American Mission Hospital

So I finally took a trip to a hospital here. I have been asking around about good ones and American Mission Hospital popped up a few times.

So every year for the past four years I have been getting these red, very itchy, bumps on my knees and sides of my hips. I never really did anything about it because by the time I would decide to go get it checked out they were gone. Well since I have started working they have been appearing full force. We had a day off on Monday and I thought alright, it is time. So I called a few hospitals to ask if the dermatologist was available over the holiday and all said no except for AMH. So that already was a bonus for me in evaluating the hospital. So I went and saw the doctor whom was a very nice man. I am sorry to say I forgot his name. I informed him that I have psoriasis and have had it since childhood. He then took a look at my itchy, annoying bumps and then informed me that I have a form of eczema as well. He said sometimes it just appears later in life and it can just as easily disappear. He gave me antihistamine tablets to take for 15 days along with a cream to sooth the pain. So far they are still here but the itching is less.

The hospital is very nice and clean and more importantly the staff is very friendly and professional. I opened a file in less than ten minutes and was given a membership card with my picture on it and everything. BE WARNED, the computer camera they have is not the best and your picture will make you look like the cast of the cone heads. A fringe is best worn when taking you AMH picture. The process to pay and receive your medicine is also very organized. You go to the first counter and give them your prescription. You then proceed to the second counter and pay your bill. Finally you move on to the third counter, pick up your meds and voila! You are good to go. I really like this place and am ecstatic to learn that they just opened their new branch yesterday in Amwaj!!! I can walk to it from my house and be there in ten minutes or drive and be there in under a minute! It is located in the building that has the Lighthouse Cafe in it. It is the big blue building across the road from Alosra and across the street from the school. I couldn't be happier. Now they just need to open a gas station on Amwaj and it is literally perfection on an island.

As you know from previous posts, I rather use natural remedies. Right before I went to the doctor I put apple cider vinegar on the bumps to ease the itchiness and low and behold it worked like a charm. I am a firm believer in apple cider vinegar. It is the best thing for sore throats and avoiding a cold when the season arrives. Upon further research I also found that it is good for psoriasis as well. They say to add a cup up it in your bath or rub some directly on the areas of your skin that it is present. It is also good to add a tablespoon to a nice hot cup of water. Adding honey, lemon and cinnamon then turns it into a cold, strep throat combatant as well.  All in all this stuff is worth more than gold in my books.

For those of you who are interested I will explain psoriasis briefly.

Psoriasis: A skin condition that is a common, chronic immune- mediated disease which may also affect the joints. No, it is not contagious. Basically it occurs when your immune system mistakes a normal skin cell for a pathogen and sends out faulty signals that cause overproduction of new skin cells. People with psoriasis will also find they get sick less than the average Joe which is a hidden benefit to the disease. The disease is characterized into 5 categories which I will not go into detail about. Like most diseases some are harsher than others. For example, I get white, scaly, almost rejuvenating cut looking things on my elbow and upper arms, sometimes my legs and on my ears. For me they do not itch or bother me at all. Some people get it all over their body and some cases can itch and or be open sores. So I take it that I am very lucky actually. Most people believe their are certain foods to avoid and others you should eat. From what I know, psoriasis is at its least with me when I am healthy and exercise regularly. A very big trigger is stress. Yoga works wonders for both the psoriasis and the stress. There is no actual cure for it yet and it is still a disease that is being studied. Doctors and scientists don't exactly know what causes it and what cures it. There are many creams and pills on the market that help control it but noting takes it away. I stopped with all the treatments long ago. Most of the time the pills and creams are not very good for your body. Swimming in salt water works best for me alongside a healthy lifestyle. You can find a picture below of a mild case of psoriasis. I wont post a picture of a worse case in case some of my readers have a week stomach.
               
                                                                  Psoriasis on Elbow

I will post something about eczema once I know more myself. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Well clearly I as in the mood to write today. I hope you guys found my post informative at least!!!
Catch you on the flip side!!!! xoxo

Moving Up....

