Ma Salama C and T!

This is the last in a series (for a little while) of goodbyes in Yanbu.  We have two ladies who spent less than 6 months (I think) here.  These are ladies who are about my age, but very young in spirit.  They both jumped into activities here with both feet.  And as is usual here, they are not only very distinctive from each other, but distinctive from everyone here, except that like most everyone here, they adapt and improvise. 

C has been living on the west coast of the US, but has lived various places in the US including Texas.  She has also lived in Iran for a period of time.  Her husband of many, many years is Iranian.   She has a deep appreciation of things Middle Eastern.  She is a wonderful cook and has introduced us to many dishes from Iran.  She loves and knows gold jewelry.  And to me, strangely enough, she LOVES abayas!  She loves going to Ladies Street and going into the abaya shops to see what is new.  This always seemed odd to me because the abaya shops are filled with tons of abayas-all black, all long sleeved, mostly high neck.  It almost seemed a joke to me the first time that I went inside one-rows and rows of long black abayas.  They differ in the cuff decorations or along the front opening.  They may have white, blue or another color stitching on the cuff.  Maybe stones.  But C. loves it.  She probably has more than 6 abayas.  But she loves them!  She is fun loving and joins in lots of activities.  Although she has several fused vertebrae in her neck and upper back  and a few health issues, she has hiked around old Saudi mud villages with us, was the model for an impromptu "cat walk" abaya fashion show by the pool and walks circles around most of us around the compound.
Here she is in her favorite activity, trying on items at the abaya store:

T is from Canada.  Like C, she is a great cook.  She has also demonstrated her hoola hoop and belly dancing skills, and trekked around the old Saudi mud villages. She is a riot at the Fitness class.  She reminds me of a bunny when she does the pretend jump rope exercise.  She is always smiling.   She is a very friendly person interacting with everyone she meets with a friendly smile and great energy.  I enjoy watching the shopkeepers' moods change as she gradually gets them smiling and laughing .  On a boat leaving an island after snorkeling, the boat hand was  walking from the shore to the boat carrying the heavy tent and carpets on his shoulder getting ready to heave it to the guy on the boat. Up jumps T and says "Can I help?".  She is a little bitty thing and the guy just smiled at her.  
What makes her attitude more intriguing is the fact that she had a tough early life, losing both of her parents at a young age and having some difficulties afterward.  But she has not let it make her bitter.  She is the most open and optimistic person, always willing to help and go the extra mile.   

We needed to give these ladies a Middle eastern flavored goodbye!  There is a very nice restaurant that serves Lebanese food.  They have very good food and they make a very pretty presentation of it.  

 K, whose company provides drivers, arranged for two other ladies, L and M, from that company to join us and that gave us three cars to get 15 women to the restaurant.  So, we had 1 lady in the front passenger seat, 3 in the normal back seat and 1 in the jump seat in the back.  The drivers were waiting for us at the compound bus stop.  We were all dressed in our abayas, as you can see.

Here are some pictures of us seated at the restaurant.  Of course, since we are ladies, we cannot just sit out in the open part of the restaurant.  There is a "family" entrance on the side of the restaurant.  As you enter that door, you must ascend the stairs.  Then, there are approximately 10 curtained family rooms.  We had to split into two groups because none of the rooms would accommodate 15 ladies.  So, we had 1 Farewell lady in each room.  The waiters keep the curtains closed and knock each time before they deliver the food or drink.  In the picture below, you will see T in the back left corner.

Unfortunately, my camera phone could not adjust for the light streaming into the second room.  Even with the curtains closed, it was too bright.  But that is C in the back left corner.

Here is a picture of T in the family room with her mint tea:

Here are some pictures of the food:
The first is an assortment of various dips, hummus, red pepper, and others.  Plus, there were spring rolls, salad and the yummy Arab bread.

 The picture below shows the tray of appetizers (hummus, etc) and the right is a tray of bbq meat (beef, chicken and lamb) with a bread/dough covering the dish.

 Fresh Arab bread, which I love too much.

In the next two pictures, on the table in front of the ladies is a pitcher of Saudi "champagne", sparkling apple juice with lots of fruit in it.

The waiter took a group picture of us before leaving.  You can see the entrance to one of the family rooms on the left.  We had very good service at this restaurant.  They were very friendly and efficient.

The drivers were on time to pick us up and we climbed in.

 See this sweet young girl in the back.  I had started climbing in the back jump seat and she would have none of it.  She insisted that I come back down and  that she get in the back.

Here is C getting in one of the cars:

 This is one of the very nice and helpful, young drivers.

Ma'Salama, C and T!