Our Routine

One of the greatest things about being here is that Mike's work hours are so fabulous.  We are now starting to get into something of a routine, and here's how our work days (Saturday through Wednesday) typically go:

5:47 am - Lawrence wakes up.  Everett and Lawrence are sharing a room, so Mike or I go in there to tell him it's too early and go back to bed. 

6:13 am - Lawrence is really ready to get up, saying "Mommy, I hungry!!"  Mike takes him downstairs and gives him some cereal.  I lie in bed, in denial that my child is awake. 

6:33 am - Everett wakes up.  I get up and go crawl in bed with him. 

6:37 am - I realize that there is no way we are going to have Mike to work by 7:00, so I reluctantly get up and take Everett downstairs.  Mike comes up to shower and get ready.  

6:59 am - I have the boys (still in PJs) strapped in the car, ready to go.  Mike comes out and we jump in and go.  

7:06 am - We drop Mike off at work.  If traffic is very bad (3 car backup at the stoplight), we might not arrive until 7:08 am.  

The boys and I go home and eat breakfast.   We get Everett ready for preschool, and drop him off at 8:15 am.  Lawrence and I go home and nap until 11:00 am, when we have to pick Everett up.  

11:05 am - Leave Everett's preschool and drive aimlessly around camp for 20 minutes (no point to take the kids out of their seats for five minutes, only to have to put them right back in!).  Go to Mike's office parking lot and wait for him to come out.  

11:30-12:30 pm - We pick Mike up and bring him home for lunch.  Lunch all together.  Mike takes the car back to work.  Boys and I go to the park and play for a couple of hours, and then Everett is down for nap at 2:30, and Lawrence by 3:00.  

4:00 pm - Mike is home from work.  When boys wake up, we go to the park or the commissary.  

5:30 ish - Dinner, then playtime, bath and bed by 8:00.  

We love having Mike home so much, and we love that he does not have to drive for 50 minutes or more to get to work!!  We are getting very spoiled.  There are lots of downsides to living here, but this part can't be beat. 

Updates on Everything Important

It's been a while since I posted anything new, and I think some updates are in order! 

The Graycie Update:  Graycie is healing well.  The vet took some xrays the day after we found her, and he said that her pelvis is NOT, in fact, in two pieces; instead, she is just severely bruised and road-rashed.  She has no broken bones at all!  He still thinks she was hit by a car, but in my humble, non-professional opinion, I think if she had been hit by a car, she would have been more squished and crushed.  Mike's childhood dog, Cuddles, got hit by a car and it not only broke her bones, but shattered them.  I think she got hit by a golf cart, motorcycle, or moped.  Or maybe even a bike.  Which may mean that someone was aiming for her.  (After all, how do you get accidentally hit by a golf cart or a bike?  It's like the steamroller from Austin Powers.  Noooooooooo!)

In any case, I have been faithfully administering oral antibiotics, pain killers, anti-inflammatories, and antibacterial cream.  I finally gave her a bath last night - she came home so dirty, but her wounds were so open I didn't want to soak them in water at the time.  Today, she is much cleaner and fluffier!  She does not move around much - just stays in her cat bed nearly 24 hours - but she is getting stronger every day.  No news on the tail.  It still doesn't work at all and appears to have no feeling.  Come on, tail!  Come back!  We're supposed to wait two weeks before we decide it's permanently paralyzed. 

The Car Update:  We're committed to a car, but we don't have it yet.  Here's the (long) story:  we have been looking for a car, but have had very little luck for a long time.  People that sell used cars on camp price them WAY too high, and we have been advised not to buy a used car from a Saudi because they do not take care of their cars (200,000 km odometer with never an oil change!)  So it's either wait for an ex-pat to sell their car here on camp or just go buy a new one.  We did find one very promising one (a Tahoe, I think? I can't remember) being sold by an ex-pat in Ras Tanura, but it got sold out from under us.  Mike found a Chevy Cavalier in ok condition from a Chinese guy; it was cheap and would be fine for a "camp car" (means we only drive it on camp and don't take it off the compound).  It didn't have too many kilometers, but it had paint issues, the windows don't roll back up easily, the power locks don't work, no key clicker, etc, etc.  We were considering that when we contacted a Sri Lankan on camp who does car repairs and finds cars for people.  He found us a Hyundai Santa Fe in much better condition, and we agreed to buy that one as our camp car.  We are trying to get the details worked out now, but we have to hurry.  If the paperwork etc does not go through by Saturday, we lose the car.  It's really hard to get anything done expediently around here, so although we are trying hard to make it happen, this might slip through our fingers, too.  

