The Perkins' Household When Eva Goes Down Early

Eva went to bed fairly early tonight.  We took her swimming for the first time (though it turned out to be a little too chilly yet), and I think we tuckered her out.  So what do we do when we have more of an evening to ourselves than we usually do?  I read my Karl Marx biography and the latest issue of Foreign Affairs while Alison had some fun doing math problems from the calculus textbook we have.

Yeah... Eva's probably going to be a nerd. 

(But.... its interesting! counters Alison.  I agree - but we're both still nerds.)

Bahrain on Sports Illustrated

A few years ago, Bahrain built a race track for the Formula 1 series.  This year, the opening race of the season is being held in Bahrain.  The main race is today, on a Sunday, which in the western world is a day off, but here is the first day of the work-week.  As such, a lot of schools will either have the day off or will tell teachers not to be too concerned about getting anything done in class.  I'm not sure what businesses do, but I imagine that for the non-service sector, today is a slow day.

One of the good things about the race is that thousands and thousands of people flood Bahrain from various parts of the world to watch the race.  This means a huge boon for the economy as people eat at restaurants, sleep at hotels and visit all the sites to see.   The unfortunate thing for me is all the people, and the cars they drive and the congestion they cause.

Formula 1, of course, isn't as big in the states as Nascar, but many of my non-American friends don't understand the appeal of Nascar (neither do I, actually.  If someone can explain it to me next time you see me, that'd be fantastic). However, since its such a big thing around the world, even places like Sports Illustrated have a page covering all the action in Bahrain.  So here you go.  Bahrain on Sports Illustrated.

The Games We Play

Eva is growing up so fast.  Already she's moved from being a fragile newborn to a chunky-ing infant that feels solid in my hands.  One of the things that Alison and I think regularly is that we like her in this stage.  But, then again, we liked her in the new-born stage (minus the bed-time struggles).  A few different people have told me this week that each stage brings its own challenges.  The other day, we were walking at one of the cornices and so we stopped and Eva had her first park play time (unfortunately, all those pictures are on my phone). 

However, she is getting old enough to play with!  We play so many games with her, and I've decided that some other people might even find it interesting.

• Push: basically, while most of Eva's weight is supported by Alison or I, she likes to push up with her legs.  Often, she is leaning on my shoulder looking behind me while I hold her legs
• Perch:  she will basically lay on my shoulder - her stomach on my shoulder - looking out behind me.  Sometimes I'll walk around the apartment while doing things and she'll just sit on my shoulder, on top of the world.
• Diaper Change:  there are few places where she smiles as much as on the changing table.  This means she spends a little extra time before and after the changing process getting and giving smiles. 
• Punch Millie the Moose:  we have a play mat on the floor with a stuffed moose that hangs within punching distance.  Now that she is gaining more control over her appendages, she has started hitting at Millie.  As she does, she makes cooing and laughing noises. 
• Sit on daddy's chest while he's laying down and smile at him while he blows on her face: that one's pretty self explanatory (Alison would like me to clarify that she does this with mommy, too)
• Dancing to TobyMac and Gritz:  She sits on mommy's lap while mommy moves her arms about.  And sometimes when the music is still playing but Alison has stopped moving her, she'll still wiggle and squirm! (I prefer the chicken dance myself)
• Fight the Man:  We have a fantastic swing that Alison's mom bought us - battery powered swing that goes as long as its switched on.  She doesn't play as much as give an intense look letting us know that she's onto our tricks and that she refuses to fall asleep.  She usually looses that game. 
• Grabbing:  We've started putting small toys into her hands for her to grab onto and hold.  She seems to wiggle more when she's got something in her hands (game courtesy of Brenda L).
• Mirror:  when Eva's on her floor mat, Alison will lay with her head next to Eva's and then put a mirror above them to look at.  Eva loves this game.  She starts 'talking' and cooing at the pretty girl in the mirror, and then will stick her tongue out in response to Alison doing the same.  

Mirror is one of the best games, so I've decided to include a video of it here.  I don't think she sticks her tongue out, but she does the smiling bit pretty good!

Oh - I also realized that I had already uploaded a video of Eva playing "Fight the Man".  This is just after the swing was bought.






And just because I can, my new favorite picture of my daughter and I:  "I love daddy!" 

Getting Directions in Bahrain

Getting directions in Bahrain is always an adventure.  Rarely are roads labeled, and even if they are, few people call them by their actual names and call them by 'popular' names (which is different depending on your social group).  If you are going somewhere, you often are referred to the nearest 'large' landmark and directed to sucessively smaller landmarks until there are no more familiar landmarks.  (The worst is when someone starts off with a landmark you don't know - that's always trouble later on).

