11.21.2014

Whose weird world is it anyway?

It's a bright, beautiful sunny-yet-not-hot Saturday morning and I'm in bed with a hot cuppa joe at 11am.  I know it seems late, but I've already accomplished a host of chores: fed the kitties, given the kitties a fresh litter box, fed the neighbor's kitten, put in a load of laundry and made coffee... I know, right? Intense, rigorous schedule I have to keep up with.

I've been thinking about immigration- as that's in the news in America these days. So, immigration, emigration, and work, and lack-of-work-necessitating-need-to-emigrate, etc.  I think back to my life home on Maui.  I was always working.  I had a good life, but I was always working.  Sure, I took lengthy vacations- because I could.  I had a boss, or bosses, that let me.  Why? Because I worked all the time, I suppose.  And I did a good job, I suppose...

I also suspect that it was because of my profession.  An archaeologist certainly isn't a run-of-the-mill profession.  I guess that affords us with some liberties because we're a weird bunch, we are.  Indeed!  This is the problem though. I didn't realize I was weird because I was always an archaeologist- except for the stints where I was a wanna-be clothing designer, waitress, bartender, etc.

So now that I'm teaching, I see it is still a 'weird' profession.  I should get more specific I suppose so as not to offend teachers... Teaching EFL (English as a foreign language) means you are teaching in another country than America (if you are American).  So, EFL teachers are, mostly, weird.  I mean this with the utmost compassion and respect and analytical, critical analysis... Hee hee!

Here's my example to defend my weirdness: I am single.  I have no kids.  I work some.  I travel a lot. No one in this industry thinks this is weird... Sure I have some secrets- biggies actually :) yet I consider myself fairly 'normal' in my 'weirdness.' There are far more EFL teachers out there who have moved on from 'weird' to weirdo, in my humble opinion.  It seems to work out for all, I guess, is my point.  It's kinda like an extension of being an archaeologist- except you have to dress nicer, and not cuss (I'm working on this still).

As I was focused on watching my coffee settle into the french press, I realized that I post a lot of pictures of my travels yet I have hardly posted pictures about my home life- except for the kitties, and when I go out and about here in the Kingdom of Bahrain.  I have loads of pictures of my house and surroundings so I thought I would post them for all to see.  I suppose many of my friends- especially in Hawaii- are curious to my humdrum existence here in terms of what I do when I'm doing nothing...

My favorite way of being active when 'doing nothing' is to grab my neighbor and just drive around.  Of course I like it better when she drives us around because then I can take  pictures!  We affectionately coin this 'doing nothing' time "Sunday driving" (on Fridays, of course).  Friday mornings, and even afternoons, are perfect driving opportunities because not a lot of people are out on the roads.  Firstly because it's the start of the weekend, and also because Fridays are the big mosque days here in the Muslim world. By the way, Friday mornings before prayer are the absolute best times to go grocery shopping, stop in at Viva or Batelco and top off your phone/internet credits, etc. and basically anything where a transaction has to occur- for the same above-mentioned reasons.

So, the following pictures constitute our (mostly) Sunday driving excursions. Enjoy: Oh, wait.  Just one note.  As most of these pictures were taken while driving, they are not of the best quality.  So there's that...

Okay.  Sunday driving take 2:








Flamenco in Manama Souk!



home away from home?



preparing for Diwali celebrations at the Manama Souk


Diwali celebrations at the Hindu temple inside the souk with Mr. Sharad, who runs the temple!




in the hood



heavy






looking glass

preparing for a night at the theatre!  A swank venue!


























Riffa Clocktower Roundabout


the new police station...