text: TIBET TOURS & TRAVELS WITH TIBET SHAMBHALA ADVENTURE Tibet Shambhala Adventure Co. Ltd is a Tibetan-owned adventure Tibet travel company based in Lhasa. All staff members, including office workers, guides, drivers and cooks, are Tibetans. We are enthusiastic about trips to Tibet and have a deep knowledge and understanding of our culture, religion and environment. Tibet Shambhala Adventure will introduce you to the wondrous regions of Tibet and allow you to discover Tibet differently with more unique, authentic and localized experiences. Tibet Shambhala Adventure was founded in 2000 and is a fully registered and internationally licensed Tibet travel agent company under the administration of the Tibet Tourism Bureau and China National Tourism Bureau. Our Tibet tour group specializes in Tibet trekking, Kailash adventure tours, Tibetan homestay treks, small peak climbing, motor biking and mountain biking, plus tours of remoter and less visited parts of the Tibetan world. We also offer unique, custom-made tours and treks throughout Tibet…Read More Tibet Group Tour For more than 17 years, our Tibet tours and travels have been exploring every corner of Tibet in small group tours. Our Tibet group tour is limited to 9 people. Traveling in a small group tour allows us to provide the highest quality of service during your trip to Tibet while allowing our visitors to experience real discovery and friendship. It can also benefit you to lower the Tibet tour cost by sharing with others. View All' Kailash Tour The sacred peak of Mount Kailash. An extraordinary mountain on earth. The best spiritual adventure. A once in a lifetime journey. View all Kailash tours Tour Details Most Popular Private Tibet Tour Whether you are celebrating a special milestone or gearing up for an outdoor adventure, our private Tibet tour provides the personal support of our experienced Tibet travel agent and specialists. Personal specialists for your Tibet trip will remain your point of contact throughout the entire planning process of your trip to Tibet. They will help you to arrange the perfect Tibet tour experience for you and your group, making sure it's guaranteed to delight and surprise while meeting your budget. Tibetan Culture & Nature TourTibetan culture and nature tour is one of the most beautiful Tibet trips which starts your Tibet tour from.. 11 DaysLhasa 2 Minimum Group Size Details Lhasa to Nepal Overland Tour with EBCLhasa to Nepal overland tour with Mount Everest base camp is one of the most popular Tibet trips, including.. 11 DaysKathmandu 2 Minimum Group Size Details Tibet Everest & Namtso TourTibet Everest and Namtso lake tour is stared from Lhasa with cultural highlights of Tibet tour in Lhasa. This.. 11 DaysMt. Everest 2 Minimum Group Size Details Central Tibet Cultural TourThe central Tibet cultural tour is one of the richest cultural Tibet tour. This Tibet tour shows you the.. 9 DaysLhasa 2 Minimum Group Size Details Tailor-Made Tibet Tour Perfect holiday Adventures of your dreams Extraordinary experiences Designed just for you Start Here Tibet Travel Experts Dawa Tsering, a resident of Lhasa city, has worked 17 years in the Tibetan tourism industry,traveling to the every corner of Tibet including the western and eastern Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan, Kardze Tibetan Autonomous.. Choedark was born in Lhoka region in Tibet and he has moved to Lhasa 20 years back because of his great passion to come to Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. He served as an English speaking tour guide from the beginning.. Dekyi, as a resident of Lhasa city and has gained a great professional experience from some of the big mainland China commercial companies. She works as a sales manager in Tibet Shambhala Adventure.. Tsenam was born in Nakqu prefecture of Tibet, and worked in tourism after his graduation. He has worked as an English speaking tour guide from the beginning and then hotel management.. Read More.. UNIQUE, AUTHENTIC & LOCALIZED TIBET TOUR At Tibet Shambhala Adventure, your passion for Tibet travel is what drives us. Whether you want to have a family holiday adventure, venture to a remote part of Tibet — which takes you off the beaten track by using horse or Yak — or by riding your own motor bikes orbi cycles is up to you. How you want your Tibet group tour to proceed is entirely up to you. You can see the world's highest and most beautiful scenery via a train ride tour starting from Xining or have the most colorful rich Tibetan festival tour, which goes beyond your imagination with authentic local Tibetan experiences. Perhaps you're interested in having a small Tibet tour adventure with Himalayan peak climbing. No matter your passion, our knowledgeable Tibet travel agent and specialists will help experience the wonder and beauty with an exceptional and unique itinerary for your Tibet tours and travels. Tibet TourTibet TrekkingTibet Family Adventure TourTibet Festival TourTibet Train TourTibet Motorbike TourTibet Mountain Bike TourTibet Winter Tour AUTHENTIC TIBET TOURS DISCOVER AUTHENTIC & LESS VISITED TIBET TRAVEL ONLY WITH TIBET SHAMBHALA ADVENTURE Yunnan Lhasa Overland TourYunnan Lhasa overland tour is one of the most popular Tibet over land adventure tour. You will start Yunnan Lhasa overland tour from Kunming which is the capital city of…18 DaysLhasa Tibet Monastery stay tourTibet Shambhala Adventure always works very hard to to make unique, authentic, and localized Tibet trip package and Tibet monastery stay tour is one of the most unique, authentic and…15 DaysLhasa Authentic Tibet TravelAuthentic Tibet travel is the best localized Tibet travel and experiences, organised by Tibet Shambhala Adventure, the best local Tibet travel agency based in Lhasa. Tibet Shambhala Adventure is a…14 DaysYamdrok Ganden Samye TrekkingTibet Shambhala Adventure introduce you Tibet differently by arranging different unique and authentic Tibet trek. Ganden Samye trekking is one of the mid level best Tibet trek. It is not…10 DaysGanden Samye View All Tours EVENT & NEWLY EXPLORED TIBET TOURS SPECIAL EVENTS & ACTIVITIES THAT COMMEMORATE SOMETHING WITH TIBET SHAMBHALA ADVENTURE View All Tours Make Your Tibet Tour Memorable by Experiencing Cycle Tour in TibetPosted on :December 3, 2018If you love to cycle on an all-terrain bike, then why not cycle in Tibet, by booking into an organized cycling trip to this mountain Kingdom? Cycling in Tibet, is definitely not easy, with its rugged mountains and sudden turns and surprises along the way. But for an enthusiast and one with a love for […] Get Enrolled With Day Tour to Enjoy the Natural Beauty of TibetPosted on :November 30, 2018Tibet, with its glorious peaks and sprawling grassland and lakes, is a place where even the Gods take time to rest and relax, according to the mythology. Here, where people worship the peaks as their own, and the air is filled with the chanting from nearby monasteries, you can find peace and tranquility for your […]View All Tibet Travel News Tibet Travel PermitPOSTED ON: 2018-10-14To make your travel to Tibetan land, you need a single entry China visa and Tibet travel permit. This Tibet travel permit is the key for all the international tourists… Namtso lake tour in TibetPOSTED ON: 2018-10-11Because of global warming and climate changes, Tibet also had lots of rain this summer and Tibet has earlier snow fall and the weather becomes colder than usual so this… The Shoton Festival in Tibet 2018POSTED ON: 2018-08-16The Shoton Festival is one of the most revered and anticipated events in Tibet that attracts the attention of thousands of tourists that plan their trip to attend this festival… More News… Why Tibet Shambhala Adventure More than 10 good reasons to travel with us Local Tibet travel agency Tibet born team member Best knowledge and free information Expert Tibetan field staff Our own tourist vehicle Representative all over china and Nepal Family visit Handicraft and Thangka galley visit Local restaurant and hotel Local school visit Unique hiking and camping, Free cooking class Fast reply No third party commission No hidden charges No forced shopping


