Life in Saudi - There's No Place Like Home

We haven't been home since last summer and we are definitely feeling the need to be back on the bayou!  It's just another one of the things about being an expat that I didn't expect.  It goes beyond wanting or needing to go home.  We HAVE to go home.  It's almost like having to recharge your emotional and mental batteries.  Everything that I don't like about being here is a little less tolerable when I reach the point of having to go home.  Every challenge I face is a little more frustrating.  Everything just seems harder.  The first time we went back home after moving to Saudi, I experienced a sense of peace that is hard to explain.  I had my family, my friends, good food...the list goes on.  Everything was familiar and I was at peace.  When I am at the point of having to go home, I just want to feel that peace.

There are the obvious things like friends and family that are great about being home.  But the one thing that I can't wait for, and that brings me great peace, is driving myself around!  I've said many times that I wouldn't want to drive here because the roads are so crazy, and I still don't want to, but I HATE not being able to drive.  I long for the day when I can get behind the wheel of my car, crank up the music and go wherever and whenever I want.  Here is a day in the life of me with a driver...

I had a parent-teacher conference today at Connor's school so I emailed the dispatch center and scheduled my car.  At the scheduled pick up time I looked out of the window and to my surprise, the driver was actually there!  I walked outside and the driver greeted me warmly, took Connor's carseat out of my hand, opened the back of the SUV and put the carseat back there (like where you would put groceries).  I thought well normally one would strap the carseat in, but I don't need it until on the way home so whatever.  I got into the car and noticed that it was brand spanking new.  I'm talking plastic still on the shift and the third row seats new.  (Sidebar - Leaving the plastic on is quite a thing here.  We once had a driver pick us up with the plastic still on all of the seats.  Harry and I looked at each other and laughed and said we are not riding around sitting on plastic covered seats so we ripped it all off before we got in.  I think the driver may have had a mini stroke.  Haha!)  So I made a comment to him about getting to drive a brand new car and he then told me that he was a brand new driver.  Brand new as in this was his first time driving someone.  A wave of dread came over me at that exact moment.  1.4 seconds later he asked me which way to go to get out of the compound.  You'd had to have been to our compound to know just how crazy of a question that is.  

He actually knew how to get to school!  One point for the brand new driver!  I explained how to maneuver through security at school and tried to get him to park when I saw an available space but he was not understanding me.  Whatever.  I directed him where I needed to be dropped off, got his phone number, and told him that I would call him when I was ready and that he needed to come back to that exact spot to pick me up.  Okay, no problem madame.  (Another sidebar - whenever someone says no problem in Saudi Arabia, expect problems!)  

So I got out and got started with the meeting.  I was there for an hour, tops.  After the conference, Connor and I went outside and I looked around thinking he may be parked right near the building.  He wasn't so I called.  No answer.  Called again and again, no answer.  I called the dispatcher to let him know so then he called the driver.  The dispatcher said he was outside the gate and security wouldn't let him back in.  I got really angry and asked why he left in the first place?!?  The dispatcher said that the driver would be calling me.  At this point I'm fuming mad and sweating because we are outside and trying to figure out how I was going to get him back through the gate.  I couldn't walk up there to tell the guard to let him in because he had my abaya in the car with him!  Only a few seconds had passed when the driver called me.  I couldn't understand anything he was saying and then he started screaming, "Look at me!  Look at me!"  Easier said than done when you don't know where he is!  I was about to loose it on him at that point.  Finally I saw him right down from where we were standing.  He had just told the dispatcher that he couldn't get back in the gate and now he was just right there.  I don't get it.  And WHY didn't he just drive up to me, I'll never know.  Anyway...he started fumbling around not really knowing what to do and thinking that he's helping me but he's just getting in my way and making me even more angry.  As I was strapping Connor in the carseat he kept telling me that he would fix it.  I just ignored him and continued.  Then he said, "Too much time waiting here."  I kind of just looked at him, a little confused, thinking maybe someone tried to make him leave the campus because he was sitting in the car waiting on me.  Then he says, "Too much time waiting here.  I didn't eat lunch."  I was a little thrown off.  He picked me up at 2:00 pm and it was now 3:15 pm.  It really ticked me off because he said it as if I had been keeping him all day and not giving him a break.  He picked me up well after lunch time and was only with me for a little over an hour.  Not my problem.  I just said something like oh, okay and then walked around to get my abaya on and get in the car.  As I was getting in I noticed that he was messing with the carseat so I had to tell him to leave it alone.  Even though the a/c was on, it was warm in the car.  When you are already sweating AND have an abaya on, it feels like an oven.  He was controlling the rear a/c from the front so I had to explain to him how to set it so that I could control it from the back.  I literally had to say no down, to the left, not that button, yes...that one, to explain how to set it to rear control.  Then he had the nerve to tell me that I could use the knobs in the back to set it LOL!  All that just to go to a parent-teacher conference. At that point I decided to simmer down and remember that it was his first trip.  Other than sweating and feeling carsick, the rest of the trip was uneventful.  Thankfully!  

