The Call

In Saudi Arabia, one of the most important parts of life is prayer. So in Saudi, one thing that is impossible to miss is the call to prayer. Muslims are called to pray five times a day. The call to prayer is heard at dawn (it changes throughout the year but now it plays at 3:58 AM), midday (11:51 AM), about the middle of the afternoon (3:19 PM), just after sunset (6:21 PM), and at night fall about two hours after sunset (7:51 PM). It is announced over loud speakers from each mosque and during that time all businesses close and life stops for half an hour. In Saudi, mosques are strategically placed throughout the city so that at all times every person will be close enough to get to one in time. As you can imagine, that is a lot of mosques and a lot of calls being called out at once. From our apartment we can hear at least 4 calls going off all at once.

The video below is what the call sounds like here and the words of it also should show up in the caption -

-- the reason we picked this video was because if you listen close you can hear the echo throughout the city, which is very similar to what it's like here. Imagine four of these going off at once with slightly different voices and a few second apart and that will give you a good taste of what it is like in a Muslim country at prayer time

The video above is the call to prayer recorded from Mecca. The video shows the Kaaba, the most sacred site in Islam, and what all Muslims face during prayer no matter where they are. Also what can be seen in the video are thousands of Muslims walking around the Kaaba as apart of their pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca. They estimate that around 2-3 million people from around the world attend the Hajj each year.

As for us, we are very thankful for the call because we are always reminded when it is time to pray. Saudi has so many amazing and helpful things in its culture that continually remind us to pray. It's a fascinating culture and an experience we will never forget. We love you all and miss you more everyday. Keep in touch!

There And Back Again

Well this may be a surprise to a lot of you but I was in California a few days ago! It was a really quick trip and I did not get to tell anyone in advance. There was a good reason for the trip though… my sister got married! I was only there for 2 full days so I didn't have time to see anybody but family. Sorry for the late notice! It was a great trip though and here are some of the highlights.

The trip went as follows:

Departure – 7:00 AM Thursday April 8

Total Travel time: about 26 hours

Arrival in California – 9:55 PM Thursday April 8

If that looks strange to you, that’s good. The reason is that on the way back I gained 10 hours. It was officially the longest day I’ve ever had clocking in at 34 hours long.

It was a great wedding and my sister looked beautiful

The family and a few cousins

Me and my amazing sisters

The trip back was also pretty crazy with the total trip time at 31 hours. The reason for the extra hours was because I had a long layover in London. Definitely a highlight of the trip because during the layover I got to take a walking tour of London! I got to see a lot of big sites including...

Piccadilly circus

Big Ol Big Ben.

Big Brendon and Big Ben

Sorry about the sound, it was super windy on the bridge!

Found out that Big Ben is actually the name of the bell in the tower, not the tower itself.

Westminster Abbey

Trafalgar Square

Buckingham Palace

The gate to Buckingham Palace

A very tired Brendon in front of Buckingham Palace

Well those were just a few of the highlights of the trip. Sounds like I got out of London right on time before all the volcano craziness. It was a super fun trip and so glad I got to see my big sis's wedding. But have to say, it's great to be done with traveling and back at home with the Mrs again. Great seeing the family and we miss the rest of you all. Keep in touch!