Christmas Display on our compound 2012

our Christmas bush

another shot of our Christmas bush

It is December 23rd here in Saudi. Tim and I are at work. I do not have to work on Christmas Day or the day after as I work at a school. Tim will be working.... that is just the way it is here. The weather is very pleasant and there are holiday lights up on the compound.... maybe I will stop by and take a picture of them to post to this blog. Patty and Josh are coming for a visit in a couple of weeks. We found some Christmas lights and have strung them up on a plastic plant I have in our living room so that our daughter will not be disappointed. She loves Christmas! Yeah! I went to a Saudi Wedding last Wednesday night. It is for women only and is part of a several day celebration of the new couples marriage. I believe there was an engagement party.... a guys event.... an actual wedding ceremony... and then there was what I went to ... an all night women's celebration and reception. We were given coffee, juices, cappuccinos, tea, candy, deserts, munchies and we gathered in a grand ball room at one of the up scale hotels here in Jeddah. There were a couple hundred women all dressed to the hilt in formals and we listened to a middle eastern style of music all night long and danced on a center stage that was set up for us in the center of the  room. It is a different style of dancing but fun. One lady put on a bally style dance for us all in her formal.... wow... she could really wiggle... We were not allowed to bring cameras but there were still those who did and pictures were taken... they will not be posted on public forums or blogs due to the not wanting women's pictures posted but I might get some on email from a friend who had a camera phone with her. Although language was somewhat of a barrier it was still overcome by lots of smiles and a general good time to be had by all. We arrived around 10PM and we were the early ones. The festivities continued on through the night. At around 3AM the groom and his groomsmen showed up for a formal procession and presentation of the bride from the brides family to the groom. The groomsmen entered first and all the Saudi women had thrown there veils on and covered their exotic formals up under their black abayas. Then the groom entered in a grand style with music and Saudi cheers.... from the other end of  the ballroom on an upper balcony entrance the bride then was escorted in by her father... Her dress was gorgeous and much like any fancy dress found in the states.... the father, groom, and all the groomsmen were in their finest Thobes, robes and headdresses.. the groom then ascended the stairs to the balcony where the father handed his daughter over to him and kissed them both , then the father came downstairs and joined the groomsmen on a viewing stage. The bride and groom looked down over the ladies in the ball room and the single Saudi women gathered beneath  the bride and groom .... the bride then sprinkled flower petals on ladies beneath her and  tossed the bridal  bouquet. This  is then followed by the bride and  groom coming down the stairs .... attendants are scurrying around the  bride with each step she takes altering and adjusting her long bridal veil for the professional photographer  that is documenting the event  for the wedding party. The bride and groom  make it to the stage and are  welcomed and congratulated by  the bride and grooms families and wedding party. Pictures.... pictures... pictures.... The couple then parade over to the opposite side of the room where the 10 foot tall cake is  waiting for them. They  do the ceremonial cake cutting and the drinking of something that looks similar to champagne but is not alcohol... after all this they go back to the stage  and more photos are taken.... the groom and the father of the bride and the groomsmen head out to the banquet hall for supper... it is now around 4:30AM.... the bride is left on the stage for all the women to come congratulate her and take photos....she was beautiful.... we then left the grand ball room and headed to the banquet room where there was a table filled with food that must have been over 50 foot long... lamb, seafood, beef... no pork... and veggies and rice and deserts.... no need to go away hungry. We sat with  three Saudi women and enjoyed a conversation through  many efforts to translate and our own translator, a lady who has lived  on the Raytheon compound for many years. I  walked back into my apartment on the compound at around 5:30AM .... just an evening out in Saudi. :)

AISJ 60th Gala, Big Night Out

It is December. Tim and I are still in Saudi Arabia. Our days consist of going to work and coming home.... We get to play street hockey and ice hockey, which is just amazing and quite a blessing and gives us a pleasant break from the routine. Patty (our daughter) and Josh (our son-in-law) will be coming for a visit in January. We have had a myriad of plans just placed in our path for their visit.... we find that we are blessed to have many things just out of our control.... We are pleasantly surprised each time events are orchestrated by our lord and master much better than we could have planned.... why are we so surprised.... lol. Last week there was a big formal "Gala Night" at the school I work at. American International School Jeddah held a 60 year anniversary. There was entertainment, horses and riders, fireworks, red carpets and a large spread. Tim and I gave up our hockey for the opportunity to attend... lol... and were happy we chose to experience this night with the school. Here are a few pictures of the event.

Hello all!

