May 28, 2012

It is now less than a month before I fly home to the United States. I am bursting with excitement to be able to shop in nice stores and eat in nice restaurants. Although we do have malls in Saudi, women are not allowed to try cloths on. You have to purchase them and try them on at home and then return them if they dont fit. Women are not allowed to work here. Anne Marie and I went to the mall yesterday. She bought a diary and I treated her to McDonalds. The religious police (Matawa sorry dont know how to spell it) we in the mall in full force to make sure all of the expat women were covering their hair. What a pain in the but. Mine kept slipping off my head so I was trying to carry packages and hold my scarf on my head. We just went to the bus early and ate our McDonalds. This summer is going to fly by. I wish that I could leave early June. I am wondering how I am going to adjust to the "fast life" once I get home. I will be driving here, driving there, visiting family and friends, going to doctors etc etc etc. After being in Saudi for six month in solitude, staying home day in day out alone with the dogs and cat and kids, I am not going to know how to act around other people lol. I have enjoyed my down time actually, but I am ready for a break. I am looking forward to Matts wedding and spending time with Lance in Houston. The kids are excited to get to see the grandparents and AJ, so I will try to spend as much time as possible surrounded by family and friends. I am not looking forward to a 17 hour flight in economy. I was spoiling flying business class over hear. I will be praying for a comfortable flight and for time to pass quickly. I cant sleep sitting up. We will make one last trip to Bahrain before we come home. Bahrain is a couple of hours drive from Jubail (not including time spent sitting in line at the border). But it is worth the drive. Bahrain does have some small demonstrations on a daily basis, but they are relatively small and off the main roads. They just throw tires in the roads and set them on fire and spray graffiti all over the buildings. The demonstrations are not against westerners, but against the Bahrain government which is Sunni controlled and the majority of the people in Bahrain are Shiite Muslims. We always stay at the Gulf Hotel. The kids love to swim at the pool, and they have a poolside swim up bar, so Bill and I can enjoy some adult time while the kids are having fun swimming. They have 5 great restaurants at the hotel, with the Italian and Thai being our favorites. For breakfast, we drive across the street and eat at Rics Kountry Kitchen. It's an American restaurant with ribs, bacon and home cooked southern food. Since pork is illegal in Saudi, we always go and get out bacon fix. We also make the City Center mall a ritual. It is three or four stories and very nice. I like Bahrain alot. The dogs have arrived and after two weeks, they are in love with the cat. I am so glad they are all getting along. Please say a prayer for Savannah, as she will be spayed soon and I am worried about the vet care she will receive. These animals have been a lot of company for me, I love them dearly. It cost us a small fortune to ship them over hear, but they are part of the family and will go where we go as we travel the world these next few years. Well, sorry I am rambling, I will go for now. I just haven't blogged in a long time and thought I would put some things down on paper.  Love, Cindy

Saudi Villa in Jubail

Well, since our crossing into Saudi from Baharain, it is a totally different world here. Going through immigration and customs at the Saudi border was not too bad. Our driver went inside with me to get my fingerprints and picture taken while Bill and the kids sat in the car. It was like something out of a war movie. The Saudi guards were speaking Arabic all stoned faced and then they burst into laughter. I was glad to get out of there. It was a good thing that we arrived into Saudi at night. It is very ugly here. Jubail is a industrial town. On the way to the hotel was nothing but huge chemical plant, refineries etc. However I was pleasantly surprised when I went on a tour of Jubail the next day into town. The Royal Commission area is quite clean and pretty. The beach and water here are beautiful. We have several western fast food chains here, so I knew we would survive. The prayer time here is unbelievable. 6 times a day they call to prayer. The stores all close up until it is over. We were at the grocery store when call of prayer happened and we were locked up inside until it was over. The stores also are only open from 9-12 and reopen at 4:00, but there is also prayer time, so it seems the only time to go out is after 7 when prayer is over. Our hotel is quite comfortable, but not being in a compound is horrible. There is nothing to do at all. I am well rested and the only stress I have is being stressed about having nothing to do. I will be glad to get my pups sent here for some company. On Saturday January 7th, the kids went to visit their new school. ISG-Jubail.org. They start school tomorrow (Jan 10th) Bill will go into work late so he can drive them their first day. I was happy to meet several ladies from the states. Most of the office staff and teachers are from the states. I met a lady from Sugar Land and another from Sweeney. I am looking forward to getting to know them. On Saturday we also went to visit our villa at our compound. The picture is above. It will seem much more like home when we are able to move in. I will be able to mingle with other westerners there. The compound is very safe. It has a private beach area which is awesome. I have met two ladies there as well. The next time I go out, I will make sure my camera is charged and take some more photos.

Arrival in Dubai

Today is January 8th. We arrived in Saudi on December 28th after spending a week in Dubai at the Atlantis resort.I got a terrible cold just before we left on the 22nd. I was filled with excitement to leave and terrible thunderstorms came. Matt drove me to the Pensacola airport with AJ following behind and after a tearful goodbye and checking 8 bags lol we were going through security. Well, our flight was delayed 4 hours and I missed my connection in Atlanta, so we had to spend the night in Atlanta. There was only one flight per day out of Atlanta to Dubai and it wasn't until 9 pm the next night. So I had to get 8 big suitcases from baggage claim in Atlanta at midnight and realize one is missing so that takes another hour to find out where the missing bag is. Then I have no idea where I am going to spend the night and with two kids and eight bags I wander out to the sign that says "hotel shuttle" and get on the Marriott bus in hopes that they have a room (and they did). It was after 1:00 am when we got there and they kids and I were starving because we hadn't eaten since we ate Mcdonalds drive through on the way to Pensacola. Marriott had a turkey sandwich in the cooler, so we shared it and the kids were asleep in 10 minutes.

With beautiful skys the next day, I didn't have to worry about weather delaying our flight, so we were sitting at the gait patiently waiting to board. I had never flown overseas, so I had no idea what to expect when I boarded business class. Well to say the least Delta flight 8 business class was AWESOME. We had huge recliners that layed completely flat for sleeping, non stop movies, food and drink. We were very comfortable for our 15 hour flight. I didn't have close access to the kids because the seats had a half wall around them for privacy. All I could see when we were taking off was Gus over there pushing every single button on the recliner. up down up down up down lol. The only excitment was the pilot coming over the intercom and saying " we have a medical emergency is there a doctor on board". I panicked thinking of Lord, are we going to have to make an emergency landing. I saw the doctor and the flight attendants going up  and down the isle, but I guess everything turned out alright and we landed on time. Bill was there to greet us after we came out of baggage claim. The children started sobbing with happiness when they saw him. (I shed a tear myself). He presented me and Anne Marie with flowers. He is the best husband in the world.