I'm kind of glad we forgot to blog yesterday because we didn't have much to blog about until this morning (but I'll get to that later). This past week has been super busy with school and tutoring. The only out of routine thing lately has been Jubail Idol. It is a lip-syncing competition that our librarian helps orchestrate. Complete with Simon, Paula, and Randy act alikes, the night was a huge success. Any kids from grade 2 to 10 can participate which makes for a huge array of acts. One of the outstanding performers was a Venezuelan who did a great Michael Jackson impersonation to Beat It! Plus, we have started a small Financial Peace University class with a few other people from school which meets once a week. FPU is a program designed by Dave Ramsey, who is a best selling author and radio host. We are really enjoying it, plus my brother Billy is going through it at the same time in WI. It's fun to be able to talk about something we are both doing "together" even though we are so far apart.
Everything seemed normal this morning until our principal walked into my room and told me that there had been a bit of a schedule change. Being the first day of 2nd semester, I wasn't surprised. Then he dropped the bomb and told me that I'd get to teach two sections of math for the rest of the year! I was (and still am) ecstatic about the news. So, starting Monday I get to teach 9th and 10th grade math, plus keep my 9th grade science. Unfortunately, the reason that there is an opening is that one of our math teachers is not able to stay at our school due to legality issues with the Saudi government. I don't really understand it, but it has something to do with the fact that his wife is here to work so he isn't supposed to. I'm hoping this will become an easy transition into a full-time math position.
Sorry we don't have any pictures this week. We'll try to get some for next week.
Tara
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Dinner and a Track Meet
We had a very productive and busy end of our week. On Wednesday evening Tara's Food and Nutrition class hosted a dinner for parents and teachers for their final exam. The next morning we were on the bus with about 25 kids for a cross country meet.
Let's start with Tara's class's dinner. It was quite the big undertaking. There were 75 confirmed guests to prep for and about 60 people showed up. She planned and shopped for the dinner and supervised 16 kids in the kitchen on Wednesday from 2:30pm until the last ones left at around 9pm. The students came up with a menu of chicken parmesan, garlic bread, and caesar salad. For desert, the students served ice cream sundaes and brownie chocolate chip cheesecake. The whole thing was a big hit and the kids all did a really nice job.
The next morning at 6am we took off for the two hour ride to Abqaiq, an Aramco compound that is setup like a separate city. During the trip, we saw cool looking sand dunes and a ton of camels. To start with, the compound was amazing. They had a sand golf course, track, school, tons of space and houses, and a huge commissary. On our compound you can see a wall no matter where you are, but on this compound I didn't even realize there were walls. As for the cross country meet, we are not coaching, but went along to the meet to cheer on the kids. The Timms, who have been here for 26 years, do the coaching. The race was a mile and half (quite a bit shorter than meets we are used to). Our kids ran well, but it's not real serious for them. There isn't really a team, some kids to workouts during the week, but others just show up on race day. Our best runner came in fourth in the 8th grade race. It was a really nice day and a lot of fun. We even were able to pick up some Spray n Wash laundry spray at the commissary! We haven't been able to find anything else like that anywhere else.
Another interesting observation we made was of the Aramco kids from Dhahran. We shared a big tent with them and before we left the host coach asked everyone to clean up their areas. Our kids did and are usually pretty good about that kind of thing. We saw the Aramco kids leaving and told them to pick up their space because they weren't and their coach wasn't around. They just looked at us. I said, "you know, pick up, clean up." I even did hand motions showing how to pick up. They looked at us with a look on their face that made me wonder if they understood English (of course they do). The Timms said those kids all have servants at home who do that kind of thing for them. They wouldn't even think about having to clean up. They said people can become very soft growing up in that kind of environment. It was an interesting lesson and to cap it all off, after they left, an Indian grounds crew guy came over and picked up all their stuff.
I hope you all enjoy the few pictures.
Until next time.
Jamie
Let's start with Tara's class's dinner. It was quite the big undertaking. There were 75 confirmed guests to prep for and about 60 people showed up. She planned and shopped for the dinner and supervised 16 kids in the kitchen on Wednesday from 2:30pm until the last ones left at around 9pm. The students came up with a menu of chicken parmesan, garlic bread, and caesar salad. For desert, the students served ice cream sundaes and brownie chocolate chip cheesecake. The whole thing was a big hit and the kids all did a really nice job.
