Another nice weekend

Bowling is not my sport. Nuff said.

Les' mom is doing fine. Shirley was in for some surgery yesterday and things went quite well and she will be back home in a couple days. Thanks to all the family members who stepped up and helped out. Kudos and thanks to you guys!

Went for a nice walk along the Corniche with Leslie this morning. Got some espresso at one of our favorite coffee stands. Nice stroll along the Red Sea before the temps soared for the day.

After the stroll, we took a nice driving tour North and South along the Corniche. Great morning drive. Friday's are the nicest time to be out and about. It's like an early Sunday morning in the States. No one is out.

Now for a lazy day of reading, napping, etc. Back to work tomorrow. Time is marching forward nicely. Looking forward to being home again, but not looking too far ahead. One day at a time.

Until I came here, I never considered anywhere to be my permanent home. I always considered myself somewhat semi-transient and willing to move every few years. Now? Not so much. Minnesota has gotten under my skin and seems more like home than anywhere I have ever lived. Go figure. Sometimes you have to go away to appreciate where you are.
 
"God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny." 
  
  Garrison Keillor

Three months this week...

Well, I am officially through my trial period and so begins the remainder of our two year commitment. I had one really rough day this week, but it turned out to be a good thing. It was a cathartic moment for me. I more or less went volcanic over nothing while at work. Not cool... but it is what it is. While here, you need to have and maintain perspective. When something happens, you have to ask yourself if it could happen in the States as well. Invariably, the answer is yes, and thus you have your perspective. Make no mistake... living here is unique, and it is NOT home, but it is by and large pleasant and not a hard life by any stretch. It's actually quite nice with a positive attitude, a sense of humor and a little creativity.

That said, I am looking forward to being done with my contract, with maybe a small extension at the end if possible, and that is currently our goal. We are looking forward to vacations and business trips to the States, but trying to enjoy things here too. Not looking too far ahead, not looking too far behind, but trying to take things one day at a time. We feel very blessed.

We are thinking about organizing and taking some regional trips to see some of the sights in country and we are truly looking forward to that. Les and I are big on regional travel and that is one of many things we miss the most, the ability to explore an area at will. So we have things to look forward to and have plenty to do here. Les and I have taken to working out at the gym, swimming, and or running three times a week along with playing hockey one night a week. We are getting in even better shape and we are planning to run a 10K in October when we come home for vacation. We should be home for the entire month of October. That is cool. I am also coming back for training in August and will be coming home by myself for about a week after training. Looking forward to that too.

Well, more to come as we move through this process. I think I have said this before, but I am learning a lot about other cultures, other people and other places, but mostly about myself. 

Some not so original thoughts on adventure...

Random (unoriginal) musings for this morning...

"I am really good with other people's ideas.

...Tim Lincoln

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered."

...G K Chesterton

"When one is at home, he dreams of adventure; and when one is on an adventure, he dreams of home." 

...Thornton Wilder

"People who make no mistakes lack boldness and the spirit of adventure. They are the brakes on the wheels of progress."
...Dr. Dale E. Turner 


"Man's life is like a diary in which he means to write one story but ends up writing another." 
...J.M. Barrie
  

Not much happening...

As to be expected, things have settled into a nice pace here in Jeddah. There are many new people coming in and the compound seems a bit more active than it has over the last couple of months. I am coming up on 90 days here and I have to say things are not so bad. We get around the city OK, we know when and where to go, and just as importantly, when and where NOT to go. We are making some new friends, but by and large we keep to ourselves. Big shocker to anyone who knows us, eh?

Work is work. We have our third guy in the shop now and he is going to fit in nicely. We have enough work to stay busy, we have a few laughs, and then we are done. Easy peasy.

Les is subbing at the International School off and on and seems to enjoy working with the learning disabled kids the most. She does get to sub in other grades and thinks working at the school here is better than in the States. So that too is good.

We are doing some early trip planning. I have some training in the States in August which coincides with a lockout here, so that is all good. Looking at just about three weeks in the States in August. Awesome.

Then we are planning a Euro trip in October. No hockey tourney this year. Not enough dudes to commit and the tourney filled up. So, Les and I will likely fly to Europe and do some train travel for a while. Looking at three weeks in October. Should be fun.

Not much else to report. Life has its pace here as it does anywhere else. Good days, bad days, slow days, fast days... you get the idea.

Experienced my first, almost cloudy day today since I got here. Amazing.
Starting to get muggy and I am told it gets far worse than this. I have been told low 100s with %90 humidity are common. No big deal. Bring it on. I have AC.  ;-)

More from the desert later.
Life is good.