Horse Shoes and BBQ

Well, once again, I could have been anywhere in the States but here I was, right here in Jeddah, playing in a horse shoe tourney. I threw some shoes today in a tourney against a group of Brits who live another compound near ours. Our compound and theirs have been holding this tourney for many years and the Brits had never won... until today. They had two really, really skilled players who played most of their matches and rarely lost any. No one had an answer to their skill and consistency. Well played indeed.

In spite of losing, we all had a good time. Les and I met a lot of interesting folks from Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Whales and other places. It was a great way to enjoy yet another beautiful and sunny afternoon in Jeddah. There was a BBQ poolside after the tourney where Les and I had dinner with the British team captain and their best player and his wife. Great people. Had some interesting conversation and learned a lot about the area. Stuffed ourselves on burgers, fries and yummy chocolate cake. These folks do know how to eat!!! 

I am tired. I will sleep good tonight.

Trip to Al Murjan Beach

Secured some day passes to the Al Murjan Beach area which is a private beach located about 30 minutes or so North of the Compound. We left around 8 AM, knowing it would be an easy drive (or so we thought) to the beach. About half way there, we stopped for some coffee at a McDonalds (yup, the Golden Arches are here too) and as we left the drive through, just a click or so away the car started to thump pretty hard. Turns out, I had somehow managed to pick up a bolt in the left rear tire the size of North Dakota... Soooo, after a NASCAR style tire change to the spare, we were once again off and running to the beach at Al Murjan.
Nice place... No abaya for Leslie here. It's a private beach. No Mutawa allowed!

Leslie at Al Murjan

It's really more of a splash around area about 100 yards wide. It does have a board walk out to the sea and we met the dive instructor! She is going to meet up with us and give us the study book so we can pass our written test ASAP and then we are going to try and setup our dive certification the weekend of April 19th, our anniversary weekend! One day in the pool, the next day in the sea, after that, certified to dive! I told Leslie I would, and I will. Thus I will be facing my two largest fears. Water and claustrophobia... woot! Actually looking forward to the dive. The water looks amazing. Some of the best diving in the world here we are told and not something a lot of people get to do.

Looking the dive island with the pier on the right

The dive master runs the outfit with her boyfriend. She is French as is her boyfriend we gathered. They are apparently buying this little island in the above picture to run their dive ops from. Good luck to them I say!

Maybe you can see the little fish in the middle?

Me at the end of the boardwalk. The Red Sea behind me kind of looking Southwest.

Trying to look relaxed

Les at the end of the boardwalk. Red Sea in the background. All smiles as usual! Looking mostly West toward Africa!

Leslie and the Red Sea

Looking toward Africa! I never thought in a million years I would do anything like this!

Somewhere out there is Africa!

Took a snap and accidentally captured a local on his jet ski. Note the young lady on the back wearing the abaya!

Local Jet Skier

Me at Al Murjan. Enjoying sun and sand. Temps in the 70s, light breeze. Amazingly pleasant.

Chillin'

After Al Murjan, we cruised back down the coast, took a stroll at a couple of the many walking areas along the Red Sea coast and marveled at how we ended up here and how things have gone so amazingly well thus far.

On our way home, we went for a stroll at a couple of malls, had a late lunch at the Red Sea Mall at the Saudi version of KFC called Al Baik. We ended the afternoon with a swim and some relaxing poolside at the compound. Well come on, it's tougher than it sounds and someone has to do it!

More adventures to come.

We have a new pet...maybe more than one...

