Riding The Struggle Bus

Y'all, I want SO SO badly to have a good outlook on life right now.  I want so much to be taking in every second of this adventure and just squeezing the heck out of it.  Living in the moment, laughing at each crazy turn, so on and so forth, but it's just not happening.  I am struggling to find moments in a day to "carpe" and I sure as heck am not carpe-ing a whole entire diem.

So here is the truth:

Right now, this SUCKS!  I know that I won't feel that way for forever and for that I am grateful but right now finding joy is an all out battle.  It's hot here, like miserable hot.  It's ironic, because ATX got hit with a heat wave about the time we got out here (2 weeks ago).  The temps back in Texas were pretty much the same as they were here in Bahrain, but there are 2 huge differences.  The first is, electricity does not cost in Texas nearly what it does in Bahrain.  If we still lived in Texas, we would have kept our AC pumping and just not spent as much time outside.  NBD.  Here in Bahrain, electricity is CRAZY expensive.  We hear stories of people who spend so much on AC trying to keep the house cool that it would have been cheaper for them to leave and go on vacation.  CRA-CRA!  I am scared to see what our first electric bill is going to be.  One of the big reasons I agreed to come here was all the travel opportunities, but we can't travel if we don't have money left after paying our electric bill.  So, it's barely cool in our house, it's tolerable, that's it.  I would be curious to know what temperature other people keep their houses.  If there was a way to check how much our electric bill was 10 days into the month of July (our first full month) that would make me feel better (or cause an all out panic attack, it could go either way), it would give me something to go off of but to my knowledge, they are not that organized here so instead I have a constant battle in my head; would I rather be cool and comfortable and risk paying a fortune or would I rather sweat it out a little and hopefully save some money (maybe even enough for 1 plane ticket, a round-trip ticket to Turkey right now is about $350, just saying).  The second difference is in ATX the temperature will go back down, here in Bahrain we are just getting started.  This week in ATX the temps are back in the 90s, still hot but cool enough that the kids can go play outside in the evenings.  Here in Bahrain it's not even noon yet and it's 100, feels like 108.  The low today is in the high 90s.  It's even hot swimming in the cooled pool.  We have been told June, July and August are the worst.  It's July 10th, I hate wishing away time, it feels like a waste in this one short, precious life but come on September, you can't get here fast enough.  I have all the blinds in the house pull down trying to keep the sun out and the cool in.  I feel like we are alone, secluded in this hot foreign country.

Upon arrival we found out that just as we were coming, most expats were leaving.  People who live here from America and the UK generally leave and go home during the summers (because it's hot and it's cheaper than staying here and paying your electric bill).  Mostly, I feel bad for my kids.  There are not many kids around right now, they are bored and lonely.  This will not be a fun summer for them, not the best introduction to their new country.  We went to the pool every day that first week and did not meet a single kid their age.  When we asked on our housing community Facebook page we were told that most people consider it too hot to go to the pool. Too hot to go to the pool.  That's my reality right now.

I remember when we we tried to look at cost of living calculators for Bahrain, it seemed like over all it would be a little cheaper than Austin, TX.  That my friends is a lie.  It's so freaking expensive out here!  Moving on from the cost of electricity, let's talk anything entertainment wise.  All the indoor jump parks, arcades, whatever else for kids are not cheap.  You could go broke here in a hot second trying to keep your kids entertained during a hot summer. 

I could go on, but I won't.  You get the idea.

There you have it.  That's the honest truth of where I am at.  I am laughing, don't get me wrong.  I laughed at myself for buying Arabic coffee and trying to make it in my French Press.  I laughed (internally) at my poor husband when we tried to go get our CPR cards and they would not let him in the building because he was wearing shorts.  (When going to government buildings in Bahrain, wear long pants. Tip from an insider.)  But I am also crying (ok, not really, but internally maybe), and wishing for the United States where they charge everyone the same amount for electricity and I can wear tank tops. 

This too shall pass.

Right?!

A Story of 500 lbs

First, a little back ground:

When we were moving out here we were told that it would take our stuff 2-3 months to arrive because it was going in a container ship over the sea.  Obviously, we were a little worried what we would do for those 2-3 months having only the things that we could pack in our suitcases.  It was at that point we found out that we would also get a 10X10X10 container that we could put 500 lbs worth of stuff in that they would fly out and we would get in 4-6 weeks.  Packing that is when I realized how much stuff we have in general and how much of our stuff I really don't care THAT much about (and yet, I can't let go of... go figure).  Anyhow, when word arrived that our air shipment had arrived in Bahrain we got excited.  When we found out it had made it though customs we were stoked and when it arrived at our home: Pure. Joy.

