My funny Lawrence. He is always such a trip.
"Mommy! I can hear the ocean!!"
(That's the cat food scoop.)
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Red Day
The first two weeks of school, the children were assigned colors to wear each day. They looked so cute on red day!
Everett is headed to line up in the morning here. He puts his backpack down by the wall and goes to the playground to play until the bell rings.
Here they are coming out for lunch. The children have to spot their parent before they can run across the grass (a.k.a., The Great Divide) to go home. Sometimes it takes Everett a few minutes to see me (I am standing in a gaggle of women all waiting for their children.) (But I do have the ginormous double stroller, so I should be pretty easy to see.) I'm not sure if he's seen me here yet, or not. In any case, this is my favorite part because he comes running into my arms!
An Interesting Billboard
Speaking of stuff off camp...check out this sign.
It's a picture of a car wreck, and on the left is a dead person. Yes, a dead body. Yes, this is a billboard.
The sign says "Be Aware of Others Faults."
Ha! That's funny, because although it's just badly translated (what they mean is "Plan For Other People's Mistakes" or, more concisely, "Drive Defensively,") it's exactly appropriate for Saudi culture. People here LOVE to notice what other people are doing wrong and get them in trouble. They think everyone else is always wrong, and they themselves are always right. The religious police especially, the mutawa, go around tattle taling on people just for an ego boost. So "Be Aware of Others Faults" might as well be the country's motto. In fact, being aware of everyone else's faults is encouraged!
I am reminded of a glass house and a rock. Or a grain of sand and a plank. Or the fourth word that Charlotte wove into her web. A little of that wouldn't hurt.
It's a picture of a car wreck, and on the left is a dead person. Yes, a dead body. Yes, this is a billboard.
The sign says "Be Aware of Others Faults."
Ha! That's funny, because although it's just badly translated (what they mean is "Plan For Other People's Mistakes" or, more concisely, "Drive Defensively,") it's exactly appropriate for Saudi culture. People here LOVE to notice what other people are doing wrong and get them in trouble. They think everyone else is always wrong, and they themselves are always right. The religious police especially, the mutawa, go around tattle taling on people just for an ego boost. So "Be Aware of Others Faults" might as well be the country's motto. In fact, being aware of everyone else's faults is encouraged!
I am reminded of a glass house and a rock. Or a grain of sand and a plank. Or the fourth word that Charlotte wove into her web. A little of that wouldn't hurt.
Morning Outing
Running errands in Arabia is quite the task. First off, everything has to wait until the weekend because I can't drive off camp. Then once you get to a weekend, the first day is Friday, which is the holy day, and nothing is open until 4 pm. At 4 pm, everyone comes out in a huge crush, so the traffic is terrible. And then you've got all those pesky evening prayers to avoid, because everything closes up for either 20 or 40 minutes for prayer time, depending on which prayer it is. Saturday is the better day, because shops open at 9 am, close at noon prayer (which happens at a different time every day, but is usually between 11:20 and 11:50 am), and then reopen again at 4 pm.
Also, running errands here is not like at home. Nothing here ever pans out like it ought to; stores that should be open are closed for no reason, stores that always carry such-and-such won't have it when you come to buy it, no one there speaks any English, it takes 50 times longer than you think, and/or some other thing happens to prevent you from accomplishing what you set out to do. And that's just your first errand. Wanted to get two things done? Forget it. After living here a while, you learn that anything more than one errand per Saturday is just terrifically too ambitious, and if you get one thing done, you are doing fabulously well. Oh, how our expectations have plummeted since living here.
In September, poor Clyde needed a new battery. So we all waited until Saturday, and then piled into Rosie for our one errand of the week. A long drive - something like 30 minutes - into Dammam got us to the surprisingly modern looking Hyundai dealership.
Mike jumped out while the rest of us stayed in the car. The kids are never thrilled when we say we have to run an errand on a Saturday, because it usually means that they get to stay in the car the entire time as one of us runs in to get whatever-it-is done. They were good sports about it this day.
Also keep in mind that this is my big trip off camp for the week, so it's less fun for me if I don't actually get to get out of the car during my outing.
The view from the parking lot where we were waiting. Thrilling.
Amazingly, after about 15 minutes, Mike came back with the appropriate battery and we drove home. Success!! A miracle!! That never happens, that it works the first time. Hooray for us!
A few weekends after that, we recreated this errand for something for Rosie, so we had to drive to the Chevy dealership. It was inexplicably closed, so we tried two other stores, and they were also inexplicably closed. We drove home after two hours, defeated. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. Better luck next Saturday.
