Happy Mother's Day

To the most amazing moms.

Our moms give us some of the greatest encouragement anyone could ask for. They sacrifice so much and ask for nothing in return. Here is to two of the greatest moms ever. Happy Mother's Day!

H is for your hair, which is really, really stinky

Well it was my birthday yesterday and I got one of the weirdest cards I have ever received in my life. This is what it said:

Brendon,

For your special day, I thought I’d write you a special poem.

B is for being butt-ugly

R is for repeatedly annoying me all day long

E is for extra lame

N is for never shutting up

D is for how dumb you are

O is for obnoxious

N is for nasty breath

H is for your hair, which is really, really stinky

U is for undeniably awful

N is because nobody likes you

T is for being a terrific friend

Love you man. Just so you know, only one of these is true.

Charlie

Don’t you just love friends? I love it that he didn’t tell me which on was true. Who has stinky hair anyways? Anyhow, despite all of this, it was a great birthday and one I’ll never forget. Love you all!

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!

Top ten things to do in Saudi Arabia on your day off

Well you may not think that there is a lot to do in the deserts of Saudi, but you would be surprised at all the cool things we have found to do in our free time. So here's a list of top ten fun things to do in Saudi Arabia on your day off:

1. Pet a camel

There are lots of camels here in Saudi and despite their dislike of humans and their nasty foamy mouths they can be great pets! Just look at how cute they are

We found one that was a little bit friendly.

Everyone started cheering when they saw the American get on the camel. I think I'm a natural. The video cuts right before I broke free and rode the camel off into the sunset.

2. Try new food

We could go on all day about the food but for this post we'll just show you a few quick favs that we have found just recently.

The first one is this amazing berry drink that comes from Mecca. It tastes a little bit like cherry kool-aid but a little more sugary. Before this point I wasn't 100% sure that it was possible for a drink to have more sugar than kool-aid, but this drink definitely takes the prize

The bread here is also really good, especially the flat bread. Here is a picture of one of the bread bakers in front of his stove.

Here is another one with the berry juice and then also Charlie is holding what they call Saudi chips. They start out as one giant chip in a bowl shape that's about a foot wide. You break the bowl apart and eat the chips. They taste kind of like a really thin waffle and are a fun little snack to tie you over.

3. Hit the town

Saudi has some really pretty buildings and one of the nicest is Faisaliyah.

Near the top of Faisaliyah you can see a huge black ball. Well inside that ball is actually a restaurant with glass windows all around it and is supposed to have one of the best views of the city.

4. Meet new friends

Staci with her new teacher friends

Staci in her office with her coworker friends

Brendon's new bff

See that camel smile?

5. Dance like a Saudi

Dancing may be haram but I guess traditional dancing is a whole different issue. Pretty sweet moves if you ask me

Next one is part 2 of the video. We saw this at one of the festivals with some new friends from work.

6. Eat Saudi style

One really cool thing that we have found here is how Saudi's eat meals. This is a picture of a typical Saudi home dining room. As you can see there is no table, chairs, or couches. Usually how a dinner would go is they lay a big plastic table cover on the floor and everyone sits around it and eats right off the table cloth. But by far the best part about it: no forks or knifes needed. You eat everything with your hands. Sorry mom, it's the culture here.

7. Hang out at the casa

Be it ever so lowly

There's no place like home

Greatest thing in the world to see when I'm coming home from work, my wife.

8. Swim

Having a pool here is amazing! As the weather gets hotter the pool gets nicer and nicer.

And this is one is a product of my hilarious wife who thought it would be funny to pretend she was just taking a picture. Isn't she just hilarious. Personally I think it was a great dive.

We are going to request that their will be no further comments about this video.

9. Fix your water pump

Ok, so maybe you might be thinking we are running out of things to do in Saudi, but fixing your water can be quite an adventure. First you get to climb our super safe latter to the roof

Next you get have to turn the water pump back on that magically turns on and off as it pleases and repeat these steps about once a week. Oh and did I mention that when the water pump shuts off you lose all water till you turn it back on again? Trust me it's lots of fun, especially when your running late for work.

10. Watch LOST

Oh Jack, what would we do without you? With the greatest show on earth, having the greatest season ever, there is a lot to be thankful for. We have to give a huge thank you to the good people at itunes that make it possible for oversears like us to still download and watch lost each week. Quick question for the losties out there: If the island is the cork holding the smoke monster in, what is happening in the flashsideways when the island is underwater? Also if the flash sideways people's actions can bleed over to the real timeline and affect them, can flash sideways John Locke's actions affect what Smokey is doing? Just a little food for thought.