text: Need some advice bhw.. Ive been having a browse through one of my cpa networks and came across a good cpa offer.I wont dislose what and where cos i aint even started it yet, if it works i'll share for one and all, but in the meantime.... I typed in the keyword and there was like 20 million competing pages, so alongside the google keyword tool i started fiddling with some longtailed keywords and have around nine gooduns. With the exact phrase feature enabled on google keyword tool, and using the allintitle when searching for competing pages, i have 9 good longtail keywords, which offer about 3,000 searches, and the competition is no more than 400 for each keyword...im assuming ive done this part right so far... Next i intend to create a site with the most popular keyword in the url...i'll put my banner/offers on here... I was also going to write an article for each of the long tailed keywords, ensuring the keyword density is correct and throwing in some other keywords as well.... Im going to create 9 videos with powerpoint and camtasia and name each video after the individual keyword, as well as including the keywords within the video description, submit these to tubemogul.... I was then going to create some wordpress sites, blogger sites etc and include the articles i had written, as well using the articles within my website, i may spin them for these sites im not sure yet... Anyway all this ive learned from here and i intend to be up and running by next week, im just wanting some feedback on what ive done so far and what else io could do,...am i doing this correctly, do i need to change anything or have i missed anything out??.. All help as always, much appreciated... Thanks bhw John

