Red Sea and Juice

First, the Read Sea...it's Thursday (meaning Saturday) and Mark wanted to head over to the beach to do some wind surfing.  It ended up to be a little too windy for a beginning wind surfer so Mark and the kids just spent some time in the water.  I snapped a few pictures before the battery on my camera went dead.

Mark, Spencer, Megan, Rachel and Alex decided to walk out to this "island" that is really like a large sand bar and not difficult to get to.  Lizzie didn't want to go so we were going to start heading home since the wind picked up.  Lizzie and I had gotten about 1/2 way back to the scooter when Rachel and Alex came running back to us because it was getting windy and a sand storm was picking up.  So I sent them to the car and had to go back to the beach to get our keys.  While I was there, one of the Coastline guys (the company that runs the beach) asked me if I needed help because they were getting everyone off the beach.  They had told Mark and the kids that they needed to come in.  He drove me back to the car where the triplets were hiding their faces against the car to keep out of the sand.  They looked so pathetic that it was kind of cute.  We hopped in the car and the triplets and I waited for the rest of the family. 

Luckily, another nice Coastline guy picked Mark, Spencer and Megan back to the car.  It was pretty much full sandstorm winds now and the people that worked there were all wearing face masks so as not to breathe the sand.  Since we still have a rental car and it only seats 5, Mark had to ride the scooter back to the house.  It was pretty windy and sandy but he made it just fine.  The rest of us smushed in the car to get home. 

So now on to the juice.....one of our favorite things about moving to Saudi Arabia is all the great juices that you can find her and how inexpensive they are.  These are only a few of the juices you can find in our little grocery store on campus.   In Jeddah, there are big stores that only sell juice, we've will defintely be visiting one of those soon!

Strawberry and Mango are our favorites and these big bottles cost 9 SAR which is  $2.40.

Megan is sad that these are empty :'-(

These little (single serve) bottles are

orange, mango,

mixed berry, mixed fruit

and apple and cost 1 SAR

which is about 27 cents.

Sandstorms and More...

It's been a while since I've posted and a lot has happened and nothing has happened too.  We're still getting settled into KAUST and adjusted to our new home.  The kids have started school and they are enjoying their new adventure.  They seem to be making friends and getting used to being gone all day and then having homework at night.  I think I'm having the hardest time adjusting since I'm home by myself most of the day.  I've started working out which is good and I'm trying to get used to a new work schedule.  Here are some pictures of the first day of school.

Spencer started 8th grade - we weren't extremely about them putting him in 8th grade but they base it only on age and the cutoff is Sept 1.  There was no evaluation on where he stood as far as academics so we're just keeping an eye on him so he doesn't get bored.  He tells me right now that Science is really easy and Math is review for him right now.  After a few more weeks, I'll see where he is doing and then approach the counselors if we think we need to.  Megan started 7th grade and is making friends with a lot of the girls.  They had a birthday party for a couple of the girls this week at the Rec Center and Megan went and had a great time.  Rachel, Alexander and Lizzie started 3rd grade and all have different teachers.  So they have time alone but then get to be together during lunch and recess.  They seem to like it so far which I'm very happy about. 

Mark and I have been shopping for a car.  I think we've decided on a GMC Acadia - it will seat all 7 of us but isn't huge for me to drive around campus (and fit in the garage).  We're working on getting all the money together since they don't do financing here like they do in the states - it is a very "cash" society.  I've barely touched my credit cards since I've been here which is odd because at home I would not carry very much cash, put everything on the card and pay it off at the end of the month.  Hopefully, we'll have a car here in the next couple weeks - that's probably wishful thinking on my part as it seems to take twice as long as you would hope it would! 

We've been to church twice now.  We meet at a home in Jeddah so it is an hour drive there and back.  We are allowed to meet here in KSA but we are not allowed to invite non-members to our meetings.  There are a list of rules that are read at church every quarter to remind everyone about how we should conduct our meetings here.  It is a nice ward - mostly Philipinos but a couple American families also.  The first week we went there was a primary activity right after church.  The kids baked cookies with their moms and we all had a treat. 

