Girls Night Out

Last night I went on a 9 hour journey with a couple great girlfriends.  Anytime you head to Jeddah you need to plan at least 6 hours.  It takes about 1 hour to get there and then coming home was a little slower because we actually had rain!  The lightening storm was amazing!  Since women cannot drive in Jeddah, or outside of our place, we hired a driver to drive our car.  It was packed on the way home. 

Here is a picture of the beautiful scenery on the way down.  I wish I would have had a shot of the camels. 

I love our store that is comparable to a Home Depot.  It is called Saco and they have expanded.  The store now has a large camping section.  I had to buy a sleeping bag for Cameron and Bryan since next week they have a boy scout camp out at the beach.  I could not figure out why all the bags were made for really cold weather.  The boys will be sweaty!  

The most difficult part of going to Jeddah in the evening is prayer times.  We had to deal with a 5:40 prayer and a 7:10 prayer.  This time of the year the evening prayers are close together.  It centers around the setting of the sun.  All stores close so it is best to be in a car during these times.  It takes a lot of planning.  Jeddah gets busy once the final prayer is over.  The culture of the Middle East is to stay up really late.  I believe this is because of the heat during the day.  It can be really hard on the children when they attend school at 7:45 and didn't go to bed until 3 a.m.  I am told weddings start around midnight and food is served at 4 a.m.  I hope I get a chance to attend one of these events. 

This picture makes me laugh each time.  Someone is hired to blackout all women that are showing skin.  This is even done to an elf on the Keebler Graham Cracker's box.  I need to check out this elf when I get back to the US. 

The highlight of the night was our dinner.  It felt like we traveled to a different country.  The food was amazing!  It was a Thai, Japanese, Indonesian Infusion.  The staff was wonderful and we felt like Princesses.  It was called "The Bellevue".  I wanted to find out why it was named Bellevue.  It made me think of home. 

Mango Fish Salad

Andrea (Taiwan), Leona (Scotland), Amber (U.S.), and Gin (Canada).  We were a group of International Princesses! 

Chicken Cashew!  Yum! 

Our main destination was the fabric souk.  Most of the ladies in the group are crafty and like to sew.  Not me but I had fun wandering around.  It is amazing the looks we get while walking in a Souk.  Western women without a male escort!  Western women without their hair covered!  Many times I will cover my hair when at a souk, but last night it did not feel necessary.  It was a relaxing, family atmosphere.  I think the lightening in the background kept the attention off of us ladies. I really wanted to get some pictures of the souk but didn't think it was appropriate.  It would be better if Bryan took the pictures, so next time I will drag him along. 

Walking into the Souk.  It is like a carnival.  Rides for the kids and vendors selling food.  

 Speaking of Princesses.  I cannot leave my blog without showing you the little Princess of our house.  Yala is growing and turning into such a fun addition to our family here.  She has a little bit of Arabian Street Cat, so we have some rough spots, but for most of the time she is a sweet kitty.  She has attached herself to Carter.  She sleeps with him every night and attacks him during the day. Yes, I am a crazy cat lady! 

She is getting a little too big for this toy.

Reality T.V. Show

I keep making a plan to blog each weekend and then life just seems to get crazy.  It helps when I receive messages from my friends at home that they would like an update on what is happening.  I need encouragement!

I am sure many of you are watching the news and it probably isn't real positive about things in this part of the world.  I am choosing to not watch most of the news and just live in my own fantasy.  I think it is healthier that way and personally I wouldn't travel back to the U.S. if I watched what is reported about that area of the world.  Our Embassy keeps us updated and that is how I keep track of the situation in the Middle East.  Do not worry about us.  We are safe and life is great here.

Now, for the Reality T.V. Show.  I sometimes wonder if we are in a reality t.v. show.  We live a life in a 14 square mile city that has just about everything we need.  We rarely have to leave our place but we do because we get the urge to explore.  The majority of people that live here are very positive and friendly, in fact , that is something that is taken very seriously when one is hired.  It would be miserable here if everyone was cranky and negative!

