The One Where We Had Easter in Saudi!

A stark reminder of not being in the Western world - Easter Sunday is a work day! However Good Friday is our weekend. So Easter celebrations will have to take place then!

These kind of holidays should always be a family occasion, yet none of us have our families around us, so there is the need to improvise!

We invited all the staff around for Easter dinner, a full on, 3 course dinner.

We had prepared for this in advance, and the staff had brought Easter eggs back for the kids and sprouts for Easter dinner - what more do you need?

The kids left their baskets out on the evening before and awoke to them being filled with all sorts - eggs, sweets, chocolate bunny - although this year no stuffed Easter bunny - an Easter camel instead!

We had all the table laid out, with bunny footprints and Easter napkins and an Easter tree crafted by the kids.

Watching all our friends sat around the table, enjoying each others' company and the food was a real warming experience, a real reminder of family.

And a reminder that our friends are of great importance, especially living this kind of lifestyle where your 'home' can change every few years!

So we began with a choice of homemade chicken lover pate or homemade broccoli and Stilton soup - catering for different tastes and vegetarian! Although some people had both! :-) (which always makes the chef's happy!)

For our main we had a leg of lamb with all the trimmings, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, sprouts, and all of the other vegetables seasoned with flavored butters.

For dessert, traditional trifle, of course and a home made cheesecake, followed by the coffees and after eight mints! There are some traditions that just follow you, no matter where in the world you may be!

Our guests were so gracious and happy, enjoying every bit of food and making the appropriate 'yummy' noise at intervals!

The kids loved the fact that there were other grown ups all around, giving them the opportunity of attention from all angles - and to add to that so were we - a nice little respite!

The day had begun at 1.30pm and we partied through until our last guest left at midnight, a truly fabulous and fun filled day, that varied from the civilised, to games on the Wii to dancing to the Rocky Horror Show music later in the evening!

This day made me realise, that wherever in the world you are you can make the most of celebrations. Just because the customs may be different in other countries, doesn't mean you can't keep a bit of what you are used to. It is good for the soul, it is a reminder of your roots and who are you and what you are about. So OK, it may have been a bit of a different kind of Easter here in Saudi, but it was Easter all the same, great friends, good food and most importantly cadbury's cream eggs!!!! Really, what more do you need?

The One with the Mother's Day Adventure!

So it is the 'Easter Holidays', I say this in the loosest possible sense as it isn't actually Easter! Everyone has gone home to their respective countries, but we have stayed here in Saudi. There's lots to do, Jason has plenty to do at work and with packing and organising for our move to Qatar, we are busy!

But it is the holidays after all so we need to do something for a break!

We have decided to go to the Red Sea for Mother's day weekend. We have been before, but this time we are going a bit further around the coast, hopefully it will be cleaner and more private, allowing the abaya to 'fall' off and we can camp overnight!

So the car is all packed, food and provisions stocked up high.

We head down those glorious mountains again. A view I will never get tired of. I don't think many people would associate beauty with Saudi, but I can see it. You can drive just outside the town and there you are in the middle of a mountain range, seeing camels, monkeys and breathtaking views!

We drove a few hours to the town of Al Birk, although blink and you will miss it. We know there is a beach somewhere, we drive for 2 hours back and forth to get to a nice spot, and we find one.

A perfect and secret paradise spot in Saudi! Who'd have though it?

We park up, windbreaks out for privacy, table up, kids sun-screened to the max and the fire on ready for dinner!

The liberating feeling of freedom is indescribable! From having to wear an abaya regardless of heat to being able to splash in the water with the kids as if we were in the Med! Perfect!!

We cooked our chicken on the open fire and enjoyed the calm and peace that the Red Sea was giving us.

For dessert, it was of course, marshmallows and oreos. Sitting around the campfire without a care in the world!

I finally got the kids washed off and into their PJ's and into bed - which was in fact the back of the car (although far more comfortable than it sounds!) They watched a movie (Hmmmm can't get away from modern technology, however at one with nature you try to be!) And EVENTUALLY they went off to sleep, giving Jason and me some much needed quiet time!

We sat for an indefinite amount of time on the beach smoking the shisha and watching the fiddler crabs who had come out in the masses!

There is something about the ocean that just calms you, something I miss living in the mountains.

Our idyllic setting was slightly tampered with due to the strange and unnerving goings on from passing cars and their occupants! In fact to the point we did almost leave. The horror stories that you hear all come flooding back about kidnappings etc, needless I am writing this so no harm, or even close to, came to us! but late at night in a strange place, you mind can and will play tricks on you!

Let's just say it wasn't the most relaxing nights sleep we have ever had! Firstly the worry of being approached during our sleep didn't help, but the heat! WOW! In a car with the midnight temperature of over 30 degrees, it was a little stuffy, so we had an every hour on the hour ritual of putting on the AC!

As bad as they may sound, it actually wasn't! It is all part of the experience!!!

So the sun rose and our next day began, with the kids running into the sea at 8am in their PJ's! A cup of tea in 'bed' for mommy and homemade mother's day cards! Really what more could any mother want on Mother's Day! It was perfect!

We drove into town and got some breakfast, Daal and bread! Eating it on the beach was the perfect end to the perfect morning!

Jason bought some fish from the market too (as fishing wasn't exactly productive on this shore) So there we had lunch sorted too!

It really was idyllic!

The midday sun was beginning to take it's toll, so we slowly packed up the car and headed back up the mountain, homeward bound.

For two days we could forget all our worries and stresses and enjoy our time together as a family. Having the experiences we traveled to find. We were checked by the border police a few times, but if anything it made us feel safe, rather than inconvenienced.

The weekend was the most perfect Mother's Day gift I could have ever asked for, and the nice clean bath I got into at the end of it to clean of all the salt and sand was a little slice of heaven!

Happy Mother's Day!

The One With All The Pictures!

Saudi is not really seen, by most, as a beautiful place. I believe that everywhere has beauty, it is down to interpretation. Saudi has some beautiful sites and some beautiful people. I will go into that more on another post. But here are some of my favorite pictures of our stay here so far!

The One With The Bucket List!

A friend recently introduced me to this concept. It is something I have always done mentally, but never really had a name for it!

I wonder where the name comes from - after some thought I am presuming it stems from the phrase 'kicking the bucket' - would make sense, a list of things to do before you die!

Sounds a little depressing when you put it like that!

But as with everything, the glass is either half full or half empty, and by the end of my days I want this bucket to be FULL, overflowing!

So what I have done so far??

Well, I have found my man, got married, had my 2 beautiful kids, have a house and have made the huge leap to travel.

That's a good start!

I have spent time studying but for many reasons, still do not have my degree - that's a must for me!

So the places I have been:

Well the UK obviously, England, Scotland and Wales - still need to do Ireland!

We went to the Maldives for our honeymoon, what a surreal and magical place that is. tiny little islands dotted about in the clearest ocean, with sand that feels like custard powder, pure magic! And the fishing, WOW! I managed to put them all to shame! :-)

We have done Mexico, where I finally got my dream of swimming with dolphins in an ocean sanctuary, this was a perfect slice of heaven for me! Oh and Paragliding, now THAT was awesome!

