A Trip to Riyadh

On Wednesday, I embarked on a four-hour bus ride to Riyadh, the capital city, with twelve high school girls and one bus driver who spoke no English.  We went to the American International School of Riyadh (AISR) to play in the SAIKAC volleyball tournament.  SAIKAC is the Saudi Arabian Inter-Kingdom Activities Conference, and the organization that handles all of our athletics tournaments, as well as spelling bees and other activities.

The drive from Al Khobar to Ar Riyadh is, as I said, about four hours....if....you know where you are going.  Most of the trip is on one highway, known as the Dammam Highway.  The problem comes in when you get to Riyadh and the GPS unit, which is supposed to guide you there, guides you wrong.  Then you would have to read a map of a city with no street names, just landmarks, and tell the directions to one of your volleyball players who speaks Arabic, and then she can tell the bus driver.  That might take you an extra hour or so!  Anyway, we got there safely, and we didn't even miss any games.

Along the way, there are camels everywhere!  I had no idea that camels could be white, brown, and black.  There were some very small towns, mostly consisting of a gas station combined with a mosque and a few small houses.  We also saw several Bedouin camps.

A Bedouin camp with camels, a water truck, and some tents.

As we neared Riyadh, we saw the famous red sand dunes.  They were really beautiful, but that is hard to capture in a picture taken through a bus window.

Red sand dunes

One might think that the closer you get to a large city, the fewer camels one would see.  Nope!  That is where the camel markets would be!

Look at the white camel calf!

Prospective buyers checking out the camels.  I have heard that a good camel can sell for $25,000!!!

Some buildings in Riyadh

Once we got to AISR, we were treated to lunch in the cafeteria.  The school is very nice, and the weather is much drier than where we live on the Gulf.  That evening, the girls each went to stay with a host family from the school, and I met the AISR teachers I was staying with.  I walked in to see a teacher  that Rob and I worked with at Ramsey in St. Paul four years ago!  What a small world!  We ate dinner at the compound restaurant and caught up.  Also, the other coach who stayed with us grew up in Eau Claire, WI.  I cannot believe how many Midwestern connections there are here!

AISR outdoor courts.  Our games were inside the gym.

The center of the AISR campus

While I was in Riyadh, Rob and Jack held down the fort.  They made all sorts of preparations for my birthday, including shopping for a new camera lens, setting up a luncheon with a bunch of ladies on the compound, and arranging a manicure/pedicure and massage for me!  Wow, what a nice, relaxing birthday.

By the way, Jack had the stitches out on Monday, and the doctor said it is healing well.  This visit to the hospital was much easier than the first.  My brave little guy didn't even cry when the doctor took out the stitches.  And, after the doctor gave him a sucker, he pointed at him and said "friend".