Which colour tea towel?

After a wonderful weekend in Amsterdam, I was back in Dublin Airport Monday morning ready (or as ready I could be) for more business travel. The destination this time was Bahrain. A quick stop to change planes in Abu Dhabi first...

Subtitles on films and tv shows were in Arabic. Announcements as well. I slowly started to prepare for a culture shock.

Approximately ten hours after take-off I joined the queue to apply for my visitor visa. I had been warned this could be tricky when travelling alone as a female, so I was prepared for questions, but never expected this many. Thankfully I had an official letter of invitation from the client, and in the end I got the visa and was able to proceed to pick up my luggage.

A driver had been organised from the hotel, so once the paperwork was sorted I got on my way. The heat was the next shock. It was not any hotter than Denver, but the humidity made it feel as if someone threw a bucket of water at me the minute I got outside. My glasses steamed up!

All the female staff in the hotel were in rather short skirts. The bar almost resembled a nightclub, and smoking was the norm by most. Live music, lots of drink. Just a glass of wine for me to relax. My boss had travelled ahead the day before, so he met me at the hotel.

The real challenge was the job the next morning. It was too hot outside for me, but I made it past the armed military guards and was back in the world of air condition.

People started showing up for training. Nine in total. Three of them greeted my boss and proceeded to walk right by me without even acknowledging my presence. The majority of them were in white "robes". Some had white, other had red and white tea towels on their heads. They played with these head decorations more than women tend to play with their long hair. It was all very odd.

Phone rang left and right. People came and went. The majority of the attendees didn't complete any of the training exercises. Was this going well or not?

I completed the two days of work. No breaks for me. No lunch. Tough!

To complete the trip, we were invited out for a nice dinner last night, and then in the end I was dropped to the airport. There was no trouble leaving, and for the first time ever I was happy to arrive back to Dublin's cold and gloomy weather.

An experience for sure, and I think it went well...