What is Christmas in Saudi Arabia like?

Here in Saudi Arabia, the only celebrated holidays are: Saudi National Day and Eid. The New Year and birthdays are usually not big celebrations, like in the United States. Knowing this, I was curious as how to plan Christmas for my children. I failed at Halloween because I couldn't locate any places for my children to trick-or-treat. Yes, I bought them candy and such, but they were very disappointed in me, that the real Halloween celebrations didn't happen for them. So, I made it my goal to make Christmas more exciting for them.

The day before, I bought them bicycles and paid about the same price as I would have in the US. I also found Christmas candies at Danube grocery store and spent double the price for Reese's peanut butter trees, candy canes, York peppermint patties and large plastic candy canes filled with Hershey kisses. I found these candies in boxes, read the label and opened them up. They were not even on the shelf yet, on December 24! I was lucky! Now, about 3 weeks later, these same candies are in various grocery stores across the city. I guess their logic is that if they don't put them out for the holiday, than they are not promoting it.

 

 

From word of mouth, I heard that taller fake trees can be found, if you happen upon one. I don't know where though and I haven't seen them. However, not having a large tree didn't bother the kids or me, at all. They loved having their own trees, which they had the last several years in the US. It was a piece of "home" and "tradition" for them.

 

 

The week before Christmas, we were lucky enough to travel to the US for a week and celebrate Christmas with my family. While there, I found some Christmas crafts at Michael's and brought them back. On December 25, the kids found them in their stockings, along with their Christmas candies. My boss also bought each of the kids a present and those were placed under their miniature trees (which I had brought back in my suitcases). I let the kids know that all these presents were from me and dad, since Santa had already "visited" them in the US at their grandparents house. We spend the day in our pj's all day! We baked cookies and decorated Gingerbread men (from mixes I had brought over).

 

I think I redeemed myself for this holiday as the kids seemed to really enjoy everything!

-Andrea

 

 

The Christmas candies are taped with white labels, to cover up Santa and Rudolph.

 

 

My daughter's mini-tree and presents.

 

My oldest sons tree and presents.We didn't even add ornaments. No one mentioned it and no one missed them.

This is a "Pinterest" inspired tree that I made out of a ladder. I found the tinsel stuff at a local stationary shop here. The lights I had brought over from the US.

This is our youngest ones little tree and presents. As you can see, the trees got a little warped in the suitcases. Oh well. No one seemed to care.

 

This is our door filled with our Crhistmas cards and Gingerbread crafts that the kids made.

 

Side note:

 

New Year's day was another "fail" as fireworks could not be found. Mainly my daughter was mad about that. The boys could care less. The next upcoming holiday that I hope to make special for the kids is: Valentine's Day! Stay tuned to see what kind of heart related items I will be able to find!

 

camel picture from:12stepjewlery.com

 

Pearls and Old Things

I love old things. I love things with stories and with a unique past. Good thing. There are many old and interesting things in this city I am living. In the US, I found old things also. It was actually my hobby and thrill to go to every Goodwill, Salvation Army or second hand store. Even when I visited friends and relatives in other cities, if I spotted a Goodwill, I had to stop there and shop! Over the years, I obtained many children's books and puzzles for my kids and my classroom. It was a good way to get a shopping rush! However, the rush for me was finding something that had a "story." One old thing that I found was a tattered and falling apart old brown colored Bible. Before I bought it, I wondered "Who owned it before me? Who read it and was comforted by its words?" Actually, every time I read a "used" book, I wonder who held it before me.

So, how does this relate to Saudi Arabia and Pearls? Good question. Thanks for being patient with me as a rambled the above pre-amble to my story.

Pearls. Pearls are old. Did you know that the rarest and roundest most prized pearls can take about 5 years to form? I found this out, after I purchased some REAL pearls from Al-Balad, one of the oldest areas within Jeddah.

I recently became interested in pearls when I saw strings of them for sale at the street market. I had never seen such interesting things for sale at a street market before. Pearls are usually in jewelry stores or around someones neck! I will never forget that elderly man sitting criss-cross on a rug, with strings (literal white strings!) of pearls. Now, what I found most interesting was that these pearls were not perfect. They were cream colored and not round. Each one looked a bit different. I asked the elderly vendor if they were real and he said "yes, of course, look at them, you can tell that they are." He showed me his fake pearls and his real ones. Somehow I knew that he was right. So, I paid less than twenty US dollars for them and brought them home.