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Wordpress / Bootstrap 4 / Full Stack Developer
Welcome to my portfolio, and thanks for dropping by! My name is Isaac, based out of Kemptville, Ontario, and I love everything and anything web related. I work with clients to produce beautiful, accessible and useful projects which help their interests to grow and flourish online.
I've worked on a broad range of projects for large companies, small businesses, charities and individuals looking to reach people through effective web and email marketing. Have a look through some of my favourite projects, and don't hesitate to get in touch, if you'd like to talk about what we can achieve together.
The key is to get your brand's message to the right people, the right way, at the right time. And that's what I do. To strike a chord with your customers. To mean something to others.
That's what you want your communications to do. To strike a chord with your customers. To mean something to others.
I look forward to hearing from you...
#tags: Web Design Kemptville, Kemptville Web Design
Kemptville, ON
phone: 613.797.4506


text:
This week turned cold and snowy and so we had to move the opening of the greens until next week, Thursday April 2nd. The weather next week should be much improved! The course is coming out of winter in great shape! Hope to see you soon!
|Snow covered the course earlier this week.


text: GOSHEN -- A Goshen teacher accused of having sex with a high school student appeared in court Thursday. Mel Trowbridge, 44, of Goshen, faces two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, one a Class B felony and one a Class C felony. If convicted on both counts, Trowbridge, a teacher at Waterford Elementary School, faces up to 28 years in prison and up to $20,000 in fines. Elkhart Superior Court Judge George Biddlecome entered a not guilty plea for Trowbridge at the hearing. Biddlecome also ordered Trowbridge not to have any contact with the alleged victim, who was 14 at the time the alleged crimes occurred. Trowbridge made no comments after the hearing. During the hearing, he answered Biddlecome's questions with one- and two-word answers. Court documents indicate a former student of Trowbridge's, who is now 15, had sex with the teacher at least 10 times from July 2005 to August of this year at Trowbridge's Goshen home. Trowbridge is free on a $100,000 bond. He is on paid suspension from Waterford Elementary School while the investigation continues. Biddlecome set a plea bargain deadline of Dec. 14. Staff writer Yonika Willis contributed to this report. Staff writer Erin Miller: email@example.com (574) 235-6553


