School Daze

School started this week for the boys - Michael's first day of middle school (6th grade) and Jake's first day of 3rd grade was Saturday. I can't pretend that there wasn't a healthy dose of apprehension on both of their parts, but by the end of the day, by lunchtime really, they were all smiles.

My classes started on August 23rd, so I've actually been back at the grind for over a week now. I'm setting a goal of writing one blog posting each week - we'll see how that goes. I think it's reasonable and attainable. It's actually part of a larger goal called "school/life balance." I'll keep you "posted" on how it's going...

Here's the traditional first day of school pictures. I had to take them inside because it was so insanely humid that I couldn't keep the camera from fogging up.

The Great Wall - China Part 4

There are some places in this world you can visit over and over, and still want to go back again. The Great Wall of China is one of those places for the Green Family. I think I have been there five times and Steve six, and given the choice we'd go again. It's just THAT cool.

That being said, we are very particular about where we go to see the Great Wall. Keep in mind that the wall is about 5,500 miles long (though not all connected), so there are many, many places one could go to visit. The first couple times we went, we didn't know any better and just went where *they* wanted to take us. *They* being our handlers. The handlers like to take you to the restored, polished part of the wall. I don't know if it's because they get kick-backs there, or if they are proud of the "upgrades," or if we are just easier to *handle* there. When we first went to this part in 1990, they had camels there to have your picture taken with, hand railings on the steep parts, and souvenir shops outside the ticket gates. Today, in addition to all that there's a dress-up photo op every 100 feet, cable cars to take you up and McDonald's outside the gates. It's pretty hard to imagine what the wall was like 2,000 years ago at this tourist trap.

The wall was built 2,000 years ago? This sounds like the perfect place to give you a small bite of history. Construction of the Wall began during the reign of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, who took the throne in the 3rd century BC. It's intention was to keep out the people from the north, the Xiongnu. It's estimated that over 1,000,000 workers died while building the wall, and rumored that many are buried within the wall. Originally made of rammed earth, stones and wood, later dynasties continued the construction using bricks.

And just to clear the air...can it really been seen from the moon? I haven't tried it myself (it's on my bucket list though), but experts say that it is virtually impossible to see by the naked eye, the equivalent of seeing a human hair from two miles away. Additionally, no astronaut has ever claimed seeing it from orbit, much less from the moon. Believe what you want...

Back to our hike...after we had lived in China a while and no longer needed *handlers*, we discovered a much better place to see the wall. This portion is still to this day mostly unrestored, un-commercialized, and best of all, not overrun with tourists. After a three and a half hour drive, you are dropped off at a point on the wall and you hike on the wall about 12 km to the pickup point.

Now that we no longer live in China and can't go to the wall whenever we please, we were hoping for a bit of luck that day. We really wanted good weather: not only were we NOT in the mood to hike 12 km in the rain, but we really wanted the good views. We were hoping that the kids, after getting off a 10 hour flight the day before, would be able to make the hike. And the biggest roll of the dice was that it would be as spectacular and fun as we hyped it up to be. At the end of the day, we couldn't have been more delighted at the way it all turned out.

But as the day began we were a bit worried...

We were picked up from our hotel in a tiny Chinese mini-van. It won't work to picture a regular mini-van: I think this was made for people shorter than Jake. There was about 6 inches between the uncomfortable bench seat and the back of the next seat. None of us could sit facing forward - we had to turn sideways to be able to put our legs down. "No worry," said the driver. "We transfer to big tour bus." We made 3-4 more stops, picking up hikers until the little sardine can was full. Then we waited for the big bus to come. And we waited. Waited some more...

Finally we were told that the bus was broken and we would have to drive the 3 hours to the wall in the sardine can. Through my tears I couldn't help but smile: you can't get a more Chinese experience than this.

Once we arrived at the drop-off point, Jin Shan Ling, we pried ourselves from the can and stepped out with a bit of shock. There was a paved road, signs welcoming us and a couple tables of vendors to welcome our USD (I mean welcome us). Clearly the area was profiting from increased tourism since we were there in 1999. Still no cable car, camels or McDonalds though, so we were good.

Crisp, cold air greeted us as we began the hike, and we had clear blue skies for most of the day. The kids were pretty chilly starting out, until we started the serious up and down between the watch towers. The amazement of actually being on the wall was written all over the boys' faces. For Michael, it was a fulfillment of a dream to return to a place that his parent fondly told him about but he couldn't remember visiting. For Jacob, it was simply the fact that he was standing on GREAT WALL OF CHINA, built over 2000 years ago - something he had read about in Magic Tree House books but never dreamed he would get to do (unless he could get to Frog Creek, Pennsylvania).

