And the Hits Just Keep on Comin’

Jason Cho, a buddy of Rachel’s from back in high school at TCIS, hooked up with her over Christmas Break and asked her to join him in a Christian rap song he was recording on the web.  Their combined effort can be heard at the following link.  Check it out, and if you like what you hear, support Jason by purchasing the song.  Personally, I think its da bomb, but I’m her dad so I have a right to love it!

Go to this link and press the “play hi-fi” button.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6170360

Enjoy!

Hannah and Rachel Don’t Drink Beer

We have been enjoying Tim Hawkins music and comedy over Christmas Break. The girls may have been enjoying it a bit too much and have now posted their first combined music video. This was filmed at our Roanoke, VA, home.

Enjoy!

Home school video

Time Hawkins’s video about a homeschooling family is an absolute hoot. For those of us who have “been there and done that,” we can relate. Love the in-joke about the homeschooler that won the national spelling bee. Just clever

Update #7 - Distractions

We are counting down the days until we will be in our Roanoke home again – it’s 13! I think buying a new house and then leaving is like putting a bookmark in the middle of the most exciting part of a novel you are reading and closing the book – it makes it easy to return but it sure does distract you from concentrating on other things.

We do find our life here offers more than enough distractions though. I have observed that the school here does everything to the max. Every Thursday (which is like our Saturday) when I go up to school to get some work done, the parking lot is packed with cars and the campus is alive with activity. Thursdays are when the school hosts the Riyadh sports league where ex-pats from all over the city (and there are many!) come and compete in a kind of intramural basketball tournament broken down into many age divisions. The logistics of such an event are staggering, and I am not sure TCIS could have supported such a program every weekend like AISR does. The school is blessed with an extensive network of support staff who man the gates checking people in (everyone has to have prior approval before entering campus), working as parking attendants, referring games, overseeing concessions and corporate sponsorships – it is amazing and the sports league isn’t the only place I have seen it.

I got my own taste of it when I agreed to be the PR coordinator for our production of Macbeth. I knew we were in a country where theater is relatively unknown, so any PR is appreciated. I had to work with so many different people to coordinate the poster design, the playbill design and printing, the ushers, the clubs serving refreshments, the post-production cast party. At the last minute, Jennie and I decided to get some t-shirts made to promote the play the way TCIS always did. It was a new thing at this school and students and faculty were all jealous of production people who got to wear “those cool shirts.” Everything went very well. It was a tiring but extremely satisfying experience. I had a student committee working with me, and they are now begging me to do PR for the spring musical which will be The Lion King. I also agreed to help direct and sponsor the student-run one act plays in February, so I am not sure I will do Lion King as well. Below are some pictures from the cast party where we had witch-themed snacks based on lines from Macbeth.

The punch was “baboon’s blood” and the snacks were all “eye of newt, tongue of dog” type stuff. Jennie made some cookies that resembled eyeballs and another staffer made some cookies that looked like fingers. It was fun, and Nathan was such a hit in the show. Although his scenes were small, he did get to be stabbed and die on stage. He was wonderful in the part and managed to speak his Shakespearian lines with understanding and clarity.

Other “distractions” we have experienced lately have been a holiday party thrown on Thanksgiving by our superintendent. She had it at her villa, but because of the number of guests, we ended up having to eat outside. Her entire lawn, driveway, and backyard were covered with Arabian carpets and we enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast together in the pleasant Saudi evening. As we get into winter, the days are very enjoyable and the nights just have a little nip in the air. We are told it may get a bit colder in the evening, but it feels like spring weather to me.

We were also “distracted” with a dinner party at one of Jennie’s co-workers villas in a compound across town. It was our first time to visit another compound, and we discovered first-hand why some of the compounds are considered Club Meds. This compound is the one that was attacked a few years ago and is the one discussed in the film The Kingdom. Her villa was gorgeous and filled with all kinds of fascinating pieces of furniture and artifacts from all her travels. There is a sense when you visit the homes of other ex-pats that its design sense owes more to museums than to decorator magazines. Pieces from India, Africa, and Sri Lanka just coexist in a kind of eclectic celebration in these homes. We again ate outside with much of the work being done by servants. Walking back to the gate and where our cars were parked after the meal, we passed some sumptuous mansions within the compound. These villas were owned by some prominent businessmen and all featured private swimming pools. The entire compound was beautifully landscaped and I kicked myself that I failed to take my camera.

Our next “distraction” happened last weekend when the school hosted a Family Fun Day. There were many booths set up for kids as well as rides that had been set up on the soccer field. It was all hosted by the PTSA (parent teacher student association) as a fund-raiser. It was well attended and had some good food as well – most notable was Krispy Kreme donuts, which has only just arrived in the Kingdom. The boy scouts sold those out quickly. We were told that this event was a shadow of what we could expect from the International Festival in the spring. Jennie and I were already impressed with the high level of volunteer support to pull off such a major event. There was even a raffle and Jennie won TWICE. She received a gift certificate to a home supply store as well as a gift certificate to a local up-scale pastry shop.

