Happy New Year everyone! We hope all of our friends & family had a great holiday season, as different as it was from previous years. I think everyone was happy to close the 2020 chapter and move forward but there was some great things that came out of the year! Tons of learnings for everyone, including an increased appreciation for the little things that we often took for granted - the opportunity to shop and enjoy patios with friends, the chances to visit family, the ease of travel, etc. A Facebook memory from early January 2020 just popped up and us reminded us of a sunny Friday last year, we were golfing in Saudi and on the 5th hole. Someone said we should be in Bahrain at the rugby club having a beer on the patio. Silence overtook us, nobody spoke and we quickly rushed to finish off the 5th hole. We looked at each other, each hoping for others to provide a green light to leave for Bahrain, and then darted off to home to get passports, hop into the awaiting taxi, and head to Bahrain for the welcoming pints. It was so easy. Today, we would need a PCR test in Saudi, then one to leave Bahrain (waiting 8 hours for the result), then one back in Saudi, and would also have to quarantine for 3 days. It was so easy. We will never, ever take those things for granted again. 2020...thank you for teaching us! And on to 2021... Saudi Road TripEarly 2021, we ventured out for a drive with our friends David & Nicky. The entire trip only took about 6 hours but allowed us to see some very cool places in the Kingdom. The maps below will give some perspective of the road trip, as we drove from our home (Zamil Village in Khobar) to the city of Hofuf, then to the Al-Uqair fort along the coast, and then home for some well-deserved cocktails to reminisce about the day. The landscape from where we live (Khobar/Dammam) to Hofuf is amazing, as you drive from an industrial city, to nothing but desert, to large land formations resembling something like you would see in Nevada. Hofuf, also called Al Hasa, is a city built in the Al-Ahsa Oasis, which is the largest oasis in the world. There are over 2.5 million palm and date trees that are fed by a huge underground aquifer. The oasis became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. Hofuf is a small city of 150,000 (versus our city of 1.8 million). We visited the Land of Civilizations attraction at Al-Qarah mountain, that included a museum and had amazing caves and tunnels you can walk through. We will let the pictures below tell the story. We then ventured downtown to check out one of the famous souq markets. There were many little shops with traditional Saudi clothing, food, spices, and almost every place was selling the famous Al Hasa dates. The people were very friendly and welcoming. We then drove on to al-Uqair, which is directly east of Al Hasa, and right on the Arabic Gulf. This is home to the 1st sea port in the Eastern Province, built over 600 years ago by the Turkish to support the trade of timber, food, coffee, cardamom, spices, clothing, perfume, incense, and sandalwood from places such as India, China, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and Oman. Saudi would ship out the famous Al Hasa dates, molasses, palm shoots and leaves, wool, and livestock. The walls were corroded from the salt air and sun but you could see the remnants of the sea port, a fort built for protection, as well as the prince's palace. We drove back to Khobar along the coast and Half Moon Bay, giving us a chance to see the many beach resorts and beach restaurants along the way, as well as several rental places for quads and sea doos. There were many people out enjoying the sunny day and the amazing weather - winter days in Saudi are typically mid-20's (Celsius), providing the perfect opportunity to enjoy the outdoors without igniting and melting. Pretty cool to see this kind of history, especially since it is less than an hour from our place. Other hope for 2021COVID vaccinations are underway in Saudi and some of our friends have already received the jab. We are on the list and hope to get it in the next month. Hopefully, that will eventually allow for a bit more freedom to travel. We were excited to hear the recent news that Saudi and other GCC countries and removed the blockage to Qatar via sea, land, and air. Since summer 2017, we have not been able to visit our neighbouring country. We will now be able to get to Doha, which is about a 4 hour drive, to see a new city, as well as visiting our friends Waco & Tosh, who abandoned us in early 2020. Qatar Airways is a top notch airline that also provides us with some new flight options, such as direct flights to Miami (very helpful when we get to visit our T&A friends!) Our Saudi borders are now open for expats (opening for Saudi's March 31 for the first time in a year), so it is looking like we will be able to travel once again! So friggin' excited for that! Some upcoming vacations for us: April 5-14 - it is looking like it may be either Seychelles & Dubai or Tanzania safari & Zanzibar all-inclusive beach resort...anyone want to join?? May 12-17 - Eid holiday ... no plans yet July 12-24 - South France and then a week somewhere - Spain or Italy August 18-September 6 - CANADA... brace yourselves, this party is 2 years in the making! October 25-November 3 - Jeff's birthday vacation...no plans yet November 22-December 1 - Lisa's birthday vacation...no plans yet So that's it! Just a quick update from us and wishes for a safe and healthy 2021 for all of you. Hoping to see you soon.
