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.

Busy Weekend

Well, our week was pretty normal. We both agreed that it was a good week at school. We enjoyed it thoroughly. It’s tough to believe we are going back to school tomorrow because we missed our usual down time during the weekend.

For starters, we both volunteered at the middle school volleyball tournament that our school hosted on Thursday. I (Jamie) refereed, which was a first for me, but I did alright. Tara kept busy keeping score on another court for most of the day. Our boys team took second overall, and the girls were the champions for their tournament.

After the tournament, we headed over to another compound that was hosting their annual bizarre. A whole bunch of vendors from around the area were selling their goods for a “special price.” We did leave with a really cool stand with a bowl for setting our keys, wallet, sunglasses, etc . . . in that we put by our front door.

Friday, we went back to the bizarre where Tara picked up a nice pearl necklace and earring set from a New Zealand lady. After our shopping, we ran the Hash Harriers run with the group that does that on and around the compound. Usually, you wouldn’t host a run like this on a compound, but this was the most amazing compound we have ever and may ever see. It is right on the gulf and is built like a huge vacation resort. We were able to start the run with a little swim in the ocean and finish with a potluck on the beach.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. Try not to drool when you see the compound pictures.

Take Care,

Jamie

Murjan Compound from the water

Championship volleyball team

Another shot of Murjan compound

Murjan Compound restaurant in the distance

Tara and I at the bizarre entrance

Well, it hasn't been the most exciting week so this will be short

We went down to Al Khobar yesterday. Al Khobar is a larger city about an hour South of Jubail. It has a much larger expatriate community because that is where Saudi Aramco oil company is based. We checked out the carpet stores and we could not imagine how amazing some of these carpets are (and also expensive). Maybe some day we will have one to show off.

As far as the car and drivers license goes, we are still waiting for my drivers license to be processed. All the paperwork is done. . . I think.

Finally, the stitches are out of my thumb, but it still isn't healed all the way to the surface so I am still keeping it bandaged and wrapped. If I accidentally bend my thumb it will open up again. Not that I can bend it very much because the fracture is still healing up.

That's all for now.

Jamie

A picture of the Al Khobar Corniche along the main hghway

Notice the clouds

OUCH!!!

Just when we thought things were settling back down over here and we were finding our groove again I (Jamie) get the wonderful experience of a Saudi Arabia emergency room. Yes, my thumb is stitched up and in a splint.

Here’s the story. I am the assistant editor of our schools newspaper and I was rounding up our photographers to go take pictures during our allotted school paper time at the end of the day on Wednesday (our Friday). Our school also puts kids to work for community service during this time each week. I saw them outside moving lockers across the parking lot into storage for a school wide cleanup effort. I directed the photographers over to them and decided to help move lockers while I was there. I opened the lockers’ doors and picked them up so they were leaning on my back. My hands are above my head now grabbing the inside of the locker with my thumbs out. I walked across the parking lot and had to pass through a wide gate to get to the storage shed. I was looking forward and down, there was a bar across the top of the gate. It was sturdy, the lockers were sturdy, my thumb was not so sturdy. My thumb buffered the two sturdy pieces of metal pretty well. I set the lockers down behind me and I’ m pretty sure I saw my knuckle bone. I went to the nurse, 15 minutes later I was at the ER, and an hour later I was home with six stitches and a slight fracture. Oh, and it is my right hand thumb. That’s my adventure.

The hospital was just fine for the emergency visit. I went in as instructed by the ER doctor for a follow-up today and wasted 50 minutes before returning to work never having seen a doctor because the out-patient and ER kept telling me I had to be in the other place. I finally said I am not staying to see a doctor and left. Our school nurse said it looked good so I’ll just go back in later in the week to remove the stitches.

On a more positive note, I am unable to do many dishes for a while. Also, I have all the paperwork done to get a driver’s license and am just waiting for it to show up in the mail (if you have a US driver’s license you just need to do paperwork). Hopefully soon we’ll have a car to post pictures of.

Glad to have a good story for you. We were worried our lives were starting to sound boring. Be warned, the picture of my thumb is graphic.

Until next time,

Jamie

This picture was taken the a few hours after I got the stitches

The kids are officially back! Well, the high school and junior high are anyway, the elementary students still have one more week of virtual school. It was great to see our students back and see them so excited about being back. To quote one student, “I never thought I’d say this, but I am glad to be back at school.” School finally feels right again.

We had a celebration pool party on our compound on Friday before students officially came back to school. It was great to just relax for a few hours and school talk was strictly prohibited. We just ate, talked, and watched all the compound kids play at the pool.

We’ve officially made it two months in Saudi Arabia as of yesterday and are still going strong.

Here are some pics to enjoy!

Pool at our compound

Tara and Amanda at the pool party.

Here is a "torch" that we pass everyday on our way home from school

Closed school Open Desert

Well, this last week has been a bit different. We spent all week planning for our first week of virtual school, which started today. Tara has been much busier than me since she volunteered to handle a lot of the emailing to get the students setup on Blackboard (our virtual school program). I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of bumps in the road. I already had a student come in saying she didn’t get the delivery I sent out (we did some deliveries to compounds to get students materials). I imagine there are many more students who are waiting until we come back to tell us they didn’t get something they needed to do their work. All in all it’s a good learning experience for everyone, but school is just not as fun without students.

Secondly, we have begun the process of vehicle shopping. Tara insists on a SUV since the driving is crazy and I’m not arguing. We have a couple of leads, and hopefully soon we can post a picture of our new car (after I clean it, apparently that’s not a priority before selling a car here).

Lastly, yesterday we went out on our first Hash Harriers run. I’m not sure where the name Hash Harrier comes from, but it was a lot of fun. A dozen of us rode a good ways out into the desert to go for a 50 minute run. Traditionally there is a course setup with different splits and side routes and false trails laid with chalk or flour. There is a whole lingo with this run that I don’t understand, but if done right, no one gets lost. I wasn’t worried about getting lost since there weren’t that many of us, we weren’t real spread out, and we were in a desert where most parts were pretty high visibility. Tara was the only female running and I think she was the first girl to run the hash this fall. We were a bit nervous about keeping up with everyone, but we came to realize it was more fun than competitive.

We hope you enjoy the pictures.

Until next time,

Jamie

Dave and Nick checking out the dead goat remains. We think it was a goat at least.

Tara is running hard!

Jamie sitting on a Saudi toilet at an abandoned Saudi camp site. It wasn't even in the bushes.

Feeling strong


The runners and walkers after the run

Resting at a check point. I'm not sure what big piles of concrete were doing out there.