September 11th, 2009 @ kadraoui
A conversation with a friend has me hankering for the green grass of home, not out of a desire to leave Bahrain but just for a refreshing taste of what there is so little of here.
My friend’s husband is from Scotland and they are fresh back from a month amidst the lochs and the heather – the thought of which has me salivating.
Bahrain has many things going for it but green it is not and for those of us who grew up amongst the rolling hills of the countryside, hedgerows, rivers and the rain, it can become a little suffocating.
Our home in my native Stafford, England, is surrounded by greenery at every turn of the head, yet here our children have only a concrete yard to run around in. Fresh summer breezes in England – though rare – carry the scent of a myriad plants, but here the winds sweep the heat and the dust ahead of them.
Our only window to the animal world here is the Al Areen reserve, where the heat is tolerable for only a few months of the year – though our daughters are each in love with its solitary camel. But compared to the magical sight of a herd of deer emerging out of the dawn mist on Cannock Chase, a beauty spot almost on our doorstep back home, the oryx dosing in the dust lose their appeal. Forgive if I seem to be putting Bahrain down, I’m not, but having grown up playing in a lush garden, or running through the fields nearby, tadpole net in hand, I can’t help but wish for the same for our children.
We chose the expat lifestyle and it has brought us many benefits in this welcoming and largely safe country.
But I fear at times that our adult choice is depriving our children of some of the magic I knew as a child and of the variety of flora and fauna that such a small desert island cannot offer.
What the children do have though is a diversity of people and they play with others of almost every nationality and creed imaginable, which is not something they would get at home. Actually, even in saying that I am wrong, for the only home they have known is here and not England – which leaves me worrying that we are also denying them their roots. But that’s the manic depressive in me sneaking out, for there is plenty of time in their lives to enjoy the best of both worlds. For now though, I’d like a little grass between my toes!
lhorton@gdn.com.bh
Tags: Green Grass, Gulf Daily News, Press