Julia's 16th Birthday

Our dear daughter celebrated her 16th birthday in Riyadh this week.
In the U.S. when you turn 16 you get to drive and date.
Not the case in Saudi Arabia.

So I took her to the Globe Restaurant for her first date.
(Jay accompanied us as the chaperone) 
This restaurant is located at the top of the Alfaisaliah Tower.
The bright light is from Julia when they brought our her birthday cake.

Memories of Yesterday

Sandboarding in Saudi

Saudi @ Nite

Isaac إساك has gone native.

Post Election Sunshine

I was feeling a little blue the day after the U.S. election.
However, all of my students were happy, so I gave them a pop quiz.

The College of Medicine here publishes a magazine.
I was looking through it and guess who was quoted?
Thomas S. Monson!

Along your pathways of life 
you will observe that you are not the only traveler.
There are others that need your help.
There are feet to steady, hands to grasp,
 minds to encourage, hearts to inspire, and souls to save.

Thank you President Monson for brightening my blue day.

I felt a little sunshine in the sunniest place on earth.
I also remembered that gas is only 40 cents a gallon and there are no taxes here.
Life is Beautiful no matter who wins or loses elections!

Pooleys Global Pool Tour Sri Lanka

Our goal is to visit a pool on every continent on the planet.
Mark off Asia.

Bahrain Flying Building

Went to Bahrain for Girls Camp
Cool Building.
Propellers provide power for one lightbulb.
Al Gore would be proud.

If your vehicle stops running in Saudi Arabia

Here's what happens in Saudi Arabia when your mode of transportation stops running.
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or eat it for lunch.

Sri Lanka Shower

Elephants for Camels

We went to Sri Lanka this week. 

Tried a new means of transportation.

Rainbows in Riyadh

Today was amazing
It rained in Riyadh and then we saw a rainbow.
Two things I thought I would never see.

Work and the Glory in Arabic in Riyadh

The other night on the local Arabic NBC channel, they showed Work and the Gory with Arabic subtitles. Imagine that!

Thank Heaven for Small Miracles

We keep thinking about the beautiful fall weather in Idaho and missing sweet corn and beautiful sunsets. It makes us miss home and all the wonderful people we love.

I've been trying to make a mental note about things that are interesting here, so I thought I'd tell you about a few of them I've observed this week. There are so many differences and yet similarities that it's hard to believe we're actually in Saudi Arabia.

We saw a man one morning in the breakfast room of the hotel that was staring at us. That is not altogether uncommon since we are Americans and blondes. Come to find out, he is from Iran and had been educated in Arizona. Gale ran into him again at the University where he's a teacher too, and he asked Gale if he was a Mormon. He said a couple of his teachers in Arizona were Mormon and the best men he'd ever met, that he could always spot a Mormon. Many men here are quite short and he only stands about 5 feet 3 inches but this man has been an absolute lifesaver to us. His name is Hameed and since he speaks Arabic and English, has a car, and is a wheeler-dealer, he's been a valuable help to us. He keeps finding us places to rent so we've had a choice of a couple places. Otherwise, we would have been lost. It's funny that a city this size (5,000,000) has so few options. Unfortunately they don't have a craigslist or classifieds so everything is pretty much done by the "who you know" method or who will tell you.

So Hameed is now our new best friend and I think the prayers from home and divine providence has helped us in our hour of need. I was seriously beginning to think we would have to come home since we couldn't find a place to live and hotel life was getting old fast, but it looks like we'll be moving into our apartment this week. We have to furnish everything but at least we don't have to furnish the appliances and air-conditioners like some places around here. We've been trying to buy things at IKEA but the store is so packed with black and white (abayas and thobes) that you can't hardly walk the isles. We may be sleeping on hard tile floors for a few weeks! Carpet is a luxury here.

One thing kind of funny I wanted to let you know about; men here hold hands as an expression of friendship. Odd. You know they're not gay because you can get your head removed for that. I'll try to take a picture when I get the courage and send it to you.