text:
Girlies Pass Review
Reviewed: 2011-11-16
Quick site rank and complete review of Girlies Pass | Categories: Legal Teens, Lesbian, Softcore, Solomodel
User Rating For GirliesPass
Price & Payment Options
Pre-checked cross-sales
Tour Promises
GirliePass.com promises hot girl action, full nudity, thousands of pictures, high quality definition movies, tons of naughty girls.
My Opinion About GirliesPass
6 sites
Girlies Pass is quite a deal. Not only does this network offer 19 sites for the price of one, but inside the members' area you'll find sexy, innocent teens frolicking nude, naughty babes playing with dildos and vibes and even a few chicks satiating their teen lust on big cock. Since hardcore doesn't reign supreme for this collection of chicks, the site will likely best appeal to those who love cock-teasing nubiles, but the nice thing is that they all have the potential to be naughtier than they are and the few girls that do enjoy toys or boys are determined to drive you to nut.
The members' area has a fairly straight-forward and basic set up. All sites are lined down the page so that you can easily access your favourite girl or site. Of the sites, 15 are solo models and the remaining three, TeenAmbitions, BratSluts and CuntMunchers feature multiple teenagers in solo and lesbian action. Aside from accessing the individual sites, there is a page-top menu with selections to whisk you to all the photos or videos, but when you link to those pages you'll find that they are set up in the exact layout as the members' page. However, there is a guest gallery of photos that delivers some extra content for you. While there is quite a lot of content when you add up everything from the 18 sites, there really aren't a lot of ways to search it or even to sort the girls or content into those who merely pose nude as opposed to those who play with girls, with toys or with dicks. This is an area that is in much need of expansion.
Fortunately, you can count on fantastic quality content. There are 1200x800 photos and while WMV appears to be the only available download, the 7000kbps, 1440x1080 quality is bar none. The lack of multiple formats might be a little disappointing, particularly if you were looking for mobile content, but there aren't video streams, either, and this is a little surprising. You can simply open the file on your computer, but it will take just as much time to download, so you may as well save the films. The other thing I wasn't particularly fond of was the lack of scene descriptions. You can glance at the thumbnail previews of the videos, but the pictures truly don't tell much about what the girls do until you actually download and watch a flick. There are plenty of fetish moments with schoolgirl type uniforms, panty teases and there are a few babes with piercings or who dress in latex, but sussing out the chicks who actually do more than strip off their clothes is a little daunting.
Another drawback, aside from getting virtually no information about the girls, is the lack of interaction, especially on solo model sites. Since the network primarily contains solo models, it would be nice to see bios, diaries, wish lists, even a personal contact or social network links. All the individual sites are a little sparse when it comes to these items. Basically, the network, and many sites within, are geared toward giving members a quick jolt of pleasure from photos or videos, but there is little that feels personal around the members' area of GirliePass.
Features solo model sites within the network include StaceyRocks, StaceyLacey and ChloeLovette. The remaining sites are sometimes referred to as micro-sites, although I'm not exactly sure what this means since half of them offer as much content or more than the featured ones.
Final Verdict
GirliesPass delivers some very sexy teen babes and while a good number of them are cock teasers, there are a few determined to pleasure themselves and you in their solo, lesbian and cock sucking movies. The quality of the content is truly superior and there is more than enough to keep your attention for quite some time, especially considering the low membership fee, but the network is a bit basic offering no profile information about the models, no interaction with them and not even providing us with scene descriptions to juice up our imaginations.
Visit Girlies Pass
Members Area ScreenShots
Sample Pictures
Visit Girlies Pass
GirliesPass Network Sites
GirliesPass provides network access to all sites listed below, with one membership.
Note : We only list sites we have reviewed, there might be more in the network.
|Site Name
|Sweet and naughty girls orgasm while others touch, fuck and eat them out.
|Babe with piercings in softcore solo and lesbian action.
|Network of 18 solo model and cock-teasing teen sites.
|Brunette teen cock tease who loves other girls and a bit of dick.
|Solo and lesbian teens in soft, cock-teasing videos.
|Naughty brunette teen who loves to play with herself.
Visit Girlies Pass
Girlies Pass review scores on other review sites
Below is a list of review scores from a limited number of trusted porn review sites.
This way you can compare them with our rating and make a more educated decision.
|Site Name
|Sawa's reviews
|The Best Porn
Average score on other review sites : 80/100
User Comments
Visit Girlies Pass