So today was a prefect example.  While I haven't experienced this exact scenario, stuff like this happens all the time.  The only difference is that I've reached the point of having to go home and I was almost sent over the edge several times within an hour and a half.  Everything just seemed harder to deal with.  Everything was ten times more frustrating.  The driver, the language barrier, the heat (and it's not even that hot yet), the abaya, the carsickness.  It was all a little less tolerable.      

If only it were as easy as clicking my heels three times.  We have done a lot of traveling in these last few months, but there truly is no place like home.  I just keep reminding myself...in three weeks I will have my peace.

Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany

We woke up to a snowy Lauterbrunnen morning and made our way to the train station to catch our ride to Germany!  At about 14 hours and four train changes, it was quite a long day of traveling.  Having to change trains with kids, strollers, luggage, and a car seat once is no fun...having to do it four times is exhausting!  For the most part it all when off without a hitch...except for when we missed one of our trains.  Long story short, we were standing in the wrong place on the platform, the train left just as fast as it came, and then a little chaos ensued.  Thankfully there was another train coming an hour later and all was right with the world again.

It was dark when we got to our apartment so we didn't really get a good idea of what our surroundings were like.  Man were we in for a treat when we opened the curtains in our room the next morning!

Ooopps!  Bright flash!

After breakfast we went out to catch the bus into town.  The snow covered everything was sooo beautiful!

Of course he was loving it!

It was an overcast morning which made it even more beautiful!

Ready for our tour of the town.

We met our tour guide here at St. Sebastian's Church.  Garmisch Partenkirchen used to be two separate towns (Garmisch and Partenkirchen).  Adolf Hitler forced them to come together in 1935 in preparation for the Winter Olympic Games that would be held the following year.  Even though the two towns became one many years ago, the differences and separation between the districts were evident as we toured.  Partenkirchen seems to be holding on to tradition, but is very quiet with many empty places of business.  However, Garmisch looks as though they have progressed better with the times with many shops and restaurants.    

These are wooden masks that people wear during their carnival.

This is a fountain that celebrates the barrel makers as the first people to come out and start working again after the plague was over.

The most unique thing about Garmisch Partenkirchen are the murals painted on the outside of the buildings.  A lot of the paintings symbolize the family that lives in the house or the business that is done in the building.  The others are usually of a religious nature. 

How fun would it be to spend some time in that house!?!

The ski jump at the Olympic Ski Stadium.

LSU Tiger fan in Germany!  The funniest part was that Connor is the one who pointed it out!

Next we stopped for beer and a traditional Sunday meal.

This is written with chalk on the houses and somehow translates into God bless this house in 2015.  They leave it up all year and only change it to reflect the new year.

Another beautiful mural.

Traditional dress for the women.

Our guide explained that you can tell if a woman is married or not by which side her apron bow is on.  If you are married you would tie it on the right side because when you walk with your husband you are hooked to him on your left side.  If you tied it on the left it would get messed up so that's why it's tied on the right.  Unmarried girls tie their bow on the left.

Connor showing off part of the traditional dress for males.

As we walked back to our apartment I couldn't help but stop and take a picture of this!

After a day of touring the town and picking up our ski equipment for the next day, we enjoyed a low key evening.

Finally it was time for our much anticipated ski day!  Harry and I had skied twice before so we were excited to do it again.  This would be Connor's first time and he was beyond excited!  He thought the skis and helmet were just the coolest thing!

Connor had a really good instructor and he learned quite a bit in a few hours.  Our instructor was also pretty good, but definitely not the best one we've had.  He made us do a few crazy exercises as if it were the first time we had ever skied and I was completely exhausted even before our two hour lesson was over!  Harry did a few more runs afterward, but I was done for the day.

Time for lunch!

Back at it!

After a little more fun on the slopes it was time to make our way back to the apartment.

We were all sore the next day so we decided to stay at the apartment and have a fun snow day!

Our little snow lover was in heaven!

Snowball fight!

Connor is the best big brother!

Snow angel!

He loved it when he wasn't falling down.

We love Germany!

It is nearly impossible to get a good picture of Jameson smiling or laughing so I was so mad when my camera strap fell just as I snapped this one!

He was soooo proud of this snowman!

The next day Harry and I went check out the Partnach Gorge.  We took the bus to the ski stadium and then started the loonnng walk to the gorge.  Of course the scenery on our way there was beautiful!  

We finally made it and I was so glad that we didn't bring the boys.  I knew it was a bit of a walk to the entrance and strollers weren't allowed, but I can't imagine bringing two small kids through the gorge.  I would have been a nervous wreck!  Some parts of the walkway are really narrow and even though there is a railing I was a little nervous about being next to the edge.  And the rushing water is so loud!  All of that made me really anxious, but it was so amazing so I tried to concentrate on that.