Kisses, L&J
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Hello everyone, Happy May Long to all of our Canadian friends. We love all the pics as you blow the dust off of your trailers and fire pits to get out camping with some cold ones. And also a Happy Birthday weekend to Junior and Glenice, as we understand you are celebrating together in Calgary! Tip a couple back for us. Thanks for checking out our latest update. We just returned from two weeks in Greece so will share stories and pics from there and will also update you on what we've been up to this spring. Saudi ArabiaBefore we jump into the travel, things sure are changing in Saudi Arabia. Last year, they allowed ladies to drive and brought back movie theatres. This year, they've started bringing more entertainment to the Kingdom. There have been many concerts and Russell Peters, the comedian is coming in a couple weeks. We were very excited to go see Pitbull in Dammam, only about 10 minutes from our house. Unfortunately, we got to the event and found out he had plane troubles in Iceland and had to delay the show until the next day. We had plans already in Bahrain that day so just got our money back. We were that close to our first Saudi concert...and our first one without drinks! BahrainWe have spent many weekends in Bahrain this spring, popping over the causeway to get away and enjoy time with friends having some drinks. Here are some pics from some of the hotels, brunches, as well as the Spring 2019 Tribfest, which has become a tradition for us and a great day out with live music. GreeceSantorini We were very excited to visit Santorini and it did not disappoint. It looks exactly like the images you get in your mind when visualizing the island. We didn't know this, but the island is the remnant of a volcanic caldera, and was formed from one of the largest volcanic eruptions ever, about 3600 years ago. Santorini is officially called Thira or classic Greek Thera. The crusaders named it after a chapel of Saint Irene - Santa Irini, which then came to be Santorini. The population of Santorini is only about 15,000 people but it gets very busy with tourists, especially with the many cruise ships that stop by daily. We stayed in a cave called Aura Caves. These caves were excavated and inhabited in the late 18th century after the explosion of a volcano in 1707. After the earthquake of 1956 the front part were destroyed and ruined. In 2016, it was reconstructed by architect Stogiannidis Grigoris and a team of builders and then converted into a small hotel you can stay in. We stayed in Fira, which is the largest town on the island. There were tons of shops, great restaurants, and many bars with patios overlooking the Aegean Sea to view the amazing sunset! We spent our first full day doing a 'Best of Santorini' private tour: - Imerovigli and Oia (pronounced "ee-a") - small towns that offered unique buildings and amazing views - Monastery of Profitis Ilias - built in the early 1700's, this monastery is built on the highest location of Santorini, 1860 feet above sea level - Megalochori - traditional village and shops - Lunch at Forty One 41 in Agios Georgios. This was a very cool beach restaurant and bar built in an old tomato paste factory. It is located on Black Beach - yes, the sand is like real sand, but only black...from the volcanic ash. - Wine Tasting at the Estate Argyros - they have some great white wines on the island Crete We stayed at the all-inclusive Cactus Royal Resort in Stalis on the north side of Crete. It is a great resort and located right in the beach town so it is easy to walk out and right onto the tourist street to visit shops, bars, and restaurants. We love buying the authentic greek spices for souvlaki, greek potatoes, greek salad, and tzatziki. We found some great restaurants along the water to go for lunches and dinners - so cheap...pita, tzatziki, greek salad, 2 large beers, and 2 shots of ouzo for less than 20 euros. We also sampled a few shots of Raki, which is a famous 'moonshine' originating in Crete. Love Crete! Beautiful island, beautiful people! Athens Athens is definitely a city full of history and stories. We checked in and went venturing out down one of the many 'walking streets'. We will never forget turning the corner and looking down the street to see the famous Acropolis and both dropping our jaws in awe. What an amazing piece of architecture. We stopped for pictures of it down the narrow street (pics are below). Acropolis is the name of the ancient citadel on the rocky outcrop in the centre of Athens. It is the home of the famous Parthenon, built in 438BC. It was heavily damaged 1687 Great Turkish War and restoration didn't begin until the late 1980's. We decided to continue onto a few rooftop bars to enjoy the view of the mighty Acropolis and then to visit it on day two. On our second day in Athens, we boarded the Hop On, Hop Off bus. These are one of our favorite ways to see the highlights of a city, all while listening to the history of each site. It first drove us past the 'Runner Statue', and incredible 12 m tall structure built from thousands of pieces of jagged glass. Our tour stops included:
Overall, Athens is a very old city with some incredible history and views. Be sure to check out the sights at night, as all of the ancient architecture is lit up and looks amazing. And you can't go far to find a great greek taverna for a meal. Love greek food! Oh yeah, and what is the Greek fascination with wooden penis carvings and threesomes? As you can tell, we loved the Greek vacation - so much history, so many beautiful places! Pretty amazing to think that we are just a 4 hour flight from this amazing country!
It is starting to warm up in Saudi now, with humidity rising and temperatures closing in on 45 Celsius, dropping to about 27-28 at night. It's Ramadan for a couple more weeks, which means there is no public eating or drinking in Saudi. This also means we will take advantage of less traffic on the Causeway to Bahrain to go to the rugby club a few times, just to enjoy some cold beverages! Eid starts the beginning of June to celebrate the end of Ramadan. We get those Eid days off and will be going south to Uganda and Rwanda for some adventures. Trekking with chimpanzees, gorillas, and lions/leopards through the jungle. Send your safe wishes as we venture out on foot to observe these beasts! Lisa will be back in Canada for a week in late-July and will fly out to meet Jeff in Portugal for 3 weeks as we tour across Europe. Lisa is also excited to meet our friend Anita in Ireland in September! We will update the blog with Africa pics and stories once (and if) we return. Until then, here are a few pics to close off... Love, L&J * Just a reminder - you can click on photos to enlarge them and scroll over them to see comments * This blog starts out with a pic of our great friends back home. Obviously we are missing them a lot and what hits our hearts even more is when we know they're all together having fun and we are missing out on the shenanigans! GREAT friends is what makes this life amazing! CHEERS everyone!! What is life like for Lisa? Here's a week in the life of Lisa... Gym Most mornings I hit the gym after my tea. 2 days a week, other girls from the compound meet me to gather around my laptop and do the body pump workout. At the end of September, a trainer comes in to teach it twice a week. I'm looking forward to some of the other classes that start back up in Sept...especially kick boxing so I can whoop Jeff's ass! They are re-doing parts of the gym so I've missed it the past week. Oh well, it will be