End Of Tour Summary - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
We spent two and a half years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on our second tour in the Foreign Service with the US Department of State. As you might imagine, it was quite foreign and it's a little hard to convey the full experience to those who haven't been here, but the following posts might give you some idea of what it was like.
Earlier:
So, yeah, it was an interesting tour. It definitely tested us in ways that we did not expect, and there were times when we seriously considered walking away from the Foreign Service all together. Maybe that's why our next post is to a vacation spot on the Mediterranean for the next three years.
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- Start of Tour Summary: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- One Year In: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Our Second Year in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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| Mosque, Petrol, Supermarket, and ATM: For when you're running on low on anything. |
Compound Life in Saudi Arabia:
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| One of these trees is not like the others. |
Things to do and places to see in Jeddah:
Local places to get out and see:
- Day Trip to Taif
- Ottoman Fortress at Usfan
- Moon Mountain at Sunset
- Return to Moon Mountain
- Diving in Yanbu
- Whale Shark Safari at Al Lith
- Mada'in Saleh (also called "the Saudi Petra")
Places to get out of Saudi Arabia:
Recommended reading & viewing for Saudi Arabia:
Saudi Arabia in the News:- A Long Weekend in Dubai, UAE (with kids)
- Legoland Dubai (pending)
- A Day in Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Bahrain (pending)
- Doha, Qatar
- Our Family Vacation to Turkey
- Our Family Vacation to Jordan
- Our Egyptian Nile Cruise
- Our Family Vacation to Sri Lanka
- A Long Weekend on Italy's Amalfi Coast
- Our Oman Excursions
- Christmas in Germany
- Christmas in New York City
Our Work Related Travel:
Other Blogs about Jeddah / Saudi Arabia:- A week in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
- Training in Bangkok
- A week in Beirut, Lebanon
- R&R 2015?
- R&R 2016?
- Home Leave: American Southwest
Recommended reading & viewing for Saudi Arabia:
- (23 Jan 15) Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz died
- (15 Mar 15) US shuts Saudi embassy over security fears
- (20 Apr 15) President Obama visited Saudi Arabia
- (24 Sept 15) Stampede kills more than 700 at Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca
- (28 Nov 15) Saudi Arabian executioners are having an unusually prolific year
- More News from Our first year in Jeddah
- (3 Jun 16) U.N. Adds Saudi Coalition To Blacklist For Killing Children In Yemen
- (4 July 16) Suspected suicide bomb attack near US consulate in Jeddah
- (10 Aug 16) The Houthis have fired missiles from Yemen toward Saudi Arabia at least 19 times between June 2015 and 23 July 2016
- (18 Aug 16) Saudi Arabia resorts to bombing own territory amid Houthi invasion of southern province
- (28 Sep 16) Anti-Saudi JASTA becomes Law as Congress overrides Obama veto on 9/11 Bill
- (28 Oct 16) Yemen's Houthi rebel claim a missile they launched was aimed at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah
- More News from Our Second Year in Jeddah
- (30 Jan 17) Rockets hit U.N. Yemen ceasefire office in Saudi Arabia
- (21 Mar 17) The United States prohibits electronics larger than a phone on several routes from the Middle East and North Africa.
- (21 May 17) President Trump visited Saudi Arabia
- (31 May 17) Gunmen attack school in Riyadh, killing 2
- (5 Jun 17) Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain cut off relations with fellow GCC member Qatar
Other news that affects us:
- (6 Dec 16) Republican Staff Report on Embassy Construction
- (6 Dec 16) Minority Response to Republican Staff Report on Embassy Construction
- (? Dec 16) Staff report removed from public domain for security reasons
- (5 Jan 17) House GOP Brings Back Holman Rule to “Retrench” Agency Spending, Cut Pay of Any Federal Employee
- ( 5 Jan 17) Senate Bill to Slash Embassy Security Funds in Half Until US Embassy Jerusalem Officially Opens (Of course, my next assignment would be an Embassy Compound Security Upgrade project).
- (16 Mar 17) U.S. GAO published the report "Embassy Construction: State Needs to Better Measure Performance of Its New Approach"
- (28 Apr 17) Continuing Resolution / State hiring freeze / staffing cuts
So, yeah, it was an interesting tour. It definitely tested us in ways that we did not expect, and there were times when we seriously considered walking away from the Foreign Service all together. Maybe that's why our next post is to a vacation spot on the Mediterranean for the next three years.
※
All Assignment Summaries
※
All Trip Summaries
You Might Also Like:
- Start of Tour Summary: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- One Year In: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Our Second Year in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- End of Tour Summary: Jeddah Saudi Arabia
- On the Job as a Foreign Service Construction Engineer
- Our Foreign Service Experience
- Entering the U.S. Foreign Service
- Other Summaries
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