After we had been hiking for about half an hour, we began to notice a couple of friendly faces sticking close by us. Then they began to assist the kids when going up the stairs. Eventually they were holding the kids' hands while they were going over treacherous places. Before we knew it, they were stuck to us like kittens to bowls of milk. Friendly locals, looking to practice their English? No. Helpful fellow tourists? No. We figured it out pretty quickly during our first break. The packs over their shoulders were not filled with lunches, water bottles or other necessities. They were bulging with post cards and cheaply printed t-shirts that said, "I climbed the Great Wall." And whenever we stopped, they turned their sights on the guy with the wallet. After helping the kids for an hour, how could Steve brush them off? Let's just say that we have a couple of really expensive t-shirts in our drawers.

Four hours later, we got to the

end of the hike (not the end of the wall, mind you) and found a very cool new addition: a zip line! Thankfully it was NOT 2,000 years old! To their unspeakable dismay boys weren't allowed to go alone, so we had to team up. It was the perfect end to one of the most memorable days we've ever spent as a family. In the picture to the right you can't see the smile on Jake's face but trust me, it was HUGE.

On the bus ride back into Beijing (and it should be noted that the "big" bus was working beautifully by then) the three boys slept. Even though I was completely exhausted, I couldn't stop reflecting on the day we had. The weather was perfect. The views were amazing. The kids were troopers and loved nearly every minute of it.

Yep. I'd go back again. It's just THAT cool.

VERY Miscellaneous Thoughts on Water

Water, like religion and ideology, has the power to move millions of people. Since the very birth of human civilization, people have moved to settle close to it. People move when there is too little of it. People move when there is too much of it. People journey down it. People write, sing and dance about it.

People fight over it. And all people, everywhere and every day, need it. --Mikhail Gorbachev

I've never taken the time to stop and contemplate water - aside from those who probably contemplate their hands too, who has? Growing up in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, it was something I have always taken for granted as being potable, endless and relatively cheap. But in most parts of the world none of these adjectives could be used to describe water, and living in the Middle East this last year has made me keenly aware of this fact.

Water has an impact on countless aspects of my life here and I've been forced to think about it more than ever before. When reaching for a cup of water to make ramen noodles, I have to stop and think about which water I'm reaching for. Depending on the time of the year, it's impossible to wash clothes in cold water. I need to think about where I'm parking the car, because if the sprinklers come on and spray it, it will rust the car. I don't want to leave a metal pan that has scratches in it soaking in tap water because it will rust as well. I have to remind the boys to keep the toilet lid up so that I don't get a wet bum when I sit down. I could go on...

Within the house we basically have three types: raw water, sweet water, and bottled water. In addition to that, the outdoor faucets have untreated raw water. The indoor raw water is what you will find in my kitchen, the bathrooms, the washing machine. In addition to being very hard, it also has a very high salt content. It makes our hair dull, our clothes wear out faster and rusts anything metal, including the razor in the shower, at a rapid rate. We use this water for washing, but NEVER drink it. I don't think it will hurt us, but it tastes NASTY!

Sweet water is only plumbed to the kitchen sink and the dishwasher (it does the final rinse in sweet water). It's further treated than the raw water. We mostly use it for rinsing hand-washed dishes that are going to air-dry, washing vegetables, washing the car and watering the plants. Though it's not as bad as raw water, it still doesn't taste good and none of us drink it.

We buy a couple of different kinds of bottled water for cooking and drinking: we have a large water cooler, similar to what you find in offices, with hot and cold tap. We also buy liter bottles of water to take upstairs for brushing our teeth.

The outside water is the worst of all. It's untreated and leaves weird salt-like patterns on our bricks. I don't know exactly what is in it and quite honestly, I don't want to know (ignorance is bliss, right?). I tell the kids not touch it if possible. It's only used for watering the lawn, washing our cement, and filling water balloons. They say that it's recycled waste water (whatever that means ), which is just another reason not to let it touch your skin!

In the past I've always washed most of our clothes on cold water. And I never questioned the availability of cold water - isn't all water cold, unless it's heated by the water heater? I now live in a climate that is hot enough to heat the ground water to fairly warm in the summer. Only in Dec/Jan/Feb am I able to get cold water in my washing machine. A friend of mine had something in October that absolutely need to be washed in cold, so she got a couple bags of ice from the store and dumped them into the water of the washing machine tub. Doesn't living here inspire creativity?

