Got Milk?... trial and error

Got Milk?  We have learned many things through trial and error since arriving in the desert.  Before our arrival the support services office had made our beds, arranged the furniture, laid out towels and filled our cabinets and fridge with a starter supply of food. This was so wonderful. It was 10:30 pm when we walked in, had a tour and were left alone in our new home. We were wiped out after 24 hours of traveling. The kids, Solomon in particular, hadn't eaten much during our three flights. We were all hungry and so thankful for the bowl of fruit and sandwich goodies. The next day after touring the school campus and having lunch at the Mall of Dhahran food court, all the new families were dropped off at a local grocery store to do some shopping while our bus waited to deliver us back to our compound. Thus began our two weeklong searches for milk. We tried to find the same brand that was in our fridge when we arrived. Somehow we couldn't find one that we all thought tasted good. Even David was having a tough time... One night he bought one of every kind in the store. That was an experience. The label doesn't necessarily tell you what is inside. Several times we found ourselves with full cream or buttermilk over our cereal. Eventually we found Long Life milk. Believe it or not… it's not even in the refrigerated section. You buy it by the boxful, about 4 gallons worth. You can keep it in your cupboard and put it in the fridge when you are running low. It's good, really!!!

Our Villa

We arrived at our new villa @ 10:50pm. Solomon, our extremely picky eater, was famished. He had barely eaten anything for a full 24 hours. He didn't like anything on the planes. I will admit we were given some "interesting items" that I tried but didn't care for. I ate some things anyway to keep from being too hungry and to try to set a good example for the kids. They didn't even pass out regular peanuts, but smoked almonds instead.

We were so thankful when we arrived at our compound we discovered the school had supplied everyone with a basic set of food and drinks. We all really appreciated that first meal in our new home, cereal and fruit. When we arrived at the compound armed guards came out and checked out the bus and looked over all of the new staff. We had a couple veterans on our bus too. I was so glad they were with us. Once you clear the initial gate you turn past a camouflage covered shelter that has a swiveling machine gun in it. Yes! Then onto the next gate and more soldiers before a huge metal obstruction is lowered into the ground and the last gate is opened.

Back to our villa, it is ridiculously big. The rooms are massive. Currently we have an upstairs family room that has no real purpose because we already have a living room and family room downstairs as well as a large entry/foyer type room, dining room and eat-in kitchen. All the rooms are furnished.

The kids love it. They've made lots of friends. The compound feels a bit like a college dorm…people popping in and out of each other's villas, hanging out at the pool, kids in the rec room, or ladies planning shopping trips with our drivers or just borrowing eggs or sugar from the next door neighbor.

A Warm Welcome

We took three separate flights to Saudi. In Cincinnati we were given the "full treatment" by security. My guess, we were flagged due to our destination. When we arrived we found out that all the new families were also thoroughly searched at their respective airports. We had 10 carry-ons, full of electronics plus my purse. Every teeny tiny item was swiped and tested for explosives. We all had to sit down separated by search stations and were told repeatedly "Don't touch anything." You can imagine the looks we got from other people coming through security. :0)  Eventually, we were cleared and could repack and move on to our gate. When we stepped off the subway close to our gate, security alarms we're going off. We went on up the escalator and took the moving walkway to our gate. Where we encountered security guards lined up abreast of each other not letting anyone pass. It turned out to be nothing but it delayed us for quite a while longer. Thankfully we went to the airport 3.5 hours early or we might not have made it!

The rest of our travel was uneventful. It was a bit nerve wracking finally arriving. As I watched Middle Eastern women on the plane going to the restroom dressed one way and coming back completely covered up. Reality started to sink in. :0) Thankfully, we seemed to be the only flight arriving at Dammam International Airport at that time of night and almost all the departing passengers were for our school. The majority stayed on the plane traveing on to Doha.

My principal and her family ended up on our final flight due to a late plane arrival into Amsterdam the previous evening. My kids were thrilled. We had traveled to their "lovely" lake house a few days earlier and become pals. Also our buddy couple was on our flight as well as three other families. It seems I was nervous for nothing because security sent us right through, didn't open anything. Oh wait, the first official talked to David and asked him several questions, silly ones I might add. Then he talked to each kid and would ask them things like "Who is Abraham?" "Where is your Dad?" He talked quite a bit to Triniti. I thought it very interesting that he didn't speak to me, ask me a question or even act as if I was there. Not so much as to even mention my name. I said to David "and so it starts..." :0) We both had a good chuckle over it.

We were greeted by the district superintendent Norma Hudson, and H.S. Vice Principal Marcus Toneatto and some other staffers. They had a huge banner welcoming us with all our names on it. We did all the preliminaries... even the distributing of settling in funds in the airport terminal before we walked out to the buses.  After walking out I knew why everything was done inside. I can't tell you how immediately, amazingly hot it was. It felt like I couldn't breathe. Seriously. The humidity was way over the top. Words are not enough to convey the heat right about 110 degrees, and especially the humidity, and this was at 10:00 PM.
"How's that for a warm welcome?"