Hello All,

Work has been insane. I haven't had any time to myself lately. There was definitely no time to blog and I missed it. So I thought I would take some time out now and just write. Work is going alright. I still have to deal with daily politics, lack of proper English grammar, and bad attitudes but there is a plus side to it all. On Sunday I got my own office. I used to sit in a big room with two other coworkers and it was really nice when you wanted to have a chat. However, when you needed to make a phone call or concentrate....not so easy. So now I am in my own little quiet space and it is lovely. I went and bought some office decorations and made the place feel a bit more warm while still maintaining a professional appearance. Everyone in the office loves it. I think I may have inspired a few people to do the same. They way I see it is you spend close to 70%, if not more, of you week at work. Why not make it a comfortable place you enjoy? Sitting in a dull atmosphere, hating your work area for 70% of your time is not healthy. Positive outlook and thinking can go a long way in your life. Believe me, I speak out of experience.

On home life, everything is great. Indiana and I have really sunk well into our new life. It was tough at times. I tell ya a big move like this is hard but in the end it was all worth it. Life is so much calmer here. The country is a lot more tolerant than Kuwait was. The great thing is that even though Bahrain is more open, they have managed to keep the beauty of the culture alive. The way it should be. The world is an ever changing place and if you don't jump on the band wagon, you are just going to be left behind. No one is coming back for you after that. So yes, it is good to stay true to ones culture and immerse it throughout the country but you should also be tolerant of your surroundings. If you country is filled with expats that help grow the economy then you must also cater to their needs. It is a give and take situation. Something Kuwait hasn't caught on to very well. Bahrain tends to embrace its expats. So all in all, there isn't really anything I regret about this move thus far.

As for exploring Bahrain, I am sad to say that I haven't done much exploring. I did however find two small shops that I really like. One is an Arts and Crafts store at the beginning of Budaiya highway under the Marine seafood restaurant. It is a great shop that has two stories full of arts and crafts materials. I myself am not very artistic but I love going into these places and sometimes I get inspired to try something new. The other store I really really like is further down Budaiya highway close to the big Alosra called The Bookcase. It is this small little store that sells a great variety of books. It also sells little trinkets so it has a really homey feeling to it. It is tiny but I would probably spend hours in it looking at everything.

Well that is all for now.

Laters xoxo

Overwhelmed!!!!!

I have been so busy between work and trying to have a personal life at the same time that I hardly have time to do either! I work late most nights, as does Indiana, and by the time we get home we are simply too tired to do anything. On a positive note, our boat is finally in the water! The hubby has been working on it every weekend since we got it in the water. We can't wait for it to get warm so we can start scuba diving again!!! Speaking of scuba diving!!! I have a gift under the tree from my man that might just be pink and used to keep your buoyancy under control while in the depths of the sea........ He might just be getting a device of the sort that has no wires, can be taken on the boat and plays music via Bluetooth.... Hmmmm what could be under the tree this year I wonder? 

My new job is hectic as hell and still unorganized but it's a job. I bought a new cell phone today so I can get a personal line because the line I have currently turned into my company line seeing as they don't provide me with a company phone or sim. I did find out I am entitled to a phone allowance however that I wasn't informed about until today. Luckily my colleague told me she will sort it out and make sure I not only get my allowance every month but will get paid for the past two months as well. Can't argue with that I guess. 

On a Bahrain note, I have found one of my new favorite sushi places here. It's called Frangipani and is located inside Seef mall. The service was a bit slow but the food was worth the wait. The chef who cooks the food in front of you is pretty impressive with his spatulas!!! The menu is good offers the usual variety at most sushi places. 

Also, if you are keen on starting the new year off with some new high fashion brands at a good sale price, you should hit up the Bahrain Retail Fair from January 2nd till the 5th, 2014. There will also be Bahrain's first auto auction! So hit it up and start the year off with a new pair of wheels! 

What else??? The motor show is this weekend and it sounds like it will be tons of fun. Indiana and I are goin to check it out. 

Well for now that is all I got. I have a date with my much loved pillow. Nighty night all!!!!

