Phuket, Thailand

In early November, we headed to Phuket for a week, during the Hajj break. This is when Muslims from around the world journey to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the holiest site in Islam.  With all these travellers coming in, we thought we might as well get out :)

We met many of these pilgrims in the Bahrain airport while we were waiting for our flight, and they, I assume, were waiting for connections to Jeddah.  I tried to sneakily take some photos of their traditional Hajj dress, which involved lots of draped white blankets.

In Phuket we went on an amazing tour to the Ban Pae National Park.  We made the short hike up to Ban Pae Waterfall, where we climbed on the rocks and swam in the water. 

A crab at the base of the waterfall

Rob and Jack by the waterfall

 At the base of the waterfall lies the Gibbon Rescue Project.  This is an organization that rescues and rehabilitates gibbons, which are often mistreated in Thailand by being used in monkey shows and to pose for photos with tourists.  After rehabilitation, they are released into the wild, but some of the gibbons have never learned to make attachments and will never survive in the wild so they have giant cages to play in.

One of the rescued gibbons

My favorite flower, orchids

 We also took a trip to the Phuket Zoo and several beaches.  Some of the highlights are below.

Just in case the monkeys looked tasty...

The highlight for Rob

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also had the opportunity to go kayaking. 

 As we were walking down the dock to the kayaks, Jack was getting pretty tired and hungry and hot.  I gave him a bag of mini breadsticks that I had been saving just for a time like this, when he would need a pick-me-up.  Soon we saw some adorable monkeys sitting around.  As we walked, one monkey jumped up on one side of the dock and made some adorable noises, so we all looked (a distraction).  Just then, the alpha male monkey, the gang leader, jumped up from the other side and stole Jack's breadsticks right out of his hands!  The bag broke open and breadsticks flew everywhere.  About ten other monkeys appeared and there was a mad race for the snacks.  Needless to say, Jack had a meltdown, but Rob thought it was hysterical.

The gang

The leader, the one that Jack is still having nightmares about!

 Soon we are off to Sri Lanka for the Christmas break, and will of course follow up with more pictures!  My parents are visiting in February, Rob is leading two student trips, and his parents should be coming in May.  I'm sure that will keep us busy and make time fly until we see you again.  Merry Christmas everyone!

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

A few weeks ago, I travelled with the DHS varsity volleyball team to KAUST for our Saudi Arabian Intra-Kingdom Activities Council (SAIKAC) tournament.

First of all, we were the champions!  It was really fun coaching because my girls are very talented, they played well in the games, and they were good sports the whole time.  The teams we played against were either American or British schools around the Kingdom.

To get to KAUST, we flew from Dammam to Jeddah, about a two hour flight.  Then we took a bus for 1 1/2 hours north to KAUST.  The girls are all seasoned travellers but keeping track of everyone's boarding passes and checking on them for curfew was still a little work.  I had a co-coach with me, as we have to have both a male and a female chaperone for travelling with students.

At KAUST, the girls stayed with host families, mostly the KAUST players.  Brandon, the other coach, and I were hosted by the school nurse.  She turned out to be the wife of KAUST's Chief Informations Officer, so we stayed in the "upper management" part of the campus!

The beautiful mansion we stayed in for the weekend

KAUST is, as I mentioned, an hour and a half away from Jeddah.  The University is the main part of the campus, and obviously the reason for its existence.  But the campus also contains a preschool and K-12 school for University employees' children, several mosques, many restaurants, recreation facilities, two beautiful beaches (with sand imported from Spain because there is a sand shortage in Saudi), a golf course, and housing for all employees.  It is a self-contained city.  And it is so green, with grass and trees and gardens everywhere.

