We have finally bough a car! A guy that works for CPChem and his wife are moving to Saudi Arabia permanently and their car was for sale. We wanted to buy something used and we wanted to buy it from someone we knew and God just hooked us up! :) It is a silver Lexus RX350 with virtually no miles on it and it has been taken very good care of by the owners. Mike and Cindy are moving somewhere around the 20th, so we are in a rental until then! Ugh...and we got a new rental this week...and it is SMAAAALLL! I am having difficulty getting used to the sensitivity of the brakes...as the girls so graciously tell me every 5 minutes! I will be glad to be back in an SUV and out of a small car...especially with all the crazy drivers around here.
We just got back from a week in Germany on Sunday! I am sure that most of you have seen our pictures of Germany on Facebook, but I will post them again here just in case you haven't.
We went for the DoDDs European Tournament. It was three days of all volleyball! The girls were so sore. They did really well for their situation. Even though we are part of the DoDDs(Department of Defense Dependents School) system, we are at a major disadvantage. As far as my understanding goes....in order for us to qualify to play in that league we have to only have as much coaching/playing time as all the rest of the European DoD schools. It is volleyball season in Europe, but unfortunately for us, our season does not start until February. In order to be able to still play our Island League season AND the DoDDs League we can only practice so long....soooo, even though we practiced as a team for a little over a month, we have not played a match/game as a team. That is a HUGE disadvantage for us since the other teams have played 7-10 matches and maybe even some tournaments. For having never played together as a team the girls did REMARKABLY well. They played 7 different teams best 2 out of 3. They only won one game, but they brought every single game to within 3-5 points. They even have girls on the team that have never played volleyball before. Because our school is so small, we have a smaller pool to choose from...it was difficult getting enough girls to fill the spots. Regardless of their losing, it was a lot of fun! We got to meet a lot of new people from Italy, Germany, England, etc.
John, Madeline, and I went a day early because the tickets were over a thousand dollars cheaper...that was a no brainer...and it gave us time to sightsee in Frankfurt. We all went to Ramstein on Wednesday and because there were no games until Thursday John, Madeline, and I took a really quick trip to Luxembourg. It was only an hour and a half drive. Unfortunately it was cold and rainy, but we still got to see a good bit of the country...it is tiny so it didn't take long. Everything closes at 6:00 p.m. so we didn't get to shop...which was probably a good thing for our pocketbook.
We all boarded the charter bus at 7:00a.m. Thursday to be taken to Vogelweh (a smaller base by Ramstein) for our first game at 8:30a.m. The girls played 4 matches that day...from 8:30-5:30 they played 9 games. That is a LOT of playing for girls who haven't had their first match yet. They were tired and hungry by the time we left the gym for the hotel! The next day we had to do it all over again....This time they only had to play 6 or 7 games so we finished at around 3:00p.m.
We got to go to the commissary both days and I was like a kid in a candy store. There are a few things that you cannot get in Bahrain that are plentiful in the U.S., but I wasn't aware of them until I got here. Had I known that you couldn't get them I would have sent them in my air shipment. Most of the stuff that you cannot get here we can do without or find a local replacement for....one of the things I have not been able to find a replacement for is canned green chiles. I can find fresh green chiles and green chile sauce (that is so hot it burns a whole in your stomach) but no canned green chiles. I got 10 cans of green chiles at the commissary along with 10 cans of Rotel (there are substitues for Rotel in Bahrain, but no replacements for Rotel...lol). Green chile chicken soup for dinner this weekend! WOOHOO! It is difficult to find Tostitos, but we can find substitues...so queso is also on the menu this weekend!
The other thing that I cannot get in Bahrain because they are banned is poppy seeds. I make this awesome poppy seed chicken casserole and I have not been able to find poppy seeds...obviously. So I also got 2 jars of poppy seeds. Did I also mention that the prices are about 10% cheaper at the commissary than the military would pay in the U.S.? Which means that the prices for us were 55% cheaper!!!! We were in heaven. We even got a bag of REAL DORITOS! Of course the volleyball girls snacked on them so they didn't make it home to Bahrain...lol!
The last day of the tournament was the championships for all three divisions and they were held at Ramstein AFB. The bus took us there and, as we passed the PX, all of our mouths dropped open...it was as big as a mall with an actual food court and stores! It was like an oasis...a mecca for Americans in the Middle East. Clothing and food is so expensive in Bahrain that when you CAN get American items, it is almost price prohibitive. For instance, the coach purses at the PX were about 10% less than what you would pay in the US...so one that I was looking at was $218...in Bahrain it would be more like $400. The backpack Madeline asked for for Christmas was $398 in the PX and is more like $600+ here...needless to say, she is not getting it for Christmas. I looked like an old lady with my purchases as I went to the pharmacy aisle and stocked up on Omeprazole, Pepcid AC, Geritol vitamins, and other various sundries that you CANNOT get in Bahrain. I brought what I thought would be enough, but we have only been here two and a half months and we are almost out of all the stuff I brought. Ugh.
The girls that went on the trip for the most part were just amazing kids. There were 7 Americans, 2 Canadians, 1 Chilean, 1 Indian, and 1 Bahraini. It was a nice mixture of cultures....they are all such good kids too...there was a team from an American International School in England that was staying at the same hotel and they were loud, obnoxious, and they destroyed hotel property in their rooms...our girls were mature and well-behaved. Our coach and athletic director, Coach Sherer and Mr. Herrera, did a great job at organizing and chaperoning the girls. They even had a 2 hour study hall where some girls had to take their tests from school. Both of them are very young, but very impressive with their control over the girls and the situation. It was very organized.
This is one of the perks of living overseas and going to a DoD school. This is the kind of thing that we took in to account when we were making the tough decision to take the job here or not. I am so glad today that we did because things just get better and better here. The girls have amazing friends and amazing opportunities to learn about different cultures, travel, and just broaden their view on the world. This has been an experience that they will never forget and will change who they are and what they become.
God has blessed us beyond our wildest beliefs! There aren't enough words to describe how thankful I am for his blessings.
We are counting down the days until Sarah and ALISON come for Christmas! We cannot wait. We are going to shop and shop and hopefully take a side trip to Dubai for New Years.
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