even better once it's completed this week. Shopping (malls/souqs) I've been taking the compound bus to various shops, hitting malls and souqs (local markets). It's pretty handy since I can just take it to grab groceries or grab a tea, even walk around the mall for exercise. Buses run twice daily to various places so there are lots of options. I can even go to one of the malls that has Tim Hortons!!! Most stores are very similar to the ones back home and you'll be happy to hear that I've found some killer deals on Nine West shoes!!! Smiley face! Lisa's finding quite a bit of 'gross' food at the stores. The pic below has a goat carcass (special buy of the week) but we've also seen goat feet and camel meat. Yum! Check the pic of the coloured chicks from the pet store below. We may buy a Rider green and white one - RIDER CHICK! There are watermelon trucks all over the place - pics below! They are freakin huge! They mean business when they grow watermelons here. Great for Rider fans and anyone who likes big melons! Ha Lunches with the girls from the compound Since I've been meeting some fun girls on the compound, we try to go weekly for a lunch somewhere, either by bus or cab. I've included some pics of a patio on the waterfront below. It is the Arabian Gulf. It was super hot and humid so had to sit inside. We will be back for sure! Found a place called "Paul" that has awesome soup and fresh bread! Thirsty Thursday We've started a tradition where friends on the compound show up Thursday around 6:30 by the pool for BBQ and 'juice'. Thursday night is the "Saudi Friday night" since our weekend is Friday and Saturday. We've even started bringing the ladder golf game. We get 20 people or so and everyone brings bathing suits and we end up in the pool before AND after supper to cool off. Whoever grills loses about 5 pounds of sweat. Great marinade! We haven't met any fellow Canadians but it's pretty cool that we all sit around and chat with people from almost every continent. There are people from US, Ireland, UK, South Africa, Australia, Portugal, Germany, Venezuela, and a few other European countries. Yes Michele, Lisa has really been working on her accents. So far, Lisa's favourite 'new' word is Lilo. That is the term they use for air mattresses or 'floaties' for the pool. When we say 'floaties', they think we are referring to poo. Saudi Fridays Friday is a religious day here and nothing opens until 12:30 (not even restaurants!) so sleeping in is a good thing to do on Friday mornings! Dhahran Aramco camp golf course We've been going to the Aramco compound which is 10 minutes away and walking around the golf course at night. It's only 5.8km but in 80-90% humidity, it gets pretty sticky! There are some pics of the paths and cactus shown below. The golf course lights up so you can golf at night. There's also a great mexican restaurant from Texas called El Chico there. Great patio! Pool We use our pool pretty much every weekend for a few hours and even go there a couple nights a week. A great way to cool off, since its chilled. If they don't chill them, the pools get too hot to go into. Crazy! Geckos There are geckos all over. Little bastard came into our place a couple weeks ago. Some pics are below! People don't freak out about it because its so common here. Like finding a spider back home. Lisa checks the bed nightly before hopping into bed to make sure none are there. That's not the lizard she needs to worry about! Haha Humidity As we mentioned, there have been several 80-90% humidity days. The windows sweat since the inside is cool from the air conditioner (or air con for our UK friends here). The drive to Bahrain was very hazy from all the humidity! Also looking forward to doing some bowling this fall! Buying a vehicle in Saudi Quite a process buying a vehicle over here. Tons of paperwork, deposits, etc. But finally got the new wheels and even met a guy that looked like Mo at the bank! Was looking at Audi and Land Rover...really wanted an Evoque. They were all in the range of $300,000SAR (just over $80K US). The Jeep was $141,000 ($37K US). Couldn't beat that price and love the ride that this Jeep offers. How is Jeff's job going? I'm loving the job. I've been teaching the "Motivating Employees" course and am now getting certified in "Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes & Posner. It's a 4-day course and there's also a 2-day "Introduction to Leadership Challenge" that I'll be teaching. I'm also going to be doing Blanchard's "Situational Leadership" course in October. Great job, motivating to inspire the Aramco leaders each day!! I feel so fortunate to have gained the experience back home to be able to do this job! How is Charlie the Cat doing? He's settling in and lying on every piece of furniture. He's gaining a few pounds since the place is smaller and he can't run wild like before. He loves his high end cat bed (AKA Nine West shoe box). Love this first pic of him when you expand the pic! Bahrain Lisa got her multi entry-exit visa and we finally went last weekend. The 25km causeway was a bit busy on the way over (1.5 hours) but we got home Saturday within 1 hour. They can definitely work on efficiency, as there was 6 checkpoints just to get out of the country. We stopped for breakfast and ordered extra bacon. It's amazing what you miss when you don't have it!! Hit the mall for a bit and saw a huge lineup, thinking it was a big sale. Nope! Lineup for the 10AM movies, as many people come over to Bahrain just to watch a movie, since theatres are banned in Saudi. Checked into the hotel - has a pool bar, lounge, british pub, and 10 restaurants. After the pub for bacon and beer, we hit the pool bar for a bit, the mexican restaurant, and then closed down the pub. Lisa is still complaining that they had no Captain! Woke up groggy on Saturday - must've been the humidity! Had breakfast (yes...bacon) and then hit the grocery store. I walked up to the butcher with a huge stack of bacon, back bacon, sausage, and ribs. He took a look, said "Saudi wrap?" and then proceeded to label it as "New Zealand short ribs", "turkey sausage", etc. Love it! $160 US and a full freezer later, we are set for a little while!! Bahrain....we will be back! Upcoming Travel It's been interesting looking at travel, as we can fly from Dammam in Saudi (45 minutes away) or from Bahrain which can depend on the causeway traffic. Here's the action-packed agenda coming up... Sept.9-17 - Italy. Pics/stories to come in the next blog. Thanks to Avi & Michele for the great tips on where to go. Rome, Venice, Capri, Sorrento, Pompeii, Naples Sept.23-25 - Dubai. Have heard so much - excited to check it out for the weekend. Oct.17-23 - Greece. Booked into an all-inclusive resort on the island of Crete. Nov.21-26 - Sri Lanka. Everyone here raves about this trip. Visiting Kandy (elephant orphanage, tea factory), Ravana waterfalls, Yala jungle safari (leopards, monkeys, crocodiles), then to a surfing village near Galle. Very excited for a safari! 2017... Feb.14-26 - T&A 2017 in the Dominican Republic. We will be sooooo excited to see our friends in the DR. Many will meet us at the Puerto Plata airport and we're sure the cab ride to the resort will be out of control. Hope to see everyone there! June 29-July 19 - trip back to Canada...Calgary, Saskatchewan, Vernon, Ontario. A few other pit stops...details to come. August 28-Sept.13 - anyone want to do an African safari? Let us know. We hope you enjoyed this update. Stay tuned for the next update around September 18th or 19th with an update from Italy! We'll end with a few random shots from Saudi.
