Bye, Bye 2012

Billy as Santa 

In little less than a week from now we'll be saying good bye to 2012.What a year this has been. Last year around the same time we were jumping for joy about our assignment: Riyadh. We hit the ground running in 2012. From finishing up our post in DC, visiting family and friends before moving, packing, shots, paperwork and more paperwork to relocating to the other side of the world with our dog Dante. Then getting settled in Riyadh, unpacking, meeting new friends, establishing a new routine, learning to accept and adapt to new customs. Ahhhhh...let me take a breath. Yes, 2012 has truly been a wonderful year like many years before. We have a lot to be thankful for. We are blessed to have each other and our family who love us unconditionally.

As 2012 comes to a close we'll end it with a bang. Billy's 10-day vacation starts today. We've been invited to 3 separate parties which we'll attend all of them. On Christmas morning we'll begin the preparations for dinner at our house. Our guests this year are the sweet MSG's at post who are all single and away from their families. We'll have a sit down traditional Christmas meal with turkey and all the fixings, homemade spiked eggnog, and the usual pies (apple, pecan and pumpkin). There's going to be a lot of eating, drinking and socializing within these next 48 hours, but it doesn't stop here. On the 27th, Billy and I take off on an early flight to Vienna, Austria where we'll celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary (Dec. 30th) and New Year's Eve. We are so excited! To be in Europe during this time of year with the love of my life is going to be magical. We'll be able to walk every where, see a concert, check out a museum, and sit at a cafe with a glass of wine. This all gives me butterflies.

2012 you have been more than kind to us. May 2013 be just as gracious. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all our family and friends. We love you very much. Cheers!

Sultanate of Oman

We heard from many foreigners living in Saudi that the key to happiness here is to travel every 2-4 months. We took their advice and booked a 6 day trip to Oman, the neighboring country to the southeast of Saudi Arabia. It was an easy 2 hour direct flight from Riyadh to Muscat, the capitol of Oman. We arrived at night around midnight so it was very hard to get a feel for the city. The next morning I opened up our bedroom curtains and our view was this...

Crowne Plaza Hotel, Muscat, Oman

In Muscat we visited the Sultan's palace, the Grand Mosque, the very famous Muttrah Souk, and a few other places including the Opera House. One great thing was seeing my friend and her husband who were assigned to Muscat. It was truly a delight to reunite with her, and finally meet her other half. After a couple days in Muscat, we rented a 4x4 and ventured northwest into the the scenic Al Hajar mountain range of Oman, which are the highest in the whole eastern Arabia. We stopped for the night in the quaintest B&B in the little town of Jebel Akhdar. This place had the most amazing endless views of the mountains. The B&B had a very Omani/American southwest spa style look to it. Not far the from the hotel there are also endless trails and wadis to explore. There are also a couple remote villages where the locals prefer to live off the land. They welcome tourists to visit, but don't want to be photographed. Spending a couple hours in the village of Al Ayan was an amazing experience for me (I truly love seeing things like that). I could have spent our entire 6 days at this location.

Views from the Sahab Hotel, Jebel Akhdar, Oman

Next day we started our trek down the mountains to the Ash Sharqiyah desert region for a modernized Bedouin style camping experience at the Arabian Oryx Camp. After a 4 hour drive we were literally in the middle of the desert in between huge sand dunes. We checked into our air conditioned tent with a full bathroom (no roughing it on this trip). There was a big group of people starting to get ready for the trip to see the sunset. We hopped into one of the camps Jeep and headed towards the top of the dunes to admire the sun descend into the desert sands. This was a spectacular sight. The sun rays; yellow, orange, red and with shades of purple lingered beautifully in the desert sky, until complete darkness took over. We now could only hear the desert wind and feel the granules of the sand blowing against our skin, as we sat around the camp fire eating our traditional Omani dinner under a full moon.