Investigation time. Why were the pearls so cheap? I went on YouTube and found out that the more rare a pearl is, the more expensive it will be. Pearls that are rare, are the ones that are almost completely round and have a high sheen. They usually take up to five years to form.

Here are a few video's about how pearls are formed and tips for Pearl shopping.





The pearls that I now own are not the rare. However, I wonder how many people own these type. I just love them, they are mostly round, a little bumpy in places and they have a medium sheen. To me, they are more beautiful that the rare and expensive ones. What do you think?
 

Long ago in Cambodia

Just 11-12 years ago, I visited Cambodia, with some fellow teachers-Dylan and MaryBeth. To this day, we still keep in touch via facebook. Gosh, I am in my early thirties, yet Smartphones were not yet around when we were vacationing in Cambodia! I feel so old now *sigh*! So, a few weeks ago, I found my picture albums and snapped pictures via my iPhone. Thus, making me appreciate my iPhone even more.

You may be wondering how I ended up in Cambodia. Did you even know I went there? During my first ever teaching job, fresh out of college, in the year of 2000, I taught Preschool in Taiwan. During a 3-day weekend, Dylan the adventurous teacher, arranged a trip to Cambodia. I was invited to come along with he and MaryBeth,  and during that invitation all I could think about is "where the heck is Cambodia?" I referred to my map and found out that it sits near Vietnam and Thailand. I also learned from Dylan the vast and sad history that this country faced. It experienced a genocide! Deemed a safe country, I was ready for an adventure and glad that I didn't have to plan anything! To this day, it is one of the most impactful places that I have experienced. It's beauty and simplicity still exist in my mind and are proved in my pictures below.

This is a famous temple in Siem Reap, called Angkor Wat. 

I remember our guide telling us about this temple entrance. It was the gateway to the jungle temple.

Here's me and our teenage guide, at a lesser known temple.

It was hot in Cambodia!

The above and below pictures show the crumbled gates that surround the jungle temple.

The setting of a movie scene from "Tomb Raider" with Angelina Jolie, was set here, at the Jungle Temple.

MaryBeth and I explored yet another ruined temple. They were so amazing in person!

I believe this is at Battambang, a government building. Here, there was a Buddhist temple that we entered that was glittered with real jewels and gold-even the floor was exquisite!

I took this picture, somehow, while riding on the back of a motor bike. When we visited the roads were mostly dirt roads. Motor bikes were the main mode of transportation.

We took an elephant ride up to see some more ruins. It was fun!

This is what Americans look like after a long day of hiking, sweating and riding motor bikes through a jungle!

Dylan is at the top, acting like the temple's king. For some reason, we each felt so special to be walking upon a place that perhaps a former king lived.

We came across a waterfall and so what did I do-went swimming in it! How refreshing! For some reason, that was something on my bucket list that I always wanted to do.

Even though Buddhism is not my religion, I can't help but recall the beauty in such buildings.They have some nice places of worship!

So, hats off to my fellow teacher friends! It was a great trip! I recommend Cambodia to anyone who is adventurous and curious about the history of other cultures! Be sure to Google Cambodia or even visit Wikipedia to find our more.

What Happens When You Vacation BACK to the US from Saudi Arabia?

Image via www.carseatblog.com 

First of all, how was it possible that we all were able to come back to the US for a mini-vacation? We have only been in Saudi Arabia for 6 months. My company was so generous and thoughtful to give me and the kids’ airline tickets to visit the US. During the month of November, I had a bit of a “culture shock” melt down and I think my boss agreed that I just needed a little break to refresh and recharge.

Before we flew out, each family member stated what we needed to stock up on when we got back to the US. Other than being with and enjoying our family, our other mission was to load up on the things that were either too expensive or too hard to find in Saudi.

The “stocking-up” began with my brother taking the kids to Wal-Mart. Not just a regular Super Wal-Mart, but a miniature regular sized small town Wal-Mart. His trip with them took over an hour  2 hours! My brother let them buy whatever they wanted and it was just so funny to see the random things that they chose to buy (based on the things that they must have missed the most).

Our youngest son bought:
·         Chocolate donuts and beef jerkey
·         Angry bird game and watch
·         Trident ice-cream flavored gum –and a
·         12 pack of Capri Sun drinks!

Our daughter bought:
·         US Weekly magazine
·         Press on finger-nails complete with art designs
·         12 pack of HUGS juice drinks –and a
·         Mini-video camera

Our oldest son bought:
·         Beef Jerkey
·         gum and candy
·         A remote control helicopter

While the kids were going crazy at the little Wal-Mart, the hubby and I were hoarding items at the Super Wal-Mart in the next city over.