Hope you're all doing well! Jeff & Lisa New feature on the blog - you can click on pics to enlarge them and if you scroll over them with your cursor to get captions June 27 - Lisa arrives in Saudi Arabia (Calgary to Amsterdam to Dammam airport) I was so excited the day of Lisa's arrival. The last time I saw her was Sunday, April 10th when we said goodbye at the airport. I forgot to tell her to get the Saudi guys to help load her luggage onto a cart before customs and I'd pay them once they got out. Instead, she had to load up 3 suitcases and the cat to go through customs. What a trooper! WELCOME LISA!!! Charlie could have cared less to see me - f'n cat. OK, so what are Lisa's thoughts?? Here's my first official blog posting...I've been asked a few questions - here are some answers... How were the flights? Long! Not as bad as I thought. Loving the lay down beds in business class. I really enjoyed the lounge in Amsterdam airport - had showers there to freshen up! What are your first impressions of Saudi?
What do you like? Retirement. Loving the lifestyle and travel opportunities. The compound has lots of great activities and I'm looking forward to meeting the ladies once they come back from their summer vacations (many ladies and the kids go home for summer break, June-Sept, to escape the heat). Have met many great people so far! Dislikes? DRIVING! Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't do cabs well, whether it's at home or on vacation. The drivers here know the rules but choose not to follow them since there are no consequences. For example, there is no apparent speed limit. Another example - if you are at a red light and there are 4 lanes, the one on the left is turning left. The middle two go straight, and the right lane turns right...correct? But not here. Any one of those lanes can turn left at any time. Even if the middle lanes are going straight. Complete shit show! I'm really trying to convince Jeff to take the bus to work - it's free and a heck of a lot safer! With no hot dogs there, what exactly are you eating? Potato chips, french fries, chicken. Some pasta. Can't wait to get my visa for our first trip to Bahrain, where I will eat nothing but bacon! I've been able to find many things we're used to back home at the grocery stores. Finding tater tots was like a jackpot for me. The only thing I can't seem to find is crackers for soup. Today I improvised with garlic bread so I'm having to get pretty crafty! We found some microwave popcorn that is sweet kettle corn flavour - DELICIOUS. Also salt n' vinegar Bugles - 2 bags have mysteriously disappeared. How is the abaya? I don't mind it at all. I don't have to think about what I'm going to wear when we go out. I may have to get a new one since mine may not be the best material for summer. It traps the heat in. I've seen some pretty fancy abayas that make my black one seem plain so maybe I'll get a fancy one. Do you feel safe there? Yes I do. Driving is by far the biggest worry I have over here. My biggest worry when we're out is that I don't want to break a rule. For example, I was walking around with a water bottle during Ramadan while Muslims were fasting. I don't want to offend someone. Other thoughts? I'm going to leave the compound for my first time without Jeff tomorrow, as I need to apply for my Iqama so I can also get my visa. Jeff is working, so I'll take a cab to the closest Aramco compound to get this processed. Might need to be drunk so I can stand the cab ride. Oh, wait...never mind. Getting excited for our shipments from Canada to arrive so we can personalize our apartment with our things. It will also be nice to get more than 4 sets of cutlery going. And a toaster so I don't need to bake my bread. Our air shipment (4 large boxes) is here and going through customs - should get it this week or next. The sea shipment is floating over here somewhere and will be another month to 3 months away. Charlie seems to enjoy it here. He's settling in and has probably slept on every chair in the place. He seems to be missing his foster sisters - Mya and Jadee. Thanks again for everything Patelli's. Ramadan has come to an end Ramadan has finally ended and we are now finishing the Eid holiday. For the Muslims, it means they don't have to fast anymore and they now celebrate. For us, it means we celebrate because we don't have to wait until 6PM to go out for a Starbucks or food. Everything is back to normal hours. OK, you have all probably heard that a few radical terrorist groups wanted to perform terror activities throughout Ramadan with many incidents worldwide - Istanbul, Bangladesh, Baghdad, and also 3 suicide bombers in Saudi Arabia. Two were on the west side of Saudi - one in Jeddah and one in Medina. The other was in Qatif, which is halfway between where we live and Ras Tanura where Jeff works (see map below). So much crazy activity all over the world. Most expats we've spoken with say they feel safer here and we've had no issues or worries at all. The Canadian embassy sent us an email right away and said all is good - just be aware, just as you would anywhere else. How about we try something new where everyone gets along and puts an end to all of this hate? Enjoying our compound and the beach Lisa's got a pretty simple routine going...here's the daily ritual:
We do enjoy the weekend days off (Friday and Saturday). Thursday night is the new Friday night for us, so we often visit some friends or hit the pool for evening cocktails. We've met some very fun friends on our compound as well as some from other compounds...from Texas, Louisiana, UK, Australia, and South Africa. Have met some great 'chemists'. (we can discuss in the Dominican). A HUGE thanks to Avi for setting us up to be able to stream TSN and watch Rider games. Now if only the TSN schedule maker could cooperate and make games on Thursday and Friday mornings so we could get them Thursday night and Friday night. Oh well - 5AM games are better than nothing at all! 0-2 so far but we are looking stronger and will get better as the season goes along. GO GREEN! As mentioned, Lisa has not exactly joined the Saudi Driving Fan Club, so our first excursion out of the city (to the beach at Ras Tanura) was on an Aramco bus. Spent the day there and almost died from the heat - so hot and not a lot of shade. Travel Updates Fall 2016 We're getting excited for our upcoming trip to Italy in September - 4 days in Rome, a day trip to Venice with a boat ride in the canal, then a 3 day trip south to Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, the Amalfi coast, and a trip to the island of Capri. There should be some fantastic awe-inspiring sights, plus some killer pasta and wine! Please send of any "have-to-see" places that you know in these areas! Will post pics and stories for sure. There are rumblings that Jeff may join from Vancouver - that would be awesome! October/November - Island of Crete in Oct - we are SO excited to see Greece and have some greek ribs, souvlaki, and greek cocktails. Going to be amazing! Still undecided on the Nov trip. Spring 2017 - T&A Sunglasses Travel Group (Puerto Plata, Feb.14-26) You can't even imagine how excited we are to get back and see our friends back home. Something is telling us that the February Dominican trip is going to be such a fun reunion. Can't wait to see the executive members, the 'old T&A'ers' and all the new T&A'ers making their maiden voyage with us. Brace yourselves and make sure to bring tons of fun party gear - sunglasses, mullet wigs, anything goes...well, not that Borat bathing suit Rob. If you need ideas, just hit the T&A site for pics & videos. Preparation is key. You will not be disappointed with the resort. 3 resorts together - eat and drink at all of them. Fun, party swim-up bar, great beach bar. Disco club called Pacaa. Rotisserie chicken that is the best we've had. Markets along the beach. Fun excursion road trip to Sosua which is a blast! Follow the T&A site for more updates from everyone - please check in as you book so we know how much swag to order. See y'all there! Summer 2017 Planning our vacations right now, but will most likely look something like this: Vacation 1 - looks like Jeff will take June 23-July 20 off. Lisa will fly out to Ontario a couple weeks before to see her Mom for a week or so first, then we'll meet up in New York for a couple days. Anyone want to join? Then to Calgary to see some friends, get in some golf, BBQ's, cocktails. Maybe a girls weekend to Anita's cabin, maybe a trip to Saskatchewan to see Jeff's dad. Then we'll work our way back to Saudi with a pitstop in Europe somewhere for a few days. Vacation 2 - we have booked off August 28-September 14 ... hoping for an African safari here. Anyone want to join? More details later...
