Yanbu Introduction

I've come to find that Yanbu is a pretty interesting little town.  First off Yanbu is an old city...I'm talking 2500 years old.  According to Wikipedia., "Yanbu served as a supply and operational base for Arab and British forces fighting the Ottoman Empire during the World War I. It remained a small port town until 1975, when the Saudi government designated it as one of the country's two new industrial centres (the other being Al Jubayl on the Persian Gulf)."
The "Old Yanbu" part of town houses the ancient ruins along with a wide variety of buildings. Very few Westerners live there.
Our neighborhood has a wide variety of nationalities as well, and you'll find most of the Westerner's here.  There are two compounds (one nearer to Old Yanbu...Arabian Homes and the other The Cove.) And a neighborhood known as the Royal Commission. 

When I walk from our home to other houses in the neighborhood, it's easy to see the lack of care for the buildings.  They are crumbling, some are uninhabitable, the landscaping is not maintained, lots of garbage around.  However, whenever I enter someones front gate, you can see what people have done to make their homes beautiful.  Most of us take great pride in our yards .The inside of the homes are identical (some with more rooms than others, but otherwise, identical) and the furniture is nearly the same as well.  But, each, of course, has it's own unique style. It's fun to visit other families and see their homes.
All in all, Yanbu is a nice place.  At least I think so.  We have tons of parks and playgrounds for the kids, the Red Sea is just blocks away, and best of all...I've met some fantastic people. 
 
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Shopping In Yanbu !!

Shopping here is definitely an experience...and one that requires planning to say the
least. Prayer times reek havoc on a ladies shopping day!  There is no such thing as running out really quickly to the store.  You better know when each prayer time is before you head out.

One of our grocery stores is located in the mall.  Every single store gets closed for prayer. There are a bunch of people (mostly men) lined up outside the store with carts ready to go. So we line up with them and patiently wait.

When the prayer finally ends, the doors open and everyone rushes in, It is so funny to see everyone trying to get their shopping done so quickly!  the loud speaker's, you could hear them announce that everyone had 5 minutes left to wrap up their shopping and get out.  It was pretty funny. 

There are many stores here similar to the states.  We have H&M and Toys R Us and many more.  The malls are THE thing here since there isn't anything else to do.  In Jeddah, the malls are just amazing...too bad Jeddah is a 3 hour drive from us...making it a special trip when we can go.

All in all, it's safe to say that shopping here is quite the adventure and you just have to keep an open mind and a well planned schedule!  :) 

Mall In Yanbu

Hyper Panda Grocery Store

  Star Grocery Store

Life In Yanbu !

Life here is very easy.  By that I mean, compared to the constant battle for status found in most of the the globe, life here is very simple.  No one cares what kind of car you drive, how large your house is, if you have the most recent TV or not.the utilities(Gas/Electricity) are very cheap,we get 2 liters petrol in 1 SAR   

The same goes with garments, nobody's kids are carrying the newest Juicy outfit. there is also no competition between parents.  Parents aren't competing to visualize how many sports their kids play, how many instruments, how many languages...with other parents.  First off, most of the kids here already speak more than one language.  There are some sports like football, Swimming , cricket, table tennis, we actually have a club here with all the games, gym, sports, PlayStation, Xbox  e.t.c. The yearly membership for the whole family costs less than 200 SAR, Its pretty cheap compared to the facilities available.

You get to pay quality family time along, Since there is so very little to do here we discover things to do together.  We aren't rushing from one event to another.  We tend to have dinners as a family, talking about our day, watching movies together. Living here will force even the most reclusive person to seek out company.  You find people here and make strong bonds because it’s wonderful to have someone you can count on to understand how difficult life can be here.  Not only that, you get to meet an incredible variety of people from all over the globe.

Kids here are exposed to some wonderful things.  They meet people from all over the globe.  A variety that would be hard to find in most States.  children of all backgrounds and it really helps shaping their character.  They are learning to accept people no matter who they are, what they look like, where they are from.  We have friends from Finland, Scotland, Lebanon, Poland, Greece, England, France, South Africa, Pakistan, India, Italy, and more.  All in one little town.

The Red Sea :) It is definitely good for rejuvenating yourself and nearly  forgetting you're in Saudia.  The snorkeling and diving is extremely awesome.

With no Starbucks, no movie theaters, and a weak list of restaurants to eat at, no amusement parks, etc, well, you tend to save some serious bucks!  There we go.  A list of things that have a positive spin on living in Yanbu for me at least.  I will remind myself of these things when I start to feel angry or upset with life here

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Cars are very cheap here , I prefer to donate a used car rather than selling it. there are good Insurance companies for car insurance as car accident is a normal thing here. Most banks give Loans on very low Interest rate.There is a very Good American School here which provides quality education. The treatment in the hospitals is also very good.