Year 2007 in Review and Happy New Year

The Year 2007 in Review and Happy New Year

2007-12-26T06:50:00.000-08:00

Life in Bahrain!

We continue to enjoy living in Bahrain and are thankful for our new friends - the kids at play.

In February, Georgine and Kemi took a girls' trip to Kuwait with our friends Indira and Aisha. We enjoyed visiting the souq, going to the beach, walking along the corniche and visiting the Science Museum. Pictures of Georgine and Kemi in Kuwait

SPRING BIRTHDAYS

In March, Kemi and Kunle celebrated their 9th and 3rd birthdays, respectively. Kemi's Birthday and Kunle's Birthday pictures.

In May, Yomi celebrated the Big 4-0 quietly at home and then had a quiet dinner with Georgine at a restaurant overlooking Saudi Arabia.

FAMILY TRIPS

In June, the family took a trip to Hawar isalnd with Yomi's colleagues at the Central Bank. It was fantastic and the kids had a great time at the beach, on the water slides, and go karting. Georgine discovered that even Kunle is better at go karting than she could ever hope to be - For Hawar Pictures click on picture below

Going back home to Maryland for three and a half weeks with stops in London and Cambridge was a treat for the whole family. It was nice to see our friends in Maryland but it was difficult saying goodbye again. Georgine and Yomi showed the kids where they lived and studied in Cambridge. They also showed them the exact spot where they met 10 years ago. We came back home to the oppressive heat that envelops this part of the world in summer but it was more manageable than we expected. Besides with many people away for the summer break there was less traffic. Summer 2007

FINAL QUARTER OF THE YEAR

Before we knew it, September was here and it was the first day of school. Yinka was not happy changing schools but has made new friends - School Pictures

Georgine had one of the best birthdays ever. Kemi baked her a cake and the family took her to dinner at the Ritz.

In October, Jennifer came to visit us. Jennifer and Georgine have been friends since high school (over 20 years). They went to Jordan (Amman, Jerash, Mount Nebo, Dead Sea, Bethany) for a week and had a fantastic time. Warning - over 100 pictures here

In November, Yinka had a soccer party to celebrate his 8th birthday. Yinka's party pictures

In December, Aunty Yemi came to visit and we had a great time shopping for her wedding, helping her to celebrate her birthday, and eating lots of seafood. We were too busy to do much sightseeing so she has to visit us again so we can show her around. Pictures with Yemi

Christmas 2007 is over but we enjoyed all the excitement Christmas brings with it - celebrating the birth of Christ and sharing with family and friends. A few Christmas pictures

We are thankful for the past year and as it comes to a close, we wish all our family and friends, a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008. May God bless everyone of you with his love and peace.

We have been busy!

2007-01-17T22:56:00.000-08:00

THE WEATHER
Let's start with the weather. Believe it or not it is freezing here! Even colder than in D.C. on some days. And so another misconception about the Middle East went crashing out the window. Bahrain is experiencing the coldest winter since 1904. All the stores in the country ran out of space heaters and those who missed out on the rush for heaters had to freeze for a few days as suppliers scrambled to import more from Dubai. We all have to wear socks and sweaters inside the house. Provided there are no more surprises it should be warmer by the end of January.

CHRISTMAS
Our first Christmas in Bahrain was enjoyable. To answer a friend's question: it was definitley not like Eid Al Fitr or Eid al Adha in D.C. For here, there were Christmas decorations everywhere, including snowmen and the ubiquitous Santa Claus. There was a festive spirit in the air and the only things missing were Christmas carols. Luckily we had some CDs which we listened to repeatedly but we didn't mind. We decided to try something new and had Christmas lunch at a hotel this year: Kemi got stuffed on stuffed turkey; Kunle's cars were present at lunch; Yinka ate too much bread, Yomi missed his "iyan" and Georgine was happy not to have had to cook or clean up! And best of all, Santa indeed goes everwhere.
More pictures:http://www.flickr.com/photos/70975759@N00/sets/72157594392051195/detail/

EXPLORING
We took our first trip out towards the south of the island and saw the Tree of Life and the highest point in Bahrain, Jebel Al Dukhan. The kids climbed their first mountain. The Tree of Life is astonishing because its standing right in the middle of the desert, with no other tree to be seen for miles. And nobody knows its source of water. Its been standing there for generations and is reputed to have stood there for over 400 years.

Driving to the Tree of Life took us past several oil wells. Bahrain is the first country in the Gulf to discover oil. There was a famous geologist who had laughed at the idea of finding oil in Bahrain. Apparently, he made a bet that he would drink every drop of oil found in the Gulf!!

More pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/70975759@N00/sets/72157594392042663/detail/

OFF TO SCHOOL

Jumping down the stairs, Kunle declared, "Mommy, I am happy!"
A very curious Mommy asked, "Why are you happy?"
"I am going to school!"

And off to school we went.

More pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/70975759@N00/sets/72157594392051718/detail/

HOW TO PEEL A BANANA
There is an ongoing dispute in our home as to how to peel a banana. We found out(after almost 10 years of marriage the things one discovers) that Yomi has been peeling bananas from the non-stem end. He says this is the way bananas are peeled in Nigeria. In Jamaica, bananas are peeled from the stem end. In his bid to convince the rest of us that he was actually the genius in the family he unearthed an article on the Internet. Written by an economist (some authority!), the article explores the pros and cons of peeling bananas from either end. Have a read: http://www.slate.com/id/2067407/

Sightseeing!

2006-11-25T21:02:00.000-08:00

Things are becoming more familiar and we have been able to explore. But before we get to that - whoever said it never/rarely rains in the desert?

Well never mind who ever said it, we believed and so we left all rain gear (umbrellas, raincoats and boots) in Washington. Well it has been raining on and off for the past week, which was fine since it was mainly drizzles here and there. Well, that changed because it rained all through the night with thunder and lightning. Since we don't know how long this will last we will at least get umbrellas and then without a doubt it will stop raining.

Yinka celebrated his 7th birthday this month. He has gotten taller and leaner and fancies himself to be a great soccer player. Here he is a little ferocious looking leopard. Yinka says "Here in Bahrain things are different. It seems like every mall has a play place. Some things are the same. Like they have McDonalds, Papa Johns Pizza, KFC and Burger King. I love living in Bahrain." (extract from Yinka's Journal on November 4)

Kemi is creating up a storm in art class:

Christmas ornament; shopping list/notepad;

and pin cushion.

We visited some interesting sites this past month, including the A'ali Burial Mounds, the Bahrain Fort and Miina Salman Port. The highlight of the trip to Miina Salman is that Kunle was able to climb all over a digger.

We have settled in

2006-10-23T06:27:00.001-07:00

As you know we arrived in Bahrain on September 20 and now that we finally have Internet access at home we feel that we have settled in. We lived in a hotel for two weeks. The kids loved it - especially room service and going to the pool frequently. They were a very busy two weeks - trying to find a house, buying furniture and other household items, finding schools for the children, getting drivers licenses, resident permits and so on. Since we did not have a car you can imagine that it was tiring (and expensive). The children were really super, in fact, if they weren't such good troopers things would have been very difficult.

The older ones started school after our second week here and thankfully after being out of school for so long it appears that their grey cells still work. They are adjusting well and are making new friends.

Yomi started working a week after we arrived and his colleagues were very helpful in big and small ways. They have rallied round to help us settle quickly and without their support, things would have been harder. Yomi is pleased to have a view of the ocean from his office and parking in the basement of his office building. Bahrain is the financial capital of the Middle-East, with a large number of financial institutions (conventional commercial and investment banks; Islamic commercial and investment banks; conventional off-shore banks; Islamic off-shore banks; conventional insurance companies; Islamic insurance companies; specialized banks, a stock exchange, etc) and Yomi is still trying to sort out in his head which is which!!

Kunle and Georgine (the hardest working family members) are very busy at home, going to the pool and making sure the others are well-fed. They work well together except that Kunle is a chatterbox and asks too many questions. Despite Georgine's unfailing patience, he had the audacity to remark the other day, "Mommy you are driving me nuts!" Good thing Georgine has a sense of humour.

Overall, we are beginning to find a new routine and all seem to be happy with the roles they now have....Georgine going back to work...that would be too easy!

Welcome to our Blog

2006-09-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

We arrived safely but tired in Bahrain on Wednesday September 20, 2006 in the evening. Kemi said that Bahrain reminds her of Jamaica while Georgine thought of Turkey. Yinka thinks Bahrain is like Jamaica because of the many palm trees. Yomi says it is sunny and very hot and this afternoon he was reminded of walking home from elementary school.

We are now staying in a hotel so it feels a little like we are on vacation.

We had a busy Thursday visiting schools, looking at a few houses and Yomi went to the office (not to work). Here weekends are Fridays and Saturdays (Thursdays and Fridays for some businesses and schools) so there is not much we can do except look at houses over the next couple of days.

Thanks to everyone for their good wishes and prayers. We appreciate it.

Till next time.