I found the lizard!

...Was what I woke Kristin up with one morning this week. I had seen a small, weird-looking, pale, tailless lizard (that's all of his tail that you see above) skitter under our bed a few days previous, and had not seen it since. Lucy is a great animal, and is exceptional at offering her companionship, no matter the endeavor. The ineptitude of our dog at performing the work her breed was bred for, however, (ratting- seeking out and killing small animals) is unbelievable sometimes. It was only when I was going through my morning routine that I re-discovered it on top of our toiletry bag that Kristin and I share, just sitting there. I had to think quick, because I remembered it moved quickly and I couldn't afford to leave the room, so I grabbed an empty plastic water bottle, and just held the open neck of it out to it, and held my breath for a long time while it explored the lip, stuck it's little tongue out to sample the air inside, and gradually, cautiously crept inside. As soon as the fourth leg was inside, I tipped the bottle up and screwed on the cap, announcing my triumph to the recumbent slumbering Kristin. Needless to say, this is not the way that Kristin enjoys being woken up. She refused to look at the lizard, and ordered me out of the room. I then released it in the grass across the street from the hotel. Lucy was uninterested in the entire thing.

There's not an infestation, or anything, but I caught another, smaller one Friday morning. This one Kristin found, just as she was changing clothes. Not sure why I didn't hear an ear-splitting shriek, but I caught the urgency in her voice without mistake, and observed that she was about to leap on the bed, if the lizard came her way. I had her keep an eye on it while I got another empty water bottle from the other room and trapped and released it, too.

Here's wishing you a lizard-free day.

House Hunters International

After a little over a week in a hotel we are wanting to have a place to call home here in Bahrain.  So far we have looked at around 20 villas, townhouses, and homes in compounds (gated neighborhoods).  We have worked with a few different realtors and have driven all over the country (which isn't saying much since the country is so small).  We've worked with a few realtors here because realtors don't work the same way they do in America. There's no Real Estate Information Network (REIN) database of available homes that all realtors can access, and a lot of times, realtors don't work well with each other-there's no legal basis to do so. (No agreements- formal or informal- to share a cut if another realtor brings a client to your property, etc.) Each realtor has their own set of properties, so if you want to see everything that's available, you need to contact ALL of the realtors- literally. Local landlords understand the practice, and sometimes list their homes with multiple realtors, sometimes at different prices! Using a realtor is very important for us here, too, because they are able to speak the language, know where less desirable/less safe neighborhoods are, and understand the social customs associated with renting property, including negotiating. Just like many things in the Arab world, bargaining back and forth over prices is expected. Rarely do you simply agree to a price if it is being offered by a private individual. We will probably ask for the taxes, utilities, internet, and cable to be included in our rent. Pretty good deal, but also pretty common over here. The places to choose from are so different in Bahrain from anywhere we have ever lived.  Given our budget, we can afford a 5 bedroom place (that doesn't include the maid's room) in some areas. Private villas can be overwelmingly large (depending on the area) and typically come with private pools, utilities, tv, internet, security guards  and workers to do lawn care.  In more urban areas it is possible to live in a large multi bedroom apartment that comes with everything - sometimes even a maid! Compounds are like luxury townhouses enclosed by large walls and a gate.  Usually compounds have workout facilities, community pools (even if each townhouse has a private pool), and guards. We feel like we have seen it all.  Huge places that would fit our entire extended families.  Living rooms big enough to ride your bike around.  Places with kitchens that are not connected to the house. Places with kitchens on every floor.  A place with 3 refrigerators in the kitchen. Kitchens too tiny to move around in.  Huge closets the size of the guest room in our last house. Teeny, tiny bedrooms that wouldn't fit anything we have. Spectacular water views with ocean access.  Yards with date palms.  Yards with astroturf.  Yards with no vegetation whatsoever. Yards full of sand and dirt. (Do those latter two even qualify to be called "yards"?)

Where have we decided to live you might wonder?  Well, for privacy reasons we have decided not to share all the details of the type of house/area we want to live in. (This IS the internet we're posting this on, after all.)  We haven't signed a contract yet, but we are hoping to begin negotiations on a place soon.  Since we aren't going to share our choice with you, we thought we would pass along the link below to HGTV's House Hunters International - Bahrain episode. Click HERE to see the video. Check it out to get an idea of what some of the places to live look like!

Q&A: What Bahrain is really like

We have had a lot of interesting questions from friends and family about Bahrain.  While we are still getting acclimated, we can definitely answer a few of them.

Question:  Have you seen any camels and do people ride them in the streets?

Answer: No camels have been spotted.  Camels do exist in Bahrain at the camel farm and out in the desert (where we have not ventured yet). People here don't ride camels, they drive mostly Asian cars. Nissans, Toyotas, Lexus, and Mitsubishi, mostly. We even saw a Chinese BYD (Build Your Dreams) car today. There's plenty of nice cars too. Lots of them are SUVs, but we have spotted Corvettes, Porsches, Ferraris, and a Lamborghini. A quick further note on camels: they're not just used as the rare form of transportation here. They also eat them here, and camel meat can be found on menus from time to time. Tyler has promised to give it a try, but hasn't seen it on a menu yet.


