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Come June, I'll be living in...
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia!!!
Now, before you say "Oh...I'm sorry..." 
(as most of my family has said thus far)
- we are really excited about it. This was actually one of our top three picks. The international school there is supposed to be great, the housing is nice, and there are decent job prospects for me at the embassy. And if I am able to learn enough Arabic to pass the language test, my chances of being hired on as an FSO will be vastly improved.
During our two year tour we'll also get two paid flights back to the US or to our R&R point (lots of FS lingo here) which happens to be London. Not bad.
There are going to be some quirks that will uniquely impact me, such as not being able to drive one of these:
and having to wear one of these:
...but I'll save a lot of money not buying gas or clothing. 
All joking aside, I'm totally up for the cultural adventure. Thanks for all of your interest and for letting me vent A LOT lately! I will definitely be blogging my adventures when I get to this strange new land. We can discover Saudi Arabia together!
Re: Come June, I'll be living in...
There is apparently a huge Filipino community in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia is certainly much more culturally diverse than I expected! I'll PM you my blog. I've posted it here under my old name, but I'm trying vaguely to be a little my incognito on the Nest.
That is so cool! What an exciting experience for you guys. I really admire you - I'm not sure I could move out of the country. I hope you'll keep your blog really up to date so I can follow your adventures!
When are you actually leaving now? (Sorry if you've posted that and I just missed it/forgot!)
ETA: Reading comprehension FAIL. Clearly, I needed to reread your post title. Don't mind me!
Ellie ~ 3.29.12
Wedding | Blog
Wow!!! That is really neat. So anytime you go out you have to wear the head wrap? Sorry if I sound stupid, I know nothing about the culture there. Also no women can drive? I also would be interested to follow your blog, I'm sure there is a lot I could learn.
Very cool. My friend grew up in Saudi. She is American; her dad is a doctor at Aramco. She has cool stories to share.
ETA: I would like to follow your blog as well. Will you PM me?
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Imma need a link to your blog. I had a couple of friends in college from Saudi Arabia, but I won't judge the whole country based on them
Congrats on getting one of your top picks. It must be so exciting to finally know.
My silly Lily is almost 4.
SO EXCITING!!! I would love to follow your blog also! And I hope you stick around here with us too!
This is going to be the most amazing adventure, and like you said, I kind of feel like I'll be "discovering" Saudi Arabia along with you, through your blog and your posts! Sooooo very neat.
How do we pronounce Riyadh? Ree-yad?
That is really wonderful that you got one of your top picks. What an exciting adventure and experience this will be for your entire family!
That is so exciting!! This is goig to be such a life experience for you and your family.
Can you PM me the link to your blog as well, I would love to follow it.
I'll PM everyone who asked for the blog link. I'll definitely try to keep up my blogging and hopefully some Nesting after we move. I don't know how the censorship might be there though so don't fault me if it turns out they ban the Nest and all of its "sexy" talk.
SCJB143, your questions aren't silly as I didn't really know much about any of this until we started researching it last month. I will have to wear an abaya (the long black robe) out in public. I believe I read that it's not legally in Riyadh to go out without abaya, but you are a lot less likely to be hassled by locals and the morality police if you go ahead and assimilate somewhat. Many western women in SA do not wear a head scarf or cover their faces though. I think I might go as far as wearing a head scarf, but I wouldn't wear niqab, which is the veil that covers the face.
Women are not allowed to drive in SA. If I am out with my husband, obviously he can drive- so we'll have a car there. The rest of the time, if I want to go out without my husband, the embassy has a motorpool that escorts females in the diplomatic community if they want to go somewhere outside the embassy compound. What is going to be really nice is that almost all of the diplomatic housing is a mile or less from the embassy so DH's commute (and hopefully mine too) will be very short.
Lauren, I believe it is pronounced Ree-yad in english. If it's not, then I've been saying it wrong and no one has corrected me!
Alzigator, Riyadh wasn't Option A or B. Those were Bamako, Mali and Moscow, Russia. We were trying to decide which of them to rank high on our list. Bamako ended up being top three and Moscow ended up being bottom three. DH researched more about racism in Moscow and after reading about a few attacks on non-white members of the diplomatic community in broad daylight, he decided that he'd rather take his racially ambiguous self elsewhere. In the long-run, though, we'll probably have to deal with racism on some level whereever we go- including Saudi Arabia, of course.
Wow! What an exciting time for you and your family. I'm glad you were able to get one of your top choices. June will be here before you know it!
I would also like to follow your blog if you don't mind. I would love to read about your experiences living in a foreign country.
How exciting!!!!! Congrats!!
How was the whole ceremony? How many people 'graduated'
/received their flag (I'm not sure what to call it)? Did they announce where each person was going? If so, where were some of the others assigned?
I'm so happy that you're excited about your placement. Kuddos to you! What do your kids think about SA? Your DD would have to wear the robe & head scarf as well, right? I'm assuming they teach Arabic in school. Is school segregated by gender?
What about for you? Do they offer any classes to help you with the language/culture before you depart?
What will your housing be like?
I'd love to follow your blog too. I have a million questions. I'll stop for now.