The main mosque

Housing next to one of the rivers on campus

The center square where many restaurants are located, next to the university

KAUST is progressive in many ways.  It is the first Saudi-sponsored co-educational University, for one thing.  On campus, women are allowed to drive and abayas are not required.  They have many Saudi staff members, and have needed to create an all-girls wing on the K-12 school because some of the families are uncomfortable with having their daughters educated alongside boys.  Overall the campus had a very fun, relaxed feeling and I really enjoyed my visit there.  Mostly I enjoyed driving my host family's dune buggy around!

Halloween 2011

It has been too long since I posted here...but don't worry because I have plenty of posts up my sleeve...I've been to KAUST, Abu Dhabi, and now we're in Thailand.  First here are some Halloween pictures.  Unfortunately, I missed trick-or-treating since I was coaching at the varisity volleyball tournament, so Rob and Jack handled it all on their own.  Thanks to Grandma Nancy for the dragon costume :)

Jack also wore his costume to school to trick-or-treat at the offices of the High School, Middle School, British School, and all the administrative offices.  It was adorable, but meant he brought home even more candy for me to hide and then eat myself.

Happy dragon

Scary dragon

Jack the Dragon with Princess Ella who is supposed to be locked in a castle (but she decided at the last minute to be a zombie princess)

All the compound kids

Fall weather and Shopping

It is starting to feel like fall here -- much drier and breezy.   Our weekend trips to the pool have to happen in midday when the sun is out; before we had to go in the morning or afternoon to avoid the bright sun.  Today my outdoor lunch duty was pleasant rather than scorching -- it did only get to 94 degrees today :)

I took some more photos of our daily life here in Al Khobar.

Saco World is a big, brand new hardware store.  Saco stands for "Saudi Arabian Company". Jack likes to try out the massaging chairs they have on display.

The delicious akawi cheese pie I like to order at the brick oven at the grocery store.  They make it while I shop and then we eat it on the way home.

The whipping cream I just bought for banana pudding (thanks dad for the banana pudding mix!)

Long-life milk is very common here, and most of our dairy products are locally produced.

And this is our house...actually we drive by this everyday on the way to work and I fondly think of the Pleasure Cruiser...and wonder how did an RV get to Saudi Arabia?!

Hyperpanda shopping center

Jack and I took an early morning walk to the shopping center nearby.  I rarely get a chance to take pictures in public places because Saudis are fairly private and modest people (understatement...).  But at 7am no one was out (and nothing but Starbucks was open) so I took some photos.

The main grocery store is called Hyperpanda and has a giant shopping cart in front.  These pictures are in the food court.  I don't know if I've explained the seating arrangements in public places before or not.  Every place is separated into "singles"and "family" sections.  The "singles" section is for men only.  The "family" section is for women, children, and men who are accompanied by their wives. So if Rob goes out by himself he has to go to the singles' side, and if he's with me he goes to the family side. 

For example, the Starbucks is essentially two identical Starbucks divided by a wall, with separate entrances, and the one guy working there goes back and forth between the two sides.  The family side has frosted glass on the windows, and the singles side has clear glass and an outside seating area.  All restaurants with seating are like this, or at least have dividers that they set up between tables to provide privacy for women.  Some places, like the banks, are separated strictly into "men" and "ladies" sections rather than the "family" section.

Grill Xpress which has Lebanese food like hommus, tabbouli, kabobs -- and Shawarma Inn

Dhow Restaurant with fried fish and chicken, and a Chinese restaurant

"Singles section"

"Family section" - notice the barriers put up for privacy

"Singles" seating -- by Mongolian Grill, something I don't know, Popeyes, Baskin Robins

Busy days...

We have been very busy, just as I expected...but it is a good busy.  Student Council elections, Open House, teaching.... I am also now coaching the varsity girls volleyball team (if you remember, I coached JV last year) and today was our last tryout so I'm posting the list and breaking girls' hearts tomorrow.  I wish they all could play but you've gotta win, right?  Our tournament this year is at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) which is on the Red Sea, so we will fly there at the end of October.  Here is an interesting article about KAUST on NPR. 

