My Awesome Birthday

Today was my birthday and it was one of the best I have had in a long time. It is Sunday but here in Saudi Arabia that is like a Tuesday in the States so I had to work today but that didn't matter much, it still was an awesome day.

My day started at 5:20 this morning with a kiss from my hubby as he left bright and early to take Jonny to seminary. I arrived at school and was greeted by several of my students with all kinds of gifts. Yesterday I let it slip that it was my birthday today in one of my classes and as I said it, many of my students grabbed their planners and wrote it down like it was a homework assignment. This morning they all remembered by writing messages all over my board in my classroom along with gifts. What sweet kids they all are.

All day I was greeted with smiles and birthday wishes.

After school I got to choose where we would go for dinner. The Corniche or strand along the Arabian Gulf (not the Persian Gulf here...they call it the Arabian Gulf), anyway it is only about a mile from our house with just about every type of restaurant along the Corniche. I chose to go to TGIF, that's right, they have TGIF here in Saudi. I really think they should change the name to TAIW (Thank Allah it's Wednesday). It was just the same as in the States.
It was nice to be able to take the family out to a good restaurant with good food and service. That's something that was very hard to find in China. Here we have many choices like Chili's, Applebees, Tony Romas, TGIF, Macaroni Grill, Burger King, McDonald's, Hardees (Carl Jr's), and KFC to just name a few.
The food was great! I was able to actually have a good Chicken Chimichanga.

As you can see we had a great time enjoying our food and each other. I wish I could have taken a picture of the family next to us though. After we sat down a group of four women dressed in the full Abaya's covering their faces and all walked in with their husband. Yes, he had four wives. They sat in the booth next to us but requested privacy so they brought out a room divider to put around the booth. Gavin asked why he couldn't have four wives. After some thought he came to the conclusion on his own that one was enough.
After dinner we walked along the Corniche. Yes, that's my Abaya I wear when we go out. It really isn't that bad. I just throw it on over my clothes and it's no big deal. It does get a little hot if I'm out in the sun because it is black.

The weather is getting a little cooler so it was nice walking along the Gulf. After dinner and our walk we came back to the house to open presents and then ended the day talking to Rachel, which was the best part of it all.

Happy Birthday to me......

The Thumb

So we rented a car for the week so we can go look for one to buy. It was a little difficult taking taxi's or bumming rides from other people so we decided to just rent one for now. The cars here have cigarette lighters in them. Not something you see much in the US.

Well, Jonny, being the brilliant 15 year old he is, has never seen a cigarette lighter before. We were parked on the side of the road while Jack went to look at a car for sale and Jonny was sitting in the front seat so I couldn't really see what he was doing. All of a sudden he yells and I smell burnt flesh at the same time. I see this thing go flying from his hand.

Come to find out, he didn't know the lighter would get hot when he pushed it in. He took it out and wanted to know what it felt like so he put his thumb on it. I don't think he will ever do that again. Hmmmmm.....the glowing redness and heat coming from the lighter wasn't a good enough indication that it was hot?
What is it with teenagers? Rachel did a similar thing when she was 12 with a hand held blender. She wanted to know what it felt like while the blade was spinning. Luckily she only chopped a small portion on the top of her finger and not the entire finger off.

Now they both have a dumb silly story to tell about touching things. Maybe the lesson is, if your not sure, don't touch.

ISG Dhahran Campus

Here is just a quick tour of the Middle School. The campus consists of DEMS (Dhahran Elementary Middle School), DHS (Dhahran High School), and then the British School.This is one of four gyms on campus. This is probably the nicest of the four but they all are good.

This is a very nice benefit. They have a Joffrey's Coffee and Tea shop literally 20 feet from my classroom. It's not just coffee and tea, they have pastry's, fruit smoothies, salads, ice cream, and other little treats. I can call them up to place an order and they will deliver it to my classroom. Only the High School students, teachers, and staff are allowed in. The elementary and middle school students can go once a semester with their homeroom teacher.
Just another shot of Joffrey's.
The building on the left is the cafeteria and straight ahead is one entrance for one of the four gyms on campus.
The door straight ahead goes into Coree's classroom. They are portables but are equipped very nicely inside with a very cold air conditioner. That is the important thing here. The buildings are so cold though, that you literally have to go outside to warm up.
Each school has a dome building for student's to use. This is the Middle School dome. Students come here for assembly's and during breaks to hang out and play games. They have several ping pong tables, fuzball, and air hockey. Quite the fun place to hang out when it's hot outside.