The gorge is about 2,305 feet long and up to 263 feet deep in some places.

Icicles were everywhere and it looked so cool!

Here part of the waterfall is frozen.

We were actually walking behind the waterfall at this point.

As I look through the pictures I realized that none of them really do justice to how incredible the gorge is!

As cool as walking through a gorge was, the real adventure began when we attempted to find our way back to the ski stadium. 

We followed the signs and the one that said ski stadium pointed to this path.  There was a small clearing in the snow so we went that way and figured it would lead to a more clear cut path.  We. Were. Wrong.

After a while the small clearing disappeared, but there were still footprints so we kept going.  I kept saying that I felt like we shouldn't be going that way.

After about 30 minutes we stopped to try and pull up our location on the GPS, but that didn't work.  We were starting to climb higher and higher and I got nervous that with the snow cover we would step somewhere we shouldn't and fall.  All of a sudden this guy that was with us in the gorge came walking down the trail.  He was dumb enough to have followed us...he didn't know if we were going the right way either.  We were pretty sure we knew where we would end up, but I wasn't going to chance falling off a cliff so we decided to turn around and go back through the gorge and take the same path we came in on.

We finally made it back to the ski stadium and caught the bus to the Marienplatz where we grabbed some lunch and did a little shopping to end our last day in Garmisch Partenkirchen.

On our last day of vacation we took the train into Munich where we met our tour guide and set out for the Dachau concentration camp.  Dachau was the first camp to open in Germany and it's initial purpose was to house political prisoners with a max capacity of 5,000.  Of course the population grew to include Jews, ordinary criminals, foreign nationals, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and pretty much anyone else they felt like throwing in there.  There is a record of over 206,000 total inmates.  American troops found over 30,000 people being held prisoner when they liberated them in 1945.  30,000 people...in a space meant for only 5,000!  It was the camp that all others that followed were modeled after.

The prisoners were subjected to unspeakable torture.  They endured things like standing cells, flogging, pole hanging, and many people suffered and died when they were forced to participate in various medical experiments that took place at the camp.  The leader of the camp was so evil that when he knew liberation by US forces was imminent he ordered that everyone should be exterminated, saying "No prisoners shall be allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy alive."

The entrance gate used to have a sign that read "Arbeit macht frei" which means "work will make you free".  This was an example of the propaganda that the Nazis used to make it seem as though the camp was doing something good for the people who were held prisoner there.  Unfortunately the sign was stolen a few months before we visited so we didn't get to see it.  

The patch of grass was considered no man's land.  If a prisoner stepped foot on the grass it was to be assumed that they were trying to escape and they were immediately shot by the guard in the tower.  Guards would sometimes take a prisoner's hat and throw it on the grass as a game to see if the prisoner could get his hat back before being shot.  It wasn't uncommon that a prisoner would become so desperate that they would walk onto the grass as a way to commit suicide. 

This is a picture showing the prisoners standing at attention out in the square for roll call.  They did this every morning and every evening and it would sometimes last for several hours.

Here is a guide to show the various patches used to identify the reason each prisoner had been arrested.

A monument inside one of the buildings.

Inside the prison.

Another memorial.

An example of what the inside of one of the barracks looked like.  The camp became so overcrowded that the inmates would basically be sleeping on top of each other.

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Here are the foundations for each of the 34 barracks.

A crematorium was used to dispose of the dead.  This was also used as a way to hide any evidence of many of the unrecorded deaths.  The sign says "Think about how we died here."

Even though one is located on the camp, there is no solid evidence to show that a gas chamber was used at Dachau.  This is the slot on the outside of the building where the canister would be dropped into a room, killing anyone who may have been in there. 

Inside of the chamber.  You can see the ports on the wall where the canisters would come in and fake shower heads on the ceiling.

The incinerator room as well as the site of many hangings. 

About 32,000 deaths were documented while the camp was in operation.  Of course thousands more went unrecorded.

The memorial for the unknown prisoner.

While walking around the site and listening to our guide tell the stories, it was extremely difficult to wrap my brain around what actually took place.  It is hard to imagine what a group of people were capable of doing to millions of others.  Even more unbelievable is how long they were able to get away with it.  There is video footage that was taken throughout the camp after its liberation.  Parts of this video plays in one of the buildings.  It is extremely hard to watch.  We had Connor put on headphones and play Harry's phone while we went through that area because the video and images are that bad.  Deplorable isn't a strong enough word to describe what the conditions were like.  I don't think I'll ever understand how the atrocities of the Holocaust were able to take place. 

After our tour ended we took the train back to Munich were we settled in for the night before flying back to KSA the following day.  We had an incredible two weeks of traveling, but we were ready to go home!  We were very ambitious and we got it done, but we were exhausted.  We were beyond tired of packing and unpacking, maneuvering through trains and buses, trying to decipher about three or four different languages, and finding our way around five different cities.

This is pretty much how we all felt!