Well I hope that our long absence away from posting has not driven everybody away. It is always great to hear from you all and definitely keep us posted on all your happening back at home. We are still doing so so good here and really do love this country and culture. Love you all and hope to talk to you all soon!

Arabic 101

One thing that we have learned is that language tells you a lot about a culture. So today we will give a crash course in the top Arabic terms we hear the most in a day:

1. If you are coming to the Gulf, first make sure you have a sweet Arabic name. Some of the most common male names we have seen are: Abdulah, Abdulaziz (by far the two most popular), Sultan, Mohammad, Mohanned (had the hardest time hearing the difference at first but the subtle pronunciation difference was very important to the person I was talking to), Khald, Osama, and Nwaf. For girls the most popular names are Reem, Eman, Noura, Haifa, and Fatimah. Some of the most interesting names are: Al Hanouf, Abeer, and Felwalu (still trying to figure out how to pronounce these).

2. Now with the phrases, we'll start from the beginning. How you say hello is: assalam wa alaikum meaning peace be upon you. The story behind it goes as follows:

Abu Hurairah narrated that the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) said: "Allah created Adam from dust after He mixed the clay and left him for some time until it became sticky mud, after which Allah shaped him. After that Allah left him till it became like potter's clay [a sounding clay]. Iblis used to go past him saying 'You have been created for a great purpose.' After that Allah breathed His spirit into him. The first thing into which the spirit passed was his eye and then his nose. He [Adam] sneezed. Allah said: "May your Lord have mercy upon you, O Adam! Go to those angels and see what they would say.' So Adam went and greeted them. they replied saying: "Peace be upon you and the mercy and blessings of Allah." Allah said: "O Adam! This is your greeting and that of your offspring." (Sahih Bukhari).
3. Next, the phrase you will hear most in the Kingdom is the phrase - inshallah - meaning if Allah wills. For example you will hear this when calling a taxi: diver - "I will be there in 10 minutes, inshallah." You will hear it when talking about schedules - "Monday's meeting is at 10, inshallah. Tuesday's meeting is at 9, inshallah...". And we have even heard it in the classroom - teacher - "Everyone must finish there assignment in 5 minuets." Student - "OK maybe, inshallah." We love our students!

4. Another term we hear a lot is mashala – which means "Allah has willed it." This is mostly said as a protection though. For example, say someone tells you they love your hair. If you do not say mashala, they could begin to become jealous of your possessions and start desiring to have your hair (ok maybe hair is a weird example). So the idea is that to not say mashala after every complement, you are actually harming everyone around you. You will hear it all the time too. For example, say Johny buys a new car and is showing his friends. You will hear Johny repeat mashala after almost every sentence to protect himself and his friends. It's very different for us but it's as natural as you get here.

5. The last phrase we hear a ton is alhumdulillah - (which is by far the funnest to say). The word is a great word and it means "Praise be to Allah (God)" and is one that we say often. There is so much to praise God about and our Arab friends are always quick to remember it. Alhumdulillah!

So as you can see from this quick Arabic lesson, what defines this Saudi culture is Islam. Saudi culture is so closely defined by it's religion it is hard to imagine the two without each other. We really do love it here and love this culture and people so much. We have met the most generous and amazing Muslims here. We love you all and hope to talk to you all soon!

Finally some pictures!

Here are a few pictures we have taken along the way...

The bearded man + his hooded wife

View from the backyard. You can start to see the sandstorm moving in.

We stumbled upon some old forts in the desert.

They are mostly made of mud and straw but were still in amazing condition.

Here comes the sandstorm! Ugh!

Have not had a full one yet but this was a little taste of what's to come.

But not too much worst than Riverside on a bad day right?

Few things to look at: KSA was talking with one of the head government officials from India so they lined all the freeways in Riyadh with Saudi and Indian flags. Also you'll see the sign for Panda on the right. It's like a Walmart and they also have their version of a Super Walmart called what else:

Hyper Panda

In America we have cemeteries with with grave stones. Here they have burial mounds. The more important you are the bigger the mound. You can see how people just build around them through the years.

A favorite weekend getaway for most Saudi's is setting up these tents in the desert. Inside is usually super nice fabrics and woods and some even have air conditioning. Not sure if this is technically camping out.

In California you have cows on the side of the road. We have camels.

Such a different place but we love it! Great hearing from everyone. Please don't stop thinking about us!