12/31 New Year's Eve

Happy new year everyone!

Went exploring around Bahrain today. I took a bunch of pictures, but I have to wait til my computer gets here for me to post the pictures :(

But here's this funny one that my friend made

Bahrain has the weirdest flavored things!

12/30

Happy birthday daddy!!!! You old man!!

Tried a wagyu burger last night at Johnny Rockets, not bad!

Work has been easy so far since I've been in day staff just doing the administrative needs for checking in. 

Finally got my type 3 uniform yesterday!

12/27

This stupid country doesn't have Netflix...

Update! 

Nor FUNimation! Nor Pandora!!!! What am I supposed to do now??!! Read books?!

12/26

I did literally nothing today. Only left the bed to shower and eat a bowl of cereal. My ankle has been killing me today. I've kept it elevated all day, iced it, and held it under hot water in the shower. The swelling hasn't gone down and it's not getting better. I wanted to go to medical, but it hurt too much to walk. 

I'm not gonna blog every single day, but I just wanted to update some family and friends with what my life has been like here getting settled in. 

Babuu is doing great except he has had two little accidents. Thank god I have tiled floors. He has never had any accidents before, but I guess this is a huge adjustment for him. And also because I can't find a cat litter box, so he's been pooping in a dish basin lol. 

Christmas! Back Dating 12/25

Weather on Christmas in Bahrain.

My sleep schedule has been so messed up the past few days. Today I woke up at 3am and could not get back to sleep. Around 930am I went to the mall again with my friend Lindzy and new friend Riley. We spent about 3 hours there and I still have only seen about half the mall. There are some weird things here in Bahrain that I'm not used to. Like you have to pay to use a shopping cart. It only cost 100 fils (about 27 cents), and when you turn it in, you can get it back. It's just very different. If you go in a department store, you have to turn in your shopping bags to a security guard. Things definitely appear to cost more, but I'm still getting used to the currency difference.

The local currency is Bahraini Dinar, or BD. BD is cash, and change is called fils. 

1 BD= $2.65 US Dollars

100 fils= $0.27 

When I see the price of something, I just multiply it by 3 (rounded up from 2.65). So if something costs 4 BD, it is a little less than 12 US dollars.

Hello Kitty Spa

Mountain Dew tastes exactly like Coca Cola.

After shopping, I took a nap, showered, then headed to Lindzy's house for a Christmas dinner party.

While I was walking to Lindzy's house, I twisted my ankle in a pot hole. It hurt so bad but I just walked it off bc I knew I'd be at her apartment soon.

I didn't know anyone at the party, and I am pretty socially awkward sometimes, so I decided to help with the cooking. Made this Christmas tree veggie tray with a girl I had just met

It was a great party. Lindzy had invited her section from work. A lot of people brought food that wasn't cooked yet, so it was fun to see everyone rushing around to cook everything in the kitchen. People were yelling, it felt like I was in the middle of a huge family trying to cook a bunch of things at once. The comradery was amazing. Everyone was so kind and no one was speaking negatively of anyone else. Totally different from yorktown! It made me so happy to be a part of it all.

It's just a hookah with flavored tobacco, mom and dad! Don't freak out!

I'm not drinking for the entire first year that I'm stationed here in Bahrain. It was definitely weird not drinking at a party. I think I drank like 6 cherry cokes. But at the same time, I'm glad I wasn't intoxicated at all, bc i think this was an important time for me to make a good impression on everyone. Had some great food at the party. Overall I had a goodtime. Didn't stay for dessert though. I left the party around 945pm bc I wanted to be back at my hotel by 10 for curfew. 

Once I got back to the hotel, I realized how swollen my ankle was

Did get a chance to FaceTime with my mama and wes💕

Overall, great christmas, I loved that I got to meet new people, and there was no rushing around for me. Moved at a relaxing pace lol

Back Dating 12/24

Took a cab to the mall today with cs2. The mall was huge! 3 floors! Spent two hours there and only saw about a quarter of the stores there. Nice designer stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Michael Kohrs, Steve Madden, etc. Here's a picture of the mall directory brochure.

Check out the RULES

You're not allowed to hold hands or kiss...

I must say though, the locals dress very nice. You don't see thugs with their pants hanging down to their knees. Even the people who are less fortunate are still dressed clean cut. 

Back Dating 12/23

I had to be at work by 745am. Can't wear our uniforms off base and we have to walk to base from our hotel, so we (cs2 and I) walked to base early enough to give us time to get there and get dressed. Ran into a good friend from my last duty station at the gate, Lindzy, she transferred here in the summertime.

