Remember the houses that Jordan worked on in Cambodia? Well, this is Sek Rattanak's completed house.
And this is Nhean Ye's completed house.
I took my girls to the mall today to help Jordan shop for the things she still needed. We went back to that store with the cool clothes, only to find out that they don't have a fitting room. So we walked through the mall and stopped at store after store, and found out that NONE of them have fitting rooms for women!! What? Fitting rooms are only for the men here. I read that "the religious police have banned female changing rooms for a variety of ridiculous reasons, including that it's sinful for women to be in a state of undress outside the home, or that lecherous, perverted male sale clerks might sexually assault women in the dressing rooms, etc." We were told by several sales clerks that we could buy the items, take them to the restroom to try them on, and then return them if they don't fit... amazing! We gave up shopping right then and there. We may as well just wait until we're back in the U.S. in June to get what she needs.
Tuesday, Apr. 3
We decided to try the pool over in main camp today. I got these two pictures before the life guard reminded me that cameras are not allowed at company pools. I guess they're afraid I might take pictures of woment in swim suits! The pool was pretty empty -- I guess everyone goes on vacation during spring break.
Reese is doing a flip, and Brooke is watching.
Bruce got a new boss this week and is going to be traveling to Jubail again in the next few weeks. He's new to the company, comes from a consulting background, and has been everywhere. He's fun to work with and has a lot of good stories.
Thursday, Apr. 5 (desert Saturday)
Today, Bruce is driving us to Bahrain for the weekend! I had to take these pictures to show you how people drive here--even though the pictures don't do it justice. See how there are no lines painted in the street here... that's common in many places because everything always seems to be unfinished. And see how the blue car is driving smack in the middle -- I think they do that in case they can squeeze between someone. Many times you will wonder for quite a while which way a car is planning to go because even when there are lines, they drive right on them.
It's really a free-for-all on the roads here... everything goes! It is acceptable to drive on the shoulder of the road (I think it's considered a passing lane here) -- cars will pass us on the right shoulder of the road, and then as we're making a right turn at the intersection, they will turn left in front of us and in front of the three other lanes to our left. Look at the cars below. The two cars on the left are both driving on the line. The red one is on the left and the car that is on his right...
...is now in the left lane while the red car is taking the right fork! It's crazy here... and remember... these are all men. Bruce just hates to drive here. I really have to need something badly to get him to drive me somewhere.
This is a mall that was built on a faulty foundation, so they quit building it.
Now we're on the causeway to Bahrain. It costs about $15 round trip to cross the causeway and get auto insurance for three days in Bahrain.
This is Bahrain. The lines are clearly painted here, and there's not trash and rubble all along the side of the road.
This is our hotel -- the Novotel... it's almost surrounded by water.
Friday, Apr. 6
Here Bruce is investigating the nooks and crannies of the hotel.
Jordan and Reese are on the paddle boat.
Bruce and Brooke are waving from our room.
We met another American family that works at the same company. This was their adopted son, Joren, with Reese.
I had to take a picture of this mother... most of the time, she was not in the water with her family, but she is wearing a swim suit that covers her from head to wrists to ankles. I think she takes off the outer black sheer fabric before she swims. It's very difficult for women to join their family in most of the fun. Many times you will see the father and the children playing and doing things while the mother is watching (or trying to keep cool in her black clothing.) We even saw a little girl today (maybe 10 years old) who had on an abaya and therefore could not swim, but she was watching Reese and Brooke play in the hot tub with one of those longingly looks.
Here is a husband and wife walking to their room (the husband is behind this pole.)
Here's another husband -- oops, that's my husband! We had a nice weekend relaxing by the pool.
Here is that same mother and she is finally in the hot tub with her husband and two daughters. She was the only Arab mother I saw at the hotel who got in the water.
We drove to Bruce's favorite restaurant, called Ric's, that is known for its western food. You can even order pork here (which we all did.)
Soccer games are frequently played in a field of dirt since grass is rare.
Here we are entering the restuarant.
They had baby bunnies on their patio for the kids to pet.
This is the Grand Mosque.
Monday, Apr. 7
Here we are eating the breakfast buffet.
These stairs lead to the swim-up bar.
We drove home on desert Monday in order to avoid the traffic at the border, so Bruce had to go into work as soon as we arrived.
Jordan had a fun evening eating dinner with her friends at the snack bar.
