Chai Tea & Belly Dancing

Amanda, Amy and I headed to the Souk for some shopping the other evening. It was great fun looking for some traditional clothes to send back to my neices and nephew :)

There is a little bitty alley way where the older men sit together in the evenings and have tea or coffee. We were obviously the odd ones out...not men...not in traditional clothing...and clearly foreigners. I think they were a little surprised, maybe bugged even by our appearance, but when in our lives will we ever again have the chance to sit at a hole in the wall tea shop in the Middle East? My answer was "probably never"....so we went for it.

 

We sat down on the bench and this little old man came to take our order. We ordered three chai teas with mint. We got three chai teas with loads of MILK. Oh well, he got the "mmm" sound :) The tea was DELICIOUS! Here we are:

 

We asked the man to take this picture and he asked his friend to do it instead. He was precious! He was holding the camera facing himself ready to take the picture. He spoke no English, and we were trying to show him to turn the camera around. We showed him how to do it and he was so happy he asked to take a picture with us. I took the one below and he wanted us to print it and bring him a copy. So sweet! We will have to stop back by sometime with the picture for him!

When you travel, this is the kind of thing you NEED to do. Stop in where the locals are. Be a total outcast. Experience things the tour books would never send you to experience. I have found the people here to be very welcoming & excited to visit with you.

 

Before I head off the internet, I have to tell you about one more thing you MUST try.....BELLY DANCING CLASS! Ahhhh-mazing fun! No pictures of this one yet, sorry to say. Amanda, Amy and I had a great time learning how to belly dance. We even learned an entire choreographed dance :) I have to say my favorite part was when the music goes really fast and the instructor wants you to shake so much you think your bum is going to fall off. She came over to us and literally grabbed our legs and says "more! more!" Amanda and I were laughing so hard I thought I was going to fall over. I have a real belly dancing skirt, coins and all, courtesy of Amanda's visit to Egypt. Looking forward to getting back to Tejas and teaching my mamma the moves :)

 

Oh! Almost forgot....I need to give a shout out to the Navy boys reading my blog....HOWDY!

 



How to cure the evil eye & other lessons learned at the Bahrain National Museum

Today was a great day! I finally woke up before noon and was quite proud of myself :) Amanda had to work today so Amy and I decided to cruise over to some museums. There are two museums on the island.

The first one we went to was the Bahrain National Museum. The downstairs totally bothered my Type A brain. It was random....like an ADHD kid on Honey Boo Boo's Go-Go Juice organized it. You walk around and it's like: Painting! Jewelry! Old stone! Another painting! Animal! History! Rock! Etc.....no rhyme or reason to it. My favorite part was that some of it seemed made up or they would just literally write a question mark. I would look at something to see what it is and the description would say "Where did these pearls come from?"....or some other random question that totally leaves me with more questions. Or, just a question mark. What???

The upstairs of the museum was my favorite part because it was more organized and gave me a better understanding of the culture and lifestyles of Bahrain. I was fascinated by so many cultural traditions here and I learned a lot! However, the mannequins in the museum *MAY* give me nightmares tonight. They were rather frightening...Night at the Museum would definitely be a horror story in this place! Here are some things I found the most interesting.....

 

First of all, if there is a picture that is not "appropriate", they simply get rid of the part they don't want seen. For example, this photo above is showing a doctor getting rid of an irritation using natural methods....but I guess the irritation was determined too much to be seen, so they literally SCRATCHED it out so you can't see it.

Speaking of practical methods for healing....I found this description of the "Evil Eye" and posted this just for my big sister :) Apparently, when someone curses you by placing an evil eye spirit on you, (often due to jealousy), the only way to remove the spell is to burn a cloth belonging to the "evil eyer" and smell it, or drink water left in a glass from the evil eyer. Bam! I feel like an official doctor knowing this stuff.