Dominican Republic, this was nice, but I am not sure I would go again. Although watching Jason swim with sharks was somewhat amusing!

The UAE, one of THE most memorable trips of my life!!!

Italy, well I went here as a teenager on a school trip, I would love to go back and see it as an adult and enjoy it from a completely different angle!

Spain, the Costa Brava!!! This was my first ever proper holiday abroad! I went when I was 17 with my boyfriend, mmmm memories!!!!

Majorca, I think most Brits have been here at some point. A wonderful Island ranging form the tacky to the rich!! A great place to go for a little R and R, that's not too far from the UK!

And of course, Saudi Arabia. Now this is a place that not many can add to their list! Being here I feel I have seen a little secret part of the world that only a few are blessed to see!

So what to do next, well I have many many things that I still want to do!! Some may not be possible, but I shall do my best to do them at some point in my life, I would love to see the capital city of every country in the world, I know this will most likely not happen, but I shall see as many of them as I can!

So things to see:

Australia, all the obvious things, great barrier reef, Sydney Harbour etc etc
USA - Here I would LOVE to travel round in an RV for a few months, see it all!
New York at Christmas time, every time I see a Film that has New York at Christmas, those trees bring tears to my eyes!
The Amazon Rain forest - WOW!!!!
Madagascar - WOW, again!
Mauritius - I had originally always wanted my honeymoon here, I remember doing a project on it when I was a kid, I was amazed by the place!
South Africa - Here, I want to see Great Whites, the Big Five and everything else this place has to offer!
Hong Kong - An absolute must!
Drive across Europe - this is a journey I have completely planned, drive from the Middle East back to the UK, that would be epic! Including Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany, France!
Thailand - if nothing else from here, the tranquil beaches, islands and ocean!
The Great Wall of China - what an amazing site that would be!
Lapland - The pure magic of this type of trip, especially with the kids being young!
Aurora Borealis - The world at it's most beautiful!
Hawaii - if things go to plan this is where I would retire to, live in a little wooden shack on the beach, where I never have to brush my hair and be the funny little English Psychologist that everyone comes to for therapy!!!!! :-) but more seriously, this would be the perfect place for us to retire, the weather, the views and the ocean!

There's probably many, many more places that I have in mind, and places that I don't have in mind but would revel in the opportunity to see!

As for things to do!!!! :

Publish my own book
Parachuting
Swim with Dolphins in the wild
Volunteer work in Africa
Get my Psychology Degree
Walk in the foothills of the Himalayas
Ride in a Helicopter
Ride a Camel
Ride an Elephant


but most of all, find peace and happiness!

This last one is possibly one of the most difficult things to find in life, we spend our entire time striving for this one thing, this is the journey I am on, and out of all the things on the list, this is the one I most hope to achieve for it is not superficial, it cannot be bought with money and no plane can take me there. It comes from within and comes from those around me, My husband and my 2 beautiful children, who get me one step closer to achieving this goal every day, and as we all see these other things together in life, we shall all find the peace and happiness that we look for!

My wonderful family, all of you, this is for you!
xxx

The One Where I Started To Cook!

What's a girl to do in Saudi? Some would say not much, but I have no problem with boredom so far.

However, kids and husband all at school, there is a whole day there where I could be working, and let's be honest money is always needed for something!

I have been offered a few jobs since being here, being English is a real plus for teaching work overseas. But if I am honest the pressure of being away from home all day when the kids could need me made me anxious. In other countries it wouldn't be so much of an issue, you need to get home, your drive, call a taxi, here it really isn't that simple! So we decided it was for the best that I stayed at home!

But I still needed a job!

Well everyday, I cook for the family, or at least I am supposed to! What's a few extra meals added to the mix? Here, Ellie's Kitchen was born.

I made up menus, cake choices, order forms, bills, price lists, and we even started doing a pizza night on a Thursday (which is our Saturday!) First few weeks were great, everyone supported my new little enterprise, and I am pretty sure they even ordered dishes they wouldn't normally eat! After a few weeks the ordering began to quieten. So a little injection of life into the kitchen!

Here I started doing choices every night, whereas before it was a case of one meal a night. I now have a menu of up to 6 o r 7 choices every evening, including vegetarian dishes. Also the pizza nights and the cakes are still going strong. I am able to make an honest and somewhat respectable living! And the added bonus is that I have tried dishes I wouldn't have done before, I can now make fajitas from scratch!

I am sure everyone thinks that it all runs smoothly when they receive their food and it is all prepared in a dignified manner! Mmmmmmmm - they didn't see me drop the lasagne the other night, nor do they see the panic when I realise I am an ingredient short! :-)

Why has it worked?

Well in a western country this probably wouldn't work, but when you have a group of expats from various countries living in a small community things are very different. Here there are many single people, who quite honestly don't want to bother with cooking every night and who can blame them?! Yet this said, they still want home made food. Not only for nutritional reasons but also emotional. For some it reminds them of home.

It also works because things round here spread like wild fire!!! I began with just a small group of the teachers we knew and before long people noticed us driving around every night with little parcels of food, and they wanted in on the action, and I was more than happy to oblige!

This week, I am now preparing almost 60 evening meals for people on our compound. I had a huge order of cakes and food at the weekend for parties and again this weekend.

It works!

I now work!

This is just another example of making the best of what you have to hand and that you can do whatever you set your mind to! Not only do I get the pleasure of people eating every night and enjoying my food, I get paid for it and my family are happy as they get a choice of food every night, not to mention that they are actually getting their dinner on the table every day!

Bon Appétit!!!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Ellies-Kitchen/121966614540742

The One Where There Was Christmas in Saudi

So as you have read, it was too expensive to fly back for Christmas this year, and with the snow problems last year, a little fear was involved too!

In true Lloyd family form, Christmas began December 1st! Christmas music blasting out, the decorations at the ready and home made (non alcoholic of course) mulled wine!

The burning question - what goes on first the lights or the tinsel??? Every year my husband asks me this, if you don't know the answer just ask my kids, they know!

We managed to bring a Christmas tree back after the summer holidays - one case filled with the tree and one filled with the decorations! So up with the tree, with Sir cliff in the background. A friend came round to help, or rather supervise, but the help wasn't required it was just nice to share the Christmas spirit. A lot of people here are away from their families, which I imagine is easier to cope with any other month of the year, but Christmas is a time for families, and to us, our friends are family. Especially when living overseas like this, you make friendships, close friendships, very quickly. It's survival.

Continuing with the decorations, up went everything on the ceiling, around the doors and even the air conditioning! By the time it came to putting the lights on the window, I was the only one left standing, barely, and the lights looked like some type of Harry Potter shield, needless to say in the cold light of day I changed that!

We managed to have everything we needed for the perfect Christmas, the only thing missing was the pork and beer! We had our Christmas table stocked with all the usual treats, we had Christmas wrapping paper, the music, the movies and even chocolate advent calenders for the kids! Inside it felt like Christmas. Outside it was 28 degrees, so not so festive!

Next came the obligatory Christmas party. What I love about being here, is that you can do this sort of thing and people are overwhelmed with joy. To have the same kind of party back in Britain would have been strange, but here it is really appreciated. And our party wasn't just British ex pats, in fact not even just Christians, we had Muslim guests who thoroughly enjoyed themselves too. Engaging in the festivities and the warmth of friends!

