Week 14 & life in Riyadh

Week 14

November 24, 2014

It’s officially the second trimester! Can I get a woot, woot!?!?! I am still not feeling great everyday, but there are many more good days than bad now. Everything I have read says that this is the trimester that is the best. Supposedly I get more energy, nausea continues to retreat and my belly won’t get that big yet. Sounds great to me!

Here is what’s happening this week…My pants don’t fit, nope, not at all. I cannot zip them all the way up. I rely on hair ties and belly bands. Luckily, I do have some work pants that I bought this summer that are bigger, so those fit. I am looking forward to getting some maternity pants and jeans over the Christmas vacation so I can really be comfy and can look a little better.

Some days I definitely have more energy than others. This weekend was busy and I was able to stay up past 10:00! That is a first since September. However, last night I was in bed by 8:15. These last few months have really worn me out. I have never been so exhausted in my life. I know most of it has to do with growing a baby, but I have also not worked this hard in my life! This school year has been a lot more difficult than past years. So, needless to say, I am looking forward to Christmas Vacation!!! Luckily, I don’t have to wait long. Three weeks from Wednesday we will be on a plane headed to snowy Detroit! Hopefully it will be just a little snowy. I don’t want to jinx it like I did last year. 

In other news, our home is starting to feel much more like MY home now! This past weekend Travis and I did some shopping and decorating. We went to IKEA Thursday night, which is always a treat! I will NEVER, absolutely NEVER go there on a Thursday night again. First, it took us an hour and a half to get there! This was because we missed one turn and then it takes FOREVER to be able to turn around and get to where you meant to go, there was a ton of traffic, we missed the exit and had to go to the next one and then there was a grand opening at a store near by so there were cars everywhere. Then, once we got inside it was a zoo! I have never seen more people in one store. You could barely walk. It was so frustrating. When it was all said and done, round trip was a 4-hour adventure. We managed to get a new coffee table, end table and TV stand though. I guess it was worth it. Then Friday night we went to the Clock Tower Market. Another teacher and her husband took us. It was a great trip. It reminded us of markets in Asia, but nicer and more expensive. We bought a dining room table cloth, pillow covers and I got a new Pashmina. It was great! Travis and our neighbor Ian then put together our tables from IKEA that night. The next day we decorated for Christmas. I love being home now. It is so cozy and comfortable. It took a while to get there, but it feels good!

We also had the International Festival at school this weekend. This was similar to the International Food Festival we use to have at SCIS, which was my favorite day of the year! This festival had less food from different countries, but did have some shopping. It also had some great entertainment. It was a lot of fun.

That’s all from over here in Riyadh. I hope all those that celebrate have a great Thanksgiving! I am looking forward to the fun we will have here.

Mama and Baby this week:

·      Mama’s pants no longer fit!

·      Mama still hates eating breakfast and loves eating in the middle of the day the most.

·      Mama still craves fruit and juices a lot!

·      Mama gets heartburn sometimes, headaches often and gets dizzy sometimes.

·      Baby is the size of a lemon or beet (3 ½ inches).

·      Baby has fur-like lanugo covering most of her body to keep her warm.

·      Baby’s weight has doubled since last week!

Week 13

Week 13

November 18, 2014

For those of you just finding out about Baby Klump, I have been writing an update each week. I write about how I am feeling, what I am doing and what is happening with the baby. Quick catch up- to say that we were excited when we found out we had a baby on board is an understatement! We are beyond thrilled for this new adventure. Each week I will write a post to tell you all about what is happening. So if you are interested, check back weekly. It is hard to be so far away from our family and many friends during this exciting time. Because of that, I thought weekly updates would help everyone understand the fun stuff and everything else that comes along with pregnancy. Be happy you are tuning in now. The first trimester was FULL of whining and complaining about how sick I felt. :)

I am officially in my last week of the first trimester and feeling pretty good. First, I feel like I have a LITTLE more energy. I asked Travis if he thought I was staying up later and he said no, but I totally disagree. I have stayed up until after 9pm a few times lately! This is a huge improvement because I was falling asleep after school and then again on the couch at around 7:45 each evening! I never knew I could sleep so much. Also, nausea has definitely gone down a lot. I am still eating every 2-3 hours and so far I am good. A friend here in Riyadh also shared a little treat called Preggie Pops. Those help in the mornings when I don’t want to eat breakfast.

The highlight of this week was our exciting weekend in Jordan. I cannot wait to tell you that story! That will have to be it’s own post though. You should look forward to hearing about me crying hysterically at the airport, yelling at Travis at the airport, freaking out about a 3 hour drive because I pee every 5 seconds, holding on to my uterus with one hand and holding the “truck” we drove in with the other hand, mountain climbing, floating in the Dead Sea and overeating! It was a great weekend. I will write that post this weekend.

