Today we went to the pool again to try to cool off. Here's Reese after sliding down the slide. She's playing tag with Brooke and they are trying to catch each other.
Here we are in the women's locker room. There are just no people out anywhere! It's like a ghost town!
We decided to stop by the snack bar which is next to the pool.
We can buy ice cream for 27 cents!... chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla.
You can see the pool slide from the snack bar window.
This is the outdoor picnic area and playground right outside the snack bar.
Here is the view of the pool from the snack bar patio. There are two pools. The pool that is farthest away to the left of the picture is the lane pool--the swim team practices over there; and the closer pool is the recreational pool.
Now we are about to leave the secured recreation area.
Here is the guard shack, and you can see the pool slide through the open gate.
The bike rack is right outside the guard shack.
Brooke is riding the scooter with me today (my bike had a flat tire also!)
After our swim, we drove to main camp and went to the Eid celebration. You can see the tents behind Jordan and Brooke that are set up for vendors. You can also see by the girl's orange head covering to the left, that Muslim girls from other countries can get really fashionable when they cover their head.
Here is a picture of a Saudi girl who is wearing a niqab to cover her face. I could tell by her size, her eyes, and her hands that she was a young girl, probably between 18 and 25. She was ordering a frozen yogurt with pomegranate seeds sprinkled on it--yum! To eat her yogurt, she probably had to lift her niqab a bit and feed herself under the cloth. I've seen several women do it this way in public places. It looks uncomfortable! -- (and messy!)
I was surprised to see a Subway at this celebration. I love the arrow at the left of the Arabic word (they read from right to left.)
I read that non-Muslim women and young girls are not expected to cover their heads.
The children lined up to slide down this inflatable slide. You can see a little Indian girl near the front of the line in a magenta outfit. She was so cute and dressed up. I took a close-up of her. She also had henna (temporary tattooing) painted on her hand.
She looked so pretty, but my picture doesn't do her justice, and you can't see the henna. The little girl behind her had her face painted.
Here is a boy dressed in a thobe.
This man was selling woven baskets. When I took a picture of his baskets, he gestured to me to take a picture of him. He smiled after I took the picture.
Next to the man's booth was this loom and weaving, which we thought was very interesting.
This Arabic bread baking is our favorite. This man has balls of bread dough on the tray under the cloth in front of him. He pats it and spreads it over the bottom of this bowl he is holding, and then slaps the flat dough on the side of this strange oven that looks like a trash can. It bakes in a few minutes and it is given out to everyone for free! It had a hint of mint.
Here is the oven. There's even a lid to the left, but he didn't use it while baking bread.
Here is the dough baking on the sides of the oven.
Here, he is making another one.
This is the finished product! It was so hot that the girls couldn't hold it for more than a second and they kept passing it back and forth before I could take the picture. I thought for sure I would have a picture of it falling to the ground! That's why they are holding it with their finger tips.
It has cooled down a bit, but my fingers are used to getting burned!
Our favorite Arabic dinner is a shawarma. It's a fast-food staple across the Middle East. A shawarma is a sandwich-like wrap of shaved meat (these were chicken) which is grilled on a spit for as long as a day. The meat is wrapped in Arabic bread with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and garlic mayonnaise or toum (garlic sauce). Some people also eat it with hot chili sauce, but we don't. The word shawarma comes from the Turkish word that means turning, though the dish is called "turning kebab" in Turkish. In Greek, it was formerly called doner, and now called gyros "turned." It costs $1.33 for each one -- almost as good as Wendy's!
Here, the chef is assembling the shawarmas for all of the people crowding around to place their order. You can't tell because they have put up a wall to keep everyone out. It's really funny to wait in a line in Saudi, because Saudis don't seem to like to wait in line. They very often push to the front, or just step right in front of you. This food company always gives out numbers, so I know that I don't have to worry, but inevitably, someone with a number after mine pushes in front of me, hoping to get served first. The people here on camp are more international, but when we wait in line at the airport, we cannot let any space come between us and the person in front of us, or someone will squeeze in and cut in front of you! We've learned our lesson the hard way!
The man in the back cuts the chicken off of the spit.
Reese likes hers with chicken and lettuce only!
Brooke also likes hers with chicken and lettuce only!
You can't see the garlic sauce or tomato -- they're in the middle.
I was trying to take a picture of this lady because she was wearing a niqab with glasses, but the light behind her obscured the picture.
She is talking on her phone, but you can see it a little better here.
As you can see, there are all kinds of ways to cover your head, and sometimes it's a fashion statement. You can just barely see this woman's baby in the stroller, who is wearing a beautiful blue bow in her hair.
One of the booths at the Eid celebration was very interesting to me. I had the feeling that I was not invited. It was a large open tent with beautiful fabrics laid out with cushions. Outside the tent was a table with beautiful tall golden tea pots and tiny cups, and a bowl of figs. It looked as if only men were allowed to take this tea and sit in this tent to talk. I didn't want to use my flash or go very close, so the picture is a little dark. But these men seemed to be enjoying themselves!
The library is on the grounds where the Eid celebration was held, so as dutiful home schoolers, we decided to get some books before we went home. The library was actually very crowded, maybe because it's air conditioned, but I felt that I should not try to photograph all the women in there; so I found a moment when the hall was clear before I took my picture--I love the beautiful fabrics draped across the ceiling.
The librarians are mostly men, and there was an extra librarian who was just standing near the doorway, shushing people and kicking out the mischievous boys. There was even a puppet show going on in the children's room -- but it was in Arabic.
This is the room that you could see just past Jordan, down the stairs.
We're hoping to go to the Mall of Dhahran tomorrow. We're not sure what time to catch the bus since it's Eid, and tomorrow is desert Saturday, but we'll try for the 9:00 bus... that usually works.
-- Pattie --
