Two Old Fools Go Shopping in Bahrain

by Expat Focus Columnist, Victoria Twead


October is the month for stock-piling firewood in our little Spanish village of El Hoyo. Evenings are very cool, and by the end of the month we would be lighting the wood-burning stove nightly. Not so here in the Kingdom of Bahrain where, for just one year, we’re working as teachers in an International School. For the first time in six years, we don’t need to think about logs.

Here in Bahrain it is cool inside, thanks to A/C, but step outside and the heat still produces an instant sweat. Clothes, too, are a problem. The showing of arms and shoulders is unacceptable but neither is it comfortable to wear too much. The clothes I brought with me from Spain were inappropriate, and I needed some more to wear to school.

The shopping malls in Bahrain are beautiful; huge, lavish, marbled affairs packed with clothes stores, so I didn’t think refreshing my wardrobe would be a big problem. Wrong. I’m not a city gal, and I don’t enjoy shopping, but needs must, so I put a day aside to hunt down some new outfits.

With Joe trailing behind me, I rifled through racks and racks of clothes, trying to find something suitable. To my surprise, everything on display was low-cut, skimpy, glittery or a combination of all three. Rack after rack of exotic-wear. How is that possible when Muslim ladies are dressed from head to toe in black, with only their faces (or just eyes) showing?

We deduced something that day. Outwardly, Muslim ladies are the picture of anonymity and decorum, but underneath those veils...who knows what secrets are lurking?

And these ladies, all dressed in black, posed yet another problem for me this week. It was...

Read more at http://www.expatfocus.com/victoria-twead-241010