getting into the groove

Well here we are ..the first day of school was today and no matter what country you are in that is a stressful day. Today was a little crazy , Kayden is starting grade 1 and he was so excited to get out and finally meet some boys his age! there are a lot of kids here in the tower but it seems like all the kids his age are girls ! So hopefully today can lead to some new friends. So he was up bright and early ready for the day ! sending him on the bus was a little stress full as I  was not able to go with him so off he went and Brandt met him there they say all went well so fingers crossed!!! His buss was pretty swanky  , it was nicer than any buss i have ever been on   , fully tinted Mercedes tour buss. I'm sure he will grow to love that time with friends  #Blessings
It really feels like we are starting to get in the groove of things , meeting lots of new and wonderful people! all here for the same reason....get some really cool life experiences!!  And we are defiantly having them...i keep saying to Brandt ...."Different is different  not better or worse" which i learned from a very wise client!! And things are different    in every way!!
We were out shopping at our version of bed bath and beyond and  there was an announcement that the store would be closing for prayer time. Which means they lock the doors and you can not check out so we were making a mad dash to get out .Just picture it , grabbing kids and pots /pans/lunch bags/school supplies and  rushing to the check out to avoid being in the for 20 plus minutes with the kids.  It was comedic but when we made it to the car it was really funny :)  But on a positive the prayer times are helping us get in to a routine ...how you ask ? well there are 5 prayers a day  that go by the height of the sun (i believe ) so the morning ones i haven't figured out yet but there is one baicall right at dinner..and one right before bed time . SO our kids know the dinner prayer means it;s time to eat and that last prayer is the best! BED TIME!!  there is no debate that's the bed time prayer and off they go ! little do they know it's only going to get earlier and earlier as the sun set earlier.....lol
We have been out exploring as much as possible , me and the kids finally took our first bus ride and headed in the camp. It was pretty awesome , i get to chill out with the kids  , play iPad  , read a book  and don't have to deal with the pure insanity out side of the window! kinda nice. We headed to the library which is just like the ones at home just a little smaller scale but we still managed to find a lego building book of course and we were good. Also another epic play ground. the kids love the buss so much they are willing to take a 20 min buss ride to get to the playground. the days here go by very slowly....I am getting very bored .  And it is difficult to get out  on my own and explore with the kids and busses so we are doing what we can , We take the buss to camp and go to the playground which in the real world may not be what i would do but here that burns like 2 hours of time in stead of a 15 min trip to the playground .The other day i was so bored i even played solitaire on my phone !!! we are doing baking and what I can , i still don't have any of my stuff from home so it's like camping . I have decided i'm going to plan our next vaction to fill my time so we are going to go to..............Hong kong Disney land , then off the Tokyo Disney !!! Why not right! so i'm looking forward to planning that one!!! # Adventure!
With all of our free time before school we have found some awesome places for the kids to run around and be kids.   We drive around camp looking for the next great place to go and it's so Bazar , there  is never anyone around the playgrounds are empty the streets never have anyone walking or ridding a bike or anything that you would normally see. I assume that it's because it's like 47 degrees plus 70 plus Humidity ......my  youngest is pleading for water like it's a new toy.  but still where are all the People?? We found a great BMX park and skate park which my kids don't have their bikes yet but loved running around  , up and down the ramps , . It was great ! i am no physic but i deffenitly see someone breaking a bone there in the future.

Playgrounds here are pretty amazing!! 

Welcome to Palm springs KSA , it is truly beautiful in some places  , Saudi what?!

BMX/Skate park 

Couple shots of the future location of the Tracey's first broken bone , but tons of sweat and fun times FOR sure!!! 

We did have the kids scooters with us , and so off Kayden went!!! If you look closely you can see the look of "pure terror" in his eyes! he was flying 

Sand BMX track!!  

These are Dates that the workers had picked from the trees around and were drying  . I know they don't look like much but they shared a couple with us  , and once i got past the terror that a giant bug was going to crawl out of it(which of course it never did) They were so Tasty , and sweet!!  We are trying something new every week so i see cooking with dates in our future.

