Bahrain

Manama, Bahrain skyline from our hotel window.

Bahrain is a small island country famous for oil and pearls, and more recently, for its rapid development and impressive skyline. Bill attended the Project Management Institute Arabian Gulf Chapter's conference in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, and I went along for the sightseeing opportunities. It was a fantastic experience and I have much to report on traveling there, and on what we saw and heard.

World Trade Center towers, Bahrain

First, it's different as a female traveler because you get screened privately and don't have to suffer the worst part of the screening process (removing your shoes--yuck!) Instead of going through the regular scanner, I entered the "ladies screening room" through a set of curtains and was treated to the wand metal detector in lieu of the screening I am more familiar with. Of course my bag went through the conveyor x-ray machine, but I definitely prefer the ladies screening room where you don't have to remove clothing or jewelery.

The lounges in both Jeddah and Riyadh, and on the return flight in Bahrain, had a lot of food choices. Hot eggs, potatoes, beans in the morning, plus small sandwiches, pastries, olives, fruit... all sorts of things. Once in our seats in the plane, the flight attendants poured tiny cups of tea and brought around a tray of pitted dates to enjoy with the tea. It is just a 2 hour flight to Bahrain, and on the way back we went direct but on the way there we had a stop in Riyadh. We exchanged some money at the airport, found our driver and our luggage and were off to the Gulf Hotel. I feel I could give the whole spiel, complete with British accent, on the Gulf Hotel since I heard about their recent multi-million dinar expansion every time I rode the elevator. It truly is a classy place. Nine restaurants, shops, beautiful outdoor pool and grounds. It was the first 5-star hotel built in Bahrain 40 years ago, and it really was a lovely place to stay. I wanted to try more of the restaurants, but we also found a French-style cafe just blocks from the hotel, and it was so busy all of the time that we were compelled to enjoy the people-watching from that spot on 2 occasions.

A lot of familiar brands are featured at the malls.

Once we checked in and took our luggage to our room, we went straight to the wine bar. After several weeks without frequenting any sort of bar, we relished an opportunity to enjoy the bacchanalian-inspired refreshments. We enjoyed ourselves in the dark, Las Vegas-like plush bar. Comfortable, low seats, black lacquer and red accents lent a decadent feeling. Nothing is cheap in Bahrain though, or at least nothing I found. Wine doesn't go on the expense account, and I wanted to understand the conversion rate before ordering the 10.2 dinar per glass wine (that's over $30) so we figured out a good balance between of value in order to avoid that hangover. We enjoyed plenty of time in the several bars at the hotel, but we also bought wine at the liquor store right next to the hotel, as well as a cold 6-pack of Coors Light (yeee-haaw!)

Abaya window-shopping.

The conference dinners were much like conference dinners I have attended in the US except perhaps that the food service is kept waiting longer. At both dinners we attended, we sat down at 7:00 and didn't eat until 9:00. I think that people are accustomed to eating later here, and it's something we are getting used to doing on a regular basis. The speeches at the first dinner focused mainly on the development of Bahrain, with a lot of focus on the entire region (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and other Gulf States). At least a couple of speakers mentioned the new financial order that no longer consists of the US and Western Europe as the great economic powers and countries where development is widespread. A lot is going on in this region in terms of development.

Crystal-studded abaya

We visited the Seef Mall on one of our leisure days, and mostly window shopped. I tried some perfume and found a beautiful scent. "Very famous," the clerk said. Fatima is the name of this famous perfume, but not being much of an expert on fragrances, I had to take his word for it. We saw a movie, admired the abayas with Swarovski Crystal-studs or with beautiful embroidery. Women aren't required to wear abayas in Bahrain but many do still wear them, and many of the abayas are gorgeous. The headscarf really finishes it off, which I'm afraid is why I haven't really come to wear the abaya well as yet.