We had home made mice pies, a Christmas log, sausage rolls (made from beef but taste strangely like pork ones!?), mulled wine, the only thing missing was the crisp, crackling winter fire!

Not for long!

My clever husband had a trick up his sleeve!!!

One little download from the net and boom, we have a real fire film playing on our TV! Much to the delight of our guests!


Next was Christmas itself. As we saw all our friends leaving to go back to their native lands, a slight feeling of melancholy came over us. I was missing my Dad and Aunt terribly by this point. We knew we had made the right decision though. The emotion really came to a head when we went to a church service just before Christmas day.

The warmth in that place was wonderful, and the words the Pastor spoke touching. It was something we really needed at this point, and brought us closer to enjoying Christmas.

I must also add here that just before Christmas the kids received a letter each from Santa, the relief in their eyes that he knew where they were and could still deliver their presents was simply magical!

Christmas morning came.

Perfection!

Two overwhelmingly excited children ripping at the paper, with giggles and screams, we could have been anywhere in the world at that point. What made it special was that we were together. Even more wonderful was their Nan, who was back in the UK, called on skype, we angled the laptop camera so she could join in with us. Technology is a wonderful thing, on December 25th 2010 it brought 3 generations together in a moment of pure magic!

Christmas dinner was wonderful, the turkey, the herb butters, we even got sprouts and parsnips when were in Dubai ready for this day! Truly fabulous!

We had a great Christmas, it just took a little more planning and organising to make it happen here in Saudi. This just proves that it is possible to do anything, anywhere. It isn't always about where you are, it is about where you heart is and who shares the moment with you.

The Lloyd Family, once again proved that we can pretty much pull off anything if we set our mind to it. We are a very determined little foursome when required!

God Bless Us, Every one!

The One Where We Went For a Long Drive!

So I have realised that once again I have been neglecting my blog, so a little catching up to do!!!!

So we went for a drive!! Well more of an expedition than a drive. A 4000km round trip from here in Khamis to Dubai.

We had made the decision that it was too expensive to fly home for Christmas, but obviously Father Christmas had lego obligations or else there would have been one very upset little boy on Christmas morning, wondering what he ever did to offend Santa!

Well, you can't get lego here, so Dubai it is. I LOVE adventure and what better way to see Saudi and the UAE than to drive.

Everybody told us it couldn't be done, we wouldn't cross the border, it would take too long or we would be hijacked in the desert. Let me assure you none of this is true! In fact the complete opposite!

We started off at about 5am KSA time. The car was packed - every eventuality was covered by mommy, tent, food, blankets, first aid kits, plenty of food and water, and a whole file full of every bit of information we could possibly need! We managed to be in the desert mountains as the sun rose, which was a magical and beautiful site to begin our journey with.

The kids were fully equipped, with their DVD players, colouring books, toys and their little lunch boxes and I have to say they were excellent the entire journey, and that I did not expect! We kept in 2 hourly contact with some friends back at the compound so if they didn't hear from us, they knew we could be having problems!





We headed up Route 10, which is a very long road taking you almost to Riyadh, we went as far as Al Kharj, the road splits here, up to Riyadh or carry on Route 10 going East across the Kingdom. We passed a place called Harrad and then straight on to the border.

This journey was pleasant enough. It is possible to see beauty in the most desolate of land. I found the scenery stunning and always changing, quite remarkable really. We passed through towns, we passed fields FILLED with hundreds of camels, we passed entire fields filled with green green grass, which seems somewhat of an oxymoron in the middle of the desert, and into the empty quarter, which in itself is a magnificent place. The site of the dunes, always changing colour, and vast area of nothingness! A man can easily get lost, not just in the physical sense but the emotional and metaphorical sense too! We saw the sunset over the empty quarter another amazing site!

On such a long journey - of which this took about 10 hours, one must be prepared to relieve oneself in the most undignified manner - in other words, pee in the desert! We had this down to a fine art by the time we reached the border. Only problem is the flies - you are introducing the only liquid into the desert for miles and miles, and the flies want fluid, so be prepared to be swamped with flies and killing dozens for the next 50km that have got into your car!

So the border crossing, we arrived here about 7pm, a surreal site in the middle for the desert, the empty quarter, nothing for miles and miles and yet suddenly all these lights, people and cars! This was the bit we were most worried about, we had been told by some that non GCC citizens could not cross this border.

From beginning to end it took just under an hour. All it takes is to be organised and not panic. Here is a little checklist that was valid for us as UK nationals, GCC residents in November 2010:

Exit KSA:

White paper for vehicle export – stamped at various points
At final checkpoint keep the paper
Immigration – check and stamp passport

Enter UAE:

Park car then enter white immigration building on left
Go to desk – produce passport
Visa application for each passport
Don’t fill in ‘travel with/accompany’ as all have own forms
Adults have eye scan
Pay 125 AED at counter opposite immigration desk
Officer post sticker on visa form
Back to immigration desk have passport/visa stamped
Drive car to customs park in inspection area
Get out to get stamp
After customs need to buy insurance – 100 AED for 10 days
Final checkpoint – check passports and collection of white paper with stamps

Simple as - congratulations you have now entered the land of alcohol and no abayas!


Everyone here was wonderful, helpful, polite and kind. In fact all the way through Saudi this is what we experienced. My husband always tries a little Arabic with people and being the local novelty, the white British family, people just want to be in your company!

So now we are in the UAE!

We continued along the same VERY long road. After a total of 14 hours on the road, we were all getting a little tired.

We found a hotel, a very plush hotel I may add, and stayed there the night. We enjoyed a nice shower, beautiful sea views, room service, overpriced alcohol and THE most comfortable beds known to man!

We set off after breakfast and a walk on the beach. We were about another 4 hours from Ras Al Khamiah where we were staying. Going through Dubai was amazing. Seeing all those buildings you have seen on the TV up close. The place is huge, and although there is a lot of sparkle, there is clear evidence of the economic demise that the whole world is suffering. Unfinished building work everywhere!




We finally got to our hotel - the Hilton in RAK, the city hotel though - a fraction of the price of the hotel and spa, yet you can use all the facilities of the beach hotel! Bargain!

Unforunatley when we arrived there was no booking and with it being Eid it was fully booked! I have to say the staff were wonderful, after such a drive and a very tired little family, they were great, it was the booking companies fault not Hiltons!

Finally we got sorted, unpacked and and ate dinner!

The holiday was fabulous, lazy time by the pool and on the beach, sipping cocktails by midday and Christmas shopping in Dubai! All in all, it was fabulous, we stocked up on all the things we miss out on here, like salted butter, Stilton cheese and even bagged ourselves a non alcoholic Christmas pud!

Then it was time to leave, but there was one more adventure in store - the road trip home!

We stopped off in Dubai on the way back, unfortunately I was quite sick the day we left, so was quite uncomfortable for me, but we were ok! Through the border, across the empty quarter and we finally reached Al Kharj at about 2am! (well we didn't leave Dubai until about 3pm!)

