Christmas in Germany

This year we celebrated Christmas in Germany with our friends the Chaplins.  They teach at the Frankfurt International School, which looks amazing.  Our friends live outside of Frankfurt in a little Hamlet called Obereiffering (I think).  It was out in the hills and surrounded by trails, ski hills, and beautiful countryside.  We enjoyed driving through the country on our hunt for castles.  Castles were our main focus since it also appealed to our boys.  They wanted to find the dungeons of each castle and talk about the battles that were fought from the impressive walls. 

Our adventure was great, but we did miss our dear friend Charlie, who spent his entire holiday in the hospital.  He is in our thoughts and we know that tomorrow's surgery will put him back in action.  We spent many afternoons at the hospital playing cards, cracking jokes, and trying to bring a festive atmosphere to him while he stayed in the hospital.  I guess we will have to go back once he is well, so he can explore with us too.

It was amazing to be driving in the country and then seeing a castle perched high on the hill.  They are an impressive sight and to think that they were built so long ago.  Germany has so many historical layers.  We would try and picture the days of Kings, Queens, and Knights and then we would try to picture the destruction that WWI and WWII did upon this lovely country.  Lots to learn!

Bryan loved driving on the autobahn.  This is the freeway that does not have a maximum speed.  The minimum speed is listed, but other than that you can cruise as fast as you would like.  Bryan liked to cruise around 180-200 kmh and we were passed like we were standing.  We were passed by Ferraris, Mercedes, BMW's, Porches, and Bentley's to name a few. The autobahn does move quite smoothly.  We never saw traffic and were impressed by the use of clover leafs to move you from one freeway to the next.  However, on the back roads the speed limit is an issue.  Bryan managed to get two tickets.  The speed will change from 80kmh to 30kmh in the matter of a short distance.  Speed boxes are in place and will take your picture.  It snapped twice on us!  We have know idea where the ticket will go, but I am sure those Germans will somehow track us down. 

 Carter tried to keep up with this hip 8 year old.  She gave him a run for his money.

 

 This was taken in Rothenburg, Germany.  We had to climb to the top of a very steep tower to take this photo. I think the people back in the days were very small.  The steps were tiny and Bryan had to duck through each doorway.

 

 Emma, Keira and the boys.  We tried to hike often.

 The above castle ruins were only a few minutes away from the house. 

 

 We spent Christmas eve on a train headed to Frankfurt.  We then boarded the correct train, but going the wrong direction for our way home.  It was great fun being lost on Christmas Eve!  However, it all turned out well.

 Bryan enjoyed his liter of Christmas Beer and a plate of Pork Knuckle.  It was the first time we have spent Christmas Eve in a restaurant.  It was great not having to do the dishes!

 The above pictures are of Frankfurt on Christmas Eve.  Most of Frankfurt was destroyed in WWII, so it has been rebuilt to be more of a modern city.  Some parts were saved or rebuilt, but for the most part Frankfurt wouldn't be on my list of must see places in Germany.

 

 Braunfels castle was my favorite.  It was built in 1285 and parts of it are still lived in my the family.  This might have been my favorite because of the lack of people.  We took a tour in German.  We didn't learn too much, but it was fun to see the inside and listen to the language.  The boys were very eager to be close to the tour guide and listen to the stories.  I wonder if they noticed it was in a different language? We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside.

 Torture devices were in the main squares of most little towns.

The below pictures are of Strausbourg, France.  We decided to drive about 3 hours and check out what France had to offer.  It was extremely crowded.  I could have relaxed more if I didn't have to worry about the kids getting lost.  



 I think Santa left an elf behind!

 

The below picture are of Heidelburg, Germany.  I wish we could have spent more time here.  Almost everything was closed.  Germany closes down the day before and after a holiday.  Everything is closed!  Even grocery stores!  You really have to be a planner. 

 

 
The Christmas markets are what Germany is popular for during the holiday season.  I wish we would have taken more pictures.  You could just wander the streets and visit vendors, drink warm wine, and listen to Christmas carols.  It was quite surreal. 

