Year 1 in Review

Shannon and I have used this space as a way to reflect professionally and personally as we reach the end of each school year. Our yearly "In Review" post has been a collective cathartic experience where we highlight some of the trials and tribulations of the previous year, framing our experiences for our own purposes. We try to encompass the entirety of each year as a way to reflect and improve moving forward, as well as a way to be appreciative of the fortunate opportunities we are afforded.

To start with our first year in Saudi, in review, I think it is important to first examine why we came here. We were afforded a great opportunity while choosing our destination, to choose from very different options, based on what we wanted out of life. We decided that our goals were going to be focused on going to a high performing school, starting a family, exploring travel opportunities that are afforded by living in this part of the world, and exploring new cultures.

I would say while looking back at these goals, while we had ups and downs this year, Riyadh has

proven to be the perfect place for us for those reasons. We have been challenged at school. Some challenges were expected, while others weren't. We found ourselves working for a school with incredibly high expectations in a lot of ways. It is a very high performing school on the global scale, and while we have found some things frustrating, on the whole, working for this school has proven to fit the mold of what we originally set out looking for.

We have also managed to put ourselves in a position to start a family. Shannon is pregnant and we are going to have a baby here. Our experiences here with the medical care have been very positive, aside from a few inconveniences regarding scheduling appointments during the month of Ramadan. We have found that our home, our school, our school community, friends, and amenities here are very conducive to starting and having a family. Finding a home that supported these goals was probably the most important thing to Shannon and me when we set off looking for a new school. I feel that our choice to come here has been validated in a lot of ways as a result of everything we have found here.

With regards to travel opportunities, in the past year we have been mall hopping in Bahrain, cruising around in Cadillacs from the 1950s in Havana, hunkered down under Christmas trees in New Jersey and Florida, through Christmas markets in Berlin, building houses with our students in the Phillipines, wandering along the Danube River around castles in Budapest, eating cakes from the Sacher Cafe in Vienna, hiking around the ancient ruins of Petra in Jordan, and living and exploring in Saudi Arabia. On our way home this summer, we'll be spending 2 weeks in Italy. By the start of next year, our unborn child will have been to seven different countries, and it still won't even be born yet! I would say our travel opportunities have been more than plentiful.

But all of that isn't to say we haven't had a variety of ups and downs along the way. We had to transition to the cultural expectations of Saudi and some of the difficulties that came with that as newcomers. Shannon isn't allowed to drive. She has to wear her abaya. Seemingly every time we try to run more than one errand at a time, we get locked out for prayer time. We have had to experience the joys of abundant conveniences that comes with living in a compound, and the boxed in feeling that comes from that too. We have had to counter awful weather (it's 115 as I am typing this), pollution, sandstorms, and...erratic driving. We have been yelled at for leaning on counters, had missiles shot at us.  We have experienced the typical struggles of adjusting to being far away from family as birthdays of loved ones, holidays, and family crises pass without us.

With the difficulties, we've had balance and new experiences. We've created new friendships with new people, centered on common frustrations and experiences. We've been lost in souqs, we've been to Persian carpet parties, we've been locked into and out of stores for prayer times.  We've seen this country make decisions to allow women to drive, and to open movie theaters.

When I look back at our first year, I think of the frustrations, the opportunities, and the stories we've collected. I look forward to a second year in a school and a home. I look forward to coming back in August to a home that is furnished, a curriculum that I am familiar with, friends who I know, and a cultural and social system that I understand. I look forward to new challenges like welcoming our son into our lives and sharing all that will be new and overwhelming from that standpoint with Shannon. It has been a long year. It has been a fun and frustrating year. It has helped us grow and understand the world around us better, and rely on each other more and more. We have made a home here, and proven to ourselves yet again that we can make a home anywhere as long as we go into it with an adventurous and open mind. We are thankful for our first year, eager to spend time with our families and friends, and hopeful for our second year moving forward.