Second Week in Saudi

The second week in Saudi presented the learning curve. I'm finding out that I have much learning to do.
First lesson: The Saudi sun is no joke. Last Friday I decided to enjoy the pool. It was about 11:00 AM and the water looked so inviting. I donned my Islamic bathing suit and put sunscreen (100 SPF) on my face. I then jumped in. I spend about half an hour in the water and then I spent about another half hour floating on the raft. It was heavenly! Oh but then I came inside. The day started out with my hands and feet being just a little pink. As the day went on and turned to night, the hands and feet darn-near became the color of blood. Who thinks to put sunscreen on their hands and feet?? Well, in Saudi this is a must. It is now 8 days later and my feet are still sunburnt. I wanted to go to the pool again this weekend (my roommate is enjoying the pool as I type) but I don't want to take the chance of burning further (when this burn isn't even gone yet). So, inside I am writing to all of you kind folks.
Second lesson: Weekends in Saudi are boring. Per my contract, the school provides a driver for me on school days. The driver will take me to and from school and for basic errands (like the grocery) after school. If I want to go anywhere on the weekends (really, is there anywhere to go, though?) I have to pay a driver myself and it's not cheap! I live in a secluded compound so I can't just grab a taxi. I have to hire a driver. We have been using the Uber app. to do this. Just to go to the mall it's between $9-$11 USD each way. So I think, do I want to just window shop in the mall bad enough to pay $20 round-trip? The answer for me is pretty-much "no". I am cheap. And part of the reason I'm working in Saudi is to make money to pay back my mountain of student loans I acquired during my Master's program. As a result of this driver situation, and not knowing where to go anyway, last weekend I got a little upset and homesick. My Vonage phone was not connecting last weekend and I was still figuring out alternate forms of communication. This weekend has been better. I've been doing some reading. I talked to Bahaa a few times on FB Messenger (free calls around the world, in case you didn't know! And the connection is great!). Talked to my parents on Vonage (because they have no other forms of modern technology!) :-) Have generally been chatting with people who have WhatsApp. It's been a better weekend. Praise God.

The school has asked me to lead Girl Scouts. Who knew they had Girl Scouts in Saudi Arabia???? I'm not sure if I'm going to do it, or not. I just don't know what the work load is going to be like as a first year teacher. School officially starts tomorrow (that's when the students are coming). I'm a bit anxious. People keep asking me if I'm ready and the answer is honestly "I'm not sure." I think I'm prepared but since I've never done this before I don't really know if I'm prepared, or not. I guess I'll find out when they get there. I woke up at 6:30 this morning, on the weekend, panicked about lesson plans. I'm finding that the most difficult part of my first year, so far is lesson planning. Maybe it will become easier when I get to know my students a little bit and start to understand their needs and abilities. Anyway, here's to hoping the first week of school goes well and I keep everyone alive and well! That's the goal for this week: Get them to the classroom, keep them alive and fed during the day (our lunch is at 1:15!!!) and return them safely to their parent or guardian at the end of the day. If this happens I'm going to chalk it up as a WIN for week one!

Let's Talk About Food

I like to eat. Everyone who knows me (and looks at me) knows I like to eat. However, so far, the taste of food is not working out too well. Nothing tastes the same. I couldn't find American cheese so I bought cheddar. Doesn't taste like cheddar. I bought "American" roast beef. I'm not certain what it is but it doesn't taste like roast beef. I even bought chicken flavored Ramen noodle type noodles. Doesn't taste like chicken flavored Ramen noodles. I made a baked potato and somehow even that didn't taste the same! Maybe it's because the butter tastes different. The Ritz crackers do taste the same. That's it so far. Oh, and the turkey lunchmeat....It's good. I went to a Turkish carry-out restaurant. Got a shish tawook (chicken kabob) sandwich and baba ghanoush. The sandwich had french fries in it and the baba ghanoush....well, I'm not sure what it was but it was unlike any baba ghanoush I've ever tasted. It had red stuff going through it (peppers? tomatoes?). It was oily and chunky. I guess it had an alright taste...but it didn't taste like baba ghanoush. Even the barbeque flavored Pringle-type chips I bought don't taste like barbeque chips. We're clearly gonna have to work on this food thing. I am planning on making the Egyptian-style fried chicken breast tonight, along with macaroni with my homemade sauce, and a salad. How wrong can this possibly go? I have to have a good meal pretty soon. My joy of eating is going away. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe, along with the gallon of water I drink a day because of the dry heat here, not enjoying eating will cause me to lose some of this weight. But what fun is that?? :-)