There is every car dealer ship you could imagine! i have to get a picture of the lamborghini one!!! it's down the street from the watermelon man!

let the #adventures continue

Good morning race fans...(Brandt's driving edition)

...and welcome to the Al Khobar 500.  It's currently 34C with 70% humidity and a slight breeze coming off of the gulf.  This mornings starting grid is a complete mis-mash.  First out of the stall is our star driver in his 2013 MG 350S rental rocket.  This car is an absolute beauty.  With an amazing 105 HP (without the A/C on) and just a touch under 100 ft-lbs of torque this car is a real winner.  The weight to power ratio is definitely struggling this morning though as the three car seats in the back has significantly increased the weight of this tin can.

Other contestants include the buses packed to the ceiling with migrant workers, locals in their tricked out, fully tinted massive sedans or SUV's, and heavy haul transports.  It's pedal to the metal (not joking at all) until the next red light where there is a nifty countdown until the next green light.  We have 90 seconds and the contestants begin jockeying for position.  You know darn well everyone is going to want to make a left hand turn but only two lanes are supposed to.  The light goes green and all four lanes begin to turn BUT WAIT the Bangladeshi bus in lane 3 has decided that it's making a u-turn.  LOOK OUT FOLKS we've got a train wreck (or rather a bus wreck) waiting to happen.  Brake lights light up, horns start honking but this bus makes it though without any problems.  Good thing he had his hazards on so we knew which way he was turning.  Gotta love all of those nifty buttons inside the cab.  Press em all and see what happens.

The freeway is now wide open and the contestants find their lanes accordingly.  Of the three lanes on the freeway the speed varies by +/- 60 km/h.  The middle lane usually drives the speed limit, the left lane does 20 over, the far left shoulder does 40+ over, the right lane does (at best) 20 under and the right shoulder is for accidents.  Oh but wait, we've got a wreck approaching the Mall of Dhahran.  Let's see what our contestants do.  Brake lights and hazard lights come on (safety first...good thinking with the hazard lights!!!).  The lines on the road mean nothing nothing and everyone is looking for the best lane to be in.  This accident could be anywhere on the road so our contestants need to guess on which lane to be in.  Our star, thinking quick on his feet, turn on the radio and starts flicking through the AM radio stations hoping to find the Saudi Arabian version of AM770 with traffic on the 1's.  No such luck this morning.  Gonna have to do this one by feel.  Remember folks: rubbin's racin' and this morning is no different.  When in doubt just follow the guy in front of you and leave some room cuz you know you're gonna get cut off.  The three lanes have now transformed into nine lanes with both shoulders still raging at +/- mach chicken.  This really is where the rubber meets the road folks and our star needs to find his way over to the right so he can catch his off ramp.  Signal lights?  Who needs em, just start inching over little by little and don't worry about swapping paint; we're all friends here, right???  Watch out for that shoulder lane though, it's really moving and you need to get into it if you're gonna make it to work sometime this century.  Get your car angled properly, turn off the A/C to get a couple extra HP; left foot on the brake, right foot on the gas, RPM up to 4500, here comes a gap right before the Bangladeshi bus (different from the u-turn bus).  LET 'ER GO BUCKAROO!  Our star has safely made it to his off ramp and is cruising with easy toward the main compound.  Who needs coffee when you've got this kind of adrenaline boost most mornings (or afternoons).

As our star nears his destination he encounters a strange and mystifying sign..."Driving School".  They do that here?!? Could've fooled me!  But wait...look closer...make a u-turn to go to driving school but right beside it a sign showing no u-turns allowed.  No wonder driving is so confusing!!!

Stay tuned for the next edition of the Tracey Adventure as the kids start school and Kayden starts his new job as Tracey Translator.  That's right people: who needs to learn French in grade 4 in Canada when you can learn Arabic in grade 1.

