Christmas in Saudi Arabia

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  My parents were here visiting and it was awesome to see them.  Their flights were long but smooth, and they had no (major) troubles with their visitor visas.  We loved showing them firsthand all the things we try to explain to them on Skype.  It was extremely hard to say goodbye again...but at least it is only until June!

Building the tree

While they were here we had a "staycation" and toured everything even slightly interesting in the area. Saudi Arabia, of course, does not allow tourism, so there are not very many interesting or well-marked tourist attractions.  With the help of Rob's new GPS from Santa, we visited several cultural sites which will be described in future posts.

The finished product

Even though it is technically illegal to celebrate Christmas here, many of the workers on our compound and at stores wished us a "happy Christmas".  We were able to find a surprising amount of Christmas-related candy and some awesome hand-painted ornaments on which Santa is riding a camel.  Other decorations I bought in Germany or were donated by T.G.W.G.S.

The preparations for Christmas included making a snowman, assembling our smuggled tree, and making a gingerbread house...

Grandpa had to take over the gingerbread construction
after the houses collapsed.

One sprinkle on the house, one in my mouth

Decorating with Triniti and Tammy
(daughter and wife of T.G.W.G.S.)

Our gingerbread house

We had our traditional meal of meatballs and mashed potatoes on Christmas Eve, and the Bialiks (T.G.W.G.S. and family) came over.  Then on Christmas we had turkey at their house.  Almost everyone else has gone home or on vacations (to India, Sri Lanka, Romania, Germany...) so the compound was pretty empty.  To round out the holiday, we were able to skype or call several other family members.  Jack loved the gifts sent by our family - a book from Uncle Jason, a remote control truck from the Garretts, Aunt Sue's caramels (okay, I ate those all myself!), and recordable books from Gamma Nancy and Gampa Steve.

Christmas Dinner - yes, Rob is wearing a Bangladeshi skirt he got for Christmas.

Jack got two of his favorite snacks in his stocking - raisins and apple juice.

New toys

Grandpa's new hat of the Saudi flag.  Probably the only one in Brantwood!

Grandpa's new hookah

A new trike from Santa

Working off Christmas dinner with a game of soccer

Some things don't change...

Happy Holidays

New Phone Number

Great News! Santa brought Jack a Vonage Phone.

So feel free to give us a call-the number is (651) 294 9308.  Keep in mind we are 9 hours ahead and our weekends are on Thursday and Friday-so Saturday and Sunday mornings usually work the best.

Westside!  Jack's first gang sign.

Give us a call!  We would love to hear your questions, comments and opinions regarding:

1.  Mid-east peace relations.

2.  The role of Islam in the digital information age.

3.  Tips on milking camels. Tip #1: Stick to females (www.instantrimshot.com)

4.  101 uses for crude oil: It's as versatile as duct tape and it's made out of dinosaurs!

5.  sand.

Making our own White Christmas...

My parents arrived this week!!!  Jack is in heaven.  I wasn't sure if he would understand that the Grandma and Grandpa we talk to on the computer are the same one here, but he definitely does.

I asked them to pack a suitcase full of snow, but it didn't work...so we had to make our own snow.  Of course, the credit all goes to T.G.W.G.S., who dropped off the makings for a styrofoam snowman at our house.  Here are the steps for making a Saudi snowman:

 Step 1: T.G.W.G.S. drops off three styrofoam cubes of different sizes.

Step 2: Get Grandpa to cut off the corners of each cube.

Step 3: Invite neighbor kids over to help.  Give them all forks to rough up the sides and round the corners.

Step 4: Push a broom handle through the cubes.  If you need help, Jack is always willing, and very strong.

Step 5:  Try on all the possible snowman clothing.

Step 6: Dress the snowman and put him in the yard! Don't worry, T.G.W.G.S. already brought over real coal for the eyes and buttons.

Step 7: Now that the house is full of "snow"....