In the fall when it still blistering hot and then the humidity starts rolling in, we often wake up unable to see out due to the condensation on the windows. The severity reminds me of the bathroom mirror when the boys shower without turning on the fan. It's a sure indication that it's going to be a miserable weather day.

Speaking of condensation, the ultra warm ground water is the cause of the wet toilet seat problem that I've mentioned before. If we leave the lid down, something I finally trained everyone to do, the water condensates onto the seat. And if you sit there long enough (as some newspaper/comic book toting members of our family routinely do), it condensates on your bottom. Yuck!

I'm very much aware that despite all the above mentioned gripes about the inconveniences of water here, I have it better than most people in the world. I could drink my tap water (if I chose to) and bathe in it every day without getting sick . I don't have to walk anywhere to get it - it's just plumbed into my house. I don't pay for it (though Aramco does). I am among the fortunate minority in this world, and for that I am grateful.

Clean, drinkable water is scarce and expensive in many parts of the world, including this one. We live in a desert with very little rain, so the water supply comes from very deep reservoirs. This water has incredibly high amounts of salt and needs to be desalinated to be usable, quite an expensive process. There are land disputes over water and countries have gone to war because of it. In fact water seems to be more scarce than gasoline here, or at least one would assume by the price - we pay more for bottled water than we do for gas.

Enough of my ramblings...here are some of my favorite quotes about water:

I got this powdered water - now I don't know what to add.
Steven Wright


My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
Mitch Hedberg


Women are like teabags. We don't know our true strength until we are in hot water!
Eleanor Roosevelt

"If we could ever competitively, at a cheap rate, get fresh water from saltwater, ..(this) would be in the long-range interests of humanity which could really dwarf any other scientific accomplishments."
-- John F. Kennedy

I Can't Count

I just noticed that my posts went from China part 1 straight to China part 3. If you noticed as well, don't worry - you didn't miss part 2. I just can't count.

Beijing Family United Hospital - China part 3

Beijing, China - May 17, 1999.

The evening started out like any other night. Steve and I lazily watched a bit of CNN and went to bed early. The rioting in Beijing, the Chinese response to the “accidental” bombing of their embassy in Yugoslavia by the US military, had settled down by then. Though our first child was due in twelve days, we knew that more than likely he/she would probably be late and hadn't packed our hospital bag yet. Steve’s mom was scheduled to arrive in less than a week for the birth.

Around 2:30 am I made a routine trip to the bathroom only to find that my water had broke. Sixteen long hours later, Michael Thomas Green robustly entered the world.

Michael has always had difficulty convincing his friends that he was born in China. Kids used to think he was making it up because he didn't look Chinese. Now they just think he's trying to get attention. More than once I've written and signed a note, attesting to the fact that indeed, he was born in China.

When we planned the trip to China this spring, we asked the kids where they really wanted to go. Beijing United Family Hospital was on Michael's list of destinations. It was almost as if he needed convincing himself.

Finding the hospital in a city that has grown out, up and increased by three million people since we left in 2000 was no easy task. As we remembered the hospital building, it stood alone on the outskirts of town. Today, it’s dwarfed and shrouded by skyscrapers on all sides, nearly undetectable from the street. It took two trips to finally find it.

You can’t just walk into a hospital, stand in the middle of the lobby for 10 minutes being hugged repeatedly by your eleven year old and NOT arouse suspicion. It certainly didn’t take long for a hospital worker to ask if we “needed any help.” To Michael’s extreme embarrassment, we explained that he had been born in Beijing and always wanted to see the hospital.

Judging by the reaction of the hospital representative this was not a common occurrence. She warmly welcomed Michael, which he took as an invitation to hug HER repeatedly too. And as it always does, no matter what country we are in, Michael's hugs melted away walls and opened doors for him. She offered to give him a tour of the hospital, including a private viewing of a labor/delivery/recovery room identical to the one we were originally in.

More hugs. You would have thought he won the lottery. Seriously.

And that wasn’t all. As we were saying goodbye the representative disappeared for a moment, returning with a stuffed bear. It was a Build-a-Bear style bear: soft, squishy and dressed in white scrubs which bore the Beijing United Family Hospital logo. She gave the bear to Michael, which resulted in…you guessed it: more hugs!

