An Amazing Arabian Arrival

Well I made it to Saudi Arabia - a place I never thought I would go. In college my Mideast Culture professor talked about what a hard country it was to enter since there is no tourism and you have to be sponsored by a company if you even want to get in. I remember standing on the Egyptian shore looking across the Red Sea and seeing some lights in the distance that I knew were from a Saudi Arabian town and thinking what a forbidden place it was. So after a long process of paperwork this summer I finally made it. There won't be many pictures on my blog from now on since there are so many things that are forbidden to be photographed. So I'll try to describe more with words. This picture is from the little screen on the airplane where you can follow the plane's progression to your destination. It was a long flight and before stepping off the plane all the women had to dress in their black abayas. I had heard many stories about the strict customs: no pork, no alcohol, no questionable movies, no pictures of women, etc. However, after throwing my bags through an X-ray machine I was free to go.

There was nobody there waiting for me in the arrival hall but I felt strangely calm that everything would be fine. I found the ATM, got money, and just as I started thinking about calling someone from the company I saw a guy with my name on a paper. I put my luggage and my life in the hands of this guy dressed in a long white robe who only knew a few words of English and followed him through the airport to the parking garage.

We sped through the suburbs and I got dumped off at a hotel that somehow managed to have a king-sized bed and cable TV with over 700 channels but only a squatty potty and crumbling walls where the ants got in. I didn't cry until I opened my suitcase and it still smelled like my grandma's house where I had been staying. But I knew most of my emotional problems would be solved by a good night's sleep.

The next day I got picked up and met some fellow teachers that were in the same boat as me. We went to the company office and did some paperwork and then begged the driver to stop at a restaurant so we could eat something. That evening I wrote an email to the company requesting to move as soon as possible into the furnished apartment that I was promised. Within 10 minutes of sending the email my new company-furnished cell phone rang. It was a guy I had met in the office that day wondering what was wrong with my current accommodation. I explained all the things I didn't like about it and he was promptly at my door with a car waiting to take me to see an alternative place to stay. He took me to the apartment and I guess they didn't want people moving in yet because the kitchenettes weren't finished. Other people had obviously moved in already so I said I would prefer to stay there. (more pictures will be posted of it later) So at 10pm we gathered up my luggage and I moved into my little studio apartment that was much nicer (and had a normal toilet - yay!) My stove was installed the next day.

That night I didn't sleep at all due to jet lag and the next morning the minivan came to pick up all the women teachers to go to the school. Another minivan came for the men since they are on a different campus. We had some orientation meetings and had some time to sit around and chat with other teachers on break. In the meeting we talked a lot about cultural sensitivities and topics that the university has to officially ban from discussion in the classroom (politics, feminism, relationships between men and women who aren't related, pop culture like movies and music, etc.) Then I found out about the class I'll be teaching. Apparently the university has a small program for adult women (most of whom are faculty in the main university or work in hospitals). I was told I would be teaching the advanced class of these older professionals instead of the 18-19 year old girls just out of high school that I thought I'd be teaching. I was so happy to be working with students who are self motivated and won't have discipline problems.

That afternoon a few of us organized a van to come take us to the supermarket. As you can see from the photo I'm already getting lazy with my headscarf and you can see my purple T-shirt underneath. This is the lobby of the apartment building. The men's van is in the background and there's a mosque behind that. The women here are so graceful with the way they dress and I look like a babushka.
Yesterday was my first day teaching and all the girls come in covered head to toe in black abayas and niqabs (the full face covering) and then they get in the door and take them off since it's an all girl's school with all female faculty and cleaning staff. The girls all have their hair and makeup done and some wear baggy T-shirts and dangly necklaces with their school uniform skirt. They giggle in groups and text on their cell phones just like every other teenage girl. And here I thought I would get away with not having to do my hair for a year . . . .

In my first class I gave a writing assignment to get to know the women better and also to see their level of English. They wrote about their families, their careers, their hopes to study Master's and PhD. programs in English speaking countries, and the various places they had traveled. They are bright, happy women who are eager to know more and have a lot of life experience.

Today in class we were discussing qualities of a good leader when suddenly the fire alarm went off in the school. Other teachers started to evacuate their classes but there was mass confusion and nervousness to go outside because they didn't have their abayas on. It turned out to be a false alarm and we all went back to class before anyone really had to go outside. My students were laughing at it all and I said something like, 'I'm sorry but I would choose prison for not wearing the abaya before I would burn to death.' They just laughed at me and rolled their eyes and said, 'Oh you wouldn't go to prison for that.' They are so eager and willing to help me understand their culture and feel at home here. They explained that constant interruptions and confusion and delays are just part of the culture here. I'm lucky to have such an easy-going personality that things like that don't bother me.