This is looking down from the middle school towards the elementary and preschool section.
The strange thing is the track. It goes around the center of the campus with classrooms in the center and all around it.
This is the walkway from the cafeteria towards one of the gyms.

Millionaire Road

There's this street on the way to our school that is nicknamed Millionaire Road. The pictures don't do justice because these places are insane. Many of them have a main house and then several smaller 8,000 square foot homes right next to them for the "other" wives. They are all fenced off with security like most compounds so you can't get very close and they probably would not be happy that we took pictures but the size of them is unreal.The compound of homes had a huge probably 20,000 square foot home with three other large homes that we could see.
This is one gate to the smaller home on the compound pictured above.
This is gate two for the second home on the same compound. Maybe being one of the "other" wives isn't so bad.
This house looks exactly like the White House in DC.
Just another compound of homes. Again the pictures don't do justice but the amount of money these people have is insane. See where all the money goes for oil?

Girls will be girls...and more!

Vika is quite the girly girl. She loves to play dress up as an "adult" version of Vika. She probably wears my high heels more than I do and jewelry is always an accessory in her wardrobe. She had a friend over to play one day and came down dressed up like this. Her friend, who is a boy, also came down with my heels on but wouldn't let me take a picture. Vika of course loves the camera and hams it up whenever a camera is pointed at her. Here she is fashioning skinny jeans with black high heel sandals, a large fashionable bag from Rue 21, of course lots of bracelets and the ever famous Dior glasses on her head. Quite the fashionable little girl.
One fun thing about living in different countries is trying the different types of food. It can be disappointing at times but occasionally we are surprised to find a gem. I saw these melons at the store and decided to give them a try since I love cantelope, I was hoping to find an orange melon inside. When I cut the melon open and saw a white fruit I was a little disappointed thinking it would be more like a honey dew which is one of my least favorite melons. The seeds were the orange color that you would see in a cantelope so I wasn't sure what it was. I was pleasantly surprised to find it tastes exactly like cantelope. It's like an albino version because the color is taken out of it but it is just as sweet as a cantelope that I'd get back home. YUMMY!!!!

Another surprise today was discovering that coriander is the same as cilantro. I love to cook mexican food and make my own salsa but just couldn't find fresh cilantro here and was really disappointed. I was told that coriander is the same but I just didn't believe it because it didn't have the same smell. I would go through the fresh herb section in the stores and smell all the things that looked similar to cilantro which coriander does but it just didn't have that same fresh smell. I decided to just try coriander and see. Today I made a Taco Salad for dinner and as I was chopping up the coriander, that strong beautiful aroma of cilantro crept it's way up to my nose and a smile spread from ear to ear. YES it is the same and I am so happy, Happy, HAPPY!!!!!!

For the past three years when we returned back to Utah for the summer I have craved GOOD peaches. I was always disappointed because we never were there for the actual peach season and the peaches from the stores just were blah! I was at Tamimi's (Saudi's Safeway) here and saw these Lebanese Peaches. They looked perfect so I thought what the heck, I'll try them. THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! Who would ever had known that peaches grew in Lebanon and that they were so good. I am in love....
After enjoying some fresh peaches I decided to make my favorite Peach Cobbler. It was heavenly.... Utah may have good peaches, Georgia may be known as the Peach State but Lebanon almost out beats them all. Lebanese Peaches....AWESOME!!!!

Still love it here....all is good!

Life is good!

الحياة الطيبة

Life is so good!. I know we have only been here less than a month but so far life is good.

Our experience in China for the past three years has made this transition to Saudi Arabia a piece of cake. What seems irritating and inconvenient to others here, doesn't seem bad at all. Yes, there are some things that can become frustrating but the difference here is that we can escape to our normal life in the compound. We don't have to live right in the midst of it all.

We have just heard that our Iqama's are ready which means we can now get mobile phones, internet, satellite tv, bank account, and most importantly a car. Once we get these things, life will be even better. It hasn't been too bad without a car. The compound has a van that will take us shopping to either the grocery store or mall four days a week and then Tamimi's (Safeway) has a van that will pick us up twice a week. The help of our neighbors and friends for all the other little errands has made it very convenient and easy to get what we need.

Having our Iqama's also means we can now get the process started to receive our shipment from China. It is supposed to arrive in the next few days but we weren't able to start the paperwork to get it cleared through customs when it arrives until we had our Iqama's. It may still take a few weeks but at least I know I will be seeing our things that we left in China four months ago in the near future.

