The Sori Story: How we got here

A few people have asked me how we ended up here, so I thought i'd explain. Years ago, pre-kids, I told Hisham "why don't you apply for a job overseas?". I think that was before our Chicago stint (we moved to Chicago and moved right back to Alabama within 5 months). I found out I was pregnant with Adam a few days before we left for Chicago. When we got there I was miserable, feeling depressed and missed my family so much, so we moved back home. It turns out that we needed to do that to end up here. So, the overseas thing never panned out. We weren't totally serious about it, or seriously pursuing it. Fast forward to last August, Hisham was at a health care conference in Philadelphia. He went to the area where they had various vendors, and he saw the table for Aramco. The sign said "Saudi Aramco" in both English and Arabic. He said the Arabic caught his eye (he reads and writes it), so he went over to speak to the recruiter. He wasn't interested in a job, he was just curious why an oil company was set up at a health care conference. The recruiter explained to him that Aramco has it's own hospitals and clinics, so they employ all kinds of support people, in addition to the oil/petroleum workers. And that's where it all started.
I was sitting at work and I got a text from him saying something like "I'm going to dinner with a recruiter from a company in Saudi Arabia". At first I was like "ummm, no". But, the recruiter gave him a website for Aramco expats so we could read about it. We read, and read, read again and read some more. And googled, and you tubed, and googled again. I won't even lie, I searched to see what kind of stores were here for shopping. The more we read, and initiated contact with people already living here, the more comfortable we were. One of my main concerns was school for the kids. Once I learned the school is excellent and comparable to private schools in the states, I started feeling better about it. Literally, from August of 2012, until the day we left, April 30, 2013, we were reading, investigating, asking questions, etc. We have gathered so much information that we really haven't had any major surprises since we've been here. We've kind of known what to expect. Another thing we learned is how many people try for years to get a job with this company. There are people from all over the world here. Some have been here for 2 months, some have been here for 30 years. That was another thing that made us feel comfortable about coming here. There are Americans that have been here for 15+ years. We figured they wouldn't stay that long if there wasn't *something* good about this place. Also, there are many non-Muslims here from other countries. That made me think it wasn't that bad, and I actually felt it was a plus for us being Muslim. So we started the long application process. We had to fill out what seemed like one million forms, orientation in Houston, TX, blood work, background investigations, more paperwork, visa approval, packing up our whole house, and getting on a plane. From the day we arrived, it has been better than we expected. We weren't expecting anything bad, but it has pleasantly exceeded our expectations. This camp has been here since the 30's or 40's. It was designed like an American military base, and it feels like being on a nice base when you're walking or driving around. You have to have your ID card to get on camp, and get into the various rec centers, schools, pools, etc. The homes are all American style homes.
There is no contract to sign regarding how long you will stay. If you want to leave, you just give your employer the notice they require, and you/re on your way. Hisham and I agreed to stay 5 years, whether we like it or we don't. After 5 years, if we don't like it anymore, we go back home, if we do like it, then we will re-evaluate.
Adam is doing great. He loves that he can just run to the back yard and there is a playground. He LOVES that he gets to ride a bus to school and he loves that we have so many kids living around us. I know he will thrive here. There are so many activities and things for the kids to do. We have more time together as a family. Hisham gets off of work at 4pm, and he is not checking his work email all evening. We are also in a good location for travel. Inshallah (God willing) we plan to take some trips in the future. We can go places that we couldn't have gone to from the states because it would be way to expensive. We are in driving distance to Dubai. Do you KNOW what kind of shopping is in Dubai? ;)
Seriously though, we are in the vicinity of Mecca/Medina. This is HUGE for us. Hajj is the pilgrimage Muslims must make once in their lifetime if they are able. We are HERE! This is our Motherland! :)
We could drive if we wanted to. It would be a long drive, but still, we could drive! Alhamdullilah (thankful to Allah), just this alone is worth living here. It's also nice to experience living in a Muslim country, and for our children to have the same experience as well. It's nice to not have to ever ask at a restaurant if something has pork in it, not to worry about where you will pray when it's prayer time (there are mosques all over the place), the whole country will be fasting during Ramadan, not just our Muslim community like back home, We will celebrate Eid (Muslim holidays) with the whole country, the list goes on.
We miss our friends and family like crazy, but this is one of the best decisions we've made. We were given this amazing opportunity, and we are going to make the best of it, Inshallah.

Oh, and the weekend here is Thursday and Friday. Saturday is the beginning of our week. We are 8 hours ahead of the states (Central time) :)

I have some pictures for y'all!

This is the mini mart close to our house. You know how people in Europe leave their babies outside in their strollers? This is where I leave Sophia when I go inside.