When Bruce got home from work this evening, it was 108 degrees!
Tuesday, May 15
We had an enjoyable afternoon at Cene's pool while Jordan taught swim lessons today. It was a little more relaxing for Jordan since three 5-year-old boys had to miss their lesson. One was sick, but one got stitches in his chin, and the third bumped his head and had a concussion! We hope they all get well soon.
Wednesday, May 16 (desert Friday)
Jordan had her first AP exam today -- Language and Composition. She feels like she did well, but she's not looking forward to her AP Economics exam tomorrow. At least today's exam was only 3 hours... tomorrow's exam is all day (8a-4p)!
Well, we only have four more weeks of school and then we'll be flying back to the states! I think I have a wonderful summer planned. We are ALL looking forward to a break from school (& work!)
For dinner, Bruce got his regular shawarmas at the pool and brought them home. I'm looking forward to next week when my diet will allow me to enjoy a shawarma plate again! Instead of shawarmas, Jordan enjoyed pizza with her friends at the Tandoori House. Brooke has a low fever and isn't feeling well this evening.
Thursday, May 17 (desert Saturday)
After Jordan went to the high school to take her AP exams, Bruce dropped me off at the clothing store to return some of the items I bought last weekend; and he drove to Dammam to purchase some cherry wood--he wants to start a woodworking project and make night stands to match our bedroom furniture in Tyrone--wood is hard to find around here.
But first we stopped at the gas station on camp. These men stand here all day in temperatures over 100 degrees pumping gas (it's also very smelly)... if this were in the states, they'd be wearing shorts, but this is the uniform they're required to wear. We filled up our tank for 17 riyals and tipped them 3. So, for five bucks our tank is full--sorry, don't mean to make you too jealous! I guess we get some consolation for leaving our beautiful Georgia woods. ; )
My shopping adventure was once again, an adventure; but I'm beginning to develop a routine. I got to the store at 9:30am, so I knew I had approximately 2 hours before prayer began. Because returns are not allowed, I needed to find items for exchange. I first searched through the racks for items that would fit Brooke, or Jordan or me. After an hour, I had several things that looked like they would be okay, but there's no way of knowing until I tried mine on. Brooke and Jordan are fairly easy to fit by now, but I'm a mystery, and happily, I have lost a size or two from my diet (not that I know what I size I wear over here anyway!) I remembered from before that I was not supposed to use their fitting room, so I decided I would exchange my items and then find a bathroom in which I could try them on.
I chose the items that I thought would be the most difficult to fit, and got in line to pay. There were two lines that had two customers in each. But as I stood there, and watched the other line move ahead, I noticed a sign on the side that said "exchange line." I didn't dare step out of my place in line (there was man in front of me in a thobe, and a man behind me in a thobe, and I know that Saudis are not very friendly when they are waiting in line. So I broke yet another rule of Saudi etiquette... I spoke loudly from where I was standing to the clerk behind the counter and asked if I should step out of line to make an exchange. He told me to come forward, and I was happy that I didn't have to wait any longer for my slow line to move. The clerks were all Filipino-looking and my clerk could speak English fairly well. He took my items, gave me a voucher for the amount, and then told me that I had to get back in the other line to complete my purchase. I could see right where I had been standing in that line just one foot away, but my place was gone... I asked him if I had to go to the end of the line and he assured me that I did. Now that I knew which was the slow line, I got in the other line!
After I purchased my items and asked where the bathroom was, I walked through the strip-mall to a door I had previously seen marked Ladies Toilet, and went inside. It was a hallway with doors, but I found the bathroom and looked for a changing room with mirrors like I'd found in the mall; there wasn't one here. There was a tiny, crowded room called "Changing Room," but it had a folding diaper-changing-table in it. I figured that would be my best option. There was no one around, so I was able to come out and look in the mirror with each garment. I put my abaya back on, made sure all the snaps were snapped and no skin was showing, and headed back to the clothing store to make another exchange. I knew which line to get in this time, so I quickly grabbed some more items from the cart I had left to the side and exchanged the items that didn't fit. I knew to go to the end of the line again and was able to do this more quickly this time.
The exchange clerk realized what I had been doing and told me to ask another clerk for a key to the fitting room; so after I waited in the other line and completed my purchase, I wandered around until I found him. Unfortunately, he didn't speak much English and told me, "no key." I pointed to the exchange clerk so he walked over there with me and the clerk translated that another employee who had the key would return at 4:00, and that I could use the fitting room at 4! (as if it was no big deal for me to come back at 4:00!) Since it was only 11am, I quickly walked back to the bathroom and tried on the new items my own way. Bruce called me to tell me that he bought some wood that filled the car and he wouldn't be able to fit me in until he took the wood home, so I decided to take the shopping bus back to camp at 11:30. I didn't have much time, so I hurried back to the store to exchange the items that didn't fit. I finished my purchase with 8 minutes to run to the bus, and that's exactly what I did... another faux pas... running (I have yet to see a lady in an abaya even walk quickly,) but I always seem to be running somewhere!... what with buses and prayer times and having to try on clothing in the bathroom, and stores all being closed between noon and 4, and not being allowed to drive, and not even being able to see with their faces covered... I don't know how the women here do it! But, I caught my bus, and I made my exchange, and I headed home with clothes that fit everyone... I felt good. Bruce picked me up on camp where the bus dropped me off.