Incidentally, this car is...well, there's no other way of saying it....butt-ugly.  It's reddish-brown with black hub caps.  It is certainly the only one of its kind on camp, and we will be recognized wherever we go!  But since Mike is only going to use it to get back and forth to work (6 minute commute, door to door), we figure it doesn't matter.  If we get to buy the car, I will post a picture.  It's a Saudi-mobile, and I think I might suggest we name it Clyde after Ahab the Arab's camel.  

The Shipment Update:  Our shipment is still sitting in the Port of Savannah, as far as we know.  It doesn't look like it's left on the boat yet.  No other news there.  Still waiting. 

The Boys Update:  The boys are doing well.  Everett seems to be making some friends at preschool - at least, he comes home and can tell us some more names of his classmates.  He also sings songs he learned at preschool, and he's been learning about making patterns.  Everett now consistently dresses himself and buckles his own seat belt in the car every time - and pretty quickly, too!  Moreover, we discovered the other day that he is beginning to read. (!!)  He can read three and four letter words, and he likes to read things and then announce them to us ("Mommy, that word is cat!", or "The peanut butter says Jif!")  We are so proud!  Only 3 1/2!  Soon he'll be writing a dissertation on something very profound, I'm sure.  

Lawrence is also doing well, although we are struggling with his nap schedule.  Two naps are too many and one is not enough!  He is a big boy now, physically - he is thick and heavy, weighing almost as much as Everett, and he is one tough kid in terms of bumps and bruises.  He makes sure he can do everything Ebett (or sometimes Weh-wett) does.  He also has been pulling the throw-myself-down-face-first-and-cry-on-the-floor-when-I-don't-get-my-way stunt a lot.  It's very funny!  I do feel sorry for him when he does it in the sand playgound, though.  It never fails to surprise him that he comes up with a mouthful of sand. 

The Baby Update:  Baby looks good at last check.  She is estimated to weigh roughly four pounds and we are still on track for an April 8 due date.  She moves around a lot and her head is down.  Eight weeks to go.  Getting closer.  

Can't think of any more news from these parts...all else is about the same.  More news as it develops. 

Reunited, and It Feels So Good!

HOORAY! Graycie is home!! We got a phone call this morning that went something like this:

(Arabic accent ) "Hello, yes, your cat, it is in my garage.  It went in my house. I am on Dahna.  You come get it now, yes?"

I come get her now, YES!!  I jumped into the car, and went to the house where she was.  Apparently, the man had opened his garage door to go somewhere, and Graycie had been sitting outside.  She slinked into the garage and into the house, and was hiding under a coffee table.  

When I tried to pull her out, it was really obvious that she was hurt.  Her back leg was bloody, crusted over, and hairless.  Her tail was the same way.  She was limp in my arms.  I scooped her up and drove with her on my lap back to the house.  We called the Kennel Club (vet here) and got the on-call vet, so I took her right in.  He was very sympathetic and helpful, and he said that he has been hit by a car on her back legs and tail.  It looks like her tail is paraylized, and her back legs are not working properly, possibly because her pelvis has separated into two pieces.  He gave her antibiotics and pain killers, and we are keeping her at home until tomorrow morning, when she can go in and have an x-ray at the Kennel Club.   He didn't seem to think that it would be a big deal to get her fixed if it was the pelvis problem.  I also got ointment for her leg and tail wounds.  

When we got her home, she drank water and ate some food.  She has lost 2 pounds, but otherwise is doing well.  She walked right into the living room and settled down into her favorite place to hide - the boys' tunnel and tent.  She is in there now resting.  I would take a picture for you to see, but it is kind of gory to look at her leg - I will spare everyone the gruesome scene.  

I am elated that she is home!  Welcome home, sweet kitty!  You were gone five days and got run over by a car, but you will be ok in the end.  You are now down to six lives.  (Lost the first life when she fell off of my 2nd story balcony 11 years ago, completely unharmed.  Lost second life when she was attacked by an owl in our backyard in Charlotte.  This counts as losing the third life!)  (I would like it if you kept the rest of your six lives from now on.)

Now life can go on!  Our whole existence was put on hold while every spare moment was spent out looking for the cat.  Hooray, back to normal!  Hooray, kitty cat is home!  Welcome home Graycie!  You are never allowed out of my sight again!  We love you too much for that! 

Graycie, Come Home

It is with sadness and not a small amount of distress and panic that I report that our sweet cat is missing.  She got out yesterday when some workers were here at the house.  I don't think she would have gone very far, but we cannot find her.  We have posted signs and looked all over our neighborhood many, many times, but no luck.  I do hope that we can find her before she gets hurt or goes hungry or thirsty.  The nice thing about living here is that there is a big fence all around camp, so it's unlikely that she is outside of the compound.  But that's a big place!  (Charlotte peeps:  Mike says that the compound is about the same size as the area included by 51, Rea, and Providence.)