Armed with our sat nav - we found a hotel. The hotel looked nice from the outside, but what's that saying, never judge a book by it's cover! That was invented for just this situation! The lift was a little scary, and then into this room, well sort of 3 rooms, with the most dodgy doorbell ever heard!

not wanting to investigate things too much, we kept the lights dim, and both shared a single bed each with a child held tight!!! We just needed some sleep to continue!


The next morning we woke, still in our clothes and just got straight in the car and left Faulty Towers!

It took about another 7 hours to get home.

At the very spot we saw the sun rise on the way we saw it set on the way home! Simply beautiful!

Home at last, unpacked the car, nice hot bath, with my lush products and fell into a nice cosy bed - far cleaner than the previous bed!


All in all this was one of THE best adventures of my life.

We met camels in the road!

The kids saw what others only ever see in books!

We shopped!

We relaxed!

We had alcohol!!! :-)

And we achieved the seemingly impossible!

The moral, whatever you want to achieve in life, you can, whatever you want to see in life, you can, and whatever you want to get from life, you will!

We were blessed to have this experience and cannot wait for the next road trip!

The One With Anna Ryder-Richardson

The thing with seeing a celebrity is that no matter how grounded you may think you are, you cannot help but get a little googly eyed and star struck when you encounter first hand one of these people which is why I am writing this.
Anna Ryder-Richardson moved to Pembrokeshire a couple of years ago and bought Manor House wildlife park, which at the time had been left to ruin and had closed down, with the animals locked in there. Now for anyone knows Pembrokeshire or any small town come to that will realise the magnitude of this event. I knew very little of it at the time as our attentions were focussed elsewhere, but had promised the kids a visit when we went back.

Now to me, people are people, no matter who they are, I would offer them a seat next to me and would buy their kids ice creams along with my kids when playing together. But how does a celebrity see other people and themselves come to that? How would they see the actions of us mere mortals, knowing who they are and knowing that we know who they are? Knowing that when you meet a person they already know more about you than you do about them? To be honest it must be hard, which is why it was an even braver decision for Anna Ryder-Richardson to buy and then re-open this park.

My first Anna encounter was at Tenby harbour, where she stood right behind Jason looking for a place to sit; this was the moment I knew I would get stupidly star struck if I spoke to her! I didn’t speak to her on this occasion, I felt kind of bad that she was out with her family, enjoying an evening, yet obviously being asked for pictures etc. It must be a difficult decision when you are famous to go out; you’d have to be in the right mood and frame of mind and prepared for the public. I have to say though, she was stood a few feet from us that evening and she dealt with people wonderfully, smiled and was generous with her time to every person who asked for a picture or who approached her.

My second ‘Anna encounter’ was at Manor House. I saw her go by in the morning. Celebrities always seem to look animated compared to their surroundings, maybe it is because we notice them more that the lady with the buggy, or the dad with his two kids in tow. It always seems strange that they carry on the same as us, not sure why it seems strange it just does! So we had a fabulous day at Manor House, we met some friends of ours there, kids had loads of fun, you can really tell that it is run by a mother – the picnic area is covered with toys, space hopper and bikes and wicker tepees and there is a park or play area around every corner its great! At the end of the day we popped into the gift shop for our mandatory souvenirs. When we came out Grace wanted to play on a wooden rocking horse type thing??!?! So we sat there whilst she played and out came Anna Ryder-Richardson. Jason pointed out that this was the lady who owned the zoo at which point joey marches up and taps her ‘excuse me’ ‘Yes?’ ‘I really like your zoo!’ to which Anna replies ‘Awww and I really like you!’ – She looked over and smiled saying how cute, we got into a brief mother type conversation about swapping children etc. Jason, knowing I was far too embarrassed asked her if she wouldn’t mind having a picture taken with me, she of course obliged without question. Grace went into full blown tantrum mode, which made her worry she had done something, which I suppose if you didn’t know Grace you would wonder if you’d done something to cause such an outburst, I gently reassured her that it wasn’t her and we went on our way!

Anna Ryder-Richardson was refreshingly normal to meet, and made me realise that actually celebrities are not a completely different species; she for example is another mother, working hard to raise her kids and run a business. She has done a fabulous job, the park was lovely, a lot of thought and hard work went in it and I hope it continues to grow. However she is still a celebrity and I had my picture taken with her, and yes I did feel a little googly eyed and star struck for a moment there, with all the people she meets every day it is unlikely she will remember us, but we will! And I thank her for taking the time, and adding to an already very lovely day!

The One That Came Back By Popular Demand!

So there was me thinking that I obliviously typed away at this blog for the basis of a future record, yet unbeknown to me, other people actually read it! Not only that they enjoy it too! So whilst I have been preoccupied for the last few months, believing it didn’t matter too much that hadn’t updated this, it in fact did matter to some people. So here I am, condensing the last few months into one little, not so neat, package!
Once we had recovered from our coming of age into the next decades of our lives, it was time to move on, and get on with life! It was strange having such a celebrations with restrictions, such as no alcohol, no big liberating party and even more so as this is our first time away. Attention was to focus on our trip back to the UK in the summer where we could spend three whole months indulging in such debaucheries!

Most things in life ticked along as normal, Jason continued with his job, still enjoying it, Joey continued to excel in school and Grace and me slowly learnt that you can have too much of a good thing, staying at home and playing with mum isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, tempers flared, personalities clashed, makes me really look forward to the teenage years in our house!!!!!? In time I began to count down the days until we were going back to the UK, arduously crossing off days on the calendar, planning our trip in every detail (which by the way didn’t exactly go to plan, but more about that later!)

However, during this time, we did mark some achievements, I managed to lose weight, which I then successfully put straight back on, we embarked a mission to get Jason’s driving license, with success after 4 very long days! Which led us into our battle around the Saudi banking system in order to buy a car, which after 4 even longer weeks we finally had! Most of the above being a struggle with the language barrier which Jason has gallantly fought and is well on his way to winning!

So back to the new car! Well what can I say? Big and lush!!! An 8 seater, GMC Acadia, brand new, straight from the showroom. This was a momentous occasion for us. Never before have we had anything so big, shiny and new! Maybe some think we should be sensible and buy a second hand car and save our money. But after much deliberation we realised that actually it would be a false economy. We would spend approx 4000 GBP on a 10 year old car, which would have a million miles on the clock and has no doubt been hammered by the heat and the sand. For 20,000 GBP we could have a car with a warranty, that’s new, we know exactly what it has done and can do. A far safer and in the long term more economical choice for us!

Well, all this set my little mind ticking! This car is so comfy and nice; why not drive it as much as we can, as in back to the UK for summer? So at first everyone laughed and thought we were mad. But I researched every detail. The countries, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany then France. It was doable. I set about my little folder, all sectioned in perfect order, of hotels and campsites, places of interest, Embassy numbers and addresses for each country, currency, traffic rules and regulations, Visas – it was a project to be proud of! Now just one thing, taking the car out of the country. Most things are a battle over here if they are unusual. And this certainly was unusual. We were told by most people at the bank that we could take the car to Europe no problem. When it actually came to the fact it was a different ball game. Only neighbouring Arab countries, then only to Bahrain. We need the paper work in order to get a Carnet. We were backed into a corner of making a decision quick. We could fight it and hope to be able to take the car or give in and guarantee our flights. We had to take the flights as didn’t want to risk wasting any of our summer. Simple you would think – mmmmmm – not so! Whilst trying to pay for our flights Saudi Airlines kindly cancelled me and the kids off the booking, refusing to rectify it making us re book – for an extra 2000 GBP!!!!!!! I don’t think so, so after many days of angry emails, to which there was no reply, I had to rebook me and the kids to leave before Jason – 2 weeks before.