It's been a few weeks since the last update so I figured I better get some time of communication out to prove I'm still alive! Not a lot of photos since the last update but I thought I'd start off with this shot that I took the other day on my way to work... WORK UPDATE Work has been quiet the past couple weeks since it's Ramadan. During Ramadan we don't have any classes since the Muslim employees work shortened days. More on Ramadan in a minute or two. I am now fully certified in 2 courses, as I got certified last week in the Situational Leadership course by Blanchard. A very impactful course. Now I'm working on a project of enhancing the on boarding for new hires, as our team has recently hired 5 new hires and looking for more. A cool fact - Aramco has a budget of over $1 billion in training per year. That is the second highest of any organization in the world, next to the US Military. Crazy! Did I mention that in a previous post? I can't remember. LISA'S MOVE Lisa is enjoying her stay with Avi & Michele ("the foster parents"...thanks for putting up with her guys!! Now you know what I have to deal with. Haha) and it sounds and looks like they had a great trip to Anita's cottage waaaaay up north! Looked like trouble. Our home is officially sold, money is in the bank. We now provide our home sale bill to Aramco and they provide is a pretty hefty cheque for the home sale. Gonna miss that house - had some amazing times there. So many pics & memories of crazy hat parties, gold medal bashes, 4am tequila shots (and that was breakfast!), and I believe there are some hot tub videos with a singalong party. Ah yes, good ol' 22 Cranberry Mews. Love it! Will miss our amazing neighbours as well! Couldn't ask for better people! Our remaining items are now packed and if they haven't left already, they will be shipping soon. We have 4 "e-boxes" that get air shipped and should be here within a month (mostly kitchen items and some stuff we need sooner). We also have 2300 lbs of other "stuff". Not sure what made the cut after Lisa's fire sale. That shipment comes over the ocean on a ship. Based on those shipments and the weight of the shipment, Aramco also gives us a big cheque that we could use to re-purchase items, or just bank it. Lisa received her passport back from Houston via FedEx and it now has a fancy Saudi Visa in it so she is good to go! She leaves Calgary on Sunday June 26th and flies to Amsterdam with Charlie. They have a 6 hour layover and Charlie gets put up in a 'pet hotel'. WTF! Lisa and Char arrive Monday the 27th at 9:45PM in Dammam airport. Can't wait to see them! It's only been 2 months but feels like forever! I'll take the next day off to show Lisa around. She will be doing the next update to tell everyone about her first impressions of Saudi! Then I have July 5-9 off so I'm sure we'll tour around and hit up the beach! July & August are supposed to be the crazy summer months in Saudi where it gets humid and the temp gets over 50 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit for our US friends). Many people take off or go on vacation then but Lisa will be thrown 'right into the fire'...literally! COMPOUND LIVING I am so happy with the place we are in. It's very safe (security guards outside with big machine guns), has everything we need, and filled with good people. We're also 10 minutes from the big mall, the corniche (beach, restaurant) area. We can also be in Bahrain in 15 minutes from here (mmm....cold beer). Many ladies groups for Lisa - yoga, spin class, zumba, pilates, kickboxing, body pump (sounds dirty), fitness trainers, shopping buses. Plus a spa with salon, massages, mani/pedi. What a life! RAMADAN OK, I've referred to Ramadan earlier & in previous posts. It is a month long celebration for Muslims and it has a big impact on expats too, as store hours are affected big time. Many stores are only open 1-5 and then they open 10pm-2am and I hear the malls are crazy busy at this time. My car sales guy wanted me to meet him at 10pm to pick the colours. Sorry...not gonna happen! How about I just tell you over the phone? Here are some points to know about Ramadan. To my Muslim friends, please correct me if I have made any mistakes or missed anything... It is the 9th month of the Hijri or lunar calendar(which is 11-12 days shorter that our typical Gregorian calendar). Therefore, Ramadan is earlier every year. The significance of Ramadan? - it is the month that the Qur'an (holy book of Islam) was released - it is a special month of fasting, repentance, increased prayer, and increased charity - it ends with the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr - a day of celebration & gratitude (which is why I get the first week of July off) Fasting: Fasting is obligatory to all adult Muslims except those who are exempt. Children are exempt but it is mandatory once they hit puberty. Other exemptions include unhealthy adults, adults travelling long distances, women who are menstruating, in post-child birth care, pregnant, or breast feeding. It is to attain taqwa ("God consciousness") Fasting starts at sunrise and ends with sunset, so the long summer days can be tough on them. It helps Muslims draw closer to God through increased reflection of the Qur'an and increased prayer. Fasting aids in the increase of faith and righteousness and also helps purify the heart & soul, helping one's character. It trains the person to do good things - charity, kindness, generosity, forgiveness. Ramadan has a tremendous influx of people to the Kingdom, as many Muslims make their pilgrimage to Makkah, which they are all required to do at least once in their lifetime. During Ramadan you greet people with "Ramadan Kareem" and at the end during the Eid celebrations, you use "Eid Mubarak". Non-Muslims are asked to refrain from eating or drinking in public places during daylight. In fact, the ministry stated 2 years ago that they would deport you if caught eating or drinking in public during daylight. TRAVEL OK, as mentioned in a previous post...I didn't even think my vacation days would kick in this year since I'm new but yes they do. So here we go... Sept.9-16 - we booked a flight to Rome and will figure out a game plan soon. Lisa is gaining many ideas from Avi & Michele since they've lived there twice before. Probably some sightseeing in Rome - Vatican, Coliseum, etc. combined with some wine, pasta, pizza. Peroni. Then we may take the train to Naples, Pompeii, Florence, Pisa, Venice. As mentioned before - Lisa is the travel director so she is in charge of that. Oct.17-23 - we booked into a Greek all-inclusive resort on the island of Crete near Heraklion. Should be some great food and drinks. Mmmm...calamari, souvlaki, greek ribs, tzaziki, sambuca. OK, so where are they in relation to us? Here's the map. We live in Zamil Village compound on the east coast of Saudi Arabia (the red dot!) Nov.21-26 - have vacation here but nothing booked yet. Stay tuned! And yes Mark, I will be recruiting for the T&A Travel Group for all these trips. 