I've learned that Bahraini's do a similar thing with one exception.  When getting (or giving directions), my Bahraini friends want (or give) only the general area.  Then when I arrive to the general area, I will call again to get more specific directions.  Makes sense, actually.  Then they can tell me, "Turn here",  or "After the cold store, turn left", which wouldn't work if given directions before I even left.

This happened to me the other night as I went to a charity center in one of the villages for a meeting.  When I arrived at the village, I gave my friend a call and he said, "Just ask anyone.  They will know where it is."  So that's what I did.  I found two guys about my age walking down the road, pulled over, and asked them where the Charity Center was. 

Well, first, they didn't know what "charity" center was in Arabic and assumed that because I was American that I must have been looking for the communication centers near Seef Mall, which was close by.  Once we established that I actually did want to be in the village and not at the mall, I called my friend so that he could speak Arabic with them give directions to the two guys, who could then tell me where to go.

To my surprise, this caused even MORE confusion!  My new friend (whose name I don't even remember) got a concerned look on his face as he tried to discern where the charity center was.  After a few minutes of what I figured was a less than productive conversation, he hung up and looked at me with a face that said, "I'm not really sure."  But he wasn't about to give up.

So he and his friend started getting in the car.  About half way in, they paused quickly to ask if it was ok if they came along, which I readily agreed to.  It was very kind of them to hop in and get me where I wanted to go.  Once they were in, we drove around the village haphazardly.  I think that they had a general direction and landmark in mind, but didn't know exactly where it was.

After a few wrong turns and a few more calls to my friend, we made it.  They were pleased with themselves to have helped, and I was grateful to them for having gotten me where I wanted to go.  I thanked them, shook hands and they walked off into the night.  I turned around to my friend at the charity center and he explained the problem.  They weren't Bahraini.  They were Egyptian and had only recently moved to Bahrain.  Oh well.  I made it to my destination.

ufo

Untranslateable Words: Wasta

There are some words in Arabic that don't have an English translation.  One of them is the word "wasta", which loosely translates as "connections".  However, even that words doesn't really get at the full meaning of the word.  Here is a comic I received in an email earlier today that might help with the translation of the word.

Wasta is a very important concept here.  One of my students once described wasta in this way:  imagine you wanted to get your drivers license, but you still had another year before you were old enough.  However, your dad knows the minister of traffic.  So he calls his friend the minister and asks him to push the paperwork along.  Because of the Minister's wasta, he was able to get you your license. 


Another student, who was not Bahraini, asked, "Isn't it like corruption?" Good question, and of course, the Bahraini student was very quick to answer no.  For us in the west, we would tend to say yes.  However, in Bahrain (and in much of the Arab world), wasta is just a part of daily life. 

In the west, some people don't have enough money to get something done.  Isn't that unfair?  Well, maybe.  But its an unfairness we've accepted (to some degree).  Here,some people have lots of wasta and some people don't.  Its a culturally accepted unfairness and accepted way to maneuver the system.

Elections in Iraq

On Sunday, March 7th, Elections will take place in Iraq.  These will be the third round of elections since the invasion in 2003.  While Iraq is certainly doing better than its darker days in 06/07, there are still many obstacles to overcome.

Here are some interesting highlights from some of the news stories I've read, all of which come from the International Herald Tribune (the international version of the NY Times):

• There are over a million people voting from out of Iraq, most of them refugees in Jordan and Syria. 
• One of the most senior Shi'ite cleric has refused to endorse a particular candidate, letting elections run their course.  This is a good thing as the clerics have enormous power to influence, and refusing to endorse is refusing to wield his religious authority in the elections (at least not directly). 
• A few suicide bombings were carried out earlier this week while security forces voted (I presume they voted early so they could focus on providing security during the elections on Sunday). 

Kurdish Region | I didn't know this until about 2 months ago, but the Kurdish region in the northern part of Iraq is autonomous.  Its internal workings, as I understand it, do not have interference from the national government in Baghdad.  Its been a relatively stable place since the US invaded in 2003, and there have even been schools and universities opening up.  Here is a really interesting article about the elections in that area and how it might influence the balance of power in the central government in Baghdad.

Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Bahrain?

I just found this on CNN - a quiz on Bahrain.  It's 10 questions, most of which are fairly easy if you live here.  But for those of you who don't live here, its kind of interesting - and see how much we've taught you (or tell us how much we need to teach you in the future!).

In general, CNN is doing a month long series on Bahrain.  It'll be interesting to see what kinds of things they report on.