Here's a little video I took driving down the street. It's short but you can see a bit of what it looks like here. Thanks for reading!

Addictive Alaska

I think I always knew I would come back to Alaska. This is my third summer here and each time I become more addicted to living here. I'm back in Seward at the Windsong Lodge working in the restaurant. Although I often miss the rewards of being a teacher, I'm really enjoying this break from teaching. It's been fun playing in the forest again, and I apologize I've been so bad at keeping up my blog.
Each morning I stumble over to the restaurant at 5:30am and serve breakfast to tourists (mostly those coming off or getting on cruise ships). The view from the restaurant makes up for any complaints about cold coffee or expensive prices on the menu.
Memorial Day weekend I had a special visit from my brother Jed and his wife Lisa. This year is their 15 year anniversary and I invited them up to come stay at the lodge with my employee discount. We had lots of fun hiking, seeing the glaciers, and going on the boat tour to Kenai Fjords National Park.

Every 4th of July tens of thousands of people pour into Seward to watch crazy people run up a mountain. Back in the 1800's some drunk guy at the Yukon bar made a bet that his buddy couldn't run up Mt. Marathon in under an hour. The guy made it back in just over an hour but it started a yearly tradition. Now the record is 43 minutes.
I found the women's race more interesting because there were two girls neck and neck the whole way and they were both Olympian cross-country skiers. This is the mountain they run up - 3000 feet of forest, mudslide trail, and rocky shale.Later in July a friend that I met at church invited me to go salmon fishing on the Russian River. They call it "combat fishing" because you stand shoulder to shoulder with other expert fisherman and pull out giant salmon left and right as they fight their way upriver to spawn.
The first time we went I didn't really know what I was doing and didn't catch anything. Luckily we went back out again later and at the end of the day I caught 3 nice tasty salmon. There's no way I could eat it all up here so I shipped it home in a frozen box. Merry Christmas, family!Every week we have been getting together with all the singles in the branch at the missionary couple's house. The Poulsons have become my family away from family and have opened their arms up to all of us singles working for the summer.
One week I requested a Saturday off work so some of us could take a trip up to the Anchorage temple. It was a nice experience and afterwards we went to see the final Harry Potter and do some shopping since it's much cheaper than touristy Seward.
One of my favorite times is when the Alaska wildflowers come out in full bloom. My favorite is the fireweed because it takes over the sides of all the highways. It's the first plant to break down soil after a glacier recedes or a forest fire and it's edible.
Coming in a close second are the dainty little Forget-Me-Nots, Alaska's state flower.
I have a thing for blueberries. After getting a tip-off from the Relief Society president I finally found a place to go picking wild blueberries (actually it was in her front yard).
My friend Jolyn (another single girl who lives in Seward) and I also picked wild strawberries, fireweed petals and clovers. We tried to make fireweed clover honey after learning how at a Relief Society activity but something went wrong and it didn't turn out. (Maybe because we were trying to make it at 11:00 at night and laughing too much.) The wild strawberry jam was amazing, though. We still have to go back for more blueberries before we make jam out of those.

That night we also cooked up some of the salmon I had caught. It was delicious!The next morning we went out on the Kenai Fjords tour boat and saw lots of wildlife. There were quite a few pods of Orca around the bay.
We also saw a bald . . . . . um . . . . . eagle. (in the tree)
And of course, the mighty glacier.
I'm trying to soak in all the glaciers, rain, ferns, flowers, and wildlife that I can because I've just made the decision to teach English in Saudi Arabia for a year once I finish here. The dry desert and strange culture will be quite different from what I'm experiencing here but I'm excited for the next adventure!

The Inca Trilogy and Other Critters

In the culture of the Incas, there were three levels of existence that are represented by animals. First, the condor represents the heavens. Second, the puma represents the earth; and third, the serpent represents the world below the earth. This is called the Inca Trilogy. I always found the symbolism of the three levels fascinating. In our travels around Peru we were able to see all three of these animals, plus some more.