So that is really it for this week. The real story will come with the Jordan post…stay tuned!

Mama and Baby this week:

·      Mama continues to feel better!

·      Mama still eats a salad after school almost everyday.

·      Mama craves fruit and juices a lot!

·      Mama’s pants are getting VERY tight and uncomfortable!

·      Baby is the size of a peach.

·      Baby has tiny bones forming in his or her arms and legs.

·      Baby’s body is trying to catch up with the size of his or her head!

Only in Saudi...

Or that is what I think anyway. I could be totally wrong, but the two things I am writing about today probably couldn't happen anywhere else. If they can, let me know. I am curious to know if there are other countries as strict as Saudi.

The Bank

We are not in America anymore...Here is my story about going to the bank for the first time. All new hires are taken to the bank, two at a time. Our HR director can't go with women because we have a different door and section. So, his secretary took us. We ended up leaving later than expected and it was a bit of a drive. Once we got there, I was just shocked. I don't know how or why I still get surprised by these things, but it is just so out of my 'ordinary'. We walked in through a back door and up some stairs to the Ladies only section of the bank. It was just so bizarre. Only women in this area. Why? I don't understand why women can go to the same stores as men, covered, but not the bank. If someone knows, fill me in! :) In addition to this, the workers were not covered. They were wearing regular everyday work clothes. Their hair was not covered either. However, all the customers were wearing their Abayas. It was very odd and not what I was expecting. Something else to get use to I suppose. It's the little things that I miss right now, like wearing my clothes and not an abaya, to go out.

My First Restaurant Trip

I finally went out to eat! Yes, we have been here for almost two months and it was my first trip to a restaurant. We have had take out, but I have not ventured to a restaurant until now. One of our staff members that is Lebanese set up a girls night out to go to a Lebanese restaurant. We all met at the parking lot of school, put on our abayas and set out for the evening. It was a fun bus ride, chit chatting with friends. The restaurant was a little farther out since we live in the middle of nowhere. Once we got there, I felt like I was somewhere totally different. The street, which I now call restaurant road, was beautiful! There were palm trees that lined the middle of the road, lit at night by colored lights. The buildings were all new, clean and gorgeous! There were so many restaurants on the road. I can't wait to go back! Getting back to dinner now...As women, we again entered through a back door for the family section. In Riyadh there are men only sections and family sections. Within the family section there are also curtained tables so that women can uncover their faces as they eat with their families. All of us ladies sat at an open table and dined with our abayas on. That was very strange! However, the food was delicious! Also, there is no alcohol so you get asked if you want some juice. I had a mint lemonade that was fantastic. I ate so much I felt sick. It was some of the best food I have ever had. Amazing!

So, I just wanted to paint a few more pictures of what life is like over here in Riyadh. As fall sets in, I am feeling a little homesick. I always loved the fall in Michigan. It is still about 100 degrees here everyday. I look forward to the cool down, which is supposed to come in November. I also miss rain. I don't want a lot, just one day with one thunderstorm. I am not quite sure I will get that! :)

In other travel news, we cancelled our trip to Ethiopia and are officially on our first staycation in 5 years! We plan to relax, go out to eat, have some pool time and hit the malls and markets. It should be a nice week of sleeping in! We have also booked a trip to Jordan in November. We have a three day weekend, so we are going to Petra. I cannot wait! We will be going home for Christmas, which I am also looking forward to. Travis will be able to work on the lake house a bit and I can hang with my mom, sisters and friends! Then we booked a trip to Byblos, Lebanon in February for a long weekend.

The year is already flying by! I can't believe Christmas is only 2 1/2 months away. I am ready to sing Christmas songs and make cookies. ;)

That's all for now.
Christy

IKEA 1- Christy 1

The first time I went to IKEA in Riyadh, I went with a group of new teachers in a big bus. I didn't feel good, I felt rushed and Travis couldn't come because he was working. However, we were home within 3 hours or so (including travel time). On top of that, we didn't run into any prayer time issues. Because of that, I think I won that round and IKEA lost.

Our trip this weekend was not so successful. I have never been a huge fan of IKEA because it is always so crazy. Shanghai was especially crazy. I have to say, though, Riyadh IKEA takes the cake. Oh.my.goodness. It was a disaster. Let me tell you how it all started...

Krystle and Zach also wanted to go shopping. They drove in their car, we followed in ours. Luckily, Zach figured out how to get there ahead of time. We got there in roughly 30 minutes. I felt optimistic and happy. I was so relieved that we had made it there in one piece, safely. As we were driving, there were two VERY seriously car accidents. These accidents had clearly happened a while ago, but had not been cleared. The first car was upside and quite smashed up. I guess he wanted to go too fast on a curved exit ramp. It didn't turn out well for him. As for the other car accident, I wouldn't really call it a car anymore. There was not much of it left that was in the shape of a car. So, with that said, just arriving at the store was fantastic.