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just like consumer demand created dolphin-safe tuna, shoppers choosing products made from sustainable palm oil are starting to make a difference
(PRWEB) July 21, 2014
Naples, FLORIDA: Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens is celebrating International Tiger Day on Tuesday, July 29, 2014. This global event is held annually on July 29 to both celebrate these majestic cats as well as bring attention to what we can do to help this endangered species. Between 9:30 and 3:30, the Naples Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers will be sharing how choices at the grocery store can either harm or help tigers and other rare wildlife. Special presentations are also scheduled at Tiger Forest at 12:15 and 3:00. Plus, guests can participate in a raffle for a chance to win one of two pieces of art painted by the paws of Naples Zoo's Malayan tigers and even submit their best tiger pic in a Facebook Photo Contest!
Shopping for Tigers
An ingredient commonly found in our soaps, cookies, frozen foods, and many other household items often comes from plantations that clear-cut the jungle homes of rhinos, orangutans, tigers, and other endangered species. It's called palm oil but goes by dozens of different ingredient names making it hard to identify on labels. But just like consumer demand created dolphin-safe tuna, shoppers choosing products made from sustainable palm oil are starting to make a difference. You can learn more at http://www.napleszoo.org/palmoil and download the free app there to see if the companies making your favorite products love tigers and other animals as much as you do.
Tiger Facebook Photo Contest
Naples Zoo is hosting a fun photo contest where entrants can post images of the tigers at Naples Zoo playing in their pool or going face-to-face at the glass – or any tiger photo they have snapped anywhere. The person with the most VOTES for their photo will win their choice of a Family or Grandparent Naples Zoo Membership along with a plush tiger toy gift basket compliments of the Naples Zoo Gift Shop. To enter, visit the Zoo's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/napleszoo and click the Tiger Photo Contest tab. The contest is now open so photographers can enter anytime. Contest ends at midnight on Wednesday, August 13, 2014.
About Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens
Celebrating its 95th year as a botanical garden, Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization cooperating in conservation programs at the Zoo and around the world including tiger projects in Malaysia. In addition to being accredited by The Morton Register of Arboreta and a member of the American Public Gardens Association, Naples Zoo has also achieved accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the international organization that sets the highest standards in the world for animal care, education, conservation, and more. Admission includes both the zoo and historic garden along with all shows, exhibits, boat ride, and animals from apes to zebras. ($19.95 adults age 13+/ $12.95 children 3 to 12, under 3 free. Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult at least 18 years of age). Annual memberships and discount tickets are also available online. Visitors enjoy healthy meals at Wynn's at the Zoo and shop for wild gifts in The ZOO Gift Shop. Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens welcomes guests daily from 9:00 to 5:00 with the last ticket sold at 4:00 and is located at 1590 Goodlette-Frank Road across from the Coastland Center mall in the heart of Naples. To learn more, visit http://www.napleszoo.org or call (239) 262-5409 or follow the Zoo online at http://www.twitter.com/NaplesZoo or http://www.facebook.com/napleszoo.


text: A lot of the time, I will be browsing the web or checking out YouTube videos when all of a sudden wifi will disconnect and I'll have to stop what I'm doing and find the wifi settings and reconnect. What the heck. Edit: I am not moving while this happens.


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Embarcadero Technologies Announces MySQL Product Bundle
- 29 May, 2006 15:11

2005 MySQL "Partner of the Year" Reinforces Commitment to MySQL Developer Community

Melbourne, Australia – 29 May, 2006 – Embarcadero ® Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: EMBT), a leading provider of strategic data management solutions, today announced it will reinforce its commitment to the MySQL developer community by offering a MySQL Bundle Promotion.

Recognised at last year's event as the MySQL AB "Partner of the Year" for its critical role in driving widespread adoption of MySQL Network and enabling support for MySQL Network across their strategic data management solutions, this year Embarcadero continues its commitment to bringing dramatic cost savings, performance and reliability to MySQL users by offering a bundle of its three key products supporting MySQL.

The bundle includes:

DBArtisan, the leading cross-platform database administration solution that helps database administrators maximise availability, performance and security, and boosts productivity so existing staff can manage more databases.

ER/Studio, a model-driven data architecture and database design solution that helps companies discover, document and reuse data assets with round-trip database analysis, design and implementation support.

DT/Studio, a cost-effective, scalable and easily extensible ETL (Extraction, Transformation, Loading) solution that helps organisations rapidly consolidate data from many disparate systems into consistent, accurate information that can be trusted.