Alex, Ethan and Lillibeth 

 The woman on the right is Belky and she lives on the KAUST campus.

 Lizzie and Elena (Belky's daughter) on the right

Rachel, Abby and Erin (I don't know the little girl's name on the left)

Last Friday, we had what is called a Family Day after church which is basically a pot luck.  I have never been to a pot luck like this!!!  So much food - there was turkey and all sorts of rice and "something" dishes which were probably mostly Philipino.  Tons of desserts and Lillibeth made homemade spring rolls that were just so unbelievably good!  She is planning to teach my friend Melissa how to make them after she has here baby and they invited me to come!!!  I've never seen so much food for the people that were there.  It's nice though because a lot of the members of the ward are single men or men here without their families - so they get to fill up a plate and take it home with them.  I think they probably could take home 3 or 4 plates!

Today, Lizzie didn't have a great morning before she went to school and Mark was trying to get her to cheer up.  He snapped this picture of her on the way to school.  She's so cute when she has an attitude - I'm hoping that the attitude cleared up before she got to school!



And now....sandstorms....they are not quite what I imagined.  The weather here has been really hot and actually not as humid the past 2 days.  That's probably because of all the sand in the air.  Yesterday afternoon the kids didn't do some of their outside activities because of the sandstorm.  I went to work out this morning and on the way home, I stopped at the grocery store, Tamimi's, to pick up a few things for the day.  When I came out, we were in full sandstorm mode.  It's not like you can't see anything (and maybe this isn't a real bad one) but it's just kind of creepy looking.  It's really hazy and you have to be careful not to get the sand in your eyes.  I snapped these pictures when I got home from the store.

I've promised some people pictures of me in my abaya and I promise that I'll post that next time - I don't have any pictures yet.  We miss all of our family and friends and hope you are well!

Thanks for reading!

I WANT TARGET!!

So yesterday was probably one of the most interesting and challenging days we've had since we've moved to Saudi Arabia (of the whole week that we've been here).  There are a lot of things that we need for the house and we need to buy a car too.  Thursday is our "Saturday" so Mark was not working and he rented a suburban to take the family to Jeddah to do a little shopping.

The day started out nice, the Bishop and his family from our new ward here in Jeddah came to visit.  It was really nice to meet them - they are from Ohio and have 4.5 kids - their oldest daughter is Megan's age, they have a 9 yo son that is the triplet's age, 2 younger daughters and a new baby due very soon.  We got to spend a little time chatting about living as Americans in KSA which was fun.

So we headed off to Jeddah about 1:30.  It takes about an hour to get there and the drive wasn't too bad.  Then we got a little lost in the city - it was acutally kind of pretty, we ended up driving along the Red Sea which was really nice.  The streets are pretty confusing, they seem to like round-abouts and if you get on a big street, there aren't really a lot of places to turn around.  I've heard how terrible the traffic is in Jeddah but right now, I'm thinking people were exaggerating - I will soon learn that they are not :-)

We finally make it to the Red Sea Mall - it doesn't look that big from the outside but it is really large.  The shops look much like they would in the states with maybe a little more arabic but there are all sorts of western style clothing for men and women.  All of the women there are wearing abayas and a lot (but definitely not all) with head coverings and some with the veil as well.  We are looking for an abaya for me - I have borrowed one, but it's a little small and not very comfortable.  After searching through practically the whole mall and me getting very frustrated, we finally find one.  I spend way too much for an abaya but I have one that fits and that I like - I'll have to get a picture soon.  It's interesting how even non-muslim women get into picking out abayas - some are very pretty - they have lots of embellishments and patterns on them now and in this culture, it is very much a status symbol for the women.