The bear now has a place of honor on his bed, right next to the little stuffed BUFH elephant that the hospital gave us eleven years ago. The other sites we went to…the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Panda Preserve, etc…were exciting and interesting but nowhere near as memorable for Michael as seeing the place where it all began for him.

Reflecting on our Second Year in Saudi

As always, I intended on posting this weeks ago before leaving Saudi but ran out of time. I'm so glad you all are patient people!

Instead I'm typing from the deck of a lovely house in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. As I gaze at the peek-a-boo view of the mountains through the tall trees, a cool breeze brushes lightly over my face and the sun gently warms my feet. The air smells clean and fresh and I can hear the water rushing over the rocks of a nearby water fall. Born and raised in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, I'm a mountain girl to the core. I just can't help setting my scene for you...

But back to the desert...This year seemed to go by much faster than the first, and the differences didn't end there. The boys started the school year confident and ready to see their friends again. They ended the school year successful and proud of their hard work. I not only conquered the fear of online classes, but also completed 2 difficult math classes and a world history class this spring.

In a nutshell this year was just more settled. Everyone felt at ease with our new community, made good friends and relaxed in the lifestyle. Let me tell you - it was a welcome change from that horrible year of transition.

The question I'm getting asked most this summer, (after "do you have to wear that black thing over your face," which I'm certain I answered last year as well) is whether we still like it there. Overwhelmingly the answer is YES. The things we love the most are, mostly in order: Steve's strict 7am -4pm (five days/week) workweek / family time, the travel opportunities, the close knit community, the good schools, the money of course, the expat lifestyle, and the amazing weather 8 months out of the year. The boys are flourishing in school, I'm hitting a groove with my decades-old quest for a BA degree, and Steve..., well he just loves that the rest of us are happy, as well as the year-round golfing opportunities.

The downsides of living in Saudi still exist: the unbearable heat during the summer, the relatively narrow variety of goods (though it's improving slowly all the time), the oppressive Saudi culture outside the compound, etc. But I can't emphasize enough how little these things matter to us when we put it all in perspective at the end of the day.

The next question is generally, "...how long do you plan to be there?" This is a job for Steve, not an assignment (thanks for the definition, Lisa). We can be here until 2026, at which time Steve will be turning 60, the mandatory retirement age. We basically approach our life here on a day-by-day basis. Let's face it, political stability in the region is absolutely crucial. We have no illusions about the fact that things can turn and if they do, we will be done.

We haven't nailed down a definite time frame. I think we are realistic and flexible enough to go with the flow - and thankfully we both have the exact same frame of mind. If you really want to press me on it, our general plan is to finish up this stage of our life in Saudi, possibly another 9-10 years. Jake will be entering college at that point and it seems to work out on paper. We love living here and all the lifestyle benefits it brings. We honestly can't find a reason to stop until the bad starts outweighing the good...hopefully later rather than sooner.

Michael's 11th Birthday

Here's just a quick shout out to Michael who had a birthday over a month ago. He wanted everyone to see his cake, and since he didn't have a birthday party I thought I would oblige him.

Yes, you read that right: Michael didn't have a birthday party. It killed me. If you know me at all, you know that I love birthday parties - especially themed ones. I love birthday parties so much that we celebrate the kids' half birthdays (though only with a half-cake, half candles and just one gift: get the theme?).

My Grandma Keck also loved birthdays. It didn't matter how old anyone in the family was, we got together at her house for cake, ice cream, and a horribly out-of-tune rendition of the birthday song.

Sometimes we couldn't manage to meet until a couple weeks after the actual birthday. It didn't matter. Sometimes it was just Grandma, Grandpa, Steve and I. It didn't matter. Most of the time gifts weren't exchanged. It didn't matter.

I didn't think much about it until I had my own little family and Grandma was only a precious memory in my heart. It was just some thing we did, but now it is a part of who I am. Birthdays matter in my home.

So when Michael told me he didn't want a birthday party this year it broke my heart. And why he didn't want one wasn't for the reasons you'd think, like maybe he thinks he's too mature for a party. It's actually quite complicated, with religious, cultural and above all, empathetic underpinnings.

Reason 1: He wouldn't be able to invite EVERYONE and he didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

Last year Michael had 5 friends over for a movie night/sleepover party. When he got back to school after the weekend, one of the boys bragged about the party. Numerous uninvited boys were hurt and likely angry that they weren't invited. We all know that it's part of life, but Michael is really sensitive and empathetic and it really bothered him. He carried that guilt around for a year and never mentioned it to anyone until I asked why he didn't want a party this year.