We are back at KAUST now, which is nice because it really is very nice here for one thing, and it gets a little constricting to spend a lot of nights in a hotel. I can cook again and am making some soup stock with "baby chickens"! They are just the standard small chickens, but it sounds kind of barbaric, so I enjoy calling them baby chickens. I have some lemongrass and ginger in the stock so I'm sure it will be really good. Tomorrow night is the WEP closing evening, and although they have had still more rain in Jeddah, tomorrow's event planned for the boardwalk should not see that kind of rain. I'm actually going to have a small part in the closing because I was notified that I placed 3rd of all of the women in the WEP Run held here last week! I understand I'll be receiving a medal--wow! 


Bahrain currency is the dinar. 1 dinar = $2.65 USD



Winter Enrichment Program

One of my favorite sculptures on campus

KAUST is currently putting on their annual WEP (Winter Enrichment Program) and it has been a busy week for us since we have participated in several events and we have been to Jeddah twice--both times for birthdays.

The kickoff for WEP was a bit of a washout. I'm sure it was a big disappointment for a lot of people because the outdoor dinner/celebration/kickoff was spoiled by a huge thunderstorm. The setup was looking a little tenuous the afternoon of the planned event. We watched from the community library as winds whipped at the tents that were set up along the boardwalk. Later when it started to rain really hard, we got an email notice from the event organizers that the dinner was being moved to the dining hall instead. I thought about how the carpets and furniture and the grills and cooking equipment had been so painstakingly arranged and would have to go unused. We really wanted to go down to the dining hall and be a part of the evening, but the storm was so violent that it was simply impossible for us to leave the villa. Our sea shipment has not arrived so we don't have a single umbrella here yet. I had no idea we would see the kind of rain we have had. Even with umbrellas, however, we still would not have been able to make it without getting soaked. We ended up staying at home and watching a travel DVD on the Middle East. But since then we have made the most of WEP.

I attended a lecture called "Size Matters" that was about building and living in small houses. The speaker, Jay Shafer, built and lived in a house smaller than 100 square feet. His presentation was fascinating, and I found a lot in common with him in terms of purging belongings. He said it wasn't hard living in a 100 square foot house; the hard part was getting rid of the things he owned that wouldn't fit in such a small space. Once that was done, he said, the rest was easy. He seemed really happy to have so much less "stuff" and less house than most people would find acceptable, but the space he did have works really well as a home. The most meaningful part, I thought, was the rejection of the notion of working and working to pay a mortgage for a space (or for things) that don't really create happiness. He is able to find satisfaction with a smaller house and that allows him to be creative in his life in other ways. I'm not saying I would want a house as small as the one he featured, but the idea of being happy with something well designed instead of something that's just plain big is a good one.

This photo is from Hans Rosling's web site: http://www.gapminder.org/

The other presentation we saw together last week was called "A Fact-Based World View" by Hans Rosling. It was an eye-opener. His visualization methods for statistics make the analysis of subjects such as world economics, poverty, progress, and population levels across time and other variables much more understandable than I have ever imagined. Rather than columns of numbers, his visualization techniques using bubble charts on graphs can instantly make complex changes across thousands of criteria instantly understandable. The ability to to see and understand specific data, rather than thinking (often wrongly) in general terms is powerful. This is his web site and has lots of media and downloads. Warning: prepare to adjust your world-view perception. http://www.gapminder.org/

Dinner at Thai-Thai

Thai-style fried fish, and chicken with green curry.
Press the button when you need the waiter.

Switching gears now from statistics and facts, and on to my favorite subject: food! We had a great birthday dinner for Bill at a place called Thai-Thai in Jeddah. Every time I have something wonderful to eat, I think it is the best thing I have had yet, and I have tried so much great food here, it is really fun to do both the research and the reporting on my findings. We have been eating a lot of fish and enjoying it immensely. Being right here on the Red Sea, right next to Thuwal, a fishing village, we have had some of the best fish ever. In the Dining Hall they grill your fish to order, and in 5 minutes you can have some of the freshest, tastiest grouper for about $3.50 for about a 6 oz serving (salad and rice brings it to about $6.00). At Thai-Thai we had battered, fried grouper with chopped peanuts, sweet chili sauce and chopped fresh herbs that was incredible. I love Asian food, and have really been craving Asian flavors. Tom yoong ga soup, hot and sour soup and a green curry chicken made up the rest of the dishes. We had a remote-control buzzer to push when we wanted the server (don't you wish every restaurant had that?) and besides the tasty food, the decor was gorgeous. We sat on upholstered couches, admired the Thai artwork and all together had a very good time.

