License to Ill

I got my driver's licence!  Now I can finally get some booze, purchase lottery tickets, and buy a car.  On the bright side, I've spent a lot of sleepless nights wondering what my blood type is. . .

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".

Virtual School

Last week we had Virtual School for three days.  All the teachers, from Kindergarten to 12th grade, put their assignments on a webpage and students did all their work from home.  They had to check the webpage for each class and upload assignments for us to correct.  

King Abdullah

Apparently the King of Saudi Arabia sometimes makes a decree and closes all schools, because of a health risk, or security risk, or just because he's visiting town.  Last year the school was closed for three weeks to prevent the spread of swine flu, and the teachers had to scramble to figure out how to continue classes online.  The administration is being proactive now and having us practice so we are prepared for the next closure.  

And, the next closure almost happened this week, when the power at school was out all weekend (Thursday & Friday, remember...).  No power means no air conditioning!  Yikes!  Luckily  they fixed it by Saturday morning so we could hold school as normal.

Rob and I both really enjoyed virtual school.   We put our assignments online the night before, and some teachers were very creative.  The kindergarteners made homemade playdoh, the band class had to watch two performances of the same piece of music on YouTube and write a critique, and the weightlifting class had to make videos of themselves working out and send them to the teacher.  The teachers still went to school, and we spent the day answering email questions from students and looking at submitting assignments.  Everyday we had a "mandatory" catered lunch in the staff lounge.  I could handle a few more days of virtual school!

On Wednesday, I leave for the capital city of Riyadh, about a four hour bus ride from Dhahran/Al-Khobar where we live.  I'm taking 12 girls to play in the Inter-Kingdom JV volleyball tournament.  We will play against American, British, and International schools from all over Saudi Arabia, including Jeddah, Yanbu, and Jubail.  I'm excited for the trip, because I haven't gotten out into the desert yet, and I've heard the sights along the way will include many camels and sand dunes!  I will definitely take pictures for a future post. 

FYI: On the map to the left, you will see our city, Dhahran, which is on the Arabian Gulf.  We call it the Arabian Gulf  because this shore belongs to the Arabs.  If you live in Iran, you might call it the Persian Gulf, because the other shore belongs to the Persians.  Fascinating.

The post about our first trip to the ER

Last week we made our first trip to the ER.  Jack fell off the bed on Wednesday night.  On his way down he cut his head on the night stand.   Our neighbor Shane drove us to the hospital.  I had my suspicions that Shane was kind of a bad-ass, and the ride to the hospital confirmed it.  Slamming on the accelerator, weaving in and out of traffic, going the wrong way on one ways, jumping curbs. . .  

The best part of the night was when we were asking him about his friends to distract him from the doctor examining his wound.  "Is Mommy your friend?"  "Yes"  "Is Daddy your friend?"  "Yes"  "Is the doctor your friend"  "No".  It was probably because the doctor thought he was a girl.  

We actually went to two hospitals, the first didn't have a plastic surgeon on staff so we were referred to a second hospital downtown.  The second hospital didn't accept our insurance, so I was nervous about the bill.  But even after having a plastic surgeon come down to the ER to do the stitches it only came to 200 dollars.  The whole process took 3 hours and Jack was in bed by 8:15 with 5 stitches.  

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I promptly went on baby lock down, and disassembled our bed, moved the nightstand across the room, installed about 20 more safety locks.  Security cameras, voice recognition software and laser beams will have to wait until next week.  

The next morning Jack woke up and was in great spirits.  T.G.W.G.S bought him a gun that is shaped like a dog that shoots bubbles (it's a think-piece).  His daughter Trinity and Jack spent the morning chasing bubbles.

SaudiaROBia Caption Contest

The best caption for this photo wins a fun-sized Snickers bar or maybe a camel...

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Rob turned 32 this week and had the geekiest birthday ever...we had our new board game friends over to play Settlers of Catan, and I made him a replica of the game board in cupcakes.  To round out the nerd-fest, T.G.W.G.S. gave Rob a retro figure still in the orignal box.

The weather has cooled down quite a bit so Jack is able to play outside more.  He now likes to walk everywhere rather than be carried, so every trip takes three times as long.  For example, we walk across the compound (100 feet or so) to the bus in the morning, and now Jack has to walk by himself, detouring to peek in every neighbor's window and say hi to every worker who is out watering plants or trimming trees.  He also likes to get on the bus by himself, and wave at everyone as if the world is full of his admiring fans.

By the way, I got this orange outfit at the HyperPanda grocery store for 5 riyals ($1.25)!

Who knows what these two are talking about!

We miss Chewy...at least this cat has no front claws!

This is right before he started counting "one..." which is what we do when he jumps in the pool. 
 He doesn't quite get that you can only jump into the water!

His shorts were too short so his legs got stuck on the slide...

Jack wearing a crown that he made in nursery

Off to bed...we had parent-teacher conferences tonight after school, and again on Thursday all day.  But next week is Virtual School week so we just put all our assignments online and conference with kids via email.   Last year the king closed schools for three weeks to prevent swine flu from spreading, so they were forced to have virtual school.  This year it is just for fun and to encourage technology use.

Love, Laura