There's no way I'd let him invite the whole 5th grade over to our house, but since we can have free pool parties I thought we could find a way to make it work. Which led us to....

Reason 2: Michael wanted to invite boys AND girls.

We work, learn and live alongside a large number of Muslims. Many of Michael's friends are Muslims. Some of his friends are entering puberty and wouldn't be able to attend a party that had mingling of the sexes (even though they are only 11 years old). His friends would try to come anyway by lying to their parents about where they were going, and might possibly get into trouble. He didn't want to put them in that position. And going back to Reason 1, he didn't want to leave anyone out (by only inviting boys).

I'm not going to comment on other people's religious choices. I'm just so sad that it has to effect whether my son can feel good about having a birthday party. He just refused to do it because he couldn't find a way to reconcile the whole thing.

It really speaks to the kind of heart this boy has. He was completely satisfied with NO PARTY, in order to not hurt feelings or get his friends in trouble. I *love* the person he is becoming.

In the end, we got together with the Neumans, friends we known since we moved to Maryland in 2000. Heidi and Michael's birthdays are a couple days apart and they are the closest thing to family we have here. With no theme to work around, Michael asked me to surprise him this year with a special cake. This picture captured his reaction when he saw it for the first time. He loved it!

Jake's June Piano Recital

The recital was last night - Jake's 2nd ever. It's hard to believe that this kid didn't start taking lessons until last fall. His progress is completely due to his persistence, determination and HARD work. I'd say without any hesitation that he's one of the most goal oriented, focused kids I've ever met.

His performance consisted of three pieces, only two of which his teacher assigned. The third one (Darth Vader's theme - The Imperial March) he just wanted to learn and pestered me until I bought the sheet music off the net for him (remember what I just said about his persistence?). Miss Lydia, as well as his parents, were a bit skeptical about the difficulty of the piece but he proved us wrong. He played it well and we couldn't be more proud of him. After he finished his pieces at the recital, Miss Lydia took the stage for a moment and commented to all about the difficulty of the music he insisted on playing. Unfortunately I had already turned the video off...

Just as a side note you should watch his facial expressions, his lips in particular. What he does when he's focusing is so unique!

Here's the video if you are interested in watching. Family members: you should watch all three - Jake may give you a test when we see you this summer!

I Wish *I* Was in Fifth Grade

I just finished signing yet another permission slip for Michael. This time it's to go bowling and swimming on the 29th of June - the second to the last day of school. I just signed one a earlier in the week giving him permission to go on a field trip to an oil history museum on the 27th. And a couple weeks ago it was one giving him permission to participate in the overnighter (the "lock-in") on the 15th. And this is just the tip of the fun activities iceberg these fifth graders have had this year.

They made GIANT hot air balloons out of crepe paper (think about 5 feet tall) and launched them over the school in January. They actually went up quite high and were retrieved on the other side of the school grounds. I think Michael's group was able to launch theirs three times before it became too damaged to fly again. It was quite an event: the whole school came out to watch the balloon festival.

As I've mentioned in other posts they had a variety show in April. Michael naturally had to participate...

At the end of May they put on a Invention Convention. This one actually involved quite a bit of work, but under mild pressure they will tell you they had a ball doing it. As groups of 3-4 they researched a specific invention, made working models, and gave creative presentations of how the invention worked.

The presentations were set up in a convention format in the multipurpose room, with different booths to visit. The inventions included things such as the diaper, the personal computer, electricity, the zamboni ice machine, cameras, microwave ovens and much more. Michael's group presented Eli Whitney's cotton gin. All day long, younger classes took turns going through the "Invention Convention," and the parents toured it at night.

The fifth grade took half a day off school to attend a middle school orientation and tour earlier this month.

They of course presented a couple performances of the band concert (though all the dress rehearsals got them out of doing math, they say it actually was of a lot of work).

And then there was the "lock-in," which deserves its very own paragraph. This was the granddaddy of all the fun to be had this year. (I can't show you any pictures because parents weren't allowed in!) They started the evening at 6:30pm with the Battle of the Books - a game show type competition based on the 5th grade reading list. By 8:30pm, it had cooled down to about 100F outside, just the right temperature for a massive class vs. class water gun fight on the school lawn. Since they were wet anyway, they declared a truce went swimming at the pool - which is right next to the school grounds. At 10:30pm they had a snack and watched a movie on their mats and sleeping bags, with the sexes segregated, in the gym and the multipurpose room. Supposedly this is when they brushed their teeth (right!). I'm told that lights out was around midnight, but I have no way of knowing for sure.