Sunday, Apr. 8 -- Easter Sunday! (but desert Tuesday)
I put out the Easter candy I had brought back from the states, but Bruce had to be at work by 7am, and Jordan made plans to go the mall with some girlfriends before we realized it was Easter, and she had to leave by 8:30am to catch the shopping bus. So Reese and Brooke and I celebrated Easter together -- it was kind of a sad one, but we did our best with what we had. Maybe next year, we'll celebrate it on Friday before we go to church.
Here they're searching for hidden eggs.
Our church had a sunrise service this morning, but I didn't plan well and missed it. There was also an evening service, but we agreed to go to our neighbor's house for Easter dinner before I realized that we would miss the service.
I made potatoes au gratin, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies, and we walked across the park to Shelly and Jason's house where we had a wonderful ham dinner! We also had a great time visiting with our friends and watching the ten kids search for candy-filled eggs with flashlights in the park.
Monday-Tuesday, Apr. 9-10
Bruce had to travel to Jubail and stay for two nights. He had to work evening hours as well, but he enjoyed the new Mexican restaurant in his hotel. He was working at a refinery there calculating how many people they need.
Wednesday, Apr. 11 (desert Friday)
Today is my mom's 70th birthday!! Happy Birthday, Mom!!
The girls and I decided to try to go to another compound, called Ras Tanura because it has a beach, but I let them sleep in a little too long, and we missed the 10:30am bus. During our free hour waiting for the next bus, we drove to the Customer Care Center to see if we could get a map of that compound since we really didn't know where we were going. They didn't have an extra map, but we got a photo copy of most of it. We were also planning to visit the family we met in Bahrain, but I forgot their phone number. We guessed at which bus stop to wait at, and we were right, so we hopped on the bus, hoping everything would turn out as expected. The bus ride took about an hour, going north.
Here we are riding the company bus.
Sights along the way... I think this is a house!
You can see the minaret sticking up from the other buildings. They all have loud speakers and it's required that the call to prayer can be heard from everywhere.
It's common to see a group of workers, like this one, seeking relief from the sun.
When we arrived at the compound, we got off the bus and called a taxi to take us to the north beach where we were told more westerners go, and therefore, we wouldn't feel awkward in our swim suits. Our taxi driver was wearing a thobe, which leads me to believe he was Arab, but I didn't think Arabs were taxi drivers -- hmm, I don't know. Anyway, I asked the driver if he knew where the north beach was and as usual, he said, "Yes, no problem. I show you good beach." We were a little reluctant, but since we were on the compound, we didn't have much to worry about -- it's not that big! So here's the photocopied map I had. The ocean is all along the right side of the map, and the highway on the left. The bus dropped us off at the beach dining hall (called the Surf Shack) which is on the ocean, and down by the 1000 on the ocean-side of this map.
We drove north, but inland to the swimming pool where the driver told us that this was north beach. We'd once been to a swim meet at this pool, so we knew this wasn't where we wanted to go. I reminded him that we wanted to go to north BEACH, so he agreed and drove on, but he turned west, which concerned me. After driving longer than I thought we should go, and in the wrong direction, I found a street on my map that was near the beach and told him to take me to Anchor Drive. He agreed, but kept driving in the same direction, finally turning north. Then he came to a security guard shack and drove outside the compound! I kept repeating Anchor Drive. I started to get a little worried and asked him why we were going outside the compound, but he just made sounds I couldn't translate and kept driving. I could see we were beside the highway that the bus had just traveled to get us there, but we were going in the opposite direction. We turned east and I saw the name of the street was Perimeter Road or something like that, so I guess we drove along the perimeter of the camp.
Finally, we drove through another guard shack security point and I guessed we drove back into the compound. The security guard waved to the driver like they were familiar. Then, he turned and drove us south a little way and pulled into a parking lot at the beach! I looked around and realized that this was the Ras Tanura Yacht Club beach. Normally, you need a membership to enter the Yacht Club, but I had heard from someone that it wasn't necessary here, so we got our beach things out of the trunk, paid the driver his $2.50 plus tip, and started walking to the sand.
Then, the security guard who had just let us drive in, drove up in his truck and asked to see our Yacht Club membership! Amazing! He couldn't have asked for it at the guard shack? Well, we're not members, so we had to leave. Fortunately, the taxi had not yet driven away, and we piled everything back into the trunk. I told him to take us to Anchor Drive, so he drove back out of the Yacht Club, along the perimeter road, and back into the compound and back to where the bus had originally dropped us off at the Surf Shack. We were all dumbfounded... right back to where we started... after all that! I wasn't about to get out of the car here; so I looked for street names and finally directed him where to turn until we found Anchor Drive. We could see the beach from the street and happily got out of the taxi after a 30-minute drive! Here's the cul-de-sac where he dropped us off.
