August 27, 2013

The Learning Game is on!

As with any move you always have learning happening. We are learning new things about our new home every day! I am going to just put some thoughts down about what we have learned so far from moving to Saudi Arabia!

1.       Our new friends that we have only known now for about nine days are the most generous and caring people around. Really! Last night we were at a dinner, a friend came up to introduce this person who had connections about getting a golf cart. The guy told us the price, and our friend was like I’ll spot you until you until you get paid….what, I mean that was so sweet of him to offer. Another example (we don’t have a washer and dryer in our house they are on back order) so we have had at least a dozen people say just come over to do your wash and you can use our Internet too!

2.       I/We don’t like the public restrooms outside of camp! I didn’t know about the squatty potties! Well in most public restrooms you’ll find basically a basin/drain with spray hose to clean yourself. I guess they don’t use much toilet paper! There are regular potties too but most of the time they have water (and god knows what!) on the floor! With no toilet paper! So the lesson learned is I will be carrying toilet paper in my bag when we go out!

3.       It is okay to be up at the crack of dawn! I mean it happens around 5:15! I actually enjoy this! I get up and go for a walk! I walk either along the beach or on the boardwalk that is along the beach! It is peaceful listening to the ocean wave’s crash against the shoreline. I feel safe walking alone. But. I’m not alone because many others are out walking/jogging! It’s a reflection time for me and a time to take in God’s beauty. It’s quiet although I did see a boat and heard it blowing its horn the other day but basically you don’t see any boats.

4.       I learning to adjust from being a working mom to a stay at home mom! The way things are working out as of right now I may not be subbing this year. Trying to find child care that would be reliable and would take Macey for half day and Caley for all day is a bit difficult plus trying to figure out how to get ourselves around camp and on time. As of right now Macey will be in the afternoon which I hope it will change to mornings. If that happens then I could sub in the mornings and have the afternoons off and only need childcare in the morning for Caley. We will see what plays out. Several moms that Michael has talked with wished they didn’t work their first year. I am comfortable either way we choose.

5.       Michael is still in shock about his schedule for school! He showed me his schedule and was like I’m going to get my work done at school. So here is his basic schedule. He goes in at 7 at 8 he teaches his A class. Then he has a 15 minute nutrition break. Then he teaches B class (short time than his A class). Then there is lunch for an hour. After that he goes back teaches another class and then has two planning periods till 4. I think he is going to love this plus he doesn’t have any more than 16/17 students in each class! No high stakes tests to stress over, there is some testing but nothing like what he has done before. This is a dream and we are still pinching ourselves!

6.       Riding the bus to places is not a bad ride at all. The company just replaced all their buses last year after a 15 year contract and bought some really nice Mercedes buses that pretty nice! They have two seats and two seat on each side on the inside and should you go shopping a but a lot of stuff there is a ton of room under the bus to store it!

7.       People here are kind. We went on the shopper’s bus to Al-Kobar last week. Caley fell asleep in my arms. I had my phone under my leg/under my abaya. When I stood up to get off the bus my phone fell, but I didn’t know it. When we got back on the bus I started to think about my phone and was going to play candy crush but realized I didn’t have it. Okay take a deep breathe leaned over and told Michael…We decided we would be the last ones off the bus so that we could check the floor. Then as we were stopped at security I hollered back to our friend Andres and told him. As soon as I did someone a couple of rows back said I found this phone and was going to turn it in when we got back, is this yours?? YES, YES!!! I was relieved! Thankful for the kindness of this person giving it back. Heck I wonder if that happened at home (TX) if someone would have given it back…

8.       The pool here is COLD!!! If you know me I don’t like the pool cold. Here the pools are on chillers so they don’t get bath water hot. But wow!!!! The girls get in and say, “COLDDDDD!” It is cold. So I stay in the kid pool where it is warmer!

9.       Michael has had to start his Hepatitis shoots over since his count in his blood wasn’t high enough. So, I’m thinking that will happen to me too! But I can’t get in to do blood work until all the paperwork has been processed and I’m in the system which should happen any day.