The following day we made a pit stop in the beach town of Sur and took the coastal route to our final destination; The Shangri-La's Al-Waha Resort and Spa, 15 minutes outside of Muscat. This resort is tucked away with the breathtaking views of the sea and the rugged mountains that surround the resort. Our last night in Oman was spent sipping drinks and taking long walks along the beach. Before checking out the next morning we made sure to make time for one last dip in the ocean and soak in the sun.

Shangri-La's Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa, Muscat, Oman

Oman was truly amazing. It still feels very untouched by globalization, and not touristy. I believe it's one of the best kept secrets of the middle east. The country is calm, not too touristy, and the Omani's are always smiling and very helpful people. Our time there was wonderful and memorable.

4 Months Into Saudi

Life here in Saudi...where do I start? I would say so far we have been adapting pretty well. We've made friends fairly quickly within the embassy and expat community. As for having Saudi friends it's been a little challenging, but I have made one girlfriend. Despite all the uprisings around us, Saudi still is a fairly safe country. Hopefully it stays this way here. I do find life at times to be a bit constricting and confined. In my opinion we tend to live in a bubble within the diplomatic quarters. We'll never really know how it feels to live among Saudi's. Especially since we're only here for 2 years. 

The culture shock sneaks up on you very gradually here. It's not like moving to Guinea, Africa where it smacks you right in the face. Riyadh is fairly clean, it has many malls, shops, restaurants and activities. Most expats or government workers from abroad all live in very westernized compounds. In my opinion it's the confinements of living in compounds (which some people never leave during a tour), the segregation between men and women, women not being able to drive, and a few other nuances here and there that makes this a "hardship post". 

Segregation starts with many functions being for only men or women. When you go to a restaurant there's the family section, where women and married couples can dine. Then there's a partitioned off section just for single males. Coffee houses, such as Starbucks, fast food joints are the exact same way; separate entrances for women and men. Some stores at the mall do not allow single men to enter, and during weekends single males may be banned all together from entering the shopping mall. Even at weddings the men and women have separate parties. 

Driving is something I dearly miss. The freedom of going somewhere, when I want to go, and explore on my own term is complicated here. One, I depend on a male driver, which sounds nice, but it involves having to plan things in advance and coordinate around prayer times (5x a day), as well as pick up times for the kids at school.  Two, even with Billy, I can not drive. I still depend on him to drive me around (which he doesn't mind). Third, there is no public transportation system. The only public transport they have are buses for the service workers who come by the hundreds here to work from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, etc...The "Muttawa", the religious police also make sure to enforce their rules. A couple times, I've been stopped for not wearing my headscarf. It feels a little weird having grown men not making eye contact with you and saying in a stern voice, “woman cover your hair”.

Even with all I've stated, I don't regret for a second in coming here, and I feel fortunate to be living abroad. I am discovering this place to be mysterious, intriguing, yet contradicting at times. The experiences I am gaining are priceless. Although it's not always easy, I find what works best for me is to not play into the comparison game. I also remind myself that I am in a different country and I am a guest here in the Kingdom. I use common sense and try to respect their beliefs. Despite the cultural and religious differences I still find people to be the same wherever I go. In general, most of us want: respect, health, food, shelter, love and happiness. Maybe I sound like a big hippie right now, but I believe what I say to be true. 

A Very Short Season

Turns out our softball season ended before it even really started. During practice Billy caught a line drive with his left hand which fractured his 5th metacarpal. Who would of thought softball was such a rough sport? He ended up having minor surgery and staying a couple days in the hospital. Thankfully there was no need to transport him to London for the surgeon here came highly recommended.

A week after this happened I started to have GI issues and have been asked to take it easy for a month until my inflammation goes down. It's looking like I will need to have surgery in Riyadh in the very near future too, but I'll cross that bridge in a month. We've now been officially indoctrinated into the Saudi Health Care System and we feel confident in saying it's comparable to the States in many ways. Guess there will be no need to order those tight spandex, cleats and a glove after all.

When in Riyadh, Play Softball!

