Our adventure began very early in the morning of July 25, 2011 8 bags, 2 kids and 1 dog, wait I am getting ahead of myself.... Actually.... our adventure began a few months before that. In April after our oldest son Matthew was accepted into the University of Florida we decided it was a good time for a change. Chuck had always talked about teaching internationally so with both feet we jumped right in and accepted a job at KAUST in Saudi Arabia. The middle east was not our first choice but after doing our research, we decided it would be a wonderful opportunity for our family. Chuck was hired as the IB music teacher at the KAUST secondary school. So after passports, visas, medical exams, getting Penny (the dog) approved to travel, packing, shipping, saying goodbye to wonderful and supportive friends and family we were on our way....
8 bags, 2 kids, 1 dog, 4 planes, one 12 hour layover in Chicago, 20 hours of flying, plane food, foreign airports..you get the point. The kids and the dogs traveled very well. The Royal Jordanian airplanes had individual TV screens where you could watch movies and play games. Kept both kids very entertained. Jacob and Madelyn slept very well on the plane. And of course Chuck had no problem falling asleep :) When we finally arrived in Jeddah it was 2 am. The people from KAUST met us and helped us through the customs process. We found Penny sitting in the baggage claim surrounded by curious children. We were told that she did a few rotations around the baggage carousel. That must have been a sight! We arrived at our new house about an hour later. Even though it was 3 in the morning the kids were still excited to run up stairs and pick out their new rooms. Everyone slept very well in their new beds.
 |
| Map of the campus |
 |
| View out of Madelyn's balcony. |
 |
| Our New House!! |
 |
| My camera lens kept fogging up because of all the humidity. |
