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!