Dolmades

I have also been cooking and entertaining at home, and last week I tried a new dish using local ingredients. Many things are difficult to make with the limited equipment I have, but since the challenge requires a different approach, I am making discoveries I might not have made if I had all of the familiar things. I made a lamb biriyani with a spice mix I bought at a local supermarket. Nothing like the spice mixes a la Rice-a-Roni, this curry spice mix had huge cardamom pods, some other large seeds and a big piece of some kind of bark, along with cloves and pepper corns. Cooked with my favorite new dairy product, laban, the dish came out fairly close to what I was expecting. They serve biriyani at the on-campus Indian place, and when you make the dish you basically cook the rice on top of the stewed part without stirring them together. Having never made this kind of thing before, it really came out pretty well. The dolmades I also made went really well with the lamb biriyani, and the chocolate chip cookies for dessert (using the powdered vanilla substitute) were almost indistinguishable from the regular kind. The second day they weren't as good (lacking some complexity) but still pretty good.

Always happy to reach the finish!

Hopefully the 5k race on Thursday (our Saturday) will help with the cookie burn-off. It was a really fun WEP event, and they probably had 300 people turn out for the race, plus more to cheer on the participants. I'm still waiting to find out my ranking, but I was really happy with my run. I came in near the head of the pack, and on the single slight uphill, I passed a lot of people, probably thanks to my running in the mountains of Utah. A 5k is a pretty short run, but anything you try to run fast is hard, of course, and this was fast but over quickly. Anyway, I felt good about it and I think it was a really great event to hold here. They have a nice track at the fitness center, and the finish was inside that arena. They played music and had post-race snacks for runners while everyone cheered on the walkers/joggers. Not every venue has music here, so I'm finding it very noticeable when there is music. They don't play music in many restaurants, they don't play music in the grocery store or in the salon or at the mall. It's noticeable by its absence sometimes. However, sometimes there's music that's noticeable and also kind of funny because it seems so out of context. For some reason I've heard "Eye of the Tiger" a number of times, and a lot of other cheesy 80's and 90's music like Wham, Journey... I will try to make a note of the other music that's played here, but suffice to say that any music is welcome since it's something I think I have been used to and now I miss not having it playing in the background.





Dive boat with "The Beacon" in the background

Now for my dive report... I was determined to have a better experience on my second trip than on my first and I'm pleased to say that the second day of diving here at KAUST was great. We left the marina with no trouble, the weather was fairly calm and my showing for the first dive was really good. After just one mask adjustment, Bill and I and the dive master descended without incident to about 40 feet at Nizar Reef. We saw a lot of colorful coral, colorful fish and a smallish white-tipped shark. I'll make better notes on the fish I see diving, but for now I'll just mention that there are lots of different and colorful examples.

Diving Jan. 21, 2011.
Photo by Gary Taylor

I was primarily concerned with keeping myself calm and relaxed, given the difficulty I had on my first dive here (which was my first for 7 years). I was really very satisfied with how well I did on the Nizar Reef dive and was a little nervous to do it again after a 1 hour surface interval, but the second dive around Rowz (Rose) Reef was really amazing. Even with my low expectation level and focus just on my own ability and performance, the beauty of the reef was obvious. The reef formation is kind of like a small tower underwater. We swam around the circumference of the tower--40 minutes of easy swimming. Bill had told me that I would probably feel more reassured to be with the entire group of divers rather than just 3 or 4 of us separately, and that was very true. Stepping off the boat into the water, it was confidence-building to see other divers already swimming around beneath us. The visibility was quite good and I could easily see all of the way to the bottom. Overall, the visibility was probably 80-100 feet. We saw a lot of blue-purple bat fish, some other blue fish schooling up and down the tower, hundreds of tiny orange fish congergating around choice places on the reef; some yellow, black and white angel fish, two moray eels and a lion fish. I guess we missed one Napoleon fish, but I may have seen one of those on the dive anyway. It was really enjoyable and I was really pleased with myself and not being so overwhelmed by fear as I had been on the first outing. I really am looking forward to getting better and more comfortable with diving here every weekend.