The kids are getting hungry so we decide to find a place to eat and head up to the food court.  It is basically all craziness up here - totally packed with people, not a table to be found and it close to the 3:15 prayer time which means that a lot of the shops/restaurants shut down.  The kids wanted McDonalds, but they were closing down so we head over to KFC where I think probably 4 or 5 people cut in front of me in line.  So again, I'm a little frustrated :-)  One of the most surprising things that I saw was kids riding around the crowds on scooters and skateboards and heelies all over the place.  Seriously, I was very surprised that they let kids do this.  In general, I just sense a lack of discipline with the kids here - or maybe it's the same in the states and I just don't go to the mall on Saturdays :-)

Mark and Spencer got some chinese food and I finally just went to a coffee shop to get brownies for rest of the kids.  We ate and then decided to try to head out and find Ikea.  This is where the adventure begins and I totally see where people say that driving is crazy here.  There is like a main street and then along side them there are streets where you would drive to get to the local shops.  People are weaving in and out - some are agressive and some are really cautious.  We saw people stopped on streets and backing up because they went the wrong way and people going around them because they were in the way.  Megan kept saying - "Mom, aren't you glad you can't drive?"  and I really kind of am.  I liked being in the Suburban because it's big and I felt protected.  I think we will probably buy something similar just for that reason.

We made it to Ikea and anyone who has shopped Ikea before knows what an experience it is.  It is huge and when it's crowded and you have 5 kids in tow, it really isn't that much fun.  Plus wearing an abaya makes everything about 5 times warmer than what I'm used to.  We got a lot of what we needed - sheets, towels, hangars but they didn't have some things that I wanted.  It was about 6:30 at this point, and me and the kids were done.  So we decided to head back to KAUST.  On the way back, I just kept thinking how much I wished I had a Target where I could walk in and find everything I needed in one place.  I was IM'ing with Belky last night and we decided that we would start a petition to get one - so....maybe in the future KSA will have a Target for all us Americans to shop at! :-)

Thanks for reading!  Cindy

Leaving Home - Arrival in KSA - First Impressions

It's been a while since I posted - life got busy wrapping things up at home.  It was sure hard to leave everyone - especially my family.  I miss my parents and the rest of my family but it's nice to know that we can use skype to talk and see each other so easily.  So here is the update...I don't have very many pictures of this time so this will be a lot of words.  I hope to follow up with more pictures soon!

We spent our last evening in Michigan with my parents, my brother Rich, Laura and their kids Cameron & Trevor and my brother Russell with his two boys, Nicholas & Nathan.  We had our good friends the Lindows and the Johnsons stop by to say good-bye to us also.  We were pretty well packed by late in the afternoon so when we got up in the morning to leave, we just had to throw our dirty clothes in a suitcase and say our final farewells.  I really tried not to cry but I did - so did the kids.  We made it to the airport very easily, turned in the rental car and got on our flight to DC.  It was delayed an hour but we had a 6 1/2 hour layover in DC so not that big of a deal.  I was so grateful that our luggage got checked all the way from Detroit to Jeddah so I didn't have to deal with getting it to the next airline in DC.  My mom's cousin Lucille was nice enough to meet us in DC - she helped us through the airport and we had lunch with her.  She hung out with us during our layover and we got to chat and enjoy some time together before our flight left.

 Waiting in DTW for flight to DC

More waiting...

Our very large airplane from DC to Jeddah

The flight from DC to Jeddah was uneventful but VERY long - 12 hours.  Next time, I won't have the kids pack as much to do because the plane had individual video screens and that kept everyone entertained the entire flight.  I don't think anyone opened their backpacks at all.  We flew Saudi Airlines and it was interesting how the movies were edited - for example, I watched Music & Lyrics and if Drew Barrymore's top was a little low cut - it was blurred in that area.  Hugh Grant had a necklace on that I believe was probably a cross and that was blurred out too.  Also, most women were dressed in western dress on the plane and as we got close to landing, changed into their abayas.  Alex had to use the bathroom but got frustrated because the line was so long :-)  I had worn black pants and top and brought a dark hoodie that I wore so I didn't stand out.  It probably wouldn't have mattered, we were in the airport maybe a total of 45 minutes.

Nobody slept very well except for the little girls but we made it and landed in Jeddah about 1:00 pm local time.  We did not step right onto a jetway as we do in the states, but you actually take stairs down to the tarmac and then hop onto a bus that takes you into customs.  The heat hits you as you exit the plane like a brick wall.  On our descent, Megan had some water drip from above her - the flight attendant says that happens all the time because it's so cold up high and then as the plane descends into Jeddah, there is a lot of condensation.  You never know where it's going to drip.

