A Week in Jeddah

Okay so we've been here a week today.  Let's recap:
After an 18 hour trip to get here we zipped through customs thanks to our great expediter, our luggage arrived all in tact an the cat made it though he was a bit grumpy.

We were welcomed by many of our colleagues that work at the consulate and they have all been great in helping us get settled in. We've gone to one dinner party to meet consulate people that live on the compound that we live on and today we had our second pool party with a large number of the consulate staff.  The first one was at the other compound that the consulate uses.... Quick side note, compound is just another word for a gated or in our case walled in community.  There are many Saudis, Americans, and many other nationalities that live here.

So the consulate is closed for a few more days because of Eid holiday. The work/school week here is Sunday - Thursday so that will take a little getting used to.

Lets see what else,.... We've been out to a couple of malls and grocery shopping.  The grocery store is like a super Wal-Mart or Target.  Things are a bit pricier but not to bad.

Back to our house, we've got a nice 3 bedroom 3.5 bath town house.  All tile floors so we will definitely be getting some rugs while we are here.  we've got a small back porch area, and when we sit back there, we are surrounded by stray kitties.  Yeah we were suckers and fed them...next thing we knew there were a dozen of them swarming us and meowing.  But only a couple of them have been brave enough to come close and let us pet them.  And yes we have started naming them.  Here is a couple pictures.

This is "Schrödinger"  Yeah I named her

We call this one "Oreo"

This little Siamese is called "Nutz" because well they are huge... 

Crystal has been working on here dives.  Here are a couple of action shots from one of her dives.

And she is straight with her toes pointed ... must be from the years of gymnastics training.

All in all it's been good week.  We are figuring things out and getting accustomed to the new culture, the new currency (Riyals), meeting our neighbors and co-workers, and all the nice kitties in the neighborhood.  (I'll gather them up for a group shot sometime... should be as easy as herding cats...)

River Cruise

So recently Jolene and I went of a river cruise on the Moscow River.  Yes it is the middle of winter so yep we were on an ice breaker ship.  It was pretty cool, no pun intend.. okay well maybe it was.  Anyway we had a good time.

This was the type of boat we were on.

The cruise was about two hours long, substantially shorter than the summer cruises, but breaking ice takes a bit more time so the trip isn't as far as the others.  As the boats break the ice, the water starts to freeze again and a low fog also forms above the river.  The effect is pretty cool.

The beer selection was not all that great so I went with a local Russian beer.  Kinda reminded me of Budweiser.  Oh well I was there for the experience, not the beer.  The experience was pretty cool  We plan on taking the cruise again at night when it's warmer.  Looking forward to getting some pictures of the city then.

Is it me or is she looking more Russian?

As we approached Gorky Park, we turned around and headed back.  You can see how thick the fog had gotten.  If you look close you can see the Russian Buran (shuttle).  This is in Gorky Park.  I still need to make it there, but we're going to wait till it gets warmer and nicer out.

We actually went with a group of other first or second tour diplomats, some from other embassies.

And as the cruise headed back you can see the sun trying to peak through the heavy cloud cover.  Just another winter wonderland weekend in Moscow.

Freezing in Russia

Okay the last few weeks have been pretty darn cold, like -20° C cold.  They say it's been a mild winter, but I thing the weather gods are trying to play catch up.  So how do you cope with cold weather well you could go for a walk by some old Russian equipment...

Or you could continue to walk along by a huge cask, of course you want to make sure there is a sign that says it is okay to do this...

But when it's all said and done, nothing helps handle the cold like a large bottle of beer...

Well you've probably guess where I went.  Yep the Ochakova  Пива (Beer) factory.  A nice tour around the factory then off to do a little sampling before heading to their outlet store for some some beer and wine.

The rest of the pictures from the tour are HERE at our Picasa site.  It was just me and about 20 others from the Embassy.  We all had a really good time.  I gotta say the fish jerky was a little too salty but other than that it was all good.

So this was one way to beat the Russian Winter...  Another way is to just leave.

So that's what I did.  I actually had official travel to go on.  I needed a week long training course and it just happened to be in Budapest, Hungry.  So off I went.  Like the trip to the brewery, it was just me.  Jolene and Crystal held down the fort and enjoyed the chilly weather in Moscow.

