Shopping in Saudi: Who knew?

Hermes, Cartier, Marks and Spencer, Bebe, ZARA, Locitanne, Banana Republic, H&M and Gap kids to name a few. The shopping here is insane. But no Nordy's. The jewelry stores have large 10k stones in rings and necklaces on display in the windows. These are emeralds in the picture. Rolex watches are a huge status symbol here. Gorgeous, expensive formal dress shops in every direction. These are worn at home for family parties.There are tons of baby equipment, clothes, toys and furniture stores - big families here.
I didn't get to even the smallest fraction of the Dhahran mall. It is literally so big that it is probably the size of two malls. And for them, that is one mall. Then there is another mall a mile away with the more high end stores. It is insanely fun to shop here ...but "just looking" as I tell Louie and myself. The prices are very expensive...must hit the sales at just the right time.
In the mornings, the malls are empty. Due to the heat, the Saudi's are nocturnal. They come out about lunch time and then back in for prayer. The malls are packed in the evenings and stay open until 11 p.m. or midnight. Men aren't allowed to go to the malls by themselves but should go with their wives, families or friends.
Most of the store clerks are men - think back to the 1950s. Even in the lingerie stores, there are only men to help you. It seems to be a serious career here. Very interesting.
Women aren't allowed to try on clothes in the stores. You buy the clothes, try them on in the women's bathroom and if you don't like the fit then return them 10 minutes later. Few stores have a return policy; mainly an exchange policy.
I can't find my Asics or New Balance running shoes here. The Saudis are HUGE into soccer and have a zillion Addidas and Nike athletic shoes.
This is my favorite! Because the heat is so unbearable in the summers, the malls have amusement parks inside them. Usually they will take up one floor of the mall or one end of the mall with roller coasters, carnival rides and arcade games. Mall of America has nothing on these guys! Can't wait to take Louie. He doesn't know they exist yet for obvious reasons.

Our new sandbox

When we moved in, there wasn't one tree, bush or grassy yard. It was all sand-actually one big sandbox. In prepping the houses Aramco wants everyone to start out the SAME. So they remove all the grass, flowers and bushes. This allows the new owner to order the plants they want from "gardening." Interesting thought, but our yard was completely barren - not even a tree!
We were allowed three small trees (12 inches high) and a few starter plants and grass starts. I really had to bargain for that third tree. No concept of sod here and the starter plants are truly starter plants at 6 inches high. The secret is to find someone who is leaving and to transplant their plants, bushes and trees before Aramco comes in and cleans it out. It's the oddest thing but everyone does it before the hired gardeners get to it. The gardeners in turn sell it to the families they work for here in the community.
Basically, we started from scratch. One family leaving told us we could have anything in their yard. We transplanted 4 bushes in the dark cover of night - seemed very odd to be doing this! I joined the gardening club here and had to learn what grows in SAND. After a few trips to the nurseries around here, I was able to fill in around our 4 leafy plants and add flowers and filler.
We finally finished this afternoon. Louie was a big help with the flowers. He would bring me one at a time. I would point where I wanted it to go. He would smile at me and then put it where he thought it should go! Such a character. He loves to garden with me - because basically we are playing in a big sandbox!

Saudi-gaudy!

We have been looking for furniture for the past couple of weeks - the furniture is huge and gaudy! I call it "Saudi-gaudy!" Not only is it gaudy, it's tacky and expensive. Saudi homes have huge rooms for their huge families. So it's common for them to have a couple of couches, love seats and chairs in one room. They love a vibrant mix of colors and fabrics. Who can blame them when they live in the desert?!
Every now and then, we find a couch or sectional that might look like the US but such cheap quality. Also, I found it quite humorous that the only way to buy a couch was in a set--the way you would see it in the catalog; couch and two love seats or couch, love seat and two chairs. The same applies to buying a pitcher; one must buy the matching glasses in the set.
Well, that's not quite our style. So it has been a little challenging to furnish our living room. However, I did learn it is quite inexpensive to reupholster furniture. So I bought a couch off the company craigs-list for $200. It's from Hickory Hill in North Carolina and actually matches the over stuffed chair I have at home from Hickory Hill -- what are the chances? So I'll try to ship out my chair and recover both of them. Done!

