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Saturday, December 03, 2005 - (see all news for this day)
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! 
i see you are fitting in nicely. ....and you were worried about the culture change? real people fit in everywhere with other real people.
"real people fit in everywhere with other real people"
How very true, and in Coralie's case it's not a problem at all as she seems open to new experiences and believes (as far as I could see) in the best side of human nature, unlike others I have known over the years!
She's more than welcome in Bahrain and I'm sure that when the time comes for her and her family to leave, they will look back with fondness and a huge store of memories and experiences shared with locals, rather than be sequestered within the confines of the "expats" clubs.
G o o d on ya Sheila!!
that is awesome
i love reading your experiences there, this was no exception. sounds like a fabulous evening.some text ads:
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Wow, that is so great. Thanks for the pronunciations, it helps.