The next morning a couple of buses took them to the company dining hall for breakfast, then back to the school for the Battle of the Books finals. They came home at lunchtime and didn't have to go back to school after that. What fun! We owe a big thanks to the 5th grade teachers who planned, directed and chaperoned the whole shebang.

As I said before, next week they have a field trip, swimming and bowling. And then the year ends on the 30th with a "clap out," where the kids parade through the school while everyone claps for them as they walk out the doors for the last time. I'm sure I'll be puddle of tears for that one.

I sure don't remember 5th grade being so fun. I think it was just like any other year. As I ponder it though, it's such nice way of making their last year of elementary special, a way to celebrate being at the top of the elementary heap before starting over at the bottom of the middle school heap. Michael has worked really hard this year and I think he deserves every minute of it. I guess I'm just a bit envious.

Catching Up....Again

...I'm sensing a theme here. Clearly I can't manage blogging and taking classes at the same time. Sigh. I have so many topics to blog about now, I don't even know where to start. There's still most of our China trip, all the spring happenings around here, and other random thoughts I've had about Saudi Arabia lately, plus tutorials on the different kinds of palm trees, what are sand roses and why we have 4 different types of water in our house. We are leaving in seven days for our summer trip, and I just don't think I can make it all happen.

How about starting with a quick catchup on the last couple months....when I left you in April, the kids were starting their final trimester of school, I was starting Calculus for spring quarter and Steve was doing what he's always doing (work, golf, read, sleep, repeat).

Michael has been active in Boy Scouts since leaving Cub Scouts in February. We are so, so proud of him. He will be awarded a bronze medal for service hours, as well as advancing to his next rank of Tenderfoot at the Court of Honor this weekend. He's been working hard and is excited about attending his first ever sleep-away camp in a few weeks: Camp Daniel Boone in North Carolina. It's been an emotional month (mostly for mom) as elementary school draws to an end for him, with all kinds of activities to celebrate that milestone. He's had an amazing year - almost too good to be true (particularly on the heels of the train wreck that was 4th grade).

Jake is tearing it up in school too. He's reading a full year ahead of grade level and tops his class in math. He's also finishing up a successful cub scout year with a recent crossover into Bear rank. Jake played baseball again this spring and hopes to make the minor league team in the fall.

...Uh oh...this is sounding like a Christmas brag letter - Yuck! I'm sorry...enough of that! How about a pictorial synopsis instead?

The second grade sold lemonade at recess to raise funds for cancer awareness (they made over $600, at $.50/cup!). Jake was the financial manager for his team, i.e. head cashier. That's him in the blue shirt behind the table.

The 5th grade band concert was last night. Yay, no more nagging to practice the trombone! Seriously though, we're amazed how how far he's come in 9 months with that thing ( I mean that fine instrument).

There's not much explanation needed with this picture. I just think it shows how big he's getting. He enjoyed playing a lot this spring. He's never been much of a baseball loving guy, but in the absence of a good soccer or Tae Kwon Do program, he's had to make do. Steve did a fabulous job coaching the team and now has a new appreciation of coaches!

Michael was so proud to be awarded a pal slip (basically "I was caught doing something Great" type thing), and then even more proud to be selected as the best of the 5th grade, a Super Pal, for the week. Even better was how he earned it: he was the only one who understood how to do a very tricky math problem, and then went around the room explaining it to his classmates. Yay Michael!

Gotta throw in a couple Peaches pictures. She's 8 months old now, and using the dog door nearly all the time. We're going to experiment tonight with leaving her crate open tonight (so that I don't have to get up at 6am to relieve her on the weekend).

Our house boy is going to stay in our home while we're gone this summer to take care of her. She's looking a bit scruffy in this shot, but she has a beauty appointment scheduled for Saturday. We are very happy with her and Jake's health is still holding strong.

Michael had the audience in stitches as the show comedian for the variety show again this year. I have video posted here on Youtube if you are interested in watching it.

He chose Drama-Improv for one of his two electives in middle school. Doesn't that sound about right? We're really excited for him - he'll have a ball!

