what it looks like. I wish I could have gotten a better pic, but you take what you can get. That's a fucking 2002 Lambourgini. We went inside this dealership to "inquire" about it. 60,000BD. That's $159,000 US. In fact, I saw another one on the road today. Just shows you can get pretty much whatever you want in the middle east...

Dollar store, Bahrain style

This is the Bahraini Dollar General. 100 fils=.25 cents.

Mmm, mmm

Kabab, Tikka (whatever the fuck that is), LIVER, and Chicken. Sounds like an awesome restaurant. Note the sheep or gazelle, or whatever the hell that thing is on the picture. This is a dime a dozen restaurant here. If you are into wierd food, this is the place to come...

Mexican, Bahrain style

So here's my first private pic post:) I should have zoomed in on this truck and I would suggest doing the same viewing it, but I'm posting it anyway. This is a big truck that has dingleberries hanging from the front bumper and is decorated with all kinds of random shit. Reminds me of a mexican car back home...

Deleted posts

So roughly 4 people (out of about 30) that read this are ruining it for everyone else. If you were a reader before, you'll notice certain pictures have now turned up missing. You figure it out from there...


Sorry people

Move to private

So sorry to make you all register to read all things Byron. But, I have been informed by Scott that there are people in the high school that are pissed about my blog. Nevermind the fact that NO ONE has yet approached me and asked me to take down pictures, but I hear their is a select number of people that were upset about my blog. They were looking at it in the teacher's lounge at school--which personally I don't think was such as good idea to begin with. The internet at school is for work purposes only, not pleasure or, in this case, gossip. So you know what? Fuck 'em. If I want you to see my blog, I'll give you permission. End of story. If you aren't going to like what's on here chances are you are a tool and I'm not going to be friends with you anyway. But, Scott did make a valid argument in that a student may wander over to it and find a teacher or two drinking or otherwise doing something human in a picture. So, I guess it has come to this. I'll continue to post just the same as before, but just with a slightly smaller audience. If you know of someone who was a reader outside of Bahrain, let me know and I'll send them an email. 99.9% of the people I don't want on here live in Bahrain. So, sorry again.

Bike in pool

Like I said, this was the ONLY enjoyable part of our short experience here at this shitty navy party. Nothing like a drunk guy in the pool with a bicycle...

The biker

Here's an American navy guy acting like an American navy guy. Passed out here with his hand down his pants is the dude who's bike is about to hit the pool...

Navy guys can suck my asshole

Normally I don't like hanging out with American navy guys here, and these next photos will help explain why. Firstly, there is an American navy base here. These guys are allowed to live outside of the base, but only in certain areas of Bahrain. In fact, they aren't even allowed to DRIVE through certain areas--shi'a villages included. Well, I LIVE IN A SHI'A VILLAGE. It's NOT DANGEROUS. But that's neither here nor there. Anyway, the American government brainwashes these guys much like they try to do to the rest of the American population. They have a very warped, negative view of the locals. I would fault each individual for their views, but they aren't allowed to experience otherwise. Anyway, on with my rant. So not only do they tend to be extremely negatively biased, they are also usually very young, very immature (not that I'm a pillar of maturity, that's for sure), and usually fairly uneducated. I mean, let's be honest here. A good portion of the armed forces of the US join because they have no other option. They have no college degree, nor could most attain one. They join the services because it's either that or Wal-Mart's garden section for life. Now, I have some GREAT friends in the armed services who are intelligent and joined for other reasons, so this stereotype isn't all encompassing. But by and large it's true. So combine negatively biased, uneducated, testosterone-laden young fucks in a culture such as here and it's a disaster waiting to happen. When I talk to these guys I feel my brain cells dying. So, needless to say, myself and almost every other non-armed services American here tend to not associate with these assholes. In fact, when you meet locals they almost INSTANTANEOUSLY ask if you are navy. When they find out that you are not they treat you like royalty. Bush has really done a number for the Arab opinion of Americans, I can tell you that much. In fact I was told by a local that Bush was equal to Bin Laden. And I agree. Fuck Bush. Luckily, the navy guys have told me that they can immediately tell we aren't navy by my goatee. Good. I'm keeping that thing, that's for sure. Anyway, Doug and I let Gina talk us into going to this navy party against our better judgement. It sucked. It sucked bad. Everything that I just described was in full force, and we wanted to leave almost immediately. The only fun that I had there was watching this guy, some 19 year old ride his passed out buddies' bike into the pool.

WTF?

These are "mini burgers." They were on the appetizer menu, and Josh and I couldn't pass on ordering them. They make White Castle burgers look like the Titanic...

Isis Cafe

So yesterday we went to this joint called Isis Cafe for dinner. We drive by this place everyday going to work, and to be truthful it doesn't look like much on the outside. But on the inside, it's beautiful. It had this ancient Egypt theme and was bad ass in terms of ambiance. That's the problem with most of the places here--the buildings all look the same. But you get inside, and it's fucking amazing. It's like Christmas. All the presents look similar, but when you open them they can either suck or make your year...

So I live in the hood..

And this is looking down from my balcony. Yes, those are kittens on the roof of that place. I must have watched them for at least a half hour waiting for one to tumble off that roof. The cats here are NOT normal. I'm as PETA as the next guy, but when it comes to the cats here my feelings change...

Masks...

Have you ever seen those two masks in a theater or play? I really wish I could remember what they are called. But one is smiling and the other frowning. That's what this picture reminds me of. Jenn is happy, Winnie is sad. I'm glad Winnie wasn't sitting my MY lap. Life's too short to look constipated all the time...

Is this a clown car?

You would think that, trying to get myself, Jenn, Celine, Scott, Winnie, AND Doug all into Doug's little ass Mini...

Indians with cameras

Then he figured out how to use the camera. He then forced Josh and I to pose. Well, I shouldn't say 'force.' More like pointed the camera at us and we did what was natural...