1 week later

So here we are 1 week in and  I think we are doing pretty darn good!!! we have encountered many things since i posted last.....SOO lets start with my first trip to IKEA , that right there is an IKEA here and it's just as crazy as the one in canada . So we started by driving to Ikea which was about 4:30 /5pm and roads were busy but not to crazy , with my Abaya on and 3 kids in hand we were off!  The store was almost identical to the one at home , until they announced that is was prayer time and told us where the mosque on site was :) but it did not effect us much we were still able to shop we just could not leave the building. So as we "tried" to be quiet and respectful with the kids we shopped away ! No issues until it was time to leave the building that is when the craziness began you can not take the shopping carts into the parking lot so you have to bring your car up to a loading zone, Which was packed!! just picture trying to pick up things from someplace in the middle of new york! people everywhere and also these were hard core people where women were covered head to to and men were all dressed in White so i;m sure you could imagine what the "Tracey " clan  looked like:) LOL   Anyways with our 3 kids and 10 bags of awards items we trucked through the parking lot which was and still is one of the scariest park of my adventure!!!! I truly believe that if they run us over it's our fault so we were ducking and rushing out of the way of on coming cars . It was scary , but we made it!

Here is my next trial with saudi living ,My curling irons  do not want to work with saudi power!! so frustrating  i just want to curl my hair !! All of our appliances are 110v and power here is 220v plus a different plug so to get anything to work you need an adapter , then a converter and cross you fingers the first time you plug it in that you read it all right and your not going to fry you favourite thing!! and on top of that there is like 1 plug in per room  , hopefully!! so that is a bit of an obstical. Brandt went and picked up some car battery size coveters that we can do power bars off of so that is going to help a lot!!  In our journey we have found manu stores that feel just like canada , there is a store that is  just like best buy , bed bath and beyond , Toysrus  , starbucks , and basically ever other restaurant or fast food you could think of!! Tony Romas "Famous for Ribs" could be interesting considering that we are in a pork free country...maybe they do turkey ribs or chicken ribs.  Today we  went to go food and it was safe ways! its called Tamimi , but it even has the safeway simple and brands ! so that was a good find!!   Almost everything they had there was imported from USA , they even had Canada Beef ($22/kg for ground beef)!! With all the other good stuff , fresh cheese , olives , nuts , spices and Fish market! We picked up some full fresh shrimps so that will be our event tonight , de heading and de veining !! its going to be great!!    
Cooking seems to be a bit of an experiment , as we don't have a full kitchen yet  . Waiting for all of our kitchen things , i sure hope the get here soon . they say it takes 2-5 weeks for our boxes to arrive so fingers crossed it is 2:) The other day we were jones'in for some chocolate chip cookies  , and i was not going to disappoint so i used what i had . Made some dough in the blender , instead of mixer then baked it in a cassolro dish and it turned out to be some sort of cookie/cake, it was Awsome!! i probably could not do it again if i tried:)
Driving is turning out to be a fun time every time we go out , we are coming up with some great nick names for roads today we named one the "intersection of fear"...no more needs to be said . They are wild!!! we were driving on and off ramp and the people behind us desided they had to get past us right now on the single lane off ramp a extra large suv came right up behind us and past on the shoulder , no big deal then another one did the same ! Then next thing we knew where were in downtown Khobar  , fun times there , Then  to driving along and the lanes disappear  although it's not like people use them anyway , or the best highlight of the days was Large open excavation right beside the crazy busy road!!

Brandt's obilgatory insert - holy crap driving is insane!!!  I rented a car on day #3 (which has helped immensely) but you really are taking your life into your own hands.  I quickly learned that at every intersection it doesn't matter what lane you're in...they ALL make left hand turns.  Also, drivers here like to use their headlights to simulate police flashing lights.  They come up behind you going mach-chicken and start wildly flashing their lights.  If you don't move they'll physically make you move.  Bump drafting takes on a whole new meaning here.  Next, not only do stores close during prayer time but so do traffic lights.  A reasonable person would think that intersections become 4-way stops but not here.  It's whoever has the bigger/faster vehicle or locals get the right of way...take your pick.  What else....oh!!! a lot of intersections don't even have lights; they have speed bumps about 2m from the entry of the intersection.  We were on a 6 lane divided freeway and came up to one of these intersections and the locals will launch over these speed bumps just to make sure that they get through before you do.  Is it wrong that I find driving quite amusing and entertaining?

