Dear friend,

I sat by the sea today. It was hot out, over 100 degrees F, a bit steamy with the humidity. The fishing boats were anchored in the Gulf, gently moving up and down. A couple of fishermen were bobbing in the water, not really swimming, just floating and cooling off. My husband and I enjoyed being out of the house. We mostly stay home, except for required work hours. It’s Covid-19 that is keeping people home most of the time. On Friday mornings, the Muslim holy day and my husband’s day off, we go to the supermarket during the first hour, which is for older people. (I don’t feel like an older person, but I guess the calendar disagrees.) Today after shopping, Keith got a cup of coffee at Starbucks, and we sat by the sea as he drank it. It’s nice to be out of the four walls of our flat.

The supermarket is a wonderful place to go. There are groceries from all the continents. Today I bought butter from New Zealand because it was in a wide  shallow can that I will later use as a ring to bake crumpets. The produce section is a colorful extravaganza for my husband and me. We were always accustomed to small town Iowa grocery stores where there wasn’t much use for exotic fruits and vegetables. Because there are expatriate workers in Bahrain from over 120 countries, the supermarkets have buyers for hundreds of items, many of which I had never seen before coming here–chikoo, Dragonfruit, mangosteen, tamarind, and rambutan. We are learning new names for common items too–eggplant is also known as aubergine and brinjal. Who knew? Bell peppers are capsicum.

We used to try to avoid zucchini and cucumber “gifts” in Iowa in the summer. Home gardeners always grew too many (and too large) zucchinis and cucumbers. It seems like a bag of one or the other would always end up on our doorstep. However, now that  we’ve discovered Persian cucumbers and Middle Eastern zucchini, we have a new found admiration for the formerly despised vegetables. They are small, seedless and delicious. I remember the first time I watched a kindergartener at recess eat a whole cucumber. I wondered to myself if I could ever stomach doing that. It probably took me a year before I even tried one. Now I eat them all the time.

Well, now it’s time for me to go. It’s bedtime in Bahrain, but morning in California.  Have a good day.

Sincerely,

Denise

Today is Friday, Day 108 in Bahrain, day 73 of The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad. The prompt is from Mitchell Jackson. We are asked to write letters to people in prison, especially those who are sick and in prison hospice units. He recommends that you look at things that you find beautiful or mysterious and write to someone about what you see, about why they are beautiful, sublime. Give them some joy. Be as particular as you can.

Send your letter to this address and they will be delivered:
California Medical Facility
Attn: David Maldonado, CRM
1600 California Dr.
Vacaville, CA 95687

Learn more about today’s prompt contributor, Mitchell S. Jackson, and his latest book Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family.