The Embarcadero MySQL Product Bundle helps users to streamline the MySQL migration process. It allows users migrating from any database to MySQL the ability to analyse their data sources prior to migrating data. As a result, they can identify problems early on and significantly reducing the overall migration effort thus paving the way for a successful migration. The MySQL Product Bundle enables users to handle data type conflicts, data quality issues, and many other potential migration pitfalls as part of their overall migration projects.

About Embarcadero Technologies

Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: EMBT) is a leading provider of strategic data management solutions that help companies to improve the availability, integrity, accessibility, and security of corporate data. Nearly 12,000 customers, including 97 of the Fortune 100, rely on Embarcadero Technologies solutions to maximize their return on corporate data assets and to meet the challenges of explosive data growth, escalating data security requirements, and complex, multi-platform data environments. Embarcadero Technologies is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. For more information, call 61 3 9861 4600 or visit www.embarcadero.com

Embarcadero, the Embarcadero Technologies logos and all other Embarcadero Technologies product or service names are trademarks of Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts:

Rob Stirling
Markom Marketing
Ph: 61 2 9977 8922

Philip Ball
Embarcadero Technologies
Ph: 61 3 9861 4600

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Through discussion you and I have decided that now is the time for you to have a crown on one of your teeth. Teeth are crowned because
- They are broken down and cannot be fixed with normal fillings
- They have a crack that is threatening to destroy the tooth
- They have had a root filling and have become weak and brittle
- They already have a crown on which has failed
Your crowning procedure takes 2 visits.
On the first visit the tooth is prepared and moulds are taken of your teeth. You will be made a temporary crown that is made of plastic to wear until your second visit.
On your second visit, if the crown fits it is stuck onto your tooth with special dental glue. It is normal for some adjustments to be done both to make the crown fit to the tooth and to fit well when you bite your teeth together.
Things to remember:
It is not uncommon for a crowned tooth to be sensitive to hot and cold after it is prepared, and after the crown is fitted. This sensitivity should be temporary in nature. If it persists or gets worse, you should contact us by phone as it may indicate the following point may be occurring.
Crowning a tooth carries a risk to the nerve inside the tooth. There is a 1 in 10 chance that the nerve will die after a tooth is crowned, in which case the tooth would require a root filling to save it.
You will be wearing a temporary crown for 2 weeks. These temporary crowns are made of plastic, and as such can break if you are not careful. You must avoid hard foods, chewing gum and sticky foods as all these can break and/or loosen your temporary crown. If your temporary crown breaks or comes off YOU MUST contact us. Failure to do so may mean that your crown will not fit, meaning we will have to start your treatment from the beginning.
When your crown is fitted, we will do all we can to make sure it feels comfortable. However, this is a very complex process and on the odd occasion the crown will need further adjustment. So if after a few days something doesn't feel right, please phone us.
White crowns on back teeth are white because they are made with porcelain. Please avoid biting on anything hard like pork scratchings, gob stoppers etc as this can break the porcelain.
If looked after crowns have an acceptable life span. You will need to brush twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste, limit sugars from your diet and floss/use interdental brushes to keep the tooth and gums clean and healthy


text: Manchester: Liverpool football club manager Jurgen Klopp has signed a new six-year contract to remain in Anfield until 2022. Klopp, who arrived at Anfield in October last year as a replacement for Northern Irishman Brendan Rodgers, led the Reds in his first season to the finals in the Europa League and Capital One Cup and eighth place in the Premier League, reports Efe. In addition to the German coach, his assistants Zeljko Buvac and Peter Krawietz also extended their contracts with Liverpool on Friday. "It's hard to express in words how honoured myself, Zeljko and Peter feel by the commitment shown in us by the ownership and the club in general. We are very much at the beginning of our journey, but to already have the connection we have with this very special place is incredible," Klopp said. Principal owner John Henry, chairman Tom Werner and FSG president Mike Gordon today jointly said: "When you have an individual of Jürgen's quality in the building it makes perfect sense to secure that person for the long term. To not do so would be irresponsible. The German coach,49, came to Anfield after coaching Borussia Dortmund for seven seasons, where he won two Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and two DFL-Supercups, and which he led to a Champions League final.