 The picture above is the super creepy mannequins showing how a bride is brought into the wedding ceremony. (On a carpet if you can't tell). Wedding info here is muy loco to me! There are so many rules and ways things happen. One of the strangest for me to understand, is that typically cousins marry cousins. I read this is mostly to keep money within a family. If you don't find a cousin you like, then a matchmaker is called in and calls the father with potential husbands. Once a husband is chosen, HE gets to set the wedding date, the money, and even the clothes.

Another thing I found interesting was the birth process. From the museum, "Before birth, the woman goes to the father's house, where herbal draughts and nourishing food have been prepared. After birth the woman is given a ritual cup of water and three dried dates. The baby's umbilical cord is buried in the mosque if it is a boy and in the kitchen of a girl. A rooster or a chicken is slaughtered." WHAT in the WORLD?! Oh, and also....they do not bathe the baby for SEVEN days after birth. After the baby is born "...the baby is rubbed with salt and herbs [and] is wrapped in cotton cloth and placed in a cradle. Then, the call to prayer is recited into its right ear, and the beginning of the prayer is recited into its left ear, according to the teachings of the Prophet." As for circumcision, which occurs around the age of 6...

Okay boys and girls, that's enough for today. Tomorrow I will teach you about the tradition that occurs when a child loses their "milk teeth".....to be continued....

I will also have to finish telling you about my day of adventure. So much that I've gotten to see and do and LEARN! Loving life :)

Ohhhhh Curfew Patrol!

I've found my new favorite hobby here: watching the US military boys get picked up by patrol for being out past their curfew. If only I could bring some shawarmas into the pub with me, I'd just sit back around midnight and watch the fun commence ;) Let me back up first and fill you in about last night...

Amy's boyfriend Alex threw a dinner party for the four of us last night. He made a chicken noodle soup to start, salmon, (lemon chicken for me without me asking him-so nice of him!), potatoes, and salad. It was delicious and so sweet of him to do for us! We ate dinner, had a few glasses of wine, and enjoyed each other's company. It was great!

Then we decided to head out to the pub because two more of Amanda and Amy's girlfriends were coming back in town that evening. Angela, Amy, & Hazel are all from Ireland. I love their accents and ways of saying things :) Here we are last night....these girls are loads of fun!



Angela, Hazel, Amanda, Me, Amy





There is a military base here in Bahrain so there are lots of American boys thinking they are amazing because...well...they are American. I have quickly learned that many of these guys are not out here making a good name for us! Many of them are married, overly cocky, or just plain rude. Not all...I LOVE my US military and am VERY proud of them....but the ones that you find out at the pubs in the middle of the night tend to not be the best gentlemen.

There was one guy who was exceptional at annoying Amanda and I. We had seen him a few nights ago so we did our best to avoid him. He walked up to us with his buddy, hiccups and all (keep it classy boys), and was in the middle of getting us worked up when.....WHAM.....two people walked up to us and flashed ginormous FBI-like badges.

I got SO excited! I was thinking "Sweet...we are soooo watching a fugitive get arrested! Did they murder someone? Did they rob a bank? Can I sneak into the background and throw my hands up while Amanda takes a picture? What! What! What is going on!!!"

But then, I saw the boys take out their wallets and pull out their military badges. They then got escorted right out of the pub because it was their night night time. HA HA. Talk about embarrassed....they hung their heads way low in shame. Come to find out, they get fined and various punishments for being out past curfew. It was the perfect karma for these little rascals.

The patrol was out in full force last night. We saw them come in at three different times and swoop shamed little party boys away. At the very end of the night, this guy was driving me crazy when a huge patrol man walked up and asked for his ID. I was telling Amanda "Yes! He's going to leave!" But....just. my. luck. He was an officer so suddenly I heard the giant patrol guy apologizing profusely. WHAT! I never get the good luck with boys!

Anyway....had to share this story because I am now super excited to see these patrol people come in. It's like watching an episode of Cops. Okay, not really, but it excites me. It's the little things :)

Night Night, boys!

Two visas in one day...jackpot!