2017 VACATIONS OK, here are the temporary bookings so far...nothing set in stone yet....but should be finalized within a week or so. These are my vacations but Lisa may come earlier or stay later. Slacker! Feb.13-March 1 - T&A Travel Group - details within 3 weeks. We will have a Skype call with Mark & Gayle, the other Executive Members and will decide on Dominican or Jamaica. Hope to see everyone there! June 19-July 5 - nothing booked here yet. Bali? Maldives? Sri Lanka? Africa? Aug.14-Sept.13 - my annual "repat" (repatriation) trip where the company pays for it. We will come back home and hope to see friends and family! Still need to book 3 more weeks in the year. Should be a wild ride... FATHER'S DAY I'll end this long-winded blog (sorry guys!) with a special shout out to all the amazing dads out there. Thanks for all that you do and a special THANK YOU and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to my Dad back in Shaunavon. Hope you are doing good and hope you can get out here to visit soon. I'll end this with a kick ass video that my old company Mark's has made. It captures the thoughts that every person has towards their Father. Enjoy your day guys! Cheers for now... JT These past few weeks have been quite busy so there are a few updates, including understanding what the 4 week countdown is. DRIVING IN SAUDI ARABIA The last blog update ended with me about to get my drivers license. The next week I decided that I should rent a car. The first 2 places wouldn't rent to me since I didn't have my Saudi drivers license, but the 3rd didn't care so I rented the only vehicle they had left - a Hyundai Accent. Yes, aren't I smart! Crazy drivers everywhere and I venture out in the smallest car I could find. And it had bald tires. One thing about renting vehicles here - they don't come filled up with gas or any kind of fluids. Anyways, I took it safely and managed OK with the baby car. I now have my Saudi license and since I'm driving 50km to work, I upgraded and now have a 2015 Honda Accord which gives me a much bigger level of comfort when driving. These drivers are insane. At any given time, you'll find someone going 180km per hour+ and also see a 3 lane highway turned into 5...just because they want to drive aggressively. FYI - I'm waiting until July 10th, which is my 3 months here and the bank will give an interest free loan of up to 1,000,000 Saudi Riyals, which is about $350K Canadian. Then I'll scoop up an SUV for us. Looking at either a Jeep Grand Cherokee or the Range Rover Evoque that I've drooled over since I first saw it. LISA UPDATE OK, so the 4 week update? Lisa will be here on June 27th!!! Her mom is visiting right now and has been super helpful with the home preparation and buying some stuff for us to bring over. Shane, Dennis, Rob, and Peter are coming to get stuff this weekend. The movers pack everything June 6th into 2 shipments - 1 comes by air in 2-3 weeks and 1 comes by sea in 4-5 months (must be doing a few laps around the world!). Lisa is officially out of the house on June 10th. Our great friends Avi & Michele have offered up a room in their home for Lisa to stay (on top of lending us their car now for the past few months). Lisa and Charlie will fly from Calgary to Amsterdam on June 26th and arrive here on the 27th. I am taking the 28th off to show her around. Here's what had to be done to get Lisa over...crazy story! I needed to fill in 8 or 9 documents and also get my university degree and our marriage license translated into Arabic. It takes about 3-4 weeks then to get a 'yellow slip' needed for Lisa's visa. When I asked if there was any way to get it sooner, he said I could take it to the visa office myself. I drove in last week (Sunday AM) and filled the printout of google maps that had the red arrow to go to and no address. I didn't even know the name of the building I was looking for. After parking at the red arrow, I asked a Saudi guy and he pointed me in the right direction. I went in and found out that the appointment was made for the wrong reason and was told to go home and make a new appointment. I begged and pleaded that I couldn't and needed their help. He told me go into the next room and speak with the guy behind the glass wall. He told me to go home and set up an appointment for 1:30 that afternoon. Again, I begged and pleaded and he told me to sit down. 45 minutes later 2 security guards came and took me upstairs, one on either side. We went down a dark hallway and I thought "this is either going to end well or maybe not so much!". I went into the room and a very friendly guy signed my papers and send me downstairs to the guy behind the glass. Here is Lisa's visa that allows her to enter Saudi Arabia. Yes - once again, the hardest country in the world to get into!! VACATION BOOKING My supervisor came in and told me I hadn't booked any vacations for this year. To be honest, I didn't think I qualified for any since I was new. I guess I get some vacations that are pro-rated since I'm here for 75% of the year. I quickly called Lisa and booked up the following: June 28 - hang out with Lisa day July 5-9 - not sure we can go anywhere for this one since Ramadan is still on and Lisa will need to get her Iqama and entry/exit visa before she can leave the country. Sept.9-17 - Italy maybe? Oct 17-24 - Island of Crete in Greece maybe? Nov 21-26 - might go to one of 2 islands off of Africa (Maldives or Seychelles)? We'll plan our strategy when Lisa gets here, as she will be the official travel researcher. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are options too. That means that 15 days carry over into 2017 as well. 2 trips for sure that we'll do: 1. T&A 2017 - will discuss with the executive team this July and determine timing and location...Stay Tuned!! It should be Feb or March and either Dominican or Jamaica. 