Ma’salama, Jeddah

With the continued growth in Greif and the success of the building of the plant as part of the joint venture in Saudi, Dano has been asked to lead a new business within Greif. It’s an opportunity about which he’s very excited and one our entire family is looking forward to. This new adventure will take us to The Netherlands. Dano and I made a house-hunting and school-selecting trip in February and knew we would feel at home.

However, as with many moves it’s always hard to leave and wonder how the adjustment will impact each family member. There are many things we had grown to love about Jeddah that we will miss and some we will not.

We will miss seeing camels as we make long car drives. (Though we are glad to have cleared up Abby’s confusion that cows are also camels.)

We will not miss the censorship placed on blog posts and knowing e-mails can be read.

We will miss paying only $ .45/gallon of gas. I about choked when I filled up our van this summer and the total was nearly $70! Nothing close to the $15 to top off an empty, gas-guzzling Yukon.

We will not miss sand and dirt on the floors at any given hour regardless of multiple moppings.

We will miss the beautiful January and February weather and swimming during the winter.

We will not miss the scorchers of June and July.

We will miss the beauty of the crowds of white in the airport as everyone is dressed to come to perform Umra in Mecca.

We will miss seeing people stop to pray together during prayer call, even on the side of the road, and hearing Abby say, “Shh! I hear the prayer call! It’s time to pray!”

We will not miss hearing prayer call at 4:30 a.m.

The kids will not miss their uniforms. As for me, after having been a part of a school that requires uniforms, I am sold on the idea.

I will not miss the holes in the floors that pass for toilets.

I will miss the pharmacies where you can have as much prescription medication as you’d like…without a prescription.

I will not miss not being able to drive. I think I confused Abby when I sat in the driver’s seat. The other kids once again this summer complimented me on my driving abilities. For those of you wondering, after several months of not driving, it’s just like riding a bike… The longest I went without driving during our time in Saudi was seven months. Hard to imagine.

I don’t think Dano will miss driving me everywhere, though we did enjoy a lot more time in the car together than ever before. He also will admit he has never shopped more than he did during our time in Jeddah. Fortunately for me, he never complained.

We will miss our friendly guards who were probably more Abby’s friends. We won’t, however, miss armed vehicles and guards with machine guns sitting outside. We appreciated what they did for us.

I will not miss wearing an abbaya. It has taken a little to get used to it. Every now and then I don’t feel quite fully dressed when I am leaving the house. Oddly, though, there is a fondness for it. Perhaps it’s the memories. I can’t help but smile a little when I see a woman in a store or airport wearing an abbaya. I feel we have some kind of bond or that I know a little about her. They happen to be everywhere.

We will not miss the crazy drivers. We didn’t dare say it until we left, but we were amazed we left the country (alive) without being involved in one single traffic incident.

I will miss listening to Carrie Underwood’s song “My Temporary Home” and feeling it was my theme song and will always think of Jeddah fondly when I hear that song.

We will miss all of our wonderful friends. We were blessed to meet wonderful people during our time in Jeddah.

What a great and growing (nearly) two years for our family; filled with irreplaceable memories and opportunities. We look back on Jeddah with fondness and forward to Amsterdam with anticipation. Ma’salama!

(note: this was written the first of August but due to VERY slow internet service in The Netherlands is just now being posted)