The next morning at 6am we took off for the two hour ride to Abqaiq, an Aramco compound that is setup like a separate city. During the trip, we saw cool looking sand dunes and a ton of camels. To start with, the compound was amazing. They had a sand golf course, track, school, tons of space and houses, and a huge commissary. On our compound you can see a wall no matter where you are, but on this compound I didn't even realize there were walls. As for the cross country meet, we are not coaching, but went along to the meet to cheer on the kids. The Timms, who have been here for 26 years, do the coaching. The race was a mile and half (quite a bit shorter than meets we are used to). Our kids ran well, but it's not real serious for them. There isn't really a team, some kids to workouts during the week, but others just show up on race day. Our best runner came in fourth in the 8th grade race. It was a really nice day and a lot of fun. We even were able to pick up some Spray n Wash laundry spray at the commissary! We haven't been able to find anything else like that anywhere else.
Another interesting observation we made was of the Aramco kids from Dhahran. We shared a big tent with them and before we left the host coach asked everyone to clean up their areas. Our kids did and are usually pretty good about that kind of thing. We saw the Aramco kids leaving and told them to pick up their space because they weren't and their coach wasn't around. They just looked at us. I said, "you know, pick up, clean up." I even did hand motions showing how to pick up. They looked at us with a look on their face that made me wonder if they understood English (of course they do). The Timms said those kids all have servants at home who do that kind of thing for them. They wouldn't even think about having to clean up. They said people can become very soft growing up in that kind of environment. It was an interesting lesson and to cap it all off, after they left, an Indian grounds crew guy came over and picked up all their stuff.
I hope you all enjoy the few pictures.
Until next time.
Jamie
One of our runners coming around the corner. Notice the Saudi's in the background who just happened to park there and get out of their car so they could be in my picture.
The track and field. It was real grass!
Serving up dinner!
Me trying to be a good husband and help out with the dinner prep work.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Green thumbs
Wow, the last week has just flown by. It feels good to be back at school and back into a routine. I take this as a good thing as Saudi is feeling more and more like "home". I have a feeling that the next few months are going to fly by and next thing we know it will be time to see you all again back in the States (and Canada, mom and dad!). Two exciting things have happened this week. The first is that I have been asked by two families to tutor their children in math. I am so happy to get some math experience while I'm here, plus I get paid! I'm going to use the extra money to buy a designer abaya from a friend who's mom makes them and uses all the profit for an orphanage she has started in Malawi. My first week of tutoring will pay for that and then we can decide what to do with the rest. Honestly, the car needs to have a few semi-needed repairs done and then we can continue boosting our savings.
The second exciting thing is that we have started a garden! We weren't sure when we moved here that a garden would be feasible, but the weather has cooled and we occasionally get rain so we decided to try it. Right now we have tomatoes started, plus herbs and flowers around the perimeter. We are working on starting some cucumbers, red and green peppers, hot peppers, and a few onions. This year is really going to be an experiment as to what works and what doesn't.
Here are some pictures of our progress so far!
Tara
The second exciting thing is that we have started a garden! We weren't sure when we moved here that a garden would be feasible, but the weather has cooled and we occasionally get rain so we decided to try it. Right now we have tomatoes started, plus herbs and flowers around the perimeter. We are working on starting some cucumbers, red and green peppers, hot peppers, and a few onions. This year is really going to be an experiment as to what works and what doesn't.
Here are some pictures of our progress so far!
Tara
The beginning: cinder blocks, potting soil, and sand
Jamie mixing the soil and sand
Tara working on planting flowers and herbs around the edge.
Watering is going to become a way of life since we don't get very much rain.