This evening while minding my own business, with no intention of hurting any one or any thing, I closed the downstairs bathroom door and a tan gecko about 10 inches long fell from the ceiling near the door and landed with a light thud within inches of my feet. I jumped, the gecko jumped and then while I made a beeline for the other side of the house, Gary the Gecko scampered around the living room (BTW, geckos are VERY fast). Leslie bravely chased the little tan beastie around the living room while I cautiously stayed on the other side of the room providing plenty of "guidance" and "advice" on what her next move should be.
Let's just say that I am not a fan of lizards of any kind, but I digress.
During the seek and destroy process, we managed to turn over all of our living room furniture. Our living room looked like a WWE battle zone for a little while and Leslie actually had Gary the Gecko momentarily pinned with the dust pan between the end table and the overturned big couch, but he managed to wriggle away. (Not before he ran over my bare foot to get there. I managed to stifle my screaming like a school girl.)
So that said, I am more than a little dismayed to report that as I type this report, Gary the Gecko is still at large somewhere in the house. I asked my neighbor about geckos with some intelligent and insightful questions such as, "Do you know what this tan lizard thing is in our house?" (That is when I learned it was a gecko.) "Are geckos poisonous?" (No, they are not.) "If it bites me, will I die?" (Uh, no. With a look that said, "Are you that stupid?") and various and sundry other stupid questions that my neighbor answered. I asked some of these questions on my way to the computer lab under the auspices of checking to see if the internet was down on the compound... That is what I told Leslie anyway.
My neighbor also informed me that geckos were great at killing bugs and good to have around. I am still not convinced.Not in the slightest.
As a side note, the other day we had a couple of roaches in the house too. Apparently this is a side effect of living in a sub tropical climate; insects the size of small cars. But in this case, both roaches were the size of late 60s Buicks. I gave one the name of Ricky the Roach and my sincere hope is that Gary the Gecko meets and then eats Ricky the Roach.  Ricky and his cousin (now deceased thanks to a well placed thud of my shoe delivered by Leslie) must be the two largest roaches on the planet. I am sure that one of them was wearing a saddle and the other was carrying a 45. So unless Gary the Gecko meets and eats Ricky the Roach you may hear a scream in the middle of the night when either Gary the Gecko or Ricky the Roach pay me a middle of the night visit...  Gives new meaning to the line, "Say hello to my little friend!!!"

Oh yea, we are heading up to Al Murjan beach to spend the day Friday. Wonder if Ricky or Gary have any relatives running around up there?

Now this trip really is an adventure.

Moved into the new digs this evening

Spent the afternoon moving my stuff into the new place. It feels so much more like home. It's an older home, it has some personality and I really have taken to the place. Feels like home. I know Leslie will love it...

One of three upstairs bedrooms. Now the office.

Second of three upstairs bedrooms. Spare bedroom for sure.

Master bedroom. Out of view to the right is a huge closet and to the left the master bath.

3/4 bath off the upstairs hall for use by the two spare bedrooms.

1/2 Bath off the entry hall downstairs.

Looking toward the back of the house. Dining area.

Looking toward the front of the house. Living room.

The kitchen. Stove and fridge to the left, washer and dryer to the right.

Nice shack. Like a vacation home in the desert. Complete with palm trees and sunshine 360 days a year.

On the move

Well, I put in a request for a smaller home on the compound and it was approved. Apparently that does not happen all the time, but I am grateful none the less. The new place is near a corner of the compound on the opposite end of where the current place is located. (Can't give specifics on direction.)

I am told it is the quietest part of the compound and I believe it. I run the inside perimeter of the compound often and this area is very quiet, pretty much all the time. After so many years of living in the country, quiet is just how Leslie and I like it. I am very excited about this. The new place is smaller, sunnier and someplace that for some reason, I can see us living in more so than the current one. I should be able to move over there in a day or two. They are newly renovated and look great inside.  EXCITED!!!

One view from the front.

It has a nicely shaded overhang in the back. Great place for plants, hanging out in the sling chairs, watching the sunsets and BBQing. I could even screen it in if I were so inclined. We can do minor projects with approval from management.  hmmmm....

View from the back.

I am convinced Leslie will like this far better than the Villas. This place may be "smaller", but it's still a little bigger than the house we own in Minnesota. This house is definitely more "us" I think.