Yesterday was quite an adventure while I was on a mission to get my visa extended for an additional two weeks in Bahrain. In order to even get into the country you need a visa. However, you can only apply for two weeks at a time unless you are to be employed here. My visa does NOT allow for employment. At first, I was planning to do some under the table tutoring here. But once I got here and heard some horror stories from girls telling me they can't leave the country, there are court cases against them, they can't get their visa approved, etc.....I decided it wasn't worth the risk to attempt! So, I am happily still umemployed...darn ;)

Anyway, so my first visa expires on Monday. My plane ticket back to Europe is for September 10th, so I needed to get my visa extended immediatly or I was going to have to switch my ticket to get the heck outta Dodge. First place we went to was the US Embassy. We  were immediatly stopped by a guard who said we could not get in without an appointment. We handed over our passports and he called inside the building. They then told us that I needed to go to immigration to get my visa extension, but nobody could give us directions there. WHAT?! There was also a military man with a rather LARGE machine gun watching over us. And a creepy black Mercedes that just sat in the lot and stared. Finally we figured out *about* where to go. We decided to try the Bahrain Embassy. As we left, the Mercedes literally backed up and followed as we walked to the car. Apparently there have been cars blown up in the parking lot of the US Embassy, so security is tight now. I'm not convinced the Mercedes was "secrurity", and it was honestly not a comfortable experience!

So, we drove across town in search of the Bahrain Embassy. We cut through a black flag neighborhood. It was CrAzY to see piles of ash from the protest fires. Even the stoplights were literally MELTED from fires and there was grafitti spraypainted about killing. I wanted to get some pictures, but thought maybe it wasn't the best idea while there were people outside staring at the car! Eeek!

We finally find the embassy and park the car. We are walking through the 100+ degree desert when we get stopped by 2 guards. They tell us we can not go into the embassy because we are not covered enough. They said there are cameras inside and we will not be allowed in. We asked if they had things we could borrow to go inside, like they do at the mosque. No such luck. We would have to turn around, drive all the way back home, find something to cover ourselves up, and try again. Hmph. So we did....

We got back to the embassy for our third attempt at getting my visa. In my short walk outside fully covered, I really thought about how horribly hot the women have to be covered head to toe daily. I'm sure you get used to it to a point....but do you ever get used to being covered in black in 110 degree desert temperatures? Wow. Not something I think I could get used to!

This time we actually get to go inside a building! WHEW! Step one. I stopped at the "information" desk to ask where to go for non-citizens. The man snapped his fingers and pointed....in the obvious wrong direction. Helpful.

I tried the next desk. This man just kind of stared at me. But, there was a nice Arabic gentleman talking to the worker who asked me what I needed. I told him and he told me to go fill out a packet from one desk, write a letter, then photocopy my passport. Well, I did the "packet"....kind of...I left most of it blank, (I'm not employed, don't speak Arabic, have no idea what half of it actually said....). I saw no "letter" form so I didn't do that. The copier was broken and according to the helpful workers, there is not another one in the entire embassy building. So....feeling like this was questionable...I went back to the non-citizen desk and attempted to hand over my pitiful application.

The helpful non-employee began talking to the employee in Arabic. I obviously did not complete even half of what they wanted, including copying my passport. The man asked to see my passport so I handed it over. He said "You are the luckiest girl in the world." He stamped my passport, extended my visa until September 12th, and smiled. WHAT?!?! He didn't even ask my why I was here, where I am staying, what in the world I am doing....or even for my passport picture? Okay! I gladly handed over my money for my visa extension and walked out with a huge smile on my face. I really did get LUCKY!

Then.....I got even luckier! When we got to Amanda's house I recieved a package from my parents. It was like Christmas!! And one of the fabulous items inside the box was.....a......VISA! A credit card, of course, hehe. I've actually NEVER owned a credit card. This is my first, just incase I have an emergency while traveling solo. Let's hope I don't get crazy with it ;)

But....two visas in one day...now that was a successful afternoon after all!