10.   Bowling only cost about 2 buck to play. We had fun the other day when we played! The girls had fun too even though all of theirs went into the gutter!

11.   Budget meals in the local dining hall are cheap and you get a ton of food. We got two meals and had left overs for the next day. It’s sad to say that it is cheaper to eat camp than to cook at home!

 

I guess that is all for now. I’m sure there is a lot more to write about but this is all I can think of for now. We are all doing well. We still do not have Internet but will soon! Macey seems to be adjusting and has had some emotional rollercoaster days but finds things that she likes to do and feels better. We now have satellite TV and this has helped now that we have access to the Disney channel!

 

Until next time be blessed!

The Myers

Pictures our Saudi House

Here are pictures of our house furnished with Aramco furniture!

 

 Girl's Room

 Another view of the girl's room.

 The girl's closets.

 Flowers from the tree outside our house! Caley loves to pick them up! Jasmine Tree...

Guest bedroom/Michael's office.

 Closets in the guest bedroom.

Pantry

 Kitchen 

 Girl's toy closet.

 Girl's bathroom.

 Hall closet

 Master bedroom!

 Master closets

 Halway looking towards the living room.

 Living room and formal dining.

 Looking into the living room.

 Another hall closet.

 

 Backyard with detached garage

Looking at the garage in the backyard.

 Front of the house

 

Jasmine tree in the front.

We Made It August 18

We made it!

Well, one of the biggest hurdles was made!!! We made it safe and sound to Saudi Arabia! We had two flights. One from DFW to Dubai and another from Dubai to Dammam. The first flight was about 13 and half hours. We rode in style in business class! Macey did well for the majority of the flight. She hardly slept, which was hard on us to keep her quiet while other were sleeping. I gave her some melatonin shortly after having dinner on the flight. She did fall asleep for a little while but woke in a panic because she didn’t know where she was. Towards the end of the flight I finally had to take all electronics away from her so she would settle down. I felt really bad for about two minutes while she screamed because she was made at me and others were sleeping but she settled and fell fast asleep! Caley on the other hand was quite the opposite. I gave her melatonin and she slept a good 6-7 hours. She woke up in a great mood and was playing with the flight attendants! Michael and I slept off and on throughout the flight when we could. We arrived in Dubai and had a four hour layover. So, we treated ourselves to the lounge. The lounge for Emirate covered most of the third floor in Dubai and was very large! They had a kid’s area which I must say was very boring. There was a toddler slide and picnic table for them to play with. There was also a 360 game unit but the girls don’t play that so they were running around pretended to play different characters from shows they knew and had a good time. Our last fight was a quick flight lasting about an hour and half. They fed us a meal which I found myself scarfing down because of the short flight, but wanted to eat, afraid that we might be waiting in very long lines at the Saudi Airport. Both girls passed out before this flight even began! So needless to say they were very cranky when we got into the airport which work to our advantage! Because they were both crying wanting to be held, which we couldn’t do with so much stuff, we arrived at the line for immigrations. There were about four or five people in front of us but because the girls were having a meltdown, the Saudi men had us go to the front of the line! Not sure if that was to get us out of there quickly or because that wanted to help us. Any ways we flew through there and went to get our luggage. Oh, what a nightmare that was, not really but we packed WAY too much!!! We ended up checking a total 11 bags plus we had four backpacks and other stuff! Again way too much! We know for next time! So we headed to customs which was just put all your bags on a belt and a guard looked at the stuff. We loaded all of our stuff and headed to the Aramco office but before we got there we were met by Andres (our friend who lives here), Tim (Head of Aramco Schools) and Michael’s principal Keith! They had a bag of cookie which helped perk the girls up! They were super sweet! We headed to the Aramco office got our temporary id cards and headed off to our new house.