Bright Lights of Jeddah

A friend here said, "Jeddah is prettier at night," and that seems to be true. The Arabic signs all lit up in huge, colorful, glowing clusters on buildings look so exotic, I feel like I'm in another world. Wait, I can make out Pizza Hut by the shape of the rest of the logo, and signs for Krispy Kreme and other icons are pretty easily identified. Most places have a Western version of the logo also, but some signs are only in Arabic and some only in English. Starbucks has a pretty strong foothold here, and the main difference between the ones in the US and the ones here is that here you can smoke.

Some of my favorites: baba ganoosh, hummus and tabouleh

Speaking of smoking, we found that in Jeddah there are family sections in places where hookah are served. We almost, or maybe I should say "I almost" sat down at a hookah cafe a couple of weeks ago that was men only. All restaurants, even Starbucks, have a "family entrance" and a "men only" entrance. The family section is for couples, groups of women, and families, and the men only section is obviously only for men. So far, it hasn't been that big of a deal to keep with the program of entering the correct door. Although we did have to walk way around to the rear of the Italian place we visited last week in Jeddah. The front door was men only. Bill accidentally went in a Starbucks some weeks ago through the family section door. He reported that a group kept cutting in line in front of him, and he kept protesting their "cutting" until he finally got up to the front to order and the clerk told him it was ok this time, but next time to enter through the men only door. Ooops! Well I'm sure I'm not finished accidentally going through the wrong door or making other mistakes.

Italian Restaurant hookah

We had a great time at an Italian restaurant last week. We took the bus in to Jeddah with two friends, and after being dropped on Talia Street (the Fifth Avenue of Jeddah) and receiving loose directions as to where to find the bus again at 11:00, we went off to find a restaurant. Of course we arrived during prayer time again, so we were worried we would have to wait at least another half hour to sit down somewhere. Fortunately, though, the restaurant that one friend recommended was very welcoming. With the prospect of open-air rooftop dining, we were persuaded to try it. We took the tiny elevator to the top floor and walked into a spacious and lovely Italian-style restaurant. Marble floors, floor to ceiling windows, tile accents, and carved furniture made up the decor. Reproduction paintings lined the walls opposite the windows, and fabric swaths framed some of the artwork. Built-in furniture with tile inlay was distinctly Arab, and touches like colorful cups hanging in rows gave an Italian feel. Naturally, we were in the family section, and abaya-clad women occupied most of the tables, some in the company of men or with their children. One huge table of about 20 women appeared to be celebrating something. The atmosphere was laid-back and relaxing. The couches and large, comfortable chairs made it easy to remain there for hours. We weren't able to get a table outside, but we were very happy with our table by the window. We ordered an apple-tobacco hookah, a pitcher of drinks with chopped fruit and proceeded to peruse the menu and enjoy a full 2 hours at the restaurant. A little window-shopping and a bus ride later, we arrived back at home for the night. The bus service is a really nice benefit since it's easy and it's free.

As American as...

We are off to a good start for 2011 already. I made my best apple pie EVER here at KAUST last night for a dinner party.

I am limited as to what I can cook since I sent just the emergency mess kit in the air shipment. One of the things that was included was the pie pan. Since we had a family of 5 over last night for spaghetti, salad and garlic bread (kids 13, 11 and 7) I thought I would make a pie for dessert.

Best apple pie ever!

I had to measure the butter with my new digital scale. The French butter we get here is in metric units, and although there are line indications on the packaging, they are not tablespoons. Good thing I got that scale! I also don't have anything but 2 sizes of liquid measuring cups and one set of measuring spoons. I thought pie crust would be forgiving enough though, and it was.