What an adventure! Lesson learned: When going to extend your visa, first clarify if you should go to the US Embassy, or the embassy of the country you are visiting. Also, call ahead and ask if there are any rules such as proper attire, appointments required, etc. Had I known this, I could have saved several hours of my day. Then again, this is what this trip is all about: learning as I go and soaking it all in!

XoXo!

Camels and tanks and first class...oh my!

WOW! So, I've been a bit busy to blog the past few days so I have some catching up to do. I'd definitely say that Ramadan ending has shown me a completely different view of this little Bahrain joint. My days and nights are completely backwards and I think I've gained 30 pounds from the outrageous amounts of food we've been consuming!

Where to start? I guess on the subject of food we can discuss my new favorite feast....the shawarma. Mmmm. At first this was described to me as the best "2am food", but no. This thing is my new favorite anytime of the day food. The shawarma is basically like a wrap, but with that fresh shaved chicken or beef, (or lamb or whatever else). I have discovered my favorite is chicken with potatoes made spicy. MMMMMM! Delicious! You must try one of these if you ever find yourself in the Middle East :)

We have spent the days of Eid, (the days marking the end of Ramadan and fasting), "celebrating" the little things like being able to eat out in the middle of the day, being able to have a drink at night, and having businesses open to go be social at! We are no longer cooped up in Amanda's loft. Hooray!

Going out here has been an AdVeNtUrE! My first and favorite thing is that there is always a "ladies night" where ladies can drink for fuh-reeeee! Tastes better that way. And when the ladies night ends, there is no shortage of creepsters lurking around just dying to buy you a drink. Muah. Love it. We have spent the past three nights in a row sleeping all day and having far too much fun together at night.

There has been quite a bit of a crowd and extra traffic around here lately. I have learned that for things like Eid or weekends, many men from Saudi Arabia come to Bahrain looking to party. The rules and whatnot are not quite as strict, so they make the drive over here to let loose.

 

Apparently the Arabic boys would just love to find a foreign wifey. Amanda and I have been having a blast keeping track of all of the outrageous items we get offered on a typical night out. Some of my favorites include a new cell phone, first class plane tickets, camel rides, and free bar tabs. Silly boys.

We have also been loving getting our nails done; it's SO cheap here! I'm enjoying sitting out at the pool with Amanda and Amy as well. The FABULOUS thing about the pools here is that there are women only pools, which, what girl wouldn't love having as an option?!

Tomorrow I head to the US Embassy to apply for my Visa to be extended. Cross your fingers that it works out, because otherwise my plane ticket will be crazy expensive to change....not to mention I will only have until Monday to get outta here :(  Time is flying by. I am having far too much fun enjoying time with my old college roomie and getting to see things so far from life in Texas. I'm definitely not ready to leave yet!

More stories to come soon. I'm drained and ready to get some sleep! Goodnight friends :)

 

Love these words

Life in the Desert

We made it out to do some sightseeing today, yip yip! We decided to go for a little desert road trip to check out the Tree of Life. We grabbed the necessities: a bottle of wine, some gummies, a couple sandwiches, sodas and hopped in the car. We had to wait until we were on the open highway to eat so no one saw us eating during the daytime, (Ramadan). Being so conscience of the Muslim religion is not something I've ever really experienced, so I didn't even stop to think that eating and drinking while the people here fast would be rude. Amanda gave me the quick rundown on Ramadan etiquette. As a teacher, I remember kiddos that refused to even sip from the water fountain during Ramadan. This has definitely made me understand their culture more and makes me really respect their dedication to their belief system.

The Tree of Life is a mystery of the desert of Bahrain. It is a big tree literally in the middle of the desert that is guessed to be about 400 years old. What makes the tree so special is how it has managed to live in the middle of nowhere in the sandy dunes of the desert. We had fun taking the journey, and getting lost, on our way to "THE" tree. It was pretty much a drive full of a scenic view of sand, oil rigs, and refineries.

