June 30th was Harry's departure date for Saudi. He didn't have to be at the airport until 2:30 that afternoon so we had lots of time to spend together before sending him off. He spent most of the morning making sure he had everything packed and all his documents together. Getting ready to leave the country is very time consuming!
We ate lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Zea's and still had lots of time to spare before he needed to be at the airport so we decided to head to the mall next door to have beignets at Cafe du Monde. Coming down the escalator we noticed a spider jump and Connor said he wanted to do it. He was very hesitant about going too high at first, but the guy played with him and he was going really high before long. He loved it!
After spider jumping and beignets it was time to head to the airport. Connor had a good time playing on the funky couches while Harry sorted out his ticket and luggage at the desk. After everything was situated we sat around and waited for the other two guys from his plant that were flying out with him. Finally it was time to say our goodbyes. Everyone was a little teary eyed, but we managed to hold it together. Connor was fine because he really didn't understand how far away his daddy was going and that it would be months before he'd see him again. I think him being okay with saying bye made it easier for all of us to do it.
This is Harry's coworker Erick. He and his wife Lina are moving to Saudi with us and they'll live across the street!
Saying our goodbyes :(
The trip took a total of about 24 hours with two layovers. He flew to Chicago first and then to Istanbul, Turkey and then finally to Dammam, Saudi Arabia. I used the Flight Aware app to track his flights so I showed Connor the map of his flight and he thought it was the coolest thing. Once the plane takes off an airplane icon shows exactly where they are on the route. Throughout the night he kept asking to check the map so he could see where his daddy was.
Everyone was relieved when he made it to his hotel room and we were able to Skype.
He has been there for a week now and is finally over jet lag. I'm definitely not excited about experiencing it! Connor hasn't had any issues with Harry being gone...yet. He keeps saying that he's ready to go to Saudi Arabia and asks Harry if he got our papers yet all the time, but he hasn't gotten upset or really showed any signs that he realizes how long he's been gone. The time difference has probably been the most difficult thing to deal with so far. He is 8 hours ahead of us so we always have to be aware of what time it is at different ends of the world. The weekends there are different from our weekends here in the states. Their holy day is Friday so they celebrate the weekend on Friday and Saturday (which was just changed from Thursday and Friday the weekend before he left). For example, today he asked if the documents that we are waiting on came in yesterday and I had to remind him that the mail doesn't pass on Sundays lol. His first day of the work week is now Sunday so to him yesterday felt like a Monday.
His official first day of work was last Thursday, which was Wednesday night for us. It was a big day for him and for Connor as well. Harry finally got to start on the project and Connor finally accomplished something he had been trying to do for months...whistle! He was so proud of himself and wanted to show everyone that he could do it. He walked around whistling constantly afterwards. The first thing he did when he woke up the next morning was whistle. It was so funny and he's actually getting really good at it!
Our life is very crazy right now and full of unknowns. We don't know when the movers are coming to pack our stuff, when our paperwork will be processed, or when we will get to make our trip to Saudi. This can be very overwhelming and frustrating at times, but we are taking it one day at a time!
No comments:
Post a Comment