We were also “distracted” from school for two days when the OPEC conferences came through. The Saudi government closed all schools to help the traffic clear for the officials to get around town. The driving is ALWAYS crowded and extremely dangerous here, so I think this may have been the only way to ensure safe passage. It was like a snow day for all of us, but we will have to make up the days missed in the spring.

Nathan got to go on his first desert camp out with his Boy Scout troop here, which may be one of the most active and organized troops I have seen anywhere. At one point before the bombings, they had an average attendance of well over 70 boys. That dropped off as ex-pats left Saudi following the attacks and has been experiencing a steady rise. There were 13 on the camp out. I helped drive them out to the wadi (a semi-dry river bed that sports some wonderful palm trees and old abandoned homesteads). The boys camped inside a walled homestead, so it was entirely safe, and Nathan had a great time. He is eagerly pursuing his advancement in scouts.

This past week, myself and eight other men were taken across town to get our Saudi driver’s licenses. There is no test, no questions asked. You just provide a blood test, a vision test, and some photos along with paperwork and you get it. This explains why many of the drivers I see around me on the street are so unqualified to be behind the wheel. Saudi Arabia allows 12-year-old boys to drive as well, just not women. Can you imagine how frightening it is to have a giant Hummer tailgating you driven by a pre-pubescent?! The license is merely a formality as all rules of the road as we know them do not matter here. It is not uncommon to have someone make a left turn from the far right lane four lanes over. I am constantly being honked at and having drivers race right up to my bumper and flash their brights at me to get me to speed up (well past the unposted speed limit I am sure) or get out of their dad-gum way. Everyone is in a hurry, and I always seem to be the reason they are late! But, after sitting and waiting through noon-time prayers (when we lost our place at the front of the line because we must wait while everyone takes a glorified coffee break in the name of religion) for four hours, I have my license. Maybe now I can join the rest of the Saudis and hit my horn the minute a light turns green even though I am ten cars away from the intersection because, baby, I have a license!

Despite all the distractions here, we are most distracted by our trip home that is coming up. It will be our first Christmas in the States in seven years. Although we miss hosting the Munson Christmas Eve open house that we had for so many years in Korea, we will still get a chance to have a gag gift exchange this week at a friend’s villa. I grade at home and at school while tuning in to www.accuholiday.com so we can listen to holiday music to get us in the mood. We fly out on the 20^th and arrive in Roanoke the 21^st, and we can’t wait.

Update #6 — Compound Life

For this update, I decided to try to relate to you the normality of life on a compound in Saudi Arabia. So here I sit in my den typing this update to you on my computer. Granted, our internet connection is not the greatest, but it seems to keep us relatively connected to the world. And considering I just paid another month’s cost at a little over $100 per month, it should get me up to Christmas Break now.

As you can see, the place has the look of a normal home that you would find in suburbia in the States. We have a fairly large kitchen, a good size dining and living room, two bedrooms and a maid’s quarters. All total, we have three and a half bathrooms as well. Even our new home in Roanoke cannot claim that many toilets. We are hoping to move to a bigger place soon as the compound did not have a three-bedroom available for us in August, so Hannah is in the maid’s quarters. And after I just built her new IKEA desk, she has even less room in her cramped quarters.

Here is a view of our villa from the outside and a look at the pleasant weather we are experiencing during November. We have been told that it will be getting colder soon, but it is hard to believe it when our kids come home with farmer’s tans after being in the sun so long.

As you can see, the compound has streets and sidewalks as well. We have taken to walking our dog twice a day so we can get some exercise around the compound. We can usually get a good mile or so walk out of it, and it allows us to scout out any empty villas that may be coming up for us. So far, no luck. On the right below, you can see Hannah riding around on Nathan’s bike. This was his birthday present back in October. There is also a picture of the birthday boy below. We had a few kids from the compound over to celebrate. Parties are the same no matter where you have them. We recently had a games night for my (Bryan’s) birthday this past week, and it was a lot of fun as well.

But for young girls like Hannah, it is a bit hard for them to have much of a social life. Since there are no movie theaters and being in mixed company is pretty prohibited, most of the western kids that Hannah hangs around with spend most of their times visiting other teens at other compounds. When you are on the compound, all the Saudi rules are off. Some compounds even prohibit abayas (black coverings for women) for all women. Although we do not post signs to the effect, there is much more freedom on the compound. Jennie often drives around the compound since she cannot drive in Riyadh and it is not uncommon to have guests bring alcoholic beverages to the compound restaurant or to parties. This is usually homemade hooch.

