Brooke fought her jet lag and went right to work with 2- to 3-hour drama rehearsals on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. She's so excited to be the Genie in the panto--she had all of her lines memorized right away! She's even going to get to sit in a giant bottle! On the days she didn't have drama, she went to swim practice. Here is a picture of everyone in the Aladdin cast.
Reese did well fighting her jet lag also by joining the swim team and going to swim practice 3 days a week... but she likes to spend her time with the neighbor girls. If we didn't make her come home at a certain time, we'd never see her!
Cats are the preferred pet over here; and dogs are not well-liked. It's easy to find cat food and cat necessities, but not dog supplies; so when we can find them, they're expensive. I brought half of a bag and one can of dog food in my luggage to hold us over, but our supplies were getting low and we didn't want to switch Shadow's food and upset his stomach until we found a store that would consistently sell a good brand in large quantities at the lowest prices. I dragged myself out of bed one day to ride to the mini mart with Reese and see if they sold dog food. Fortunately, the commissary and mini mart sell one kind of dog food, so we bought a few cans until I felt better and could get off camp to shop.
Reese is looking at the candy aisle. Although there are only three aisles, half of one is devoted to candy! It's always so refreshing and cool in here when you come in hot and sweaty.
Checking out... we've got some Arabic bread in our basket--Arabic bread over here is only a quarter! And you get 4 pieces of bread -- it's similar to pita bread. We also bought some marshmallows (for $3.13!) because you never know when they'll be out of something for weeks. We want to be ready when our neighbors have a bonfire on the jebbels and roast marshmallows!
On Tuesday evening, I finally felt well enough to go off camp with Bruce and see what kind of dog food is available. We went to the Giant Panda (like Kroger) and there was nothing! I figured I'd have to go all the way to Lulu (like Wal-Mart) downtown in Khobar, but Bruce didn't feel comfortable driving there in the dark, and I wasn't sure I had enough food to wait until the weekend. So, I decided to make myself and the girls go to bed early so we could catch the shopping bus in the morning to Lulu.
Here are pictures of Khobar from the bus.
We have arrived at Lulu Hypermarket.
Reese kept my camera for the rest of the shopping trip and took all of these lovely pictures at Lulu. Here are the strollers!
This is Brooke's first time to shop in her new abaya.
Henna is dye. I like the red dot on the girl's forehead!
I could be a model!
I don't know when Reese took these pictures, but I was busy shopping, and she must have been having fun!
These are spices.
Look at all that candy!
Hmmm.... what could Reese want for her birthday?
Here, we have ketchup-flavored potato chips!
Reese didn't like the mutton legs sticking up (that's lamb, by the way.)
She was making friends everywhere!
They even has Krispy Kreme here.
I finally got my bag of dog food and now we're waiting for the bus back to the compound.
We had a family celebration on Reese's tenth birthday, October 16! Here she's opening her family presents.
She was so happy to get another watch after we lost it on the beach.
Jordan has been enjoying her yearbook class and designing her school's yearbook. She has also joined the Habitat for Humanity group at her school and will be going to Cambodia in February with the group to help build houses. She is so excited! For a fundraiser, she's on the decorating committee for the Halloween dance. We can't wait to hear all about that.
This past weekend, she met with a group of her friends for a movie and game night, and when she rode her bike home that night, a security guard escorted her home.
Here is Reese's birthday party with all the friends she has met over here. They all had a blast... they made marshmallow towers, played games, had a treasure hunt throughout the neighborhood, and watched a movie. Here they are painting door hangers.
This is Jayda and Tashina painting. Jayda is from Indiana; Tashina is from Utah.
Jordan and Brooke are about to glaze the cookies they made.
Here's the four-layer star cake with gumballs on it and the crazy "zero" candle.
Georgina and Stephanie are on each side of Reese as she's getting ready to blow out her candles. Georgina has lived here quite a while and I think her mom is from Australia; while Stephanie has just arrived from Chicago.
Thirty minutes after the party, most of the girls ran over to Katherine's house to celebrate her tenth birthday at a slumber party... these girls partied for 24 hours from Thursday to Friday! Brooke and Reese were sick with a fever on Saturday and Sunday. I guess it was all a bit much!
Here is Brooke's Jr. High fellowship. This is Emma who lives off camp on another compound. Her parents said that we can come visit and see it sometime. They used to live in Saudi ten years ago, but have now just moved back from the U.S.
And even Shadow has friends who come to visit. Here he's playing with Zoie, the desert pup. Shadow had a birthday as well, and turned two.
He likes to look out the front window in the school room just like everyone else. It's the best way to see what's going on out front!
It also keeps people from cutting through our yard. I guess our house was empty for so long that they treat our yard like a path. Now that Shadow's here, they go around.
We had so many workers walk right by our windows to cut through to the back, and they would look in our windows while the girls were doing their school work and it was too distracting. I've since put a potted plant, a shelf, and two chairs on our walkway to block the "through traffic." I even dug up a bush and replanted it there on the corner because they would squeeze under the bending tree to get through. People still walk through once in a while and just move my shelf to get by.
The bush that I dug up used to be in this bare area and was leaning so far over the sidewalk that people had to walk in the street to get by. I like it's new location blocking traffic by the windows! Reese found a little palm tree to put here instead. I wasn't sure how I was going to get grass to grow here, but then some workers tore up the front lawn of an empty nearby house, so I went over and asked if I could have some of the grass before they threw it away.
Now I have grass! I hope it grows okay.
Brooke has Aladdin practices four days a week and loves every minute of it.
Bruce had to fly to Tanajib on Saturday for work in the oil complex there. It's north on the Persian Gulf. He doesn't enjoy the traveling, but he loves the meals provided there. He said it was actually cold in the morning over there closer to the ocean. He's going to have to go again next week, but he wants to be back in time to hand out candy on Halloween.
This is where Reese likes to go to have some quiet time... just outside her bedroom window.
Katherine and Grace are waiting for a turn.
Instead, they went to Jayda's house and worked on Jayda's Halloween costume. They spray-painted a box white and put black dots on it to make her a die.
Bruce and I drove to the high school last night for parent/teacher conferences. Jordan's teachers, of course, all love her--I'm so proud of her. They basically told us what a sweet person she is and that she works hard and doesn't fool around. Then we were cornered by her guidance counselor who told us what a wonderful girl she is, and that she has connected with a wonderful group of kids -- that was nice to know. I have to tell you though, this was the real test of how well I've been doing in my job for the last ten years... it was a little scary! I saw where I've been lacking and it's going to cost Jordan some hard work and determination to catch up in the areas where I have not pushed her hard enough. We have a lot of fun in home school, but I see now, that in high school, it really does need to get serious!
Speaking of home school, today in science, Brooke made an edible model of a DNA molecule.
The weather here is absolutely beautiful at this time of year. This evening after Reese and Brooke ride their bikes to swim practice, we'll go back to the pool to eat shawarmas out in the October air. We'll have to hurry so that we can take Jordan to the high school for her Halloween dance tonight. She's going as a Ninja. Yesterday, she and her friends carved watermelons and spray-painted them orange to look like jack-o-lanterns to decorate the dance!
Reese and Jordan have their first swim meet tomorrow and Brooke has drama practice and then a cast party with pizza for the whole family on Friday; but Bruce has a men's game night to attend instead. The weekend filled up fast!
Thanks for stopping by again!
-- Pattie --