 These are tasty desserts are everywhere!

 

I wish we would have taken more pictures of the countryside and markets.  I guess we will have to go back.  I am also sorry if the editing to this page is funny.  The blog sight has been a little crazy this evening.  We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and many good memories were made.  We would definitely recommend traveling on the holiday season! 



Winter In The Desert

Well, winter has finally come to this area of the world.  However, winter here is like a nice spring day at home.  The wind has a little chill and I have to wear a sweater in the mornings and evenings.  Friday was the first day I put on a pair of jeans while living here.  I am thinking about wearing slacks to school tomorrow with socks!  Yikes.  Winter time is quite lovely, but it feels to cold to enjoy the pool and sea.  Maybe a few degrees warmer would be nice. Here are a few things we are up to this month:

 We each got our jerseys for the Red Sea Cyclists.  Now I need to get my butt on the bike!  They mountain bike out of the bubble Friday mornings at 5 a.m.  Our bikes just arrived, so we are hoping to ride the desert mountains in January.

 

 The Recreation Center set up a Christmas evening for the families that celebrate Christmas. 

 

 Notice that the reindeer are hooked to the wrong side of the sleigh!

 Happy!

 

 The educators were invited to an Arabian Nights formal dinner.  It was great fun eating under the stars in Saudi fashion. This is my friend Dania from the Dominican Republic.  We both turn 40 in April, so you will be seeing more pictures of us together as we celebrate in style.

 With Rebecca, Ngiare and Dania. 

 

This was are dining area. 

 My little ninja helped me make snowball cookies. 

 

 

The following pictures are from a bike ride we took a few days ago.  The humidity is finally low enough for me to snap some good pictures without having the lens fog up.  Here are some of the sights we can see each day. 

 

 We rode our bikes to the Yacht club, which was hosting several activities.  A few of the activities focused on having the kids contribute to art that will be displayed around the community.

 This sculpture was so much fun!  All you had to do was choose a color and dump over the top.  Pretty creative!

 

 On this day they were having a golf challenge.  If you could hit the golf ball into a raft you would be entered in a drawing for a year's membership.  Bryan was so close!

 The Mosque is very beautiful. 

 

 

As you can see. life in winter is super stressful here. :)  We do live in a country that does not honor any other religion, but we have found ways to make it festive here in our area of the world.  We leave for Germany in 5 days to celebrate the holidays.  We are extremely excited to see the Christmas markets and feel some freezing cold weather!  I will blog once we get there.  Take care! 



Soccer Season and Christmas Shopping

Cameron is playing for Team Chelsea and Bryan is the coach.  The games are 20 minutes long, which is great because of the heat.  We have these great little soccer fields scattered throughout our neighborhood, so it only takes a few minutes to get to each game. 

He looks more and more like his daddy each day!

 

Shopping: I didn't take any pictures of the Souk because it didn't feel right to take pictures.  I will try and help you visualize what we saw, heard, smelled, and felt.  The Balad Souk is in the heart of Jeddah. It is a place where you can find many different items for great deals.  I think there were about 500 men for each women.  When we first arrived I was a little hesitant.  I was in my Abaya and had my head wrapped tightly, and stuck close to Bryan.  In a place like this women should be escorted by a man. 

 

It was a noisy,dusty place.  Some shops were inside and some had set up tables outside.  You could find tables of remote controls, gold bracelets, toys, chewing gum, and blankets.  The indoor stores had nicer items which ranged from household items to clothing.   Most of the people selling items appeared to be from different countries.  I saw some locals, but they were usually in the nicer indoor stores. The poverty is hard to see. What we consider poor in the US, would not be considered poor here.  Our homeless population can go to a shelter or receive some type of assistance. The homeless here have NOTHING.  I saw many people with deformaties.  One lady had her hands in flip flops and was dragging her body across the dirty floor. I think her image will be one I will never forget. 