Had a short day today, got our uniforms. Went to the Navy exchange to buy some necessities. I cannot find a litter box anywhere!! Had to buy Babuu a dish basin to poop in temporarily. Poor guy.

Walked around al juffair (the city I live in). Went in some shops. Definitely found myself in a crappy part of town for a bit. The area seems to have a litter problem. There's a lot of trash in the streets. It definitely looks like any typical city though, like Philadelphia. Drivers are pretty aggressive, so I have no plans to be driving. Might get a bike, but I'm fine walking for now. 

I have a 96hr weekend. So I'm off from Wednesday 12/24 to Saturday 12/27.

Check out where I got dinner at

Back Dating 12/22

My sponsor was at the airport when I arrived. Found that I am checking in with a seamen master-at-arms, just out of a-school, and a second-class culinary specialist. Nice people.

Sponsor showed us around, checked us (myself and CS2) in to the hotel. Our hotel rooms are actually considered luxury apartments, but with the same ammenities as a hotel. So they have full kitchens, bathroom, living room/bedroom, and small wardrobe area. (I'll post pictures later.) I took that opportunity to change and throw my hair in a pony tail real quick. My hair was so greasey that it looked wet...😒

Then we went to base to take care of some paperwork. Very short day. We were done by like 11am. I got my phone carrier taken care of. 

We went back to the hotel and I unpacked, then slept for like 4 hours. I woke up and got changed and decided to go out to buy some groceries (around 730pm). 

Near my hotel is a road called American Alley. It has the most cliche American Franchises such as Cinnabon, Papa John's, McDonald's, etc.

I bought some simple groceries like bread, milk, cheese, and bottled water. And then I headed back to my hotel. Curfew here is a serious thing.

-Cannot be out past 2200 (10pm) without a shipmate.

-Cannot be in an establishment that serves alcohol past 2400 (12am).

-Cannot be outdoors past 0100 (1am).

My transfer (12/19-12/22)

My flight from Norfolk took off at 11pm. We arrived in Rota around 1130am rota time (so like 5am your time). The weather was too rough to land, so we circled above it to wait for the weather to clear up, for about an hour. It didn't clear up, so we headed to Seville, Spain because we were running low on fuel. We were stuck there from 12pm to 9pm. The problem was we were only supposed to stop for a bit and then leave once refueled and the weather had cleared up, but the pilots are only allowed to fly for like 12 hours, so they ended up just leaving the plane before the relief crew had even been notified. So we were just stuck there with no flight crew. The worst part was they wouldn't let us get off the plane. Apparently it was a customs issue bc we were at a civilian airport, and arrived uninvited, so we were on the plane for 9 hours just parked on the tarmac, plus the 7 hour flight to there. So I couldn't feed Babuu or let him use the bathroom at all. And then we flew 3 hours to Frankfurt, Germany because Rota's weather never cleared up and the plane began to run out of food and beverages and all the bathrooms were rendered non-operational because the septic tanks were filling up. They put us in a closed down terminal for a couple hours. Red Cross provided hygiene supplies, food, pillows, blankets, and cots. They gave us the option to stay at the terminal or drive 2 hours to a hotel. I took the hotel so that babuu could get out of his cage and walk around.

It's 530am Germany time, I just got to my hotel and I have to check-out by like 11-1130. The hotel was nice, it was in Düsseldorf. Babuu was so happy to get out of the cage, and he slept SO hard. I moved around a million times and he didn't budge.

(I have a bunch of videos I took in Germany, I'll post them once my computer gets here)

Ended up oversleeping. Woke up in a panic, no time to shower. Wearing the same clothes I've worn since Friday (it is not Sunday). I tried to buy a shirt, no gift shop and all stores are closed on Sunday...

Left for the airport, at 1130. Got there by 1, waited for the plane until 5. They took us to a commercial airport in Germany. Airport had a bunch of cool things. I bought some very weird food lol.

Arrived in Naples, Italy around 745pm Italy time. Very small terminal, no shops. Short wait, got on the plane for Crete, Greece around 930pm. 

Spent a few hours in Greece, finally got to buy a shirt!!! So relieved to change into something new. Then took off to bahrain. We arrived in Bahrain and got off the plane around 730am.

Couldn't believe it took this long to transfer. Friday night, my flight from Norfolk, VA took off at 1130pm (after sitting at the airport for hours due to delays). My last flight dropped me off at 0730am on Monday morning in Bahrain.