Speaking of drinking, we have begun to enjoy going to a new Applebee’s here in town because they have wonderful meals, fantastic service, and a drink menu that is extensive and all alcohol-free. Somehow drinking a virgin pina colada or margarita is more fun and guiltfree. The local drink is called a Saudi Champagne and is usually an exotic combination of fruit drinks. We went to Applebee’s for our anniversary this year and Jennie had here first encounter with the mutawa (religious police). These guys patrol malls and public areas and try to impose their interpretation of Muslim law on everyone. The favorite is to get women to cover their heads. It is usually the westerners and Filipinos that go around uncovered. Muslim law is supposed to prohibit men from speaking to women, so the mutawa are supposed to tell the husband to get their wives covered. Most western women ignore them unless they are accompanied by a police officer who can then make the situation worse for you. Such was the case in the mall where Applebee’s was. The mutawa and his police escorts were coming up the escalator as we were heading down. I saw him motion to his head, but I wasn’t sure what he meant. He passed me and politely asked Jennie to cover. She did. Later, at Applebee’s, the staff told her they saw her encounter and apologized to her saying that there is one mutawa who seems to have adopted this mall. They do not seem to like it any more than we do. This same caution accompanied dinner as well. We were put in a booth and a sliding wood panel closed us off from everyone else in the restaurant as mixed dining should not be viewed by others either. When they found out we were celebrating our anniversary, the entire wait staff slid the wooden panel and extended a hand to congratulate us at some point during the meal. Finally, the manager came and said, “If you were in our Jeddah Applebee’s, we would sing to you to celebrate, but here in Riyadh, the mutawa are much stronger, so we do not sing.” We laughed, but sometimes this strange acquiescing to the whims of this religious regime gets on all of our nerves. When Jennie covers her head and I get separated from her in a store, it takes quite a while to find her again when all the women look the same.

The picture above is NOT your typical market as it is part of a Harvest Festival we had here at our compound. These are some shots of some of the shopping available. There was an abundance of carpets for sale, as well or handmade items from other areas nearby. We are especially drawn to the camel saddles that people have just for a decorative stool.

The Harvest Festival was a chance for us to have guests on the compound for a celebration. There were rides, food booths, cook-offs, bands, and just a fun time in the Saudi sunshine. I will close with a few pictures from the day.
Above you can see a band of students who played at the festival. They are all students in my class and they played quite well. Next is a shot of the audience enjoying the show, this is mainly a shot of Hannah and her friends.

Nathan worked the Fun Run, helping runners know how to navigate the course that ran through the compound, and I took a break from the fun to eat a chicken shwarmer. Yummy!

 

 

 

 

“Far Side of the World”

This video features the song by Jimmy Buffet that inspired the name of our blog. The actual song begins about two minutes in and the timeliness of the lyrics is great: “Ramadan is over, the new moon’s shown her face. I’m halfway round the planet in a most unlikely place.” Can’t get much clearer than that!

Update #5

O.K., so I have taken a while to update you on the Munsons. There is really no need for concern, life here has just moved into a comfortable mode that doesn’t offer a lot of material for me.

Each day my alarm goes off around 5:30 a.m. I almost don’t need it as the sun is usually pouring in on me. Since Saudis tend to be a fairly nocturnal people, I would assume they are not early risers, but this is wrong. There have been times that PJ has awakened me to go outside around 4 a.m., and I can hear the early call to prayer being broadcast as I take him outside. This, of course, was during Ramadan, so it may not be typical.

More typical would be that I get up, get dressed, and take PJ on leash out for a walk. Other compound dwellers may be out jogging the neighborhood, but mostly it is PJ, me, and the light-blue overalled workers clipping hedges, washing cars in driveways, and picking up trash left for collection. They silently wave to one another and to the women on bicycles clad in their abayas heading to their maid jobs around the compound. PJ and I walk the silent, busy streets and soak in the early morning sun that is so full of promise at 6 a.m. There is a satisfying calm to a world punctuated by the sounds of water sprinklers and dependable activity. It reminds me of waking up on Saturday mornings to the comfortable drone of lawn mowers throughout suburbia.

We get the kids awakened and fed (the former takes much longer than the latter) and pile into the car for our 10-minute drive to school. The roads have been fairly empty lately due to Ramadan, but we are told it will soon get quite congested. We drive over many speed bumps and through guard barricades that I am told sprung up overnight after the attacks on Riyadh in 2002. They are a necessary inconvenience to try to bring comfort in a chaotic world. So we weave our way through concrete barricades at our school and arrive at the parking lot to pass through a guard station and begin the long walk to the actual school buildings.