Scouts have made our life fairly busy this spring, whether it be Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts. Feeling the need to be a contributing member of the group, I volunteered to fill the Quartermaster position for the cubs. Steve has been going with Michael to Boy Scout meetings twice weekly, and helping out on an unofficial basis as needed. With Jake starting his 3rd year (Bear) of out 5 years in Cub Scouts, and Michael still 5 very difficult ranks away from Eagle in Boy Scouts, we have many years of scouting to look forward to.

A Slice of Life in April

Wow - April flew by! Here's a glimpse of what went on around here (travels included) in April:

At the Panda Preserve in Chengdu, China

Michael is trying to convince the duck that he comes in peace by pretending to be one of them!

Jake and I pausing for a moment on the Great Wall.

I WILL write more about our trip to China soon - I promise!

Many hours were spent in April holding, walking, petting, wiping up the floor and working on training Peaches. This was a common sight...

...as you can see, loving on Peaches went on all the time!

Everybody loves her! And the best part is...she loves everybody too! I think we have a keeper this time!

Jake raced in the Cub Scout Soap Box Derby again this year. After being disqualified last year for crashing twice, it took an ENORMOUS amount of guts and determination to just back into a car this year. He did, and we are so very, very proud of him for that. AND not only that, he took 3RD PLACE in his division.

That's our boy!

Another Soap Box Derby picture. That's Jake in the green car. In this particular heat, the kid in the other car lost his wheel - it's laying in the middle of the road by the white line. They don't actually race each other. They are separately timed and the winners have the best average time. (this is starting to sound like a calculus problem I was just working on....)

Enjoying some fabulous Chinese food in Beijing. Even the worst meal we had there was better than the best Chinese we can find around here.

And finally...just one of my favorite pictures taken recently around here. This was a camel herder and his flock (?) in the middle of the desert. We were digging up sand roses in the middle of no where (more about that to come) and was greeted by this sight. Check out the pile of blankets he is using as his saddle...

Stuck in Saudi - China Trip part 1

Have you ever noticed that no lesson in life is ever free? As we gain wisdom, it usually seems to come at the expense of something else. We may have paid with our time, such as a missed opportunity that resulted in a long wait. We may have paid with the loss of something valuable, such as jewelry carelessly left in a hotel safe. And of course, there are those lessons that cost us money. Our latest acquisition of wisdom cost us just that: cold hard cash.

To get into Saudi Arabia you need a visa, pre-authorization to enter and stay for a specific amount of time. Without a valid visa you can't get into the country, ...or OUT of it either!

On March 22nd we were heading to the airport with our bags packed for two weeks of travel in China and HongKong. On this particular trip we would be leaving out of Bahrain at around midnight, requiring us to leave Saudi and drive across the causeway. Our excitement and anticipation level was quite high; we'd been dreaming about this trip for several years already, well before coming to Saudi.

It was apparent that there was a problem at immigration on the Saudi side rather quickly. The normally languid official in the booth roused himself from his boredom-induced stupor and began speaking rather animatedly to our taxi driver in rapid Arabic. After a brief exchange, our taxi driver told us that our visas had expired and we would have to turn back. Excuse me, turn back? TURN BACK?!? Didn't he know we had a plane to catch in three hours? After talking with a supervisor and learning that there was no way we could get new visas on the spot, we had no choice but to go back home. And then the waterworks started...

You see...because it was already 9pm with no flight to catch, there was no reason for our exhausted boys to stay up. As we were putting them to bed they naturally had some questions. When would we be leaving? When could we get the visas? Would we be able to afford the very last minute airline tickets to replace the ones we were likely not going to get a refund on? What about all the hotels, tours and transportation within China for which we had already paid in full, and was past date of even a partial refund? Were we going to China now AT ALL? We had to leave them to drift off to sleep without any answers, for we had none at this point. What a mess, or more accurately, what a nightmare!

In a nutshell, Steve was able to get the visas the next morning and our amazing travel agent in Khobar found us four affordable seats on a flight leaving that afternoon. We only had a 15% cancellation charge on the tickets we cancelled two hours before the flight. We got to Beijing only one day late, but quite a bit more than a dollar short!

We were lucky, incredibly lucky . The wisdom we gained cost us thousands of dollars less than we were anticipating when we went to bed that sleepless night. So as not to tempt fate in the future, we've had our visas translated by a co-worker (even the numbers are in Arabic) and the dates kept in our travel planning folder. There are plenty of other lessons to learn without relearning this one!