Also, running errands here is not like at home. Nothing here ever pans out like it ought to; stores that should be open are closed for no reason, stores that always carry such-and-such won't have it when you come to buy it, no one there speaks any English, it takes 50 times longer than you think, and/or some other thing happens to prevent you from accomplishing what you set out to do. And that's just your first errand. Wanted to get two things done? Forget it. After living here a while, you learn that anything more than one errand per Saturday is just terrifically too ambitious, and if you get one thing done, you are doing fabulously well. Oh, how our expectations have plummeted since living here.
In September, poor Clyde needed a new battery. So we all waited until Saturday, and then piled into Rosie for our one errand of the week. A long drive - something like 30 minutes - into Dammam got us to the surprisingly modern looking Hyundai dealership.
Also keep in mind that this is my big trip off camp for the week, so it's less fun for me if I don't actually get to get out of the car during my outing.
Amazingly, after about 15 minutes, Mike came back with the appropriate battery and we drove home. Success!! A miracle!! That never happens, that it works the first time. Hooray for us!
A few weekends after that, we recreated this errand for something for Rosie, so we had to drive to the Chevy dealership. It was inexplicably closed, so we tried two other stores, and they were also inexplicably closed. We drove home after two hours, defeated. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. Better luck next Saturday.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Everett's First Day of Kindergarten
OK, you knew it was coming.
Just after Labor Day (not that we get Labor Day over here), which was about two weeks after we got back from repat, Everett had his first day of SCHOOL. REAL school. We have a kindergartner in the house. Holy cow.
There was an open house before the first day, so that the kids and parents could see the classroom and drop of their required supplies. Here we are on the way to the open house. Everett wore his old preschool backpack for the last time.
There are 11 (eleven) (!!!) kindergartens at his school. This is because the Saudi kids are allowed to go to our kindergarten. There are lots of Saudis here, so they overwhelm everyone else. And even if they are not Saudi, there are lots of Arabs. Thankfully, there are three other western kids in Everett's class of 18. One is Canadian and two are American. That's doing pretty well.
On the first real day of school, it dawned hot (nearly 110 at 7:45 am) and extraordinarily humid. This was the fifth picture I took of him, as for the first four, the camera lens fogged up so much that you couldn't see him at all. It took that long for the camera to equilibrate.
For the first two weeks, all kindergartners have to wear a lanyard with their name, address, phone number, and method of transportation. The options are BUS or WALK. The Company will bus kids that who live too far away to walk in very luxurious brand new and very fancy Mercedes buses. Kids like ours that live closer are required to walk. But if you're in kindergarten, you may not walk by yourself (kindergartners are also not permitted to scoot or ride bikes), which means your mom has to walk you back and forth. And they come home for lunch, so you're walking four times a day to school. We live not quite a half a mile from the school. And it's not like I can leave the younger kids behind. So suddenly, our entire family is walking two miles every day!
The school has a tall concrete wall around it with a huge ugly metal gate that slides back and forth. These pictures were taken inside the wall. The kindergarten door is behind them, and that's the kindergarten playground under the sun shade.
At 10:45, we were back again for pickup. Here is his class coming out of the school for pickup. When your child sees you, he has to tell his teacher that he sees you and then he can run across the grass field to you. This is my favorite part about kindergarten! Everett sees me, beams, and runs full throttle into my arms, so excited.
Just after Labor Day (not that we get Labor Day over here), which was about two weeks after we got back from repat, Everett had his first day of SCHOOL. REAL school. We have a kindergartner in the house. Holy cow.
There was an open house before the first day, so that the kids and parents could see the classroom and drop of their required supplies. Here we are on the way to the open house. Everett wore his old preschool backpack for the last time.
Ready to go!
Bye bye, old preschool backpack. (SNIFF.)
His teacher is in the pink dress.
The class pet is a tank of fish!
Everett sits at a table with four other kids. Here is his spot.
On the first real day of school, it dawned hot (nearly 110 at 7:45 am) and extraordinarily humid. This was the fifth picture I took of him, as for the first four, the camera lens fogged up so much that you couldn't see him at all. It took that long for the camera to equilibrate.
Ready to go!
The school has a tall concrete wall around it with a huge ugly metal gate that slides back and forth. These pictures were taken inside the wall. The kindergarten door is behind them, and that's the kindergarten playground under the sun shade.
So proud!
First day!
Walking him over to the playground. Note new monogrammed backpack!
Standing in the line for his class.
After playtime, they line up when the bell rings and head on into the school.
In he goes!! A big kindergartener! SNIFF!!