 

 

This area is lovingly referred to as “the blue mile.” It is hard in the photo to even see end, but the walls, as you get nearer the school feature paintings by students and a senior wall with handprints and signatures. There is another guard station at the end, and I sometimes wonder if there may be some oxygen tanks for the less healthy among us.

 

When you exit from the blue mile, you come into a common area between the buildings. To your right as you exit are the administrative buildings and beyond that the elementary, which is the largest part of our school. There is a second floor area in one building that is empty. At one time the school housed well over 1800 students but the attacks in 2002 caused a lot of expats to leave The Kingdom so the enrollment dropped to close to 500 and the school even considered closing its doors. The years since have seen a steady rebuilding and the numbers are still rising. We are close to 800 students now, but some classrooms are still not in use. I heard that the recent movie The Kingdom is about the compound attacks, but as is typical outside the U.S., the foreign reception of the film was not that positive. The film has been banned in Bahrain (no need to ban in Saudi as we have no cinemas and will get DVD copies anyway) because of the pro-U.S. slant the film has. It is agreed the film does well showing America and Saudi Arabia uniting to fight terrorism, but America comes across as the hero who has to “save” the Saudis who cannot seem to get things done. This was the same reaction Koreans had to a recent James Bond movie set in North Korea where the Americans were the saviors to the pacifistic Korean government. Audiences in Korea just laughed at Bond, audiences here are troubled enough by the memories of 2002 and would prefer not to relive it.

To the left, are the middle school and high school buildings. There are also numerous covered common areas to congregate in with lockers, basketball courts, and seating areas. Although it is sunny, the weather is quite pleasant and I am told it will be this way for about four months, although we have been warned that the winter can be quite chilly.

 

On a normal school day (these pictures were taken on a day off, so they are curiously unpopulated with students), I will walk with Hannah through the locker area and past the “geek pit” where all the studious ones are cramming for the tests they have that day. There aren’t really separations by cliques that I can see in the high school area, everyone is very accepting. That doesn’t seem to be the case in middle school according to Nathan. He is learning to endure the immaturity of pre-pubes, but he will weather it even better now that he is officially a teen-ager (turned 13, Oct. 15).

 

So, before you get to class, there are a few things you need to know:

And, you know, that just about covers it. No need for a language policy since it isn’t as abused as it was in Korea. I will note that Crystal Huntington saw this picture in my posting on Facebook and was sure the first item was “gun.” As much as people may want to believe Saudi is a violent world, it is not. I am surrounded by armed guards at the compound and as I enter the school, but the atmosphere is far from violent. The students are polite, courteous, playful, and a joy to teach. Hannah has found herself fitting in so comfortably with them and seems to hang out more with seniors than juniors.

 

So, let’s proceed on to my classroom

The note next to the number says “100% Paris Free” because I do not understand Paris Hilton’s function in the universe, so rather than go off in a diatribe against her and waste valuable class time (as I was known to do in Korea to the students’ delight) I have decided to avoid all mention of her in my classes now. If I need an example of ditziness, I just use a generic person (even if I AM thinking Paris Hilton!). See, even in an update I digress when she gets mentioned!

Here is where I plan, grade, and meet with students.  I was so glad when my shipment from Korea arrived so I could surround myself with the pictures and memories of the past.

Well, class goes on, four blocks a day for a two-day, eight-block schedule that cycles through a rotation every 8 days, allowing classes to meet at different times in the day throughout the rotation. It is a neat schedule because I don’t have planning at the same time every day. It adds some variety and spice to life!

 

The students here are wonderful and such a glorious cultural mix. Hannah’s friends are a good example of this international tossed salad: Pakistani, Palestinian, Sudanese, Indonesian, Spanish, Moroccan, Canadian, and European (one of them is in fact Swedish/Irish). She also looked at this and said to add that she also had some Saudi friends. Somehow none of that seems to matter as most international schools are realistically composed of third-culture kids who seem to understand how different people can get along famously. This diversity is also true among the teaching staff as well.

 

Stepping away from school for awhile, we have been on vacation this week for Eid al Fitr. Eid means “festivity” and Fitr means “breaking the fast.” The celebration occurs for four days following Ramadan, or a time of fasting. For westerners, it is a signal that life will be getting back to normal again after a month of strange shopping hours and being unable to eat or drink in public so as not to insult the fasting Muslims. Many of the staff plan trips in the spring for the fall holiday, but since Ramadan came so early this year, we were unable to get travel visas, so we were unable to travel. We made the most of it by going to sights in and around Riyadh. We went shopping at the Kingdom Tower and went up to the 99^th floor lookout to see the city of Riyadh at night. Jennie and Hannah went to the third floor of the mall where men are banned and said it was fun. Women freely walk around without covering their heads and some even remove their abayas. Jennie says they are dressed to kill underneath. Although they enjoyed the experience, they said they could never afford to shop in such extravagance. Meanwhile Bryan and Nathan had to wait outside the guarded elevator for the women to come back down. The reverse discrimination was a strange change of pace.