The drive from the airport to the camp is only about 30 minutes which isn’t too terrible, I thought it was longer! It took an SUV to carry all of us and a truck to carry all of our luggage! We arrived at the gate of the camp were asked some question which we didn’t know and we proceeded first stopping to get the keys to our house. We drove down a main street named Surf Street and the turned onto three different streets before figuring out which street/house was ours! I have to note here that teachers/families are not usually housed in this area (why we couldn’t find the right street) because they are normally reserved for executives… The camp is just growing so fast that we were truly lucky to get one of these homes. So now back to the house…The house belongs to the original houses that were first built by Aramco many years ago! That being said there is not a single wasted space in the house! We have a three bedroom one story home with a huge room that is for the formal dining and living area much like the one we had in Texas but I’m thinking it’s wider and longer. There is a kitchen area that can be closed off by a door, two bathrooms a really nice size backyard with a good size covered patio! Oh, and we can just walk about a quarter mile and we are at the beach! The house came furnished which will do but I am so ready to have my bed to sleep in but I’m sure everyone feels the same way!

Our first night we walked the path to the boardwalk and went to the coffee shop. I tried an Arabic drink that tis called mint lemonade. It was different at first but grew on me! The girls got to see they beach but really couldn’t see because it was already too dark, they could hear the waves (small ones).

On Sunday the 18^th a bus came to pick us up to take us to lunch at the hobby farm aka where horses are kept but there is also a restaurant to eat at. We meet some other new teachers as well as some that have been here. We shared stories and had a nice time.  Although Macey had been up since about 2 in the morning she was tired and basically slept on Michael’s legs throughout the entire meal! We got her to wake up by asking if she wanted to go see the horses, boy she perked up and was very excited to see them. Both she and Caley have talked nonstop about visiting the beach and seeing the horses once we arrived in Saudi. I’m glad we were able to fulfill their wishes so quickly. We also went for a swim at the pool nearby. As we came in we met this sweet couple with a 6 month old baby girl! We started talking and they live really close to us. She is a stay at home mom and he is a Doctor who treats adults and children! Excited because we will choose him to see all of us instead of the company just giving us one! They are from California and have been here for about two weeks.

Tomorrow Michael goes to work for the first time. He is nervous as anyone would be starting a new job! This will be my first day at home with the girls. We may go down to the beach and play around before it becomes too hot. By the way the weather is HOT!!!! The humidity is the worst but everyone just keep saying just get through August and September and then we will have about 8 months of really pleasant weather!

We are so excited about our adventure and the many more friends we have and will meet. The girls seem to be enjoying themselves but we’ve only been here about 24 hours. Thank you for all the well wishes and prayers. We love and miss you!

There is No Turning Back Now…

It’s hard to believe that all of (well most of) our stuff is on its way to Saudi Arabia. There’s no turning back now! We are full of excitement, anxious and just stressed. Michael and I keep apologizing to one another because we keep stepping on each other’s toes! But, let’s face it a move like this will test anyone and will put you into moods you don’t normally get into! We knew what we were getting into!

Are final paperwork came in on Tuesday and it was a good thing we looked at it close because I didn’t have a ticket on the plane! YIKES!!! FREAK OUT MODE!!! Called our relocation person and she completely missed that I didn’t have a ticket. She took care of it and within an hour I had a ticket! Ok, breathe….I think it stemmed from my visa issue earlier but not completely sure why I wasn’t issued a ticket. I teased Michael and told him there were no business class seat left and that they upgraded me to first class! That would have been so cool!!! I’m just thankful that I got a ticket and that we are together on the same flight.

As of tomorrow our house will be on the market. I sure hope it sells, fast! We are selling it as an “as is,” because we know we have some foundation issues. We ended up hiring a structural engineer who knew what he was doing instead of the quacks at those foundation places. We had everything from “you don’t have any foundation issue, you just need to water” to almost $20,000. CRAZY!!! What is interesting is that the engineer said we needed work on one side of the house and a section of the garage with some correction in drainage which didn’t even touch what the other companies wanted to do. We have learned a lot during this process and will be better informed when we purchase/build another house. Life is a living and learning, right?