Well...it has been 8 months. On March 15th I stepped off the plane into Saudi Arabia..... I wore my Amazon purchased black abaya and scarf and nervously followed the rest  down the isle of the plane behind other westerners like myself here for work and pilgrims ...the men dressed in nothing but what appears to be a large terry cloth robe and the women who where covered entirely in black abayas,scarves and other black accessories which they put on during the last half hour of our 14 hour flight.. Pilgrims are what they call all the thousands of Muslims that travel to Jeddah to make a holy visit to Mecca, their holy place.... They are required to visit once in their life time if possible.  Oh there I go off on a tangent...tee hee.
Tim and I got to travel home to Minnesota on the 4th of October and did not fly back into Jeddah till the 2nd of November.  I visited my mom in Wisconsin and we enjoyed a few days together roaming the roads of Wisconsin with stops in boutiques, cheese stores and even a winery/apple orchard. The fall colors were wonderful. I got to attend church with my mom for the first time since I had left the states the past March and found myself with tears streaming down my face as we stood to worship as a community of believers together..... wow..we sort of take our freedom for granted..... I had more opportunities to gather with other believers while I was back.... I went to a communion service with my mom in Wisconsin.... I got to attend a service in Rochester the next weekend.....We attended a service at our home church in Leroy,MN and got to play on the worship team...and we were blessed to be asked to play at a funeral service where we listened to and where blessed by the testimonies of how God used this women to further his ministry during her lifetime....we were invited to a small group meeting where they wanted to ere of our life in Saudi...and we even got to attend service in a Parish Church in St. Madoes, Scotland, where the pastor preached from Genesis and reminded us that God doesn't forget  us and he is with us everywhere as he was with Joseph in Egypt...so he is with us in Saudi....so timely....oh and did I say that we got to receive the sacrament of communion in three different communities...wow!
Tim and I drove down to Missouri to visit Jon and Pat Rank, life long friends...sort of chosen family really,...we drove our old 1993 Lebaron convertible down hwy 65 into Missouri...had the top down... the colors were wonderful.

Mom on our drive about in Wisconsin... this is the center point of Wisconsin...

Tim on our convertible drive to Missouri

taking a self portrait  as we cruise along in the convertible

We enjoyed our time with the Ranks.... as we always do.... lots of laughs...relaxing... and just being together with loved ones.... we said our "see ya next time" and "XOXOXO" and then headed back to Minnesota,missing them as soon as we walked out the door.
Oh I forgot to say we ran a 10k run with Josh and Patty the weekend before we drove to Missouri..... It was The Big Woods Run  outside of Fairbault, MN and it was beautiful and fun... well it rained  on us but it was a pleasant rain and since Tim and I had not seen rain in the entire time we had been in Saudi it was welcomed by us and immensely appreciated.
After our Missouri trip we got to spend time at home with Josh and Patty. I even got to take a daughter  and mom jaunt up to the cities with Patty for a n over night trip to enjoy a Women of Faith Conference in St. Paul at the Excel Center....It was again wonderful to be among so many fellow believers .... and women in a public place not wearing black abayas and worshiping freely together.....FREEDOM!!!!!

an overnight in the cities...just me and my daughter....Yeah!

Women of Faith Conference Patty and I attended.....everyone is lighting up their cell phones during a worship session...

A young family friend from Wyoming, who is presently attending college just three hours away from our Minnesota home, came to visit us over our last weekend at home and brought a dorm mate....we enjoyed pumpkin carving and a girls weekend with them...Tim and Josh endured all the girl activities and were great host.
we flew out of Rochester on the 25th to head back to Saudi....with a slight detour on the agenda...Scotland.....
what a beautiful and old place..... gorgeous winding country roads...villages....sheep ind stone fenced green meadows...history, history, oh and did I say history...we would like to go back someday and explore more.
we flew into Jeddah early Friday morning and friends picked us up at the airport. It was good to be back in Saudi and we were ready to continue on our adventure here... I will try to blogg more ....talk to you next time....God Bless!!!

The pumpkin I carved....

The gang back home on our last weekend...

We lodged at Pitfour Castle while we stayed in Scotland...

This is where we attended church in Scotland.....:)

Well it has been a while since I last blogged. I am still in Jeddah. There has been a lot in the news of the unrest over here but it really has not been to noticeable. There have been some evidence of security being stepped up a notch.... I saw armed guards at the entrance gate to an open house at the school.... checkpoints have been a bit more crowded.... but really nothing that out of the ordinary for here.... it just is not the Saudi way. Saudi's will do a lot of arm waving and voice raising but more for show.... they don't like to offend....  well.... sort of... I asked if there where fund raisers at the school. I was told up till last year there was but then... at a family fun day fundraiser.... a huge brawl broke out and that was the end of fundraisers...
So.... not much else going on. We do not go off compound much anymore.... we just work and exercise and visit a bit with people on compound. Sometimes we venture out to a souk in the evening or go to the mall or take a small drive. We drove up the Cornish one Friday.... The Cornish is the drive along the Red Sea.... it is not Lake Shore Drive but it was something to do. I find a smile is very disarming and most often it is returned.
Hmmmm what else..........
I recovered the kitchen chairs.... I am running 4 days a week and playing street hockey with an occasional ice hockey thrown in when we can get the ice.  Tim and I will be going home in October for a visit and then back to the magic kingdom via a small trip to Scotland and we are going to stay in a castle but that will be a future blog.... That is about all for now. Have a blessed day.

