ferrousland.com - daily news archives
Saturday, December 03, 2005
abaya & hijab - 11:29 PM
(filed under 'bahrain')
having now seen a bahraini woman take off her traditonal outer coverings in her own home, this article was of some interest to me. i can relate to what he says about how the abaya can really be quite appealing & it's so true that you can't really understand it until you've seen it around you in its 'natural' place.
edited to add: it's worth reading the comments under the article as some arabic women who choose to wear the abaya respond to the article.
meeting local women - 11:09 PM
(filed under 'bahrain')
guess what i did tonight? i met two local women (not expats) & even went to visit with them at one of their houses!!
this might be a longish entry, so read more below if you're interested.
smiley was asking to go for a walk & shroom was having an evening nap, so he & i went up the street to the nearest main(ish) road which has some shops & restaurants. we walked up one side of the street, where we stopped to buy a small plant for inside the house. we crossed the road & walked back down the other side.
on the way back home, just on the corner near our place, there were two ladies with two kids. little kids are like magnets to each other, so smiley was checking them out & them him. i talked a little bit to the ladies & found out that one lady is an egyptian living in bahrain for (if i remember correctly) nine years. her name is ameena. the other lady, dressed (or covered, should i say) in the sometimes typical bahraini women's clothes, being the full black dress called an abaya & the scarf around her hair, is bahraini & her name is doaa (pronounced kind of like 'doo-a-ah', the middle 'a' said like in 'cat').
after a bit more conversation, i asked them if i could have their phone numbers. i couldn't give them ours since we don't have a landline in our name yet & i didn't have my bag on me to give them shroom's mobile number which i haven't yet memorised.
none of us had a pen, so we went into the cold store just around the corner to ask for pen & paper. i got a phone number, but by the time we walked out of the shop, they had invited me back to doaa's house! it was already almost 9pm, but everyone seems to stay up quite late around here, so it was no big deal. smiley & i followed them around the corner & when we got there they offered me some snacks & cake & a drink.
when we walked in the door, doaa took off her black outer layer in an almost magician-like fashion & there she was in her own home, all lovely hair, beautiful jewellery & 'normal' clothing. it was very interesting to see what was underneath.
i must have stayed for about forty-five minutes but the time absolutely flew. smiley played with the other kids (there were more than just the two children who were out for a walk) & i had a really nice time talking with the ladies. i would have stayed longer, but i thought shroom might have woken up & be wondering where i'd gone, so i had to excuse myself to leave.
they've invited smiley & i to a day in the park with them (& from what i gather, other ladies & children will be there as well) next saturday. she'll even be taking me along with her so i don't have to find my way!
the verbal communication between myself & the two ladies wasn't totally easy since i speak no arabic & their english isn't perfect, but we managed & we even taught each other some new words. i had such a nice time & i'm really looking forward to next saturday.
i'm so pleased i've met some locals! i'm really, really, really excited about it! 
dinner & a drink - 07:42 PM
(filed under 'bahrain')
an excellent, freshly made pizza from the local pizza shop & two cans of coke for BD1.200, i.e. 1 dinar (pronounced 'dee-nah') & 200 fils. that's dinner & a drink each for about AUD$4.25 (or USD$3.20). you gotta love it!
mailing address updated - 09:59 AM
(filed under 'site stuff')
not that many of you send me snail mail, but just in case you do, i've now updated my snail mail address with the best address to reach me in bahrain.
it's not my home address. i've been told by a reputable source that getting mail to a normal street address is not terribly reliable. 99% unreliable, in fact!
don't ask me what the (c) in the address means. i have no idea, but apparently it's required. maybe it's c for coralie?
ferrous
gmail
com