As we packed it, I realized I had no idea how much 500 lbs was, I thought I would put a ton of clothes and shoes along with some basic cooking items in and that would be it.  It turns out that we maybe hit 300 lbs of stuff and that was with me throwing in all sorts of random things at the end.  I am grateful I added a folding table and chairs, but I so wish I would have put the kids Lego's (or at least some of them) in there.  We have an empty house, they have read the books I brought a few times, we could use some Lego's!

At any rate, the first week we were here, it was just us and the clothes we had packed in our suitcases, along with a few essential things we bought, but then... the 500 lbs (ok 300ish) Air Shipment arrived!  It is always like Christmas unpacking your things in a new house and this my friends, this was even better!  When you get everything at once, it's great but it's overwhelming.  There are boxes EVERYWHERE and unpacking them all takes up so much time.  I have to make rules for myself like "you have to unpack 1 box for every sip of coffee" or "you have to unpack 5 boxes before you check you phone...unless it rings, because #reality" but when you just get a small amount at a time, it's Christmas.  Nothing overwhelming, just a couple things that remind you that you are still you and make life better.  I had everything put away more or less that day. It. Was. Awesome.

...and the twinados made a mini box fort so, winning, all around!

I'm BACK!!!

Well, I am resurrecting this puppy because: We moved! Overseas! To Bahrain!  Where is Bahrain you ask? (Fear not, I had to google it too.) It's in the middle east. (Do you capitalize The Middle East? I don't know.) It's this tiny island (and I do mean tiny, it's not even big enough to make it on a lot of world maps) in the Persian Gulf, off the coast of Saudi Arabia.

I want to write this for me (and maybe my family) to some day look back and remember this part of life with a little more clarity.  It's one heck of an undertaking and a crazy adventure.  We have been here a little less than a week so far and I have had approximately a gazillion emotions/thoughts run through my head.  Ranging from "I am so happy, this is such a neat, once in a life time experience!" to "This is was dumbest idea ever, I hate this stupid country and I have one been here a few days, how am I going to get through years in this terrible place?".   It's HOT here right now, and I don't mean normal HOT (and keep in mind I lived in Phoenix, AZ).  It's like that level in Super Mario 3 where the sun tries to kill you.  It's that kinda HOT here.  Currently, it's July, I hear August is worse.  In fact, shortly after arriving, we found out that most expats are leaving.  They get the heck out of here in the summer because it's too hot. (That possibly was the first indication that I made a mistake. We maybe should have spent July and even a week or two of August in the USofA with grandparents.  Eh, live and learn!)

Facebook and Insta will have a lot more pictures but I can blabber on a lot more on here! It was my sweet and wise Mother in Law's (do you capitalize that?) idea to write a blog about this crazy trip/s around the sun and I am glad she brought it up. One day I hope to look back and smile (or laugh, maybe cry, we shall find out).  So, if you are willing to read through a lot of grammar and punctuation errors, feel free to join me!

For now... Hey-Ho from Bahrain!  We are living in the middle/southern part of the country, a small town called Riffa.  The twins are 10 years old, (How in the world did that happen?! Huge.Crocodile.Tears.) and going into 5th grade next year.  Jonathan is out of the Army (for a while now) and works for Amazon.  As it turns out we have moved just as much with Amazon as we ever did with the Army and Amazon is taking us crazy, exciting places like Bahrain.  The Army took us to slightly ghetto places like Fort Benning, GA (I mean, Go Army, Home of the Infantry, HOO-AH! Right?!), go figure.  At any rate, in case you thought (like I did) that this would mean I could still ORDER stuff from Amazon because they are in Bahrain, you are sadly mistaken!  Amazon Web Services (AWS) is in Bahrain, and thus, we are too, but regular, order anything you can think of under the sun, Amazon, not so much friends.  At least not yet.  Back to Bahrain, the twinados will be going to Riffa Views International School, which is possibly the thing I am most excited about, it seems like a great school.  I will be trying to figure out what to do with my life, again.  After the kids started pre-school (we were living in Chesterfield, VA at the time) I went to work at the gym I was working out at as a personal trainer.  Super awesome and rewarding job!  When we moved to Texas I started working for Gold's Gym as a Group Fitness Instructor and eventually ended up as the Gold's Studio Head Coach!  I can't say how much I LOVED my job.  The members were fantastic and made waking up at 4:00AM every day totally worth it (Ok, at least 9 times out of 10, that 1 I was usually just SUPER tired!) and my co-workers were the best.  After I get everything and everyone settled out here I will try and figure out what's next for me!

That (kinda) brings us up to now, we got WiFi a couple days ago (game changer) so here we are just waiting for our first installment of stuff. AKA: the 500 pound (though not in our case because I had no idea what to pack) Air Shipment.  The rest is coming by sea and will not be her for another month (if all goes well).  Right now we have a nice house full of only the stuff we brought in our suitcase or have bought since we have arrived.  For example, we are sleeping on the neck pillows we had on the airplane:

Come on 500lbs Air Shipment.  Mama needs her french press and a real pillow!