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!