Brooke's Girl Scout troop sold calendars outside the commissary, and their picture was put on the front of the company's Community Events magazine.
The first week of this month was Spirit Week at Jordan's high school, so she and her friends got to go to school in their PJs on Pajama Day, dress up as twins with a friend on Twin Day, and dress fancy on Formal Day.
This month we hosted Bruce's football game at our house and served the guys dinner while they played their dice game. When they're the hosts, Bruce and his team don't play that evening, but keep score for the other guys and serve them dinner.
I made tortillas for soft tacos, and fried the corn tortillas I brought in my suitcase from the states to make crunchy tacos; and made a bean dip. It's difficult to get tortilla chips here, but Doritos are an everyday thing. So we usually improvise on Mexican night and dip our Doritos in the salsa.
After I got all of the food set out for the guys, the girls and I took a taxi into Khobar so the guys could have the house to themselves. Reese didn't feel like going and decided to stay in her room and read. Jordan, Brooke, and I went to Al Mango first to get that delicious cup of fruit; but since we don't know the town very well, we decided after that to just walk around and try to familiarize ourselves with the shops that were available.
Khobar seems to be divided into sections of stores. We found streets with several of the same stores lined up next to each other such as electronics, plumbing fixtures, kitchen supplies, ball gowns, sports clothing, regular clothing, shoes, and abayas all sold from tiny, dirty little stores with broken sidewalks outside. Sometimes we would walk into a store and it didn't look small and dirty inside, but that wasn't the norm. We don't have to worry about our safety in Saudi Arabia as you would in a bad neighborhood in the U.S. There just isn't crime here like you might hear about in the states.
We walked and walked down dark streets looking for something interesting, but didn't really find it. We popped out on the corniche (it's what everyone calls the road along the Persian Gulf which is a large and busy street, and has tons of traffic.) We walked and walked along the corniche in the wrong direction until we realized that there was nothing out there, so we flagged down a taxi to take us back to the main area.
We were a little hesitant to take a non-Aramco taxi buy ourselves, and flag it down on this busy highway-looking street, but the taxi didn't have a problem stopping in the middle of the right-hand lane for us to get in! I remembered that Bruce paid the other taxi driver ten riyals in Khobar, and everyone had told me to secure the price before we got in, so I asked how much, and he told us fifteen. I knew I was supposed to bargain, so I replied with, "Ten!" But he insisted on fifteen, and I didn't want to stand on the corniche any longer, so I agreed and got in (never mind bargaining!) We didn't really know where we wanted to go, but when I saw a Jarir's Bookstore, I knew I needed a printer cartridge, so I quickly asked him to go there. He passed it, but turned down some dark streets and found his way there. Jarir's was a bit of a breath of fresh air after being lost on the dark streets of Khobar. That is a nice thing here... no matter where you get lost, you're just a taxi away from home.
When we walked outside, we saw a TGI Friday's restaurant across the Corniche and wondered how we would ever cross 8 lanes of traffic to get there! We tried and tried to find the break in traffic while taxis stopped for us (but I didn't want to pay another 15 riyals to be taken to the other side of the street!) so we waited... until finally we took our chance and ran across the street in our black abayas. I think it's ridiculous that women have to wear black at night. It's very difficult to see the women in black crossing in front of your car at night! At least some of them have a husband who glows in the dark in his white thobe.
TGI Friday's looked somewhat normal and seemed to serve normal food. But as we were seated, we could hear a family at the table next to us, and this is all we could see of them (mind you the sides of our booth were higher than our heads so we couldn't accidentally look over.) We could hear the family next door, but the only thing we could see, was a child popping his head over to look at us :) We resisted the temptation to stand up and catch a glimpse of them. Since a woman needs to take off her niqab to eat comfortably, she needs privacy; so restaurants here provide screens for ladies to eat in the family section (on camp you'll sometimes see a lady lift her niqab and put a fork-full of food underneath it since our camp is American and screens aren't provided there.) On the opposite side of the TGIF restaurant there was another section for men only and no screens necessary over there!
Reese has been riding her bike to swim practice three evenings each week, and then walks next door to the school where she attends AWANA once a week, as well as playing on a flag football team. Brooke is taking dance and voice each week, attends Girl Scout meetings, helps the community theatre build sets for various plays with Bruce two nights each week, as well as refereeing flag football games. Jordan's soccer practice is over, but she is still staying after school every other day for Habitat for Humanity meetings or Student Council meetings or math tutoring; and in addition to swim practice twice a week, she plays ultimate frisbee on Mondays at the ball field.
We got a phone call that Jordan's abaya was finished, so twice in one week, we took a taxi into Khobar. This is the view from our taxi of the crowded streets with few traffic rules.
Of course, we had to get a cup of fruit at Al Mango first!
Jordan loves her new abaya.
The next day Jordan got to miss school and fly all the way to the other side of Saudi Arabia, to Jeddah with her soccer team for a soccer tournament.