 

The call to prayer happened while we were in the Souk.  Have you ever heard the Muslim call to prayer?  You should youtube it and listen so you understand what we were hearing.  It was very loud.  All shops began to close and people began running to the Mosque.  We happened to be next to the Mosque when the call happened.  Only men were able to enter, so this left the Souk quite empty.  The  men take off their shoes before entering. Once inside they will get a prayer rug, face Mecca, and pray.  Once they are done praying they have to wash their feet before putting their shoes back on.  I am sure a lot more happens during prayer, but this is what I can see so far.   The call of prayer is sung for about 25 minutes, so we took advantage of the souk being empty and did some window shopping My thoughts were: "I can't believe I am in Saudi Arabia witnessing this incredible time of the day."  Not many people can say they were in a Saudi souk during prayer.  It was quite the experience. 

 

Once prayer finished all the stores opened again.  We had about 60 minutes until the next prayer.  In the evening there is a prayer at sunset and then another about an hour later.  You have to plan accordingly.  Bryan and I found a great shop with some local treasures, and we did some Christmas shopping for our family.  The man in the store was from Saudi and he was so excited to know we were sending these back home. 

 

After this purchase we decided to split up.  I was feeling more comfortable, and our boys were starving! We saw a McDonalds and I wanted to get a Christmas tree.  Bryan took the boys and I set off on my own.  I found the little store that was selling trees in the upstairs corner.  This is the only store that I have been told that will carry some Christmas items.  I bought a tree, ornaments, and lights.  Once I was done Bryan arrived and our driver came and carried everything for me.  It is a different experience having a hired driver carry your bags.  Especially when you are walking by people that have nothing.  It makes me sad to be in position of having so much more than another.  That is something I am getting used to while living here.  There is a sense of hierarchy here, and it doesn't feel good to be on top all the time.

 

Bryan and I always love public markets in foreign countries.  It gives you a feel for the culture and the people that live here.  You have to have an open mind, and ready to have new experiences.  It is always a great opportunity for us to discuss with our boys about the opportunities we have been blessed with, and how some people don't get the privileges we have grown accustomed to having. I am hoping we are raising these boys to have open minds and acceptance of others.  

 

I know many of you feel we are so brave living in Saudi, but I don't think bravery is the correct word.  Adventurist would be the correct word.  It is great and life is good for the Johnsons! 

 

Now , back to  making our Thanksgiving dinner!  We will post about that later.

Getting a Driving License in the Desert!

Bryan's Point of View: Had the opportunity to visit the Saudi version of the DMV so I could get my driving license.  There was 11 of us in total and as we piled on a small white bus that said "school bus" all over it, we knew we were in for a fun day.  The driving license office was 40 minutes north in a town called Rabigh and many of us had not been north of our community (we always go south to Jeddah) and I know anyone who is reading this will be surprised, but there was lots more sand and desert!  Our first stop was at the hospital to get our blood and eye checks done.  I got to go first on the blood test which was a basic finger stick and then the dr. shoving my finger onto a marble plate next to lots of other blood.  I told everyone I wanted to go first because they probably just used the same needle.  That done, we headed to the eye portion of the hospital where the eye test consisted of a nurse asking if we had glasses or contacts...that's it and we were done!  We piled back on our kindergarten-looking bus and headed to the driving license office which was about 10 minutes away.  First we are dropped into a small shack across the street where we had to put our paperwork into a 3-ring folder so everyone's paperwork looks the same.  They filed us back to the main office that was quite crowded and so our government rep that was with us had us sit down and he stood in line for us.  Once he got to the front, we were all called up but the manager caught wind and came out yelling at our rep.  As those two yelled at each other in some speedy Arabic, we held strong in our place in line, although we had to push our way in.  When the first member of our group made it to the front, he was kicked out of line because the holes in his 3-ring binder were not correctly punched.  For each of us, the same thing happened and each of us had to go back to the small shack across the street and re-punch our binders.  While we were doing this, our rep was still going at it with the manager and finally had enough and took our paperwork and headed to the main office, where he got things done.  He came back 5 minutes later and we were expedited to the front of the line and funny, but all of our paperwork was perfect - helps to have a bit of government pull helping us out. Then we filed out and each of us got a turn to drive on a closed course.  5 of us would pile into a car the size of a Toyota Yaris and demonstrate our driving.  The test consisted of pulling forward 20' or so, then backing up about 20' or so, and we were done.  Pretty tough one, and I managed to pass.  We all passed with flying colors and got the hek out of there.  We all patted our rep's back and we bought him a fancy Carls Jr. lunch.  In all, it took us nearly 5 hours to complete everything but we got through it.  Hopefully we will have our driving license in the next day or so.  I often mock the DMV back home for being a horrible experience, but it does not hold a candle to this place.  And even though it was a pretty tough day, it made for some great stories and a ton of laughs along the way.

