A Wingle made by the Great Wall company out of China

Well, here are a couple of things Tim has not seen or done in the states.... We saw this Wingle down in one of the parking lots around Al Ballad Souk..... Not a truck you see in the states..... imagine the fun that Tim and his co-workers are getting out of this name.....lol

Tim and James, a co-worker, relaxing on our patio.... smoking Cuban cigars and drinking Arabic coffee with cardamon in it.... the cardamon makes it sour... which is just an excuse to add sugar.... they love their sugar over here. :)

I heard there was a strange fashion siting at Marjan Beach, just North of Jeddah, today.
Someone caught it on camera......

 

Wow! I believe everyone is gonna wanna get a bathing outfit like this one..... not.... :)

Hey... Tim forwarded this picture to me. This is at the rink in Jeddah.... Yeah hockey!!!

World Class Hockey...... :)

Got some more hockey shots of our game in Jeddah.....

Note the signs above Tim that are in Arabic..... and if you can see it, the boards have real glass above them.... There are actually four ice rinks in Jeddah.... Yeah!!!!

I have had a full week here in Jeddah.... Last Friday Tim and I played ice hockey with a great group from Kaust.... then Tim had Saturday - Monday off from work because of a graduation ceremony where he works. We hung out and walked to the souk one day and I took him on the shopping bus another day... We also ventured out from Jeddah on Monday night to Kaust, or the King Abdullah University campus, which is around 50 minutes north of Jeddah up the coast. We went up to play street hockey with the group from Kaust. They play every Monday night up there and we have been invited to join them. We had lots of fun and I posted a few pictures from the campus. Tim and I arrived early and drove around.... very nice looking place.... It was put up in three years and has only been open around two years. It is the first coed university in the middle east. We got to go in one of the residences before we played. The young guy that organizes the hockey group lives on campus with his wife and two little boys. His wife and him are from Canada and both hold teaching certificates. They have taught in Korea, Cambodia, and now Saudi Arabia. They have been there since June and like it. I already posted the few campus shots I took at the University.... I saw a couple of herds of camels in the desert as we drove up to Kaust but I did not have my camera ready in time..... bummer. I will be ready next time. :)  I will post a few shots of the shopping center Tim got to go with me to on the shopping bus.... It looked like a capital building.....

this is looking up at the dome in the shopping center

another shot of the dome

I guess that is all I took of that shopping center.... the dome was spectacular.... hmmm.....

I also learned how to make an Arabic pudding this week.... and  I went next door to the American International School of Jeddah and put an application in to do some substitute teaching.... it looks like I will be substitute teaching next Saturday. I did go over on Wednesday and sat in on a second grade class..... kids are kids where ever you go....:). ...

Tim and I went to a Spaghetti sauce contest dinner here on compound Wednesday night... I placed an entry but it did not win.... there were some good sauces.... Yum!!! 

Today, I guided Tim over to the Mall of Arabia and we walked around it. Tim purchased a straw hat to keep the sun of his head and a couple of other small items.... We then ventured over to the IKEA store here in Jeddah.... it was a little taste of home for us... we liked to venture up to the IKEA store in Minneapolis back home.... looked the same but the prices were in Arabic numbers.... we got to practice our numbers today. :) We also ate some Swedish meatballs and french fries for lunch there... big smile...:D!!!!   We picked up a couple of chairs for our guitar room and came home and practiced awhile...

It was a very nice week... Oh, did I mention, Tim turned 51 this past week and we celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary..... that is another big smile :D  !!!!   Tim is over helping Lou, a friend of ours, set up his computer and modem right now.... I came back to lounge and post a blog.... I found Gary Gecko's little brother here when I got back and managed to get a picture of him.... so here is a picture of one of our house Geckos.....

Gary's little brother.... can you see him?

We are going to the beach tomorrow with Randy, Kim and Justin... they live here on the compound and guess what.... they are from Minnesota, too! Well that is all for now... Hope you are enjoying the blog. Keep following the "Great Adventure".....

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Main road leading into the first co-ed university in the middle east

on campus

bay by the university

close to the yacht club at the university

university buildings

We went to the Jeddah fish market today!!! Steve drove us downtown this morning so we could buy some fresh fish to grill up this evening. Steve and his friend from Taif will come over tonight to join us for fresh grilled sea bass and shrimp and I will oven fry up some flounder..... then add some beans, cabbage salad, potato salad, and hush puppies and you have a feast. Here are some pix from the fish market......

We bought the sea bass from this vendor and he cleaned our fish for us to boot!

Jeddah fish market

Yummy fresh shrimp!

Notice the shark jaw hanging close to Tim's head...

Tim out in front of the Jeddah fish market entrance

this fellow was selling shark..... 

We really enjoyed this market..... something seemed a bit fishy about the place though.... tee hee!

The Jeddah fish market is located downtown at the Islamic Port.... here are a few of the sites we saw there and on the way....

local fishing boats

an old boat in the harbor

we saw this, Knife Sculpture, it is by the road leading to the crown prince's palace

Well I need to post this and get to making dinner. yum!!!! Miss you all back home.... but I feel I can keep in touch by sharing some of the different sites and happenings going on here in Jeddah for Tim and I. Enjoy!!!!

Yeah !!!!

Sky chairs are up!!!!

Relaxing!!!!!

Enjoying!!!!

Yeah!!! We got our sky chairs hung up at last.... we're just two swingers living in Jeddah!!!

Well it is Friday afternoon in Jeddah. Tim and I ran a mile around the compound this morning around 7:30. The first and third Fridays you can run and then they serve you a free breakfast at the cafe here on compound.... nice. We have been nesting... our stuff came from the states and we have picked up a few things here. Tim managed to obtain a satellite dish and we picked up a receiver to pick up the free satellite channels.... that has been a project and Tim is enjoying scanning the various channels and saving the ones we can understand. :) I just ran around the apartment taking a few photos of our place.... here you go.

Tim playing with all the new Satellite channels

dinning area, kitchen, and stairs...see Tim's subway clock

one of my pretty flowers on our back patio

nice place to sit out back

Tim's aquisition.... the dish.... and some of my plants

front of out place

nice entry.... pretty plants

spare bedroom

our bedroom

a shelf with some of my souvenir nic naks

Well just thought I would share a view of the crib.... :) Love to all!!!!!