Day 2 or is it a continuation of Day 1

It's 12:30 AM on Sunday morning i think...and i have tons of energy...go figure.  This is actually the first day of the work week so i start at the company today.  They do the weekends over herein the Middle East on Thursday and Friday, but Bahrain is more progressive they do their weekends on Friday and Saturday.   A little about Bahrain..its much more progressive than Saudi Arabia.  In Saudi women can't drive, (some might argue if that is a good or bad thing) you can't drink alcohol (again see aforementioned reference) you can't have any pork product, no movies, if you talk to a woman that is not your wife you could get arrested and/or deported and they have calls to prayer 5 times a day where everything stops, stores and restaurants close and life comes to a halt for the 30-45 min. that prayer lasts.  The difficult thing is that its hard to plan your day around the prayer schedule as each day its a little different...the prayers are scheduled on the lunar cycle.  In Bahrain you have none of those restrictions and quite frankly everyone seems to like Westerners here.  Unlike the stereotypes of the media...Arabs are gracious and friendly people...at least the ones i've encountered.  In fact one of the reasons why im here is to help change the perceptions that Arabs have with the west.   Im certain that most of the global conflicts that we have can be averted with more open and honest communication and understanding.  We need to communicate and respect our differences.  I might be a dreamer...but I believe God put us on the world to help make it a better place then when we've found it...and me being here is my way of doing it.

I went to a birthday party of Tanya's 5 year old.  Tanya is the daughter of the owner of my company.  They really do the parties up here.  They love kids in this culture and they spend a lot on them.  The kids seemed to have a great time.  Oh..you should know...That Khalifa, the founder of the company had four children with his first wife, who was from England.  So the entire family is very westernized.  I love them all...already.  They are kind and gracious people...Nadeer, is the oldest and taking control of his father's business, then Tanya, who also works full time for KSDI, but she's hoping my involvment will lessen her responsibilities there.  Nadiya, who isn't really involved, but still a lovely girl...and Omar, the youngest, 32.  Omar was the GM but im taking over for him as he is pursuing a career in banking.  Omar just flew up to England to be with his wife during the birth of his first child.  They want the child born in England so it will be a English citizen which carries more global weight.  

They had the video staff photograph and video tape the party today.  Talk about your fancy home movies.   Our video crew presently is made up of Filipino women.  I rode home with Jerilynn.  We talked a bit.  She has a husband in the Phillipines and a son, age 12.  She hasn't seen them for 2.5 years as she has been working.  She hopes to go home to the Phillipines in March Enshala (God Willing...or that would probably be Allah willing in this case...her words not mine.) to see her family.  It just blows me away that she left her family for so long to give them a better life.  What she makes here is worth 4-5 times what she makes in the Phillipines where work is simply very hard to come by.  She told me how much she made (Hey...im the GM im going to find out eventually) and she said $200 dinars a month.  That equates to $800 USD a month.  Its mind boggling to think that is 4-5 times as much as she'd make in the Phillipines.  We are truly a blessed country in the U.S. despite the current recession.  I heard it said...that if you woke up in the U.S. this morning, you are richer than 85% of the world...I  believe it...because i can see it with my very own eyes.

We are truly blessed.