culture shock

Culture shock is an interesting thing.

Women are treated differently here than they are in the States. Women who are covered (wearing a hijab or even more modest clothing) are treated with the most respect and it goes down from there. I am somewhere in the middle with 1. being an American 2. not wearing a hijab and 3. not wearing skirts all the time. I've been living in trousers (yes, I've got to get used to the British slang because they speak the Queen's English here) and tunics. Most of my clothes are earth tone colors and I fit right in. But as I was saying, women are treated differently. Women and children have the pedestrian right of way, especially if they are covered women. A car stopped for me in the middle of the road earlier today and I thought they were nuts until I realized what was going on- they were giving me the right of way to cross the street. Very different and it would have never happened at BSU.

Language is something I've got to get used to here. Everything is written in Agabic AND English and most people here can read, speak, and write in both languages. I feel like a really dumb American at times, this is one of those times.

On the other side of the world!

Well, I made it to the very hot and humid island of Bahrain--well, it's formal name is the Kingdom of Bahrain but that's a formality, not an every day thing. Yes, there is a king, he has a couple of wives, and lots of palm trees and camels. I've already stuck my hand in the Persian Gulf just to say that I've done it. I can also say that I've heard the calls to prayer multiple times and it's really cool to listen to.

Life here is very different. The food is great! Local food is spicy in a good way and very healthy. The money is strange for me. There are fils and dinars...1000fils to a dinar. The country uses military time and the work week is changing as of September 1 because the government wanted to change it. My work week will be Sunday to Thursday with a Friday-Saturday weekend. This is going to be interesting seeing as this is new for the entire country!

Well, more culture shock coming soon...

Days away from travel

I'm days away from making the trip across the ocean. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm realizing just how different this trip is to others I have made. My life has to fit into a couple of suitcases and can not be heavier than 50 lbs. each. Everything that goes with me had to be some-what carefully picked out. Yeah, things like clothes, sox, skivies, hair stuff, face stuff, etc. are certainly in my suitcases, but also things like my DVD's, books, cross stitch samplers, and photographs as well. I have a few items for my classroom--maps mostly.

I have noticed a dramatic change in my everyday wardrobe. I've always been a fan of long pants and long skirts, but I'm also wearing more tunics and long sleves in the summer! This used to be an occasional thing, now, it's practically everyday. I don't mind this- in Bahrain apparently, this is normal. Yep, can't wait to see what else is considered normal over there.