Ok, so I took the summer off and spent a wonderful six weeks in Calgary with Jolene and Jeremy in their new condo, and then July and August in Hamilton with Mike and Natalie at our new townhouse.  Plus saw a lot of family, hopefully enough that we created the memories to sustain us through the year ahead. Thanks everyone!  (Paul, you should...!!)
Now, I'm in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on a two year teaching assignment with the new Canadian school here, Advanced Generation Schools.
School website
It's a school that offers an Islamic/Arabic education along with the Alberta primary curriculum in English. This combined program of studies is unique in Saudi Arabia and our young clientelle are the elite. Jeddah is located on the Red Sea, roughly across from Sudan. There are a lot of foreign workers in Jeddah, contributing to it being the most liberal city in the kingdom. Yes, the abaya is still worn, but foreign women do not have to wear a head scarf or veil. On the compound,the abaya does not have to be worn.

So far, it has been an easy adjustment being here, because English is spoken almost everywhere, and the orientation process was greatly facilitated by the teachers who had been here for a year already. They've been very welcoming!

Here are some pics of the outside of our building which is inside a gated community for foreigners called Saudia City.

There are probably a few thousand people living in this one compound.

View from my balconey...