Okay off to Budapest.  Almost literally a trip back in time.  My flight left Moscow at 10:45 am and I arrived at 10:30 am.  After a short ride to the hotel, a friend and I went to get some lunch and some restaurant called Makko Cafe and Restaurant .  Here's a peak inside.

I had a great bowl of goulash and then some suckling pig with three types of potatoes mashed and fried into these little patty like things, it was all covered in sauteed onions and some light gravy.  Yes I added a few pounds from this trip.  Everywhere we ate the food was amazing.




I kept the bulk of the weight off I think from all of the walking we did.  Budapest is a good sized city but you can walk around many of the historical districts.  The metro system there isn't to bad.  One thing I noticed is unlike Moscow where everyone gets on and off the cars at the exact same time, it is much more orderly in Budapest.  People waiting to get on the train stand to the side of the doors to let everyone off then in an orderly way, everyone gets on.  ... Just say'n...

So Ronald Reagan was an important figure to the Hungarians and they have a statue of him.  It's funny that the statue to Reagan, thanking him for the support during the fall of the Soviet Union is right next to the monument commemorating the Soviet Army.  Talk about mixed signals.

So there were many things to see in Budapest, oh and my training was pretty good too.  There was only a dozen of us in class, half of which had flown in on Malev Airlines.  Friday morning, the last day of training the hotel staff informed us that the airline had gone bankrupt and had cancelled all flights.  Kinda glad I flew on the Russian carrier Aeroflot.

Well here are the rest of my Budapest pictures.


Thanks for reading!
Do svidaniya!

Playing in the Snow

Ummm who grabbed the tree?

There's ice in that snow ball

Yeah the swing almost smacked us in the face

Ooops

He winds up...

Like dust... snow on a ....  I got nothing

Nap  time

Time to get up

Oooops

Thats better

You can't see me

Ahhh That's just cute

Exit stage left.

Ooops Crystal fell ... again.

False Start

Okay a couple weeks ago, the skies were grey and snow was falling, everything was white with a light coating of snow.  I though this was the beginning of those cold snowy Russian winters everyone teased me about when I told them we were going to Russia for two years.  But we've lived in Iowa for the last eight years and in upstate New York for a few years before that.  Cold snowy winters were nothing new to us.  We made sure we had all our scarfs, gloves, snow pants, etc.  We were ready as we could be.  Jolene was waiting on a long coat, but that's another story...  It really is beautiful here and when the virgin snow is on everything it's doubly so.  We were told that they really didn't get big snow storms here but more of a constant accumulation of snow from day after day snow showers.

BUT what we got was snow showers at night and mid 30's during the day.  So needless to say, the snow was there in the morning, but after work, it had melted away.  And now the last two days have been nothing but rain.  Needless to say the beauty of the white snow was replaced by grey/black water that makes all cars filthy and gets tracked in when you come home.  Anyway, we're still waiting for winter to come.  We are still officially in autumn so we'll see what winter actually brings.

As grey and dismal it is and the lack of sunlight can be a bit depressing, but it still is very awesome to experience this new land.  I'm really looking forward to getting pictures of Red Square covered in snow.  Hope I get the chance.

Let see, I started this blog talking about the trials and tribulations of applying to the Foreign Service.  So I'm sure an update on work is long over due.  Let see I love my job and my co-workers are pretty cool too.  Now that we've been in country for just over 3 months you may wonder if I have any regrets.  Well just one, I wish I did this 10 years ago!  The work is challenging at times and there are some long hours.  But working at the embassy is pretty cool.  And to be in a country when historic event happen are kinda humbling.  The election protests here are peaceful enough but to be so close to everything is awesome.

Well till next time.   До свидания!

Send Off From the States

Well we've got about a week left before we head out to Moscow.  But we are planning a get-to-gether with two classes after mine.  So that will be a nice send off for us. 

But wait there's more...

Today we had a 5.8 earthquake.  Things shook a bit, it was a little nerve racking, it's been a very long time since my last quake, and this was the first for the wife and daughter.  Since it's not a common event, the news has had LOTS of coverage of all the little pockets of damage in the area.  So we are watching Harry Potter now :)

But wait there's more...


Now they are calling for huricaine Irene to move up the coast and give us a little wind and rain before we head out...  Something is telling me it's gonna be long cold snowy winter.
Well guess I'll get back to Potter....  Dumbldore dies soon...