Old Jeddah and KAUST Updates

Hello all,

Since Thursday is the first day of the weekend, we slept late and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast from our familiar Marriott buffet. Afterwards, we headed with some friends to the old souk in the oldest part of Jeddah (photos attached) where we saw shops with abayas and thobes (Saudi dress for men), shoes, jewelry, cheap plastic toys, sunglasses and watches, fresh juices, inexpensive clothes, scarves ... As we strolled through the souk, my friend Gayani and I came across some very different and very beautiful abayas. I saw one that I particularly liked and, with Hayden's encouragement, I bought a third - and final! - abaya. We returned to our favorite kids' shop and bought second Saudi Arabian football club jerseys for each boy; Logan's is even in Arabic. As we go through the markets, we try out our limited Arabic, greeting people, asking how they are, asking their names, asking how much something costs. We receive huge smiles and quick Arabic responses in return, but when an Arabic response from a shopkeeper elicits only a blank stare on my part, he laughs and repeats himself in English. Again, nearly all of the shopkeepers we have met are Pakistani, Indian, or Egyptian - and they seem to be very friendly, especially when we are buying things from their shop.

We moved into another part of the souk, which is in the oldest part of Jeddah where some buildings are 500 years old at least. Here we found shops with huge burlap bags filled with various types of loose teas, spices, nuts and seeds, and things that we could not really explain. It was fascinating and beautiful, fun and HOT - simply incredible. I found a shop where a man from the southern most part of India was selling stunning, soft cotton/wool scarves from Kashmir. David chatted with him since he had been to the places the man described in India, and the shopkeeper brought out stools for the children to sit down on. The scarves were 35 riyals each and when I easily got him to agree to two scarves for 50 riyals, I figured he was probably asking far too much in the beginning. Oh well. I ended up with two lovely scarves (for about $13), perfect for staying cozy on cold airplanes and in frigid restaurants. David and I love that kind of outing and exploring, and despite the heat and some moments of whining from the boys, I think they actually have fun too. Hayden even bargained with a gentleman for a purchase of a new watch.

In the background, I hear the call to prayer once again. I love the sound and can determine that some voices to prayer are more pleasant to listen to than others.

As we finished our week of meetings and training for the International Baccalaureate program our school is orienting itself towards, the powers that be conveyed the information that school will not open on September 5 as originally planned but will open after Ramadan on September 26 instead. Too much of the building is not quite ready and we will only just be moving to our homes and settling in - Inshallah - at the end of August. Our scheduled move-in date is August 31, and we have seen a map posted with everyone's assigned homes clearly marked. Our neighbors have two boys that our kids have already gotten to know, who are close in age to Hayden and Logan. Other friends are just down the street or across another street. We are all fairly close to each other because they are moving us all to the parts of the campus that will be done, an area called the Blue Zone. We had anticipated this change so it did not really come as a shock. Living in the hotel is not ideal, certainly, but neither is it terrible. It's a lovely hotel with helpful staff and a central location, plus most of us are together here so the community building has been wonderful; although I have noticed people taking off for dinner more often as we tire of the buffet day-after-day! The biggest challenge for most of us with kids is keeping them actively engaged and involved and busy in a city which is mostly about shopping. There are no parks, as far as we can tell, so the Friday beach day and the hotel pool are huge for us. The child care provided by the hotel is basically babysitting by three kind women with no experience teaching children or working with children over two or three years old. It has not, to say the least, been ideal. Many of us are working on some new solutions, including outings to a local children's gym with basketball, climbing wall, and other activities and hiring a teacher to come and plan activities with the kids who are between four/five and nine. It is an ongoing issue that causes some stress for everyone.

The final news for this installment is that we FINALLY bought a cell phone. We won't need it often, probably, but it was seeming like we will need one for our family. We actually bought one that can work worldwide, which will be helpful. If you think you are interested in my cell number, please email me. I am not anticipating many calls!

Thanks for reading. Off to the beach tomorrow, as typical on Fridays, with our new snorkel gear!

Jennifer