Shopping was fine. They didn't have everything we wanted and needed, but there were plenty of things to buy. I had a long list and knew we didn't have a long time. We got to the store around 9:20 and prayer wasn't until almost noon. We figured if we were in line by 11:30, we could make it. That gave us 2 hours of shopping. It is amazing how quickly that time goes by. Before we knew it, it was 11:05. Travis and I decided to head in the direction of the check outs. Thank goodness that we did. This line was the longest line in a store I have ever seen, no exaggeration. We got in it and I quickly texted Krystle and told them to hurry and get in line too. Our lines were creeping along very slowly. It wasn't long until we decided we were not going to make it before prayer time. As noon got closer and closer, we were right up to the register. We were certain that they would stop selling right before me and Travis or right after us and before Krystle and Zach. When our turn was up, we threw our things up on the belt as quickly as possible. The cashier checked us out and then stopped. Travis explained that our friends were behind us and asked if he would just do their check out as well. The guy looked at the amount they had, as the call to prayer came over the speaker, and said no. Ugh. We now had to wait an additional 30 minutes for prayer to end. Yes, we just sat there waiting, along with everyone else in line. It was so strange. I guess we had to go through it at least once. I hope, never again. After standing in line for an hour, checking out and then waiting another 30 minutes for our friends to check out, I never want to go to IKEA again. I have also decided that IKEA Riyadh is much harder to shop at than IKEA Shanghai.

Finally, we drove home. We kind of got a little lost-ish and ended up at the airport. We went through it and drove to our homes, which are only about a 10 minute drive from there. The entire trip was about 5 hours and 15 minutes. What a great Saturday! That was then followed by 3 hours of working to get ready for the week. :(

As for everything else, we are doing great. Work is very busy and hard for me right now, but I know it will get easier as time goes on. I don't like the unknown and it's hard being a new teacher again. I am really enjoying all the awesome people and we are having a lot of fun. Friday night we went to a school party at the US Embassy. That was a lot fun, great food and dancing! Oh, and we also booked our October Holiday to Ethiopia! We are headed to our fourth continent. Our friends Tracy and Ian invited us to join them. It should be a great experience. That will happen at the beginning of October.

That's all for now. Talk to you all soon!
C

The kids come to AIS-R!

Today was finally the first day with students! It is 6:45 and I am just now sitting down at home. To say it was a busy and chaotic day, is an absolute understatement. Today was, by far, the craziest first day of school I have ever been a part of! And I wasn't the only one feeling that way. I think there were a number of reasons why it was so nuts...

First, I am new to AIS-R. You forget what it feels like to be the 'new' teacher. When I taught in Southfield, I was there for 5 years, but had done my student teaching for a year there and also did some subbing in between my student teaching and when I was actually hired. I look at that as 7 years with Southfield. I knew how things worked, even if I was in three different schools during that time. I was familiar with the district and everything that went along with school. The last four years were spent in Shanghai, three of which were in grade 2. I felt really comfortable there. I knew SCIS. I knew how to get supplies, how to print, copy, find things, who to email, who was in charge of things, how things worked at the beginning and end of the school days. I had systems in place in my classrooms. Baskets that I used to organize stuff. I had accumulated so many helpful, useful things. When we left, I didn't think I left important things behind. If I could go back...I would have brought more with me! Now that I am new again, I feel a bit lost. As I have said before, I am VERY supported, but when you are new, it's hard. At SCIS students take the bus to school. They come straight to your room and the day begins. At AIS-R, many parents came with the students. I wanted to talk to them all and get to know them a little, but it was just too busy to do that. These students also brought with them huge bags of supplies. At SCIS, all the supplies were provided. I knew that these supplies would come, but I had no idea how much was coming. I was warned, but I just could not have imagined the bags that were brought in! All of this set up a very chaotic start to the day. Looking back, it wasn't a big deal. In the moment, I was stressed! One other thing caught me off guard as well. I went to shake hands with a father who was Muslim, as I did with so many other parents that morning. He told me he couldn't. I was so thrown off by the chaos that I forgot that some conservative Muslim men do not touch non-relative women. Both he and his wife were very polite and understanding and told me not to worry that I had put my hand out to greet him. They explained that not everybody is the same. The wife said some Muslims will shake hands, but they do not. They were both very nice about it all, but I was a bit embarrassed at the time. More on the first day in a bit...

Second, the campus is new. Basically, we were extremely organized and ready for it all. But of course, some of those things just didn't quite work. The end of the day dismissal was probably the hardest for me. I was so worried about losing a child, it was stressful. Again, in the end, it all worked out.

