Extremely Private or Cooped Up

The weather has turned hot in Riyadh with daily temperatures exceeding 100'F. This translates into more time indoors and less motivation to go out. On a positive note, this means that Jeff will be taking over the grocery shopping soon, as I can hardly stand to be out in my abaya. In the last two weeks I've had to cancel a number of outings due to miscalculated scheduling (failure to plan according to business "family hours"), family sickness (the children have been sick for a week now - NO, it is not MERS!), and single parenthood (Jeff's been traveling). I begin to understand why Saudi families stay indoors so much. However, they are certainly more adapted to the heat. They frequently picnic at parks as the sun is going down and typically stay up much later in the evenings. On a recent evening Jeff observed scores of Saudis picnicking along the highway as he was driving back from the airport. Apparently, this is a common gathering place until early hours of the morning. Early kid bedtimes are so deeply ingrained in me that I'm not sure I can make this "desert adaptation." However, it is only May and we need to get outside, so perhaps we will learn to make some exceptions.

Saudi people are extremely private. Driving down a city street, one will observe only a handful of Saudi men, and more rarely a Saudi woman. Houses come with high concrete walls and few windows. I wonder...what do the Saudi women do in their houses all day. Sleep? Watch T.V? Visit with neighbors? I know it must vary. But it is a mystery to me now.

I'm thankful for our industrious home. My kids are amazing at finding projects. As I write Elijah is planting watermelon seeds and Ellen is creating little chicks to put inside her plastic Easter eggs. I'm thankful for homeschooling and all the various ideas that our curriculum presents to us. I often hear Ellen playfully playing with words, as Eugene Field did when he was young. And, I love how Elijah's mind latches onto some idea for a project and he looks for ways to execute it. Yesterday we began a unit on knot tying and spent several minutes brainstorming how knots were used in ancient times. Five minutes after the lesson Elijah was creating a zip-cord across the living room! Kids are amazing and very entertaining.

Masmak Fortress

Stay tuned for Benjamin's First Haircut...oh so cute!

A Truly Gritty Day

Wednesday we experienced our first massive Arabian sandstorm. I've never seen the sky this color - It was truly brown and completely veiled the sun. You could taste dirt in the air. During the evening we welcomed the relief of a lengthy thunder and lightening storm. The rain fell as enormous mud drops. I spent an hour the next day hosing off  the thick coating of dirt on our front patio.

An Unexpected Meeting

Last weekend Elijah had an unexpected opportunity to meet President Obama. He told me he knew it was going to be a good day when he woke up to scrambled eggs. (We had to get up very early - the logistics of getting to the same room as the president were quite extensive.) These are the things Elijah highlighted for the day: 1) shuttled to the very grand, Ritz Carlton Hotel, 2) saw John Kerry 10 feet away say a few words to the new ambassador then climb into his motorpool vehicle, 3) heard the president address the embassy families, 4) said "hello" and shook President Obama's hand, 5) spent the afternoon at a favorite park, 6) had fish and chips at Outback Steakhouse. What more could a 7 year old want in a day!

Ellen was there too! What was a thrilling morning for her brother was a heavily disappointing morning for Ellen. She turns 6 three weeks too late! It was a hard life lesson for her.

Nature Study in the Diplomatic Quarter

In 1989 the Diplomatic Quarter in Riyadh was selected for the Aga Khan Award for architecture. What was once barren, flat desert land along the Wadi Hanifa was transformed into a beautiful neighborhood of embassies, gardens, and homes. Tens of thousands of cubic meters of earth and rock were moved to recreate the space. Gardens were carefully planned with native plants of the Arabian peninsula. What a real pleasure to live here!

I can literally walk two blocks behind my home to a sandy road that twists and turns, climbs and falls, as it circles the compound. Morning runs take me past acacia, sagebrush, bougainvillea, jujube trees, etc. and scenic views of the wadi. For my NM friends, wadi is just the Arabic name for arroyo, a large dry canyon that acts as a funnel to channel any rain to fertile date tree farms below.

The Arabian peninsula has several north-south veins of wadis and escarpments. Riyadh (which incidentally means "garden" in Arabic) is situated on one of the largest wadis in the country, the Wadi Hanifa, and it runs along the largest escarpment, the Tuwaiq Escarpment. Both are surprisingly beautiful land features in the midst of a dry, barren land.

Here are some shots of a recent nature walk I took with the kids along the wadi. I will try to name what I can--although I may get some things wrong and need to correct myself later on.

Looking down into the wadi

Sweet little companions

Under the Jujubes

Gorgeous Agaves!

Two varieties of Aloes--flowering!

 Some kind of thistle

Waterfall in the desert!

Sketching...

So thankful for beautiful things to admire. God is good.

Quad-Biking Outside Riyadh - Yee-Haw!

This morning before the break of dawn we drug the kids out of bed and threw them on a bus heading for the Red Sands near Al Musahmiyah. Some new South African friends had invited us to join them for quad-biking on the dunes. What a blast! Check out some of our photos. Ellen proved to be a real speed demon. Elijah tried out his own bike but preferred to sit with his dad. Jeff managed to stay upright. Thank you, God! Even Benjamin and I gave it a go!

The color of the sand reminds me of the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado.

Other shots from the journey. What a beautiful drive through the Tuwaiq Escarpment! As you drive out of Riyadh the land appears flat as far as the eye can see. Suddenly, the land drops away on either side as you cross through the Escarpment. Quite Stunning!

The Dirah Souq

Today I took the kids to the Dirah Souq, a market where scarves, carpets, jewelry, and trinkets are sold. Most of the goods are imported from India, Pakistan, Afganistan, Central Asia, etc. However, local  artifcats can be found. In fact, I came home with a couple of beautifully embroidered clothes, stitched together locally (or so the vender told me). It was fun to walk around and see what was on display! I'm sorry I haven't got brave enough to pull out my camera in places like this, but here's some of my treasures.

The vendors spoke very good English and were polite. Not at all pushy. One of the salesmen even brought me a cup of coffee after I made my purchase. He told me repeatedly that he liked America and that he was giving me a good discount:) 

I got several questions about Benjamin - he certainly is a curiousity here. When I tell people that he is my son, they usually look confused and I believe assume that I have had several husbands. I always try to immediately correct them, saying that Benjamin's parents couldn't take care of him, so we took him into our family. Adoption does not happen in Saudi Arabia, but I believe it is considered a virtue to care for orphans. 

The Dirah Souq has two interesting attractions. One is a small castle, which apparently is sometimes open. I have yet to figure out when things are open or closed around here! The other attraction is "Chop-Chop Square." Though my first thought was that I was entering a livestock butching zone, I was informed by a friend that this is where crimial executions used to take place - beheadings! Wow! Hard to imagine! Sometimes it feels almost normal here...and then Chop-Chop Square!

A Lovely Neighborhood

The Diplomatic Quarter is surprisingly green and colorful. One of our chief concerns coming here was that we might be starved for beauty. Over the course of the last four years in Virginia, we had grown to love its many parks and trails, having favorite groves and riverside haunts. So what kind of beauty is there in the middle of Arabia? Well, we are determined to find out over the next few years! But starting close to home, the DQ is lovely. 

I'll try to learn what I can about the vegetation here - I thought it may be similar in some ways to NM, although I've seen some very different plants from the American SW. We have a date tree in our front yard, certainly a predominant tree of the city, not just the DQ. We thought they were just palm trees, until one day Benjamin brought us one of their seeds, saying "Cookie." Also, there are many varieties of Acacia trees, some with the cutest little yellow pom-pom flowers. If you see anything you recognize in the photographs, let me know what it is!

More on playgrounds another day...