The Iqama is like a green card in the US. It just shows that we have permission to work here in Saudi Arabia.

We are really loving the simplicity of our lives here. The school doesn't require us to give our entire lives to it. We are asked to offer an after school activity but it is only once a week from 2:30 - 3:30 and they pay you extra for it. Both Gavin and I will be coaching Volleyball starting this week which fulfills our requirement of the after school activities. I will be coaching the MS girls A team and Gavin will be coaching the JV girls team. Practices are only twice a week from 2:30-3:30 but we could have more if we want. Nicole will be trying out for the MS team and Jonny the boys JV team.

On Wednesday night, which is our Friday night here, Gavin and I walked down to Hyper Panda to do some grocery shopping. It is located in a small mall only a few blocks from our house. The mall has a food court so we decided to make it a date and have dinner. The food court had a KFC, Hardy's, Popeyes, a sub shop, fish and chips, an Italian place, Chinese (which we won't have too much), Lebanese food, and of course an Arab place with our favorite Shawarma's. We were able to have a great meal for only $8.00 for the both of us. The food court has two separate eating sections. One is only for men and the other is a family section for men and women. After dinner we just walked around Hyper Panda which is like a Super Walmart back home. We spent about two hours just wandering around seeing what is available here. We are finding that we can find just about everything we need. Most of it is cheaper or just a little more than back home but we don't have to pay sales tax here so it still becomes a bargain.

We left both agreeing that it was a very cheap and pleasant date, something that we would never have been able to do in China. Whenever we wanted to go out to eat in China it became just too much of a hassle. Our choices in China were McDonalds, KFC, cheap Chinese food that would always make Gavin sick, or foo foo expensive restaurants. We would walk around and become frustrated that we either had to pay way too much for crappy food or eat greasy unhealthy McDonalds. Our dinner out here was cheap, good and a very pleasant experience.

Shawarma's have become one or our favorite foods so far here. It is their version of a chicken burrito on flat bread. So instead of going to Taco Bell for bean burritos, we will be heading down to the food court for Shawarma's.

A few weeks ago it was Jonny's 15th birthday. It was only a week after we had gotten here and we felt bad because we weren't able to get out and find him a cool birthday present. We had brought a few things from home to give to him but he really wanted an iPod dock with an alarm clock. We looked here but just couldn't find the right thing for him. On his birthday we decided to take him to the mall and just let him walk around and look for something. He found some really cool Van high tops but of course they didn't have his size. Just as we were leaving the mall we passed a store that sold Apple products and he was able to find the perfect iPod dock with alarm clock and speakers. It was a little more expensive than what we would have paid back home but it was his birthday and we were glad to find exactly what he wanted. He had a great birthday with his friends here swimming and just hanging out.

I can't believe he is already 15.

Like I said, "Life is Good". We don't know why we didn't come here sooner.

Our Villa in An Nassim

After 24 hours of traveling we finally made it to Saudi Arabia. We left Salt Lake at 2:15 pm on August 25 and arrived in Dammam Saudi Arabia at 9:00 pm on August 26. The time difference is 9 hours so that makes nearly 24 hours of travel time. We were a little tired but excited to be here.

Our school arranged for a government agent to meet us at our gate to take us through customs quickly. They had all the new teachers on the same flight from Amsterdam so we had a group of nearly 20 people. After several hours of waiting for the group to clear customs and get our luggage we loaded busses and headed for our new home on the An Nassim compound.