The beach looked great! We found a nice place on the sand and made ourselves at home.
It's not a very big beach, but it was just what we needed. There wasn't a soul around, except for a few people that walked/rode/skated by on the sidewalk next to these rocks.
At this compound, people can live right on the beach! You can see the houses in the distance. Unlike our compound, they can also drive their golf carts everywhere! We all thought it would be nice to live here. We could probably move to this compound if we wanted, but there aren't as many people or activities, Jordan would have to take the bus each way to school, and Bruce would have to commute an hour each way to work--so, I guess not.
While we were on the bus, I took a few pictures of the traffic, and how the cars just go anywhere they want... it was funny! I feel sorry for the bus drivers and taxi drivers who have to deal with this every day in order to earn a living! They have to drive defensively and very slow, and then inevitably get honked at for being cautious.
In this first picture, you an see a car in the bottom right-hand corner who is passing us on the right shoulder -- that is very common. I wouldn't be surprised if he made a left turn in front of us after that!
Look at the white car ahead of us to the left... it's driving on the shoulder of the road -- and they drive fast!
Reese took this picture -- it's a little blurry, but you get the jest. This is how most guys here dress.
One guy took off his head wear and laid it on the seat next to him -- so Reese snapped a picture.
You can see the minaret to the right, rising in the the dusty sunset.
I think this is a Pizza Hut with a Dominoes Pizza next to it.
This minaret is lighted up with green lights!
It seemed simple enough to ride the bus to the beach, but it's a lot more stressful than I thought! Never mind, we enjoyed our day out.
Thursday, April 12
Today we are at my friend, Cene's, pool to celebrate Cody's birthday. His "mum" had to leave the country because she says that ex-pat men that are 18 or older are not allowed to stay in the kingdom unless they have a job or go to school, and her oldest son just turned 18 and he is home schooled. So, she had to take him back home to Australia and get him settled there. She took her youngest daughter (pre-teen) with her, but left her two teenagers behind with their dad for a couple of months. Cody's big sister made brownie cake and planned this party with Cene' for him. Most of the kids at this party are home schooled.
Every weekend, Cene's compound puts this giant blow-up in the pool. The kids all had a blast playing on it, in spite of it sprinkling.
My friend, Cene'.
Pizza for lunch.
Now for the brownie cake.
Friday, Apr. 13
Today we had Cene's family over for lunch after church. They have to get signed in at the gate every Friday just to get on the compound, so rather than send them home, I made tacos, and we enjoyed their company and showed them around camp a little bit.
Here we are the "Duck Pond" -- Brooke and Reese want to show us where they like to play at the "Lagoon."
This is the jogging path around the golf course.
As we passed the park, we saw a group of Saudi girls. I've noticed that the Saudis like to spend time at the parks in the evenings.
We're almost at the lagoon.
This area used to be the old golf course (before they had grass.) Golfers would carry around a square of AstroTurf in order to tee off.
Here, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, is all this greenery...
And just around the corner...
is this entrance. See the little tunnel under the bars?
There's a path that leads to this really cool fort.
The girls use this raft and remind me of Tom Sawyer! They found their raft had floated to the other side of the lagoon, so we all walked over here to see it. There are fish in it, and they even find turtles sometimes.
Bruce loves his hat... and we love to tease him about it!
They're taking the raft back to their fort.
Don't ya love this palm-frawn as a paddle?
Reese is waiting in the fort to pull them in.
Here come Cene' and Stephen into the fort.
All of a sudden a giant storm blew in from nowhere and we had to hurry all the way back to our cars. There was rain, but it was the wind that was so fierce. We got back to our house at dark and visited a little while before Stephen had to drive his family home.
There is another compound one hour southwest of here called, Abqaiq, and here is a map showing where it is in comparison to us.
Here are some pictures that were taken in Abqaiq tonight where the wind did some damage. This was the e-mail that went with the pictures:
FOR YOU & FAMILY SAFETY
The below photos are for today, Friday, April 13, 2012 Dusty and Rainy High Wind Weather at Abqaiq Camp. Many trees were uprooting from ground where some of these trees smashed small parts of some occupied houses. Thanks Allah NO one hurt as far as I know till this moments.
Please always follow the safety procedures during the high windy weather all the time.
Thank you
It reminds me of storms in Georgia! Wow, I didn't know we got such weather here.
Well, except for the storm, we had a wonderful spring break and felt like Jordan was "home" with us again for two weeks. She wishes it was summer already, but she has to go back to school tomorrow and get good grades for the Air Force Academy!
- Pattie -
No comments:
Post a Comment