Delmon Pottery and the Bahrain Sea Festival

We had a fun day in Bahrain a few weeks ago. We started out by going to Delmon pottery. The kids got to make their own pottery with help from the nice Bahraini man below. There was also an amazing pottery shop with beautiful pieces of ethnic-looking pottery. The owner of the shop said that his grandfather started Delmon pottery before there was much of a building in the present location.


We came back a couple weeks later to pick up the kids' pottery that they had baked in the kiln. The next step is to paint them with acrylic paint.



I got a picture in front of this old cemetery we drove past. I have no idea what the banners say, so comment if you read Arabic! It's always nice going to Baharain for the weekend because women are not required to wear abayas there.


Since Bahrain is so close (less than an hour, on a good traffic day), we like to drive across the border to this tiny island that is connected to Saudi Arabia by a causeway. See that tiny blip on the map in the Persian Gulf (they call it the "Arab Gulf") that is just east of Saudi, and north of Qatar? That little island is the Kingdom of Bahrain.


Our next stop was the annual Bahrain Sea Festival. Upon entering, you step on this interactive sea floor. The kids would have spent the entire night on that floor had we not forced them to move on! The loved "splashing" and stepping on the fish and making them swim away. It's funny to see the things that the kids loved the most. Not the aquarium, or the ship building, or the Mexican food. This fish floor.




Because we arrived so early, we were one of the first people there. These Bahraini men were showcasing fish trap building and pearl diving--both things that Bahrainis have a long tradition of doing. See those round, metal fish traps on the right?



They used nose plugs to help with pressure when they did deep pearl diving. And they would put this basket around their neck as they swam along the bottom of the gulf floor, running their hands in the sand and picking up clams. When they would find a clam, they'd pop it into the basket.


Apparently an average pearl diver could go on about 8 dives in a day. Good ones could go on 10. And exceptional ones could handle up to 15 dives, though that was very rare. Apparently it wears you out--and they need to be able to hold their breath for about 3 minutes.

Doesn't Avery look thrilled? :P







They even had this stage set up for a virtual reality pearl diving experience. You put on the VR goggles and it looked like you were on a pearl diving boat off the coast. You got to watch the men on the ship prepare for the pearl dive, and then go with them in the water when they did it, and then go back on the ship while they opened their clams in search of pearls. Avery had so much fun that she nearly walked off the stage trying to explore the VR boat!

See Sam with the VR headset on? He must be checking out the top of the water...or the VR sky or something.


Here was another undersea virtual reality setup they had. These pods moved and had sound effects that went with your undersea adventure on the VR headset. The kids loved this one because they really felt like they were swimming through the ocean and were being chased by the imaginary sea creatures!


In the middle of everything were these Bahraini singers and drummers. Maren covered her ears the entire time we were in the place because they were so loud. One of the guys even let Avery come on stage and beat the drum with him, though I didn't get a picture of it!




This was a hand-built ship that the guy in the next picture below made.


He said the boat he had been working on was already sold. Someone saw him working on it, wanted it, so he went up to him asking him the price. It costs around $2,000-3,000 for a small boat this size.


After the activities inside, we went outside where they had more displays and tables set up for food from the vendors. We ate at a place with Mexican food. We joked with the food vendors about not being Mexican, and they joked that they were Indian-Mexican and Filipino-Mexican. They were fun to talk with. They even brought our food to our table when it was ready.

The deck area overlooked a bay with several classic-made Bahraini ships.


Avery really wanted me to post this picture of her and the face she was making.


Then this man came over and said, "Do you want a picture with me in it?"
Why not?


This was one of my favorite parts. They had a blacksmith display! They had samples of the things they had made, including anchors that were too heavy for me to pick up!


They were making a post digger-upper (that's the official name, I'm sure); a tool they use to remove posts in the ground.


See the Bahrain flag on the back of the ship?


This was incredible. This man was in a thobe (white robe), waving the Bahrain flag, and on the water hover board!






These guys were opening clams for pearls. When they found one, they would hold the clam up and cheer.


Just before this, a Bahraini woman wanted a picture with Liberty. I passed her off to the woman so I could take a picture of her holding Liberty, but Liberty gets wary of strangers, and she started bawling. So the woman just took a picture of Liberty while I was holding her. But by that point, Liberty was not in the mood to smile, no matter how much I tried to cajole her or make silly faces at her. It turns out that the woman was taking a video of both me AND Liberty, not just a photo of Liberty, like I had assumed. So she got me making some really lovely faces on film while I was trying to make Liberty smile. I hope their posterity enjoy that video. :)

The woman asked my baby's name, and when I told her "Liberty," she smiled and told me how to say Liberty in Arabic: "hurria." The woman was pushing her (I assume) grandmother in a wheelchair, and the grandmother's eyes lit up when she got to reach out and hold Liberty's little hand. Kids are such great barrier breakers.

More performers on the terrace outside. Maren had to cover her ears up again when the started playing. Poor girl couldn't get a break! But it was fun music to have playing in the background, even if Maren didn't appreciate it.


In other news, in the last several days, we catch Sam being quiet. Usually that means he is coloring. But now we have caught him on the ground reading the scriptures in Matthew! He says, "Mom, I am reading this and I can actually understand it!" Makes my heart happy. I love that boy.