By this point culture shock was really getting me down and just wanted to see my family and friends again, on top of that the thought of flying half way across the world with the kids on my own was slightly disconcerting and even more that we would be apart as a family for almost two weeks! This will never happen again – next year we will be doing our Europe trip and driving back, after all, I made a folder and everything!

So the flight…………………..

Jason drove us to Abha airport which was far nicer than relying on the hospital transport which is inevitably always running late and being on my own I would not have been given any help! So all was good we got to the airport by 7pm, Jason got us checked in and linked our flights etc. and then we sat and had a drink together. Knowing that I couldn’t show too much physical affection to him made me want to snog his face off more than ever! But we embraced in a dignified peck on the cheek, whilst having a family hug, no one can complain at that surely! I had hoped and prayed that joey was still that little bit too young to get upset about being taken away from daddy, oh how wrong I was!!! The heartbroken little boy understood enough to be devastated about leaving daddy but not quite old enough to get the reason as to why this was the only way. Jason tried in vain to hold back the tears, to not much avail I must add! I got to the point where I couldn’t watch and Grace carried on in her own little world in true Grace Style!

The first flight was great kids were fabulous, we got to Jeddah and got ourselves sorted in the airport café, where I am pleases to say is one place people can still smoke! We had some food from the café and a mooch around the shops and the kids were fabulous. Our plane boarded about 1am and the kids were asleep before we even taxied round!! I thought marvellous, I can have my little meal and watch a movie and still have time for a little sleep before we land! How wrong can one mommy be! Movies weren’t available until over an hour into the journey, food seemed to take almost as long, and then just as I got to sleep all hell broke loose!!! Grace woke making sure that she wasn’t the only one, screaming and crying the plane down in the most indiscreet way, to the point I had to lock us both in the toilet just to give everyone else the chance of peace and to give her the stern telling off that was required – it was the airplane equivalent of the shop doorway! Once I had her calmed, I drifted off again, for joey to wake! His requests were far simpler, or so I thought, he wanted his meal, so off I went to get it. Only to be told that there were no child meals left. Now at 5am and 35 thousand feet the final straw for an overtired and emotionally battered 5 year old is quite understandably his lack of child meal. OMG, he cried, but a truly devastating cry that not even mommy could sooth. I then got told off by the steward for not ordering the meal and that it was my fault (let the record state I did in fact order the meal!) To which my final response after 20 mins of emotional battering was ‘Do NOT under any circumstances speak to me for the rest of the journey. You obviously have no idea how to speak to mothers because if you did you would realise we are the last people you’d would want to piss off at 35,000 feet!’ Not surprisingly the manager popped over to say hi!!! By this time I was seriously not amused and crying myself and counting the seconds for the flight to end!!

Finally the flight did end!

Through customs, through the luggage lounge and into arrivals, where the kids dived towards granddad and aunty Val and I welled up with even more tears happy to be back on solid ground!

We paid our ticket, packed the car and went to leave Heathrow, only to be told that if we wanted to leave we had to pay another 2.50 GBP!!!! We had taken too long to get out – are you serious????!??!?!?!? I then experienced culture shock, (which is a recognised medical complaint you know!). But this time in my own country, surely that’s a first.

2 hours later up the motorway and we were back at Dad and Val’s – where I quickly relaxed and got some sleep, probably something to do with the bacon sandwich and half a bottle of wine I had at 9.30 am that morning………………………..

The One That Wasn't Supposed To Be So Waffley!!!!

I have always wanted an adventure, always enjoyed holidays, road trips, going to new places and meeting new people. When I was younger I used to go for walks, with part of me hoping to get a little lost, so I could enjoy the adventure of finding my way home. I used to play make believe when even younger about being washed up onto a beach, in a new land, discovering my surroundings, how to make a home or camp to survive!! So it has always been in my soul to do the very thing I am doing now. But getting here wasn't an easy road, without even knowing it I have learnt a lot, and since arriving here I have had an awareness of learning even more, a journey of self discovery and an appreciation of life and it's meaning.

The world is a bog place, and I am always thirsty to know more, what's around the next corner? what kind of people live there? The landscape, the sky, the way places all look differently at night, even though we are all always looking at the same moon. Around each corner there are different people, cultures and religions. They are more often than not different to us, to how we have been raised, conditioned in our individual societies. With this it seems to be the human nature to reject things that we don't understand or know. But when we fight this urge and open our minds to these new experiences, people, cultures and religions it greets us with a feeling of liberation. For the first time you will have an overwhelming urge to learn even more, to discover more places, meet even more people. To have your life touched, moved, marked by all these new people you never even dreamt of meeting.

My time here has been touched in so many different ways already. I have been touched by kindness of people who hardly knew me and my family. They have embraced us into their lives and surroundings, helped us make our home here. Your home can be just about anywhere. There is always a way of making a home, it is about immersing yourself with your family, allowing your new friends in each place into your lives, a few memories and of course the internet from time to time!

I have learnt a lot about life an myself since being here. I have had space in my head to think, grow and understand. And to learn from others. I have learnt we are all good people, we just need the right environment to see it and for others to see it. I have spent much of my teenage and adult life uncomfortable, unhappy, for many reasons, little of which i don't fully understand my self, I know what triggered it but what I don't understand is why i let things affect me so much. now, however I know that I am good person. I now know that it is OK to acknowledge this in yourself. It isn't a case of over confidence, its simply a case of allowing yourself to be liked and loved by at least one person and once that person, you, has established that friendship, more friendships will grow. It is OK to take on board compliments from people, to accept to yourself what they are saying is in fact true, and when you return home and mull over said compliment, you can see that if you yourself saw this in somebody else, you would have also paid the same compliment with the same intentions.

Another thing I have learnt is we all have a past. We all have vices, pain, history and bad points. we should never be ashamed of them. It is part of who we are, of what we are made of. We need to be true to ourselves and realise that we change and grow everyday, so how we may have acted, behaved or responded to things 10 years ago aren't necessarily how we would be today, and the way we respond today is not necessarily how we would respond tomorrow! We have all done wrongs in our lives, maybe it is just that we didn't deal with a situation or relationship how we should have or maybe wanted to. I have learnt to understand now that i cant control what people think of me, the only thing I can control is how I deal with how the perceive me and how I think about myself. I know who I am and that's what matters.