Busy! Busy! Busy!

We have had a busy 7 days this week.  Today is a day of resting, watching Survivor, laundry, cutting hair, planting some Banana Trees, and then heading to the beach for sunset.

I wish I had pictures to show you of our week, but I guess a story will have to do.  Where should I start?

Carter: Carter finally joined a football (soccer) club.  He has been wanting to join for about a year now!  We took the bus to Jeddah to buy  him soccer shoes, shin guards, ball, and a bag.  None of these were needed, but he was so excited.  This club meets once a week and parents play with the kids.  When we arrived that kid shot out onto the field and dribbled the ball back and forth firing it into the goal.  He was so fast!  I had troubles keeping up with him, and this was only warm up.  The kids playing are 3-5, and it is just a group of teachers wanting this age group to get some experience.  Carter took this time very seriously and is excited for this Sunday.  Both of us are in charge of snacks and coming up with the activities.  He wants to make everyone turkey and cheese sandwiches, which are his new favorite food. 

We also had Carter's first conference.  We are so proud of how he is doing.  He loves writing in his journal and had some precious journal entries. He is also reading and becoming quite the classroom reader.  I am so thankful for his teacher and being in a classroom with only 13 kids.  (There are 10 teachers at kindergarten to keep the numbers low.)  

 

 

Cameron: Cameron is keeping extra busy, but keep in mind that all if this is right after school and we are home by dinner.  Cameron is in the middle of his football (soccer) season.  He plays on Team Chelsea and Bryan is the coach.  They have games each Saturday morning that last 20 minutes.  The kids are a sweaty mess afterwards, so I think 20 minutes is just long enough.  We can ride our bikes to the football pitch (field) and be home within 30 minutes.  Cameron also starts baseball two days a week.  This is a school activity, so he will be doing this on the school field.  Baseball is new to the community, and not many kids have experience playing.  Bryan is also helping out and so is our neighbor Mr. Kelly.  He is also the P.E. teacher at our school.  Cameron is also in a badminton club at the recreation center that meets twice a week.  He loves it! 

 

We also had Cameron's conference.  He is doing great and has adjusted so well.  He has so many friends, despite his two best friends moving away.  I am noticing a lot of learning progress, so now we just need to build some confidence!  He is doing quite well with his laptop at school and is learning to research.  Please feel free to email him at Cameron.johnson@thekaustschool.org as he loves getting email. 

 

Bryan: The most exciting part of our week was that we finally received one of our shipments.  It was our air shipment, which was nothing from our actual home, but things we had ordered.  It turned out that almost the entire shipment was Bryan's.  We were all so excited to open it and then each box was for Bryan.  He got a bike, bike trailer, golf clubs, bike tools, and lots of underwear!  We are all hooked on Ex-Officio underwear, and he bought 16 pairs!  I am not sure why so many.  We also ordered some for our friends.  I would say we are probably known as the strange Americans that love underwear!  Oh well, it could be a lot worse.

 

Bryan took his golf clubs right away to the golf course without a golf bag.  He had a box!  I am so embarrassed for his friends that were with him.  I think the golf pro was embarrassed and let him borrow a bag until our sea shipment is delivered. He now leaves his clubs at the course.  They clean them and keep them in a locker.  Good grief that guy is spoiled!  He turns 40 and you would think he became a Prince!