I don't know how this happened, but it did. When we arrived in Riyadh we heard about a softball league which was starting up soon. Of course I had no interest in signing up. Softball has never been my thing. Last time I played the sport was in PE class in high school. Little did we know that the coach for the team would be my husbands boss, so of course Billy signs us up. Before our first practice, I tell Billy, "I will just go and see if it's something I even want to commit to". After all, there are practices and games, and I know the team will depend on its players.

Our first practice turned out to be a lot more fun that I thought it would be. Good thing I'm well coordinated and I didn't make a complete fool out of myself. I was able to catch most of the balls, and hit the softball more than a couple times. Maybe I'll be nominated for "most improved" player of the season. After all, everyone else including my husband are far better than I.

Needless to say, I caught the softball bug. Yes people, we are now officially on a coed softball team in Riyadh. We'll be competing against the different military branches that are stationed here. We've had two practices so far and our first game is coming up some time this week. Now I have to look the part; I see tight pants, cleats and gloves in my near future. Our "Patriots" jersey will be arriving soon. I've even asked the only other girl on the team who played softball in COLLEGE to give me some pointers. We'll see what this season brings. It's all in good fun, right? At least I hope so.

A Day at the Edge of the World

96 km northwest of Riyadh lies the magnificent sight of the Edge of the World. Here the cliffs of the Tuwaiq escarpment drop away giving splendid views over the plain below. We left bright and early from Riyadh with a small convoy of 2, 4x4  Toyota's, and a couple of drivers who knew how to get our group of 7 safe and sound to this spectacular place. Even with a GPS it would have been pretty hard for us to go solo the first time. Finding this place is a little challenging because it's off the beaten path. 

We drove for a good hour until we veered off the road onto gravel and sand. There were no signs or markers telling us where to go, only tire marks on the sand. We passed several camels out in the dessert. The only time I had seen a camel was at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. Now here they were just out in the wild traveling in packs. 

We also saw goats being herded by the man below, who waved at us after I took his picture.

Long haired goats enjoying the shade.

Goat Herder

After a half hour trek in the desert we reached the Edge of the World which is part of the Tuwaiq escarpments that runs 800km from the south to the north central region of Saudi Arabia. There are many narrow valleys and wadis. The panoramic views are endless and the cliffs are breath taking. But watch out for your step, because one careless move could be deadly.

View of the valley from the top of one of the cliffs.

Edge of the World back drop

We spent a couple of hours exploring the area, hiking from one mountain peak to another. Once the sun started to warm up we got back into the SUV's and found a nice shaded area to have a picnic. Each one of us brought something to share so we had a wonderful array of yummy foods to chose from. Next trip out will probably be an overnight one, but we'll have to wait until the weather cools down some.

Breaking the Rules in the Stall

Up until yesterday it was Ramadan and one of the rules during this time is: no eating in public until Iftar, which is after 6:30 pm. Mid morning a girlfriend and I decided to go pick up our new Abayas, go to the shopping mall then head to the grocery store. I left the house having only eaten a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee, which is the not the greatest sustenance. At least not when you're in Saudi during Ramadan. Most restaurants, food courts, cafes are closed during the day because it's illegal to eat in public during the month of Ramadan. You can't even have a glass of water in public.

Of course, I walk out of the house not prepared for the day ahead. By the time we get to the shopping mall, my friend and I are literally thirsty and starving. Plus, we still have to go grocery shopping, and you know how that is when you're hungry. As we're walking in the mall we miraculously see a bakery ahead and it says "OPEN". The smells from this place draws us like honeybees to the honeycomb. Before Iftar, we can't just sit at the cafe, order a nice hot pastry with a cup of coffee and eat. No way! You must take it to go and savor it later in the evening.

Our game plan starts to unfold. We order 4 croissants with cheese and a couple drinks to go. We head into the ladies bathroom and walk into one of stalls together. Thank goodness the bathroom was empty when we walked in. The doors to the stalls were of  regular size, so no one could sneak a peak. We locked the stall door, opened up the to-go box from the bakery and had a nice little lunch next to the toilet. We were both laughing on how crazy we looked. I only wish I had pictures to post.