Week One: The House

So…the Schlesingers live in Saudi Arabia…woah.


We spent so much time talking about what we think it’s going to be like here for the last six months…it is a relief to finally be here and stop speculating! We were told when we were hired thatour house would be big, and the compound would be safe, and there would be other kids to play with, etc. We have been blown away by how accurate that is!

Dining Room

First, about the compound. There are about 40 villas on the compound, each with three floors.There is a wall around it with guards at the front gate to monitor and restrict who comes in and out. We are at the far end of the compound, next to the tennis courts and pools. I thought we would spend all our free time in the pool, but it turns out that the water is approximately 90degrees (makes sense, since the air temp is 105 during the day and 95 at night!), so it isn’t very refreshing. We’ve been told (promised, really) that the humidity and heat break in September and then it will be beautiful weather all winter. The pool water actually gets too cold for swimming in January! Near the pool is a rec hall with a nice weight room, treadmills, ellipticals, pool tables, squash courts, and a large room with couches and tables for parties. Near the middle of the compound is a playground with a sun shade, but Jack can only handle about 10 minutes before he’s dripping with sweat. Every time he looks out the window he says, “Hot, hot.”

Jack's Drinking Fountain

Living Room

Some of the villas are divided into two apartments, for single people or couples. But we got a whole villa! It is about 3 times as big as our Mpls house! When you walk in, you are instantly refreshed by the A/C. On the first floor there is an entry/sitting room, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. We moved the dining room table and china cabinet into theliving room. Then we put up gates to close off the dining room to make a huge playroom for Jack! The neighbors have been so generous and keep bringing over toys that their kids have outgrown. We acquired a ride-on fire truck, a tent, a play kitchen, etc. The gates were given to us by neighbors too, and we just had a man from the school come over and install them for 130 Riyals ($30). They are custom built wooden gates that fit perfectly. Whenever you want something here, it is too expensive to import things so they just custom build everything. Forexample, at school, my classroom needed a computer table and my desk doesn’t have drawers. I asked if there is an extra table somewhere and a filing cabinet, because in St. Paul you just had to scrounge around for other people’s unwanted furniture. Oh, just sketch up what you want and Roy will custom build it for you. So I did and he came by hours later with a shiny wooden computer table. He measured, cut it to size, installed it, asked if I want anything else made. The only drawback of the first floor is that it has shiny tile floors that get dangerously slippery when wet. Jack has fallen a lot, but then our neighbors gave us a rug. We will get more rugs and paint the walls so it feels more homey. Right now it is pale yellow and the floors are white, but all the other villas are painted really nicely. We just need to pick out colors and have the compound painters come.

First Floor Hallway

I haven’t even gotten to the second and third floors! The second floor has two normal size bedrooms (one is Jack’s—and they gave us a nice wooden crib too) with built-in cabinets. There is a bathroom and another living room that has a balcony looking over into the downstairs living room. The bathrooms include a bidet, which Jack finds to be a convenient height for washing his hands. Then there is the master bedroom, with a bathroom, walk-in closet, and super-king size bed. I honestly can lay with my arms outstretched and not reach Rob. It is wider than it is long.


Then the third floor is the live-in maid’s quarters. No, we do not have a live-in maid, but we did just today hire a cleaning lady for 3 hours a week. I’m not cleaning four bathrooms! Actually, everyone has a cleaner and it provides work for people who need it, it’s not just me being lazy. The maid’s quarters (which will be where our parents stay…) has a bedroom and bathroom and that is where the laundry is. It opens up to a roof-top porch that we can’t go to yet because it is so hot up there!


So that is our house. I can’t wait to buy all sorts of stuff to fill it up with!

Laura