The garden as of right now, we'll add seedlings as they begin to grow.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Jordan Part 2
Jamie did the first part of the trip, so I get to talk about the 2nd part (which was also our favorite part). We were thrilled to leave our cheap hostel in Amman and took a day to drive the King's Highway down to Petra. Our driver was amazing and always stopped to let us take pictures and even bought us falafal sandwiches for breakfast. The King's Highway is full of awesome sights! We were able to see Karak and Shobak castles. Both were used as crusaders castle, but taken over around 1180 AD. Karak is still in pretty good condition, but Shobak had more personality and mystery about it. There is one spot in Shobak where you can do down some steps, which go down and down and down. Eventually you loose the steps it becomes more of a sandy slope. The scary thing was that there is no natural lighting down there. All we had was one flashlight! It was terrifying and although Jamie wanted to try to make it to the underground stream at the bottom, I freaked out. He was a loving husband and turned around with me, and even let me hold the flashlight on the way out. We also stopped and took pictures at two different Wadis (valleys). Wadi Mujib was beautiful and is considered the "Grand Canyon of Jordan". The scenery was also gorgeous at the Dana Nature Preserve. We didn't have time to do any hiking, but would like to go back next summer and spend a day there. Animals aren't abundant in Jordan, but Dana has quite a few including some endangered species. We made it safely to Wadi Musa (the city where you stay if you are going to Petra) and found out that our hostel here was better, but chilly!
We only allotted ourselves one day for Petra which I wouldn't suggest most people do. We shoved as much into that day as we could before our legs decided to stop working. Here is a quick history of Petra. Petra was built by the Nabataean people around more than 2000 years ago. It means "rock" and was named because the structures left standing are carved out of the rock mountains. The Nabataens controlled much of the trade that came through the area and thrived because of it. Petra was everything we expected it to be. The walk through the Siq was amazingly beautiful and ended with a spectacular showing of the famous Treasury. The Treasury was neat, but the Monastery was even more impressive. Some of you might recognize it from Transformers 2. We also saw the High Place of Sacrifice where there are still stone alters, complete with a spot for blood to drain from the animal sacrifices. Now, you have to understand that both the Monastery and High Place are very high and the climbs up to them were exhausting. We figure that we ended up walking about 10 miles (1/2 of it being vertical) in about 8 hours. We decided to end the day with a drink at the Cave Bar which is a bar located inside a Nabatean tomb and a fabulous dinner.
Our last big day was spent in Wadi Rum with the Bedouin people. The Bedouin's are the desert experts. We had a guide, Audi, who took us scrambling for most of the day. Scrambling is a combination of hiking and climbing with an emphasis on the climbing. Being young, he expected us to be fast, but we were pretty sore and tired from the day in Petra. We went to Jebel Burdah and climbed up to a rock bridge that was quite high. Audi made us a traditional Bedouin lunch of a tomato/bean soup, hummus, and bread. We also went to a second rock bridge, Lawrence of Arabia's house/ruins, and watched the sunset across the Wadi. The weather was perfect and we had a great time doing nontraditional touristy things for a day. That night we slept in a "tent" made of wool. It sounds more rustic than it actually was. It was freezing that night, but they made sure we had lots of blankets. The most amazing sight that day for me was the night sky. I've seen lots of stars, but there are no lights anywhere near where we were staying and the sky was spectacular. It was the first time we've really been able to see the night sky in this part of the world. I wish we could have taken pictures, but that just wouldn't have worked well.
The last two days of our trip were spent traveling back to Madaba which is near the airport. We decided to stay in Madaba instead of Amman because it was a cute, quiet town. We even splurged and got a nicer hotel. We honestly didn't do much of anything, just ate, watched movies in our room, and walked around town.
Overall, our trip was fantastic. We would love to go back and do the things we didn't have time for, but are glad to be back home for now. School has started up again and it's nice to get back into a routine.
Tara
Here are a few pictures of our trip:
We only allotted ourselves one day for Petra which I wouldn't suggest most people do. We shoved as much into that day as we could before our legs decided to stop working. Here is a quick history of Petra. Petra was built by the Nabataean people around more than 2000 years ago. It means "rock" and was named because the structures left standing are carved out of the rock mountains. The Nabataens controlled much of the trade that came through the area and thrived because of it. Petra was everything we expected it to be. The walk through the Siq was amazingly beautiful and ended with a spectacular showing of the famous Treasury. The Treasury was neat, but the Monastery was even more impressive. Some of you might recognize it from Transformers 2. We also saw the High Place of Sacrifice where there are still stone alters, complete with a spot for blood to drain from the animal sacrifices. Now, you have to understand that both the Monastery and High Place are very high and the climbs up to them were exhausting. We figure that we ended up walking about 10 miles (1/2 of it being vertical) in about 8 hours. We decided to end the day with a drink at the Cave Bar which is a bar located inside a Nabatean tomb and a fabulous dinner.
