Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone at home enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Even though we are so far away from the States, that didn't stop us from celebrating.  About 20 people from our compound and school got together on Friday afternoon for a wonderful feast.  We had everything from the turkey and stuffing to sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.  The really nice part was that everyone was together.  We had our get together at our principal's house and the weather was nice enough for people to be both inside and out (about 80F).  There were not only Americans, but also Brits, Canadians, and a Lebanese guy.  Quite different from what were are used to at home, but it made sense since they are our family here in Saudi.

It was also a celebration because this week is Hajj Eid, which means that we don't have school!  The reason we have off is this week is designated for the holy pilgrimage to Mecca.  Not all of our Muslim students are going, but quite a few are.  So far, the week has been great because we haven't done much at all.  Just some cleaning, napping, and Jamie took his first drive to Khobar, a city about an hour away where we go shopping.  He did a great job.  Tomorrow we are heading out to Bahrain for a few days.  Some friends of ours have an apartment there that they are letting us stay in while they are in Jordan.  We're excited to get out of the area for a bit and explore a new place.  Bahrain is considered the "Party Island of the Middle East", this is especially true for Saudi Arabia, because it is more westernized.  They have movie theaters, alcohol, and I don't have to wear my abaya!  How much more can you ask for?  Plus, if I want to I can drive, but I'm not sure that I want to.  We'll have to see how the drivers are.  Hopefully they are not as crazy as here in Saudi.

Here are some pictures, enjoy!

Tara

Sandra, Serah, and I checking out the table of goodies.

The feast!  It was wonderful!

Our neighbor, Steve, with his son Ariki.

Pictures of our Car

The time has finally come to post pictures of the vehicle I put money down on six weeks ago!  I didn't say anything about it at the time because I thought that if something happened and we ended up not getting the vehicle or had to wait a long time, like we did, you all would be wondering what had happened.

Let me tell you about the vehicle buying process.  It is not an easy process buying a used car like it is in the U.S., Canada, or probably many other places in the world.  I needed a blood test and a letter from my employer's Government Relations Office (GRO) to get a drivers license.  Then I had to wait for our very slow GRO to process the paperwork (another 4 1/2 weeks).  Finally, I received the license after some of us talked to our superintendent (who we really love) and she had a chat with GRO.  Last Monday, our principal took myself and another guy down to start the registration process of the vehicle.  We again had to bring in a letter from our GRO office.  The letter was missing a stamp it needed (of course it couldn't be perfect).  We paid the dealer a little money to get the stamps for us and the next day the letter with the correct stamp was mailed to us, which was then worthless.  Anyways, the dealer said they should be ready by Wednesday because they have to take them to a government office to process and that takes about two days.  They weren't ready on Wednesday (now I'm not surprised anymore).  I called again on Saturday and I got the O.K., but Dave, the other guy, is still waiting even though we did everything at exactly the same time, poor guy.  I went down with another guy looking for a newer car and another new teacher still looking for a car last night as Tara said.  When I got down there the dealer was going to get tires put on for me at his price, but my expense.  We get to the tire place and, you guessed it, they only had two in my size.  We left and the ride home was only slightly eventful, but I won't elaborate for my mom's sake.

So maybe it wasn't the fastest journey to getting a car, but it is just a car and we finally have it!  I hope you now get an idea of how Saudi Arabia can work.  But I must say that people in other companies have gotten drivers licenses in less than a week so we had a unique situation.

Before I show the pictures, I have to tell you that we haven't had the A/C on all week!  The weather is awesome!

O.K. now for the pictures and thanks for reading my rant.

Jamie

Tara is being rebellious on the compound!  She drove 10 feet into our parking space.

Here is the chauffeur in the 2006 Hyundai Tuscon 4x4.

It's finally here! (well, almost)

At the moment, I’m home alone, anxiously waiting for Jamie to come home WITH OUR CAR!! It has been a very long wait, but our time is finally here. The most exciting thing is that tomorrow we can take ourselves grocery shopping!

On to other things, we had a very busy week again. However, it ended well with us chaperoning homeless night. This was a fundraiser for the Habitat for Humanity trip that is going to Bangladesh in February. They were supposed to pretend to be homeless for a night, but it was more like a church lock-in. We did a few hours of community service, dinner at the “soup kitchen”, The Amazing Race competition, a bonfire, movie, and finally went to sleep about 1 am. Everyone slept outdoors and Jamie and I were lucky enough to be helping with the boys. They did a great job and actually slept for a while. It was exhausting, but a blast.