On a positive we found the best playground ever on the main compound it was massive i'm sure we will spend a lot of time there!! Brandt dropped me and the kids off one afternoon as he had to go back to work and i figured we might as well stay at camp. So it was only going to be an hour no big deal  right? did i mention it was 45 degrees that day....Well i discovered you could actually die at that heat! the kids just moved slower and slower and sweat more and more ,about 30 min's in we were hiding in the shade fighting over water:) #adventure   But by the end  we were baked and thinking we are going to check it out at night next time :) learning experience

 

The awesome play ground!!!  

15 min's in at the park  , he was a little warm

Look close and you will see the prettiest starbuck ever!! on the other side of it is the ocean!! As we drove past we saw a group of 10 plus women go in with their full coverings. Something are the same in ever country , coffee with the girls:)

 This is  on the side of the road by us ,  we had to buy a water mellon !!! it was so huge i have never seen a water mellon that big , it was 50SAR . And we were a little freaked out to eat it but this is all part of the experience , why not buy fruit from some one on the side of the road??

 Our new back yard!!! the kids are loving this

Under water picture in the pool of the tower , super cool  shot. Such an awesome day , so clear

The other day we went out exploring ! Friday is their holy day so nothing is open until 4pm , which was really nice! we went exploring in the neighbourhood around us and found it is really beautiful!! the coast is about 5 mins' away and it is just how you would think  a board walk would feel with lots of restraints and parks. It is not what i was expecting when we moved to Saudi  , i have seen more ocean than i have sand! Really nice, i'm sure there will be sand in my future:)     

Figuring this out

Well we have been here now for four days and every day is looking up.  It is all very overwelling what you have to do    , things that you have to do anyway you move. Like getting the internet to work , or cell phones , bank accounts, medical  , where to buy food.  So many things  I can't even list and there is all the things that Brandt has to do with starting a new job  , like Pay roll and how to get to work.  It's a little wild but  yesterday morning we woke up and thought enough is enough we have to get out of this condo. I had not left since we got in at 2 am sat morning so it was time!!!   So off we went there are a lot of fellow expats living in the tower in the same situation as us and they have a mom's coffee group  , and anyone who know me know that's not really my thing but......I have to start a new life here and that is a good place to start! So i packed up the 3 kids and trucked down to it and.....found so many people from the same city as me! what a pleasant surprise! Lots with kids , but there does not seem to be a lot of kids the same age as Colby man he seems to be one of the youngest right now , so he will be my little Saudi Sidekick :)
Anyways after that i called around to find a rental car , thinking it was going to be  a hopeless battle but ...once i figured out how to call out:) it was farly simple! I Found a car sent the info to Brandt and MY SWEET hubby appeared after work with a car!!! Now  in Canada I would have been picky about what type of car and cost but not here  ! I just needed wheels and doors , and there were only 3 cars to choose from  2 of which were the same.  Now you would think that size would be an issuer right we have to fit 3 car seats in  but you would be surprised what you can get done when you are truly motivated!  So we got a car , not sure of the make it's nothing i have seen before  , but for a size reference it's about the size of  a neon!  which you would think not possible to fit 3 car seats in but leave it to Brandt!  So picture this parkade temperature which was about 35 Celsius  , small car 3 cars seats brandt istalled them all and by then end of it they were in and brandt was Soaked! it looked like he had just finished a marathon ! yikes even Colby man was dripping and he was literally just sitting there watching him.  Did I mention its really HOT here !!
After the car seats where in we were off . I was feeling good we were going to the main camp to see how the other half lived and check out the food store , But Brandt failed to mention he did not know where he was going .  # adventure ....right!    but as our story seems to go .....all was good we made it there to the camp main gate and was greater by a nice guard with a rather large machine gun ....yup it was wild!  Once we got in we needed to get a badge for our car for Id but we had our first event with prayer time....so we waited out 20 some thing minutes then we were on our way.  Once at the food store we found a lot of the same food but it was mayor money but at this point i did not care!! But here are some example......now this is all in SR so to convert to canadain you have to divide it by 3.75......so    Alomond milk   105SR    , that right i paid 28$ for 4 small boxes of almond milk.  Diet pepsi ...32.50sr   8.6$ for 12   . But i am learning it's the little things:)
So after that we were back to our new home and had to get gas , now being as we are surrounded by gas over here you would think it would be cheaper right? well darn right!! we filled up our tank and the grand total was 20SR....so if you are doing the math that is you got it $5.30 to fill our car with premium fuel!!! wild right  , it cost less than my pepsi!
Anyways Things are going well  I mentioned at morning coffee that I was a hair stylist  , and you would have thought i was giving chocolate to kids! So hopefully i will keep doing hair and have some fun.  
On another note Brandt is going to have an offshore well, which  means he is going to get  to do helicopter rescue training?? i think it is called? it's the one where they flip over the chopper with you in it and submerge you under water and you have to get out ....sound like fun right!!!   All new experience!  

