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To Be Continued...

Saying Goodbye

There are many ways to say goodbye.
Sainara, Au Revoir, Adios, Arrivederci but....
for some of Chris' co workers it's a Diet Coke and a little Shisha with a feather boa type Hookah.
(Shisha is the tobacco used in the Hookah water-pipe.)
Even though Chris doesn't smoke it was a thoughtful gesture.

Others say farewell with a 50 Mile social ride or an 80K hammer fest under 2 hours.

Some tear up, hug, or just say, "See ya later!" trying not to get
too emotional.

For me, saying goodbye has been bitter sweet. I will miss many aspects of the Expat Life: the travel, the 6 weeks of vacation, a nominal house payment and free utilities, saving money, having house help, a small close knit yet diverse community full of activities for the kids, everything on camp within walking distance, and dear friends such as these and many others not shown. It is very difficult for this kind of life to be replicated although I know small pockets exists all over the world.

I will not miss 36 hours of travel time home, sand storms, the 4 hour commute to church each week (other than the talking time with Chris), insanely crazy drivers, camel crossings, security checkpoints, imported American foods that just don't taste right like stale cereal and shredded cheese that arrives all melted and globby, the absolute inability of some nationalities to queue up properly, not driving, my Abaya in 100+ heat, and holes in the ground as public toilets.....just to name a few.

Saying goodbye to our houseboy Golum was also very difficult. Not only because he helped me immensely around the house but because he felt like family to us. We hope he felt compensated for a job well done. He will be returning to Bangladesh in September after working abroad for 10 years, 7 of which were here in Saudi. During his 3 month break he will marry and try and start a business so that after he fulfills his contract in Saudi he can be home with his wife and family. He was always kind and helpful and he adored the boys. They loved to go out and work in the yard with him causing him to get teased by the other workers for having little white boys as his helpers. We wish him the best and hope that he won't have to work abroad indefinitely to support his family.


This experience has enriched me in so many ways. My eyes have been opened by the things I've seen. I have served and been served. I have loved and been loved. I will cherish this time as it has helped me to stretch and grow and better understand the diversity of the world we live in. We do not regret our decision to move to Saudi. It's funny because when we decided to move there the common response from friends and colleges was, "What?! You're moving where?!" Now that we are leaving the common response from our expat friends was, "What?! You're leaving already?!"

Much thought and many prayers went into both the decision to come and to go and we feel that we are doing what is best for our family and Chris' career at this time and although the money was exceptional.....sometimes it's not about the money.

On that note we not only say goodbye to Udhailiayah but also to the Uda-Where Blog.
If you want to continue following the Jenkins Family Journeys you can find us at
www.thejenkinsjourneys.blogspot.com

Jet Lagged

The boys got along pretty well this voyage home making our trip happily uneventful except for the two bouts of motion sickness, one pair of soaked through clothing, a new potty trained little one who can't go without taking practically everything off, and going through customs with 8 pieces of check luggage (one over-sized), two carry-ons, and three car seats. Normally I go home with little and return with lots however, since we aren't returning I had to bring 4 months worth of clothing, sundries, and a few favorite toys.

(Amsterdam Airport during a 4 hour lay over. They ran around with other Expat Kids the first 1.5 hours then settled in for a few cartoons before boarding the next flight.)

On previous trips I over packed the carry-on with things to keep the boys busy and all they wanted to do was watch the non-stop movies. This time I brought practically nothing....I even left the stroller behind and they complained of being bored at times. I've found that every time we travel they are at different stages and I don't always anticipate what they'll want during these insanely long voyages. Thankfully Graham was happy to watch episodes of Handy Mandy and Phineas and Ferb repeatedly....and I mean around 4 times each. Also starting off the journey on a red eye makes the boys want to sleep for a portion off each flight and they still flip times fairly quickly upon arrival.

But every so often something like this happens.

When I left our second night here to go biking with my Dad around 7 pm I warned my Mom that if Ethan stopped moving and sat down he would fall asleep as he'd been up since 4:30 am. True enough when I returned home at 10:30 he was asleep, fully dressed, on the office floor and he been so for quite a while as my mother had been unable to move him. I decided to just let him lay there while I got a few things down. Just as I was ready to head down for a shower he began to stir but when I tried to guide him down the stairs he refused and went to lay down and snuggled up by the oven on the kitchen floor instead. Boy was he MAD when I tried to pick him up and carry him down the stairs. He began kicking and screaming so much I set him down mid way where he fussed for a while. After that he decided that he would indeed come down the stairs but refused any help getting his PJs on or going to bed and decided to curl up on the bathroom floor. At this point I just gave up for a few minutes and let him just sort out his feelings. After about 10 minutes, while gently rubbing his back, I sweetly and softly asked if he wanted to sleep in the bathroom all night or get in bed and he finally chose the later.

