Our life in Bahrain
Adapting to the Middle East
Moving from the the North American continent to the hot climate of the Middle East was quite a challenge. We settled in quite easely and Bahrain is a friendly and pleasant place to live.
Challenges
Niels didn't join us at first and choosed to move to the Netherlands and set up a new life in a boarding house in Oegstgeest. Our family was split up now: Thijs in Saudi during the week and Niels in the Netherlands. It wasn't easy and we all missed being complete.
Education
During our first year Onno and Noëlle were accepted at two different schools. Noëlle went to an American school and Onno was accepted at St.Christopher School. Two children at two schools in different curricula was far from ideal, so we were very please when also Noëlle could join St.Christopher school in Isa Town. Niels, who has lived in the Netherlands in the school years of 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 decided to move back to us and join us in Bahrain. He was accepted at St.Christopher too and is now doing his IB-DP course. Onno is doing his GCSE exams this year and next year.
Second book published
Stefan and Mary started their book-project while we still lived in Calgary. As soon as we settled in Bahrain, Mary continued to work on her second book. On July 10 2008 (when Noëlle turned 11) the book 'Borstvoeding' was published in the Netherlands. Early 2010 the book is now in her third print.
Take a look at the Book Website
Outpost
Once the book was finished and Mary had some more time on her hands, she applied for a role as Focal Point for the Outpost Network when the job became available. With approximately 45 families and frequent transfers in an out Bahrain/Saudi Arabia, Mary offers support and information for new arrivals in Bahrain.
Take a look at the Outpost website
Syria
In 2008 we went to see Syria with Onno and Noëlle. We traveled to Jordan, crossed the border with Syria (due to a closure of the airport in Damascus) and stayed in a lovely hotel in Syria. We explored Bosra (an ancient Roman city), Crac de Chevalier (a Medieval Castle from the Crusaders age) and Damascus.
Watch the Photo Gallery
H1N1 School closure
Due to the panic around the H1N1 (aka 'Swine Flu') all schools were closed in Bahrain. To minimize the damage for our children, parents on the compound spontaniously organized themselves. We set up a temporary compound Study Center and participating parents would take duty assisting the children. All children were provided with homework packages which would take them about 6 hours a day to finish. After 3 weeks of closure all our children returned to school without having missed anything from their school program.
Read my blog about the School Closure
Jordan
In April 2010, during Spring Break, we traveled with our family and Maarten (Thijs' father) to Jordan for an unforgettable trip. We planned 7 days of traveling, rented a bus, booked all hotels prior to our departure. We visited places like Amman, Jerash, Petra and the Dead Sea.
Watch the Photo Gallery
Shopping
Bahrain offers great shopping facilities. In October 2008 a new huge shopping mall opened in the Seef area offering great shopping opportunities. Shopping in the Middle East is different than shopping in the Netherlands. Shopping in the Middle East is a 'day out'. Places like Starbucks and many excellent restaurants offer a great place to relax, although, all indoors... If the kids are spoiled they can entertain themselves in the swimming pool, the entertainment center, they can watch a movie in the Cinema or play a game of bowling. All in one big shopping center...
Wizard of Oz
Noëlle auditioned for the Wizard of Oz, a professional performance produced by MASK (Music and Stage for Kids). In May 2010 she performed on stage with many other enthusiastic kids and adults a magnificent Wizard of Oz!
Read the review in the GDN
Watch the Photo Gallery
Swimming
In the final weeks of the school year 2008-2009 Mary had the opportunity to participate in a ASA level 1 course in Bahrain. She works as a swim coach for the St.Christopher school squad both in Senior and Junior school.
F1 in School
Although Niels was not in the winning team during the F1 in school competition at St.Christopher school, he was asked to join the winning team to the World Championship in Singapore in September 2010.
F1 in Schools is an international competition for school children (aged 11–18), in which teams have to design and manufacture a miniature "car" out of balsa wood using CAD/CAM design tools.
Read my Blog about F1 in School
Article about Niels in Shell expatriate Magazine Destinations (page 19)
Open Water Championships
Mary signed up for her first Open Water Swim race in Bahrain on November 6. She finished as 3rd Women overall and was 1st Women over 40! The race was organized by Ritz-Carlton and more than 100 swimmers participated. Although the race was dominated by teenagers, third place in both Women and Men were awarded to swimmers over 40!