Question: What is the weather like?

Answer: Very hot! The temperature has been over 100 degrees every day that we have been here.  The low temperature at night is in the mid 80s. The heat is a dry heat, but still makes you a sweaty mess really quickly. Even when there is a breeze, it's never a cool breeze. It's just hot air blowing; kind of like the air that comes out of your oven when you open it while cooking, or a hair dryer.  The sun shines everyday and we have yet to see an actual cloud in the sky.  Apparently it only rains here a few days every year.  So interestingly, every day here seems to look the same weather wise.

Question: Do you have a maid yet?

Answer: No. We talked a big game about getting a maid and it hasn't happened yet. We still plan to hire help, but not until we find a place to live. First things first! We did, however, find out that one of the rooms in our suite (the lounge) is supposed to be for a maid or driver. Apparenltly it is common place to bring hired help with you on vacation. Wow... talk about culture shock!

Question: Does Kristin have to wear an abaya or head covering?

Answer: No. Women in Bahrain traditionally do wear abayat (long black dresses that cover everything except the hands and face) and head coverings.  Some of the younger generations wear the head coverings only with conservative, albeit tight, European looking clothing.  As an American, Kristin is not required to follow traditional dress.  She does however, have to wear knee length clothing and short sleeves (no tank tops).  Tyler has a few rules too.  He has to wear pants at night and isn't allowed to wear short shorts either (darn!).

Question: Are we missing American food/stores yet?

Answer. Yes and No.  Surprisingly there are a lot of American restaurants here.  The islands boasts several Krispy Kreme stores, tons of McDonald's, Burger Kings, KFCs, Hardees, Dairy Queens and Starbucks. There are also some nicer American chains such as Chilis, Trader Vic's, Macaroni Grill, Fuddrucker's, and TGI Friday's.  The malls have plenty of American stores too, like Pottery Barn, Gymboree, Saks Fifth Avenue, Aeropostale, Nike and lots of others.  What we do miss (already) are Target, Walmart, and American grocery stores.  The grocery stores we have been to have been either French or British.  While they have some American products (Frosted Flakes, baked beans, Baskin Robbins ice cream), in general they just aren't the same. On the plus side we are having fun trying different products (some are great and others are REALLY bad).

Question: What kinds of plants grow there, and what does the landscape look like?

Answer: Very few plants can grow here naturally. It IS the desert, after all... But, the usual stuff you might expect in a hot climate are here, minus the cactus. We haven't seen very much of those. But we have some palm trees just outside our window at the hotel, there's lots of succulents that are grown for ground covering, and there's a bit of grass here and there in the ritzier places. Just as Tyler observed in Greece, which has a similar (but certainly not as hot) climate, it's usually the rich folks that can afford grass in a desert climate. The landscape is hard to describe. When one says the word "desert," it conjures up images of massive sand dunes of fine grain sand in the Sahara or Gobi, similar to the sand you might be familiar with from your last trip to Florida. That's not what we've seen so far here. It's more of a crushed-up dirt kind of sand. We haven't seen any sand dunes, really, so we attribute a lot of that to the MASSIVE amounts of construction going on here. Earth is being moved in large quantities as royal families from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere spend their money here on projects which may earn them money, loyalty, fame, or some combination. The Royal family is particularly interested in improving the infrastructure so as to entice foreign businesses to come here, invest, and hire local workers. Tall luxury apartment buildings seem to be going up all over the place and roads are being built like crazy.

Question: Is it safe there?

Answer: A lot of focus has been on the protests that happened last year. It's really the only reason many people in the States may know the country of Bahrain, in many cases. But the truth is, we haven't seen anything to concern us. As with anywhere you go, there are certain places you want to avoid. We know where those places are, and are smart enough to not go there. Additionally, the Middle East is just one of those places where you must be more sensitive to the cultural environment, and slightly adjust your lifestyle as a visitor. We're lucky in that Bahrain is more cosmopolitan than most Middle Eastern countries, and allows us to wear what we do, and do what we do. As we talked about above, we have to make sure our clothes are a little more conservative, and hold back a little on hand-holding or kissing in public, but those aren't huge sacrifices to us, and they're things we do to be culturally sensitive; they're not demanded of us by our hosts. In the end, we did a LOT of research before saying yes to coming over here, and our research has been borne out by what we've seen so far. We expect to see some differences here and there, but we wouldn't have come here in the first place if we didn't think it was safe.

Blog Reboot - Desert Style

We started this blog way back in 2008 as a way for our family and friends to feel connected with us while we lived in Germany. Now, four years later we find ourselves embarking on a few new adventures worth reading about. So there you have it - the blog has been restarted!