The one plus to getting lost was that we got a great sunset to enjoy!

We made it to the tree and it was pretty neat to see. We had fun climbing...or I guess I should not include Amanda in the "we" had fun. She was so terrified to attempt to climb the tree that her whole body was literally shaking :)

We passed a military base on our journey to and from the tree. We couldn't resist taking a few pics as we drove by, but the guards standing by the road with huge machine guns pretty much steered me clear of taking too many pics!

We also spotted some sweet sand dunes that we just HAD to park the car and climb. Hugh freaked me out when he told us that he "hoped there were no land mines". Not funny!

I was SO glad that we stopped to climb. It was amazingly quiet and peaceful out there. Pretty neat to see and actually felt a little surreal to realize I am actually in the Middle East! Gah. I find myself feeling so overwhelmed at moments like this. I take a deep breath and realize that I am literally living out my dream. I am seeing things I may never again get a chance to see. LOVE!
It didn't take long before we were out of breath and covered in sweat and sand, (goodbye peaceful surreal moment!), so went to a cute little resteraunt for dinner and then next door for some delicious desserts. After that we headed over to pick up some of Amanda's friends to come over for some drinks and hanging out. We went the wrong way and ended up in a little alley near a questionable neighborhood. I looked up and what did I see:

Kind of neat, and kind of scary! Later that night when Amanda took her friends home, she saw a fire. These fires are for protesting. A bit crazy to know I am so close to things that I've only read about or heard on the news before!

Today was a great day! I am absolutely loving my journey & am learning so much about other places and people. Tomorrow we are going to the spa....a manicure/pedicure here is only about $12 US! Woo Hoo! Counting down to the end of Ramadan so I can enjoy food during the day and life at night! Oh, and being able to grab a drink is a plus too!

I'll post a link to more pics tomorrow!

HoOt!

Iftar & Jack

Ohhhhhhhhhh, where to start on yesterday?!

The first thing we did was go to a hotel restaurant for Iftar. (Yay-here's where I get to teach you my first lesson!). Iftar is a huge dinner when the Muslims break their fast during Ramadan. We went to a buffet and it was DELICIOUS! I got to try all kinds of yummy Bahrani food. I'm not quite sure what most of what I ate was, but I loved it! Here we are at dinner with two of Amanda's friends, Joe and Hugh, (notice their sweet outfits!)...

Because it is still Ramadan, there is no where to really go/nothing to really do. Most everything is closed and you aren't able to do things like go out for drinks. Amanda and I decided to do the only thing there was left to do....break into her stash of Jack and pick up some good ole Coca Cola. On our way out of the car it hit me that I am actually in a.....desert....sand, sand, sand.

Even with nothing to "officially" do, Amanda and I did what we do best together: had a fabulous time and strolled in the door about 6am. This little desert and I are going to get along just fine :)

"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for” – John A. Shedd

From being so busy, (always on the go), in Sweden and the overnight flight jet lag, I spent all day in bed yesterday while Amanda was at work! And it. was. awesome!

By 7pm I was showered up and ready for my first adventure in Bahrain. We hopped in Amanda's car and headed to the Rugby Club. Yay-there were really boys playing rugby there *siiiiigh* but we will save that for later ;) While on our way over, Amanda was filling me in on the protests here. She told me about the Black Flag neighborhoods. Apparently they set many things on fire and when the government comes in to clean it up, they kill them. Eek! She was telling me there are certain areas we will stay away from, but overall things have calmed down a lot here. Oh, and she also said not to worry because "It's been awhile since she's smelled tear gas." Here's how I felt after these happy stories:

Well, this will be an adventure! At the rugby club, we had to get put on a list to get in because it is currently Ramadan so there are only a handful of places to go for drinks right now. A couple of Amanda's friends met up after they were done with their rugby training. The boys had salads and water and we had nachos and beer. Typical.