Peaches the Puppy

Being the epitome of impatience, I was really hoping that the 2nd time was going to be the charm.

In the midst of all the college class stress in February, I thought it would be a good time to try another dog - a puppy this time. My husband thought I was nuts. If you had seen my stress level, you would be agreeing with him. But please hear me out...

Remember Skippy, the aggressive, possessive Chihuahua we gave back to it's foster parent in October? The dog with the incessantly loud bark that only liked three of us? And...the subject of Michael's dreams as well several heart wrenching essays he wrote in school? He was still sleeping with her picture and her collar under his pillow. Even Jacob, who was terrified of the little ball of fire, kept asking when we were were going to get a dog again. We really wanted to try another dog sooner, rather than later. But there were a couple of factors that made the timing of getting a dog somewhat out of our control.

We thought we would have the best chance of success this time with a puppy. There are resources stretching as high and wide as the Cascade Mountains for raising and training a puppy. Books from Amazon.com, books at our little compound library, books in the elementary school library, videos on YouTube, internet articles, etc. There is very little information, outside of the Cesar Milan Dog Whisperer DVDs, to assist inexperienced dog owners with integrating an adult dog with possible issues into their home. We don't even have access to dog obedience classes here. So, a puppy it was going to be.

Secondly, it couldn't just be any puppy. We absolutely needed something off the hypoallergenic list because of Jake's allergies. And not just any breed on the list - it needed to be small. The smaller the dog, the less dander. In addition to being hypo and small, the breed temperament was a HUGE consideration, as we wanted a friendly, family dog this time. All these requirements narrowed the options down quite a bit.

Getting a dog in Khobar at a pet store was nearly impossible for us. Muslims don't like dogs, so dogs aren't in high demand around the Middle East. We found a couple pet stores in town that sometimes had dogs, but they couldn't tell us exactly what kind of dog it was. The standard answer, no matter what it looked like, was "terrier."

If we got a puppy from a breeder in the US, then we'd know exactly what it was. That idea was pretty quickly squashed - Saudi Arabia limits the kind of dog being imported to guard dogs only and has started cracking down on people trying to skirt that issue by having a vet certify their Yorkshire terrier as a guard dog. In fact, we know a family here that has 2 pure bred puppies still being boarded by a breeder in the US four months after purchasing them because they haven't been able to get them into the country here. And quite honestly if all that wasn't a deterrent, the price would have been!

Well then, how about getting a puppy from someone on camp? Possibly, but not the best odds. There is an Aramco compound rule that no one is allow to breed dogs here. I have no idea what the consequence is - I doubt it's a one way ticket back to the US - but it's severe enough that IF anyone has puppies, it's not advertised. If you have gotten a puppy from someone on camp, you heard about it by word of mouth only.

So. What to do? We started spreading the word anyway, keeping our fingers crossed for a miracle. Then one day in February a friend of ours told us about a Havanese puppy they smuggled in over the causeway from Bahrain, who happened to have a sister still waiting for a home. Was Havanese on the hypo list? Yep. Was Havanese a small, friendly, family dog? Absolutely. Was a dog going to be easy to get into Saudi by car? Not at all. But the worst that would happen would be that they'd make us take it back before letting us across the border back home.

Keep in mind that I'm going crazy from stress at this very moment from all the studying. I was still trying to hit a stride, find some routine and keep my life in balance - and not doing a very good job at any of it. Adding an untrained, not housebroken, 4 month old puppy to the mix sounds like the straw that would break the crazy lady's back, right? Come on people...when have you ever known me to back down from challenge? In fact, I thought it was the perfect time to get a puppy - while I'm establishing a routine, not in a year when I've already settled into a one. And besides, considering all the factors, when would another puppy that met all our criteria come available again?

We brought the puppy home the following night. She was quiet as a church mouse in the little crate we hid between the boys, who were pretending to sleep. The customs official looked in the window but said nothing and let us through. We had a dog again!!

Peaches is working out great. We've taught her to ring a bell that hangs by the sliding glass door when she wants to go out (we haven't decided on a dog door or not). And while we rejoice that she is clever enough to be easily trained to ring the bell, we groan about opening it for her non-stop on the days she just wants to go out and play every 20 minutes (just who is training who, I ask?). Jake is having absolutely no health issues at all - she licks him all the time and he does fine. She LOVES when people come over, especially kids that play with her.

Oh - I have to cut this short. The bell just rang - someone needs to go out...