The school provides a completely furnished 4 bedroom 3 1/2 bath villa with nearly 3,000 sq feet of space. They stocked our kitchen with some basics and provided us with all our linens, dishes, kitchen ware, and furniture. It's not all exactly what we would choose but it's all free. I've created a little tour of our compound and villa with pictures and as you will see, it looks a little outdated like we time traveled back to the 80's. The Arabs seem to love pale colors on the walls and lots of gold and bling.
This is a picture of the front of our villa. We live in #113. The villas are all three stories and connected like town homes. We plan to add some plants and little touches to our porch to make it seem more welcoming.
When you walk into the villa you enter this sitting/parlor area. I have a huge Chinese banquet table coming from China that will look perfect in this room. This will be my Chinese room with our relics and things from China.
Just right off the sitting/parlor area is a living room. Right now it looks a little bare but again once our shipment comes from China we can add our own little touches. I can't wait to get all our Thai decor and Vietnam things out and on the walls.
This is the formal dining area which will never get used as a dining room. Notice the very 80's light wood furniture...this is par to the villas. Everyone here has this same dining room set.
Next is the kitchen. The exciting part of this room are all the American sized appliances including a dishwasher. That is something we haven't had for three years in China. Love having some of those conveniences back.
This is another view of the kitchen where we have a little eating area and door that goes out to our backyard.
The backyard needs some work. They say that we have a gardener that takes care of it but it doesn't look like they have done much lately. The trees and bushes are overgrown and desperately need trimming. We are so exciting to have a yard though because we promised the kids we would get a dog. Quite a few of our neighbors, which are all teachers at our school, have dogs so we are on the hunt for a friendly addition to our family.
Upstairs on the second floor is a loft area where the TV is currently. Once we get a better and bigger TV, we will move things around downstairs and make the formal dining room into a TV room. The dining room table will be moved in the living room which will become more of a music/sitting room. This room will then become a game room with the x-box and kid stuff.
On the second floor are three of the four bedrooms and two baths. This is the kids bathroom. Again notice the American toilet along with the "butt washer".
This is Vika's room. She has two beds in her room but they only gave us bedding for one of them. We will eventually take the kids to pick out their own bedding and will get extras for the other bed which Rachel will probably use when she comes to visit. The gold lamps really need to go. Like I said it's a time travel back to the 80's, plus the Arabs seem to love gold.
Each or the kids rooms have a huge closet and desk. This house had so much storage and space. More than we know what to do with.
This is Nicole's closet and desk in her room.
Nicole's room has a double bed and plenty of room for a teenager.
The Master bedroom has a huge King size bed, which looks small in this picture because the room is so large. It is called a "super" king which is about the size of a California King. We love huge beds because we need our space. The beds are pretty comfortable, way more comfortable than then beds in China. We have some memory foam bed toppers coming in our shipment so once those get here, it will be perfect. The ceilings in this house are all very tall so it creates a very open feeling.
The master bathroom...
equipped with our American toilet and the European "butt washer".
Upstairs is our laundry area. Again, notice the American sized washer and dryer. No more tiny crappy Chinese size that only fits two pairs of pants and takes two hours to dry clothes.
Jonny's room is on the third floor along with his own bathroom. He also has two beds in his room but only one had bedding.
Part of the third floor is a roof area. We can hang clothes out if we want. It's so hot that they dry way faster than the dryer. Right now it is too hot to enjoy this area but maybe we can find some good use of it. We had a large roof area at our house in China but never did anything with it. Had lots of ideas but it was way too hot. They say in about a month it will start cooling off and will be really nice outside.
This is the view of our compound from our roof. The center area is a circular driveway around the compound with parking in the center and in front of our villas.
Another view of the compound looking towards the guarded gate.


The compound has a club house with a large recreation room. Their are quite a number of kids on the compound and they like to come down here to watch movies. It's a great place for kids to hang out.
The compound has two tennis courts but one is used for basketball,
air hockey and fusball,
ping pong table and pool table,
squash court,
tennis court (but it's a little too hot right now for this),
weight room,
and a swimming pool. The pool has been a favorite spot for us. We come down here just about everyday for a few hours in the evening. We thought the water would be too warm but it actually is just the perfect temperature. The pool is open until late November and then closes for a few months because it gets too cold. Can't imagine that but they say it does get a little chilly in the winter. It will be a lot like Arizona weather which really isn't that cold at all.

So far we love the compound life. Many of the teachers from our school live here and there are kids all ages here. Jonny, Nicole, and Vika have all made some great friends. We don't have to worry about them because they all just hang out in the compound and have found plenty to do together. They go shoot pool, play ping pong, watch movies, swim, and just have fun.

We don't have a car yet because we have to wait until we get our Iqama's (green card) which should come in a few weeks but we can always find a way to get where we need to go. The school provides a bus from our compound to school each day and back. The compound has a van that will take us anywhere we want to go on certain days and Tamimi's (Safeway) provides a van to transport us twice a week to their store. We are walking distance to a little mall that has a huge grocery store called Hyper Panda with some other shops and a food court that has KFC, Quizmo's, Popeye's Chicken, Starbucks, Baskin Robbins, and some other food chain's. We are about a 10 minute drive to IKEA and another mall that has just about everything in it. We have been very impressed with the availability of products and stores here. It is like living in America but in Saudi Arabia. Things are very Westernized here.

We plan to do some decorating and painting of our villa so we will post pictures as those things happen.

This has been a great move for our family. We heard how much people love living here and now we know why.