 

We also went out with other AISR families to the escarpment, an area of the desert near Riyadh. It was fun to see the wild camels and walk through the area.

 

We then came back home and celebrated Nathan’s 13^th birthday with a few friends, cake and games. Hard to believe our children are all teenagers now. Nathan is even babysitting more than Hannah it seems, which takes much getting used to.

 

The Duesters came in from Yangbu, another area of Suadi on the west coast north of Jeddah. It was good to connect with some old friends from Korea and compare our Saudi teaching experiences. We all had to make the requisite trip to IKEA to stock up.

 

As you can see, life has settled into a comfortable, easy pace. Although we desperately miss praise and worship and prayer with fellow believers, we are discovering some likeminded people at school and have had an initial Bible Study meeting that we hope will develop into something meaningful. We have already booked our tickets home to Roanoke for Christmas and will be bringing Rachel back with us for about three weeks when she needs to get back to classes. We are now working on getting her visitor’s visa which could take a while.

 

I close with a picture of Jennie and Hannah modeling the latest in Saudi women’s attire.

 

Update #4

(Jennie writes this entry)

Our whole experience here in Saudi might be summed up with the word surreal.  Imagine slipping on a black, nylon long-sleeved robe in the 104-degree heat, constantly clutching the side bar of the passenger seat as a careening car next to you takes its half out of the middle, or planning an entire evening around prayer times.  This, my friends, is our new life.  Not a day passes that I don’t wonder how we ended up here.  It is not necessarily a bad thought; it just fits the word from my first sentence…surreal.  

I knew I was truly living the Saudi experience when I went out last week to purchase an abaya…and enjoyed the whole experience!  Finding that the one provided by the school was a bit too short and less than roomy, I set out to the local market with our school buddies.  The first store offered a huge variety of black, black and more black, surprise- surprise, so I started there.  Much to my amusement, the storekeeper (of course a male) showed me the many varieties of this black robe.  With everything from embroidered sleeves to floral designs up the back to choose from, I finally chose a wizardly looking one with mauve like flowers on the sleeves and bottom.  It cost me all of 35 dollars along with the headscarf, which I have yet to wear.  I actually look stunning, so I will send out pictures. It’s quite slimming actually…ha ha.

Our other big experience was a little “welcome back” party for our school put on by the US embassy.  Everyone that wanted to go was escorted to the “Diplomatic Quarter” by bus, which in itself was an experience.  The security around that place is huge, and we each had to undergo an airport-like security check and give up our hand phones, if we had one.  Once in though, it was like being in some fancy restaurant.  They had these cool water misters going all night to keep us cool; music played, people danced, and they served ham and drinks, both of which are forbidden in Saudi.  This was the diplomatic quarter though, so I guess the rules don’t apply…  I felt like I was at a wedding of someone I did not know very well.  We sat there making polite conversation with our table, and found ourselves anxious to go home about 10.  Unfortunately, the bus was not scheduled to leave until 11:30.  Not that it wasn’t fun and free, but you know…However, the music was sing-along-able, we danced a couple country western numbers, and the ride home with some of  the guys singing impossible songs was amusing, but I was very happy to climb into bed that night and realize that my life is full, no pomp necessary. 

Speaking of pomp, Bryan picked up a People magazine the other day at our compound store so Hannah could catch up on all the latest gossip among the celebrities.  Much to her surprise, about six pages had been torn out, Britney’s knees had been blackened, and the world seems to no longer wear swimsuits or low-cut dresses but instead sport suspiciously thick black markings that are decidedly not designer fashion wear.  Rules may be less enforced at the DQ (diplomatic quarter), but censorship is alive and well at Al Yamama (our compound).  It has become a keepsake item for us!

We do like our little villa and the compound.  The pool and surrounding gym, whirlpool, and Jacuzzis are lovely.  I have no excuse but to walk over there a few nights a week, after all it is free, not crowded, and air-conditioned, opposite of what we experienced in Korea!  I have not succumbed to the “everybody needs a maid” syndrome just yet.  I would like someone to iron all the infernal cotton we brought with us, and clean all these white floors, but I find myself reluctant to do so.  I sense an air of entitlement here that I never experienced in Korea, and of course, I am fearful that we will all start expecting someone else to clean up after us and cook our meals.  Yes, it would be easier, but not necessarily best for us.   