After dinner we went over to do a little shopping. I will have to steal some pictures from Amanda's friend because I was too mesmerized by the completely different atmosphere to remember to take pictures! The women around us were covered head to toe, only their pretty eyes peeking out at you. Some women even had their entire face covered, with a black net like material over even their eyes. Amanda told me we do not need to cover up in the area we were going. So we were both wearing summer dresses, (It is over 100 degrees in the desert here), and it was a bit awkward to get used to. Being that I have blonde hair and a dress on I got stared at everywhere I walked. It is hard to remind myself that I am the odd one out. In America, we get so used to being the "normal" ones and running the show. When I am here I am a guest and my culture and ways of doing things are not the norm.

It was fun to shop around and check things out a little bit. I bought my neices a sweet present, (which I will not say yet because they read this blog religiously!). I am excited to see my sister's face when they open it. Skype maybe? :) And I did find a little connection to home while we were out. Anyone recognize this handsome man.....

On our way home, we stopped at the cold store to buy snacks for a movie on the couch. Here's what I chose:

The Doritos are sweet tasting, no spice to them. Interesting taste. When we got home Amanda had to give me a little currency tutoring lesson. I totally felt like an ESL student must feel in my classroom. You are so used to your own currency that it is hard to think outside of your comfort zone box. At this point, my purse has Dollars, Euros, Pounds, SEK, and now BD. It is hard to keep up! Especially with all of the coins. I think I can catch on quickly with the BD currency system. The exchange rate is not in my favor though! 1 BD equals a little less than 3 US dollars.

We had our midnight snacks and watched Chuckie with Arabic subtitles. Funny to remember how horribly cheesy that movie is :) Amanda has some interesting things planned for tonight. Looking forward to sharing it with you tomorrow!

XoXo! 









Welcome to....Bahrain!

I'm HERE!! So...to pick up where I left off on the last blog....

My next flight from Istanbul to Bahrain was equally annoying. Probably the fact that it was the middle of the night didn't help my aggitation :) Getting onto the plane was the same kind of crowd...no real "line" system. But after a 5 1/2 hour layover I was just excited to get on the plane and catch some zzzzz's.

Turkish Airlines was actually pretty nice. Pretty good amount of space for coach and friendly staff. The food on the first flight wasn't bad. But the dinner on the second flight.....*SHIVERS*....uhhh! I was served salmon on top of ~something~, spinach?, and chicken skewer on rice with "Arabic herbs". It was....questionable...to say the least. Every bite I tried I had to wash down with a Milk Dud (Thank you sister!). Not the best meal I've had. But I did enjoy that you can have Turkish beers and hot bread! Saving Grace for dinner!

I was super excited that no one was seated next to me for this flight. Maybe no one wanted to sit next to the only person with blonde hair on the airplane?? But, it was going to be perfect to sprawl out and get some sleep! Perfect until....the family behind me!! AHH! *Cue horror film music here*

I got no sleep. But luckily I was so excited to see Amanda I got wired! Before I knew it, it was 2am and I was landing in-------------BAHRAIN!

Getting through customs was tough. They REALLY questioned me, (even though I have a visa), and asked me 5 million questions. It actually made me nervous that they might deny me!

Luckily my bag was already waiting for me once I got through customs. I grabbed it and was going really fast towards to exit to meet Amanda. Once I turned the corner and we saw each other we both went running like a movie....but I HAVE to be the awkward one and lost my shoe/stumbled over my suitcase. I think all of the Arabic folks completely covered in their traditional attire found it amusing to see two overly excited American girls causing a slight scene. Which was one of the first things I learned when getting off the plane: I am the one that is VERY different here. Lots of stares and "what in the world are you doing in Bahrain" looks ;)

When we got outside it was like stepping into a sauna after being in Sweden for 2 weeks. Ahhhh....feels like home! Amanda and I finally went to sleep around 4am. It is so exciting to be here!! It almost feels like we are back in Denton. Except we are on the other side of the world. In the desert. The odd ones out. It's going to be an amazing adventure here!!