Xoxo

Sniffle sniff sniff....sneeze

Joy to the world I am sick! :( I have a bad sinus infection that is really getting the best of me. Last night I fell asleep at a friends house while my husband was stuck on the causeway. Poor Indiana was stuck on the causeway coming back from Saudi for about 4 hours because the computer systems went down. This is a prime example of poor management. Always have a backup plan! Some people were stuck on the causeway for 7 hours! If the computers go down, have a back up paper system! No instead, they take that opportunity to have tea and a nice long chat presumably. Anywho so my wonderful husband came and got me and took me home. Now, I am sitting at work having been called in on our public holiday for a reason I am still not sure. To make matters worse! Aunt Flow came for a visit today....joy..... 

So if anyone reads this I would greatly appreciate some hospital or clinic advice for here in Bahrain. I don't really know where any are. 

I need to get better because apparently it is a crime to be sick while at work haha. I should be home resting..... 

Sorry I don't have anything more interesting to tell you guys about!!! 

Cheers! Xoxo sneeze

Working woman again....I guess....

Hello everyone,

So I got a job. I am in marketing again (shocker I know lol) at a media company. They called me in for an interview three weeks ago and put on the charm. The offices looked great and super creative. They bragged about their clientele and all that jazz. They even made the deal sweeter by mentioning on top of my base salary I get commission for every sale and business I bring in. Plus working hours are from 8 to 4:30 which I thought was great because then I have enough time to play with the dogs, cook dinner, clean up the house, read a book and welcome my wonderful hubby home. 

Let's just say everything wasn't necessarily a lie but a very stretched out version of the truth. Within my third day at work I stayed till 9pm. Outside of last Thursday I have never left work at 4:30 actually. I even came in on a flippin public holiday! I am in my third week and already burnt out. Listen I don't mind working late when it is necessary but to be honest the only reason people stay late is because there is zero time management skills, zero project management, zero organization, zero delegation and zero team work! It is every man for himself here kind of thing. Also, people have no issue pointing the finger in order to keep the blame off of them. It's like high school here. Now the big boss has a god complex.

I mean he held a brainstorming session the other day and I tried twice to put in my opinion and he immediately shot them down. He did it to everyone actually. Why the hell would you call in a "brainstorming session" when it was more like a dictatorship where he just wanted to tell us how HE wants things done. Then in today's meeting he is busy trashing talking employees whom he thinks hasn't done a good enough job. Zero professionalism. I pick up a brochure today that has already been sent to printing and there are spelling and grammatical mistakes on every page!!! There is even incorrect information on it! That's when it hit me; we do production and all that but don't have an editor! Not to be mean but we are in a company where everyone's second language is English and their language skills are far from up to par and we don't have an editor????? I don't know how this is going to pan out for me. I want a career but I also don't want to feel like I want to jump out of a window everyday. I also have a life, dogs and my husband; I can't

spend every waking moment at work because people don't understand time management. That is not my problem.

 

Anyways. Enough ranting. My brother in law came in for the weekend and we had a blast. Thursday we took him to a bar and danced all night. I love dancing. On Friday we relaxed majority of the day then when the sun went down a little we filled our inflatable cooler with some ice cold beers and parked ourselfs on our inflatable island in the canal. Our friends came by on their boat and hung out with us. Then we all started to get hungry. So we headed to our friends house for a braai to end the night off. Saturday we spent on the beach. It was lovely. But today I feel a bit under the weather...oops. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend as well. Now we have a long weekend to look forward to this week!!! Woohoo!!!! 

Adios muchachose!!! Xoxo

Where to Start?

Hello all!!!

Sorry for not posting again! We don't have internet yet in the house and I don't like writing a post on my phone. So the question is where do I start?

Let me start with saying Indiana and I love Bahrain. This change has been so good for us and not to mention for the dogs. They laze around outside soaking up the sun and bark at fish. It is the cutest thing watching them. They are so calm here and content. This move was for the best.