I took the train up to Machu Picchu to meet Clay and Trista who were coming in from the Sun Gate after completing the Inca Trail. We were supposed to meet for the sunrise, but it wasn't until hours later that we saw the mist-rise. That's what happens when you go in the rainy season.
Eventually the mist rose enough for some awesome views of the ruins.
When we eventually got back to Cusco that night we were all so tired that we had to take a day to rest. The next night we boarded a night bus to Arequipa. Even though we picked a nice company with plush fold down seats we didn't get much sleep. When we arrived we booked a tour to Colca Canyon - which used to be known as the deepest canyon in the world (until they found the one next to it was about a hundred meters deeper). It was interesting to learn about the different cultures that have inhabited the canyon.
This is also one of the best places to see condors. We sat and waited and sat and waited and finally, as if on cue, one huge condor flew by the viewpoint. It looks small but the condor has the longest wingspan of any bird - up to 11 feet. It also has one of the longest lifespans - some living up to 100 years old.
The next morning we took a flight up to Iquitos - the largest city in the world that is only accessible by boat or plane. It was fun to fly over the Amazon rain forest and imagine what we would do if the plane crashed in the middle of the jungle.
We had reservations for the Amazon Rainforest Lodge and on the way out to the lodge we stopped at an animal reserve. This little guy eats leaves that drug him so that he moves really slow. I don't see what's so wrong with being slothful - he looks pretty happy to me.
Of course it wouldn't be a trip to the rain forest without an anaconda trying to strangle you at some point.
When I was young I used to look through the animal encyclopedia and try to decide what animal I wanted to be. I loved cats so I always picked the Ocelot. I finally got to see one in real life.
We got to the lodge and had fun swimming in the pool and going down the waterslide. There was a lookout tower to bird-watch and take pictures from.
One of the days we got to go piranha fishing. I caught a little one that I had to throw back, Trista caught a big one that the chef fried up for her to eat, and Clay, the fisherman in the family, didn't catch any. :-(
We got to visit some tribal villages and see how they used to live. After painting our faces, they sang a song for us and invited us to dance with them.
Then we got to try a different kind of dart game - with blow darts. Whoever got the bulls-eye got to be the new chief. (Nobody got it.)
One afternoon we went out hiking in the jungle to see if we could find any wildlife. Although it was interesting learning about the different plants, the only wildlife I saw were millions of mosquitos feasting on my flesh. Clay found thousands of baby spiders on his arm after climbing this tree.
The last day we went to "Monkey Island" which was one of my favorite stops. There were lots of different animals roaming free (including many different species of monkeys) and if you happened to have bananas in your hand you were their best friend.
Then I had a sudden craving for Fruit Loops. I don't know why.
Later that day we stopped at a Manatee Reserve. The Amazon manatee does not have any natural enemies except for humans. Now they have been hunted almost to extinction. It was fun petting this 'water-elephant.'
We also saw other typical animals of the jungle that I was happy we didn't run into on our trek.

We got back to the city and took a little boat through 'Belen - the Venice of the Amazon.' All the houses are either floating or they move all their belongings up to the second floor in the rainy season. As a real estate agent Clay was interested to know that there are no property rights - if you can get the materials to build your own floating house, you can live there. As such, this is one of the poorest areas around the city.
From Iquitos we flew down to Puno (or rather up to Puno becausewe went from 150 ft. to 12,400 ft. in altitude). We took a boat out to the floating islands where they make everything out of grass reeds. We even took a little ride on a boat made out of grass.
We got to try on the local clothes with Maria who welcomed us into her hut on the island.
As we were about to leave we happened to spot the missionaries. I learned earlier that each island has been proselytized to by different religions. So there is an LDS island, a Catholic island, and a Seventh-Day Adventist island. It was interesting to see the Elders preaching on the Seventh-Day Adventist island and meet some of the investigators.
When we got back to Cusco we had a day of shopping and relaxing before I said goodbye to Clay and Trista. Later that afternoon they came back knocking on my door saying the flight had been canceled due to fog in Lima. After many hours on the phone and at the ticket office they were on their way and I was left alone in Cusco once again. In order to not succumb to loneliness and boredom I wandered up to a language school and signed up for Quechua classes. I was the only other student with my teacher Janett, because all the other students were studying Spanish.
It was interesting to learn about the linguistic culture of the Incas. It was also interesting as an English teacher because some aspects of the grammar are similar to English. One day we watched one of the few films that exists in Quechua and I was able to pick out a few words (with help from the Spanish subtitles). Then the last day we went to the market and I got to practice with the old ladies who sell medicinal plants from the mountains. It was nice to stretch my mind and be in the student's seat again. It is also fun to practice with my friends who were surprised at my interest in the language. In the past Quechua was forbidden in school and speakers felt a sense of shame when they used it but now the attitude has changed and it is a requirement in school here. So now I have just over a week left and I've been spending time with friends and trying various street foods.
I've also made appointments with doctors and dentists to get everything taken care of since I don't have health insurance in the U.S. The last time I went to the dentist was in Guatemala where it was much cheaper and still good quality. The only other thing I have left to do is explore the markets and do some more shopping. I'll be sad to leave Cusco again but now I know that if I want to come back I will find a way.