As for the American International School of Riyadh- well, the jury is still out for me.  Bryan fell in love immediately with his students, and I will admit they are a lovely bunch in the elementary as well.  However, I was originally a bit disappointed with the lack of definition for my position and I am still concerned about the written curriculum.  I have now designed my position, but as to the lack of curriculum…well, we shall see.  I think my first inclination is to want changes immediately, but I have already learned that the wheels move slowly here.  Those who have been here awhile strive to keep the peace and don’t think to question the status quo.  We new folks are wondering at the lack of any true written curriculum and curriculum maps that follow a textbook, but it causes few ripples anywhere else, it seems.  I find myself a bit disappointed that I failed to notice this crazy imbalance between good and terrible curriculum when we interviewed, but I am seeing now that it not that the curriculum is missing- it is just not followed!  We will see how this transpires.

As for the kids-, they seem to be doing well.  Nathan is probably the most shell-shocked in the middle school.  The prevalence of foul language is tough on him and he finds it hard to relate to the tougher, more aggressive style of the Middle Eastern boy.  He does have a few friends, and enjoys the teachers, so I am hopeful that he will be ok, but I must admit that I am concerned.  Middle school is a hard road to traverse for most kids, and my prayer is that he will truly trust God in this.  His heart is to relate and to be a light to others, and I know this is a growth place for him and me! 

Hannah met a few friends on the first day that have proved to be just what she needed for the transition to a new school.  She has had fewer roller coaster emotions than Nathan has, and truly seems to enjoy her classes and her time here.  She is getting involved with the newspaper, drama, and the yearbook, just to name a few things.  A few of her new friends are Muslim, so she is getting some first-hand information on the vast differences of her beliefs to theirs.  I am praying for her to find a Christian friend as well, and I am trusting God in this.  I know the importance of like-minded friends, and that goes for all of us!

Rachel does keep in touch with us fairly well, and I am thankful for that.  Venues like Face Book and Skype prove valuable for sending notes and hearing the latest on college life.  She just got a job in the library putting bar codes on the books and scanning them into the computer.  She says she is ok with the mindlessness of it.  We will see how long that lasts!  She loves her child psychology class and puts up with math.  We haven’t heard much about the others.  She also admits to enjoying the daily worship at chapel and looking for a church.  Her suite mates and roommates are also just right, so this mom is quite pleased with the state of her eldest. 

We receive regular updates concerning our house in Virginia.  The real estate agent, who sold us the house, goes in regularly and checks for mail and makes sure things are secure.  He lives in the same neighborhood, so it is easy for him to stop by.  We also have someone mowing and keeping up the yard.  Start planning now when you will visit us if you get to the Roanoke area, or anywhere nearby.  We will make room for anyone!  We have already purchased our flights home for Christmas.  It seems we did it just in time as they fill up by October, too weird.  Rachel and my dad are both coming to Roanoke so we can have Christmas together.  This is our first Christmas in the US since 1999, and our first without a Christmas party of friends and family.  Oh well, what is life without change?

We are all growing, and it is indeed a bit painful on the heart, but I know we will be better as long as we gain our sustenance from the right source.  I am reminded constantly of the cisterns from Jeremiah:     

“My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water. 

My prayer is that we will always seek our sustenance from the living water…even in this land that is dry and thirsty; I know He reigns and lives and is working- even here.

Update Number Three

 

 

So this was the first week of school and it was amazing. The kids at this school have such a healthy attitude toward school and it makes it so much easier to teach them. More than once I asked a searching question just to see how much they had been taught before me so I would know where to back up to. Not necessary. These guys have been well prepared! My classroom is a fun mix of accents and dialects, which also means perspectives as well. I even have a Korean girl from Taejon, where I lived for seven years. This is definitely the most international group of kids I have ever taught.

There is a difference between Far Eastern students and the Middle Eastern ones here in terms of the way a classroom runs. For the most part, my past Korean students were extremely attentive but not as outspoken. There is a real fear of saying the wrong answer among Korean students, so they tend to opt to not speak rather than appear wrong. This is not true for Middle Eastern students. I believe that we come at truth in subjects and learn more when we risk being wrong, and that’s the way the students here are. Discussions have already been lively and incredibly satisfying. For all of the perceived submissiveness of women in the Middle East, I have found my female students are all independent thinkers who are on the same level as their male counterparts.

Our schedule has four blocks a day alternating between two days, so students have eight classes. That means classes are around an hour and a half, which is just right for covering material, but, as is typical at any school, whenever you need to meet with students for tech information or school pictures, you always take them out of English class because that is the one common element in all schedules. We are hit hard the first two weeks, so I am adjusting daily.

I also had the luxury(?) of staying late and completing work or planning when I was at TCIS since home was out the back gate. Here, home is further away. I would think that would make people stay later, but I found the first day Jennie and I stayed late (that would be about 4:15 mind you), the hallways echoed and I am sure if they existed, tumbleweeds would have rolled through them it was such a ghost town. I am learning to use my planning time at school more effectively because once you get back to the compound, you should be relaxing by the pool or working out at the gym, not staying up late to grade since morning comes much earlier here.

