Clarification on pics I posted

I apologize for not explaining on the pictures....I did the blog first and then posted the pics as an afterthought. The restaurants have curtains so the Muslim women can eat in private - they close the curtain and can uncover their face to eat.  Noone is allowed to see their face AND they cannot eat in front of men other than their husband (and I've heard...sometimes not even in the front of the husband).

Our compound has a maze of entrances - all with guards and machine gun shacks to deter any problems.  They check under every car (with a mirror) for bombs.  They normally do not do a thorough check on Westerners, but Scott has said when he first got here if he was in a taxi with a Saudi that they checked them thoroughly.

This is a very conservative area - 99% of women are fully covered and 80% of men wear the white dresses, called, thobes and head coverings called gurtas.  It was strange at first, but now it's just like going to Wal-Mart....you eventually don't notice all the weirdness around you :)  The boys don't stare as much now at the "ninja" women...Jonathan has a hard time finding me though if I am not facing him...he accidentally grabbed onto another women in the grocery store!  I have recently found out that women are only allowed to wear black in public. I'm thinking about adapting this part of their culture!  Could you imagine only having to "do your eyes" to go anywhere??!!  I would be ready in 1minute!

By the way...in case anyone is still worried for our safety...I have met some of the US military guys in our compound and so I questioned them... of course... :)  It was funny because the first few times they were at the pool I didn't notice them until like 10minutes after being there....they were always under the water and very quiet and sneaky (i realize now).  These guys were doing swimming drills - using a brick to hold themselves under water, swimming silently, sneaking around, so when they came up...I said "why do you need swimming drills if you are Airforce?"  I thought all we had here was Airforce and so they laughed and said they were Coast Guard!  We have about 8 guys from all branches in our compound (all represented except the Marines) - they are here training the Saudi's. So stop worrying!

We are hoping to have our Visas for reentry next week so we can go to Bahrain (neighboring country) - it is supposed to have pretty beaches - I'll have more pics.  Going to try and do the blog every 2-3 weeks so I have lots of stories to tell!

Feel free to send a private email or message if you have any questions...we did this blog FOR YOU because we want everyone to have fun and learn with us!