What a Lovely Day...

Today I got out of work in the morning to deposit money into my father’s account in another bank. This was my first time walking in the street that I drive on everyday. It felt very different, I felt like I had never been there before. I enjoyed the sunny weather while I walked past the shops that sold things like electronics, laundry machines, TVs, toys, clothes and so on. I got to the bank and filled out a deposit slip and waited in line with the rest of the people; suddenly I heared a man calling me and telling me to stand outside the line in the front so I can be served before the rest. I looked around me and saw that in fact I was the only female customer in the bank. It was a long queue; there were somewhere around 14 people in front of me with only 3 tellers and I was lucky enough to be a girl. This is one of the many advantages of being a female in this part of the world. Who said woman rights was good?? I would rather be treated as a woman than an equal to a man. Why would I want to give up not standing at a long queue in places such as ministries, banks, ticket stands etc? Why wouldn’t I want men opening doors for me and letting me go in and out first? Why wouldn’t I want to be treated better than men by men?…

While I was walking back to the office I saw men coming out of the mosques, they had just finished their afternoon prayer and looked so refreshed and happy. The pigeons next to Bab-Al-Bahrain were eating up the left over rice from the shops around the street. The traffic was heavy, but everyone seemed to be smiling and everyone was happy to be there. Walking down the centre of Bahrain, the different smells amazed me. On the same street you could smell perfume odor from people, the odor of stinky armpits, carbon monoxide from cars, newly sprung flowers, smell of food being prepared for lunch and much more.

I felt good about myself, I felt good about Bahrain and I suddenly felt sad. I will really miss this when I leave. I will miss t he smells, miss the preferences to woman, miss the pigeons; miss the security guards I always say hi to. But I know I will be experiencing newer things, things that I might miss even more if I come back home.