Santa Visits Saudi Arabia

Santa made an appearance at An Naseem Village last week.  He brought Jack a set of plastic tools, and Jack was pretty excited. He was one of the few youngsters who didn't cry at the sight of the big guy, and even sat on his lap.

Jack: "Reindeer shiny nose"

Jack with his friends Elodie and WIlliam

Jack and Elodie sharing "Pigs in a blanket"--actually "turkey dogs in a blanket"

The teenaged boys on the compound acted as Santa's helpers

Just a reminder of Jack's last encounter with Santa...

November Reflections

Yup, just like we ordered.  

The title of this post sounds like a high school yearbook theme.

Other options:  November: World Here we Come!, November: Cheers and Tears, November:  Footprints on the Sands of Time, November: Growing Wings.

It has been an eventful month-Laura went to Berlin, we bought a car, I grew a mustache and Jack learned lots of new words - 99% of which were not "boner"-sorry mom :(.

Our car purchase was as smooth as anything else in Saudi.  Two weeks and eight trips to the dealer and we scored a brand new black Ford Explorer.

Ghost ride the whip.  

Junk in the trunk

Last night we went to an 80's mustache party.  Teachers from the British school have been strongly promoting "Movember".  Many of the teachers (male teachers) grew mustaches to raise awareness for prostate cancer.  There were two buckets on the bar "shave the mo" and "keep the mo"-whichever bucket had more money at the end of the night decided our fate.

Blue Eye Shadow: Check

Village People: Check

Mauve Turtle Neck: Check

Leg Warmers: Check

Laura's Trip to Berlin

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  We celebrated Thanksgiving twice, on Thursday at the compound rec center, and Friday at our neighbor's house.  I was in charge of pumpkin pies yesterday, and turkey and gravy today.  I will post pictures later...today my post is about my recent trip to Berlin.

First of all, it was really, really hard to be away from Jack (and Rob) for a whole week.  It was hard because Jack is learning new words daily, so while I was gone he learned to say "cookie monster" and "santa", and how to give hugs!  Rob (aka Super Dad) kept him busy during break, and then got him ready in the early mornings for school. He employed a few of the compound teenagers to help out, filled the house with new toys, and taught Jack some new dance moves (videos to come another day).

On the other hand, I had a good time on the trip.  As I mentioned before, I was co-chaperoning a group of high school students for a Model UN conference.  The students were incredibly focused on the conference, and they were all very well-behaved.  We had a good mix of fun and work.  The weather was cold and a little rainy, which was a refreshing change from Saudi's heat.  (Side note: the weather here has cooled down quite a bit (65-75), so that Jack is required to wear a sweatshirt when he goes outside at nursery).

On the first day, we had a bus tour around Berlin before going to our hostel.  We stopped at several Berlin icons, including the remains of the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate, and Checkpoint Charlie.

This brick line marks where the Berlin wall used to stand dividing East and West Berlin.

The high schoolers in front of the remains of the Berlin Wall.

The entrance to the Berlin Zoo.

The next four days were spent at the JFK American School for the BerMUN conference.  Students play the role of delegates from various countries to the UN.  They research their country's stance on current world issues and write resolutions to present.  They then lobby to get other delegates to back their resolutions, debate, and vote.  Our students represented Venezuela and the USA.  The students were amazingly knowledgeable in world affairs and represented their school well.  We took the subway from the hostel to the school everyday, and in the evenings we went to dinner or ordered pizza.

One of our students giving a speech at the opening ceremony of the conference.  Seated at the front table are students from various schools who were chosen to serve as president of the UN, secretary-general, and other positions.

The students had to act as their country's delegation the whole time, putting their personal views aside.

After the conference was done, we took the kids to see the new Harry Potter movie and the Blue Man Group, and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe.  We spent some time in the Christmas Markets that are set up all over Germany, shopping for Christmas items, eating bratwurst, and even sledding!  Some of the students had never been sledding before.  Even though it was a wooden hill with man-made snow, it put me in the Christmas spirit.

