Marhaban!

Thanks Liz for setting up this blog for us!!!! Sorry it has taken us a few weeks to get going, but getting internet here is a slow and arduous process. For my friends who have been to the Middle East there is lots of “inshallah” when it comes to appointments.  We still don’t have internet at home, and are hoping we will in the next few days.

Here are some photos of our home and community. We live in a man made oasis just on the outskirts of the Empty Quarter. 

Front view of our house. Our street is called Shamal which translates in arabic to wind, most often referring to sand storms. 

The view of our backyard from our bedroom. Just across the courtyard are our friends the Harder family who are from Shelton, WA. You can see to the right of the houses is the desert. It looks beautiful out, and you Washingtonians may be wondering why there are not people BBQing and enjoying the sunshine… At the time this picture was taken it was 112 F outside! : )

Our Neighborhood.

These are some shots we took just outside of our “town” of the desert landscape.

Rob was so excited when we found our first creature he ran and got the camera and said “we have to show this guy to Jen and Fil!” There are tons of insect and birds, and our neighbor said they saw a hedgehog in their yard. We are hoping for some more sightings soon!

We start school tomorrow (Sunday) and are looking forward to our next post about our classrooms. Hope you all are well! Lots of love and ma`a as-salāma,

Ashley and Rob