Another view from the front.

Leslie will be here this Thursday. I am relieved and grateful she will be able to join me much sooner than anticipated.

First Trip to Al Balad

My co-worker Steve had an errand to run in the old town section of Jeddah on Tuesday, and he asked me to tag along.  He was picking up some things from the souk (shop). I met the shopkeeper. He was from Yemen and has worked at his little jewelry shop for over 25 years. He was friendly, funny and gracious. He bought Steve and I a cup of Turkish coffee (my favorite coffee in the world at the moment) and a small bottle of water. He spoke to me in English and to Steve in Arabic. Steve can read, write and speak Arabic (in several dialects) fluently.

My Guide For The Evening

In the above picture he was telling me to notice the open air pool and ping pong tables behind him. A happenin' place for sure and a pretty cool area over all. Most of the area is around 100 years old and consists of many buildings made entirely of coral. See the Wiki link here for a nice explanation on the history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Balad,_Jeddah 

Some of these buildings are several stories tall and most lean this way and that. There are squatters living in many of them and many of the buildings are in various states of disrepair. Sadly, it appears that only a few are being renovated, including Jeddah's oldest mosque. I suppose there are numerous engineering difficulties in saving buildings made of coral.

Sqatters with AC Units and Satellite Dishes!

Not all the homes are made of coral and at one time, this area was THE place to live. Some of the homes have ornate gates and doors with amazing craftsmanship details built of stone or plaster. The overhangs you see are made of a very dense hardwood and serve a practical purpose. At night things cooled off quite a bit and in the morning when it started  heating up, condensation would build up and cling to the hardwood. Then when a breeze would blow, the air would move through the openings and be cooled by the condensation on the wood. Essentially turning the overhang into an evaporative cooler.  Poor man's AC!

Hanging out in front of one of these awesome doors.

We wandered pretty much the entire "old town" area from side to side and end to end. There were a lot of Africans in the area. Kids running everywhere. Not unlike many cities in America I suppose except all the women were wearing abayas. (Can't take pics of women here, sorry. It's against the law.)

Another Ornate Entryway, This One in Plaster

 These two buildings have been renovated. The are huge. You can see where they have added on over the years and note how everything has a slight lean to it. Nothing "square" to work with in there I am sure.

Ornate Renovated Building, Note The Lean of The Top Floor. 

Notice the vented extensions I mentioned for the poor man's AC.

Another Awesome Old Building.

 As I was walking around these ancient coral buildings, the thing that struck me was how tall they were. Apparently the ceilings are very tall which serves two purpose here. In the winter, it allows heat to collect at the ceiling which is moved by fans to heat the lower part of floor and in the summer, it allows the heat to rise and be collected at the top of the room making things more comfortable at floor level. Clever indeed.

The Remains of a Torn Down Building, But You Can See How It Was Built

As we were exiting from the old town area, Steve asked a couple locals if I could take their picture. The old man told Steve in Arabic, "Sure. Don't Care. We are not moving anyway." Then he proceeded to yell at his buddy across the street, "Hey look. Getting my picture!"

 

Some Locals Just Hanging Out

We ended our tour of old town by walking by the old city cistern. This is where they would perform the ablutions for prayer time. While partially preserved, it has long since been abandoned, but I am told that a very large and healthy population of rats enjoys life here after dark. I was no where to be found after dark.

Old Cistern

There were hundreds of souks in the area, and at one time, this was the place to shop, but new found wealth has pushed the locals to the suburbs where big houses and big malls are the norm. Seems like a familiar story, eh? Sorry for no pics of the souks. Too big of a risk with so many women around and there were police strolling the area looking for unlicensed vendors. We bought some roasted peanuts from one such vendor just before dozens of vendors seemingly vaporized into thin air when a policeman strolled down the lane. Then, just as fast as they had disappeared, there they were again, selling their stuff. Every thing from sandals to pencils... Just another night at the souks of old town Jeddah.