Life moves at a slower pace, as I indicated last week, but it seems that Saudis and expats alike realize the value and importance of separating work time and family time and maintaining a healthy balance. All that to say, I am not overwhelmed and I am finding time to exercise and swim more than I have in the past seven years.

I learned patience in Korea because of language barriers, but here your patience is more tried by the slower pace. If I complain because someone promised to return a call or repair something and didn’t, I merely escalate the incident and could cause it not to happen. I have to just call again, make my request and wait. You cannot do anything without an iqama, which is like a religious passport that you show for all things. We had to have medical checks done again once we got here for the iqamas. Everyone else received theirs, but mine is delayed. It seems they put the wrong picture on mine and have to redo it. Some people have told me in the past their iqamas had wrong last names even!

So, I will wait, because I am so very patient! But there is a problem for Jennie in that many things that she should have done, need to be done through me. Also the children will not be issued iqamas until their father has his, so if we were to travel outside of Saudi this week, we would not be able to get visas since Jennie would be sponsored under me as well as the children. It will come, I am sure, just like our shipment from Korea will eventually make its way to us. Jennie will be opening a bank account here Saturday, but I must wait, because I am so very patient!

Went out with some of the guys from school the other night and experienced the male-dominated society’s benefits. It really didn’t feel exclusive, until you looked around and realized there were few to no women. We went to some computer souks (individually owned stores that specialize). There was copied software and DVDs everywhere for very cheap, but the pace was more leisurely and less frenetic than it was in the techno center in Seoul, Korea. I found a router so we could finally have wireless at home. We set out after the final prayers of the day, which was about 8 p.m. This is when Saudis tend to begin shopping and going out. For this reason, most major stores stay open until 1 or 2 a.m. even though they will still open at 9 or 10 a.m. the next day.

We went to eat at a Saudi-style fast food place called Mama Noura’s. You won’t find the typical fast-food fare here. No sodas, only juices. But they are made fresh right there. You just say if you want apple, banana, orange, lemon, tamarind, blackberry, etc., and they mix it up for you. The meal is usually pita bread with humas or swarmas (kind of like a chicken or beef wrap only tastier) or other variations of kebabs or wraps. Very healthy. We arrived around 10 p.m. and the place was packed. But, no women are allowed in Mama Noura’s, one wonders if Mama Noura has even set foot in there. You pay for your meal and receive tickets that you take to many different food preparers around the walls, push through the crowd of men, and wait for the food along with everyone else, because we are so very patient! It was fun and very good.

We followed that with dessert at a bakery that has been around since 1881 in Riyadh. There is only one in town, although they have locations in other countries. They make the best baklava I have sunk my teeth into. Since it is not a restaurant, both men and women are in there together. I have now been there three times and brought home goodies. In fact, I think I will close and go have one now.

It is still hot, but I hear that the weather will get very pleasant in about a month and stay that way most of the year.

All of us are finding friends and just enjoying the slow pace of life, because we are so very patient . . . or perhaps, we are learning to be.

I’m off to grab some baklava while we have our regular Friday morning home service.

Update Number Two

We had our Friday church service today. I have to download the sermon from our church in Korea and prepare some songs so we can have a home service. Our internet is not the fastest in the world by any count, so this needs a bit of preparation. Speaking of internet, since we are now connected, we can phone your landline through our SKYPE account, or you can talk to us through the computer when you are on and we are on. It’s a bit of a hassle since this is how we have to do all our bills at home until they can get an internet billing system arranged. Jennie spent a long time calling the different utilities to get our bills yesterday and was successful with all but the gas bill. Everytime she called they could hear her fine, but their line to us came out too broken up to get the information we needed, so she had to tell them she would call back.

The pace thus far is much slower. This is probably due to the ease of life here. Living on the compound is, indeed, a pampered life. Some things take time, and the saying “inshallah” often follows things that you have no control over. Such as, “you should have your internet router soon, inshallah” or “you shipping from Korea will arrive next week, inshallah.” The word basically means “when Allah wills” and it’s a great out. Meanwhile we are still waiting on our internet router (we all share the one connection cord, just trading off), and I found out that our shipment from Korea is in Dammam — 3 hours away — and should get to me this week when the personnel guy at school writes them a letter. Perhaps it is the sun or maybe it is the admonishment I received that you should never show impatience or irritation because the situation will escalate, but we are all just a bit more laid back about things.