Of course this morning, as I suspected, he has no recollection of the event.

That's Jet Lag for ya.

He Speaks

Zach was asked to share some personal thoughts about family scripture study in front of our congregation of 100+ members a few weeks ago.

He was not super enthused to do so at first which surprised me because he has already participated in readings for a Children's Program last fall and then at Christmas stood and read our family's part of the program.

I came to find out it was that he just didn't know how to gather his thoughts about this subject. Once I got him to sit down and focus for a few minutes I began to as him questions such as: Where do we have scripture study? Why do we have scripture study? etc. etc.

The answers to these questions are below in an wonderfully written talk by Zachary.

Our family gathers every evening in the living room for scripture study. Sometimes it is quiet and peaceful but most of the time it is a bit crazy. Everyone takes turns reading or repeating words. When it is my turn I read many verses sometimes more than I have been asked to because I like to read the stories. Once I read 17 verses!

After we read our verses we talk about them. We discuss what they mean, we ponder them, we pray about them, and talk about how we can be more like our Savior.

Sometimes I don't understand the scriptures but Mom, Dad, and the Holy Ghost help me to understand them. One night I felt the Holy Ghost so much that I almost exploded with happiness. I wanted to read them for an hour.

I really like the story of Moses because he showed great faith to be able to free his people. I hope we can all have faith like that.

I know its important to read the scriptures so we can prepare for our Savior to come again.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

The World Is My Inspiration

It wouldn't truly be Pre-K if my child weren't prolific in art.

I was sure these art pieces were inspired by our travels of the world these last few years but I guess I over romanticized it a bit because I thought this painting was similar to the ones the elephants made in Thailand. But no, Ethan said his teacher just asked him to paint a flower.

Or this gorgeous Mother's Day creation (which I love) was in remembrance of the flowers the flamenco dancers wore in Spain. Again not really, it was just the craft his teacher had prepared for the kids to do.
This one I knew was a lady bug because they had just finished a unit on insects. However, I had to laugh because when Ethan showed it to me he was pretty ticked to realize that the spots were lopsided. He swore up and down that he had painted them balanced and equal.

I found the title Ethan gave for this one quite unique and fitting:

Mud On Everything

This one came soon after watching the monkeys climb around at Animal Kingdom.

For his desert theme painting he chose two main elements: the first a Pyramid, which we saw last December in Egypt and some cacti which we saw the December before last on our drive through the American Southwest.

This whale was surely painted because of his longing for all things Alaskan but again I was wrong as he was asked to just paint something that lives in the sea.

This last and final stunning piece; I knew without a doubt came solely from his love of glitter paint and the dot paint bottles his class uses.

I'm glad to know I got at least one guess right.

Ethan, we are so proud of all the progress you've made this year in school. Not only did it give Mom a few hours of peace and quiet in our home but you were able to share all your insights, eagerness to learn, and curious intellect with Mrs. Glabb and Mrs. Edgington. You are beginning to read and can count to around 100. You have been a good friend to your class mates and a leader especially when it comes to building cityscapes with the blocks. Mrs. E will miss you terribly as she has been weepy every day since she heard we were leaving. You almost burst the flood gate of tears when you generously gave her your Woody doll because of her love of the Toy Story movies.

A Night Of First Grade Highlights

10 or so years ago Mrs. Solares and her husband left Anchorage, AK to finish out their careers here in Saudi. They both will be retiring in September making Zach's 1st Grade year her last as a full time educator.

We were so blessed to have her as Zach's teacher. It is obvious that even after all these years she still loves teaching by her dedication, patience, and love for the children.

Highlights night was special not only for the children-they get toshow off their hard work and receive a special book from their teacher-but also as the closing and final chapter for Mrs. Solares career.

Zach read us several original stories including one about camping with Grandpa Slocombe. One of the illustrations shows a grizzly bear coming into camp and Zach running away. Grandpa on the other hand is not phased at all and while roasting a marshmallow says, "I'd rather stay." All and all I think the story sums up our camping experiences rather well.

Here is a scroll where Zach has been writing his numbers up to 1300's.

After a small potluck it got a little crazy for Mom and Dad trying to keep G and E entertained and out of all the school materials.