I have never in my entire life EVER seen anyone sweat as much as Mike sweat on that day. It's really hard to tell in the picture, but he was SOAKED like he had just been hit with a fire hose. It was so amazing that I had to take a picture.
At 10:45, we were back again for pickup. Here is his class coming out of the school for pickup. When your child sees you, he has to tell his teacher that he sees you and then he can run across the grass field to you. This is my favorite part about kindergarten! Everett sees me, beams, and runs full throttle into my arms, so excited.
Back home for lunch. A great first day!
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Happy Houseaversary
Happy Houseaversary to us!
Ten years ago today, we closed on our house on Ashridge. Our houseaversary also happens to be our half-anniversary (of our wedding), so it's a big day for us!
Here she is, in a more-than-slightly distorted pic from Google Maps. (Must be an old picture, because that's Everett's bucket out there by the driveway. Isn't it crazy that he had only just turned three when this picture was taken?)
Hard to believe that we've had that house for ten years. We lived in it for 8 years and change, and I still get up in the middle of the night to get water, and I try to turn the faucet the way our Ashridge house faucet turns, which of course doesn't work with our faucet here. I also still flip absent light switches on the blank wall of our Saudi house where they would have been on Ashridge. Old habits die very hard. Now, we've been away from it for almost two. I wonder if it would still feel like home after all the changes we've had.
To our house and all our beloved friends in the Square - we miss you, especially today!! Wave to our house today, if you pass by! Happy houseaversary, Ashridge House!
Ten years ago today, we closed on our house on Ashridge. Our houseaversary also happens to be our half-anniversary (of our wedding), so it's a big day for us!
Hard to believe that we've had that house for ten years. We lived in it for 8 years and change, and I still get up in the middle of the night to get water, and I try to turn the faucet the way our Ashridge house faucet turns, which of course doesn't work with our faucet here. I also still flip absent light switches on the blank wall of our Saudi house where they would have been on Ashridge. Old habits die very hard. Now, we've been away from it for almost two. I wonder if it would still feel like home after all the changes we've had.
To our house and all our beloved friends in the Square - we miss you, especially today!! Wave to our house today, if you pass by! Happy houseaversary, Ashridge House!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Broken TV
We'd been home a few weeks when we went in one day to put on a show for the kids, and.....nothing. Our beautiful, humongous, flat panel TV won't turn on.
This is bad. Very, very bad. He had a bad day. What a day dad had. (Oops, sorry, I've clearly been reading too much Hop On Pop.) No, really, this is very, very bad. Because we live in Saudi Arabia. And this is a third world country. And there's literally no one here who can fix a tv. Ouch.
After extensive Googling, we figure it's probably nothing more than a popped capacitor. Which would be a very fast and inexpensive fix for someone who knew how to do it. In theory, *I* know how to do this. It's easy to hark back to my undergrad days in the bottom of Vandy's Stevenson Building for physics lab, soldering parts onto a motherboard. It's not hard. But this is not physics lab. This is our very fancy tv. Even if I had the right replacement capacitor (which I don't), I'm not sure I am brave enough to dust off my soldering skills and risk breaking the fancy tv.
We moved our bedroom TV to the living room (that's it on the lower left) so the kids could still watch their shows, but it's sad and pathetic compared to what we had before. And we can't even buy another tv because the voltages are wrong on the tvs they sell in stores here.
So there she sits. A very expensive paperweight hanging on the wall indefinitely. Hooray, Saudi Arabia.
This is bad. Very, very bad. He had a bad day. What a day dad had. (Oops, sorry, I've clearly been reading too much Hop On Pop.) No, really, this is very, very bad. Because we live in Saudi Arabia. And this is a third world country. And there's literally no one here who can fix a tv. Ouch.
After extensive Googling, we figure it's probably nothing more than a popped capacitor. Which would be a very fast and inexpensive fix for someone who knew how to do it. In theory, *I* know how to do this. It's easy to hark back to my undergrad days in the bottom of Vandy's Stevenson Building for physics lab, soldering parts onto a motherboard. It's not hard. But this is not physics lab. This is our very fancy tv. Even if I had the right replacement capacitor (which I don't), I'm not sure I am brave enough to dust off my soldering skills and risk breaking the fancy tv.
We moved our bedroom TV to the living room (that's it on the lower left) so the kids could still watch their shows, but it's sad and pathetic compared to what we had before. And we can't even buy another tv because the voltages are wrong on the tvs they sell in stores here.
So there she sits. A very expensive paperweight hanging on the wall indefinitely. Hooray, Saudi Arabia.
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