In the Land of the Golden Smiles-One day at a time

November 07, 2012

In the Land of the Golden Smiles-One day at a time

So we have been here 3 weeks. We have settled into the Hotel nicely and are feeling good....stir crazy, but dealing. Corbyn is a regular celebrity around here. The people here love children and are quite fond of my little man. It is quite refreshing to see full grown men crumble when they see little children. So needless to say, I have no problem getting a smile from a stranger around here.

The weather is nice and we even have a little breeze. People have been saying the next 6 months will be great so you better believe we will be spending a lot of time outside.

After a lot of back and forth and back and forth and more back and forth it seems like we are settling on a place. The rental searching in the US is a lot different from here. You would think by now I would be a pro. Nope! It is all about negotiating and my limited practice comes from shopping in the border towns of Mexico. Depending on the home owner and what kind of mood they are in you never know what you will get. During our pack out we were rushed and quite frankly unsure of what to bring and not to bring. We needed a semi furnished home. Semi furnished to some home owners means dishwasher, stove, and fridge. And this is exactly what our homeowner was willing to give. After he slept on it he woke up with a generous heart and we were able to get the essential items we needed. He has nice furniture! and with furnished places you just never know what you are going to get. So after signing the second pre contract they are on to writing a lease and doing everything else that needs to be done. Move in date is November 21st. If it all works out I am very excited about the community we will live in. It has plenty of sidewalk space for me to take the little guy for walks and go for a run, it has a pool and covered kiddie pool, a lagoon to take a dip in, a playground for my little maniac to burn off energy, basketball courts where hopefully Bryan will be able to play, and a gym if I decide to join. The place itself is lovely and has a great view...oh and 24 hr security. Here in city at the hotel it is hard to find good sidewalks to take long walks and we miss that. The place where we will live is a group of manmade islands on the outskirt of Manama. Just like I like it, close enough to the city yet far enough away.

The Military family support here in Bahrain is outstanding and it is wonderful to see how people come together. I have met quite a few people in the last couple weeks. There are a couple sites on Facebook where I can ask questions and I get great answers. It seems to me like everyone is in it together and there is always someone willing to lend a helping hand. The mom group is great and they meet once a week for a play date and sometimes twice. Being the social butterflies we are this makes me happy.

The Civic arrived and all the paper work is taken care of. Bryan went today to pick it up and it is not up to par. Hoping to get it back by Sunday. We will also be looking for a second car to use while we are here. So each day it seems we are getting closer to normalcy.

Here are some pictures of our visit to a very nice park here in Bahrain. Bahrain has pretty areas just like any place really. Yeah, trees are limited, it is a little dusty, it’s highly populated but small, and well it’s not the US but I have been able to find the beauty wherever life leads us and that’s what I am doing here.

Cars, cars, cars...