The desert (sort of) and the beach

We are back in Hamburg for a couple of weeks before at least one of us is off on our next jaunt, so I figured I better catch you up on our latest activities.

But first (for planning purposes, because that's what Germans do best), a peek at the next six week's calendar:
South Africa (David)
Botswana (Leslie)
Slovenia (Leslie & David)
Trinidad & Tobago (David)

Besides the frequent flier miles we are racking up, we are also accumulating a heap of overtime because our job pays us for travel time. A trip to S. Africa is worth about 16 hours (one way). Just travel nearly gets us a week off on these big trips. The only bummer is we have no time for vacation. But, when life feels like a vacation, it's not such a big deal.

And now, a look back. First of all, the sun has been shining almost nonstop here in rainy-ass Hamburg. Or, I guess I should say - formerly rainy-ass Hamburg. The grass is even starting to turn brown. Did you get that? The grass is starting to turn brown. It's a little disorienting, not walking around in rainboots and constantly checking my bag for an umbrella, but I can get used to it.

A couple of weeks ago, our neighbor (and frequent Stella-watcher and Stella-friend), Inge invited us to her beach house for the weekend. I normally would be reserved about spending an entire weekend at a relatively remote location without a car and with someone I only casually know at their house. But, Inge is cool. She was a communist and still calls her good friends 'comrade'. She is also an artist. As it turns out, her very cute beach house is covered in her art, which is one part impressionist and one part kooky lady with a proclivity for flourescent pink. It works, especially in volume. She is the only person in her entire neighborhood without immaculately groomed grass. Instead, dandelions and other weeds grow wild, threatening the pristine lawns around them. Somehow, her status in the community allows her to get away with her unkempt yard - really a feat in hyper-orderly Germany.

Anyway, we spent a great weekend on the beach - walking, relaxing, drinking wine and watching Stella fetch tennis balls out of the Baltic sea.

Let's contrast this with the next beach experience - Bahrain. What an incredibly weird place. It is a tiny little island right off the east coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf. The population is around 1 million people, many of whom are immigrant workers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Phillipines, and other relatively poor Asian countries. These immigrants effectively do all of the manual and service labor - all of it. You would never in a blue moon see a native Bahraini waiting tables, cleaning or even managing hotels or restaurants. Maybe a really swanky restaurant, but even then, a stretch.

Even professional positions are 'outsourced' - the engineers, bankers, doctors, professors, etc - all from the West. I'm not sure exactly what most native Bahrainis do during a typical day, other than shop at the competing malls that occupy an absurd amount of Bahraini real estate. Malls and desert - it's just about all that's on the island. Oh, and big, fancy hotels, which seems to be where everyone eats.

The country (and most of the region) is filled with odd paradoxes. For instance, most Bahraini women are extremely conservative in their dress, wearing black abayas that cover their entire bodies, head to foot and some variety of hair covering. The hair cover is also black and typically covers at least a woman's hair but may also cover part of or her entire face except for her eyes. Although, most women with only their eyes peaking out are Saudi Arabians who've driven across the 20km bridge to get their shop on.

Now to the paradox. We were in Bahrain from Saturday evening until Friday evening. Weekends in Bahrain and most Gulf countries are either Thursday and Friday or Friday and Saturday - the muslim holy day is Friday. I tell you this because we noticed a sharp change in the hotel clientelle starting Thursday evening. First of all, there were many more Saudi Arabians than other days during the week. You can tell because the men wear red and whited checked hair coverings and their wives show only their eyes. The other notable change were some pretty scantily dressed women milling about the hotel - in the elevators, in the lobby. These women absolutely stuck out under the circumstances - but the 5 inch heels and 3 inch skirts would have grabbed any Westerner's attention. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I just think it's freaking weird that these uber-conservative Saudis cross a physical (and apparently symbolic) bridge to a land where whores and beer (both of which are absolutely forbidden in Saudi Arabia) await them. And somehow this is completely acceptable.

I don't know what gives. But, who am I to judge? They just better not judge me.

The other weird paradox is the abuse of air conditioning. Don't get me wrong, it's hot. And humid. And you need air conditioning. But, for almost a week solid, I froze - in the seminar room, in the hotel, in cars. The A/C blasted out of every vent, conduit and building orifice at about 30 degrees. I was really glad to get back to Hamburg, where it was warm.

Also, given the abundance of ultra-cheap labor, you can get a custome-made suit for about 60 euro, which we did. It's pretty sweet, too. Cashmere-silk blend, nice jacket. The pants need some work, but for the price, hey! At first, David and I deliberated about the ethics of having some guy make us a suit for such an absurdely low price. But then, I realized this guy was making about ten times what he would normally get in the Calvin Klein factory. At least. And he can set his own hours. And we're not giving money to some corporation. At least, not that I could tell.

Anyway, Bahrain was an interesting place that I am glad I saw. As part of the traditional seminar excursion, we went to the Bahrain International Circuit - a Formula One race track. We all got to go inside the control station and the press boxes - a very cool insider's look. We also went to the brand-new Bahrain National Museum. One more quick story. This new museum got lots of money from UNESCO, representatives of which came to see the museum on opening day and were surprised to find the museum open only 4 hours each day because they couldn't find enough people to keep it open all day. See what I mean?!

Ok, next stop, (for me) - Botswana. I'll try to post again between now and then - we should have something fun to share with you!

Since the sun is shining and it's been like 80 for 2 weeks, of course, I love Hamburg!