So long story short in April Brandt put in for a transfer to have us moved to a small company compound 2 hours south from where we were currently , transfer on paper granted Couple weeks after .Then housing wrote us and email saying we were slated for a house on the compound ! But the house was just with maintenance then it will be ours..Will in the western world your thinking awsome ! couple days for new paint , couple more for new floors! we are in , well here in sand land not so true. Rumours float around that it takes about 1 year to do all the work to the house to get to move in status. Well I didn't have a year and needed to move ASAP! the tower was sucking my soul! Also brand's work had been transferred from off shore oil to on shore gas and he now had nothing to do!! but still needed to look/keep busy so we could keep his job. But commenting to his new office 2 hours aways was not realistic! So Brandt started sending out email and going to the new house with baked goods to give the workers and keep them happy...and let's just say there was a lot of praying to get here. ( See brand't future post for more detail's)
So June arrives and it's time for me and the kids to go back to Calgary for the summer , most women and children leave as there is nothing to do and it's to freaking hot for anything , Also the fact that ramadan began on june 17 this year was even more reason for us to get out. So me and the kids took our 26 hour journey home with no issues , leaving Brandt with a half packed apartment in hopes that he would get the ohka to move before we all returned back for the school year. Repat/summer vacation was Wonderfull , saw lots of friends /family , ate lots's of pork products and did so much shopping !!!
1 week before Brandt was slated to come back to Calgary for 5 week holiday he got the move date!!! hurray prayers answered! So as I lay at the beach in Calgary Brandt moved all of our belonging down 36 floors , and trucked them 2 hours into the dessert in Udilaida....Our new HOME! #BLESSINGS
Well here it is......just joking , this is the view on the drive to our new home , there is not much to see besides desert Garbage and lots of spare tires?? I never will understand that! they are everywhere you look out and all you see is sand , tire , and some camels!
Seriously this is it , so as you drive to the middle of what looks like no man's land you come to this piece or paradise in the dessert. I'm talking palm tree's and grass , that's right green grass!! and it is so refreshing ! You go though the gates and it feels like you have stepped back in time to the 50's kids are on their bikes , all the women are driving around on golf carts , even the houses look like they have been stuck in time. You feel as though a weight has been lifted once you are in.
Now when ever I told someone in Canada that i lived in Saudi they all reply "I knew someone who lived there and they loved it" and I used to think "well they sure didn't live where I live". But now I get it!! Our new home is like small town arizona , the kids play at night with all the neighbours , they ride their bike to school . Everybody is so friendly it's truly a peaceful place!! So the house is nothing special but there is a back yard and stairs and just feels so normal....
On the left:Riding their scooters to school , see how normal it looks! and GREEEN.
On the right: Kids school Court yard , so pretty!
Twlight zone..it's like stepferd a little to peaceful and perfect!! day 2 in our new place the water heater exploded , stressful you think , nope!!! 1 call to maintenance next day new water heater appeared ....1 hours later Done! please sign here ....new water heater free of charge and done! dishwasher brakes , same thing done!! Also the gardners they are like little working elves! 7 am i hear the sprinklers on look out the window and see the gardner he is watering the lawn and racking the leaves and washing the drive way! everyday! it's so weird!!!
Speaking of strange, but this is the driving range on camp........looks a little different right , well its a "packed sand" course. So basically dirt , when you do the course they give you a small square of astro turf that you take around with you to hit you ball off of:) meh first world problem in my mind.
This is just out side of camp , and camels in saudi not all that strange but the strange thing is we have lived here for a year now and the first time we saw a camel was last week! me and the kids at least , city life in the tower did not see any camels. The kids LOVE them !!! they are like cows here but the fad has not worn off yet and they are cool!
Weird again , this is a oil pile line overpass , going over the road......it looks really cool
With our new home , we have some new hobbies...the kids have a small quad and brandt has his Canam maverick( which was in a picture on the last post , it's like a door buggy)we can go right on camp and rip around in the dust and sand! The kids are loving it and so far no broken bones but its still early.
Now I Know i'm painting this great picture but there are negatives , And that's the bugs ! and holy snap they are large. In the tower there were bugs like ants and small things ,nothing you couldn't handle but here we are talking house pets!! The night we arrived i notice dead beetle looking things around the house as no one had been here for a month , no biggy but then it happened!
I was bring in some things from the Garage and put this board down , turned to put something away and then turned back and noticed this puppy!!! I know the picture is blurry but that is because i could not calm my self enough to get a still picture!!! this cockroach was the size of a small apple!!!! Notice the hair bow as a reference! so gross!! let's just say Brandt had to put his cowboy boots on to handle this one. The next day we called trusty mantence and they sprayed for bugs!!! yuck! I have herd that there are also lizards have not seen any of those yet but i'm sure my day will come....can't wait:(
So to sum All is well , shocking right! . Time to paint the house and make it feel like ours. Gotta find us a Golf cart so we can fit in:) DOn't stress i'm sure i will still have lot's of "FUN" things to write about just today we were off camping and went though a check stop where 7 men with large guns were performing a not so routine check stop looking for something ...luckly not us.. but just goes to show you never know what you will encounter next !.
Until next time.....#saudiadventure Continues!!!