Getting through customs was fairly easy - we found the desk for KAUST, filled out some paperwork and got through the first part of customs in about 15 minutes.  We picked up our luggage with the help of a KAUST representative and while we were waiting for it, we saw Mark outside the customs area.  Our luggage was scanned but not opened at all and off we went.  It was good to see Mark!  He was there with two cars for us - one for luggage and one for the family.  Three KAUST representatives were there to help us...we got to the cars and off we went.

Driving from Jeddah to KAUST was not that interesting - a lot of deserty looking area although we did see camels.  The most interesting part was that there were these HUGE homes with big high walls around them.  They were gorgeous and then outside of the walls, there were piles of dirt and trash.  Most people have told us that it is like that around the world in a lot of places - it's just odd to see such oppulence with such garbage around.

We arrived at our townhome where we will stay until a bigger home is available (hopefully).  We are a little tight in this house.  It is good size but there are only 2 bedrooms and they are not big enough for 3 beds.  Megan is sleeping in the little maid's quarters downstairs.  It has it's own bathroom but the shower is just a shower head next to the toilet - no tub or anything - it would make a huge wet mess if she were to use it.  Also, to get into the little wardrobe, you have to move the nightstand.  So it is not the best situation, but it is working for right now.  Mark says I have to traipse into the housing office with all of my 5 kids and ask them when they'll have the bigger house ready for us :-)

We had dinner at the dining hall on campus - where we've had most of our main meals since we don't have a whole ton of groceries yet.  There is a supermarket on campus which has a lot of things but there are bigger stores in Jeddah with better selection and prices so I am waiting until we get there to stock up on necessary pantry items.  We need lots of things for the house too - laundry baskets, towels, hangars, etc.  The dining hall is awesome and has a great selection of food so we haven't been suffering.  The prices are great too!  Yesterday for a great dinner, we spent 101 Riyals which equals $27.    Another interesting thing is that they don't use change here very often.  So if I'm at the grocery store and the cost is 141.60 Riyals and I pay 150, they will give me 8 Riyals in change and then some candy or a soda or something.  The kids like it because they usually get the treat.

I was hoping to get the kids started in school right away, but they only do intake interviews on Sat and Tues so Tuesday it was.  Megan and Spencer will be in the secondary school and the triplets will be in the elementary school.  The nice thing about our current home is that it is right across the street from the schools so the kids can walk very easily.  They are excited to start and will begin on Saturday.  The work week here is Saturday to Wednesday with the weekend on Thursday and Friday so we will go to church in Jeddah on Friday.  I'm looking forward to meeting more of our ward.  I already have a friend in our ward that lives on campus named Belky - her husband David is a professor here in Applied Mathmatics and they have two adorable daughters named Elena and Victoria.  I am very grateful for the church and that it allows me to already know someone anywhere I go.  They have been so helpful and welcoming!  Belky has driven us all over the place because we are still without a car (we will be buying one soon!).

We've had some little pest problems since we got here :-)  We had ants in the kids bedrooms and we had a little mouse visitor that was caught today.  Nothing too different than the states but it was nice that I could just call someone up and tell them and they came to take care of it.  I think I could get used to that.  People are extremely friendly here and very helpful! 

So some of the things that we have to get used to:

• Heat AND Humidity - we can see the Red Sea from our home and it is very humid.  There is always a humid haziness during the day.
• The constant hum of air conditioners - we have 4 units in our 3 BR townhome which I would say is probably about 2400 sq ft.
• The layout of the homes are set up for maids - the kitchen has a door to close it off from the rest of the house so you have to walk way around to get in there.  The rest of the space isn't set up very efficiently either - this seems to be a trend in the design of a lot of their buildings.
• Blue sky ALL THE TIME!!!  This one won't be hard to get used to - just have to remember the sunscreen.

We are enjoying are new home so far - the kids say it feels like we're on vacation (we're reminded a lot of FL being here).  We'll see if that lasts as they start school and get into more of a routine schedule!