Hello Friends and Family and welcome to 2012!
As you may recall, I was in The Woodlands for my first repat trip this past November / December and have been back in Saudi Arabia for about one month now. I have a few things that I'd like to share, some have photos and some don't. Some are from Texas, some from Saudi. Some are interesting, some you may have already heard of. So this blog will be mixed!
As you may have heard, I returned and have been working through the Christmas / New Years holidays. It has been a weird experience going to work on both days, but everyone at work was very positive (many of my Saudi and expat friends went out of their way to wish me both Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!). One thing I wanted to share, before going to the 8:00 PM Christmas Eve mass, I went out for a short jog on our camp running trail. I went in the direction so I was running down the hill overlooking the golf course, downtown Khobar and the Arabian Sea. One thing was different, the North Star was extremely low on the horizon and looked like the 'Star of David' from the Nativity scenes. I thought this was really cool, that this part of the world is in a position so that star is that low in the sky on Christmas eve! (Perhaps a coincidence, but still pretty cool). I tried taking a photo, but it didn't come out.
As you can tell, I am posting the non-photo items first to keep your attention.
The other cool thing, you may recall there was a total eclipse of the moon a few weeks ago that took about 60 minutes. Well, we played 9 holes of golf that night and the eclipse started about hole 3 and lasted through hole 7. I did try taking photos, but you need a better zoom than I have with me. It made a great conversation topic (much better than my golf game that night)! With the low humidity here, the eclipse was low in the sky and you could see the whole thing.
OK, a couple photos.
First, from the trip to Texas, Lauren danced the Dew Drop Fairy in the Nutcracker. So naturally as a proud parent I need to share this with as many people as possible. She is also trying to get into the Houston High School for Performing Arts next year, wish her luck on that!
When I headed back to Saudi, Jane and Lauren decided to spend a week in Destin Florida to enjoy a nice vacation. They took some nice beach / dance photos that I thought good to share.
Back in Saudi, we needed some computer supplies at work one day, so we went into Khobar to see what we could find. Our first trip was to the mall, but didn't find quite what we needed. The fellow with me tells me, I know were to get this. I asked him if we were going to Best Buy? He said better, and we went to this store. Not quite best buy, but you could buy everything in this store that has been sold over the past 10 years or so. Some with manufactures warranty, many without. Interesting stores...
Finally, I mentioned night golf. Well I birdied this hole the other night and the friends I was playing with took this photo. I told them it isn't really that rare of an event, but they wanted to make sure I put this on my blog, so here it is!
Well Take Care and I hope everyone is off to a prosperous, healthy and happy new year!
As you may recall, I was in The Woodlands for my first repat trip this past November / December and have been back in Saudi Arabia for about one month now. I have a few things that I'd like to share, some have photos and some don't. Some are from Texas, some from Saudi. Some are interesting, some you may have already heard of. So this blog will be mixed!
As you may have heard, I returned and have been working through the Christmas / New Years holidays. It has been a weird experience going to work on both days, but everyone at work was very positive (many of my Saudi and expat friends went out of their way to wish me both Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!). One thing I wanted to share, before going to the 8:00 PM Christmas Eve mass, I went out for a short jog on our camp running trail. I went in the direction so I was running down the hill overlooking the golf course, downtown Khobar and the Arabian Sea. One thing was different, the North Star was extremely low on the horizon and looked like the 'Star of David' from the Nativity scenes. I thought this was really cool, that this part of the world is in a position so that star is that low in the sky on Christmas eve! (Perhaps a coincidence, but still pretty cool). I tried taking a photo, but it didn't come out.
As you can tell, I am posting the non-photo items first to keep your attention.
The other cool thing, you may recall there was a total eclipse of the moon a few weeks ago that took about 60 minutes. Well, we played 9 holes of golf that night and the eclipse started about hole 3 and lasted through hole 7. I did try taking photos, but you need a better zoom than I have with me. It made a great conversation topic (much better than my golf game that night)! With the low humidity here, the eclipse was low in the sky and you could see the whole thing.
OK, a couple photos.
First, from the trip to Texas, Lauren danced the Dew Drop Fairy in the Nutcracker. So naturally as a proud parent I need to share this with as many people as possible. She is also trying to get into the Houston High School for Performing Arts next year, wish her luck on that!
When I headed back to Saudi, Jane and Lauren decided to spend a week in Destin Florida to enjoy a nice vacation. They took some nice beach / dance photos that I thought good to share.
Back in Saudi, we needed some computer supplies at work one day, so we went into Khobar to see what we could find. Our first trip was to the mall, but didn't find quite what we needed. The fellow with me tells me, I know were to get this. I asked him if we were going to Best Buy? He said better, and we went to this store. Not quite best buy, but you could buy everything in this store that has been sold over the past 10 years or so. Some with manufactures warranty, many without. Interesting stores...
Finally, I mentioned night golf. Well I birdied this hole the other night and the friends I was playing with took this photo. I told them it isn't really that rare of an event, but they wanted to make sure I put this on my blog, so here it is!
Well Take Care and I hope everyone is off to a prosperous, healthy and happy new year!