Here is what we (mostly me) bought:
·         5 boxes of Cold-brew Lipton Iced Tea bags
·         5 tubes of Burt’s Bee’s chapstick
·         5 automatic eye-liners (self-sharpening)
·         My favorite shampoo and conditioner
·         Tomato bouillon cubes
·         Goldfish snacks and Cheez-itz      
·         Chili powder (to make home-ade chili with)
·         Ranch Dressing mix
·         Creamy peanut butter-3 jars
·         Grits (oh, how I missed them!)
·         4 bottles of makeup foundation, powder, eye shadow and lipstick
·         Tampons
·         Saltine crackers
·         Loads of kids Tylenol chewable tablets and chewable Pepto Bismol tablets
·         Socks for the boys

Things I forgot to bring back L  (dang it! why didn’t I think of that while I was there!)
·         Chef Boyardee Ravioli
·         Neosporin
·         Bengeit mix (not available, sadly)
·         Hot Tamales candy
·         Bubble-icious-gum

After our major splurging trip, we made sure to eat at our favorite places throughout the week. We went to: Larry’s BBQ-twice, Cracker Barell, Captain D’s, McDonald’s (for breakfast), IHOP, Chick-fil-A and Olive Garden. Stores we (me) got carried away in were: Old Navy, Bath & Body Works, JCPenny, Dillards, WAL-MART, Target, Barnes & Noble, Michael’s, Kohl’s and several shoe stores.

I was sure to also bring back many children’s books, Beth Moore and Joel Osteen studies, a mini-Christmas tree for each child, new clothes and shoes for the whole family, magazines and my Keurig coffee maker!

Of course there were more high-lights of our trip, but the best ones of all were spending time with friends and family that we hadn’t seen in years!

Wild Monkeys!

It is hard to believe that my family has been in Saudi Arabia for 6 months now! We are lucky to have relatives close by to fill us in on things to do. Life here can get a bit boring. Why? Well, we can’t just walk outside our apartment and go for a walk. We do sometimes, but only when we need to get a snack or a few groceries. (I am notorious for “forgetting” to buy things when we go to the grocery store!) We don’t have the “American” luxuries of our Texas neighborhood, where we had a pool and a playground nearby. Unlike most western expats we live in an apartment instead of a compound.

So, let me get back to why I am writing this blog post today. Well, over the weekend, we had an amazing little adventure…..with monkeys! Before I tell you about the monkeys, let me tell you about the events leading up to it. We left at sunset and drove towards the mountains. It was about a 3 ½ hour trip and my 2 brother in laws and sister in law joined us. The kids rode with them most of the way and gave Sohail and I little break from “he hit me” and “she touched me!” We drove past Taif to a city called Shifa. We stopped for some roasted corn, fresh fruit and our dinner of roasted chicken and rice. 

Then, we checked into a resort that my husband and his brothers had stayed in last year. It was a sweet little villa type home that had a kitchen,a living room, 4 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms. It was not a Hilton, but was nice and clean and we loved it! It had a playground that we played on at night time and we also made a fire. The kids had fun burning wood and making torches! What we loved about our stay was that it was cold. It felt like December in the mountains! We wore sweatshirts and jackets and were freezing! Compared to the daily winter weather of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, this mountain air was amazing!

The next morning we slept past noon and then checked out of the resort. We headed back down the mountain on the ever so winding road! We stopped to see cactus and flowers. And then….we saw WILD MONKEYS! We pulled to the side of the road and saw so many…they were climbing the mountains in packs! There were large daddy monkeys with furry manes and medium sized mommy monkeys with babies either on their backs or stomachs. We decided to feed the monkeys and pulled out some apples and bananas. Several monkeys then jumped on our car. They were so big and my daughter screamed as my little boys laughed hysterically. After the monkeys jumped off our car, we threw the fruit out the window. It was so cute to see them holding the fruit like people do! However,the big daddy monkey kept taking it all and not sharing! We were astonished at such selfish behavior! Oh well. After our fruit was gone, we continued down the spiraling road. A few hours later, in Taif, we stopped at another local fruit stand and bought strawberries, tiny red apples, tangerines and baby bananas!Then, about an hour later we saw more MONKEYS! This time, our little one threw an apple and the daddy monkey caught it! Oh what an adventure!  We then stopped to take pictures of the mountains-we couldn't resist!

To end our adventure, all the kids chanted “we have to go to the bathroom!” So, we found a rest area and my daughter and I endured the “squatty potties” again.  No problem-we are used to it now!