Last week we had a situation that tested all of our personalities.  The desalination plant had a leak in a pipe under the Red Sea.  Since we live in the middle of the desert all of our water must come from the Red Sea.   Being able to work on the major pipe under water is quite a challenge.  We went without water for about 5 days.  We couldn't flush toilets, bath, or wash dishes.  It is amazing how much water our family uses in one day.  The spirit of this community was amazing!  Water was brought in from all over the country and volunteers delivered it to our doorstep each day/night.  We would wake up in the morning to huge boxes on our doorstep.  So many people pulled together to make this happen.  Around day 3 huge water trucks came in and pumped water to each home.  We were then given a few hours each day to flush toilets and wash.  School was cancelled for 3 days, which made the boys quite happy!

It is so nice to know that we live in a place that cares so much for us.  So, at times I do feel like my life is a Reality T.V. show.  Maybe that episode was titled "Water Crisis In The Desert."  I am sure it would have been a good viewing but pretty boring since everyone was so happy and helpful.

The only real, somewhat, cranky person was Bryan.  However, Bryan's crankiness is quite different from the norm. He threw his back out teeing off on hole 2.  He didn't drop out until hole 8!  Therefore, he was quite useless during the water crisis.  He could barely walk around the house so spent much of his time inside!  I guess he would have been the one eliminated.

Our Home

I was inspired by a friend,who is working in Sri Lanka,to blog pictures of our home.  Since this blog is record of our time here I thought I should add these photos so I can someday show the boys where we once lived.  I have posted pictures once before but those were before we fully moved into our home.  Here is our home.

Bryan's bike room.  This would be the room for a nanny but he has converted into a shop.

We are adding pins to all the places we have been.  It is funny to how much time each of use looks at this map.

The lizard live on this little tiny balcony.  Our idea is to turn the entire place into a lizard home.

The view from the lizard balcony.

Cameron and Carter's room.

I think the little thing by the toilet is for feet.  It is not for the end you are thinking about.  Notice the sprayer on the wall.  That would be used to clean the other end.

Our guest room!  Doesn't it look inviting?  Too bad we don't get many guests!  I guarantee all of you would love to vacation here.

Our bedroom view.

We still have the photo of Carter and Hunter.  We miss Hunter!

 Now I have realized I have forgotten to take a few pictures.  I guess I will have to post a part 2 of our home.  I know this was not the most interesting blog, but important for our family.

Stuck In The Sand

Meet our new car that we have had for about 2 weeks.  Today was its 2nd adventure into the desert and it wasn't very happy.  Everything was going along just great until we hit a soft patch.  It took a lot of man power to get this car out of the hole it kept spinning.  Finally the Coast Guard showed up and towed the car back into safe territory.  The boys were covered in sand and sweat!  Our car has a black scoop in the front, which we would like removed, and it scooped the sand as we drove.  We miss big red!  This is our first time being stuck!  What a day. 

Our Poor New Car!

However, we didn't let this episode spoil our trip.  We ventured about 90 minutes north to a beach along the Red Sea.  Many people go camping to this beach, so we wanted to check it out.  We rounded up a troop of adventurers  and set out on our excursion.  Most of our trip was on a highway, then we had to cut through a town that has huge oil refineries. The road system was a little different.  At one point we were on a 4 way street that lead to a narrow alleyway, and then it ended up on a 6 lane highway.  We then veered off onto the sand and tried to find a place on the beach.

This is a holiday week so we found many Saudi tents along the beach.  We had to find a private place because we did not want to wear our abayas.  This was a little tricky, which led to us being stuck in the sand.  

While the boys were digging our car out of the sand the moms and kids hit the beach.  Carter had fun collecting hermit crabs, star fish, and snails.  Cameron spent the entire time snorkeling and found dozens of different fish.  They both had a great time and Bryan finally got to come and play too!  

My handsome husband!

Cameron spent a lot of time under the water.  Can you see all the little fishies?

Friends on the beach!  Notice the garbage.  That is the sad reality of many places in the world. 

We loved this sign!  We did see quite a few camels too!

Saudi National Day

Once again I am finding myself behind in my blog.  However, today was a holiday so we decided to take go on an adventure with a great group of people and then finishing our evening my celebrating Saudi National Day at our waterfront. 

Falcons play an important role in Saudi tradition.

They are used for hunting and sport.

Cameron pushed his way to the front of the line.  We have found we need to be pushy or else we lose our place in line.

Carter was told he had a very strong arm.

Carter was very excited to hold the sword.

Hopefully this isn't a glimpse into our future.

Some traditional Saudi items.