Louie's new friend, Owen

The second day we were here, Louie met a new friend named Owen. He lives two blocks down the road. Their birthdays are 6 weeks apart and squeal when they see each other! They love to play choo-choos and ride bikes together. I've never seen two boys just laugh and laugh. They like to hold hands when crossing the street to their preschool. It's the cutest thing!

Louie starts preschool

There is an adorable little preschool here for just 2 year-olds. It is run out of someone's home where a little classroom is set up and has little tykes jungle gyms in the backyard. Their curriculum is to not hit, bite, or push. They learn to play together, share and line up. Louie LOVES it. He has a little "Lightening McQueen" backpack ("pack-pack" as he says it) full of diapers and wipes rather than books and pencils. His teachers' names are Mrs. Ana and Mrs. Laurie. He goes for a couple of mornings a week. I LOVE it too.

Louie's Life in Saudi Arabia

The Saudi women in the community just LOVE Louie. They touch his light colored hair, want to pinch his little rosy cheeks and try to play with him. He just scowls. One woman just picked him up as we walked into the dining hall. That didn't go so well. I think it's the head scarves. One woman was trying to talk to him and he kept pointing to his head. She looked at me and asked if he had a headache. Funny. I think he was saying, "what is on your head!" The women who wear the full scarves with just the slit for eyes really freak him out. They look like the dementors from Harry Potter!

Well, we finally got a crib today from the furniture rental. I think it was built in the 1950s. But Louie is able to stretch out and sleep comfortably. His room is the only one with pictures up, actually cute bedding and a bookshelf. The kitchen is pretty well stocked with Diet Coke. But the rest of the house needs a little help! We will get there. I hired a driver to take us into town to get a few things at IKEA - this will be our fourth trip in a week!

But I needed a microwave

After being in Saudi Arabia for a week, I realized how much I needed a microwave. The challenge was to find one without Arabic numbers and words and one with a 110 plug. Not as easy as it sounds. After searching several stores, I was ecstatic to find one for only $47.

I made my way to the line of taxis with this huge microwave, loaded it in the trunk and asked the driver to take me to IKEA. Very simple. Well, he didn't speak ANY ENGLISH nor did he recognize the shop name IKEA. Change of plans - told him to go to the Dhahran mall which was across the street. He understood and began to drive. At the first stop light, he looked over the seat and began to check me out up and down in an obvious sleazy way. Just as an FYI, the custom here is, if a man is attracted to you, cheats on his wife, or hits on you, then it's your fault. I was wearing the abaya and covered from top to toe. He begins to babble, possibly lecture, in Arabic and ends with the only word I recognized, "religion?" I told him Christian. He continues to lecture and asked again, "religion?" With a stern look on my face and in my best teacher voice I told him that I was here with Aramco and a Christian. Then I reminded him - Dhahran Mall please. After I mentioned Aramco, he quit hassling me.

It was the longest 15 minute ride to the mall. I happily paid him to get out of the cab and hauled my microwave to the closest Diet Coke on ice. No limes but it didn't matter. I was out of his cab and line of sight from his rear view mirror.

My uncle said that was unusual and I should have gotten out of his cab...but what about the microwave? I couldn't leave my new treasure. Some people asked if he was a "matawah" which is the self-appointed religious police here. These matawah feel it is their duty to reprimand women who aren't "covered." I wasn't wearing a head scarf but in full abeya. This is usually what the Westerners wear. I've had a few people comment it could have been my blond hair. Too bad... I'm keeping the blond hair!

The "Easy Life"

When we were going through the interviewing process with Aramco and learning about life in the Aramco community, we were told this was the "easy life!" You have housekeepers, gardeners, dog walkers and a nanny if you want one. Labor in Saudi Arabia is cheap. Therefore, it's the easy life.

