My Date with Dhahran

Whoa! What a day! I'm now back at the hotel and it's only 5:30PM, but I'm exhausted. My mom and I split up this morning and the cab driver (we're getting to know him since he works at the hotel) dropped me off in main camp and then took my mom to Khobar. She insisted she still wanted to go even though she was alone. Dang, she makes me nervous with all her "it'll be fine" nonsense. Go naked to Khobar? "Aaaah, it'll be fiiiiiiine. We used to do it all the time."

The cab driver was very sweet and suggested he wait for her while she shopped and then take her home. Not only did he wait for her, but he got out of his cab and "shadowed" her wherever she went, never letting her out of his site, but leaving enough distance that she still was able to do her own thing. How glorious! Private security at only $10 per hour! Very nice man.

Alone on camp, I grabbed some food, water, and Diet Coke at the Dining Hall and stuffed it in my bag along with the abaya and hijab I had to strip off once on camp. Boy, this big purse was a great investment!

I took a separate cab out to my old house on Hofuf Drive in the Hills. 10 Riyals... about $3. I spent a lot of time around my old house and in my old neighborhood taking pictures, drinking Diet Coke, and listening to Mr. Mister and the Beatles on my iPod. Boy, it really felt good to have some alone time. Even back in California, I am a bit of a "lone wolf" and even though my mother and I are getting along really, really well, it is nice for me to be able to recharge.

After I felt like I'd processed some emotions in and around my old neighborhood, I decided to walk to the Hills School and check it out. I used to ride my bike (BMX bike, yay!) to school, so it couldn't be that far.

Like the Jr. High in Main Camp, the Hills School also has a huge wall around it. I started out by going to the pool and snack bar area. Wow! Looks just the same, but the entry gate is a bit nicer. The snack bar is also decorated a little more "restaurant style" as opposed to cafeteria style. I ordered a cheese pizza for nostalgia. Jenna, they are not what we used to get, so you can stop dreaming of them :-) They are close, but not what we used to get.

The little maze area (was there mini golf too?) area is now just a run down looking play area on grass, but the pool looks the exact same. The locker rooms look nice too. They must have been spruced up.

I then entered the security gate into the Hills School. A lot of it looks much the same, but the outside landscaping has been upgraded. There is a huge play structure and lots and lots of grass where we used to have our bike racks. There is just a lot of grass that's been added surrounding the entire school. The basketball courts around the back are still there.

The inside of the school is still the same although, like the Jr. High, it seems a bit more colorful. The library is still in the same place in the middle of the building.

One of my goals today was to get out to the Hobby Farm (the stables) so I decided to walk there. The heat is not too bad this time of year... in the low 90s today, and I had lots of water with me.

On the way out of the Hills School area, I walked through the soccer, baseball, and track area. I remember a lot of red dusty clay, and that's now grass. Were there always 3 baseball fields and one soccer field out there? Well, there are now. The track for running is tucked in the back a bit and is pretty run down. The track is made of black asphalt! No, not even new asphalt.... just run down asphalt. Weird.

The walk out to the stables took me about 30 minutes from that area and I love the part of the walk that goes from housing to PURE DESERT. I used to ride my horse out in the jebels (desert and rocky areas), so it brings back many memories.

There is an Equine Flu scare in the Eastern Province, so security getting into the stables is a bit tight and reserved only for memebers. There was no one at the front gate, which was nice. Still, there are members who are keeping an eye out, so I had to keep a low profile.

There was just no way I could not go to the stables. Horses were my life back then and a lot of my fondest memories are times spent out there with Shannon and Ghislaine. The stables have REALLY been spruced up. A lot of the structures are the same, but tons, and tons of grass has been added as well as white fencing (it's plastic, but made to look like white picket wood) around the arenas. Another large arena has been added to the farthest end of the property and that's now the gymnkana field. The modules and main structure in the middle (dark green gazebo type thing) are still the same, as are the stalls.

Back where the lunging arenas were are now more stalls, tack rooms, and a hot walker. The groom's (laborers) quarters are now much better than the shanty town that was there before. This is an acutal "structure". For shame that it took them that long to put something decent in there for them!

It looks great. I'd have to say one good change to Dhahran has been that a lot of the landscaping and trees have had a chance to mature since I left, giving it a lush, green feel. In thinking back, a lot of the trees were pretty small when I was there. The stables is a great example of this.

Besides, the camp's "best retaurant" is the Chuck Wagon at the stables. Everyone says so. Perhaps that's why it seems to have been upgraded a bit.

I'd had enough of looking around the stables and proceeded to stomp off into the desert for a while. I spent so much time out there as a kid, I feel very comfortable in the hot sand and shrubs. I just sat out there for a good long while, letting the sun burn it outta me and remembering the way the sand slid and crunched under my feet. God, I love the desert.

How on earth did I manage out there during the summer though? And what's up with me never wearing sunglasses as a kid!? It's so terribly bright here! I'm honestly surprised I don't look like one big catcher's mitt by now with no sunblock or sunglasses for all those years out here.

After a nice amount of time, I took a taxi back to the 3rd St. Pool area with my mom. We had a quick tabouli and hummus snack, then walked to the Dining Hall for fried shrimp before jumping on the bus back to the hotel. Hmmmm... the fried shrimp were not quite what we remember.... the shrimps were really small and I'm not sure they were even fresh... maybe frozen? Either way, it wasn't the famous "shrimp night", put it that way.

It's been a long day and I'm dusty and tired. Gonna take a shower and turn in early.
Tomorrow we are going to Khobar in the morning (gonna buy some gold!) and then to Well #7 (the site of the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia) and the Oil Exhibit Museum later in the day. Ras Tanura the next day. Wow! Still lots of time here.

Today was good. I was eager to explore and feel like I've done that. Emotions are being released and the experience is finally sinking in. It means something different than I thought it would though....