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!