Eid Mubarak!

Happy Eid everyone. It has been a long month but we can finally say that Ramadan is behind us. We can now drink and eat in public from sun up until sun down without looking like the ugly Americans. Businesses will now return to normal working hours and things will generally get back into a normal flow. Example: We purchased a 2001 Suburban early last week. I was able to pick up the vehicle but the registration and insurance paperwork won't be ready until after Ramadan ends. I have included pictures of our current toys below. So we are now on the last day of a 5 day weekend. Eid marks the end of Ramadan and is the biggest holiday of the year for Muslims. This occured two days ago however everthing is still closed and won't open back up until tomorrow.

The five day weekend has been a blast. A lot of people leave for exotic trips over this break. Some of this excursions include Sri Lanka, Sharm el Sheik (Egypt), Hedra (Greece), scuba diving in the Red Sea off the west coast of Saudi, Dubai, and of course good old Bahrain. We opted to stick around. The highlight of the weekend was a beach party thrown by Marie, Cheri and a friend from work, Tamara. We invited people from RT and Dhahran and ended up having close to 60 people show up for an afternoon of swimming and BBQ on the beach. The party lasted until well after dark and everyone had a great time - epecially me.

The other big news of the weekend I mentioned above is that we are no longer confined to driving the golf cart around camp. We are now the proud owners of a big honkin' 2001 Chevy Suburban! I purchased it from a company down south on the way to Dhahran. Aramco leases most all of it's vehicles for 2 or 3 year terms. When they turn them back in, you can go and buy them used. I got this at a great price with only 37,000 kilometers on it. It is a beast. I think it may have been used to inspect the oil lines out in the desert because it came with sand tires on it which I have to replace. The company I purchased it from cleaned up the engine and replaced filters, belts, fluids and jacked up the A/C. They also cleaned out the inside. This should last me a long time.

We also have recently aquired a motorbike. I can't call it a motorcylce because it is too small. However is it bigger then a scooter and therefore is called a motorbike. It is not actually ours. Cheri has hooked up with a group of women here in RT who all ride scooters. They formed a little biker group called the "Hooters on Scooters" and drive around for fun once a week or so. So Cheri picked up this bike and keeps it in our garage. We get to use it whenever we want.

Of course there is also the golf cart. A 2004 Club Car that has been a life saver for us for the past month. I wish I could say it has done the same for my golf game but it hasn't.

Finally, I can start the count down to Bahrain. We were supposed to go this weekend but didn't have the car lined up. So then we were going to go this coming weekend but due to Eid I don't have the paperwork on the car in hand yet and I need the registration to get through customs going accross the causeway. Now we are looking at 3 weekends out until we can go. That means that in exactly 17 days we will make our way out of kingdom for the first time. I have an education conference in Bahrain that weekend so the district is sending us for one night and we decided to extend it to two nights. I can't wait. I was driving the golf cart home from golf yesterday all hot and thristy and I found myself daydreaming about a tall cold beer. Not a Sam Adams or Stella or some high end beer either. I was dreaming of a Miller Lite! Oh lord I can't wait. 17 days baby. 17 days.