Brooke has had a fever and rested all day. When Jordan was finished with her exam, she called for Bruce to come get her; she was so relieved to be finished with all of her AP exams! She said this economics exam was so difficult that students were asking each other if they even got any of the questions right!
Reese had a fun night with the neighbor girls. She asked if she could have a pajama party with them, but left so quickly that I forgot to confirm what time she would return home. At 11:30pm when she still wasn't home, I walked around the corner to their house. I took Shadow through the deserted street, but he was too scared of something and tried to pull out of his collar. I had to walk him back home and leave him in the house. When I got to the neighbor's house, I could tell that most of the family was asleep, so I tried not to wake the parents by knocking quietly. By the third knock, I knocked loudly, and the girls came to the door apologizing. Reese asked if she could stay until midnight because that's when they had to go to bed. It's so safe here that we don't even mind letting Reese walk home at midnight by herself. It's only around the corner and three houses away, but we don't even worry. There really isn't much crime here at all, and we live in somewhat of a small town where everybody knows everybody's business. If something did happen, believe me, we would hear about it!
Friday, May 18
We left Brooke sleeping this morning and went to church. We were all tired from staying up too late, but it was nice to go to church after missing last week. Afterwards, Jordan and I went to the used book sale and found several books, some for school and some for pleasure. We rode the scooter and couldn't believe how HOT the air was. It was extremely hot today at 108 degrees and literally felt like a heater was blowing on us as we rode home. We were so hot when we arrived home, that we could barely think about fixing lunch at 1:00. I figured Brooke would rest all day again, but then we remembered that she had a Girl Scout activity at 2:00 at the pool where they would learn about self defense. She arrived home at 4:30 and only had an hour to rest before going to her middle school fellowship.
My friend, Cene', and her family came on camp for the middle school fellowship as well, and were able to hang out at our house while Micaela went with Brooke. Reese was happy to have Gabriele over.
Saturday, May 19
After Jordan got home from school today, I snuck up on her and Brooke singing songs with the computer.
After school we noticed that the maintenance crew had trimmed our palm tree, so Reese went out front to pick up some of the cut berries. They're A LOT heavier than they look!!
She fits in real well with the natives... she's able to climb that sharp tree trunk barefoot! This picture doesn't do it justice, but that trunk can slice your feet up!
Monday, May 21
While the girls were doing their school work today, Zoie kept trying to dig between the bricks out back and the wall of the house, so I went out to investigate and found this little injured sparrow.
I was afraid the bird wouldn't last, but Reese was very hopeful; so she quickly researched what we should do to help it. First of all, she named it Raj'a, which she says means hopeful in Arabic. Then she discovered that it needed a warm, dark place to recover, and possibly a warm bath. I told her that we could bathe it tomorrow if it made it through the night. She found a box and taped on a cover in case Raj'a got better and tried to fly.
The sparrow kept crawling to the corner of the box... probably because the nest was made from the hair of her tormentor!
Brooke is doing another science experiment. What happens when she puts a glass jar over a candle that is sitting in liquid?
As the flame goes out, the liquid is sucked up into the jar!
I checked on little Raj'a before I went to bed, and sadly, she didn't make it. Reese was very sad; she'll bury her tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 22
Today was our last day to spend with Cene' and her girls before they are OOK "Out Of Kingdom" for the summer and head to her dad's in Oklahoma. We left early today and had our taxi go all the way to Khobar and make a quick stop at Al Mango so we could get them some of their favorite fruit before we joined them at their pool. Jordan didn't get to go to Al Mango the first time, and we've been craving that delicious fruit since we went last month; so she thoroughly enjoyed her large cup of fruit with ice cream on top. They were out of strawberries today, but never mind, the mango is to die for! We're sure going to miss Cene's family! Already, I'm searching for a Chick-fil-A opening that we can meet at this summer.
All three little boys were better after their mishaps last week, so Jordan was as busy as ever with her swim lessons this afternoon.
I love this picture of Jordan in her abaya...
because, as you can see below, it shows how abayas are great for all kinds of occasions. Here she is wearing it as a swim suit cover-up. I was also noticing how well it serves as an apron and keeps the grease splatters off of my new shirt when I'm cooking. A few other uses we've come up with are bathrobe (to walk the dog in your pajamas), general-warmer (keeps you warm when the a/c is on too high), and we even used it (or had to use it) as a dirt protector (crawling through caves--which you'll read about on the May 24th blog), or a bib (when chocolate or spaghetti sauce finds its way down your front), weight loss assistant (helps you sweat the pounds off in the hot afternoons), sweat stain cover-up (hides all those nasty spots when you're out and about), and we can't forget Brooke's new use as a disguise (she plans to wear it during a night game of hide & seek so she'll be well hidden.) Now if you're jealous, I can easily pick one up and bring it home for you this summer for only a mere $30 or more!
Wednesday, May 23
I've finished my diet today, and I was so excited to get a shawarma plate at the pool. We all walked (or rode bikes) together... but, alas... no shawarmas this weekend! I guess they were expecting a dust storm... it didn't seem like anything to us, but oh well... maybe next weekend.
Check back with us soon, and we'll have more!
- Pattie -