text:
Back in Saudi Sand!
Well, after a month of being home in Jeddah, I`ve finally found the time to write. What's driven me (almost forced me because I'm slightly incapacitated...) to write has become somewhat of an opportunity to contemplate life here. Since last night, I've had a terrible, terrible stomach ache that simply won't go away! I left work early this afternoon with the ever-growing sensation of knives stabbing my insides. Not fun. I've had stomach problems my whole life; I remember being in grade one and going to a specialist with my mom. No doctor really diagnosed what's wrong. Considering that the elimination of various foods didn't point to anything diet-wise, my conclusion is simple. Stress.
|Back to the desert!
"Stress...in Saudi Arabia?!" you may be asking. "Aren't you in the most laid-back part of the world? Where things take forever to get done, where taking your time is the name of the game?" Well, let's go back in time a little bit and recall the time when I thought the same way...
What We Expect
Since returning to Jeddah on September 3rd, this past month has flown by in a flurry of, yes, chaos and busyness. When I first moved to Saudi Arabia, I was under the impression that all things in the Kingdom are done in a leisurely, relaxed pace. I was "sold" on the idea that moving here would mean a new lifestyle marked by short workdays, lots of holidays and opportunities to travel, and weekends spent gallivanting around shopping and visiting with friends.
At his job, DH, who was here for two and a half years before I joined him, comes and goes depending on his class schedule. Some days, he teaches for three hours in the morning and is then free from 11am on! Needless to say, I had some pretty rosy glassed on when I decided to move here!
|Commuter train in Toronto
Today at work I was chatting with my wonderful boss, M. She's really sweet and we get along amazingly well, Alhamdulillah (Arabic for praise God!). Years ago, M used to work in Paris. She commuted back and forth from work to home for three hours a day. She took a bus, the train, and was rushed, rushed, rushed with work, family, and life commitments. This is life in the West. I, too, as an undergraduate student, graduate student and an employee often felt simultaneously burdened with so many commitments: extra-curriculars, volunteering, school work, teaching and research assistantships, funding applications, family responsibilities, and later on wedding planning to top it all off!
And then came the opportunity to move to KSA. "Yes," I thought. "Finally a break. Finally all my hard work, my rushing here and there, my chaotic life will come to a halt." I couldn't wait for a change of pace.
What We Actually Get!
And then I arrived in Jeddah. The first month was absolutely wonderful. I'd been waiting for months on end for my visa (for that story click here: http://pinkjeddahsunset.blogspot.ca/2011/09/time-is-very-slow-for-those-who-wait.html, and here: http://pinkjeddahsunset.blogspot.ca/2011/11/day-42-why-we-wait.html), and DH and I, then newlyweds, had spent some torturous time apart (really—it felt like forever) while I waited for sponsorship. I arrived here mid-semester last December, and had to wait until the new term at the end of January to begin teaching.
In the meantime, DH showed me around my new city, took me for dinner, drove me to the Red Sea Mall, the Red Sea, and showed me a good time. And then I started working.
|My first trip to the Red Sea,
December 2011
Reality Sets In
Starting a new job is not easy. Neither is being in a new country. Being newly married isn't a walk in the park, either! Needless to say, it was a tough, tough year adjusting to all these new things.
Oh, how I resented my husband at the time. (I'm sorry, my love!) My job was (and is) NOT a simple "go in for your classes, then head on home" kind of job. While DH often brought work home, he, as a man who is permitted to drive here, had the "leisure" of being able to drive straight home after work. Even if I finished class at 11am, he taught until 4pm on those days and so I had to wait for him, my DH, my DD (designated driver!).
|Wishing I was allowed to drive our car...
Exit/Re-Entry Visas
