I am a half Turkish, half American third culture kid with a passion for God, music, science and languages. I've been playing violin since I was 6 and it's a gift I thank God for everyday.
Traveling is a major part of my life. I grew up in 7 different countries and I have visited 26. I am blessed to have seen so much at a young age.
Jihan-Joy
and the picture below. Thanks!
Ahmed Aoun, 17 year old boy from Bahrain who was shot in the eye by Bahraini forces. He has since been detained and has been denied his right to seek medical help. The pellet is still in his eye and there are fears that he could lose his eye. We need all the help we…
This is the view from my apartment in Bahrain.
Bahrain is the 26th country I have been to.
My experiences so far:
I decided to take a little time and share my experiences so far.
I have only been here a few weeks, but I do have some experiences I can base my judgements off of.
First of all- it is kind of hard to define Bahrain. When you walk around and observe the people, you mostly see that they are from Singapore, India, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia etc. and have come here for jobs. So far I have met two people that are legitimate natives of Bahrain.
The farthest I have ever been to the east side of the world is Turkey. So I don’t have any true “Middle Eastern” culture experiences. What really set in the fact that I was going to be in the Middle East is when my Gulf Air flight was landing, and I caught a glimpse of all the houses and the architechture. I was really excited to experience this culture.
The Kingdom of Bahrain is a very rich culture. I pretty much mean that money wise. Every where you go here is like 5 star bliss and just beautiful, like it is out of the movies. Its kind of pricey in places- but hey, its worth what you get.
Downtown:
So far, I had any authentic experiences yet. I went to this place called the “souk” (one variation of the spelling). They had some Bahrain memorabilia. The worst part was that is was ridicoulsouly humid and all the merchants were trying their hardest to get your attention. My advice: keep your face foward and pretend you don’t speak english. However, there we did find some gorgeous hand made carpets. My mom tried to bargain for a 100 yr old Afghani carpet that was just beautiful and unique. The funiest part of hunting Bahraini treasures was that most of the stuff was hand made in Turkey- now why would I need that? :)
Manama Souq
Where I live:
The island I live on is called Amwaj. More specifically I live at a Place called “Tala Islands.” This place is beautiful. It takes me seconds to walk to the gym, the beautiful pool and just steps from that the sea- right at my doorstep.
Hopefully it is easy to tell the difference between the pool and the sea. I spend nearly three (non-consecutive) hours here, everday!
Manama:
The city is very industrious. The architechture is just AMAZING! The only problem I see with all this expansion and the buildings is that- they have a lot of money and others investing in the buildings but there isnt any demand for it, who is supposed to live and inhabit all of the these places? Driving around the city is one of my favorite parts of living here. Being able to look at the masterpieces that touches the sky.
Here is a building that looks completely different from the other side!
Their driving is a little bit crazy. Not as bad as Istanbul or Bucharest because the roads are a lot better but still enough to make you a little mad. ;)
The worst part!
This is dust storm or sand storm. Sometimes it gets so windy here! We will clean the house and the balcony and the next day we can literally wipe sand off the chairs outside. Sometimes it is pretty to watch when you are safe inside. They usually happen at night and get stronger then, but during the day if it is really windy- I wouldn’t advise going outside. Yesterday my flip flops flew into the pool and stuff was hitting my sunglasses. I quickly ran inside after that.
During the day it may look bright and sunny but if there is wind it will really ruin the time you spend outside.
Its not really dangerous or anything- just annoying…
I will probably be posting more about my personal experiences since I will be here so long!
Be blessed.
I was having a hard time determining what I should blog about. I had to ask myself, what do I have a good bit of knowledge about, and sound experiences doing?
I am going to start blogging about traveling. I have visited 26 countries, so why not share my own experiences with other people?
I am going to be sharing my own thoughts of the country (hopefully I will be able to upload photos I actually took in the countries) and then I will blog about the country itself- sharing just a little bit of background information.
The countries/places I will be posting are:
- Turkey
- Germany
- USA
- Sweden
- Norway
- Finland
- Estonia
- Belgium
- Poland
- Portugal
- England
- Italy
- The Netherlands
- Luxembourg
- Austria
- Switzerland
- France
- Ireland
- Liechtenstein
- The Vatican
- Canada
- Romania
- Greece
- Bulgaria
- Russia
- Bahrain
Stay tuned :)