When Zach and his best friend M* showed up in their suits and ties for the event some of the kids thought they were just trying to be silly and dress up as George and Harold from Captain Underpants. Instead they were just following one of their teacher's final instructions to please dress nice for the evening.

These six are the last remaining children from the original class of 12. Some moved away during the year and others have already left for the summer.

We are thrilled with the progress Zach has made this year in school. His reading is on a 3rd to 4th grade level, his math is right on schedule, and his writing, though the spelling is often unique and sometimes difficult to read, is always entertaining.

3.2.1.Blast Off!

Attending a middle school rocket launching party last year ignited Ethan's desire to build and launch his very own rocket.

Fortunately for him is best friend J*'s mother is the middle school science teacher in charge of the rocket launching materials. Once Ethan and Mr. Me Too designed their very own Lego inspired rockets from soda bottles Ethan then become relentlessly insistent, as only he can, about setting a time to launch these bad boys. With only days left we finally squeezed in an hour of launching between school, packing, graduation ceremonies, and everything else that comes right before skipping town for the summer.

Mrs. Karen only had to show the boys once how to fill the bottles with 1L of water and they made sure each and every subsequent bottle was full and ready to go.

No one minded at all a few water mishaps along the way- even in our shady spot the heat was intense.

There are a couple of ways to actually launch these rockets one of which uses a compressor. To simplify things we used a bike pump instead.

Always the teacher Karen had the boys figure out how much pressure they needed and where to find it on the pump.

After one last technical difficulty......

the real fun began.

Graham was loving everything about this! It's not often that 2 year olds get to be so involved.

My favorite part was watching Graham get blasted back with each of his launches.

Right before touchdown.

I'm not sure who had more fun here- Mrs. Karen or the boys!

We love, love, LOVE the Hasiuk family. We've made some of the best memories (laughing crying, talking, and talking, and talking some more) of our stay here with you all and we will miss you dearly. Let's not let Dubai and Shayba be our last vacation destinations together.

The Road Less Traveled

Especially by ladies in spandex.

If felt quite liberating being out of camp in such a fashion considering where we are.

We went on one last Social Pace (meaning the guys didn't hammer it so the ladies could keep up) ride of the season. Everyone is packing up for the summer and some of us for good so we celebrated in Udhailiyah Cycling Club Style.

Our camp is surrounded by oil field roads. Some in excellent condition and others a bit pitted and ruddy and after 6 days of shamals the dunes have crept across parts of the road.

We rose before the sun and set out at 4:30AM. The wind was minimal, the dust low, and a commencing heat of 90 degrees for the 50 mile ride. Other than a camel crossing and a few photo stops we rode on an on passed nice garbage free dunes. There was the occasional dead goat dumping ground but thankfully the stinky microbe phase had passed.

By the end, even after drafting Chris most of the way home my legs were shot. I'm so glad the pack of wild puppies we passed decided not to charge because I'm not sure I could have out run them. Sad I know.

1600 calories later we ended with celebratory Krispy Kreme and some mango milk.

I was pretty much a waste of space the rest of the day but am so glad our hubbies took us out for one last ride.

Taking It To The Next Level

To take it to the next level you need:

To get up at 3:30AM before the real heat sets in.

You need to pack water....bottles and bottles of ice cold water.

You need to endure 120 degree heat over the pavement.

You need to keep the paceline.

You need to take the roads less traveled.

You need a lot of testosterone... natural not synthetic.

You need some of the smoothest legs in the Eastern Provence.

You need to know when to kick back in the shade.

You need to be just a wee bit INSANE!

You need to be on a first name bases of the proprietor of the local Bedouin-11.

You need a Sag Wag with a driver, A/C, and cooler of extra water.

You need 2 liters of fluid to replace the 13 lbs you left behind in the desert.

When you take it to the next level you start out a 105 mile ride as friends but you end as brothers.

Father's Dusty Day

Father's Day was also Day 6 of a Summer Shamal. Not only is the air hot like a blow dryer it is also full of grit which burns the eyes, nose, and throat.

The weather sure is making it easy to Adios it outta here.....for good.

After Chris received an extremely thoughtful card from Zach and book from Ethan depicting things they enjoy doing together we met up with the Hasiuks for dinner at the golf club.

After dinner there was a friendly Father's Day putting competition.

Out of the 5 putters Chris, the non golfer, surprised us all by taking first place followed by Dan. Chris could be into golf but cycling, his first love (after me of course), takes precedence as both sports in UDH are generally scheduled at the same time.

Chris won an Udhailiyah golf shirt and hat while second place won some golf balls. Who knew all that mini golf on the cruise would pay off!