Read my Blog about the race
Sponsor swims
During our stay in Bahrain, Mary learned about the Adam Jones case. A British mother lost her son in a custody battle and her son was taken prison by his Qatari family. Mary and her swimming mate Kevan organized two swimming events to raise money to fight for Adam's case.
View online Gallery of the second Charity Swim in November 2010
Dubai November 2010
Paul came to visit us in Bahrain and we took him to Dubai. Although Dubai has never been high on our 'been there-done that-list', we had a good excuse this time. We also went to see the World Championship Swimming in Dubai. We witnessed our Dutch relay team (female) winning the 4x100 free style! Besides the world championships, we exhausted ourself shopping (and buying nothing) and climing the highest tower in the world.
Impressions of Bahrain
Mary started to develop a serious interest in photography in the Middle East. Her tutor/friend Bart taught her the basic skills in 2010 and since then Mary started to view her world through a Nikon lens...
Watch the Photo Gallery
Bugsy Malone, a Mask production
Noëlle auditioned again for another Mask Production in Bahrain. She was cast for the role of Captain Smolsky and after many months of (many more) rehearsals, starred in again another lovely play. During the final performance, I took pictures back stage watching how Noëlle would prepare herself for that night's performance.
#Feb14
What started in Tunesia and spread to Egypt also effected Bahrain. The unevitable call for more democratic reforms in the Arab world started on February 14 2011 and had huge impact not only for Bahrain but also for our family as well. Mary wrote many blogs about the #Feb14 revolution and as things developed around us, our family was also followed by the NOS and Wereldomroep.
Note: Mary visited the Pearl Roundabout several times for a photo-documentary during the peaceful demonstrations (and yes, it was safe!). As people are still being arrested in Bahrain (identified by photo's on the internet) Mary has decided to remove both online photo-galleries to protect the pro-democracy Bahraini's.
Arab Spring
17 February 2011
During our brief visit to the Netherlands in February 2011, Mary was interviewed for 1 Vandaag after the brutal crack down on the Pearl Roundabout (Dutch). Click here to view the report.
#Feb14 Interview on NOS radio 1 - March 17
Click on the image and listen to the interview with NOS radio 1. Thijs had fled Bahrain with our children and Mary just joined them from Kuala Lumpur in March.
#Feb14 Interview on Wereldomroep
Mary was approached for several interviews by Maurice Laparliere from the Wereldomroep. He visited our family twice and followed how these events impacted our family during the 14Feb revolution in Bahrain.
Links:
17 March 2010 Onrust Bahrein kan overslaan richting buitenlanders
2 April 2010: Mary keert terug naar Bahrein zonder zonen
Interview with Niels on Wereldomroep about his Dutch Exams
Niels finished his IB-DP exams in the Netherlands. He worked hard during the 2 year program to get through his Dutch-literature studies with Stichting IBID and was interviewed by the Wereldomroep when he was done (May 18).
Our repatriation
After 4 years in Bahrain, it was time for our repatration back to the Netherlands. After excactly 10 years abroad, we have decided to take a break from expatriation-life and give our children the opportunity to settle in their home country while finishing Senior (International) School. It was our dream to drive back from the Middle East to Leiden, but due to the turbulent events in our life (evacuation, family split up, children in boarding house in the Netherlands, exams, etc.) we almost had to let go of our dreams. Due to the unrest in Syria and Libya, we also had to look for alternative ways to travel back. In May, we finally decided to go for it, and we started to prepare our 10.000 km journey back to the Netherlands. We opted for the journey to travel through Iran.
We had hoped to raise money for a good cause (Stophersentumoren.nl) and opened a special bi-lingual blog so everyone was able to follow us in both English and Dutch.
Thijs departed from Al Jubail (Saudi Arabia) on July 12 to Dubai and we arrived safely in the Netherlands on August 13.
View our special page about our Journey.
View online Photo Gallery of our journey from the Middle East to the Netherlands
Read all blogs (#terugreis) on Mary's weblog
Read interview on Wereldomroep about our travel through Iran.
edited by Mary Broekhuijsen