The teams competed for two days. Local families volunteered to host the girls on the away teams, so Jordan went to the home of a local Lebanese soccer player on a compound. She was paired off with the other American girl on the team, Haley, who is a new student from Texas. She and Haley were given Lasagna for dinner and then invited after dinner to sit outside with the local girl and her friends around a fire. The kids all spoke Arabic the entire time and smoked shisha from a water pipe. At one point Jordan's Arabic class came in handy and she heard the kids ask the girl if she and Haley spoke Arabic. The girl told them they didn't, but the kids didn't switch to English; so Jordan and Haley just sat with their hands folded in their laps, trying to be good guests. Jordan feels that it was a really good experience and thinks she learned a lot about other cultures.
Jordan's team came in second place.
This is Jeddah at night.
On a desert Friday when the Middle School had a teacher-planning day, Brooke got invited to a "Cookie Partay" hosted by a girl from her Girl Scout troop. Thirteen kids were invited to a cookie-baking competition and put onto one of 6 teams with one kid left to judge the masterpieces. The teams were paired to form potential disaster. They were to have their recipe memorized and allowed to bring one secret ingredient. Brooke chose to bring my cookie pan in order to make a cookie cake. She had a terrific time bonding with a new group of kids as they enjoyed eating their masterpieces; and Brooke's team came in second place.
Brooke spent the next night camping out in the desert (on camp) with her Girl Scout troop. They practiced archery and had a bonfire--she had a blast. These were the guys who taught them archery.
Here they're making Girl Scout stew.
Here they're eating the cherry cobbler that they made.
Brooke drew a twister game on the asphalt that ran through their campground with little chalk rocks that she found, so the girls could play twister!
Making their bonfire.
Learning self-defense.
We're so blessed to be a part of this Girl Scout troop. These ninth grade girls are all friendly and welcoming to Brooke. It took us a while to find them, but they've been the key to helping Brooke enjoy her life in Saudi Arabia.
While Brooke was under the stars, Jordan received word that Congressman Lynn Westmoreland nominated her to attend the Air Force Academy -- that's her second nomination!!
Reese has been asking for some shelves in her room, so when I picked up a second-hand shelf from the Girl Scout troop's co-leader, Reese spent the weekend painting it. But first she had to clean it since it had spent months outside, and then she had to strip off the contact paper.
She used the blue wall paint that we had used to paint her room and the pink paint from the school room.
She did a great job and now it's in her room, holding her American Girl doll things. She loves it!
Bruce was given a package of bacon from a friend--what a treat! But since Jordan was in Jeddah on Wednesday night (Desert Friday), and Brooke was at her campout on Thursday night (Desert Saturday), we had to wait until our Desert Monday morning before everyone was home to enjoy it. It was a big deal, so I set my alarm to get up early and cook it before Bruce left at 6:30, and Jordan left at 6:45. Reese woke up early as well, but Brooke waited until later to enjoy her share.
Look at that face... Shadow is sitting in the doorway of the kitchen wishing so hard for some of that bacon!
I think Bruce is too!
Ahhh... the happy faces.
Jordan's soccer team is wearing their medals to school today!
What a treat that was!
Swim Practice ended for the winter and will probably resume when the weather warms up. It's funny, but back in Georgia swim practice doesn't ever stop because of the cold. I remember Brooke's very first swim practice when she was six year old, and she swam in 42-degree sleeting weather to prove to us that she could do it.
I had to take a picture of this lady's beautiful clothes. My African neighbor has her friends over quite often and I get to see the fashion show from our school room window.
Bruce's department was invited to take a company field trip to the Manifa field. It is a unique series of man-made connected islands just offshore in the Gulf. The water there is too shallow for work boats, so islands and a causeway were built to allow drilling. They visited and toured the islands and the onshore GOSP (Gas/Oil Separation Plant). Not many get to visit there.
This is actually a tent in the desert (with air conditioning!) They were served lunch here in the Manifa tent.
In Physical Science, Brooke is learning about Physics, and needed a corked bottle to do the required experiment. Those are not easy to come by here, and we almost had to let her skip the experiment. But someone had given Bruce an empty wine bottle with a cork, and Brooke was able to do her experiment. She is carefully setting the bottle on pencils and will fill the bottle with vinegar and baking soda.
It blew its cork!
Bruce and I were invited to a Christmas party at one of his football buddies, Dan's house. Bruce dressed up for the occasion (and put on his RED t-shirt!)
This is Dan's last year here before he retires. He bought a house in Knoxville, TN and is looking forward to living there soon. He has one of the big houses on camp with a large yard and a pool that will be bid on after he leaves.
We left the party early so Bruce could take the girls and me to the airport for a 2am flight. I had a difficult time finding a route to Atlanta with 4 seats, but then I found the perfect route: Dammam - Frankfurt - Manchester (spend the night in England) - Atlanta... and it worked out perfectly... well, almost perfectly, except that we almost got bumped and Jordan had to sit by herself in coach from Manchester to Atlanta.
I sure appreciate you stopping by to check on us!
- Pattie -
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