To Bahrain and Back
Yesterday was a really busy day for me. I was scheduled to have my ADSL connected in the morning so I had to wake up early as the guys who do the installation can come anytime. I called Qtel just to ask them if they knew what time their technicians would be coming but was told to just wait for their call. After a while, I got a SMS message confirming that I do have a scheduled appointment and I should call a number which apparently was the number of the technician. And so I called and told the guy that I had to have it installed as I had to leave the flat at 11:30 as I had a flight to catch. By 9:30 he was there and after 15 minutes of work, was out the door. How can such a simple installation take them a month and a week to schedule? By 11:40, I was on my way to the airport to catch my 1:15 PM flight to Bahrain. The whole flight takes just 28 minutes. You spend more time on the airport, waiting and looking for a seat, than on the plane itself. At exactly 2 PM, I was out of Bahrain customs, paying 100QR for a 2 day visa. Yousef, a friend and colleague from my previous company, fetched me from the airport and had wonderful lunch prepared by his wife at his flat. It's traditional Jordanian food which I forgot the name was; but it's basically round eggplants with rice, meat and spices in them and Zucchinis filled with the same and steamed. Delicious! We went to the office at exactly 3. Everybody was surprised to see me walk in and I too was surprised at how different yet comfy the office looks like. I spent the next 2 hours just talking to friends and getting to know what they've been up to the past months; I was told the of the "Web Director" incident which was really funny, of a friend who bought a QR15,000 computer, and of two guys from the same office bumping into each others car. It's just nice to feel welcome in your previous work place and knowing that you've made good friends with the people there. I wished I could have stayed longer but had to leave at 5 to catch the opening of the bank in Exhibition road to have my certificates encashed and my account closed. I also went to an Exchange office to have the money changed to US Dollars as the exchange rate from Bahraini Dinar (BD) to US Dollars is better than BD to Qatari Rials to US Dollars. By the way, the exchange rate for a Bahraini Dinar to the US dollar is .378. I was supposed to meet with Ricardo in Seef Mall at 5:45 PM but he called me up to say that he was caught in traffic at the Saudi-Bahrain Causeway and would take him another hour or so to get to Bahrain. I then realized that people could call me up on my mobile having a Qatari Sim (Automatic Roaming) but can't send or call using the same. Anyway, having that time to burn, I decided to go to an internet café so I could send Mavis SMS messages through Chikka. After an hour, I got inside a taxi and had the driver take me to Seef Mall. It was about a 10 minute ride which he charged me for 2BD. As I was passing Marks and Spencer, I decided to buy some long-sleeved shirts for the office. Rico and I met at Starbucks but ate in a pizzeria on the ground floor. He was bringing my Webby Awards Nomination plaque which I would love to display in the office…he he he. Miraculously, he was also bringing our DVD of House of the Flying Daggers which we've always asked him to give back to us. He just always forgets. It was nice to see him as it's been 5 months since we've seen each other. I've always invited him to Qatar but he can't seem to find time for it as he just moved to his new apartment in Saudi and trying to get everything settled again. We just talked about life, work, friends, his love life, family and stuff. He dropped me off the airport at 9 PM for my 10:15 flight. I had to pay 48QR for the 12-hour parking space (4 QR per hour!). I'm not too sure that if the airport or the airlines offer parking vouchers. In Bahrain, people can leave their cars for even a month in their parking without paying extra if your return flight is more than a week after your departure. I got home safely at about 11:15PM and was dead tired. My body was aching! At least I got to settle our accounts in the bank plus it was fun to see old friends and glad that I had the chance to visit them. So I got to visit Bahrain and back in less than 12 hours. Pretty busy day indeed.
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