We pretty much did nothing the rest of the weekend. One nice thing that has happened is that the weather has cooled down. One day it was hot, and the next it was nice and cool. The highs are now only about 80 while it cools to about 60 at night. It’s kind of sad, but we’ve acclimated to the weather so quickly that 70s feels chilly. I even wore a sweater to school today and wasn’t hot!

We’ll post pictures of the car in the next few days so check back soon.

Tara

Students doing the spiderweb (look for the pink string)

My group of students washed all these dishes, organized them,
and then color coded them with paint.

Cooking in the kitchen with my students!

Follow Up

It's only been a few days since the last update so I will just follow up with what we were doing.

Parent teacher conferences went well for both of us. No one was yelled at or questioned whether or not we were doing a good job teaching their child. In fact, most conferences were quit pleasant and it was good to get to know the parents a little better.

Also, our superintendent made a visit to the school with a new HR person working on alumni activities. As always, when someone from the district office comes they treated us with Krispy Kreme donuts from Al-Khobar. The superintendent also talked with the new staff who are waiting on the drivers licenses and thanked us for waiting so patiently and being professional about our inquiries as to when they would be ready. She told us they would be ready on Monday and that the Government Relations office is expected to be better at communicating with us in the future. Our fingers are crossed that the licenses actually show up . . . this is Saudi Arabia we have to remember.

In other news, Tara and I have been playing tennis recently. We are borrowing one racquet from school and have bought another one. It is nice having the courts in the compound, but a pain when we hit a ball over the wall. Then we have to walk around (past the gate, four guard stations, and two Hummers with guns mounted on top) to get the ball. Is it weird that all this feels normal to me?

Tara is off cutting hair for our neighbor's boys right now. Word is getting around she can use a pair of clippers.

That's all for now. We'll let you know how things progress with the drivers license and acquiring a car next week.

Jamie

Technical difficulties

Here are the other pictures I was trying to upload, but blogger was having issues.

This is Phoebe. We got to be her foster parents for about 1/2 an hour
until another couple nearby decided that they wanted to keep her.
She was so sweet and playful, I was very tempted to
keep her myself.

Jamie with Phoebe.

A few of our girls at the Halloween celebration.

One of the doors for the door decorating contest.

Crazy weeks

Opps! I cannot believe it’s already Tuesday. With everything that has been going on these past two weeks, we completely forgot to blog. To be honest, school has consumed our lives.

Last week report cards came out, plus we had a Halloween party at school, complete with trick or treating and a haunted hallway. It was fun to see everyone dressed up and having fun. Jamie even had his debut theater experience. He played Frankenstein in “The Monster Mash” dance, which was put on by the staff. I have it videotaped if anyone would like proof of this.

This week has been even crazier. We had an extended workday on Sunday and tomorrow and Thursday we have our first ever Parent/Teacher Conferences. I’m a little nervous just because the culture of many of our students takes science very seriously. I already know that I will get parents coming in who will ask how their child can improve, even though their child is receiving an A in the class. It truly is a culture difference.

Jamie and I have also been getting involved in After School Activities (ASAs) and lunch activities. Sports are important here, but not even close to what they are like in the States. A lot of the Jr. and Sr. high students will do sports after school, otherwise they sign up for ASAs that the teachers offer. I am currently doing board games ASA for grades 2 and 3, plus a friend and I are starting a Hannah Montana dance steps ASA for the same grades next week. It should be fun. Doing the ASAs is fun because it lets me get to know students who I usually don’t see. Jamie is continuing with his Monopoly lunch club. We’ve also started to help out with a rock climbing ASA. Our school has a nice climbing wall in the courtyard and one of the teachers has worked on getting all the equipment needed for it (he also helped build it). We don’t get paid for helping with rock climbing, but it’s a great workout and we get to see our students in a very different environment.

The last big school news is that we are having a science fair in February. I signed up to be on the committee, and somehow became the one in charge. A few of my 9^th graders and I did a presentation for the entire elementary side of the school last Wednesday and the kids loved it! We already have over 35 kids signed up for the fair, which I think is pretty good.

License update: Jamie got an email today saying that the license is being worked on! We’re crossing our fingers that it comes to us next week.

Tara

Hunayda putting up a spooky spider

Our neighbor Kieran as a dinosaur. The "teeth" made it
difficult for him to see so he was always looking up. So cute!

A few of the Venezuelan girls.