Making It Through the Jet Lag

MY FIRST DAYS
I arrived in Saudi at about 4:00 PM local time on Saturday afternoon (9:00 AM Ohio time). The driver, along with the school vice-principal, took me to my villa. Once there they gave me some contact numbers, a 25 Riyal ($6.67) SIM card for my phone, and a black abaya (Islamic overcoat style garment that a woman wears on top of her everyday clothes.In Riyadh, a woman must put on this black abaya every time she leaves her home. So, when I put on my clothes for school in the morning I must put the black abaya on over my clothes in order to go out and be picked up by the driver. Since our school has women-only employees I can take the abaya off when I get to school and just wear my regular dress. Then, when school is out, I put the black abaya back on in order to be picked up by the driver to go home. If I want to go to the grocery, or mall, or restaurant, or whatever, I must put on this black abaya.
After the vice-principal left on Saturday I unpacked my clothes and had a bread and cheese sandwich. They had stocked our refrigerator with milk, eggs, cream cheese, and bread before we came. I met my roomate at about 9:00 PM. She had arrived the day before me and had been out at the grocery store. I tried to go to bed at midnight but ended up not falling asleep until 4:30 AM (9:30 PM Ohio time). I slept until 10:00 and played on my computer for awhile. At 11:30 I called the driver to see if he could take me to get the SIM card cut-down for my iPhone and to go to the grocery. It turns out that everyplace is closed from noon-4:00. Now, I don't know if that's everyday of the week. I assume it is because Sunday is a weekday in Saudi (Sunday-Thursday; Friday and Saturday being the weekend). I ended-up going out, with my black abaya, at 5:00. After going to three different places we found the place to cut down my SIM card. 10 Riyals ($2.67). Then I went to the grocery. That was an interesting experience in a foreign country. I think I utilized every word of Arabic that I know (which isn't saying much). I stopped more random people to ask them garbled questions in my Arabic/English mess. Who knew the butter was sold in the deli section and you had to have them cut off the amount that you wanted? How in the world was I to know the Arabic word for bread crumbs? (I used sign language for that one, using my chicken breasts as a prop). I finally found (most) of what I wanted at the grocery and wandered up to the check-out to see what adventures awaited me there. Just as I go to get in line the grocery closes.....It's prayer time. The grocery is closed (with all of the customers still inside) for thirty minutes. So, I wait. Thirty minutes later I check-out. 402 Saudi Riyals ($107.19) More than I intended to spend but will surely last me a couple of weeks or more, along with getting some staple items like tea, sugar, spices. I made it home by around 8:30 and immediately got ready for bed because I was being picked up for school the next day at 7:00 AM to start my first day. I fall asleep at 10:30 and then the phone rings at 11:30. I shall leave the caller who forgot about the time change anonymous (I wouldn't call-out my step-daughter like that!) but after the phone call was over I couldn't go back to sleep. I finally fell asleep at 3:30AM then had to get up at 4:00 AM to pray. Went back to sleep and slept til 6:00AM (when my roommate yelled "Sarah, are you up? I don't want you to oversleep!") Well....I'm up now!
THE SCHOOL
We get to school at 7:20 AM and are greeted warmly by everyone. We have orientation until 12:00, at which time they serve us the most unappetizing sandwiches known to man that they had catered in for lunch. Everyone seemed to be happily ingesting these fiber bread sandwiches so I choked mine down and thanked God for the nourishment (and prayed that He wouldn't send such nourishment again!!!). At 12:30 we went to our classroom to start setting up. What can I say? I went into a white box with a big pile of furniture in the middle. Who knew I'd be moving furniture, in my work clothes, on the first day of school? Off to work I went. Got my furniture arranged then went down to haggle for which rugs I could take for carpet-time and reading corner. Then I got to tote said rugs up two flights of stairs and down the breezeway to my room. Work day number one was an overall success and we went home at 4:00. We were sweaty and dirty and running for the showers. NO WATER. We stay calm and get out the contact numbers that we were given on day one and we call the maintenance man. The phone just gives us a a beeping sound. So we call the compound supervisor- wrong number. So we stand and stare at each other. I decide to call the school contact and at least tell them what's wrong (after all, they are paying the rent!) I don't expect her to be able to do anything about it but at least we're letting them know. However, in about fifteen minutes the driver shows up with a man from the compound to fix our water. Five minutes later the water is fixed and we have the guy's number in case we ever need anything else (of course, he doesn't speak a word of English!) I finish what I was doing then go to take a bath. NO WATER. There is water in the kitchen and water in my roommates bathroom but no water in mine. Time to whip-out the phone again. I call and use every bit of my Arabic again to let him know (in very broken Arabic) who I am, where I live, and that the water is not working in my bathroom only. Again, he is there in five minutes and within about fifteen minutes I have hot water again. I take my bath and go directly to bed, at 8:30, with soaking wet hair. I sleep most of the night (wake up for an hour). Sleep! Finally!
Day two of school is a whole-day workday in our classrooms. I go to the resource room and try to find whatever supplies I can get my hands on. It's a kind-of fend-for-yourself type of thing. Having never set up a classroom before I'm not even sure what I need. But, I got a little bit of everything that I could find and tote it up the two flights of stairs and down the breezeway to my classroom. I got my bulletin boards covered and hung (finally! Color in my room!!) Got my chair pockets put on (more color!) Got my whiteboard hung (SmartBoard was the only thing already hanging). Left school again at 4:00...not quite as dead-tired as Day One but pretty worn-out. Stop at the mall (my car-mates needed some things) and stopped at a hardware store (again, my car-mate...but I did get a food chopper that I normally buy at Walmart for about $6 or $8 and I spent $16 USD on it here. However, it saves me from mincing onion and garlic by hand. I'm spoiled, ya know!) We stop at a Turkish take-out place on the way home and get sandwiches. Get in, dead-tired, eat, take a bath, and go to bed by 9:30. No phone calls and slept most the night (waking up several times...weird sounds, maybe?...but always went straight back to sleep).
Day three of school consisted of morning training and afternoon classroom set-up. Waiting for supplies and decorations to come in that were (apparently) ordered for my classroom at the end of last year. Bulletin board borders, number lines, alphabet lines, etc. Was told last year's teacher ordered BROWN boarders...I'm praying this is wrong! I'm trying too hard to get a colorful, inviting classroom. Left at 4:00 again and here I am at home writing this blog!
Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about my life in Saudi. By the way...tomorrow is training all morning and then, hopefully, some curriculum mapping with the other second grade teacher (while I am probably still waiting for my supplies and decorations to come!) Then, at 4:00 the weekend begins! I'll have to get accustomed to a Friday-Saturday weekend. I have no idea what I'm going to do for two days. I think a load of laundry and a trip to the pool are in order. We'll just have to wing it from there.

