Our New 'Home Sweet Home'

We arrived safely in Riyadh after a LOOONG trip here. So far so good and we've been impressed/shocked with many different things (which we'll get to in future posts). First and foremost our house - it is incredibly spacious, especially for us who have only ever lived in one-roomed bachelor apartments. We have a kitchen, open concept living/dining room, pantry, maid's quarters, two bedrooms and FOUR bathrooms.

Mike and I keep trying to talk to each other through these cement walls because we're so used to being able to talk to one another from any point in our homes. Our house came fully furnished but we've made a few trips to IKEA and other stores to buy some essentials (microwave) and decorations (paint and pillows).

From the temperatures we have seen (46 Celsius during the day) the best feature of our new place has to be air conditioning. I think Mike's other favorite feature was the school provided Hyundai Tuscon waiting for us in the driveway that is also 'ours' while we're here (no more walking in the heat aww yeah).

Our compound has a nice pool, fully equipped gym, restaurant, library and tennis courts - all just a block away. I mentioned to Mike that it feels almost like we're leaving on an all-inclusive resort. He was quick to point out the fact that if it was an all-inclusive, we should be able to come back to our villa for a drink!

Random fact #1: The water that comes out of the 'cold' tap is still pretty warm.