Sandstorms in the Khaleej

Some great photos from Riyadh, thanks to the Guardian popped up in my reader feed of the sandstorms in the Gulf. They look a little more hardcore than the ones I was used to in Bahrain but reminded me of those many times when walking from the car to the apartment was hazardous for your contact lenses and usually involved repeatedly being lashed by hot grains of sand tot he face… and stepping out to your car in the morning, only washed the day before, and seeing it covered in brown sand. There’s also the fact that cars have to be washed and apartments dusted on almost a daily basis because these particles just come from nowhere and get in everywhere… all the time. 

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Bahraini Cultural Observations 1

It’s interesting to reflect on how I change when I’m in Bahrain, as opposed to when I’m in Melbourne.

Today I saw a girl and a guy having a coffee and a chat at Baretto and it didn’t occur to me until about 10 minutes later that they could be dating. It’s really not something that goes through my mind when I see a girl & a guy having coffee. In Bahrain however, if I see a guy & a girl having coffee in a cafe I immediately assume that they are carrying on a clandestine relationship and notice all of the little awkward oddities about their interaction.

Also in Melbourne I think nothing of scantily clad girls or girls that smoke. It’s summer, it’s hot, why not wear hot pants or a mini-skirt? Why not have a fag ouside with your coffee? In Bahrain, however, if you see a (Bahraini/Arab) girl with shoulders exposed, anything resembling slight cleavage, wearing anything above the knee and/or smoking then you immediately assume at the back of your mind that she’s probably of loose morals and probably comes from one of those expat schools. Not very fair but I just can’t help these things going through the back of my mind.