 Sunsise...Early about 5:30am , and it sets at about 5:30pm  , but night time view is so Pretty!!

 This is my random window in my kitchen , that faces nothing! a little Creepy

 This is what i have in the bathroom    , no plug in's just this , what would you use it for??

 PEPSI!!! wild right , it does not taste the same but it will defiantly do

I also got the apple tv to work which with the kids and not a lot of free space it s wonderful thing! and best thing i did it all by myself!! Now if i could just figure out how to turn of the oven i will be good!! one thing at a time right:) Tommorow We are going to take the bus some where ...wish me luck!!  # TraceyAdventure

landed

Well we made it !
We arrived late friday night/early sat morning saudi time:)   So here we go we took our 1 ton budget  box truck with all of our things to the airport departures level , unloaded all of our boxes on to 5 trolly's.  Plus a cart to hold all of our 10 carry on's and our stroller full of children . Rolled up to the counter and the lady helping us had this look of terror in her eyes , but all was good ! We got everything on , didn't get charged or weighted or nothing. # BLESSINGS  We were stressing that our boxes were too big and were going to have to cut them down in the airport or that they were going to be to heavy and pay an outragouse fee , no such thing happened thank goodness .  We were hoping to have my mom come through security with us but no such luck:( so we took our circus and headed to security. Which in most cases is no big deal right? unless your travel party can no carry their luggage and you have to carry them and their luggage through , but shockingly .....all was good!!
 First plane was from Calgary to Germany and it was so cool!! We each had our own pod with a lie flat bed , tv  , anything you could imagine we had it .  The kids thought it was pretty sweet , they had a four course meal.   Kayden even had ahi tuna and prawns as his appetizer (to cute). The only difficult part was that Colby had his own pod which is a little to much freedom for a 2 year old .  All was good on take off until we had a "fecale incident "!!! that's right  not ideal  , i'm sorry to be "that" mom but it really set a tone for what the trip could hold for us.   NOT COOL i'm taking neck to knees , ugh , all Brandt said after the event had concluded was "masacre"..enough said . After that all seemed to go smoothly , ,we took off around 7:15 pm so after all we fed with their sticky toffee pudding and prawns  it was time for bed , snuggled in they all passed out.  That is the way to travel  , we had to wake them up for the landing in germany .  Off to germany , not the best experience ! we had to do security again and it was SLOW ! It was a very tight connection but of course it all worked out...more blessings!   Next plane was not quite as posh just regular  business class :) the seats still folded flat and had a four course meal with everything else , i tell you i could get used to that! but another good one germany to kuiat then off to saudi!   I put my abaya on on the airplane and it was defiantly a new feeling , just stressing to do the right things.  
Once we were off the airplane it was a whirlwind experience . We were expecting the WORST ! long waits confusion and just a crazy time. And yet again not so bad ! Immigrtion  was painless , it took  5 porters to take all of our boxes and such through customs ,  still no issues. Then in to the aramco  office ! seamless right?? it did go great but the airport here is not quite like the ones at home! picture the Calgary  airport  , during stampede  , with everyone speaking a diffract laungaue  , and instead of people having 1 suit case they all have10 boxes , and no one know where to go.  Now fast forward that and that was it was like! All good but kinda crazy.  So after we got our badges and keys it took 2 sub's to get all of us to the tower .  
So here begins the list of things i'm learning about saudi...... they re up all night over here! it was 12:40 am and the roads were crazy  busy it was rather surpising.   I asked the driver why that was and he said that because it is so hot most people sleep during the day and go out at night  . On the way here was passed a McDonald's that had a massive two storey play ground and there were even kids playing at that time!  The driver also mentioned that the malls and markets are open till 3 am some even open 24 hours ! can't wait to go shopping at 2am just cause i can!
So we are at the tower a in our  3 bedrooms over looking the gulf and so far we are all good , i have unpacked 6/9 boxes and most of the suit cases . I am discovering thought that as it may be warm out side , you can freeze to death inside! As it being our first day I stayed home and unpacked with the kids and Yikes it's COLD!! but we went down to the pool which is just on the 5th floor and is out side , it is truly hot . They cool the pool  , and it still felt like it was a warm bath .  Deffinatly a different sensation! but It was great and super easy ! the kids didn't mind it either:)
Brandt went to get groceries today  with a new friend we made at the tower and it was positively experience.  The store had "everything you could need  they only stopped  the check outs once for prayer. But you could still shop during. Cost was different. Produce, cheese ,meat was a affordable .  But look out if want some thing name brand a box of ceral was $8/10 for a small box , almond milk $6. So not bad ! Our biggest optical right now is figuring out what to do about a car....you can't buy a car until have a saudi licence , can't get that until you get you igama( re-entry visa) , can't get that until engineering council has certified it......so hopefully we can rent a car before all that takes place , or there will be no more ice cream in the Tracey home :) i don't think it would make the bus trip:)
Some pictures of the events,  Condo pictures to come :)   # adventure