Jack is growing up so fast and talking our ears off.  He even started shaving this week.

And he has finally started to appreciate the adorable giraffe costume I got for him last Halloween.

We have a three day weekend coming up (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) because of Saudi National Day, so I will try to get out and actually take pictures of Saudi Arabia rather than just Jack in our house! 

Back to School

Jack was all ready for school (nursery) on Saturday!  He wore his new fast running shoes which make him run so fast that Sydney will not catch him and his backpack with the orange giraffe with a long neck, and inside the backpack were two toy trucks for the car ride and of course, bear, for taking a nap at school.  I suddenly understood why parents take first-day-of-school pictures!

Here are a few more from summer...in no particular order.

Riding the ferris wheel with Daddy at the Price County Fair

Asking Grandma "What would you like to drink?" at the abandoned bar in Bannack Ghost Town, Montana

With wonderful cousins Olivia and Ben

This carousel had about 30 horses, but Jack chose the one camel!  With uncle Jason on our visit to Madison

Feeding goats on a trip to the MN zoo with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Steve

Feeding deer at Jim Pecks in Minoqua, WI with Grandma Karin

Grandpa Dave is always good for a huge bowl of ice cream and fresh picked raspberries!

Saudi Week 1, Round 2

We are safely back in Saudi Arabia, and have been settling in for a few days.  Tomorrow we go back to school for teacher work week, and Jack will return to nursery.  Rob and I will both be very busy for the start of this year -- Rob is teaching IB Biology  in the new International Baccalaureate program at our school along with mentoring a new biology teacher (who is from Minnesota...small world), and I am doing lots of admissions testing and revamping the Learning Support program.  On top of that, we volunteered to lead the Student Council so we are busy planning elections and a Back to School Dance.  Exciting!

There are a lot of new teachers this year, including several American and British families that have small children for Jack to play with!  We have enjoyed being on the other end of the culture shock/settling in period.  Rob has been giving lots of rides, remembering how difficult it was to get around without a car.  I'm sharing my knowledge of which delivery places actually answer the phone, speak English, and can find our compound.   We also ordered a bunch of Indian food and invited some of the new staff over for dinner.

As everyone tells each other about their summer trips, we have gotten lots of questions about the Pleasure Cruiser - which turned out to be pretty awesome.  Here is a photo to prove it...

Some more summer highlights...

Fishing with Grandpa

Jack's special pond at Uncle Dan's house

Eating Marshmallow Sandwiches

Chowing Down on Porkchops

At Kelsey's Wedding in Bozeman, Montana

P.S. to Mark's family and friends who read this...he is back too, just returning from an Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Italy.  I'll try to take some more pictures of him to prove to you all that he does indeed live in Saudi Arabia :)

Summer Travels

I've been getting a hard time about not blogging this summer (Mal....) so I thought I'd put up a few highlights.  We have about two more weeks left stateside (I think I'm so cool when I say "stateside"), and the summer has gone by quickly. We've been in Wisconsin, Florida, Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Montana.  I will put more pictures up when we return to Saudi and have more time.  For now, here are some photos taken at some amazing tourist destinations in South Dakota.

The Countdown

Less than a week from now we will be in Minnesota!  At school we have made it through graduation and are finishing up final exams for the rest of the students.  We are so excited to go home for the summer.  Mostly what I'm looking forward to (besides seeing all our family and friends!) is greenery and outdoor activities, so if anyone wants to go for a walk with me, I'm in.  Also being able to drive myself to Target!  Jack is most looking forward to fishing with Grandpa, and Rob is most looking forward to Taco Bell (obviously).

Jack has recently overcome his fear of bouncy castles.  We have had several opportunities to try them out at going away parties for some families who are leaving and birthday parties.

In other news, Rob and I just went downtown to buy a big boy bed for Jack.  We are planning to have him sleep in it when we return at the end of August.

 Looking forward to seeing you all!