The Nelson Family

At 9:33 pm on December 31st, we touched down in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia safe and sound. Things went very well on each of the three flights. The kids (especially Jordan) couldn’t have been better. They were troopers. Todd and Heather Christensen met us in the airport in Dammam along with my boss, Don. We are in such good hands. My boss lent us his Envoy for a couple of days so that we could get errands run, get the lay of the land, and so that we wouldn’t feel stuck at home. He and his wife took us to breakfast, brought us dinner, and generally have been a huge help in making us feel at home and among friends. Like I said, we are in good hands.

The biggest struggle at the moment is fatigue from the lack of sleep over the last few days and from jet lag. It hit everybody very hard today. Although we landed at 9:30 pm, by the time we got through passport check, customs, and getting my Aramco badge, it was 11:30 pm. Todd, Heather, Don, and his wife Lynn drove us all to Dhahran in a couple of cars. By the time we got to the house, got bags in, and got situated, it was 1:30 am. Of course, since we hadn’t showered in two days, we all needed some soak time. After we all got out of the shower and started heading to bed it was 2:30 am. The thing to remember is that 2:30 am in Dhahran is around 5:30 pm in Logan and none of the kids were ready to go to bed, besides the fact they were each so excited about all the newness around us. The boys finally got to sleep around 3:00 am. I got sleep around 3:30 pm. After feeding Jordan, Jen finally got to sleep around 4:00 am. Unfortunately, Jen and I needed to be up at 7:30 am in order to get ready for Don and his wife at 9:00. Actually, this was part of Don’s plan. He knew that we needed to get up at a normal Dhahran time in order to force our bodies to adapt to the different time zone. It was nearly impossible to get Joseph out of bed at 8:15 am. I don’t think I have ever seen him so asleep. I don’t think he really woke up until around 10:30 am or so. Fortunately, all the kids are asleep now and Jen and I are heading that way. Church doesn’t start until 10:30 am so we should be able to all get a good night’s rest.

In mentioning the house, let me say that Jen and I couldn’t be happier with the house that was assigned to us.
Since many of the floor plans are so similar, there are a few distinguishing features–many of which we got: A new stove, new tile throughout the ground floor, a yard that was well kept by the person who lived there before us. It appears that the house is wired with fiber for high-speed Internet. If this is the case, then it should speed up the process of getting high-speed Internet faster. We will probably know by Saturday or Sunday how long it should take. At the moment I am “borrowing” the signal from a neighbor so that I can at least blog and check email.
The interesting part is that this whole thing feels very surreal. Six months ago, it would have been difficult to believe that we would be in KSA. It is hard to believe that we are here, that things are working out so well, that there are so many kind people around us. It feels like a dream.

Tonight, partly to help the kids stay awake, Jen, Josh, Joseph, Jordan, Kiara Christensen (who is 12), and another girl (also 12) walked over to Joseph’s school which is about a five minute walk away from our house. The kids had a great time exploring. Tomorrow we will do some more driving around the camp. I will tell more about it later. Suffice it to say that the city is large enough that you don’t feel claustrophobic.

One last thing I want to say about security is that it is very secure. There are three layers of security. There are two checkpoints to come into the core facilities where the employees work. Then, there is another secure checkpoint to get into the residential area. Each of the checkpoints is well protected. There is a wall around the entire camp and one part of the camp shares a border with an airfield for the Saudi Air Force. It is very safe.

Another last thing I want to mention is that we are in a very cosmopolitan city, in that, there are people from all over the world, and from all walks of life. There are a lot of men in traditional robes and headdress. There are a lot of women that are covered head to toe. There are a lot of people that look like casual business people from the states (men and women). I got a lot of smiles from people as I was chasing Jordan around. And, believe it or not, you can tell, just from the eyes, when a Muslim woman, with only her eyes showing, is smiling.

More later. It is bedtime. Have a good night and have a great New Year!