here are all our e- boxes that we will hopefully see in 3-5 weeks

 Kayden showing off his POD to germany  , he loved it!!

 Colby , living the Dream

 Germany to Saudi  , this was my travel buddy :)

what I woke up to today from my kitchen table .....WOWZers

down to hours.....

well here we are the day has come!!! It has been a wirl wind to get here  but "our bags are packed and we are ready to go"
Me and Brandt just got home from a wedding and anniversary trip to turks and caicos  with no little people and it was so amazing.   It was such a great time to unwind and forget about all the things we had to do to get ready to go.  We returned home on sunday afternoon and the packers arrived first thing monday morning. So no time to waste , 2 days to pack wrap and tag everything we had and half a day to load it on the truck.  Me and Brandt were very good supervisors :)    During that time we packed , re packed , weighted  , cataloged , then repacked 8 dish barrel boxes and 3 suit cases to be checked on the airplane.  So in case you have lost track that is 8 boxes , 3 suit cases  , 5 roller carry ons  , 5 back packs , 3 kids car seats and 1 sit and stand stroller.    Good times to come tomorrow for SURE!!
We have been looking up what the flight is going to be like and its going to being the adventure in style that's for sure we are flying business class with our own pods!! Always wanted to do this one , so it should be good.   I picked up my ABAYA yesterday , that's right use the "googler" for that one! An Abaya is a black long sleeved long dress that Women in Saudi have to wear.  It covers your ankles all the up to your neck. I know it sounds a little wild but the one i got is pretty cute! it has sparkles on the top with a red belt so it could be a lot worse! But its is still going to be pretty wild.
Another positive note we have been chatting with some people that are already living life in Dhahran tower and had them stalk out our apartment to see where it is and make sure it has our name on it so there is no more"surprises" . It was confirmed 3604  is our new address and we over look the Persian Gulf , so every morning we will see the sunrise over the Gulf.  WILD how is this possible?!  #BLESSINGS
With all of that today was a hard day that i was not expecting ! It's one thing to say that you will not be driving . Well it's another to sell your car and see it drive away , it felt like they were driving a way with all of my independence. I know it is a small thing driving is not a definition of living but i guess i really connected it with my freedom.  It was hard , then on top of that had to go say good bye to my sister and her family.  The kids were hugging and laughing and i was holding back the tears. UGH  One thing is for sure i hate these good byes ever one gets harder and harder. ( #missuGrandma) It will all be worth it... right?? Ah well keep moving forward.......

So the next time I will be writing this we will have landed in KSA and beginning  the adventure.  The Kids are still excited and ready to go so hope their positive attitudes continue , they are stronger than i could have ever dreamed or given them credit for .  Kayden is a little beacon of positivity with all of this so he will hold us strong and happy:)      19 hours till we depart!!    let the adventure begin!