House Of Brick: November 2005

Hard at Work

Here are a couple pictures to give you an idea of what we do. The first picture is of me underway with an oil terminal in the background. The second is a picture of our Mine Neutralization Vehicle (MNV) being launched. The MNV is a remote controlled device with sonar and a camera. We use it to investigate possible mines and clear them if neccessary.

Turkey Day = Family, Food, Football?

Happy Thanksgiving! We've been at sea for a while. This isn't my first holiday underway and it won't be my last. I was talking with some of our Sailors about the meaning of Thanksgiving. We decided that the holiday is all about Family and Food. Even though we're away from home we could at least have the Food. We cooked on a grill on the back of the ship. We baked turkeys and deep-fat-fried them, eight birds all together. The Cooks prepared homemade pies. We had all the fixin's and trimmin's. Then we realized that, in addition to Food and Family, we needed Football... We tried to use our Satellite TV but couldn't get a signal. In the end, it turns out, the real meaning of Thanksgiving is giving thanks. "Dear Lord we humbly thank thee for all the blessings we daily receive..."

Bahrain

Sorry I've been away from the BLOG for so long. I wasn't able to post for a while. Last month someone suggested I give you more information about the Kingdom of Bahrain, where my ship is homeported in the Arabian Gulf.

Welcome, or "Ahlan wa-sahlan" to Bahrain! Here are some details about the country along with links. To open the links in a new window, hold your shift key as you click them. Try this one: Wikipedia Bahrain.

Here's a satellite picture of the main island of the kingdom. It's approximately 700 square kilometers (about 3.5 times the size of Washington DC) and lies just off the east coast of Saudi Arabia at a latitude of 26 degrees north. Look at the interesting satellite images of the Arabian Gulf from this site.

The capital city of Bahrain is Manama, where I am stationed. Over 700,000 people live here. The main languages spoken are Arabic, English, and Farsi. Many British "expats" live here since the country was a protectorate of the UK until 1971. The main religion is Islam. The currency is the Bahraini Dinar, one of which is worth about $2.70.

We're three hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, eight hours ahead of the east coast of the USA during the winter, so when it's 8:00am in New York, it's 4:00pm here. Check this site for our current time. As for weather, it was very hot and humid (over 110) in the summer when I arrived. Temperatures have cooled down since then, but winters are still mild (80s and 90s). It hasn't rained since I got here. Check Intellicast for our current weather.

There is a Naval Support Activity based here, which is a great help. The local English newspapers are the Bahrain Tribune and the Gulf Daily News. Click here to hear the National Anthem in Real Media from the BBC.

Here are some links to more information on Bahrain from the CIA World Factbook, Arab.net, Bahrain Tourism, and the Bahraini Government (Click the Arabic button in the top right hand corner of the site to see it in Arabic),

And now, some of my pictures of Bahrain...

Downtown Bahrain, a mixture of modern and traditional.