We are all looking for something in our lives. Aand once we have found what it is we are looking for, no matter what it is, I know anyone can achieve pretty much anything. We only let ourselves stand in our way. there are so many things I would love to do and be - a doctor, an actress/singer and win the x factor, a writer, a chef............... - the things in my way of attaining any of these things are controlled by me - I could dedicate all my time to studying, I am open to learning and if I was determined and wanted it enough I am sure I could maybe eventually become a doctor!!! but it is my choice not to sacrifice my family time, the money, our current life (and sleep), that would be required to reach that goal! the same kind of pattern is true for any of the above, if I trained and learnt I could be almost anything I want to be. But if I am honest right now I am happy, truly happy, the happiest i have ever been, and I am content with riding this wave and enjoying the gift of my family. my family comes first, that is my destiny right now in my life and that is an adventure, after all that's what I have always been looking for! i am proud to be a mum and a wife, whatever job I undertake I commit to 100% and it's no different with this job! I do the best I can.

The most important lesson I have learnt is about change. Once we accept change in our lives we can ease that transisiton, allowing to take control of those changes, which gives us control of our lives, end result = making us happy. I have always been a person that when things begin to go 'wrong' I need to take control. usually I result in not taking control of the actual problem. When having our children I had no control, firstly in becoming pregnant, then the pregnancy, and the births are where I lost complete control. After having them I suffered pnd, re affirming my lack of control, I desperately needed to get some control back, for me this took hold in an eating disorder. After loosing over 6 stone in a matter of months, I had gained control of something. It isn't until now I realise that I had gone about it in the wrong way. It wasn't something else I needed to control, it was recover from my original illness of pnd that would have given me the control, eased the transition of recovery. Things hadn't exactly gone to plan. What I needed to do was to accept the changes in our plans and our lives and taken control of those changes and then maybe I would have spent that time happier. But, it has played a huge part in making me who I am now, and strangely I wouldn't change it, I would only change the hurt and upset it caused to people. I was happier when I was thin, happier in that respect than I am now, however at what Price? The difference now is I control how I feel, I control how I perceive myself and I control what I do about how I feel. The thing with my eating disorder, it was actually out of my control, it wasn't me taking control of anything. What I did take control of if recovering, making changes i my life, and that was the best thing I did. The effect it has had has been monumental, I am happy but most importantly my actions have made my family happy. My life had changed, at the time for the worse, but I took control of those changes, it eased the transition, allowed me to take genuine control and has made us all happy.

This leads me back to my adventure, our adventure, for my family. It has taken me to move all this way and to embark on this journey to learn all these things. And what I think about now is if I have managed to realise all these things in this short time, imagine what I can learn to understand in the future.

I have a wonderful life, it gets better every day, soon all my demons will disappear, and with everything new I learn and every new person that enters my life I will become even happier and in turn this will make the people around me happier. I love our children and I love my husband. It has taken a lot to get here, but we have made it, I couldn't have got here without my family and friends.

The One With The Big Bithdays!

Well we succumbed to the landmark birthdays, with dignity, style, fun and laughter!! The big 3 0 and the big 4 0 was anticipated, by me at least, like a ticking time bomb! How on earth were we to celebrate properly over here. We had envisaged being able to have a party with friends, get dressed up and have fun and maybe even a glass or two of Champagne! Well the latter certainly wasn't going to happen in Saudi!

However, this is part of what is changing us as people. Allowing us to grow and develop as human beings. No longer are our expectations what they used to be. In fact we have very few expectations. This led to a wonderful time for our birthdays.

Still trying to get completely even with money, as the first year is always the most expensive and with flying back to the UK so soon after arriving there wasn't going to be a fancy Rolex for the 40th and dazzling diamonds for the 30th, instead we used our imagination and created something far more special for each other.

My birthday began at 6am with me crying buckets in bed! But happy tears I must add! Jason had made for me a photo album. It was about our journey here so far. With all the pictures having captions and questions about our experiences so far, this coupled with an amazing choice of photos of us, the children, things we had done. It was truly beautiful, on many levels! With some lovely jewelery from the kids and a nice cup of tea in bed, Jason had to promptly leave for school! Taking Joey into school, I felt like a million dollars with the children in the playground singing happy birthday to me, the kids here are so nice!

I had a lovely day, peaceful and relaxing and yet still had the weekend to come!

Next came the BBQ - never have we Had a BBQ on our birthdays before, not with them being in February. Last year it had snowed on my birthday, and yet this year is was 25 degrees, very surreal!

WE had our BBQ in true British style, the wind was really getting up that weekend, but like Brits we were determined to cook outside! We had all our new friends with us, from South Africa, Pakistan, India, UK, Egypt. It was wonderful, to be surrounded by all these people who we have really only recently met, yet they came to our house to be with us, for this I was touched! Oh and of course, some FAB presents!!!

The wind finally did beat us for dessert, after the head mistresses food flying onto my neighbours plate! So for the birthday cake, which I had made for Jason, chocolate with chocolate frosting, with flake and maltesers and galaxy chocolate! We went inside, enjoying the rest of our party!

We didn't need alcohol, late nights and loud music to have fun, this in itself is somewhat liberating! We had all we needed, good food, good friends and fairly good weather!

Next came Jason's 40th!!! Being his birthday he has to take food/cakes into work with him. Well the least I could do would be to bake them for him!!! So another late night, making 20 carrot cake muffins and 2 loaves of banana nut bread, and up again at 5am to put the fresh frosting on them and make them pretty!

My gifts to Jason were about the day I would make for him. Staring with his tea and pressies in bed! At 6am I wake the kids, who promptly run and jump on daddy ordering him to open his presents, and he had better be quick or the kids are going to get them! For him I had taken a photo of the kids, turned it to black and white and had it enlarged and framed. Also a picture that I had taken in the UK at Christmas of the snow, where the snow lay on the branches of the bare trees, he had commented on that journey how pretty it had looked. So he now had a reminder of the UK and a reminder of one of the biggest achievements in his life, our babies! This was banded together with some youthful clothes and surfer jewellery, and chocolates and his favourite biscuits to comfort eat through any forthcoming pain of turning 40! Poor guy then had to go off to work!

He had some wonderful gifts at school, perfectly chosen from the staff and some really touching gifts and messages in cards from his pupils. This I know meant the world to him. Not only to be in a workplace where he was happy and with friends but also from the children. To be liked an respected by the children to the point where they would make him cards, choose gifts for him, not from the materialistic point of view but from the view that these children care and took the time for him! I can imagine for a teacher this must feel quite emotional and special, knowing that what you do affects people in such a positive way.

I spent much of this day cooking! I have been nagged since I arrived to cook rice! Now this is daunting experience for a Brit, where the only cooked rice know of is either in an orange, microwavable Uncle Ben's packet or it comes in a foil tray from the takeaway! But I set my mind to it and cooked him a Pakistani dish with chicken and potato cutlets, with home made mint and coriander dip and of course, his favourite, a home made cheesecake, Jamie Oliver 'stylee'!

The dinner was nice, slightly late, not because of my timing I should add, but because of upset caused by someone else, which Jason boldly sorted in defence of his wife and children, but this I shall not go into!

By this point we were both so shattered, from all our celebrations, preparations and the fat that poor Jason Had been suffering an awful cold the whole time! So a bit of TV and an early ish night!

Our birthdays were not quite as expected, not how we had planned we would have celebrated them, but then we aren't exactly where we had planned to be either. This is definitely not a negative thing. We are the happiest we have been for as long as we can remember, and isn't that what birthdays are about. Who needs lavish gifts, booze filled parties, it's all for show. We had true gifts for our birthdays, we had happiness, reflection, a sense of achievement and adventure, and most importantly we had friends (and cake!)

