We have arrived ...

Greetings friends and family...

We arrived in Jeddah late last night - after being bumped up to Business Class on our Air France flight. It was luxurious and relaxing and, at five and a half hours, relatively short compared to the Seattle-Paris flight. We were met by waves of hot, humid air, as expected. As we entered the terminal, we were greeted by a man representing our school, KAUST, who was helpful in steering us gently through the lines of people waiting for passport control. We got to the desk where our passports were studied and photocopied, our fingerprints and photographs taken, and the government officer kindly pretended to take Logan's fingerprints as well, so he would not feel left out. After a time, we were whisked into a large Suburban and driven to the Marriott Hotel in Jeddah where most of the teachers are staying. The entire time we were in Paris, Hayden was noticing how small the cars were and how there were almost no American cars - and certainly no large SUVs. Once we arrived in Jeddah last night, it was a different story. Many American cars. Many large cars. Not quite like Parisian streets!

As we drove from the airport into the city center, we passed many glitzy shopping malls and glass-walled monoliths selling every kind of vehicle imaginable. Even at 10:30 p.m., men could be seen shopping for vehicles of all types. Hayden was particularly excited to see a 'store selling real Ferraris'! The people who have assisted us for KAUST have all been genuinely kind and helpful. One man was explaining to David last night how safe this city is, even for women, and that most women enjoy Jeddah because there is "such good shopping." I am getting the continual idea that shopping is a key activity, particularly for women. In fact, shortly we are heading to one of the many very large malls to buy my abaya, which is a thin black robe-type covering that women wear over their clothes. It does not appear that I must wear a head scarf, but I will let you know. Veils over the face are not required, though I have certainly seen many. The abayas that I saw on some women last night are actually lovely - with delicate stitching and decorations on the sleeves.

We are staying in the lovely Marriott where the buffet is vast with all kinds of food at all hours. This morning's breakfast choices varied from museli to pancakes, doughnuts to personal omelets, cheeses, breads, Corn Puffs, coffee (!), juice and fruit, beef strips and hashbrowns, porridge with hot milk, tabouli salads and yogurts (both fruity and goat's milk types). Our family is sharing two rooms, connected by a door, so the boys each have their own huge comfy bed. We imagine we will actually be living in this hotel with other families for several weeks - until the housing and roads for KAUST are completed enough for the teachers and families to move there. We will begin meetings on Saturday morning, which is like our Monday as the weekends here are Thursday and Friday. Not exactly sure at this point how we will fill the hours and days for the boys in a hotel, but there are several other KAUST families as well, so I think we will figure it out. We may be buying some new games, if possible, and they may be doing a lot of swimming.

Please stay in touch. It's great to hear from people, even just telling us about life at home! Great to hear how warm Seattle has been.