There are fountains everywhere at KAUST

Now that we have killed the food processor with the 220 power, I had to make the crust the old fashioned way, cutting in the butter with the 2-knife technique, then degrading down to the fingers-mixing method at the end. I was careful not to overwork it, and popped the just-pressing together crust dough right into the fridge to chill before rolling it out with my glass juice bottle (rolling pin still coming in the sea shipment). It seemed really flaky going into the pan, so I felt like it would probably come out really well, but I was really surprised that it turned out to be the very best pie I ever made. I'm so glad I went ahead with the attempt even with diminished kitchen equipment. It turned out to have been a really great result. I'm hoping for a lot more experiences like this, and not just in the kitchen.

Back to ingredients though, there are a number of things I have not yet been able to find. The most irksome hard-to-find item is Siracha chili sauce, and so far I have also not been able to find sesame oil. I did pick up some vanilla powder at Danube, the high-end grocery in Jeddah. It seems like practically all baked goods have vanilla, and I was wondering what I was going to do without it!

My trusty Novara 8-speed

Good thing I have been really active here, so I can burn off a little pie. Without a car, I have to ride my bike almost everywhere. The Novara 8-speed commuter-style bike we bought at REI has been perfect for getting around. It has fenders to protect me from water on the street, front and rear lights that charge when I pedal and two panier baskets. These can fold up or can easily come off the bike too. I have loaded up groceries, water, gym equipment and towels, and I'm sure it will carry lots of other things. The bike is such a pleasant way to get around.

Luckily we are only about 3 blocks from the grocery store, so I can ride there quickly or walk. The other day I heard the call for prayer time and I thought they were going to shut down the store, so I hurried in to buy the bottles of water and the bottles of full fat and low fat milk I went in for. Grabbing what I thought was milk, I got a high and a low fat version (for coffee and for cereal) and beat it out the door. The next morning when I opened the milk and examined the labels more carefully, I found that instead of milk I had bought laban. It won't work for coffee, but I'm actually really excited to have discovered this product. It's kind of a thinned-down version of yogurt, so it's perfect on cereal. It's kind of tangy, it's available in low fat and I've been buying it since that first mistake. Who knew I'd love laban so much?

Heinz products hail proudly from Pittsburgh

We had to get rid of so many condiments when we left Salt Lake. I hope my condiment-recipient friends are enjoying ketchup on their hamburgers right now and siracha on their steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs, spaghetti, pizza... you know it's great on everything, just like it says on the bottle. Anyway, I have been re-buying all sorts of condiments and on one of them, Heinz 57 Sauce, I just happened to notice the label has kind of a funny thing about it. See if you can figure out what's going on in this photo.

Un-escorted Females



Bill astride our motorized transportation vehicle



I was looking forward to diving, and our first outing was on Friday. We went out on the dive boat snorkeling the day before that too, so afterwards I thought I was pretty warmed up for diving. The water sports operation is really well set up. Nice catamaran-style boat with a captain, first mate, three or four divemasters, and five sailors/servers who wear the full-on sailor suits (very cute). "Welcome aboard, Mom. Welcome aboard, Sir." Everyone says "Ma'am" and "Sir" here but Ma'am sounds more like "Mom."

After a stop at the coast guard station, we made our way to the snorkeling site. A couple of women on the trip got seasick on our way to "Sand Island," but neither Bill nor I had any problems with the little bit of roughness. We wore shortie wet suits which kept us afloat while snorkeling, and after about an hour and a half of checking out the little reef around the small island, we were satisfied with the sea urchins, giant clams, parrot fish and other colorful fish we saw. The water was a little turbulent, so it wasn't the most ideal of conditions, and I ended up with blue and numb pinkie fingers, so we called it and relaxed the rest of the afternoon on the boat deck.
 Friday's scuba trip started out none too auspiciously with Bill waking up with a terrible pain in his big toe. I wasn't even sure we should go because he was having so much trouble walking, and it was obvious that it really hurt, but Bill said he had been looking forward to going, so he pulled it together and got us and our gear to the marina. That took 2 trips on the motorcycle: one with one pack filled with gear and one trip with me AND a pack filled with gear. 

