Bahrain: chilling in 45' heat
well, I have now been here for a total of three days. Me thinks I am going to like this place. It is pretty chilled,food is good, people re great, the heat slows things down quite a bit but it is a great pace. This country has all the infrastructure needed for aiesec to be a great success. My team mates are switched on people, three different people, three different AIESEC backgrounds (US, Romania, Australia). The members are smart, the office is cool, and the country has a strong financial industry (it would be amazing if one of our first projects was around finance and islamic banking)...
Bahrain:
The best way I have of describing it is like a really big country town. The buildings are generally pretty low, mostly light sandy colours (tan, beige, white etc to avoid absorbing heat). The roads are wide. The place is clean, modern but still with an arab feel to it. My previous analogy was comparing bahrain and singapore... but maybe singapore 30 years ago. The members drive everywhere, even around the corner to go for a coffee. Petrol costs about 15-20c a litre here. The people we have met are mostly 19-24 which is cool.
The weather here is hot, but tolerable and quite enjoyable. It falls around you like a warm comforting blanket: a little combersome, heavy, but comforting and warm... however you know you cant stay there forever. Water is a big thing here. You cant drink the tap water as it is really salty (which makes showers a little interesting). Our apartment comes with free 5 gallons of water but we are going throug it pretty quickly. Showers are also interesting because it is hard to get cold water... the pipes heat up so much that every shower is about 30 degrees.
Food: typical lebanese, turkish, north african food: lots of bbq lamb and chicken, lots of kebab meat, homus, various dips, fool (spl?), felafel, tikka. Last night we sat out at a cafe drinking lemon and mint juice and smoking shisha's for hours, outside, under the stars, arabic chattering away in the background, waiters running around with smoking bryers 'refilling' people's shishas. it was a great moment. It was also a men only cafe. I found out that some of the cafes kep themselves a litle dirty and gritty to ensure a male only clientel, I think it is to create an escape for men... sort of luck a poker night back home... or a dodgy local pub.
Prices: some things feel insane but I guess things are not that crazy it is simply the power of the conversion rate that feels weird... 1 bahraini dinar = 2.7US dollars... which means if you are holding a 20dinar note you are actually holding $50US... which seems really high. The rent will cost about $600 a head (with only three people in the apartment), actually thinking back:thats not that bad.. Im ust comparing it to the current MC house... a case of beer is about $50 australian, You can find shisha for $1.50 aust, dinner for $1.50, to $4.50 to whatever. So things arent so bad, but the weight of the conversion rate throws things.
People: Everyone I have met has been open, generous and very cool. The AIESEC guys who arrived before us have done a good job at sorting out a bit of a social network. Eating is a big way to socialise. Last night we all played a stunted version of soccer in a local park. By stunted I mean it was mainly taking pot shots at goal because the heat (still 40 degrees at night) doesnt really allow for too much more. bahrain is pretty chilled with men/woman relations, allowing free mixing and a relaxed attitude. People are very interconnected here and there are lots of stories about 'friends that...' so it should be okay trying to find a collection of people with similiar interests (ie getting people together for soccer, or music or something)
Arabic: English is spoken 60-70% of the time, clear fluent english that is. I have been learning my numbers (1-5), please, thankyou, hello, WELLAH!!! (more coal for the shisha please) and I will keep picking away at the small things. One of our friends teachs at the language school, so it might be well worth the investment to take a ten week language class in september. Im pretty excited by the concept.
The apartment: awesome. furnished with cool couches, a giant TV (with cable TV) and DVD player, two bathrooms, two bedrooms, strong aircon, clean, big = I like. We are goingto have to figure out the living arrangements because some more people are coming over and in all honesty this current place is a little extravagent (but still cool).
Our office: think dark cedar desks, high back leather chairs, a couple of phones, wireless internet and a view out over the Persian Gulf... you can see the sun set, it is sweet. I think we are there for another three months and then we have the option to find a more economical place but right now:this place is the bees knees. There is even a waiter that comes around to take tea and coffee orders!
We have a planning meeting, transition meeting coming up next week so some guys from the US are flying over for that (Jen and Paul, their finance guy). Then we have a national conference coming up in late July. Should be good. We have around 27 members who are all excited about aiesec and can't wait to get started.
thats the big update, from here I will try and find isolated stories and events that help paint a more accurate picture of the country.
Bahrain:
The best way I have of describing it is like a really big country town. The buildings are generally pretty low, mostly light sandy colours (tan, beige, white etc to avoid absorbing heat). The roads are wide. The place is clean, modern but still with an arab feel to it. My previous analogy was comparing bahrain and singapore... but maybe singapore 30 years ago. The members drive everywhere, even around the corner to go for a coffee. Petrol costs about 15-20c a litre here. The people we have met are mostly 19-24 which is cool.
