Thomas journals

Response to corporate wives considering a move to KSA: To some extent we all live in social bubbles. In Saudi Arabia the bubbles are more clearly defined, particularly for women, specifically manifested in the requirement that women wear an abaya cloak in public. For Muslim women the bubble is even more tangible and restrictive.  Compound living allows for a slightly bigger bubble. Message to women in Saudi Arabia:  You can be happy living in the bubble of your house, your chauffeured car, your fitness club, your women's group, your friends' salons, your kids' school. And periodic escapes to other countries with more freedom. Restrictive, yes; Dangerous? no. Happy? chacune a son gout. Most will say that pursuing a vocation greatly eases the feeling of restriction.  That vocation could be a homebound one, such as book editing or telecommuting.   As in most countries, foreign residents need permission from the government in order to work here; howe...

We decided to accept teaching positions at Yongsan School for next school year! We will technically be mission workers of the Network of International Christian Schools, seconded to Yongsan for two years.   It's exciting!

Just back from the International Recruitment Center conference in Bangkok, exhausted and reassured -- 10 interviews, 9 different schools, all encouraging and polite.   Most firm offer from Yongsan International (Christian) School of Seoul, Korea.  Barb would continue in first grade, and I would teach Grade 9 English.   I am aging out of technology relevance; but in English, age (presumed wisdom) is a benefit.   I came to dread the question "How do you keep up with developments in technology?", as that felt like the undertow of stereotypical gray-haired irrelevance.   What would a 25-year-old respond to that question?  or would he be asked the question in the first place?  Yes, I find that many people, including tech types, get mired in expectations borne of past mistakes and find it difficult to shift mentally to new paradigms.    The good Calvinist reminds us that we all are sinners and must be constantly on gu...

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 c...

New Year's Eve at friend Jefferson's house near the beach at Ras Tanura, a nuclear family Nu Year's Eve it was, watching movies (the guys watched the first umpteen episodes of Battlestar Galactica while Barb watched that and at the same time watched Downton Abbey on the computer screen), playing card games, and at 12midnight, walking out to the beach.  It was surprisingly empty, little noise, only a very few houses had party lights on.  The weather was in the 60s, gorgeous but breezy. Then on New Year's Day  (no photo evidence of it?) Chris and I went swimming.  The water was probably 75 degrees, chilly but not too cold.  o.k., yes, I wore my Christmas present: a shorty wetsuit.  It certainly made the chilly water more comfortable. Happy New Year 2013!

After our family road trip to Doha, we celebrated home Christmas in Jubail, around our little Christmas tree.  We opened presents, took pictures, talked about upcoming New Year's Eve. And about Buffalo, of course.   We've got the t-shirts!

Indeed the Museum of Islamic Art is one of the must-see destinations in the Gulf, truly stunning architecture and restorative atmosphere.  The newly-finished library is a pleasant surprise as well, providing free educational resources and study places -- we met the newly-arrived librarians and Chris posed an interesting research question to them, about the artistic origins of a particular French vase in the collection (ask him for more details -- they did not know the answer, but I'll wager they are researching it now). And the Souq Waqif represents another must-see tourist destination for the inveterate shopper and people-watcher.  The Qatar government re-built the old souk with new fire safety standards but keeping the crowded and warren-like mystery, with (literally) hundreds of independent vendors, a place for locals as well as tourists. We happened upon a local confectioner just completing a batch of gooey Qatari Halwa -- a high-school boy encouraged us to wait and t...