2. Repatriation trip - they pay for our flights and spending money back home - probably July ... Maybe a Whitefish reunion?? WEATHER The weather is getting warmer, averaging around 40-42 Celcius this week. Apparently, Lisa will be arriving right when it gets crazy hot (50 degrees+) and humid. Welcome Lisa!!! WHAT ELSE HAS BEEN HAPPENING? I spent the last couple weeks getting some basics for our new place. You'll see some pics and videos of the new place below, as well as a few random pics... Not sure what is up with the yellow cupboards...but they sure do brighten up the kitchen - maybe a new trend??? How about the storage space in the bedrooms? Wow! A hoarder's dream! Hope you like the sunglasses welcome mat outside the door - T&A Sunglasses Club, baby!!! VIDEOS Here's the walkway up to our place...not what you'd expect for Saudi Arabia Here's a walk through of the new pad Video of the main pool with outdoor cooking area WORK UPDATE Work has been going great! Amazing team and culture. I and now fully certified on my first course, which is a 3 day course called Needs-Based Conversations put out by a company called Achieve Global. We are modifying it into a 2 day course and tweaking the name to Motivating Employees and I will be the first one doing that class. During Ramadan, I'll be attending a Ken Blanchard course called Situational Leadership and will be certified to teach it. In August and September, I'll be getting certified in a couple Covey courses. Speaking of Covey, a very cool story... I'm sure you've heard of the late Stephen Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Well, his son (Stephen M.R. Covey) wrote a book called "Speed of Trust" and runs the company now. He came to visit our Leadership Center and spoke on his book for an hour and a half. Then I sat at a table with him for lunch and heard some great stories. That afternoon, he sat with our team for about an hour and then signed his book. Pretty amazing, as he and his dad are legendary in the leadership development world! TIME TO GO... OK, I'm going to head back to the house to get the router and computer set up. Tomorrow's the 3rd day of our long weekend and I suppose I better see how the pool is feeling. Hope everyone's doing well. 4 Weeks!!! It's been a hectic week since the last update, so here's a quick (I hope) summary... First of all - HOUSE IS SOLD!!! A huge relief! Now to continue the selling / pack up process. After moves from Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Edmonton I think Lisa has this down to a science. Hope the new owners have a respect for the fun and shenanigans that have happened in that house! How's the new job? It's been a busy week settling in but everyone's been great! I spent an hour or so each day with the key people, including having my 2 direct bosses take me to lunch. A lot of the discussion was around the customs and culture to help me adapt and 'get it right' in training. For example, if you're walking to a door, the person on the right always goes first. Lots of other cool things, including how the Saudis have tons of respect for Americans that's a story over a beer someday. Our team does the "core" training for selected Saudi Aramco employees. This is built on 7 modules that we teach to them to provide a basic understanding of Leadership and self-improvement. The certification process is awesome. This upcoming week, I'll sit in a course called "Needs Based Coaching". The following week, I teach 1 section of it and the original facilitator gives me feedback on passing or "not yet". Once I pass, then I teach a 2nd section the following week. After I've passed all 4 sections, then I need to pass the entire course to be "certified" to teach it. This continues for all 7 modules. Here are some pics from work, including a couple of the many (over 25) training rooms they have. Lots of corporate logo'ing, including Kleenex boxes! Wow. Golf Courses Each compound has it's own golf course. The Ras Tanura course (where I work) has a sand course that is free - here are some pics Dhahran has a professional quality course that looks awesome - here are some pics of it The Family Life at Saudi Aramco It looks like quite an amazing place to bring up your kids! Families seem so happy and I've chatted with many that have told me about the experience. Aramco includes schooling on camp for kids to grade 8. Parents can also elect to send them to the British or US schools in town and will bus them for free. One lady I talked to said her kid just got back from a 2 week spring break 'field trip' to Australia. Wow! We would go 15 minutes to Pine Cree! There are tons of activities for kids on camp - beach, softball, soccer, swimming, etc. There are many rec centres where they can play games and video games. Interesting note - Once they get to grade 9, parents can send the kids to boarding schools ANYWHERE in the world and Aramco will not only pay for their schooling, housing, etc, but also pays for trips for parents/kids to visit. Nice! Here are some pics of 'kid stuff': Finding a Home to live So here's how the housing works...if we were to live on an Aramco camp, we would be subsidized and pay $300-500 per home each month depending on size. They are full so we need to find a non-Aramco compound. The amount they give you is based on # of kids. Having no kids, we get 175,000 Saudi Riyals, which is about $47K US. They pay to us to pay the accommodation for a year. Not bad, as that includes electricity, water, cable, and Internet. Going to see one more on Sunday, but right now it's narrowed down to 2. We want to find something with lots of activities to keep Lisa busy, like personal trainers, pilates, yoga, etc. The compounds are gated communities with security at the front gates - they check everyone's ID, the vehicle hood, and even under the vehicle. Crazy! They have tennis courts, pools, hot tubs, gyms, spas, barber shops/salons, BBQ areas, nail places, bowling alleys, games rooms, squash courts, restaurants, and the one has 3 private beaches. Many offer maid services as well. Here are some pics: ZAMIL VILLAGE: This one is located in Al Khobar (71km south of Jeff's work). MURJAN: This is located in the Fanateer location in the north