For everyone who helped make our birthdays so special this year, thank you, it is these friendships that we are making now that will shape us forever, and that's the best gift we could ever wish for.

The One With All The Advice!

As I discovered the other from a friend that my blog actually came up on a google search I thought I would post for anyone, like I did, who uses google to find advice on moving to Saudi - so to cover all the words in case I don't get them in, I will include bits about visa application for Saudi, Khamis Mushayt, what to expect, what to pack, Saudi Airlines, moving to Saudi. OK that should just about cover what people may search!

When I was searching information on the net I came across very little for a family moving all together to Saudi, it IS possible to do this, we did it! (without me having a work visa!)

So hello or rather Salaam, if you are looking at my blog and you don't know me, I hope to give you some good advice and info about coming here!

Firstly let me warn you things work slowly around here, although there are ways around it! More so if you are from the UK.

OK, so you have your job secured, most likely you are a guy and you want to take your family. Now you may have been told or looked at information that you will have to be here for three months, or until your get your Iqama, before you family can come. This isn't strictly true. If , like us, you are determined to take you wife and children at the same time then there are ways around this!

It is very much down to your sponsor. Now my husband is on a single contract, but they have accommodated us. You may have been offered a family contract, which would most likely include your flights etc. Negotiation is key. Your sponsor can allow your wife and children to apply for a residence visa, they just have to give that authority as they apply for the visa in the first instance (more about that later!). They may be reluctant to do this as you will be on probation until you have your Iqama. You may be able to negotiate with them in some way:

1) Offer to pay for your families flights yourself, that way they aren't at any loss financially
2) If you are very sought after, then this is great, you will have a little more persuasion your side - but don't be too pushy, especially if you are dealing with Saudi people, remember this is their country and they don't want to employ arrogant people!

If your sponsor agrees then fantastic! If not remember three months doesn't have to be a long time, this could be a decision that changes your life forever!

So congratulations on the first hurdle, no my dear you need to get that all important visa, you cannot get on the plane without one, now this is the bit where you will be bombarded with far too much information, people will try and get more money out of you, and you will quite likely tear your hair out! Although, hopefully I can help prevent these things from happening and tell you how we got ours!

VISA APPLICATION:

1 - Your sponsor needs to apply to the Saudi Embassy in Riyadh for your visa authorisation, for this they will need from you - a copy of all your passports, copy of your education certificates, a photo of yourself, a letter from current employer stating length of employment etc, a reference from current employer, a signed offer letter. You may or may not be asked for a copy of your medical at this time too. But I advise you get started on this for you AND your wife.

2 - After approx a week maybe less your sponsor will send you a copy of your visa authorisation, this is when you will find anyone you ask for advice wanting money! You will find a lot of visa information stating that you need to go through a visa agency - THIS IS NOT THE CASE! They charge a fortune for a job that tbh anyone half intelligent enough can do themselves! If you don't mind about the money then by all means go through a visa agency you will find information about ones approved by the Saudi embassy on their website (I will list useful websites at the end for you!) If not here's what you do!

3 - Print off your visa application form from the website - a work one for you and residence/family ones for your wife and children - one for every passport. It may seem daunting at first but trust me it's easy! Complete the forms.

4 - register your application online, this will cost you about 6 pound - a massive reduction in what visa agencies will tell you it is! You pay that money online, remember to note down the number it will give you before you leave the page as there is no way of getting this afterwards!

5 - Hopefully now you will have you completed medicals. You need to get some of your documents attested at the Foreign Commonwealth office in Milton Keynes. Medicals and education certificates - nothing more! This also costs, about 30 pound a document.

6 - So now you are almost there - now you can either post ot go in person to the Saudi Embassy in London - we went to them, they were extremely helpful and the guy checked our forms over before he took them in, posting them could delay things. You need to take with you the following - Visa authorisation, Visa applications and the reference numbers, 2 photos each (check this it can change), all the passports, letter of offer, medicals, marriage certificate, birth certificates, education certificates. These can change so always double check with the embassy website, but this was the case for us. It then costs 10 pound per passport, again a lot less than the visa agencies can charge! We handed in the documents - BEFORE 11.30 and we were able to collect our visas three days later after 3.30 pm.

The visa application can seem like allot but really if you take it step by step it's not too difficult, if a visa agency is going to do ALL of the above for you, it can take a lot longer, due to posting things back and forth for signing etc and with some can cost in excess of 200 quid per person! The total cost of doing ours was - 24 online, 40 at the embassy and 90 at the FC office - bearing in mind these charges will still be applied on top of the agency fee anyway! It took us less than a week to get ours from applying online!

Congratulations you now have your visas! Book your flights, Saudi Airlines are great when they are good! We have had the odd problem with them, but this was on one journey, they have good food, great leg room, they are good with kids and if you register yourself as an Alfursan member you get an extra 10 kg of luggage too! As far as airlines go nowadays I would say these are one of the better ones! (also the cheapest!)

So what do you pack?! This obviously depends on where you are going! We are in the mountains so the climate is a lot more temperate that places like Jeddah. We packed mostly summer clothes and just a few warm things to keep us going in the beginning. Clothes are amazingly cheap here, so you can always pick up a few things once you are here.

Remember NO alcohol, pork or porn!!! They won't just take it you will spend the night in jail and be sent back home! LOL!

Useful things we have bought back with us that we wished we had bought before - gravy granules, Hp sauce and oxo cubes - stock cubes here are quite salty - stuffing, some home comforts, pictures and things, remember you wife is probably going to be at home with the kids all day and won't know anyone at first - she WILL nest! Those nesting instincts that kick in at the end of pregnancy well expect the same sort of behaviour! She needs to feel at home, make her mark on your new home in whatever way possible. Bring some DVD's, for the kids especially, and a few for yourselves. Remember it will take you a week or so to settle in and get your bearings, finding out where to get the good food, the nice decorations for the house and the cheap DVD copies!

Once you land you will go through immigration - if you land during Salah it could take a little bit longer. You will need to fill out a white immigration card you get these from the desk as you enter. Don't be intimidated, people here are really nice, especially when you have children with you ask them where they want you to queue. At immigration they will just check your visas, and take a picture of the adults and finger prints. Once at the desk it takes about 10 mins. Make sure any female of about 13 or over wears an Abaya, for you wife she may feel more comfortable wearing a head scarf, I had one just loosely covering my head, I still have no idea how to wear it properly! In the UK I would suggest EBay for getting an Abaya, they really do have some nice ones, make sure it is black, but it is OK to have some detail on it, I have ones with beading and sequins etc, makes you feel a little more feminine! Also when you collect your luggage you may have a guy come to you with a trolley - the general rule seems to be about 10 - 20 SAR per trolley if they are taking it for you, but don;'t feel obliged if you don;t want them to then don't but 10 SAR is less than 2quid and you may be tired by this point!

Then that's it guys you are in Saudi Arabia - Welcome!

Presumably you will have arranged with your new employer to be collected from the airport etc. You will get to your compound. Now remember EVERYONE who is there has once been in exactly the same position as you! When we first arrived we were so bloody tired and were in temporary accommodation we could have cried, after a good sleep and a grocery shop things were much better!

