Hello world.
Just when we thought things would settle back down upon Phillip returning from Nepal....Saudi had a storm.
Riyadh was hit with a storm and had massive flooding. In an effort to be safe, the King wanted all students to be home should the storm come our way. So, on Sunday Nov. 17 (a sunny day in Jubail) the King ordered all schools to evacuate immediately. Our school got the message at about 9:40 am, and just before 10:30 the entire school was evacuated. In short, Sunday and Monday were beautiful sunny days in Jubail. We were to use our emergency phone tree and check email to find out of we were to report to school or utilize our online education program (Virtual School) the following days. Then Wednesday arrived and everything flooded. The entire week was a Virtual School week.
We had the least amount of damage in our home, but there was water pouring through our windows as if they were open. Neighbors had roofs cave in, live electrical walls, complete flooding inside their spare rooms, and water pouring through kitchen cabinets.
Here is a video of the storm.
You have to keep in mind, aside from the thunder and lightening the storm was not THAT bad. We have experienced heavier rainfall in California. However, this country is not built for water (it is not built for anything to be honest-who builds on desert sand-with no foundation!..that is another story for another day, or not). Anyhow, moderate rainfall for five minutes will flood some places around here. Moderate to heavy rainfall for three days will flood everything.
Since we did not have school during the day, we were able to run some errands in old Jubail town. We thought you might like to see what that is like for us. We made a video of things around town. Some of it is footage from last year, and some more recently. At any rate...enjoy! (Disclaimer, since photographing and videotaping are not always welcomed here, some footage is not that great as you kind of have to conceal your recording device).
As for the holidays, we will be in Europe. We found a steal of a deal for a Mediterranean cruise. We will spend a few days in Rome and then board the ship. We are not sure how 'connected' we will be, but we will update everyone when we return.
Happy Holidays! Happy New Year. See you in 2014!
-B and P
Just when we thought things would settle back down upon Phillip returning from Nepal....Saudi had a storm.
Riyadh was hit with a storm and had massive flooding. In an effort to be safe, the King wanted all students to be home should the storm come our way. So, on Sunday Nov. 17 (a sunny day in Jubail) the King ordered all schools to evacuate immediately. Our school got the message at about 9:40 am, and just before 10:30 the entire school was evacuated. In short, Sunday and Monday were beautiful sunny days in Jubail. We were to use our emergency phone tree and check email to find out of we were to report to school or utilize our online education program (Virtual School) the following days. Then Wednesday arrived and everything flooded. The entire week was a Virtual School week.
We had the least amount of damage in our home, but there was water pouring through our windows as if they were open. Neighbors had roofs cave in, live electrical walls, complete flooding inside their spare rooms, and water pouring through kitchen cabinets.
Here is a video of the storm.
You have to keep in mind, aside from the thunder and lightening the storm was not THAT bad. We have experienced heavier rainfall in California. However, this country is not built for water (it is not built for anything to be honest-who builds on desert sand-with no foundation!..that is another story for another day, or not). Anyhow, moderate rainfall for five minutes will flood some places around here. Moderate to heavy rainfall for three days will flood everything.
Since we did not have school during the day, we were able to run some errands in old Jubail town. We thought you might like to see what that is like for us. We made a video of things around town. Some of it is footage from last year, and some more recently. At any rate...enjoy! (Disclaimer, since photographing and videotaping are not always welcomed here, some footage is not that great as you kind of have to conceal your recording device).
As for the holidays, we will be in Europe. We found a steal of a deal for a Mediterranean cruise. We will spend a few days in Rome and then board the ship. We are not sure how 'connected' we will be, but we will update everyone when we return.
Happy Holidays! Happy New Year. See you in 2014!
lemon vision!
-B and P
