Funny Differences

There are so many things that are different about life here.  Many I will not write about on the internet but here's a funny one.  I was making veggie soup the other day and took a potatoe out of the bag and pulled this out -- huge thing, more like three potatoes grown together.  My friend here in the complex said they are often like that.  Also, I have to wash them very good -- they are very sandy.  Which makes sense but I didn't know you could grow potatoes in the sand.  The skin is very, very thin -- just washes right off.  They look different but taste the same.


 It's been fun to cook here just to see if things turn out.  We had some of Gerhard's team members from work over for dinner.  I decided to make my "Oma" rolls.  I always make them at home using my Kitchen Aide -- it has a break hook and makes the job of kneading dough much easier.  So I made these rolls the "old fashioned" way -- kneading them by hand.  Actually, they turned out lighter and fluffier than usual.  Here's a picture of the guys that had to eat them!

Gerhard's thoughts

One of the things that I found interesting was the price of gas, about 40 cents a gallon which is about 1/10 the price in the US.  Another thing that's interesting is that almost everything is new.  There's very little that's old.  It was either recently built or is still being built.  For example they recently finished a tall high-rise building that is totally "green" using all solar energy.  We live on top of a shopping mall which includes a Wal-Mart type store directly underneath us.  The mall is bigger than any mall we have (a lot bigger) and it's getting an addition built on to it which is half again as big.  It has five floors.  The top floor is an amusement park and the bottom floor is a cultural center.   We live in a two story hotel on top of the mall complete with swimming pool.  Where I work is in a compound and there are lots of compounds here, which is like a walled-in community where they set their own rules and standards.  They have stores, post-offices, recreation centers, and one compound has an ice-skating rink.  Most foreigners live in the compounds because the clothing restrictions are generally relaxed.  Anyway, it's all interesting, fun, and good.

 

I made it to Damman so my Saudi Arabian experience begins!  I left home at 8:00AM on Thursday, November 29th and arrived at 10:00PM on Friday night.  I flew from Sacramento to Atlanta to Amsterdam and then to Damman.  The hardest part of the whole journey was going through customs in Saudi.  I stood in line for almost two hours.  Crazy.  I don't know why any country would want that process to be so inefficient and arduous since that is the first impression foreigners have of their country.  But I am here safe and it was so great to see Gerhard.  The furnished 2-bedroom apartment we have is situated over a mall, so there is plenty of places I can go to walk around.  Gerhard took me on a little tour of the mall, we ate at Burger King (sorry Chelsey), and did some grocery shopping.  I need to bake a birthday cake for Gerhard tomorrow since he is turning 64!! 

Merry Christmas 2011

I didn't want to send Christmas cards out this year because I didn't think I had anything great to say but Gerhard encouraged me to put together a picture colleague. After I went through all the pictures for the year, I realized I had alot to be grateful for! It's been a tough year. I spent about four months of the year in Montana staying with my parents. Dad is in a nursing home now and struggling with advanced lung cancer and emphysema. Leaving this world is no fun and watching someone else struggle for every breath is agonizing. But through it all, I believe I gained a better appreciation and love for my parents.

This is one amazing man!! The love of my life!!

I have been married to the most decent, kind, loving man there is!! We have been together for over thirty years and every day with him is a gift. Here's some pictures of what I'm talking about!!

Trip to Malaysia

Gerhard's company got a new project in Penang, Malaysia so he needed to go there for several weeks. He said he'd let me tag along. We got to visit friends we haven't seen in years . . . some of them since we lived there in 1993. It was great to see all of them and see that they are staying on track -- they have strong testimonies of Jesus Christ and are strong disciples. Of course they have trials and adversities that have shaped them and made them stronger. Adversity does that I guess. Sun Fu Chong spent two days taking us all over the place and treating us to some wonderful food. Great to be back.

My kids should recognize this sign. When we lived in Malaysia, they had to know what to look for because alot of signs didn't have the English translation on them!

The malls in Malaysia are amazing . . . and the food courts are unreal!! We had literally hundreds of choices when it came to finding a restaurant.

More of Florida

I've been working on a new rug -- so here's a picture. This rug is totally random. I just chose neautral colors and put the strips together randomly. It's coming along nicely.

Gerhard and I spent the day walking on the river walk in Fort Lauderdale and riding on water taxies. They call Fort Lauderdale the "Venice of America" -- it really was beautiful. We found a nice seafood restaurant and shared an order of crab legs sitting right next to the river. I also had a wonderful steak. What a treat! The last picture was taken from a bridge -- you can see our hotel in the background and the pool where I was napping.

Florida Trip

Gerhard had meetings in Fort Lauderdale, Florida so I tagged along. Feels like all those times when I had to stay home and raise kids while he flew off to work are finally paying off!! I can tag along with him when we have enough air miles to pay for my trip. Very nice to spend the day lounging around in Flordia. The weather is in the mid-70's so I've had pool time. I brought some sheet strips with so I can work on my new hobby -- croqueting rugs. Thanks to my best friend, Marie, I have lots of sheets ready to be croqueted now. This trip was especially important to me because on Thursday, we fly to Salt Lake City where Gerhard has two days of meetings. I will get to see our Utah kids and my grandbabies. The highlight of my life! Here's a few pictures from a recent trip to Utah where we spent time together.

Zack and Chelsey are doing Wii "Just Dance".

Look at that cute baby girl -- Livy is a doll baby.

We love Livy's mom too!! Here's Julie and Livy.