Ask someone to help you to get to a grocery store, people here were amazing, they told us to call them when we were ready and they would take us. Maybe it's a mum thing but if i have a fridge and cupboard full I feel much happier and secure! This is a huge change for you guys, it's great but there will always be a period of adjustment. Ask about the compound, get information about where things are, what you can use and when, all compounds are different. We are on a Western compound, small but charming, with very few westerners! But western rules apply! Eg. dress etc.

Give yourself time to settle once you arrive. Trust me we did things in such a huge rush we barley caught our breath, but when we got here we settled in quite quickly, but there will always be the odd culture shock! All the shops close for Salah, it is possible to get daytime shopping in one you have settled and got used to it. And one culture shock for the ladies, they don't sell Tampax here! Well no where in our area anyway! Maybe they will in Jeddah etc but down here in the south in the mountains, no where! If it bothers you stock up before you go!

Well guys, I hope tis has been of some help if you are planning on moving here! There is a lot to take in, but once here it is worth it! The way of life is so different. We are loving EVERY minute so far. If you have any questions or your wife wants to talk to another wife over here god I wish I had been able to!) then you can email through fb, and between me and my hubby we will answer anything we can! I will list some websites below! Travel safe and Enjoy, working and living abroad can be the most amazing thing you will ever do in your life, just relax and take it step by step!



http://www.mofa.gov.sa/detail.asp?InServiceID=3&intemplatekey=MainPage
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/
http://www.saudiairlines.com
http://www.harleymedvisa.co.uk/index.html

The One With The White Christmas!

Well, as you will all know by now alot of effort went into getting home for Christmas, the question is was it worth it?

Answer, most definitely!

Our Christmas celebrations began in Saudi, this is far easier said than done! Luckily for us they had just celebrated Eid so there was plenty of tinsel and colourful decorations around. After spending very little we got to work on making the house as Christmassy as one can when the sun is blazing outside. Jason 'obtained' some Christmas music from the Internet, we managed to find all of the ingredients for mulled wine, bar the alcohol and we were set!

A few hours later and a lot of nauseating Christmas wailing to Band Aid and suchlike we had our own version of a little grotto!!! If you thought the travelling was a mission then you havent tried to get into the Christmas spirit respectfully in a Muslim country!

We were however still minus a tree. Now that is one thing you are certainly not going to find around here! Not unless you have a rather fantastic South African friend who has a little secret in her closet! A Christmas tree!!! And so graciously lent this to us for the forseable season!

So now we are set with our Christmassy house, we have somehow managed to do the present shopping with the kids, without them actually realising what we were up too, obviously the lack of red suit and sack put them off the scent. But what to do now eh? Normally we would go our for Christmas drinks, maybe the odd meal or party. Mmmmmm, not so much of that going on here, so we created our own.

Yes we had a little Christmas party, complete with mince pies, completely made from scratch, sausage rolls made with beef sausages, which are surprising the same in taste as pork!? We had plenty of mulled wine, non alcoholic of course, a chocolate log, Christmas music and most importantly guests!

It was fabulous! Arranging such a thing in the afternoon in the UK would probably nor be received with as much 'get up and go' as we had here. Maybe it's because we do have to make our own entertainment and are grateful for it and make the very most of it! I was overwhelmed with how it was accepted! We even had pressies, and that is ALWAYS a good thing! People had a nice red glow in their cheeks from the cinnamon and nutmeg and full tummies from the food, aside from falling out the door into a taxi and waking with a hangover it was just like a Christmas do in the UK, only this was better. We were from England, Wales, South Africa and Pakistan, and it was such a wonderful mix, and everyone seemed so relaxed, and as a hostess I was overjoyed!

Once we arrived in England, and more to the point to my Dad's house we had only 2 days to get anything else we wanted for Christmas and with the snow looking like it was going to cripple us any minute we had to go the day that we arrived! Oh yes a busy town centre after arriving at 4 am! I am sure the kids will be angels! LOL! Well all things considered they weren't too bad. First stop get the kids some coats! It was so bloody cold I thought I was going to be reported to social services taking the kids out dressed as they were poor little things! We went through the trauma of choosing a coat, which trust me didn't end at the checkout with Grace, we went back and forth with 3 different coats for her to go back to the first choice! I then continued to go off with the kids and Jason alone to pick up a few things for each other. This was relatively painless. But OMG we were tired! The rest of that day is a blur of exhaustion and wine!

As for the rest of the kid's pressies, well Lego decided to ahve an international shortage, and as our five year old had asked only for the whole Lego city we ahd to at least attempt to get something from his list! Thank God for E-bay and also the speed of the post, bearing in mind I am sure that will be the only time I ever say that! LOL!

Just Tesco's to face now! We wrote a list and did that child free, I was sure it would be traumatic enough going to a big supermarket 2 days before Christmas! At the checkout I nearly fainted at the price of things, I have acclimatised too much to Saudi prices to cope with the UK now I'm sure! but at least we were all done! Oh, that is apart from wrapping ALL the presents! Now you must understand I am a bit of a Monica when it comes to being organised! So for me to wrap this late on was a little traumatic! That's OK, a bottle of wine, or two (I can't remember, suggesting it may have been the two!) an aunt, a niece and a husband, job done!

Christmas Eve the kids were wildly excited we went to visit some very close friends, allowed the kids to trash their house in the midst their excitement and politely left! Exhausted and tired we bathed them, got them into their Christmas Eve pj's (which is always good as they look great for the Christmas photos!) and put them to bed!

So a nice relaxing Christmas Eve with my Aunt and my Dad, the two father Christmas' we had in the house dealt with the drink and mince pies left fro them, lol, and off to bed.

Now it must be a female thing because me and my Aunt were up at 6.30, staring rather impatiently at the presents. We continued to do this for an hour and half!!! The kids finally graced us with their presence at 8 am!!!! Surely this isn't right, I am sure I was tugging at my parent's quilt from 4am at a very early age!

The first thing they looked at was of course the pile of presents - which rather worryingly we were going to have to pack to fly home! Then they noticed the mince pies and beer, it is so magical to see a child's face when they realise that their fantasy of Santa Claus is true!

Paper everywhere, 2 very happy children, a happy grandad and aunty Val with their slippers, daddy with his school stationary and slippers of course and me, well loving watching my family and feeling the warmth of that bottle of sherry that is going down rather nicely at this point!

No cooking today either, that's Granddad's job! Wonderful!

I even got a 2 hour sleep in the afternoon! It must be Christmas!

The day was lush!

After Christmas, we visited more friends, going back to Wales was strange but nice, and also visited Nan and Grandad which I was very happy about, relationships are important for children and with our families especially where we have lost important people it is vital that the children get to build these relationships with all of their family!

Christmas for us this year was important, for us to have been so far away from our families and living in a new country we needed to feel the warmth of Christmas spirit.

Even though it was epxensive, it didn't matter, even though the journeys were somewhat traumatic and long, it didn't matter, it was a different kind of Christmas that we had but it didn't matter. What mattered to us most was to be with people we love and we were happy and healthy!