We still don't have our personal stuff here yet. Without taking up to much space for ranting, lets just say using this company has turned into our worst nightmare. Not only have a paid a fortune but we still don't have our stuff! On top of it all now the shipper is straying from our original agreement. We asked for door to door service. That means you pick our stuff up from our house in Kuwait and you deliver it to the front door of our house in Bahrain. Simple enough. Well apparently not. We paid him for those services however. We did it that way to make it easier and so we just pay the shippers one time. Now he wants the company here to deliver it to our house and we pay them a separate fee for their services. Um.....HELLO!!!!!! We already paid you for that. Anyways, the point is we will never be using them again and I am sorry for recommending them to you in previous posts.

On a more positive note, I would like to talk about what I have experienced in Bahrain so far. Living on the Amwaj Island, or as we call it, Expat Island, is a dream. People are so friendly and the overall atmosphere is generally calm a quiet. There is The lagoon about a five minute drive from the Floating City, which is where we live, or a 10-15 walk/jog/run. The Lagoon is where I fulfill my Starbucks coffee addiction every morning. The Lagoon is a very beautiful place with a collection of restaurants, coffee shops, a spa, Waitross (the grocery store) and many other things. It is always quiet and during the day filled with mommies and their children having coffee and lunch dates. There are also tons of activities offered on the Island from personal trainers to gyms. This one lady named Kathy offer paddle boarding over the weekends where you can rent paddle boards and she takes you around the floating city. It is a relaxing core workout not to mention fun. She also offers Pilates classes during the week and on Saturdays, Pilates on paddle boards as well. If you are interested check out the Facebook page Stand Up Paddling Bahrain or Pilates by KK.

We rented a car for me so I have also done some off Amwaj exploring. For shopping the City Centre Mall and Al Seef mall are my favorite so far. I also ventured to the Bahrain Mall to visit The Home Store there. That place is very nice and has a unique collection of furniture and decorations for your home at affordable prices. The only issue I have come across is finding a computer desk. Home Center didn't have a very large variety and most of their stuff was in white which does not go with the wood in my house. Then at The Home Store, they were completely out of desks all together. So, I ended up buying a small dining room table that was on sale. It will do just fine paired with a book shelf.

On the topic of car rentals, I rented my car from Adaliya Car Rental. They are great to work with, very accommodating and you can't beat their prices. I am renting a Toyota Yaris, 2013 model, for BD 160 a month. They even dropped it off at my house. Their cars aren't luxurious but do the job for a good price.

I also found the good sports stores. Sun and Sand Sports offers a wide range of athletic gear but is a little pricey on their clothing. I also found Skate Shack which offers our extreme sports gear like kayaks, kite surfs, wakeboards and bikes. They are also pricey but good quality.

My next adventure is to find a good salon/spa that doesn't cost a small fortune. I just want to find a clean place that I can go pamper myself from time to time.

So far that is what I have explored here. I am off to Alosra, another grocery store, now.

Catch you laters!!!! xoxo

It's been a while!

Hello everyone!

So sorry for the long delay in posts. Call me superstitious but I didn't want to post anything during the move and the weeks leading up to the move in order to not jinx myself.

I am glad to announce that we are living in Bahrain! I arrived last Wednesday and the dogs followed on Thursday! They love it here! The atmosphere is just so healthy for them. They sit in the yard for hours even when it is super hot.

We live in the floating city on the Amwaj Island and it is a dream! I can't believe I am still in the Middle East! People are running, kayaking, biking and so much more everyday here. I can wear shorts and my bikini without an issue. Oh and I don't have people barking at my dogs. I don't know why people do that in Kuwait but it really gets on my nerves. The people are great here as well. So friendly. 

I don't have a car yet but Indiana bought me a bicycle and I can bike around Amwaj to the grocery stores and most importantly STARBUCKS!!! Can't live without my coffee. 

Now the last step is to get our stuff in boxes sent over so I can put our personal touch in the house. Luckily the furniture in our place is really nice and not over the top. 

Well I must go clean the kitchen! I will keep you posted on all our new adventures plus reviews on places we go! 

Bye bye for now! Xoxo