On top of this, DH had promised that we'd have the chance to travel and "see the world" when I moved here. [Let me pause for a second and draw your attention to something quite *interesting* [insert sarcasm here!!]: Saudi Arabia is the ONLY country in the world where you not only require a visa to ENTER the country, but one to EXIT and RE-ENTER again. A person's employer / sponsor must issue this document for a person who is not Saudi to leave the country.] So, go figure that when I finally arrived in Jeddah, it was the first year that DH's workplace stopped allowing employees exit / re-entry visas at any time other than over Hajj Break (the annual pilgrimage to Makkah). Like some large corporations, DH's university gives long vacations a number of times throughout the year, but no longer allows employees to leave the country. How frustrating!!! Last year, I did end up visiting friends who are teaching in Kuwait, but without DH it just wasn't the same. This year (actually, in just over two weeks a really good friend of mine and I are traveling to Ireland for our vacation!) I guess it`s not all bad news--at least I can come and go!
|No traveling for him...
Overall, my misconceptions about what it meant to "work" in Saudi Arabia were honestly one of the worst perpetrators of my negativity and consequent attitude about being here. The college where I work isn't just another "private" college. It's an internationally-accredited, degree-granting university. The first one in Jeddah to be American accredited, in fact. Accordingly, we have extremely high standards, academic and otherwise, to maintain, and this means that faculty necessarily have to work longer and harder than instructors at other institutions. At the end of the day, though, this is what drew me to my place of work. I had other job offers (I wrote about one of them here: http://pinkjeddahsunset.blogspot.ca/2011/05/delays-and-other-job-offers.html), but my school has so many benefits.
|The College!
|The garden at work
The Silver Lining
As with other Saudi schools, it's an all-female environment. Once I'm at work, I can take off my abaya and hijab and wear what are considered, by Canadian standards, "normal" business-casual clothes. OH, THE FREEDOM!!! Seriously, when a man enters the college (to fix something or to give a workshop, etc.), alerts go off over the PA system: "A man is in the building. Please put on your abayas. I repeat: put on your abayas!!!" Sitting at work or teaching in the classroom in an abaya and hijab is definitely not as comfortable as wearing "normal" clothes. I prefer that the men stay away!
Although I worked so much last year—and in fact I've been teaching two extra classes this semester because we're waiting for another faculty member to receive her visa; I've also taken up a tutoring position three nights a week—this year is much better. At the college, we have lots of extra-curriculars, events and activities. Last year I taught piano lessons to Saudi students, and this year a colleague and I have started the Drama and Music Club. We'll put on a production each semester and get the girls involved in the fine arts.
The college also has English and Arabic Journalism Clubs, a Mock UN Club (that won something last year in a competition at Harvard!), sports clubs, and basketball, badminton, and dance teams, just to name a few! It's a bustling, busy place.
|The atrium where the Club Fair was today!
|Champion Sports Room
We offer majors including Law, Business, Fashion and Interior Design, Architecture, Arabic, the Social Sciences, and many others. Graduates have gone on to complete master's degrees and PhDs in America, Canada and Europe. I'm really and truly proud to be part of the community where I work. Yes, I work a lot of long, hours, but what teacher doesn't (okay, maybe there are *some*...)?
And I Wouldn't Change a Thing!
(...except for my stomach ache lol)
At the end of the day, most of my students are hard-working, honest and respectful young women who have solid goals, plans and ambitions they can't wait to embark on! We have fantastic discussions about social issues, women's rights, and the ongoing rapid changes—especially in women's education, as I've described above—in this rapidly-developing country. I'm thrilled to be a part of this amazingly inspiring social change in Saudi Arabia, and am honoured to spend so much time with this strong, determined generation of Arab women.


text:
Herbert Kartluke, 69, of 2813 Russell St., Allentown, died Tuesdayin Sacred Heart Hospital. He was the husband of Dolores A. (Varick) Kartluke. They observed their 40th wedding anniversary last April.
He was a chemist and technical adviser for Vale Chemical Co., Inc., Allentown, for 14 years before retiring in 1984. He previously worked in the same capacity for Aero Projects, West Chester, Chester County, for 10 years.