Our last big day was spent in Wadi Rum with the Bedouin people. The Bedouin's are the desert experts. We had a guide, Audi, who took us scrambling for most of the day. Scrambling is a combination of hiking and climbing with an emphasis on the climbing. Being young, he expected us to be fast, but we were pretty sore and tired from the day in Petra. We went to Jebel Burdah and climbed up to a rock bridge that was quite high. Audi made us a traditional Bedouin lunch of a tomato/bean soup, hummus, and bread. We also went to a second rock bridge, Lawrence of Arabia's house/ruins, and watched the sunset across the Wadi. The weather was perfect and we had a great time doing nontraditional touristy things for a day. That night we slept in a "tent" made of wool. It sounds more rustic than it actually was. It was freezing that night, but they made sure we had lots of blankets. The most amazing sight that day for me was the night sky. I've seen lots of stars, but there are no lights anywhere near where we were staying and the sky was spectacular. It was the first time we've really been able to see the night sky in this part of the world. I wish we could have taken pictures, but that just wouldn't have worked well.
The last two days of our trip were spent traveling back to Madaba which is near the airport. We decided to stay in Madaba instead of Amman because it was a cute, quiet town. We even splurged and got a nicer hotel. We honestly didn't do much of anything, just ate, watched movies in our room, and walked around town.
Overall, our trip was fantastic. We would love to go back and do the things we didn't have time for, but are glad to be back home for now. School has started up again and it's nice to get back into a routine.
Tara
Here are a few pictures of our trip:
Wadi Mujib
The "stairs" we went down in Shobak castle.
Walking through the Siq of Petra
View of the Treasury from the Siq
Us in front of the Monastery
Jamie standing next to the alter at the High Place
Tara making friends with a baby camel
Us on the 1st rock bridge, 400m above ground
Lawrence of Arabia's house
We had to fit through some tight places on our scramble through Wadi Rum.
Our Bedouin "tent", it was surprisingly warm.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Jordan Part 1
Hello everyone, we are back from Jordan. We had a great time and saw so much cool stuff. We'll have to post a couple of times to get it all on the blog, but I'll start with the first part of our trip.
We got to our hotel/hostel in Amman (the capital) and I asked myself why I am still living like a college student. It was not nice, but we settled in well and went to some awesome sites and ate some really good food. The day after getting in we went on a tour to Madaba, Mt. Nebo, Bethany Beyond the Jordan, and the Dead Sea. Madaba is famous for Mosaics, especially in St. Georges church. It wasn't really that interesting, but the city had a really nice atmosphere. Mt. Nebo is where God showed Moses the promised land shortly before Moses died. There is supposed to be a really awesome view of Jericho, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, and some other cool places. However, the sky was very hazy and we couldn't see much. Next, Bethany Beyond the Jordan is just that, a little tour of the Jordan river in a militarized zone where John the Baptist did his baptizing and where Jesus was baptized. Tara is about 70% confident that the place where Jesus was supposed to be baptized is actually the place. The oldest descriptions of the exact location where around 500 years after Christ, but the place they showed us made sense. The river has moved of course, but the place was a dried up whirlpool extending off the river. Several churches have been built there over the centuries, they are mainly rubble now. We also went and saw the West Bank in Israel across the Jordan. There were armed guards and everything, but it was pretty relaxed feeling. And I must say, it was very surreal to be walking in what was or was close to the footsteps of Moses, John the Baptist, and Jesus. Finally, the Dead Sea was awesome! We floated so well, it was actually hard to put our feet back down once we were floating! We rubbed the black mud on us and everything. I don't recommend putting it on your face and then rinsing off in the sea. We both got a little water in our eyes and mouths. It was not pleasant. All in all, it was a good day.
The next day we hit up the attractions in Amman. These were mostly Roman ruins and they were pretty cool, but we've both been to Rome and after a while a Roman theatre is just another theatre and a column is just another column. But then, when you think it is all the same you see something incredible. Something like a random stone hand as big as a car lying there with no real significance to anything, no sign or description accompanying it. People say everything is bigger in Texas. Those people obviously haven't travelled around the Rome or Rome's empire.
Every night in Amman we ate at the same restaurant serving hummos, fool, and falafel. We both agreed that it was the best falafel and hummos we have had. And it was cheap! A couple of bucks would stuff both of us. It was also fun to go through the downtown vegetable markets and shops. We are getting used to being minorities and getting lots of stares.