part of Jubail (96km north of Jeff's work) near the 'corniche' (beach area) that has lots of shops/restaurants. Pretty tough to beat the view from that gym...unless it was on a patio with a beer in your hand! IQUAMA TIME Thursday I get into work to find out that my Iquama is ready! Best email of my life!!! This is the golden ticket that allows to get on with life! I bus into Dhahran to grab it and then apply for my multi-entry/exit Visa so I can go in and out of the country, like to Bahrain (for a beer...soon!) That visa should be here within a couple weeks. Then off to the security building to get my temporary ID switched to a permanent ID. Then off to the bank to open a Saudi account. Then off to get a post-paid cell plan with SIM card attached to my Iquama number. Cell phone place waaaay too busy - will do that Sunday. This week, I can now apply to get Lisa here (she's flying to Houston for her medical tomorrow) and then she needs to mail her passport to them for processing. Now to get my Saudi drivers license and buy a car. Beach Time Friday morning I hit the beach since it was so hot - here are some pics and a video - can't believe how clear the water was. Saw many fish and a couple sting rays as I walked around listening to tunes. Also some pics of the "Desert Designs" sale that reminded me of the 'markets' that get set up in Caribbean resorts at night. Friday Night at the Mall To kill the boredom of the bachelor camp, I bused into town to the mall for dinner - here are some random pics, including some work done by 'the Sharpie guy' ... His job is to color in any 'revealing' clothing so nobody gets offended. Random Stuff I can't believe how cheap some things are here! A haircut was 15 SAR, which is about $5CDN. Typical lunch prices - chicken fajitas - $7 or 8, chicken shawarma - $6 or 7. Crazy!! Saw sheep in a truck today and some camels wandering around - here are some pics from the drive to Jubail. Okay everyone...thanks again for sticking with me for another long-winded update. Keep in touch!! Talk soon, JT/cak You have probably seen our Facebook post and are wondering exactly where we are going and why. Here's a bit of a background... Jeff's new role is called Management & Professional Trainer - he will be training leadership principles to the managers at Saudi Aramco. Lisa is not allowed to work in Saudi Arabia unless she works for Aramco or maybe doing some online job. She will most likely take some time to get used to the culture and enjoy the running paths, gyms, beaches, and free golf...slacker! A common question we get - what will life be like for Lisa? Besides not being able to work for any place other than Saudi Aramco, the other major change is that she isn't allowed to drive. No females are allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. As for dress code, she is allowed to wear whatever she wants on the compound and if leaving the compound, she needs to wear long sleeves and long pants. A lot of females will wear shorts and a tank top with an abaya - the long dress-like clothing. You will see the Saudi temperatures below and will understand why she will probably go with the abaya. She doesn't have to cover her head with a hijab, but may wear it off the compound out of respect. As for Jeff, shirts, shorts, and flip flops are OK. Jeff leaves April 10th and will find us a place to live. We will be on a compound that is secure with a strict mandate (from Lisa) that it includes a gym and pool. Pictures to come! Once there, Jeff will receive his iquama (residence permit for Saudi Arabia). At that point, he applies for Lisa to come over, which should be 60-90 days after his arrival. Oh ya, Charlie the cat is coming too, $2000 shipping fee later. What a gypsy he is - now he will have lived in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, and Saudi. We will be living around Dhahran in Saudi Arabia (shown on the map below). Dhahran is along the Persian Gulf, about 30 minutes to Bahrain and a quick hour flight to Dubai. As you know, we love to travel and are very excited about opportunities to visit places like Dubai, Italy, Greece, France, Amsterdam, and possibly even Russia. We are very excited to go down to Africa for a Safari and also to the Maldives, which looks like an amazing beach resort destination. We will be sure to blog and post pics from our travels. Jeff gets 38 vacation days on top of the 13 stat days that Aramco offers. Plus they will pay for us to come home once per year. That means that you haven't seen the last of us yet! A few facts about Saudi Arabia and working for Saudi Aramco: - Saudi Aramco is the world's largest petroleum and natural gas company, producing 1 of 8 barrels of oil in the world and accounting for 25% of the world's energy. It's value has been estimated between US$1.25 trillion and US$10 trillion, making it the world's most valuable company. - Aramco's workforce is 60,000 employees worldwide, including over 10,000 expats from 77 different countries - Aramco's goal is to bring 1000 expat employees into Saudi Arabia in 2016. In 2015, they moved 661 expats into Saudi Arabia. - We aren't going on a contract but the average person stays 15 years in Saudi Arabia once moving there - Saudi temperatures? Winter (Dec/Jan/Feb) - 7 to 18 degrees Celcius Spring (Mar/April) - 18-28 Summer (May-Sept) - 44-55 Fall (Oct/Nov) - 18-28 - Their world comes to a 'standstill' during prayer times - 5 times per day for 20-40 each. Luckily, we have an app that shows these prayer times each day. - The work week is Sunday to Thursday 7am-4pm, so our weekends will be Friday & Saturday. Many people go over to Bahrain for the weekends for some B&B. That doesn't stand for 'Bed & Breakfast' - that is 'Booze & Bacon'! Why?? a) pork is banned in Saudi Arabia and will be confiscated if caught ... No hot dogs Lisa??? b) alcohol and drugs are illegal in Saudi Arabia. The penalty if caught with either is 1 year in prison including lashings! Yikes. Second offense can include the death penalty! We've included a few Youtube videos that show life in Dhahran, as well as Ras Tanura, where Jeff will be working. There is also a video from a Canadian explaining her experience living in Saudi. Thanks for reading this...hope you enjoyed our virgin run with a blog. Stay tuned for more updates...J&L |
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