 

Bryan is also participating in Movember.  It is a big deal around here and emails are constantly being sent to see how the moustache is growing.  It is to support an awareness of prostate cancer.  I will post a picture once he begins to look like a hairy wolf!  There are a lot of rules for this competition, so he has to do some grooming this weekend.

 

Me: Well, I made it through my first conference week!  I have 15 kids from 7 different nationalities.  It was quite fun meeting all the parents and learning so much about their views on education.  So many families were so appreciative of me being their child's teacher.  It was a rewarding and exhausting week.  We do not get time off to conference, so all of this has to be fit in after school.

 

I have started working out with  my neighbor who is a personal trainer.  She is kicking my butt! The first week I couldn't even sleep without feeling pain.  My body was on fire!  However, I love this feeling and realized I have been lazy for far too long!  I hope to be in good shape before I hit 40, and I think I have a triathlon in mind for next summer.  I have been swimming laps, which has always been my weakest area. 

 

I am also enrolled in a 4 week class to get my PYP certification.  This is the first workshop and I believe I will have to do 3.  I am hoping on at least one of them I can travel and do the course in a weekend.  They are offered all around the world and I get a professional development budget.  I am sure these next few weeks will be intense and busy! 

 

Well, doesn't that sound busy?  Our boys are so skinny, but did you notice they never stop moving! They are constantly exercising.  I am working on adding some good fat to their diet.

 

Hope everything is well with all of our friends and family.  We will post some pictures soon!  I think the heat is cooling down a little, which will allow me to get some outside pictures.  (Cooling down means mid 80 with 80% humidity).  Things are getting cold around here! 



Crete Highlights and More...

The last time I wrote I was too tired to post much about our trip to Crete.  The pictures took me long enough post and then I went to bed.  Here are some of our highlights.

Carter: I liked the caves.  I had pictures of animals to find.  I found a spider and a bat.

Cameron: I liked the caves.  I saw bats.  The caves were really dark but had lights in them.  I liked the goats.  One tried to get in our car.

Rebecca: I loved driving around the little roads and discovering villages in the mountains.  I also loved the beaches.  The color of the water was incredible. The Mediterranean Sea is not as salty as you would think.  In fact, I never felt like I needed to take a shower and my hair was so soft.  That would be the complete opposite of the red sea.  I also loved our Villa.  I wish we could have spent more time there, but we had so much to explore.

Bryan: I enjoyed driving, relaxing by the pool, playing on the beaches, and hanging out with friends.

We also had an earthquake!  6.3!  That would really shake things up at home, but it wasn't a concern in Crete.  I don't think too many things concern the residence that live there.  It is such a peaceful place.

Now that we are home we are back into our busy life.  It is not as busy as back in the States, but we do have a weekly schedule.  Carter and Cameron go to the Recreation Center each day after school.  Cameron is signed up for Badminton, Ball Sports, and an active kid program.  Carter is doing TKD, Active kids, and arts & crafts.  We pay about $150 for both boys for a 6 week session.  It is a great price!  I went to pick them up last week, and they wanted to stay for longer.  They would have never said that at home. 

Cameron is also doing soccer , drumming club (during school lunch once a week), and baseball is coming soon.  Most of these activities are done by 5:00 each day, so it is nice to have our evenings.  Our evenings are spent doing homework and exercising.  Bryan and I are trying to get these 40 (almost 40) bodies back into shape.  Wish us luck!  Bryan is going to try and start tball in the community.  Carter is a little sad that they do not offer these sports in his age group, so we are working on finding him some other options.  However, TKD does take up some time and effort.  He is doing quite well adjusting to his new instructor.

So life in Saudi Arabia is going quite well.  It is hard to believe we live in the middle of the desert in the Middle East and I am saying things are quite well, but that is the reality.  We are managing the heat and making new friends, which were two of the things I was worried about.  Our boys are getting an educational experience that is so positive and they have adjusted so well.  We hope to someday have some visitors.  Hopefully laws will change so we can invite friends, but maybe someone in our family will be brave enough to make the journey.  They will then realize that it doesn't take much bravery, just a sense of adventure and curiosity to see what our world holds.