Date Factory

We live in Al Hasa (or Al Ahsa, or Al Ahsa . . . it is spelled various ways), Saudi Arabia. This city is actually one of the oldest in Saudi Arabia. It is also one of the most traditional and conservative. You will see tons of old markets and local craftsmen here.

Al Hasa is also famous because it is the largest oasis in the world! So there are tons of fruit trees here. Al Hasa is also the largest producer of dates.

Since Saudi has been blessed with wealth due to oil, they like to be very generous to others. One way they do this, is by shipping dates to third world countries, for free. The King (yes, we have a King!) even has his own factory that produces these. He pays for the entire bill.

He actually pays a ton of the bills for people here . . . there are no taxes and education is free, even university! The people of Saudi love their king.

Well, we were able to go and visit the King's date factory. Below are some pictures of the factory. Notice, it is mostly imported labor that works there. In fact, most jobs in Saudi are preformed by foreigners!

Some of the teachers from my school on tour.

sorting the dates

checking for bugs

Mt. Gara Caves

When driving through the desert you will see random rock formations dotted throughout the sand. These are the Saudi "mountains." They are really beautiful. One of the most famous of these mountains is actually located in our town! It has a beautiful labyrinth of caves throughout it. It also shield you from the heat. We loved visiting it, but when we hiked to the top we almost died of dehydration! It was so hot!! Anyways, enjoy the pictures!

Doesn't it look like we were in an Indiana Jones movie???!!

Thursday Market

Every Thursday there is the weekly farmers market. This is a great place to buy fresh stuff really cheap. You can even purchase live pigeons for your weekly meals!

Anyways, we love learning about the local culture, so we had a great time shopping for veggies and plants when we were there.

Fresh Camel meat too!!

Camel Farm

Our school is very good to us in that they provide free transportation to and from school, the grocery store, the mall, and even weekend trips.

This past weekend we went to a camel farm. We got there and it was very hot and smelly. Just imagine being in the desert with camels in 117 degree weather and you will get it.

While we were there we took some great pictures and learned a lot about camels. . . . we also learned about some of the old men in Saudi.

Traditionally, Saudi people were nomadic people who raised camels and other animals. These people were not that religious. We call these people bedouin.

We met some of these men in the cattle farm, and they tried to buy me from Chris for a Lexus. Let me note, this is NOT normal. It is crazy even for Saudi's.

Here, there is a bride price paid for women, but it is paid directly to the women as a gift, not to their parents. It is basically a wedding/engagement gift.

What this man was doing was crazy, and everyone, even Saudis, think that. Anyways, it is a funny story. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures from the trip!

Two children

Saudi men

The man beside me is the one who wanted to "marry" me

on a camel

This camel was crying. . . . he was going to the slaughter house . . .

We made it!

We have arrived in Saudi Arabia!

Over our summer holiday, we were very busy moving houses, traveling, packing, sorting, boxing, visiting and what not. It was good, but definitely busy. If you think moving houses is hard, just try to do it between 3 countries!!

Anyways, we have moved into our apartment and have really enjoyed getting to know all of the people who live on our small compound. (similar to apartment complex, but way smaller! Below are some pictures:

Baking!

One of the things that I have really loved about living in Korea is that I have learned to cook and bake from scratch out of necessity. I have learned how to experiment and play with ingredients and have developed some really great recipes. One of the things that I never made before was pie. I really don't like to eat baked fruits, so I never tried to make one before. However, I do have a pie pan and decided that since I had tons of blueberries I would try to make a blueberry pie. Everyone said that it turned out really well, a picture is below.

Anniversary

After we went to Nami Island, we went into the country and mountains more to a great pension. See, Koreans don't typically stay in hotels they normally stay in what is called a pension. Pensions are little condo type houses that you can rent. They come fully furnished, and are great getaways. We stayed at Sunnyside pension which included an in house hot-tub and a huge deck where we could grill out. The deck was larger than our first apartment in Korea! It was great, and I swung many hours in the porch swing. I was really happy! Chris just loved the hot tub and stayed in their most of the time. It was really fun to get away though, and it was the first time that we saw stars in 2 years! I know many people take that for granted, but when you live in the second largest city in the world, you don't get that many stars. Above are some pictures of where we stayed.

Nami Island

Chris and I had a long weekend at the beginning of June, and so we decided to celebrate our anniversary a little bit early. For our trip, we took a speed train out to the where Nami is. Nami is an island that is actually located in the middle of a river in Korea. It is really nice, and basically is a big part with biking and walking trails, and cute little shops and restaurants. While on the island, we ate at a nice Italian restaurant, and then rented some bicycles to ride around the island. To give you an estimate. It takes about 20 minutes to bike full-circle around the island. Pictures are above.

Zip Line to Nami Island

Above you will see pictures from the Zip Line at Nami Island. We went up this tall tower, and then rode down a zip line, over a river, to Nami. It was really high up and defiantly an interesting experience. Yet, truthfully, I think our hopes were set too high and we were a little disappointed with the ride. It was an experience though! Next time we will just take the ferry boat.

Korean Muslim Quarter

Since we are going to Saudi Arabia, we decided to go and get the black Abaya that I will need to wear. Saudi is one of the strictest (most religious) countries in the world. In Saudi, all women must wear the full black covering over their clothes and a head scarf. Muslim women cover everything except for their eyes. While this is hot and can be seen as being impractical, I completely understand why women their wear these.

In the past, Saudis were nomadic people. As they moved, the various tribes would raid opposing tribes and steal the beautiful women. In order to prevent this, they made all their women cover up. This help protect their family members.

One more reason that women wear the abaya is for modesty. It prevents dressing in inappropriate clothes as well as by helping our brothers flee temptation. Thus, the abaya is in full effect. In countries around the world many Muslims, Christians, and Jewish women still cover up their heads and try to dress really conservatively. Saudi Arabia has just enacted stricter rules than most countries.

Thus, I am at peace with having to wear an abaya. despite the inconvenience. At least we can wear nice and light clothes underneath.

Well, so back to the point. . . since I need an abaya for Saudi Arabia, Chris and I went to the Muslim Quarter in search of one. While we were there we visited the only mosque in Korea plus several shops, bakeries and stores. While we were there Chris bought some Turkish delight as well. For those of you who don't know what it is, it is a jelly fruit candy that is dipped in powdered sugar. He wanted to try it, because it is mentioned several times in the book The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

The location of the mosque is in Itaewon, and we have been near it many times, but this was the first time we went there.