Third, everyone is new! I mean that everyone is new because the campus is new. If you go to work at a school that is already operating, someone knows exactly what to do for just about everything. Today, all the teachers and admin were figuring things out together.

The combination of all of that created a bit of a stressful and crazy day for all! Everyone I talked to said that the day was just nuts and we were all exhausted by the time 2:45 rolled around!

Anyways, here is a recap of my crazy day!
It started with the students and supplies being dropped off. Shortly after that, we went for a campus tour. I will try to take some pictures to show you the massive size our campus is, for now, you will just have to imagine. We walked around for about 10 minutes finding different important parts of the elementary buildings. As we were walking, one student's nose began to bleed. I was ready to send him to the nurse and get it taken care of. Then I realized that I don't know where the nurse is located. Epic fail on my part. I am sure I learned at some point, but I couldn't remember. I took the class back to the room and we got him a tissue. Luckily, it wasn't a bad bleed. While in the room, almost all of the students had to use the restroom. Not a big deal you think. It is now. We only have one stall in our classroom. No joke, it took a good 10 minutes for everyone to go that needed to go. Finally, we went back out to finish the tour. I would say the whole thing took at least 30-45 minutes. It took FOREVER! We also had to have indoor recess because the play areas are not quite done yet. That was a bit hard on the kids. Teachers had to also eat lunch with the students so they could learn how it would all work. I had about 10 bites of my salad, which was more than most teachers, and then it was time to go. Grade 2 had a fun activity planned for the kids in the afternoon. They rotated through classrooms and learned about our school theme this year, 'true to yellow and blue.' It took longer than expected and we couldn't finish. Then packing up was rushed and crazy and then we quickly went to PE at the end of the day. Finally, after PE ended, I met up with the kids to help get them to buses, nannies, drivers, moms, dads and compounds. It was nothing that I had expected!!! In the end, it all worked out, but WOW am I tired! I stayed at work until after 6 to get more organized and be ready for tomorrow. I can't wait to sleep and I am not even sure I have the energy to eat dinner!

So that was it. Day 1 at AIS-R with the students. It flew by. My students are absolutely adorable and I am really looking forward to teaching them.

Oh, and of course my fitbit battery was low!!!! I am sure I racked up 10,000 steps today, but I will never know because it didn't record them. Boo!!! :(

That's all for now. Sorry for the grammar/spelling/confusing parts. I wrote this fast!!!
C

Just another update

Well, I haven't written a post for a bit, so here we go. It has been a very busy week, which is why I haven't done an update. Last weekend Zach arrived and Travis went to the airport to pick him up. It is so nice having a familiar face around here! Krystle should be here in a week, and I can't wait! Anyway, we did some more driving again and it went well. We followed another colleague to the grocery store and learned how easy it is to get there and how close it is. That made me feel better. I was little worried about getting food. We do have a grocery store here on the compound, but it is not as big and costs a little more. This was one stress that quickly went away. Then we went to Saco World the next day and got more things for the house. That was a little more difficult to get to, but totally doable. Again, one less stress. We started the week feeling really good. And now ended it exhausted, but ready for school to begin!

I can't say enough about how wonderful work is going for the both of us. Yes, Travis works A LOT! Yes, I am a bit overwhelmed. Yes, it is hard to be the 'new teacher.' But even with all of those things, I feel good and I know Travis feels really good. I truly feel supported by admin and other teachers. We have friends that invite us over and make sure we are doing well. It's great to know people are there for you.

The school has offered many learning and wellness opportunities that I have absolutely loved! There have been two learning session days so far. Many different things are offered. You, as the teacher, choose what you want or need to go to! I have learned a lot and have really enjoyed it. The wellness I have chosen has been yoga, T25 and reading for pleasure! And we get paid for it since it is during the work day. I just can't say enough good things about the planning and organization. Our staff meetings are well planned, thought out, told to us in advance and really are for us. I could go on and on!

Well that is all for now. School starts on Monday, so stay tuned for classroom pictures and an update on that.

C

Our Little Blue Lake House

Today we closed on our Little Blue Lake House! Thanks to Jackie and and our realtor Stephanie, even though we were in Saudi, it happened. We are so excited to have our own little home during the summer.

Many of you didn't know that we were buying a house, and neither did we. It just kind of happened. One day we were going for a run around the lakes by Jackie. There were two cute little houses for sale and we decided we wanted to take a look. The first house we looked at was the little blue one. We loved it right away, but wanted to see more to make sure we wanted it or even a house in general. After many, many properties and lots of discussions we decided to do it. We chose this one because we LOVED the lake it is on. The colors are like the Caribbean Sea, seriously. We also felt like it needed a little updating, but we could totally live with it the way it is...that didn't last long though. We have lots of renovation and construction plans! ;) We love it and are so excited to have our own home in Michigan and a pontoon on a gorgeous lake.

Here are some pictures!