How to cook in Saudi Arabia

Well, the weekend is over here in Saudi Arabia (our weekends are Thursday and Friday). A lot of time has been spending trying to catch up with school lessons, grading, assignments and all the many joys of teaching. I do know about 90% of my students by name and face which is a huge deal. I am still working on pronunciation, but progress is good. Today I went to a luncheon with some new friends and saw and talked how awesome our King. It is a blessing to be able to meet so many people with similar interests from all over the world. Long live the King! I am really getting to enjoy some of the local food here. I still am living off of PB&J, but I am venturing out and realizing there is so many good things out there to try! No, I will not try seafood or camel, but the deserts and rice and meat combos are fantastic. I felt so inspired after having lunch today with my new friends; I thought I would cook some black beans and rice. I have yet to find meat I trust to cook myself but, now that our stove works, I am venturing to cook something other than cheese and apples. So, as I got this crazy idea to cook, I thought I might as well cook extra so I could have it for lunch the next few days. Two things about rice in Saudi, you can’t buy it in small bags, there is no instant rice, and there is no brown rice. So I got the smallest bag I could, which was not small, and picked it because it looked the closest to the rice in the states (since I can't read Arabic, most of my food choices are made based upon looks or labeling). 2 things went very wrong with my brilliant cooking plan that should have told me to stop trying to be fancy and just go with grilled cheese or back to PB&J. 1. I did not have a can opener to open the bean can. This should have made me either A- go buy a can opener across the street or B- not use black beans. However, since I am stubborn and have learned in this country that if there is a will there is a way, I found a way as seen in the picture. I would not recommend doing this again and I am going to buy a can opener tomorrow (theoretically) 2. I did not have any way to stir my food besides using metal spoon. Needless to say I did not realize I bought jumbo rice which expanded to 2-3 times the size of our rice in the states. Also, the spoon heated up VERY fast when I tried to stir. So I might have obtained 2nd degree burns with my lack of wooden spoon and pot holder, BUT, in the end, I had dinner of black beans, rice, green pepper, and artificially processed cheddar cheese. (No you cannot get shredded or block of cheddar cheese. The only cheese you can find I can’t pronounce or mozzarella). It was not bad at all, but I now have enough to feed me until next week and perhaps beyond. Besides creating crazy meals, I am still learning the "fun" of Saudi. I am going to be learning to scuba dive while I am here and will hopefully be traveling to Jordan for Hajji. Other than that, shopping is the number 1 past time for most people here. There are countless malls, markets, and shops to choose from. Also, bartering is like a hobby for some women. They will spend 10-20 mins bartering for one abaya! Then you have me, someone who hates conflict and does not speak Arabic trying to barter? I think not. I either don't buy or have someone else barter for me. I am trying to get out there BUT it is very difficult. There is so much still to learn and do and the learning curve is huge. However, thankfully I do have a good community of people here to help and do life with. PR: - Patience with all the chaos and hecticness of the new school year -Favor in my relationship -Ability to get into a normal sleeping pattern -For my rededency card to be processed soon

Welcome to Second Grade!

There is definitely a transition from teaching grades 4-6 to moving to grade 2. I have never felt so needed in my entire life! The children here are so cute, but they don't really understand the concept of structure. They will walk up and shove paper in your face in front of everyone else and expect you to speak to them. So, we go over everyday our rules about sitting and raising our hand, not shouting out, and not touch each other. This is all very new for them and for me. So, we learn and grow together every day. Tomorrow is Wednesday which is our version of Friday so it is very exciting but feels weird. The transition of work week is not as hard to try and figure out as I thought. Then again, my days are running together so I have not been keeping track. Today I took my boys to the pool so they could learn to swim which was very funny and hectic. Trying to get 24 boys to change, get into the pool, swim, get out, shower, and change back in 30 minutes is pretty much an impossible task. So many complications arise such as clothes getting lost, clothes being soaked, shoes getting lost, not having a new shirt, not having new pants, losing socks etc. I definitely will be waiting a long time before having kids of my own. ;-) I have been able to get on skype and it works very well. If you would like to talk on skype, send me a message. I would love to talk with friends from home! I do not have a chord to connect my camera to this computer so I will not be able to post pictures until later next week. Please continue to keep me in your thoughts. I miss you all!

I made it!

Well I am here!!! I made it into Saudi Wednesday night here and there has been SOOOO much going on here it is hard to sum it up without writing a full length novel.Today, Sunday, was my first day of school which was super exciting! I am teaching grade 2 boys and they are so super sweet. I have met some wonderful people while being here, 3 of them were my life savers when I arrived. They adopted me and took care of me as I went through my culture shock. Life here is very different from the states but truly, living on the compound is a saving grace. The people here are great and most things you need you can find fairly easily. The weather is like GA summer every single day. However, their is a great breeze from the red sea that makes it more manageable. One thing I have learend quickly is that there is not a lot of logic in the development of roads/communities. For example, I was going to go for a run around the park in the compound. I assumed it was maybe 2 miles in a circular shape. I was mistaken as I kept running and running and through, logically, if I kept following the road it would circle around. I was wrong. 4 miles later I was running through the woods through sewage hoping not to end up off the compound (which I almost did 2-3 times). I finally realized where I was and got home, hot, sweaty, and convinced I was never going to do that again. I figure from now on I can run one way and then turn around and run home. The roads are the same way outside the compound. It is like every little boys dream. No road rules, no lane markers, and no real speed limits. Its a heart attack when you first start driving through it. However, after driving through Liberia, this does not seem all that bad. I am just thankful I dont actually have to drive. We take the bus or Taxi's everywhere we go. Also, the shopping here is amazing! The malls here make the Mall of GA look like a strip mall. I cannot wait to actually go inside and see it. Overall I am doing well, just tired for the most part. THank you all for your support and keep me in your thoughts this week. PR: -Patience as I adjust into the new school year and new grade level -Endurance to get through these very long days that I am not use to you -Peace in my heart and mind that I will know that I am not in control and everything is happening for a reason

Timing is everything

I am writing this while sitting in an airport in Germany. When you think about the sequence of events in life, it is amazing how things work out far better then we could ever imagine. Even through th frustrations and annoyances of "our timing" not happening, somehow a better timeing always occurs. The past week has been the "perfect storm" in the sense of everything happening at once. However, everything happened perfectly. I received my visa on Friday and was very excited. Meanwhile, my mother was fearing I would leave during the weekend when her internship was occurring. Not to mention my cousin was on the verge of having a baby. So the weekend comes and my mom finishes her internship session on Saturday. Then Sunday, my cousin has her baby and i was able to be a part of the experience. About an hour after the baby was born, I recived a confirmation from the school saying they needed to know what airport I wanted to fly out of. The next day, I got my ticket and left Tuesday night. Wow! I don't know if I could have planned that any more perfectly. Everything with my travels are going well and I am very excited to start teaching. The adventure begins! P.S. You know it is going to be a good flight when your welcomed onto the plane with 2 screaming babies. ;-)