The last post was Oh, The Irony; this one should be Oh, The Agony.  Please, Graycie, come home.  Don't let anything bad have happened to you.  I am headed out to look one more time - Graycie, come home!

Oh, The Irony

Over the last 4 weeks, I’ve noticed that lots of things about living here are filled with irony.  Life over here is frustrating, inconvenient, and inefficient, largely because so many aspects of Aramco and Saudi culture just do not make sense or are wildly illogical.  Everyone I’ve met from the west notices these things.  The prevailing attitude amongst the westerners here is to just go with it; try not to understand it or change it, because if you do, you will go crazy.  I’ve begun to compile a list of the most blatant (but sometimes small) ironies I’ve noticed.  I’ll probably be updating this list the longer I live here.  Check back often!

NOTE:  In the dubious tradition of Alanis Morissette in her song Ironic, some of the items on the list are not truly irony in the English Teacher sense.  (Is rain on your wedding day really ironic, or just plain old bad luck?)  Some of these are just absurdities that I notice.  English Professors and former English majors who are reading this, please forgive me!

P.S.  This list is meant to be funny, not negative!  It’s hard to convey playful sarcasm over the internet, but that’s how this is meant.  

Ironies of the Aramco Rules:    I already noticed that you have to call to get your phone service started.  You also have to make a request online to get your internet started.  There is no other way to do these things.  (That is, you can’t go to the phone office and ask for your phone service to be started.  You MUST call them on the phone.)  Argh!  There are lots of these.  Too many to list. 

Ironies of Saudi Culture:  Saudi culture is very intolerant of any other religions.  For example, you’re not allowed to wear a cross around your neck, and they took the Armed Forces Radio down because they played Christmas music with words.  Saudi culture also has a lot of rules:  you can’t show people’s faces in pictures because it’s considered idolatry, you can’t hold hands in public, store owners must close five times a day for prayer, etc.  So both Mike and I were dumbfounded when we saw the following picture displayed on a large, prominent wall in Ikea:

Do they just not know??  Surely if they knew that this is two men, with faces, practically holding hands, in a very famous image painted on the ceiling of an important chapel in the very *HUB* of Christianity, they would object.  Are they that ignorant of the west?  Mike thinks they are just that sheltered from the outside world – they just have no idea what this image means or symbolizes.  Or perhaps they just do not care.  We blinked, stared, shrugged our shoulders and kept shopping, but it’s been a theme of discussion for a couple of days now.  Bamboozled.  

Furthermore, we left Ikea and went to the mall, where we saw a large clothing store with one single mannequin in the window – wearing a Notre Dame t-shirt.  What???  Again, do they just not realize?  Hello, big famous CATHOLIC school?!  Not to mention, jeez, Notre Dame is *everywhere*.  Sigh.  Go figure.  

 

Ironies of Language:  Language barriers are always fun.  And very few people here speak intelligible English.  Stuff gets garbled in translation.  Our baby shampoo (which has the amusing brand name "Chubs") has the message “KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN” scrawled all over the back.  The midwife at the hospital told me my baby was dead while I was feeling her kicking.  (That made my blood run cold.  I didn’t like that one bit.)  (Of course, that’s not what she meant.  She just didn’t speak English well.)  The cell phone store where we tried by buy a cell phone just told us “No.”  Here’s how the conversation went:

“How much is that phone in the case?”  He takes it out and shows it to us.  

“No. This is not a phone.”

“It’s not a phone?  It is a phone.  What do you mean it’s not a phone?  How about that one?  How much is that phone?”  “No.”

“I want to buy the phone.” “No.”

“Here is my money.  Please tell me how much it is.”  “No.”

“How about that phone?  How much is that one?”  “No.”

“I want to buy a phone here.  This is a phone store, right?”  “No.”

Eventually another guy came over and managed to spit out “Out of stock.”  But apparently, ALL the phones were out of stock.  Either nobody spoke enough English to help us, or they didn’t want to sell to us for some reason (perhaps because my face was not covered? We were Americans?  We are still not sure.)  But I do think it’s ironic that they won’t sell phones at the phone store.  And not very smart – how do these people make any money?  

KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN!!!!

Ironies of Money:  Speaking of money, I find it ironic that we pay a grand total of $7 to fill up our borrowed car with 91 octane gas at a full service gas station (YAY!) but pay $18 for a package of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish (WOW, I must really love my kids.)  I guess grain is plentiful at home and oil is plentiful here, huh?  Gotta love Econ. 