The journey....

THE PREPARATION
 I guess the journey actually began a few months ago when I accepted the position in Saudi. However, the real journey started when I began packing all of my belongings to set-up a classroom and be gone from home for ten months. That started on Wednesday the 13th. Actually, it started prior to that. Wednesday is just when I put everything in the suitcases. I had been collecting the items that I needed for weeks ahead of time and had stacks all over the house. I'm sure my husband is glad to see that all of my junk is now gone. Hopefully he's not glad to see me gone, however!
THE JOURNEY
Friday the 15th we got up bright and early and went to the airport. Bahaa went inside with me and we got all of my luggage checked in with no problems. We then went to security. I gave my love one last (long) hug then it was off I went. The security line was short. I didn't have to have my hand swabbed for explosives, I didn't have to take my shoes off, I didn't have to take my computer out of it's bag, and I didn't get my ritual pat-down. I guess CVG wasn't in much of a security mood. I got to the other side of security and looked back to get one last look at Bahaa, who was still waiting to make sure I made it through OK. Then he was gone.
The flight from CVG to JFK was on-time and uneventful. The fun started when I got to JFK. I landed in terminal two. I had to obtain my boarding pass from Saudi Airlines at terminal one. So, I ask, "How do I get to terminal one?" "Oh, you go down this corridor, go out those doors, leave the airport, walk outside, and re-enter at terminal one." Really?? So, off I go. At least it wasn't raining or snowing outside. I get to terminal one and find that the Saudi counter is in section A. I (not-so-) happily trot to the four-sided counter A and walk all the way around and find no Saudi. So, I finally ask the Air France guy "Where is the Saudi counter?" "Oh, it's on the other side but it's Air Mexico right now. Later it will turn into Saudi Airlines." "OK, when is that?" I say. "I don't know. The Saudi office is right over there, go ask." So, off I trot again. Get to the Saudi office and I tell the guy "I need to get my boarding pass from Saudi Airlines. What should I do?" This genius says "Where are you going?" Thinking that "Saudi Arabia" is too obvious of an answer I say "Riyadh". He nods his head, seemingly satisfied with this answer, and tells me "The counter opens at 4:15. Go wait." Hmmm.....OK. I look at my watch. It's 2:00. So, what's a girl to do? I buy a Diet Coke (they had no Diet Pepsi!!!!!) and I went and waited. I was hungry but I figured all of the food was in the departure area of the airport so I patiently waited until I could go to that side. I got my boarding pass at about 5:00 then trotted on over to the FOREVER LONG security line.