Please don't worry about us. There's a lot going on in the Middle East and we've been advised to be a bit cautious, but Saudi is relatively calm with none of the violence you're seeing on the news. It's happening in the countries around us and we're praying it doesn't happen here, but so far it's O.K. Saudis are very reliant on America for their wealth and well-being. We'll be on a plane home at the first sign of trouble. They actually treat Americans well here. It's the poor workers from other countries that are treated poorly and with suspicion. You don't want to be a Syrian right now.

Well, have a good week. We are thinking of home and good friends and family.

Hi Everyone,
Boy, I'm missing you. Most Saudis, Philippinos, Syrians, Yemenis, etc., speak a little English but it's very hard to communicate. It's especially frustrating when you get into a taxi and they take you to the wrong place. We wanted to go to Fuddruckers the other day and the driver never could find it, even though there's 10 of them in this city. They have just about every fast-food chain available here but the beef tastes different, more lean and chewy. Change is hard sometimes.

We are still in the hotel, but we're living day to day and working hard to find a place to live. We think we've found a place but the Saudis seem to move in slow motion and since there's a scarcity of housing options, everything is extremely expensive. They can also be dirty, but if they're new they want you to furnish the appliances, air-conditioners and the furniture, too. Most all villas are tile so I'll just have to wear my shoes all day and you know how much I care for shoes!

The best thing about being here is how different everything is. Most women are all covered, even their faces and some from head to toe with a veil. They look at it as a sign of modesty and tradition. There's an example for the young women! Men are in their white thobes with red and white checkered headdress and appear to be much cooler. The traffic is absolutely crazy with people driving all over the place at high speeds, but everyone seems to have a pattern that keeps them moderately safe. We witnessed a good crash in front of the hotel the other day and it took the police 4 hours to get there. The high-rise buildings are in the oddest shapes: one looks like a fish, one looks like a purse, one looks like a pyramid with a ball at the top, one looks like a space-ship. I want to send pictures as soon as I can get some decent ones. On almost every block, there are men in front of little Mom and Pop type stores where you can get just about anything. They might have a whole block of stores to buy dishes and the owners don't seem to mind the competition. We've ventured to a couple malls but not to the street stores.

The church members have been wonderful and they're about the only Americans we see around here. There's been lots of soccer players at the hotel since soccer is big in Riyadh. The Saudis love families and seem to spend a lot of time indoors with them in the heat of the summer. The climate is definitely a dry, arid desert with temperatures between 110 and 120 degrees in the summer. All you see are palm trees, scrubby bushes, and lots of orange, sandy dirt. Everything is different, that's the fun of it!

Saudi NASCAR

Well we are officially on Saudi soil, or I should say Saudi sand.
The cab driver was the Saudi NASCAR champion.
80MPH and using two lanes all the way from the airport to the motel.
I thought DeAnna was going to jump out half way.
Even Isaac was impressed, he said it was better than any driving video game he had ever played.

Bill and Becky will be here tonight so things should get settled.

Our New Transporation and Housing

 

Driving in Saudi Arabia

The standard scooter in Saudi Arabia

 


I found this helpful video in preparing for my Saudi driver's license test.

Pooleys on the Plane: 747 San Francisco to London

Here We Go!

This is our first post. We hope for many more.


We are leaving our little burb of Rexburg, Idaho for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Click to Zoom

Gale will be teaching economics at Alfaisal University.

Four of our children will also be going with us.
Jay will be attending Alfaisal studying business finance.
Julia, Parley, and CeCe will be in for the adventure of their young lives.

Riyadh has over 5 million people, with over one million from other countries.

The largest female university in the world is also in Riyadh, the Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University. Maybe DeAnna will go there! Jay was trying to get in but decided he didn't want to wear an Abaya. This will be the standard dress for DeAnna and the girls.



We are going after being recruited by our good friends Bill and Becky Lathen. Bill was the Dean at the College of Business and Economics at Boise State University. He is currently the Dean of the College of Business at Alfaisal.