After living in Stuttgart, Germany for three wonderful years, we packed our bags and moved to Newport, Rhode Island. We didn't blog too much while in Newport for a few reasons. First we stayed home, a lot.  Our adventures consisted of painting furniture, going through piles of accumulated "stuff" that we no longer wanted, and taking Lucy for long walks.  Towards the end of our time in Newport, Kristin became pregnant.  The adventures really changed then! There was no more furniture painting, no going out to eat (morning sickness is the worst), and nearly all of the trips we took were family related.  We were pretty positive that no one out there wanted to read about these mundane "adventures."

Fast forward to September 2012. Tyler has a master's degree, Kristin is seven months pregnant with our little girl, and we have moved to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Definitely more interesting subject matter!

We left the States last week after a quick Labor Day trip to Virginia Beach.  We had a great time swimming in the ocean, walking Lucy on the beach, and eating crab (so much better than lobster - sorry Newport). Our flight left from Norfolk and included three stops over a  two day time frame.  Our first challenge was getting to the airport with 192 lbs of luggage and a dog. Let's just say it was not fun pushing/pulling all of that into the airport on broken luggage carts. Luckily we had no fees for too much luggage or the luggage being overweight (they let you bring a lot when you are moving). Lucy was quite the travel professional. She didn't howl like certain other dogs on her flight when we dropped her off to board the plane.  Unfortunately she is just too tall to fit under our seats in the main cabin, so she flew under the plane with the big dogs (7 others) and a cat! 

After two hours of sitting on the tarmac, which lead to a 2:30am departure, our first flight took us to Lajes in the Azores. Never heard of it?  It's part of Portugal. The Azores are a volcanic island chain (way) off the coast of Portugal, almost midway across the Atlantic. The sun was shining and the island we landed on was green and really beautiful.  It reminded us of Hawaii with Spanish Colonial style houses. The team on the ground dealing with our flight was fantastic and let us feed, water, and walk Lucy.  She was so happy to see us! After a quick one hour turn around we were off.

The next stop was Naples, Italy. Man do we wish we could have stayed long enough to get some good Italian food! Too bad we only stopped for about an hour - no Italian food in sight. We spent most of our time hanging out with Lucy, then back to the plane. Most of the people flying with us got off at this stop. We were thrilled because we were able to move seats and have an entire row to ourselves. Yeah for stretching out! Unfortunately, it took the flight attendants something like 1.5 hours to count how many people were on the plane. (This is something that normally gets done without you even knowing about it, as the flight attendants walk up and down the aisle, closing overhead bins, making sure everyone is in their seats, tray tables are up, and seat belts are buckled.) They kept getting different numbers. Wow. Eventually we had to do a sort of roll call and have our names checked off a list.

Next stop was Chania, Crete, Greece - Tyler's old stomping ground and one of our favorite vacation spots. This stop was the quickest of all. We didn't even have time to walk Lucy.  Although we both adore Greece, it was about two or three in the morning. We were happy to get back on the plane and head to Bahrain.

Finally we made it to Bahrain.  First impression: IT IS HOT. Like the hottest place we have ever been.  Tyler describes it as someone blowing hot air from a giant hairdryer in your face. Luckily we were greeted by Tyler's friend, who generously brought all of us water (including Lucy) and drove us to our hotel.  Did we mention that the baggage claim was outside, in a tent? The line for customs check in was also outside. Hauling 192lbs of luggage + dog in 100+ degree weather while pregnant and sleep-deprived = not super fun. The back sweat going on was not pretty - just keeping it real.

Finally, about 36 hours from when we started our journey we arrived at our hotel room.  We mean, ROOMS.  We are staying in luxury type accommodations by American standards. Our suite is 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, and dining area.  All the rooms are about 15 feet tall and have marble floors. Our living room has picture windows that look out on to the infinity pool and ocean (picture below). Ahhhh, this is the life. Did we mention the air conditioning is great?


Stay tuned for more information about Bahrain and how us Westerners are going to fit into the Middle East...

Boston

After half a year of living in New England, Tyler and finally made it up to Boston.  We had a great time and definitely plan to go back when it is warmer! Below is a picture of us taken in Faneuil Hall, by a park ranger that thought we were Canadian.  Really? We leave the country for three years and now we don't look like Americans anymore?

 Posing with my boy, Paul (Revere) on the freedom trail. 

 Tyler at Old North Church. It was a cold weekday so we had most of the sites to ourselves.

 More pics of Old North Church. 

 Tyler demonstrates "One is by land, Two if by sea." Next, he proceeded to run through the streets yelling, "The British are coming, the British are coming!" (Just kidding, he didn't really do that!)

 Tyler really wanted to show me the USS Constitution, the oldest working ship in the US Navy. 

 Tyler has toured this ship many times and made a great tour guide.

We had a fantastic time and can't wait to explore more of Boston.