The compound is quite secure, and, like the school, extremely nondescript on the exterior. As you come in, your car must have the compound decal and you have to stop, turn off your motor and wait while the guards run a mirror under the car, check your trunk, and look under your hood for any evidence of tampering. Reminds me of the similar procedure when you entered military bases in Korea. From there you pass through about four gates and based on the camo barracades set up, you are watched the whole time. This may sound like a long process, but it is actually quite fast and the guards are quite friendly. I drive a Toyota Camry, stick shift. I would say that driving is the thing that scares me the most. The first week, we got lost coming to and from school so many times, which was probably good because now we can navigate those streets. We have been told there will be a big difference in about two weeks when the Saudi schools start back up and the streets will be packed. The driving here is absolutely crazy; the laidback nature obviously does not apply to transportation! Jennie says she has no problem with women not being able to drive because she has NO desire in these conditions.

I would compare life in the compound to living in a resort. This past Wednesday they had a barbecue dinner at the restaurant here and it was great. Reminded me of dining at a country club. You had to make reservations and when you arrived, you were ushered to a table with your villa number on it. We had to go outside and let the chef know which of the meats we desired since the grill was out there, and then ate from a buffet of vegetables, breads, salads, and desserts. Delicious, but NO PORK!!!!

Nathan has gone to the pool at least once every day. All of us are trying to either swim or workout every night as well. I only missed one night when I had to get my syllabus prepared for my principal to see. PJ loves the compound, but I suspect he is getting sand between the pads of his paws since he spends a lot of time licking his feet now. His skin condition is also coming back, so we may have to call the compound vet to come see him. The vet makes a house (villa) calls once a week.

Nathan and Hannah had new student orientation and that seemed to get them excited. I asked Hannah what she thought of the school after orientation, and she said it seems like it will be good. She still worries about making friends, but the counselor’s daughter, who is in the same grade as Hannah, has been getting together with her and assured her that for the most part the kids at this school are not that cliquey.

We have had to make a few major purchases at the outset, which is expected but still tough when the first payday isn’t until Sept. 15. So we have a water machine in the kitchen, a new TV set and DVD player, and a few pieces of furniture from IKEA.

First day of school is tomorrow (Saturday), should be fun. I wish my Korea shipment were here so I could feel a little better about my lesson (all my files are in it), but all us newbies are in the same boat, their shipments are in transit as well. All of the English department except one are new. One man arrived yesterday and another one, who will be living next door to us in the compound, arrives late Saturday. They had to arrive late due to visa problems. We have friends from TCIS who will be working at another school in Saudi who have been delayed two weeks because of visa issues. The English department is four males and one female, so that will be a first for me. I did talk with the one guy who has been here and said, “should I be concerned that almost all of the English department left last year?” and he said that there were a few problems, but that it will be different this year with the new staff and the new principal.

I began to notice as I looked at the notes the teacher before me left that I did not understand how he was approaching his subject. His way of leading the kids through their essay was just confusing to me and I realized I was going to have to learn his method to teach the seniors that he had taught as juniors. Then I saw the grades he had given, and found that they were mighty low. When I asked my colleague about it, he said that the guy was quite confusing when you talked to him whether you were a co-worker or a student. He also reduced students to tears and embarrassed them quite a bit too. He wouldn’t say much more because he said that outside of school, he was a friend so he didn’t want to be too critical. The counselor called me in though and was not reticent at all to tell me how she felt about him and warned me that I would be doing some damage control with the seniors. The counseling office, unbeknownst to the teacher, had to go in and change about 20 of his grades because of the wide disparity between their marks from him and their marks in other classes. She (the counselor) said many of the students are scared that their chances of achieving their college goals have been dashed and they have a bitter attitude toward English as a result. But, she said, if you go in from the first day and show them that you know what you are doing and that you care for them, they will be grateful and loyal to you all year. It isn’t an ideal situation to come into, but it is so much better than trying to get apathetic students interested, so I am excited about what’s ahead.

Hannah managed to get into yearbook, which she never signed up for, but I told her she needs to keep anyway. Newspaper is a club, not a class, and I agreed to co-sponsor it with the veteran English teacher. I also told Hannah I want to see her on the newspaper (which she wants to do). Since she is taking IB English at higher level, she will not have me as her teacher, so I want to be her club sponsor.

Nathan is adjusting well. All of the differences with men and women separation befuddles him a little and he just wants to help everyone. For example, if we were to go to an amusement park here, the men (and boys) have to go at a separate time from the women. Some places do have family times when you can go together, but amusement parks do not. The prayer time interruptions to your day effect us so little that we often forget about them, only to get caught at a store or restaurant during prayer time and unable to get service. The compound and the school do not observe the prayer times, so beyond the amplified prayer “chants” broadcast from a nearby mosque, it hardly bothers us.

We are trying to call a travel agent to book our Christmas tickets now, since we were told it is good to start booking now. Unfortunately, our phone has been out of service the past two days and it is the weekend now, so we will have to wait to get that fixed.

It will probably happen soon, inshallah.