A Moving Week to Remember
Ted's naturally expressive nature captured our thoughts and feelings quite perfectly while lounging on the couch the day after his exhausting and stressful move into his new home (see above picture). Ted seems to enjoy the vast amount of space where he can roam in this new house, but his only complaint is that the tile floors prevent him from getting a good case of the zoomies going. Within 24 hours of moving in though, he managed to open a plastic container (despite his lack of opposable thumbs) and help himself to 2 bags of dog treats and he has already gotten into the trash multiple times. In other words, he's adjusted well.
Aside from Ted's displeasure with the tile flooring and his chow-hound tendencies, our only complaint has been the fact that the movers decided not to show up on our scheduled move-in day, then the next day, mid-move they informed us that they were missing one of our crates. Ah, overseas life in the military.
Aside from those minor hitches, however, we have moved into our home for the next two years (fingers crossed). Luck was on our side when we found this place, which has a wonderfully bright and large kitchen, a peaceful patio, close water access, 4.5 bedrooms, and an impressive 5.5 bathrooms (meaning, thankfully, if you have a sudden bathroom emergency, you are no more than one second away from relief at all times). After living on top of each other for our entire marriage (either that or being on opposite ends of the world), McLean and I both staked out our own private rooms. He has taken to calling his room his "office" which he will likely fill with more books than you could ever fathom an individual owning as well as his guitars, a nice large desk, a Lay-Z-Boy recliner, and a bottle of whiskey that'll make your nose hairs tingle from a mile away. As for my room, I have named it my "zen" room. Here I envision doing yoga every morning, lighting lavender-scented candles, painting, scrapbooking, reading, and lounging carelessly as the afternoon sunlight filters through the large doors. But, if we're being realistic here, it will probably just end up being a room full of stuff that I don't know what to do with, therefore having the opposite effect of a "zen" room. Nevertheless, here's to hoping I can create the Pinterest-worthy space I envision.
I must say that the first night we stayed here, on our bed, surrounded by our own furniture, our own cooking utensils, our beloved grill, and so on, it felt magnificent. After living out of a few suitcases for over a year, it felt good to have our own couch to sit on, bed to sleep on, and junk to store away in a junk drawer somewhere to never see again. As the movers were bringing in furniture we often had to have them partially unwrap it in the hallway just to remember what we had. Unpacking all of our boxes full of clothing and other household goods was like Christmas morning. We even had some items that were gifted as wedding presents that we got to open and use for the first time. We did have some things break, some linens ruined, and furniture broken, but nothing that couldn't be fixed or replaced...BUT we're still waiting on one crate, so it's probably safest to proceed by being cautiously optimistic. Our house feels more and more like a home each day, and we think it feels a bit like living on a resort out here away from the hustle and bustle of Bahraini city life. We can hear the birds chirping, there is grass out here, neighboring trees carelessly hang onto our back patio, it is quiet and serene, and the water is lovely to be near especially during sunset.
Now, shifting gears a bit (pun intended), on to my car. When leaving our villa last week and heading to the gym, I heard a thumping noise and found that I had a flat tire. I made it to the closest grocery store and called my friend who lives near us. We tried to change it, but despite me standing on the tire iron, we couldn't get the bolts to budge (it was also about 117 and super dusty). So we gave up and went back to her place. I looked on the Facebook page here for American families in Bahrain and found a number for a guy to call for vehicle help. Not expecting much and also expecting him to charge me exorbitant amounts, I called him. He answered right away, and said he would be right over. Clearly not adhering to the same Arab timings as say, the moving company workers, EIGHT minutes later, he called me again and said he was at my car waiting for me. My friend rushed me back over there to find that he had already loosened the bolts on the tire, and he quickly proceeded to change the tire for me. Then he told me about his car garage located close-by, so, realizing that the car also should have an oil change, I followed him to the garage and left my car in his care (he had kindly offered to drive my car to his garage and allow me to drive his Hummer for the afternoon, but I politely declined). Later that afternoon he called me and said my car was ready, and when I got there he had not only changed the oil and filter, patched the tire and put it back on (turns out the movers had generously left a hefty amount of nails in our driveway), and put the spare back in its place, but he had also cleaned all of the dust off the engine, checked the fluid levels of everything under the hood, put more water in the radiator, and put more air in all of my tires. All for the equivalent of about $50. For perspective, when we changed the oil in the Camry, we were charged about $45. And he was incredibly flexible with my lack of a ride to pick up my car and my continuous changing of plans and time for when I would pick it up.
Then, as leaving the gym a few days later, I found that my car wouldn't start. Luckily right across from the gym is a car garage, so a man came and jumpstarted it for me, kindly charged me nothing, and sent me on my way. Fearing this was not just a one-time issue, I once again called Shakeel who promised to meet me at our house later that evening and take a look. When he got there it wouldn't start again, so he jumped it and drove my car to his shop, leaving his Hummer sitting in our driveway for the night. Turns out the car needed a new battery and alternator, and for a very reasonable price, Shakeel had my car fixed and returned within 24 hours.
I reach new levels of appreciation when I find myself at the mercy of people here, and, instead of taking advantage of my unfamiliarity with the country, they extend a helping hand. After the week we had been having, my faith in humanity and the value of hard work was restored, and I was so overjoyed and thankful that I just wanted to give Shakeel a big hug (obviously I didn't, but the thought of doing it made me chuckle). He probably thought I was some crazy American woman, judging by the number of times I profusely thanked him.
After all of the "moving week" action, we fled the country and hopped over to Dubai for 2 nights. Stay tuned for an update on that adventure! And if you ever get a wild hair, tempting you to come to Bahrain, we now have a guest bedroom that is very available! Also, probably more importantly, Ted could use someone new to harass.