Tonight we have plans on the VIP list for a rugby bar....That's right....I'm on a VIP list-----IN BAHRAIN!! This should be interesting! Stay tuned ;)

Gobble Gobble...I'm in Turkey!

Well, getting to Instanbul has been quite the adventure & culture shock!

First, at the airport in Sweden, I waited for my gate to open. When they announced that the gate was opened, I had to wait in line with my boarding pass and passport to get into the next waiting area. While in there, lots of people tried asking me questions and it was a weird experience to have no idea what they were saying! It was craziness waiting to board. There were a lot of us in one room and not enough seats as we waited. Finally, an older business man sat down next to me and started talking to me in his best attempt at english. He was telling me that he lives in Turkey and he gave me some tips for how to survive...which came  in handy!!

First, when they announced they were starting to board, the man stood up and said "Stick with me". I looked at my pass and said "I'm in Group B". He told me, "Oh no, the lining up system does not work here. Go with the flow or you'll be lost in line forever." And boy was that true! Groups meant nothing for boarding...neither did the fact that you are in line. People would just come out of no where and walk right infront of you! This happened everywhere in today's journey for me: at the airport, in "line" for the restrooms, buying dinner....it was frustrating! I had to put on my fierce face and push my way in line or I'd never get what I needed ;)

On the plane was...interesting! I was one of the first ones on the plane and I had my phone in my hand just checking the time. The woman in the seat next to me was rambling on and on angrily to me in Turkish (I think). I told her "Sorry" because I had no idea what she was saying. She pulled her phone out and showed me turning it off and then pointed at mine, continuing to lecture me in Turkish, and pointed at my phone. She REALLY wanted my phone off! Which was annoying, because it didn't need to be. But whatever, I turned it off and looked to my right and what do I see?? Two big ole boobies....AHHH! What? The lady next to me had her shirt all the way up just feeding her baby. Come again? Uncomfortable flight from the start! Later that baby was puking all over...it was a long flight to Instanbul! And I made the Turkish lady mad at me one more time when she offered to share her water with me....from her glass...and I said no thank you. I guess she really wanted me to drink the rest of her water??

The airport in Instanbul was not my favorite. I had a 5 1/2 hour layover. Everything was pretty messy. The bathroom floors were covered in trash, there were not enough seats for the TONS of people waiting. The airport was super crowded. Not to mention getting to my connecting terminal was fun because none of the workers spoke English to help me find my way. But, I did and it was b-o-r-i-n-g. No wifi, nothing to do. I watched a movie on my laptop, ate a slice of pizza, and slept on the floor. Joy!

Next stop: Bahrain at about 2am!

Dear Cate & Sydney,

Dear Cate & Sydney,

This post is just for you my little love bugs!! I went on a long, long walk in Sweden and saw a couple of things that made me think of you! I miss you both SOOOOOOOOOO much!!

Cate: I saw some beautiful horsies! I told them hello for you :) Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Dibby: The nature walk made me think of you! It was so pretty and there were lots of little rocks and buggies to see! Look at the slug friend I found you!! I also went to the butterfly house. I wish you were there with me!

Love you both soooooo much and I wish you were here to see all of these fun things with me! I can't wait to see your pretty faces on Skype again soon! I sent a package of goodies for you girls to Grandma and Grandpa's house today. Be on the lookout!!

LOVE,
Aunt Holly

Absolut Awesome....a trip to the Ice Hotel!

I have had my eye on the Ice Bar since I decided I was coming to Sweden! The other night...all of my Ice Bar dreams came true :) Ola, Patrik, Fredrik, and I hit up the Absolut Ice Bar and I was giddy with excitement!

You have to make a reservation to go to the ice bar. You pay about 190 SEK, or about $30 US and you get a super cool parka, gloves, and one Absolut vodka drink. Here we are:

Inside the Ice Bar is SO COOL (literally)! Everything is made of....ICE! The chairs, the bar, the walls, your glass...everything. So neat!