As I am waiting in the security line I notice a wonderful Chinese restaurant on the upper level, above (and seemingly, past) security. I dream about spring rolls while I wait in line. This time was not so easy. Shoes off (on conveyer belt, NOT in tub) , computer out of bag, STRUGGLING to get my bangle bracelets off after my hands have swollen while on previous flight (while TSA agent is glaring at me). Go through whole-body scanner and get my pat-down. Re-collect all of my items and ask friendly looking TSA guy "Hey, how do I get to the upper-level to go to that lovely Chinese restaurant?" He smiles and says "Oh, you have to leave the secured area to go up there." Frown....."So, I would have to go through security again if I went?" "Yep." Uh, OK, thanks. (No Chinese for me!) Look for something to eat and all they have are $12 half turkey cold-cut sandwiches, $12 salads, or a Nathan's all-beef hot dog. So, with dreams of my spring rolls in the distant past I settle for my $4 hot dog. I then settle in at my boarding area.
We boarded on time and I even got a window seat. Nice people next to me. Very unhappy approximately one-year old baby directly behind me. He loved to sit on mommy's lap and kick the back of my seat. Praise God, all is well, and I am exhausted. So, while I am enjoying my vibrating seat back, I fall asleep. Then dear baby starts screaming. REALLY screaming. Instead of getting frustrated I decided to pray for baby and mommy. This trip is difficult for adults; I can't imagine it for infants and mommies. I actually spend the entire flight between dozing and prayer. When baby was quiet I would sleep. When baby was screaming I would pray. I prayed for every single person I know. I prayed for myself, I prayed for my fellow Muslims, I prayed for my family, I prayed for my friends, I prayed for my old high school classmates. I just prayed. And it was so peaceful. Even when we hit heavy turbulence I continued to pray. Sleep and pray....that's the prescription for a peaceful flight.
ARRIVAL
I arrived in Saudi to a balmy 44 degree Celsius temperature (that 111 degrees Fahrenheit for us Americans). Surprisingly, it didn't feel as hot as Dallas so I was happy! After being nearly stampeded by the "friendly" Saudis while trying to collect my luggage (they would NOT let me near the luggage carousel!) I finally got my luggage collected (after everyone else had theirs and had finally moved on!) I had to take my luggage to a security scanner to be scanned but that was uneventful heavy lifting. Out I go! The lady from the school was waiting for me with the driver.Everything was quickly loaded in the car and I was whisked off to my villa (townhouse).
I MADE IT TO SAUDI!!!!!

Let the packing begin

I have six full days left in the US before I embark on my journey. It seems like there are a million things to do and so little time to get them done. People to see, things to buy, contracts to cancel and put on hold, appointments to cancel. The picture, above, is just one of two of my stacks of stuff that I need to pack ( I am leaving that candle sconce on the wall, however!). I have another pile that's equally as large (and none of this includes my clothes!) I have a list, mentioned above, of things I am trying to get done before I leave. Cancel pre-scheduled doctor appointment- check. Cancel pre-scheduled skin doctor appointment- check. Buy a new cell phone that is unlocked for international use- check. Doing all my shopping for things I think I can't live without for my classroom and things I think I can't live without for me- check. Get my hair trimmed (because I don't trust the hairdressers overseas....in my years as a hairdresser I've seen MANY disasters that occurred in Arab countries by so-called hairdressers!)- check. Cancel gym membership (like I really used that anyway!!)- on the agenda for Monday. Scheduling my cell phone service to be put on vacation hold- on the agenda for Monday. Calling the Saudi embassy and inquiring about the process of obtaining a visitor visa for my hubby- on the agenda for Monday. Doing all of the laundry- that's this weekend. Making sure my husband has plenty of refills on all of his medications- check. Actually calling in the last refill that I will order for him- on the agenda for Monday. Making a list of EVERY SINGLE THING I need to bring with me- on the agenda for tomorrow. I have to have everything in writing so I can check it off as I add it into the suitcase. This way I assure myself that I am not forgetting anything. Starting to do the actual packing- ?????? I leave Friday morning so I guess that should happen sometime in the early week next week. One last visit with my parents before I go- Sunday. One last visit with my daughter before I go- early next week. Hoping to get one last visit with my son before I leave, although I saw him a little over a week ago. I would still love to see him again before I go. Try to sleep at night without my brain going a mile a minute- I'll have to work on that one!!!!