More valuable than oil!

Ironies of Getting Set Up Over Here:  Mike was very lucky to get this job.  Apparently, Aramco hires Americans only into the advanced “expert” positions, and hires Saudis for all the entry level and lower level jobs (and the extreme upper level jobs, too).  So it means that they think he’s big stuff since we are over here.   

But the moment we stepped off the plane, we were stripped of any adult privileges we had earned by age or hard work or experience in the States.  No driver’s license, no car.  Renting a house instead of owning one.   Surrendering our passports to the Aramco passport office.  Acknowledging that we cannot leave the country.  Rendering our credit and debit cards practically useless, and using only cash for everything.   Only having about eight pieces of furniture and hardly any kitchen equipment.   Not allowing us to buy cell phones, or cars for that matter.  It’s as though they can’t decide if we are very mature and responsible, or if we are delinquent teenagers.  Feels like we’ve been demoted to “immediately after college” again, but this time we have two kids to support!  And we worked really hard and earned a position here to get to this point? 

Almost all of this will end, or has already ended as we get set up.  For example, once our our new visas come in, in several months, for example, we’ll be able to leave the country.   I have not dealt with cash since my freshman year of college, but now that Mike’s iqama came through, we can get a bank account here (although people still use cash for everything!  It’s very archaic, and it feels like Monopoly money because we go through it so fast.)  Same for car and cell phones.  But Aramco has been importing ex-pats for YEARS.  Seems like they could do a lot to make the transition faster and easier.   I could make a lot of suggestions!  But the irony of coming over will continue – because, like everything else, nothing here makes sense!  I will just have go with it, like everyone else.  Relax and enjoy the ride - it's not going to change!

Star Wars: A New Home

Mike's Iqama has come through!  Hooray!  This is our ticket to normalcy.  Now he can get a Saudi driver's license, and that means we can buy a car.  Now we can get cell phones.  Now we can get a bank account.  Now we can get exit-reentry visas, and now we can get visas set up for our parents to come visit.   Things are almost getting a lot better....almost there...stay on target...almost there..... (for those of you who don't know - yes, I do have several friends (two I think) who have never seen Star Wars, believe it or not  - this is a Star Wars reference.  Unfortunately, the guy who 'stayed on target' in his X-wing got shot down by a tie fighter in a big, puffy explosion right after this.) (Hmmm, maybe this is not a good reference to our situation after all!  Ha!)  (P.S. For you same people, the title of this post is also a Star Wars pun.)  In any case, we are maybe just a few days away from the driver's license and cell phones, and a week away from our own car.  Not much longer now. 

Almost there!

In other news, we were chatting with Everett over lunch about his new preschool, and we made an interesting discovery.  Apparently, there is a Luke in his class.  And a Leia.  Luke and Leia.  Not kidding!  Everett actually calls this Luke "new Luke" because there was a Luke in his old preschool class, too.  So it's Everett, Oliver, Sean, Achmed, new Luke, and Leia.  This can only mean one thing...we have inadvertently moved to Tatooine.  And Mike is not really a water engineer, he is a moisture farmer.  Check out the pictures of our environs.  See the resemblance?

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My Brilliant Idea!

Today, I had a brilliant idea!  We are not using the awful, crunchy sheets and comforters that Aramco gave us when we arrived.  They had been tossed into our enormous closet and have become a favorite home for the cat.  Mike and I are borrowing sheets, so we're not using ours, and now that the E-box came and we got the boys' bedding for their room, we really don't need the Aramco bedding any more.  Today, I realized that we could use the comforters as rugs!  It gives the kids something soft to sit on when they play on the floor, rather than the cold, hard tile, and it gives the living room a more human feel - just something fabric and soft, instead of all these hard surfaces.  Ingenious!  Makes playing in the tent (an E-box arrival) much more fun. 

My brilliant idea! 

It was cold and windy today, and by the end of the day, so much dust had been kicked up into the air that you could look directly into the sun (without going blind, or hurting your eyes, or even needing to look away).  We spent most of the day taking turns napping and doing stuff inside (like Mike took a couple of doors off the hinges for me, and hung some brackets for mini blinds, and nearly electrocuted himself by trying to adjust the temperature of the water heater - he accidentally welded his Swiss Army Knife to the water heater in the electrocution process -oops), so by the end of the day, we were all bored (despite the electrocution scare) and the boys got to watch a movie.  Here's our TV setup in the living room - thank you, thank you, whoever invented laptops!!

Watching "The Squirrel Show" (= Ice Age).  Note Sleep Sack and Hippo are still permanently attached.