The weather here is hot, but tolerable and quite enjoyable. It falls around you like a warm comforting blanket: a little combersome, heavy, but comforting and warm... however you know you cant stay there forever. Water is a big thing here. You cant drink the tap water as it is really salty (which makes showers a little interesting). Our apartment comes with free 5 gallons of water but we are going throug it pretty quickly. Showers are also interesting because it is hard to get cold water... the pipes heat up so much that every shower is about 30 degrees.
Food: typical lebanese, turkish, north african food: lots of bbq lamb and chicken, lots of kebab meat, homus, various dips, fool (spl?), felafel, tikka. Last night we sat out at a cafe drinking lemon and mint juice and smoking shisha's for hours, outside, under the stars, arabic chattering away in the background, waiters running around with smoking bryers 'refilling' people's shishas. it was a great moment. It was also a men only cafe. I found out that some of the cafes kep themselves a litle dirty and gritty to ensure a male only clientel, I think it is to create an escape for men... sort of luck a poker night back home... or a dodgy local pub.
Prices: some things feel insane but I guess things are not that crazy it is simply the power of the conversion rate that feels weird... 1 bahraini dinar = 2.7US dollars... which means if you are holding a 20dinar note you are actually holding $50US... which seems really high. The rent will cost about $600 a head (with only three people in the apartment), actually thinking back:thats not that bad.. Im ust comparing it to the current MC house... a case of beer is about $50 australian, You can find shisha for $1.50 aust, dinner for $1.50, to $4.50 to whatever. So things arent so bad, but the weight of the conversion rate throws things.
People: Everyone I have met has been open, generous and very cool. The AIESEC guys who arrived before us have done a good job at sorting out a bit of a social network. Eating is a big way to socialise. Last night we all played a stunted version of soccer in a local park. By stunted I mean it was mainly taking pot shots at goal because the heat (still 40 degrees at night) doesnt really allow for too much more. bahrain is pretty chilled with men/woman relations, allowing free mixing and a relaxed attitude. People are very interconnected here and there are lots of stories about 'friends that...' so it should be okay trying to find a collection of people with similiar interests (ie getting people together for soccer, or music or something)
Arabic: English is spoken 60-70% of the time, clear fluent english that is. I have been learning my numbers (1-5), please, thankyou, hello, WELLAH!!! (more coal for the shisha please) and I will keep picking away at the small things. One of our friends teachs at the language school, so it might be well worth the investment to take a ten week language class in september. Im pretty excited by the concept.
The apartment: awesome. furnished with cool couches, a giant TV (with cable TV) and DVD player, two bathrooms, two bedrooms, strong aircon, clean, big = I like. We are goingto have to figure out the living arrangements because some more people are coming over and in all honesty this current place is a little extravagent (but still cool).
Our office: think dark cedar desks, high back leather chairs, a couple of phones, wireless internet and a view out over the Persian Gulf... you can see the sun set, it is sweet. I think we are there for another three months and then we have the option to find a more economical place but right now:this place is the bees knees. There is even a waiter that comes around to take tea and coffee orders!
We have a planning meeting, transition meeting coming up next week so some guys from the US are flying over for that (Jen and Paul, their finance guy). Then we have a national conference coming up in late July. Should be good. We have around 27 members who are all excited about aiesec and can't wait to get started.
thats the big update, from here I will try and find isolated stories and events that help paint a more accurate picture of the country.
posted by Westy at 8:53 PM
6 Comments:
Wow.. I'm listening! Keep telling your stories.
I just finished a subject on Islam and international relations, so it will be interesting to compare your experiences with what I learnt.
Westy,
I so envy you!! You have cable in your apartment? Ask Eric what my apartment here is like... Grr!!
And the fricken' office?? Man! Seriously, I think Tunisia really needs some serious cash! (hint: ask Eric what the Tunisian MC office is like)
siz
Sounds like a great start to the year dude, have fun exploring!
Luv flic xxx
Hey John,
is the heat bearable because it is very low humidity?
have you been sick from the local food, or are you handline it well? (or perhaps it's too early to say). if you do get sick, just keep plowing through it, and don't revert to maccas!! you're stomach will get accustomed soon enough... I made the mistake in Pakistan at the start where I'd get sick from the food and then eat maccas the next day because I was feeling sick etc, but then I seesawed between sickness and maccas, never truly letting my system adjust.
with the university students, what is the ethnic mix like? does the aiesec membership represent that broader ethnic mix or do you get members mostly from one group?
Take care mate,
Nic
oh johnny boy
loving all you write.
if you keep writing, i'll keep reading!
hey Nic,
yep humidity is not too high... you can walk for about 20 minutes outside and then you become a little less than presentable.
Food is not a problem, they have some fantastic bbq and indian food here. I have also kept up my vege and fruit componants.
The members come from the private universities, we still have to organise a relationship with the super large public uni. They are nearly all arab, coming from Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi. Fairly diverse. I cant really say if they represent the broader Bahrain because these are the first guys I am meeting... I'll keep you posted. The island is not large so most members had at least heard of each other before joining but they definately come from multiple groups.
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