A Woman Abroad: Come so far, so far yet to go. . .

Well, as the nation has seen an extraordinary change in recent days, so I have seen change of a somewhat lesser historical value but no less important to me. Since my last post I have moved to a permanent home (permanent by company standards) near the beach. Following is a recap of my journey over the last year from a cramped 500 sq. ft. studio apartment to my spacious pad by the beach.

I ended my journey from Dhahran to Ras Tanura in a small studio (though here a "studio" apartment is a different layout entirely - more what we would call a one bedroom apt.) lain out in a shot-gun fashion. It was a single room beginning with the main living space, kitchen behind, then the bedroom and finally the bathroom.

It was crammed full of boxes and furniture so much so that there was only enough room for a path to the bathroom and there was not enough space to put my bed down. You can see my bed up against the wall in the picture. I slept on my pull out sofa bed for 8 months. I got so used to sleeping on the sofa bed it's taken me over a month to get used to my bed again (though it's over 20 years old and in desperate need of replacement - that will be an after New Year's purchase).

I will start describing 6001 Driftwood court by directing you to the picture to the left. That is the view from my front door. Need I say more? My new place has a townhouse layout with a small back yard patio and a deck off the bedroom in the front of the house that is larger than the bedroom itself. The view is the same as that from the front door. There are cathedral ceilings and the bedroom upstairs has an open plan to the living room downstairs. There is a garage with more than enough storage space and joy of joys - a powder room downstairs and full bath upstairs! I will attach some more pictures at the end of this blog to give you an idea what life is like here in Ras Tanura.

Sadly, I've taken only one trip this year and that was for a well deserved break - a trip to Paphos, Cyprus. I did nothing more strenuous than eat pork until I felt like I was turning into a big strip of bacon and drink plenty of beer and whiskey. Once I had my fill of beer and bacon I briefly explored the island. It's hot and dry with water conservation measures that result in the water being turned off every other day. Water is purchased and stored in tanks on the roof so is rationed religiously because of the expense. The one milestone I reached on this trip was to drive on the left side of the road. I was very nervous but ultimately had only one close call and discovered it was easier than I thought it would be. One frustrating thing about right-sided cars is that although all the pedals and gears are the same the indicator switch is reversed - I kept turning on the wipers when I meant to turn the blinker on. I did not take many pictures but here are a few. . .

This is the place where I stayed in Paphos for most of the almost 2 weeks I was there. I spent the last two days at a resort closer to the airport in Lemesol.

The second picture was taken from my balcony at the resort where I stayed. The last two days I pampered myself and part of the reason was that my school term had started and I required Internet access and needed to log on every day. School waits for no one. . . even those on vacation.

Well, I'm headed home in a week's time and looking forward to it immensely. It's been almost a year and a half since I was home last and it seems like much longer. I will be home for Thanksgiving and my birthday but not for Christmas. Can't have everything. I'm more than satisfied to be home for Thanksgiving - it's my favorite holiday.

I hope this finds everyone well and I will endeavor to make my posts more frequent (per requests). . .

Here are more pictures of my house in KSA. . .