ferrousland.com - news archives
Thursday, December 08, 2005 - (see all news for this day)
picnic at the park - 06:19 PM
(filed under 'bahrain')
this afternoon was the picnic at the park with the ladies i met the other night.
it was lovely! they'd brought along tea & some food for everyone to share. we mainly sat around on the blankets, but also went for a walk to the swings. there was a girl on the swings who'd been on there for about an hour. i think she was maybe .. hmm, how shall i say it? a little bit younger in her mind than her actual age. she was older than someone who might normally spend that long on a swing & when we were standing there waiting for her to get off, she was asked to give the kids a turn, but she just stayed on the swing.
i've mentioned before how bahrainis very obviously enjoy kids, but i noticed today an example of how much more in tune to children they are than in australia. there were a bunch of older kids, from about nine or ten years old to late teens, playing a casual game of soccer in the middle of the grassy area. at one stage smiley wandered over to join in, but since it was a bit rough for babies to join in, one of the younger children there tried to gently shoo smiley away to let him know that it was dangerous. he caught my eye & so i went to get him. the second time smiley went over there, the same kid called out to his mates who were about to kick the ball over to him to let them know not to do so until smiley had moved.
that would almost never happen in australia. older kids are almost oblivious to young children. they would have continued to play their game & not even noticed the danger to a baby.
i took some pictures of the babies playing together (as much as they play together at that age, which is more like just following each other around) & some of the adults all sitting together as well. since the ladies seemed a bit hesitant to have their picture taken (not because of any social taboos, just because they're typical women who think they don't look any good even when they're perfectly lovely) i'll put up some of the images to flickr as viewable to friends only. if you're a long time site visitor & you don't have a flickr account, maybe you can sign up for a free one & add me as contact & a friend so you can see all the pictures.
i had a really nice time. some of the time the ladies spoke to each other in arabic, but even though i couldn't understand them, it was nice to be in the company of women who share a life similar life to mine as stay-at-home mums with kids. they've asked me if i'd like to go out with them again next week. we might be going to the seef mall instead, a large shopping centre not too far away. i think it has a big play area with games & rides for young children.
i also found out that i was confused about who was from where. ameena isn't from egypt, that's doaa. doaa's husband is bahraini. ameena is from morocco. i'm not sure if her husband is bahraini or not.
i'll see how i go at getting some images up & i'll post a link from here to them once they done. 
some text ads:
Credit Card Consolidation - Savings - Cheap Car Insurance - Guitar Books
ferrous
gmail
com