With the community being relatively small, word of mouth travels quickly when a new family arrives. We arrived at our house at 1 a.m. Due to jet-lag, I stayed up to unpack through the night. By 6 a.m. (sun is barely coming up), I finally find the sheets to make a little bed on the couch so that I wouldn't wake up Cody or Louie. I wanted to get some sleep before Louie woke up. I am not kidding you, 20 minutes later, there is a knock at my door waking me up to see if I need a gardener?! What the freak?!!!! Clearly, my answer was no at that moment. An hour later, another knock woke me up to see if I needed a gardener. A couple of hours later, there was another knock at the door. Cody answered the door and the guy had raked our sand to show what a good gardener he would be and asked if we needed a gardener? I mean honestly! So I got a little tip from our neighbor to put a sticky note on the door that said NO. It worked like a charm - no more gardeners.

"Putt-Putt"

Transportation is the key to feel like "normal" here. Cody got a little impatient looking for car and came home one day with this tiny scooter I have nicknamed, "putt-putt." The engine is a quarter of the size of our lawn mower. It's a putt-putt.

Around here - only the gardeners drive scooters and are all Phillipino. So when they see this big white boy on a scooter, they are so confused. There is very much a class system here. You do NOT go beneath yourself. And driving a scooter is putting yourself with the gardener class. This is so Cody... thinks he going to change thousands of years of cultural norms because he wants a scooter. The upside is--it only costs 25 cents to fill it up each week.

Move to Saudi Arabia: First Impressions

So we get off the plane in Saudi, jet lagged from 24 hours of flying with a 2 year old and I swear my first thought was... is there possibly a fountain diet coke? No such thing...

Thankfully, all of our luggage, 11 boxes and our dog Murphy made it through customs and into 2 taxis to take us to our new home in the Aramco community.

As we drove into camp at 1 a.m., I felt like we were entering the Truman show! All of the houses were arranged perfectly in a row, lawns manicured and looked identical. We were pleasantly surprised to get a single family home on a corner with a great view of the sunsets, community, and palm trees. Your housing assignment is based on the number in your family. With three, we qualified for a two bedroom with a study. Our house has three bedrooms and a study!

The next day we took our first field trip to the commissary to buy groceries. It took forever, because I couldn't read the labels and was slow at the conversion. It is crazy expensive here. One box of teddy grahams - $10! One pkg of hotdogs - $10!

Afterwards, we drove around the community to get a "lay of the land." There is a tennis club, golf courses (one is a sand course), a couple of pools, equestrian center, tons of soccer fields and baseball fields, an art center, a business center with the PO boxes, a barber shop, a photo shop and the bank. I am curious to venture out of the community tonight or tomorrow to hit the IKEA. But I need to get an abeya first. Who knows where to shop for one of those?

Ho-Ho-Ho...Where did it go?

The Christmas season came and went too quickly! We kicked off the season with going to the Rockettes with Marcy, Wayne, Tiff and Rich. It was a fantastic show. Marcy would have joined in their high kicks if only they would have invited her!
On Christmas Eve, Marcy and Wayne joined us at the Park City Resort to welcome Santa down the mountain. Louie loved the excitement of the skiers with flares and Santa! We were sure to say hello to Santa. He handed Louie a Christmas candy cane. As a bonus, Louie met the skiing Frosty the Snowman and Mrs. Frosty.
It was freezing cold so we went home quickly for hot chocolate and prepared Santa's plate full of cookies. However, Louie thought it was important to test the cookies to make sure they were "good enough" for Santa. Matter of fact, he wanted all of us to test the cookies.
Even though Santa only got milk this year, he did bring Louie a few things from his wish list--legos, cars and trains. Thank you Santa!

On the Road Again...

Truly this is not intentional, but we seem to be on a plane for all of Louie's birthdays. Last year, we were in Aruba. This year, we flew to Houston for Cody's Aramco orientation. Dad and Becky met us there for the weekend. We celebrated Louie's birthday with cupcakes in the hotel room. He was delighted to learn how to blow out a candle. I must have re-lit it 17 times...until he got a little too close. Afterwards, we celebrated at the Houston Aquarium. He loved the octopus, parrot and feeling the slimy sting rays. Outside of the aquarium were carnival rides and games. Louie LOVED riding the carousel - again, again and again. Also, we rode the "choo-choo' through the shark tunnel. So fun to see Grandpa Hunter and Aunt Becky. Thanks for joining us in Houston! Louie was on the plane home to Utah for his second birthday. Happy Birthday Love-Bug!