 These pictures where taken at the school I work at here in Jeddah. It is right next door to the the compound I live at and I do not even have to wear an Abaya to go to work as I just pass through a security gate between the compound and the school.

Well I have started my new job at the school here in Jeddah. I will be working as the IT Coordinator.... sort of an assistant to the IT Manager and IT Administrator..... along with helping with testing and other various task that come my way .... should be interesting and it will keep me occupied while we are in Jeddah. Tim is back in the states for training right now and then he will follow up with a week home in Minnesota. I did not go with him this time.... I will be going home with him in October for the month.... :).   Yesterday the little nurse, I worked with this summer, came over for the day to visit and taught me how to make Filipino Empanada.... Yum.... We cooked, shared our stories, ate some and we also delivered some of our days work out to friends here on the compound... What fun! I found a recipe on the internet that is similar to what we made so I will post the link here for those of you that would like to try something new.... http://www.squidoo.com/filipino-empanada-recipe-and-cooking-instructions

Here is a picture of the little nurse and me from the last day I worked at the dispensary....

Kareen and me

Well.... another week has passed and I will be finishing up my temporary job at the dispensary here on compound this week. I have enjoyed working with the nurse and the doctor. They have been great to me and it has been  a blessing.  I  get cold in the ac ) so I  run outside and grab a rock to warm my hands .....:) The doctor and Kareen  kid me about this and Kareen even named a couple of rocks for me ..... we keep them outside the dispensary and everyone makes comments about them as they came in... :D......

hand warming rocks .....

Tim and I also went out one evening during Ramadan. We were invited to have dinner with a Saudi family downtown in Al-Ballad. We went with Steve and Rosita to have dinner with Fuad and his 3 children and wife. We left the compound around 9:15PM and headed downtown to meet Fuad and his family. Fuad works with Tim. He is a renowned artist but is back in Saudi now taking care of family.... We had such a wonderful time. We met them in a mall downtown and walked through the market area to an outside food vendor dining area. The family eating area was separated off behind makeshift curtains and we enjoyed grilled liver , meat, bread and soda pop courtesy of our host... It is a big thing to the Saudi's during Ramadan to be generous and giving.... They fast from sunrise to sunset and then break fast and eat and visit during the night hours.... We were out eating and visiting till around 1AM and then it took us and hour to drive the busy streets back to the compound.... Here are a few pictures of the evening.....

We were home and in bed by 2:30AM and the evening was still young to most Saudi's....
We also went snorkeling again.... this time we went to Marjan Beach.... Here are a few of the pictures I took while snorkeling.....

Well.... I hope your enjoying the blog! God Bless you all!

Wow! It has been almost a month since I posted last..... I have been working at the dispensary here on compound. I work with a sweet little nurse and a really nice older doctor and it has been very pleasant.

me at work in the dispensary

kareen and me

I am only filling in for a lady on vacation but it has kept me busy and I have been blessed by the opportunity.  I have an offer letter with the school to work in IT in sort of an assistant role to the IT Manager. That will start sometime in August.  Our time here is flying by. We don't have the freedom to just run here and there as we have been used to back home but we are comfortable here on compound. Tim and I participated in a Zoomba class last Sunday night for exercise.... we didn't know it was dance exercise.... ha.... good workout.... just hope no one brings a camera....lol. We have also been able to go to the beach some and snorkel.

Tim relaxing on the beach with our friend Randy

It is nice to get off compound ..... here is Tim attempting to relax..... I think he is excelling at this ...... :).    We also have a new underwater camera. Here are a few pictures in the water.... I love my new camera...

The above pictures were taken on my first outing with my underwater camera...... it worked great.... oh.... that is Tim, me and our friend Randy.... :) Now for a few pictures of the corral and fish we saw..... by the way.... this was Tim's first venture out into open water and he is hooked now. :)

can you see the fish

this one.... tee hee

there is a fish with glowing eyes and a long blue needle fish

I also experimented with the movie feature.......

Well lets see how this works....tee hee... enjoy!

I went shopping at a local mall here in Jeddah, one night this past week, with Tim. I decided to pick up a few hats to wear while I am out an about in Jeddah... I do not have to wear a scarf as a westerner but I have noticed that a head covering is appreciated by the Saudi's....  I have found it fun to wear a hat and it keeps the sun of my noggin.... :)
I found 3 hats at Claire's (like the one in the states) and they were on sale..... I ended up paying only SR 7 for all three hats which is the equivalent to $1.84..... not bad!  I love a bargain. I had one hat already and will model them here for you on my blog. Enjoy!!!

Well... what do you think! :D