Our first trip out of the Country

Brooks, Gavin, and I, along with another couple, went to Bahrain last weekend for the day.  We "had" to make a trip out of the country, in order to activate our multi entry visas that we have, so we took advantage of our open weekend and set out for the day.  

Bahrain is located a little over an hour from Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, where we live and is a separate country.  Bahrain is its own island and is separated from SA by a causeway like highway.  Kind of like driving from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, except you have to make 5 stops along the way to get through customs, have visa checks, vehicle inspections, etc, etc.  Here is a glimpse of one of the stops we went through leaving SA.  I will say it's very nice to not have to get out of your car in order to do all these things.  However, if you are a Saudi woman who chooses to wear a face vail, you are required to get out of your car and walk to a building on the side where they hold Women's Passport Verification Checks.  The purpose of this is to have Saudi women lift their vails, to another woman of course, and verify that she is the woman on the passport.   It really does make sense to have something like that set in place seeing as how you can't see women's faces, so how do you know they are who is on that passport. Ok, enough about that.    

Before I keep writing more about our sightseeing and time in Bahrain, let me explain that since Bahrain is a separate country from Saudi Arabia, life over there is somewhat different.  First off, women do not have to be covered up in public, aka.... NO ABAYA wearing for me! Yippeee!  Secondly, women ARE allowed to drive, you can buy pork products anywhere (can I get a big woo hoo for bacon), alcohol is served & available,  and there are more American stores and products everywhere!!  Even though we were only in Bahrain for the day, there was a definite difference between where we live and over there.  You really could sense a feeling of freedom and were able to relax a little more!!  It was a nice break!!

Ok, now onto our day.....

We drove by The Al Fateh Mosque, otherwise known as The Grand Mosque, and decided to go get a tour of the inside.  Mosques are considered Muslim's churches where they go and pray 5 times a day.  This is the largest one in the city and has beautiful architectural sights!  We didn't make it here until mid afternoon, and we showed up as they were "closing" their tours, however, they allowed us 5 minutes to walk inside. Upon entering the building, we were required to remove our shoes, I had to put my abaya on AND cover my head (that was a first for me).  We weren't allowed to push Gavin in the stroller since the wheels of his stroller had not been cleaned properly so Brooks had to carry him.  Being inside the mosque, seeing parts of their rituals- the floor was all carpet, rugs were stacked up, Quran's were lined up against the wall and posters were displayed giving instructions on how to enter the prayer room, requirements before praying (you have to wash your body), and then how to pray along with the positions to be in during the prayer.   My heart just hurt.  I'm just grateful to serve a God who died for me, and my sins, and I am promised eternal life with HIM, because of what HE did on that cross.  I appreciate the love, hope, mercy, and grace that I'm given daily from HIM and I don't take that for granted.  I will say, I'm glad we went and saw the building... it's something we've never seen and now can say we experienced.   The grand room was beautiful.  It had a LARGE chandelier, I forgot where it was from, and there were arches, and stained glass windows, and more that really made the room look appealing.  We were allowed to take pictures inside since there were no lectures going on and the janitors were in there cleaning.  When we left, we were given some books on Islam, Muslim life, and how to more.  One of the titles was, Finding Jesus brought me to Islam-- hmmmm......

Bahrain is really a beautiful country and has some unique buildings.  Here were some neat places we saw while driving through the city.

During the day, we visited Gold City, just a building with tons of jewelry shops, knick knack stores, and more.  We went to one of the largest malls, called City Centre where we saw an indoor water park and regular/normal stores!  We (or I should say I) ate Cold Stone Ice Cream, we picked up Great American Cookie Company cookies (to take home), bought flavored coffee. and did a little shopping for our house.  Brooks found a speciality store for dates (his new favorite snack) so he picked up a few for him.  The store would be like a Godiva store for chocolates, but for dates.  Brooks and I want to bring Gavin back to the indoor water park before baby #2 gets here.  We think Gavin would love it!!  There was also a movie theater in the mall, something else Bahrain has that Saudi doesn't.  Our day was filled with too many things to do so we didn't go to a movie, but it's nice to know that's always an option. 

After the mall, we went to a different area and did some street shopping.  Our "street" shopping consisted of shopping from one side store to another.  We went to a DVD store, where I bought the movie Eclipse from a back room for $2.00, then we had our first experience rug shopping.  Rugs are HUGE over here and there are a lot of them all over.  I of course fell in love with a few and the one WE really liked, as the worker was pulling it out for us, he said, "Mam', you have really good taste!"  That can only mean one thing-- expensive... and yes, it was.  However, Brooks and I are still contemplating the rug, we loved it that much, and we just might have to make a trip back to Bahrain to get it!  After our shopping trip, we went to a local Indian restaurant-- Brooks was in love!!  He has wanted Indian food for weeks and was so excited to finally get some!  We enjoyed our nice dinner before heading back to Saudi.  

We can't wait to go back to Bahrain some time soon.  There are lot of other places we want to go to and places we want to see.  You just can't do it all in one trip.