Louie's First Cruise

One day we got an email advertising a sale on cruises and next thing you know we are packing our bags for a 7 day Carribean cruise! It's the perfect vacation for a 2 year old. We were able to get hot dogs at anytime, swim in the pool, play with the huge chess pieces on the Lido deck and go to formal fancy dinners with linen napkins. If there was ever a time he got fussy, one of us would take him back while the other could continue laying out at the pool. Louie learned quickly where the self-serve ice cream was located and visited there often!
He met some darling little girls in the markets of Ocho Rios, Jamaica. A special little musical instrument was made for him out of a coconut. He plinks on it like a guitar. We lounged on the beach in Grand Caymen and found MORE ice cream at the Hagen Das store; that kid has an eagle eye for ice cream. Overall, it was a great time to relax and spend time together as a family. We loved it! And as fate would have it, Louie was on an airplane for his second birthday as well! I like this trend.

Shhh! Louie has a shoe fetish

Now, Cody would die if he knew... but Louie has a shoe fetish. He loves shoes - his shoes, my shoes or daddy's shoes. Maybe it's his age. However, he wants to pick out his own shoes, wear his shoes to bed and wear my shoes. Now, he's in love with these new snow boots. One night I was trying them on him to make sure I got the right size. They were not about to come off without a robust rebuttal! He had to wear them in his house, driving his car and running around the house. He was delighted at the new addition to his collection. And yes, he did wear them to bed...for a week!

An Ode to Sesame Street...

One day his first full sentence will be about Elmo and Abby Ca-Dabby. He loves eveything about Sesame Street. He giggles and giggles when Super Grover crashes into the lamp post. He sings with the opening song..."Come and play...". As soon as Abby shows up on the screen, his face lights up! I think he is in love.
This is HIS alone time with Sesame Street. He does not like to be bothered - not even for a kiss and a hug. He is totally territorial about it. Muphy will walk in front of the TV just to get his attention. But Louie won't have it! He will scream at Murphy until he moves. I swear that dog does this to push his buttons. Louie truly savors his time with his woobie, his morning eggs and Sesame Street.
Sesame Street has come a long way since I watched it as a kid. I am impressed with all of the academics--especially the science concepts and vocabulary building. Who knew there are celeb spots now? Today was Jason Bateman talking about the word, "comfort." Elmo had to comfort Jason because he was upset that nobody needed comforting.

Happy Birthday Juju and Sal!

Sal and I share our birthdays in the same month. Her birthday is September 6th and mine is September 7th. Usually we are at the beach in North Carolina blowing out candles together. This year, we changed locations. Sal has never been to Jackson Hole, Wyoming -- and we needed to change that fact. Sal and JJ joined the Johnson family for a road trip. It was probably a little different with a 20 month old baby. On our travels, we heard a lot of singing, "Five Little Monkeys, " Itsy Bitsy Spider and some Elmo videos. Louie was unfortunately a little out of sorts with some tummy trouble (as Aunt Amber would call it). However, we all made the best of it and seemed to cover quite a bit of ground in two days. We shopped the town square, ate at non-chain restaurants (Billy's Burgers, The Bunnery and this one off the road in the middle of nowhere yummy place), visited galleries, perused the Saturday market in the town square, took tons of pictures and marveled at the Grand Tetons. Sal and I didn't blow out any candles this year but made up for it by having Hagen Das ice cream twice in two days!

Hunters stay for a little vacation

After Jordan went into the MTC, Mom, Dad and Becky stayed a little while longer. It was great! We enjoyed relaxing without a schedule. Louie showed Aunt Becky where to find the dandilion puffs in the mountains of Park City. Aunt Becky showed Louie how to blow bubbles in the water. Grandpa Lou showed Louie how to shove pistacio shells through the cracks of the deck. Louie showed Grandpa how to walk with his cane!
We took the Park City Mountain Resort Gondola up the mountain to have dinner prior to Mom and Dad getting on the plane. Louie was amazed by the ride up the mountain...Why does vacation time go so quickly?

