Homesick

I always thought of myself as the type who can stay anywhere in the world. Well, looks like I was dead wrong! I've been in Bahrain for a total of (2 + 2 + 2 + 3 weeks) 9 weeks now and I'm seriously suffering. It's not a bad place. Really. It's peaceful. Crime rate is low. Food is cheap. But it's just not home.

The thing I miss the most is the food. Besides the usual fare of Indian and Arabic food, I can't get anything that resembles food from home. And i'm talking about basic stuff like Hokkien Mee :) Or even decent fried rice. Everything 'chinese' here still tastes like Indian food. And that's because the chefs are all Indian nationals. The only thing resembling food i can get back home is stuff i cook myself. And i'm not a good cook. So i'm basically limited to very simple things. Another problem is vegetables. Basically the only type of greens i'm eating is in the form of salads. Lettuce. Carrots. Cucumber (yucks!). Tomatoes. I want Sawi! I want Kangkung! I want Kai Lan stir fried with garlic! :(

It's not like being in UK or US or Aussie where (a) you understand the language everyone speaks in, (b) you get your fair share of other Asians around and (c) it's super easy to get the type of food you want. Over here, I don't have (a) and (c). As for (b), there are only Indian nationals and Pinoys. And i still get stares.

For me, I think the hardest part(s) about being here is (1) the food and (2) the language. Language is not exactly a barrier since everyone can speak english but they'll be babbling away in their language and you're left to wonder what the hell are they saying and if they're commenting anything bad about you.

Of course there are other factors like cultural differences - asking questions like "Are you married?" / "Do you have a boyfriend?" seem to be alrite. Practically everyone I've met from the people in the client's place to the taxi driver(!) have asked me questions like that.

I want my char siew rice, pork noodles, hokkien mee, nasi lemak, roti canai, bak kut teh, chicken rice, char koay teow, leafy vegetables, sweet and sour pork, etc...