All of the drinks are made with Absolut vodka. I had a "snowflake" and it was DELICIOUS! I would have loved to stay for more drinks, but after about 25 minutes I couldn't feel my little toes anymore!

It was a super neat experience and I would recommend it to anyone visiting Stockholm! I was SO pumped about getting to go there. My night was even more awesome when sweet Patrik bought me an Ice Bar lanyard----oh yes! That is SO going on my teacher ID one day (ONE day...when I have to go back to working, *ahem*).

After the Ice Bar, we hopped on the subway and headed to the Vampire Lounge. Being a True Blood fan I had visualized Fangtasia in my head :) It was pretty neat! You walk down the stairs into a cave-like atmosphere complete with skeletons, red lights, and dragons. Pretty cool little place. My favorite part was the yummy MILKSHAKE drinks! They had fun vampirey names. Except, I found one that didn't ;) I ordered the "North Pole" which was a milkshake with blue peppermints, Absolut vodka, de kuyper blue curacao, and Vicks Blue. Ummm.....YUM!!! A little pricey, but fun place to see.

Our last stop was one more bar that we went up the elevator to the 20-something floor and had an amazing view of the city night! By this time, I was exhausted from all of the walking of the day....darn Swedish fitness...so I could only keep my eyes open for one last drink. I can't remember the name of this place, but it was super cute and fancy inside. The bartenders wore suspenders and nerdy glasses-super cute!

Great spots to visit and great night! I really love Ola, Patrik, and Fredrik! All three are super nice, super fun guys. And their English is awesome. Jalepeno ;) If you ever visit Stockholm, they will take you to all the neatest places! Next blog up will not be bars (You're welcome Mom).

Lots of fun!! If you want to see the rest of the Ice Bar pictures, check out

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10101051194973880.2724394.23920002&type=1&l=e12ead7cc6

HoOt!

Dear Mom & Dad, Please send....my CAR!!!

Today was the earliest I was up and out of bed ready to go! We skipped breakfast to try to get an early morning view from the top of the Kaknas Tower....155 meters up top. Beautiful view to start the day!
While we were up there, Ola pointed to a place on the map of the city that was REALLY far away and said "We are going to walk here next." Because he already knows how much I *love* walking, I laughed and said "Yeah, okay. See you at the bus stop"....

But no, we really were walking. It was about 4 miles to Skansen. (I know, you don't believe I did it...without complaining!!) ;)

First off the walk was great...beautiful views of course. Took this great pic for my sweet neice Cate who loves horses!

Then, down came the rain! LOTS of rain! We weren't even close to Skansen yet, so when it was really bad we hid under trees and the rest of the time Ola made me brave it. UGH!

BUT...I survived the 4 mile HIKE into Skansen, a gorgeous outdoor museum with everything from a zoo to aquarium to gardens, food, and history. Very neat place! We had a great time checking out all of the animals. I also liked my yummy lunch of chicken stuffed with apple, potatos, and a Raspberry cider. Delish!

In some parts of the zoo, you could walk in with the animals...like the picture above. Very cool! A little more trusting than in America...signs just said "Don't touch"...and people listen, imagine that ;)

After Skansen we headed over to the larger aquarium. It had lots of neat places to walk through, like a real digustingly humid feeling rain forest, and places you can climb underground to get a better view of the fish! Below is Ola in the rain forest.

Next up was my favorite idea of the day....taking the train back home!! But...lucky me...MORE rain and the buses and trains were so full we couldn't find one without a huge line. So...we walked...a couple more miles...to the subway. On the subway, I quickly passed out :) Ahhhh, nice!

So far, today has been all rain and all walking. Now I am off to rest and shower up so we can go to two of the places I am most excited about: The Absolute Ice Bar and Vampire Bar! Looking forward to a great night.

By the way, Mom & Dad, please send that car...or money for a chaufer will do ;)