"Hollywood" Before and After

My nephew, Jordan, is entering the MTC this week. He received his call to the Australia, Adelaide Mission. When he came to Utah, I didn't recognize him without his whispy hair and hip Hollywood sunglasses. Hence the nickname, "Hollywood." Despite his feeble attempt to scoff at his new nickname, you know he loves it. The pictures above are his before (last summer) and after (this summer) pictures in preparing for his mission.
In spending time with Jordan this week, it has been impressive to see my jokster young nephew morph into a humbled and prepared missionary ready to get on his mission. He is still the same crazy Jordan--joking around, doing wild antics on his snowboard and quoting movies. However, he seems more at ease to talk about his serious reasons for going on a mission and knowing that Australia was chosen for him by the Lord. I've known Jordan all his life. He has that personality trait of connecting with people from all walks of life...combine that with his testimony of Christ and he will do a great work for the Lord.
Jordan with Louie - an hour before putting on his suit to go to the MTC. He and Louie are enjoying some graham crackers together.

Bear Lake 2010

Bear Lake was HOT this summer! Our favorite relief was anything with water - whether it be boating on the water, water in a bucket or watermelon. In the first picture, Louie loved helping Grandpa drive his boat and toot-toot the horn. Occasionally he would look up and give Grandpa this gratuitous, hearty, loud laugh. It was hilarious.

Mudpuddle Mayhem

Mud! He must had motored around in that puddle for over half an hour. I tried to take the woobie away but -- not going to happen! Woobie got it's moment in the mud too.

3 Steps Today!

We celebrated Mother's Day at Aunt Tiffany's house. Uncle Rich grilled some amazing steaks --driving the dogs crazy! For my Mother's Day, Louie took three steps by himself! Our safety kid walked from the couch to the coffee table (taking three steps) over and over due to the repeated applause from his parents, grandparents, cousins, aunt and uncle. I should have video taped the "audience" clapping and cheering for future motivation. He was on a roll today...started drinking from a cup with Grandma Martsey and loved it. Of course, most of it ended up on his shirt. But I think that was the draw.

Baby Animal Birthday Party at Thanksgiving Point

We took Louie to Thanksgiving Point to see all the new baby animals. He can make the cow noise and the dog noise (no surprise, we hear it often enough!). Well today! He showed us that he has more than two tricks up his sleeve. He was smitten with the baby goats! They would hop around each other and "maaa-maaa" to maneuver to get at the feed being offered them. Louie studied them for a few minutes and then blasted with his own response, "MAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He found himself quite humorous.

Louie on a Snowy Day

He LOVES the snow--sledding, kiddie tubing, and going on a snow hike. Recently, I used his sand toys he got for Easter to scoop up snow and bring it inside to play. He stirs and stirs the snow around in his sand bucket. Cody asks him, "Skippy, are you baking a cake?"

Teething - what a pain!

Louie was teething all four molars on this day. Nothing in the world was right for Louie until he discovered the paper towels. I placed him on the floor and told him to "have at it!" He must have played there for an hour...and then Murphy wanted in on the fun!

Learning at Lightning Speed!

Waving bye-bye? No problem. High-five? Easy. Eating by himself? Doing that for months. The learning is happening so fast! One day, he learned how to make the cow noise, "!" Another day, he learned how to "give kisses." Another day, he is walking with his shopping cart without our assistance. I can't keep up with it all happening so quickly. He says "uh-oh", "doggie", "mama", "mum" or "mom" (usually it's "Maaaa!"), "cheese", "apple" and the beloved "NO." He's got that one down really well. Despite Cody's coaching of "daddy", Louie has said it but is very judicious with its use.

"Hey Louie!"

I came up behind him and found him flipping through his books. As a literacy specialist, I couldn't have been more proud! Once he realized I was there, he started to show off... gave me his famous "gap-tooth" grin. Then he grabbed his woobie (ratty-tatty baby blanket) and "gave it a love." What will we do when the woobie is no longer around?