After seeing the sights in Amman we went to Jerash, a huge and impressive Roman ruin. There was a Roman theatre, but it was special because these old Jordanian guys were playing Scottish bagpipes and they were good. It was also cool to hear the acoustics in the theatre. Besides that, all the temples and columns looked the same. The colonnaded street (a street lined with columns, very typical in any Roman city) was cool because we could see impressions in the stone pavers from wagon and chariot wheels. After Jerash, we hit up a castle, but it wasn't that impressive. Then we went to Umm Qais, a Hellenistic Roman city. The city was typically Roman, but the view was incredible. We could see the Sea of Galilee (where Jesus calmed the storm and I think where he walked on water), Tiberias Israel, Syria, and the Golan Heights. It was really pretty.
Well, that was a lot in one shot and only about half of the trip. Enjoy the pictures and there is more to follow.
Jamie
We got to our hotel/hostel in Amman (the capital) and I asked myself why I am still living like a college student. It was not nice, but we settled in well and went to some awesome sites and ate some really good food. The day after getting in we went on a tour to Madaba, Mt. Nebo, Bethany Beyond the Jordan, and the Dead Sea. Madaba is famous for Mosaics, especially in St. Georges church. It wasn't really that interesting, but the city had a really nice atmosphere. Mt. Nebo is where God showed Moses the promised land shortly before Moses died. There is supposed to be a really awesome view of Jericho, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, and some other cool places. However, the sky was very hazy and we couldn't see much. Next, Bethany Beyond the Jordan is just that, a little tour of the Jordan river in a militarized zone where John the Baptist did his baptizing and where Jesus was baptized. Tara is about 70% confident that the place where Jesus was supposed to be baptized is actually the place. The oldest descriptions of the exact location where around 500 years after Christ, but the place they showed us made sense. The river has moved of course, but the place was a dried up whirlpool extending off the river. Several churches have been built there over the centuries, they are mainly rubble now. We also went and saw the West Bank in Israel across the Jordan. There were armed guards and everything, but it was pretty relaxed feeling. And I must say, it was very surreal to be walking in what was or was close to the footsteps of Moses, John the Baptist, and Jesus. Finally, the Dead Sea was awesome! We floated so well, it was actually hard to put our feet back down once we were floating! We rubbed the black mud on us and everything. I don't recommend putting it on your face and then rinsing off in the sea. We both got a little water in our eyes and mouths. It was not pleasant. All in all, it was a good day.
The next day we hit up the attractions in Amman. These were mostly Roman ruins and they were pretty cool, but we've both been to Rome and after a while a Roman theatre is just another theatre and a column is just another column. But then, when you think it is all the same you see something incredible. Something like a random stone hand as big as a car lying there with no real significance to anything, no sign or description accompanying it. People say everything is bigger in Texas. Those people obviously haven't travelled around the Rome or Rome's empire.
Every night in Amman we ate at the same restaurant serving hummos, fool, and falafel. We both agreed that it was the best falafel and hummos we have had. And it was cheap! A couple of bucks would stuff both of us. It was also fun to go through the downtown vegetable markets and shops. We are getting used to being minorities and getting lots of stares.
After seeing the sights in Amman we went to Jerash, a huge and impressive Roman ruin. There was a Roman theatre, but it was special because these old Jordanian guys were playing Scottish bagpipes and they were good. It was also cool to hear the acoustics in the theatre. Besides that, all the temples and columns looked the same. The colonnaded street (a street lined with columns, very typical in any Roman city) was cool because we could see impressions in the stone pavers from wagon and chariot wheels. After Jerash, we hit up a castle, but it wasn't that impressive. Then we went to Umm Qais, a Hellenistic Roman city. The city was typically Roman, but the view was incredible. We could see the Sea of Galilee (where Jesus calmed the storm and I think where he walked on water), Tiberias Israel, Syria, and the Golan Heights. It was really pretty.
Well, that was a lot in one shot and only about half of the trip. Enjoy the pictures and there is more to follow.
Jamie
Tara at the Jordan River.
Black mud at the Dead Sea, our very own spa treatment.
Jesus' baptism site
Roman theatre in Amman
Giant hand at Amman Citadel
Sea of Galilee, Golan Heights with Syria in the distance.
Colonnaded street in Jerash
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