This bear is the symbol of Berlin, so they were everywhere.

Sledding!

A public toilet... 1 Euro ($1.40) for the toilet, 7 for a shower.

The last day we were there, we went to Potsdam, a town near Berlin.  We went to a museum about the Holocaust and stopped at several palaces.

Sanssouci ("no worries") Palace

The gardens of Sanssouci

The windmill at Sanssouci

Schloss Cecilienhof, the location of the Potsdam conference between Truman, Chuchill, and Stalin.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at Legoland

All in all, it was a busy and fun trip.  It is nice to spend time with students outside of school, and a good challenge to lead teenagers through a foreign city!  The students are so sweet, always offering to carry my bags and asking if I missed my family. These students are literally world-travellers, but I was surprised that several of them have no street sense!  They walk in the bike paths, don't understand the subways, etc...I guess that's what living on compounds in Saudi does.  This is a very safe, sheltered place for kids to grow up, and I'd rather have a polite, caring, sheltered child than a street-smart one :)

Thanks for reading! 

A Trip to Bah'rain

This week is Eid al-Adha, the holiday when Muslims around the world flock to Mecca for the Hajj so we (again!) have the whole week off of school.  The celebration of Eid al-Adha also includes sacrificing goats, and Jack has made friends with a goat tied to a post at the end of our compound.  Hopefully he won't notice tomorrow when it disappears.

On Wednesday afternoon, the last day we worked, Rob and Jack both got their exit/re-entry visas (I had mine already) so we decided to leave the country!  T.G.W.G.S. and his family invited us to join them on a trip to the Kingdom of Bah'rain.

"Bah'rain" means "two seas" which is fitting since it is an island country.  We only needed to drive across the King Fahd Causeway which runs from Al-Khobar to Bahrain.  Along the causeway are five tollbooth-like stopping points where we had to pay a small fee and get our passports and visas stamped.  On the way back, there is a customs checkpoint as well, but we'll get to that later.

Bah'rain is not really that different than Saudi, as it is still a Middle Eastern Muslim monarchy.  The draw is that it is not nearly as strict as Saudi.  People drive over mainly to have a beer and eat pork, which are both haram, not allowed for Muslims.  To get pork in Bah'rain, you have to go into the "Non-Muslim Section" of the grocery store or restaurant.  The shopping is also better in some ways.  For example, there are no fitting rooms for women in Saudi, so women like to go to Bah'rain to shop for clothes.  Also, there are Christmas items and a certain things that are hard to find here, like swim diapers.

My main goal for shopping was to buy a Christmas tree and sneak it back across the causeway. We took the label off the box and put it, along with Christmas wrapping paper and nutmeg, underneath our luggage and other purchases.  The border guard asked, "Do you have any whiskey or meat?"  We said no, and he sent us on our way.  Now this daughter of a Wisconsin Christmas tree farmer has a beautiful fake contraband tree in the living room!  Jack helped Rob put it together and is really proud of it.

Life in Saudi Arabia is not difficult by any means.  It is just sometimes inconvenient, as life in any country other than the one you grew up in would be.  Our visit to Bah'rain was relaxing.  We could walk to restaurants from our hotel, and there was even a Caribou Coffee (a MN company).

Jack and Rob in Bah'rain

A lot of the restaurants have bicycle delivery.

There were a lot of interesting skyscrapers along the road.

A view of the King Fahd Causeway

All in all, it was a very nice trip.  We will return to Bah'rain in a month to pick my parents up from the airport there!

Tonight I leave for a school trip to Berlin for seven days.  I will be chaperoning the Model UN club as they go to a conference there.  I'm excited to go, but it will be hard to be away from Rob and Jack.  I'm sure they will have a great time fixing things and jumping, Jack's two favorite activities.  Here is a sample of what they did last time I left the house...