Shot of the campus outside Bill's office

Our friend whose dogs we watched was going along on the trip too for her 2nd dive day at KAUST. We knew there could be trouble because her husband was out of town on a business trip for KAUST and therefore she was an "unescorted female." The rules are something like this: women can go out of the house in pairs or groups (but there is still the hazard of potentially not being served at some establishments if a group comes without a male guardian). Females may not go out alone; they must have either another woman with them, or a male member of their family. They may not be escorted by any other male. The rules apply more strictly to Saudi women than to foreigners.



The beach at KAUST

Wally, the International Dog of Travel

According to my dive log, I have not been on a dive since 2003. Yikes, that's a long time. I can swim an ok breast stroke, back stroke, or doggy-paddle but I'm not much of an underwater swimmer. Silly as it seems, I am really fearful of getting water up my nose, swallowing sea water or choking on water unexpectedly. In my head I know I can breathe through the regulator while underwater, but in practice it was a little difficult to warm up to being so out of my element. It took 3 tries to get down underwater and on to the swimming around, enjoyment-focused part of the dive. Luckily Bill was right there, and I had the help of the dive master who made me stay focused on him. It really was an accomplishment for me to do the dive at all, given how frightened I was at the beginning. In this sport, it is really important to stay calm and focused, and for me that means pushing down the tendency to panic and thinking calm thoughts. I can't say I saw very much during the dive since I was so focused on simply breathing, staying calm and trying to equalize my ears, but I did have the presence of mind to at least notice how cool it was to swim around the reef as though I was floating along the side of a cliff. It really is a great experience. Now if I can just get to the point where I am comfortable with being in such a foreign environment. I did go today to register and pay for this weekend's dive. I tried to see the dive master to talk about how to improve and want to practice s that I can dive with confidence. He was out, but I will go back tomorrow.

Driving in the Kingdom

View of the outside of our villa

Bill warned me that driving in Saudi Arabia is a little chaotic. Maybe it's good that I don't readily translate kilometers per hour to miles per hour yet, but what's clear is that everyone drives very fast and weaves in and out a lot. You can rent a car and drive yourself if you have the nerve and can navigate well in the city. If you are not going fast enough in the left lane, drivers will flash their lights, and if you don't get over fast enough, they will pass on the shoulder going probably over 100 mph.

In order to drive here, you must be male. In local news, apparently a local woman is facing charges for driving a car to the hospital for medical attention for her husband who was having a heart attack. We will have to wait and see what the outcome is in this case, but even though I am still not used to the idea of women being prohibited from driving, it is quite serious here.

Me at Goodies at the dried goods display

I can report that we had a good time at the consulate party. I almost left the villa without my abaya but luckily our friends reminded me. What a rookie mistake that would have been! After an hour and a half ride, with everyone riding his brakes, cutting in front of other drivers, and nearly missing pedestrians and bikers, we arrived at our destination. From the security line outside, I would have thought there must have been a thousand people there, but after 45 minutes at the checkpoint and a stretch limo ride, there were probably only a couple hundred attendees inside the secure compound. No cameras, no phones allowed, so sorry but I don't have any photos. In any case, we were starving at 10:30 at night so we got in line right away for dinner. They had a buffet and tables set up outside, so we sat and ate and watched the people. I probably haven't been in the country long enough to truly appreciate the contrast between people inside and outside the compound (or at KAUST for that matter), but since all of the women had to wear abayas while in line, it was a distinct difference after we all hung our black covers on coat racks. You might wonder how you would tell one hundred long, black garments apart, but there are usually decorative designs on each abaya. Beading, sparkly jewels, colored stitching or other details. Western women don't have to wear the head cover, and so far I haven't. I've seen lots of other Western women without head covers or veils, and reportedly Jeddah is more liberal than other parts of the country. I have also seen lots of women with only their eyes visible, and some without even their eyes visible. Their veils must be designed so they can see out, but no one can see even their eyes or bridge of their nose. I did see the very fancy shoes of the particular woman I am thinking of: clear shoes with heels and silver straps, but not a bit of her face showing. I don't think I wear the abaya as gracefully as the locals do. Sometimes you see women walking with the robes swooshing dramatically at their sides. I will be content simply to follow the rule of wearing it, possibly without as much drama.

