As some of you might know I have a Harley back home and miss riding it quite a lot when I’m here.  I also own quite a few Harley tee-shirts and brought a few with me.  I also bought a really nice Harley logo sweater to wear in the office because when it’s over 100 degrees outside they seem to want it about 50 inside!  Anyway, I was wearing this sweater one day and one of the other architects, Filippo (Italian) stopped me and asked if I really had one or if I was “posing”.  I told him of course I had a Harley after which he told me that he too had one only his is here in Bahrain!  It’s a one year old Sportster 883 and apparently he has not been riding it and his wife was not terribly happy about that.  Many if not most of you guys that have bikes and wives will know exactly what we’re talking about here!  So anyway Filippo offered to let me use/ride his bike while I’m here!!  How awesome is that??!!  When he first offered I was so busy I just didn’t have a chance to go over to pick it up so by the time I had time it wouldn’t start.  After a new battery and a couple trips to the dealership I’m now the very proud “borrower” of an awesome 883 blackout!  I had to buy a new helmet as there is a helmet law here which I’m very happy to comply with.  I also bought some new tint changing glasses so I can ride in both the sun and after dark with the same pair.  Gloves and jacket I brought over from home.

Ironically, I feel safer riding on the roads here than I do in my car!  I think it has to do with being able to maneuver much quicker and having many more options for “escaping” bad situations on the bike than I do in a car.  It is so much fun and so relaxing and reinvigorating to take the bike out for a couple hours each Friday and Saturday.  I only wish that I would be allowed to ride it on the causeway and then I’d ride to work everyday!  OK, maybe riding here in Bahrain is safer than it would be in Saudi but it’s still a nice thought!

Isn’t it a beauty?!

My new cool helmet! Makes me look tough! Well, as long as I take off the bowtie!

It’s even DOT approved!

I had to have Tareq model it for me. He’s another architect at work…..I think he thinks I’m really weird! But he’s a great sport.

What I left at home…..

This was my ’97 but now it belongs to a very grateful friend. Hated to see her ride it away but it’s in a better place!

I can’t believe that it’s been so long since my last entry but I guess the calendar doesn’t lie!  Promise to do a much better job of posting from now on.  I’m embarrassed with how I’ve let this fall to the side the past couple of months.
This week has been a couple of “firsts” for me and I thought I’d seem pretty much all there was to see that would make me go “hmmmm”. The first of the surprises: I’ve never seen it rain dirt before! OK, maybe a better way to describe it is mud balls. Apparently there is so much dust in the air that when it rains lightly it’s actually raining mud! Driving to/from work this week it was “raining” and I had to use lots of the water in the windshield washer just to be able to see. You know it’s bad when the wipers make a scratching sound as they move the dirt from side to side. At first I thought this was car splash but then I noticed that there were no cars around me and it was still covering the windshield.
Now the second thing: I’m sitting here in my apartment flipping through the channels and what do I find??!! It’s Arabic girls wrestling!! They appear to be wearing abayas under the white martial arts suits with head coverings and all!! GIRLS….in abayas with head covering….rolling around on a mat with a referee and screaming fans!….. When a head covering gets pulled off they have to stop and put it back on then continue. Wow….I just don’t know what to say…  The really awesome thing about it is that when the match is over these girls, almost without exception, hug each other with genuine affection and walk off the mat smiling ear-to-ear.  How cool is that??

These were the happiest “combatants” I think I’ve ever seen! It just didn’t seem to matter who won they all walked away with huge smiles!

I ended up watching this event for a while.  It was so refreshing to see how much fun these girls were having and how much sportsmanship they exhibited!  I think if guys could approach sports (on all levels especially the “professionals”) with this level of sportsmanship I’d be a fan.  As it is…..well, never mind, I’ll not go into my rant about  “professional sports”!  Trust me; you won’t want to hear it!