Chris and Cole Goodbye to Saudi

The departure wall at Dammam Airport, just prior to passport-exit-check: we bid farewell to Chris; then we all drive to Bahrain (typical 90-minute crossing time at the frontier), check in at Holiday Inn Express, walk to dinner at the nearby Arirang Korean restaurant, then drive Coleman to Bahrain airport to bid him farewell. Ironically, due to the vagaries of air-ticketing, Chris flew to Bahrain to make his flight connection--he passed through there an hour before Coleman. Then back to the relatively-conveniently located hotel for an easy night's sleep (too-smoky bar, cough! cough!), a pleasant breakfast meeting a Saudi ex-military guy (apparently visiting Bahrain in order to boost his blood alcohol content, now hungover, still quite red in the face, and very amicable).

Barb is at Ellie&Jean's Beauty Salon to get her hair done while I wander through Bahrain's business district looking for lunch with wi-fi. There is a McDonald's clone -- even the logo is a yellow lightning-bolt that resembles golden arches...but they don't have wi-fi, so it's not a real clone! (Yes, Bahrain has real McDonald's, too, across the street--the local clone probably is owned by the Crown Prince's cousin).
And I found a pleasant Indian buffet tucked away in a multi-story shopping mall, with wi-fi to boot, so I can write up my blog entry.
On to Bangkok this evening...

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Where we are working now

ISG Jubail School is the Anglo-American school for this area: Jubail is one of two planned industrial cities in Saudi Arabia, given a special royal commission for development and planning. Our district, the seven schools of International Schools Group, runs the school in the other industrial city -- Yanbu -- as well. Jubail is on the east coast, between Dhahran and Kuwait. Our nearby "big city" is the tri-city metropolis of Dhahran-Khobar-Dammam, where all the big shopping malls and quaint old markets are, along with the central 3 schools of our district, where Coleman attends high school. ISG Jubail has 410 students -- an average of 2 homerooms for each grade, K-10. Class size varies, up to 22. I have 12 in my required course "Computers & Information Management"; Barb has 12 students in her first-grade class. Most of the teaching staff come from the U.S., some from the Commonwealth. Several teachers are wives of engineers an...

Riding the Bus often

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Reservoir of European Youth, Parliament

A few days ago I walked to the nearby Pasteleira Park, planning to visit the city museum at the Reservoir. Walking through the park I noticed a large group of young people gathered in a circle, engaged in team-building activities. My days in education attuned me to the spectacle and piqued my interest, so I sat on a nearby bench and watched as a succession of enthusiastic students ran to the center and started an activity, which all the others joined enthusiastically. What sort of group would this be? A typical high school class would include a portion of disinterested teens, and others only half-heartedly participating. This crowd was unanimous in their excitement. I also noted that the leaders were speaking in English, though the breeze muffled the words. I walked around, found a couple of older participants on the side, with official-looking lanyards, and asked: this was an activity of European Youth Parliament , simil...

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