Hockey Day in Jeddah

Well, after some negotiation and a few phone calls, hockey in Jeddah became a reality this past Friday. First off, my apologies to anyone mentioned in this post if I get your name and or nationality incorrect. The errors, if any, are unintentional... But I suck at remembering names let alone nationalities and names together. So sorry...

That said, as Murphy would have it, my camera batteries died the moment I tried to take my first picture, so I am waiting on pictures from a couple other people to post here. And amazingly, less than an hour after I initially wrote this post, Toni graciously braved the Jeddah traffic and drove right to my compound so I could download the pics to my tablet. So I will leave my original post intact and edit in the pics and some other text.

Here's Toni at his rink. 

I think he owns at least one version of every NHL jersey.

I arrived at the rink around 8 AM this past Friday morning and as I was dragging my goalie bag to the door, I was greeted by a diminutive, but cheerful man in a Montreal Canadians jersey with number 21 and "Gionta" on the back. I knew right then, this was going to be a good day.

 It's A Great Day for Hockey (In Saudi)

This diminutive and gracious young man was Toni, from Lebanon. He is the hockey coach for literally all the registered players in Jeddah, all 32 of them out of three plus million people. In spite of a small language barrier, it was obvious that Toni loves the game as much or me than I do! He was genuinely excited to have the group skate and took pictures with each of us as if we were pros! It was humbling to be sure to see his enthusiasm for a bunch of beer leaguers.

 Ivan getting some assistance strapping on the pads.

The fearless leader from KAUST Andrew Zeinchuck

Players began to arrive in small groups around 8:30 and as we all were getting dressed, the common theme was that no matter how many times you play, it is truly a surreal experience playing ice hockey in Saudi. I would have to agree, especially since this was my first time. Surreal for sure. There are hockey boards, the ice surface is small, there is real glass in places and in other places, no glass at all, and there is an odd shaped bump out on the one long side of the ice, but it was still awesome.

 A little pre-game chat. Note no glass
and the tables and chairs next to the rail.
"Spectators must be aware of the puck at all times..."

 We were thinking of playing with a foam puck so as to not do any damage to the facility, but after some skating and shooting with everything from street hockey balls, real pucks, foam pucks and even a tennis ball, we settled on using a bandy ball. If you don't know what bandy is, look it up. It's like soccer on ice with a heavy corked ball about the size of a handball and it looks like a blast to play. A goalie's nightmare for sure, but I loved every minute of it. The Finn who skated with us was an awesome bandy player and the most challenging skater I have played against in some time. Half my age, twice my speed. Which I guess in retrospect does not give him enough credit! When he saw the Swedish jersey, he immediately changed languages on me to see if was "real" Swede. Obviously, I turned out to be a poser and got busted for it!!!

 Foam puck.

We played four on four and had two subs per side. The pace, both because of the smaller ice and the bandy ball was quick. What a great time we all had. We had all skill levels and everyone on the ice "got it" when it came to having a great workout and a great time.

 Making the save on the bandy shot. Tough to stop a BB.

Game on! Note the real glass on the left.

We ended up playing nearly two hours and we were all truly physically exhausted, but ecstatic about being able to play the game we all love. I met people from all over Canada, a Swede, a Norwegian, a Finn and a fellow Minnesotan. What a great time. Looking forward to the next skate. As soon as I get some pictures, I will edit this post and insert them.

The bandy player having a rest.

Playing hockey when I did was probably better for me mentally than I would care to admit. I worked so hard that as I write this post two full days later, I am still sore and I am in the best shape I have been in years. But that said, I am still looking forward to the next skate!

 Tired, but happy!

According to Tony, I could be skating with some of the National Team guys this Thursday!

Toni looking cool in his ride.

Enjoy the pictures.  

A couple random snaps.

This is what it's all about.

The Finn burying the bounce off the wall.

Making the save off the rush.