Yes, It is HOT!

Jamie and I actually woke early and then proceeded out for a quick tour of the compound. See our COMPOUND TOUR Video for all of the details. I haven’t seen the weather the last few days for here, but it is as hot as they say it is. You can walk about 20 steps and already be sweating.

After returning, we went straight to unpacking and settling all of our belongings. We then made a list of the necessary items we’ll need to completely settle in and really just relaxed the remainder of the day.

Jamie and I, more so me, will have to wait for our residency visas to process before we can pretty much do anything. We can’t set up our Internet, purchase a car, drive a car, set up our bank account, or leave and re-enter the country until we receive our Iqama. The Iqama is pretty much like a “green card” and allows us to fully work in the Kingdom. Until then, we have a letter that serves this purpose, but you still can’t do any of the above without it.
This can be a bit frustrating because we are at the mercy of others for rides to the store, but everyone has been very helpful at offering their services, so we feel that we’ll be just fine for the month. A bus will take us back and forth to work until we can finally purchase a car. For Jamie, it is illegal for her to drive, so that won’t be an issue for her anyway.
We enjoyed the rest of the day and ordered some lamb and chicken curry for delivery for dinner. We were able visit another villa and Skype with our parents to fill them in on most of these details.

Tomorrow, Friday, is a very slow day in the Kingdom as it is their holy day, similar to Sunday for most of the Western world. However, there are a few larger stores that are open, so we’ll venture out with our buddy couple to buy some much needed supplies for our villa.
Shoot me some questions via email or comments. I’ll try and get them onto the blog at some point in time. I think it would be a good way to answer some questions if I in fact have the answers.