Campus mosque

I understand that the New Year's party was originally supposed to take place poolside, but because of the flooding from all of the rain, the dancing was relegated to a smallish building inside the courtyard. At the stroke of midnight, there was much well-wishing and celebration among new friends as we launched into 2011. It was definitely the latest night I have had in a while since we did not get home and to bed until about 3:30. New Year's Day is not a holiday here so Bill had to work in the morning (Saturday, Jan. 1).

Weekends here are Thursday and Friday (Thaturday and Funday, we are saying). Wednesday night is like Friday night back home. TGIW. Bill says he is getting used to it.
Yesterday was my first trip to Jeddah during the day. We passed a lot of empty desert, which looked a lot like Nevada, saw goats, a chicken farm, some camels, a fish restaurant, a couple of roadside amusement parks with large ferris wheels, and several housing developments before reaching Jeddah. Around here, the pronunciation of the city's name is with two sort, clipped syllables, fast together: "Jed Duh."

Our first stop was IKEA for household things like rugs, kitchen organizing tools, a bigger garbage can, and laundry drying rack. Distinctly not-exciting things (except maybe the rugs). All of the floors are stone tile, and it is a relief to have a few rugs. I would really like to find an anti-fatigue runner mat for the kitchen. Just walking around the house all day on these hard floors has made my knees sore.


We also stopped at Saco World (Home Depot) and found a lot of the items on our list: organizers for the bathroom, cleaning supplies, screws and bolts. We got stuck during prayer time, which means that if you are in the store, you can continue to shop around, but most of the employees will be praying for 30-45 minutes. Bill has an app on his iPhone called iPray (I think that is the name) that helps you know at what time prayers will be called 5 times a day so you can try to adjust your schedule so you aren't stymied. On our trip yesterday we waited twice during prayers, but both times we were in the stores so it wasn't really that bad.



Fish counter at Goodies

The first prayer time delay occurred just as we arrived at a grocery-deli-restaurant called Goodies. They have an incredible deli of pre-cooked, ready to eat selections of everything from kebabs to every kind of middle eastern specialty I have ever seen (and many I haven't), beautiful fish with shrimp skewer garnish on a bed of sauteed vegetables, rolled and stuffed chicken, beef with mushroom sauce, every kind of pasta, salads... it was almost too much to believe. We wandered around the store as we waited and perused the meat counter where they had lamb, beef, and veal in almost any form you would want: legs of lamb, flattened medallions of veal, ground meats, loins trimmed to any size you want, cubes, deboned meat. They carry poultry of many descriptions, from whole chickens to tiny birds packaged about 30 to a package. They looked like sparrows and I'm not sure whether they were gutted, but they were plucked except for a few heads that perhaps could be used as garnish...? The chickens here are a lot more normal-looking in terms of size compared to the mega chickens we have in the states. I bet the ones here are half the size, and what I've tasted so far, a lot more chickeny flavor. I have made a tandoori-style marinated chicken at home once now and found it much more tasty. Maybe it is the bone to meat ratio, or maybe they are raised in a different method... they must be genetically different from the chickens I have always seen back home.

Middle Eastern specialties at Goodies

The fish counter, the fresh-baked pastries counter, olive and pickles counter and the juice bar were all amazingly over the top. You can purchase the pre-made food "to go" or eat it there in the restaurant. We very nearly sat down in the men's section on the main floor next to the deli cases when our friend reminded us we had to go upstairs to the "family" section. We sat down upstairs, ordered fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice, and the waiter arrived soon after with my kebabs (3 different ones: ground lamb with chilies, with pistachios, and with cilantro). Bill had rolled, stuffed chicken and a layered mashed potato/vegetable sort of side that was topped with melted cheese. Our friend got chicken parmesan with pasta alfredo, which also looked good. I smelled like garlic sauce the rest of the day, and I can't wait to go back and try some of the other selections.