Nothing tells you that God’s working in your life than to show up at church and have the preacher preach directly to you, right? Well that happened to us yesterday at church. Pastor Daniels talked about how sometime you need to just let go knowing that God is in control and just see where He takes you. Ironically he introduced us to a woman who use to be Muslim, accepted Christ two years ago, and she is doing just what Pastor Daniels said. She sold her business in Arlington, wants to go to seminary and then wants to go find other women around the world who are hiding behind the veil to spread the gospel.  Who knows where Saudi will take us, what adventures we’ll have or the people we will meet. We are amazed at how during this whole process we have put ourselves out there not knowing what was to come. But, we know for sure who we put our trust in and will continue to as we spread our wings to explore this world.

The  next time I write I will probably be in Saudi. We have been truly blessed by the friendships we have made and will miss each one of you! (Tears)

 

Until next time be blessed!

 

Love,

The Myers

It Has Begun...

Well, today we got word that Michael got his visa! GOOD NEWS!!! But wait, I didn’t get mine…BOO!!! Here is what happened. My visa was rejected because of my passport picture that was submitted with the visa. Saudi’s are very conservative and the picture I had taken was a scoop neck…too much of my neck was showing. So, when we were in Houston about 4-5 weeks ago they took another picture. In this picture I put a scarf over my shoulders to cover my neck. Well this was the picture that was submitted, and the Saudi embassy thought it had been photo shopped! So, our relocation advisor submitted the first one that shoe neck to see if they will accept it. If not, I will have to submit yet another picture!

In other news, we have our official pack date when we will packed up! On August 8^th and 9^th the mover will come in and do their magic! We are down to crunch time and still have so many things to do! ((SCREAM!!!))) Just kidding! Our nerves were a little on edge on Monday finally hearing that our pack date was being schedule but that was all calmed down after we had breakfast with Andres Vazquez! He is defiantly our calm in this storm since he went through the move last year! I also need to give credit to Ben and Ashley Turner who also made the move last year with a toddler and Ashley pregnant between 6-7 months along. They have been giving us lots of tips and tell has how wonderful it will be once we are over there and this craziness is behind us!

Yesterday, we went to Target to have our last family pictures taken before we leave. Here is one of my favorite shots!

 (will update when I have CD)

It took about four shots before we got this one but I LOVE IT!!! We also got pictures with the grandparents. I plan to put a book together for the girls so they will always know how much their grandparents love them!

 Until next time be blessed!

 

Love,

The Myers

The Waiting Game..

So, I sit at my kitchen table in Fort Worth, TX and am thinking of ALL of the millions of things that need to be done before we leave for Saudi Arabia, but at this point we still don’t have an official go yet! It’s crazy! We know when we are leaving, and who we will be flying with but we don’t have our visas yet. Nor do we know when our house will be packed up! We are living in limbo, cleaning, packing things we can’t take, buying stuff that we want to take, and making repairs to the house….oh wait the house. That too, is in limbo! We don’t know if we want to rent it, sell it as an as is or fix the foundation and then sell it…Again I told you, CRAZY! But in the end I know who is really in control and know that this time next year we will be laughing at how crazy we thought this moving half way across the world would be!!!

So here are the logistics of what we do know. We will depart DFW on August 16 and fly to Dubai. From there will take another flight into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  Once we arrive will in SA we will be greeted by a group of people, some teachers, from Aramco. We will then process through customs do some paperwork and then will be driven to our house. We don’t know what house will be ours (funny part is the principal will be given the keys to our house two days prior to our arrival)! We are told that it will be some time around midnight when we arrive at our new house! From the time we leave DFW  to the time that we get internet hooked-up, phone service can be at least two weeks and maybe longer.

We are excited about our new adventures as a family and can’t to share with you our up and downs that will come. Until next time be blessed!

Love,

The Myers