The sun is setting by 6:30 these days.  You can see our beacon off n the distance.

We made our way to the fish and chip restaurant.

We also woke up early today and ventured out into the desert on the hunt for a Wadi.  Pictures are soon to follow (Hopefully tomorrow). 

 



Back To Reality, or is this actually Reality?

We have now been home for almost 4 weeks and I have yet to blog.  I promise to get better at blogging because so many of you told me how you love reading my blog. I am glad I could entertain you.  I was given a few suggestions on things I could write about, but if you have a particular subject let me know and I will find a story.

We had an amazing summer and went a little crazy in all we did.  I guess that is what Expats do on their first summer away.  Hopefully next year we can still have some fun but come back home with some cash in our pockets.  Did I say next summer?  Coming back home?  I guess many of you have now realized that the Johnsons are on the incredible journey for an indefinite amount of time.  We will keep you posted. :)

We came home to hot weather.  Many of you never have and never will experience the temperatures that we get here.  One day it said 106 but feels like 117!  Those are some sweaty days.  I know it sounds terrible, but it is just the time of year when you stay inside more, just like winter for you. My glasses fog up at least twice between my front door and my short walk to the garage.  Today we went to the pool, which has chillers installed and you can actually get goose bumps if you are in too long.  The hot weather is also helping me with my personal goal of relaxing more.  I can't stop moving when I am inside, so I am now doing puzzles.  I can't believe I have a goal of doing puzzles.  Crazy Reality!

Last night Bryan and I attended an Embassy dinner.  We had fun with about 15 friends and then about 150 other Embassy guests.  We were on American soil for about 5 hours!  Woo-hoo!

Our project this weekend was creating a map with pins pushed in for the places we have been.  It was a fun activity and it made me feel a little crafty at the same time.  We have realized that we actually haven't been to very many places!  I think this map project is going to cause us to spend a lot of money on plane tickets just so we can get a pin on that side of the world.

The boys have settled in great!  They love their new teacher and classmates.  I am so proud of them!  Bryan is now in grade 5 as a student teacher and I am once again in grade 3.  We are all four quite happy!

We did add a family member (or two) to our home.  It was so difficult not having pets last year.  We tried to bring our cat from home, but he was just too big and the traveling would have been difficult for him in cargo.  So, yesterday we got ourselves a kitty.  Her name is Yala, named after Yala National Park in Sri Lanka.  It should be a destination for all of you that like adventure.  Yala is just a baby and is so cute.  I even catch Bryan holding and playing with her.  We also added a lizard to our family.  As you know we really like our reptiles and it has been very sad for us to leave Yoda behind in the states.  We have adopted a green iguana named Alice.  Her family has leftt and she needed a home.  The best thing about Alice is that she lives outside.  Bryan is working on turning a balcony area into a lizard habitat.  The difficult part about Alice is that she is aggressive.  At the moment I am the the only person that can handle her.  We are hoping that we can tame her, but we just might have to find her a new home if she doesn't get a better attitude.

That is what has been happening these past 4 weeks.  I promise to do a better blog in the near future. I am also too tired at the moment to go get my camera to download photos.  Here are two for you.

Riding the Tornado

We were told to expect a whirlwind our first vacation back home, but it feels more like a tornado.  Trying to balance friends, family, and our own kids has been such a focus that we forget that we are actually on vacation.  We are loving seeing everyone and spending quality time with our friends and family, but how do we get out of this tornado that is sweeping us away?  How can we balance things and still stay sane?  Maybe this is just the way it is and we need to get used to our summer holidays being crazy.

Many people ask us what we miss about our home.  We usually pause before we answer, which leaves many with a sad expression.  It is just a very difficult question and it is something we tried not to think about to much our first year away.  It just could have been to painful for us to think about everything we miss.  Of course we miss our friends and family, and then a few small things like going shopping and trying on clothes.  I also miss a good grocery store and costco!  Also, missing the freedom of just driving anywhere and everywhere.

We do not miss the crazy, busy lifestyle that just makes your life zoom right on by in a blink.  We also do not miss gas prices, car payments, driving the kids everywhere, and teaching in a classroom with 30 students and a lack of technology.

The below link explains a little on how we are feeling.  However, I wish we knew a 2nd language!  Maybe next summer we will be able to relate to that point of the article.      

Have We Changed?