Saturday December 24th to Friday December 30th, 2011
I think it is easy to say that I was ready for this move. I was probably ready for this move quite a few months ago but Saudi efficiency delayed my departure somewhat. I write this from my new home in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but there was some drama before getting here.
Most of you know that my departure was pushed back from a late October date, to a late November date, to an early December date to my eventual January date by delayed paperwork……from all over. Medical results took forever, paperwork from Australia took forever, and the Saudi Embassy took forever to get my VISA back. Everything was finally ready to go in December (I was thinking an early December departure) but it turns out the hospital canceled that orientation group because there were not enough people……plus I was also still apparently missing some paperwork…..that actually didn’t arrive until 2 days before I left but it clearly worked out since I'm here.
The delay allowed me to celebrate Christmas at home with the family. The house was pretty full. Pretty much everyone was there, and it was a lot of fun. Mom and Dad bought themselves a Wii for Christmas. I graciously set it up a few days earlier so it would be ready to go on Christmas Day (plus I was already about 3 days into the Wii Fit by then). Cory, Jessica and I certainly took advantage of it to escape the “grown- ups” for a bit.
The whole family. Some how we managed to fit into the living room.
Uncle Tom, Dad, Uncle Andy and myself in the kitchen. We were apparently attempting to stay out of the way while everyone was arriving.
Despite the potatoes being cooked late and all the people being squeezed into one room, Christmas Day was a complete success. There was plently of food and drink and good company........everything you would want on the holiday.
Boxing Day is reserved for hockey in our household….like many other Canadian homes, as it marks the start of the World Junior Hockey Tournament. Canada won in case you didn’t watch it......but Dad and I certainly did. Of course I was still making prepartions for my upcoming departure but that didn't stop me from watching the game. I had gotten the word before Christmas that my departure date would be around January 4th and that they would be flying me out of Toronto. With that news I made flight arrangements to get myself to Toronto via Calgary so that I could spend New Year’s Eve’s with friends before stopping to see Stephen and Heather in Toronto on the way out of the country. I have to say that when I did depart on Friday December 30th, my itinerary to Saudi was still not confirmed (they had sent me one but it had me flying out of Vancouver….I asked them to change it) but I decided I was heading out anyway and the rest would work itself out.
You have already seen the pictures of my organized chaos that needed to be put in suitcases. I really thought I was doing well with everything organized in piles and had a pretty good inventory on what was going in what bag. I have apparently forgotten how heavy clothes are because I thought I would have no problem keeping my bags under 50 pounds (23 kilograms). I was really.......really wrong.
I had left my packing until the day I left……because it was going to go so well and I was so organized……I should know better than that. My flight didn’t leave until 1830 (6:30pm) so I figured I had lots of time to pack my bags and then organize the basement a bit. I got to the point where I had packed about three quarters of my stuff and decided I better check the weight of my bags. My back pack was 49.5 lbs….perfect. My large blue suitcase…….55lbs, not so perfect. So the re-organizing began. I really did need to keep them under weight. I did not want a repeat of the excess baggage fee fiasco from my trip to Australia. Lucky for me my new roommate (Catharine Cooper….my friend from Baltimore) is dating a guy in the US Army (Jeff) and he has offered up his APO address. What this means is that I can have stuff shipped to him in Saudi and it costs the same as shipping stuff to the United States…......which is about 50% cheaper. So I pulled out a whole bunch of stuff to be mailed to keep the bags under weight. Ok so I had to pull out one more pair of boots at the Kelowna airport but other than that things were good.
Of course my super organized system was ruined so I had no idea what I had really packed. I assure you there are tons of things I don’t really need right now that are here……and more than a few things still in Canada that I could use. In a few weeks it will all be sorted out though so I’m trying to stay positive.
My luggage. That little one on the scale was going carry-on......and just barely made the weight restriction.
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Good thing they didn't weigh my back pack that was also going carry on.....with 2 laptops it was overweight. And yes, Teddy is making the trip to the Middle East.
This is what happens when you leave a camera unattended while you go to the bathroom.
The stress of all the packing led me to do something I have never done….....have not one, but 2 drinks before getting on the plane (I’m sure I’ve mentioned my inability to pee on anything that moves so I like to board planes totally dehydrated). Eventually I did board that plane and headed to my first stop on this journey (Calgary), where I was met by my good friend Laura. We promptly found some food and another drink before heading to her place for some sleep. The fun and games of a quick visit to Calgary were just beginning.
Julie
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