So I got to go Bahrain for work for 3 weeks! Yay! I do miss the Middle East sometimes, especially the food. If you follow my food blog, you'll see there was plenty of that to go around. But over here, I figured I'd post some "other stuff" pictures.
This was an odd one. On the way to and from work, there was this bombed out looking building that someone had stenciled some "art" on. This strange looking person being strangled by a balloon caught my eye for some reason. Around the corner was a stencil that said "No Public Displays of Affection" or something to that effect. I wasn't sure if that was for real or ironic.
I thought this was a very "typical" picture of something you'd probably only see in the Middle East. Here is a dirt pile in the middle of a dirt lot, covered by a Persian rug. I think that's all that can be said about that.
The rest of these photos were from a tour I took of the Great Mosque in Juffair. I was able to witness Muslim ritual prayer from up on the balcony, and afterwards I got a one-on-one sit down discussion with a tour guide. Apparently I was the only tourist for his group, which was nice as we were able to have some back and forth a bit concerning the Muslim understanding of God/Allah. Specifically, I was trying to understand what the Muslim understanding of grace is, as this is one of Allah's attributes. The closest I could come was that grace was when something good happens to us. I tried to explain that grace actually implies undeserved good, and mercy further implies that punishment is deserved, but we ended up going around in circles. Maybe it was the language barrier, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
