Fish Market.....

First off, sorry for the bombardage of posts all in one day. I don't update for a month, then I post four at once. Anyway, took a fun trip yesterday and wanted to tell you about it.
I am a member of the Women's Group here at Aramco. They have weekly meetings, activities and it's just a generally fun group. Yesterday they hosted a trip to Dammam, a city about half an hour away to visit a fish processing plant, fish market, herb shop and vegetable market. We left on the bus at 7:00 am. These are my two good friends, Leanne and Donna, on the bus. These ladies make living here fun! First we arrived at the fish processing plant and immediately had to put on these "surgical" looking caps, gowns and masks. Guess they didn't want germs getting on their fish! At first I thought the masks were for the smell but there really was no stink at all.

They gave us a nice tour then served us a fishy snack. (see later post.)

We saw fish of all colors, shapes and sizes. Some were pretty, some were not!

Next stop: Vegetable Market!

A few funny things from the trip......

Between the fish and veggie markets, we stopped at a little herb store. We found a couple of interesting items!

A closer look so you can read it.......so....what do you think this is for?? Oh, and darn those "manufactural" cycles, aren't they a pain?? (click to enlarge)

I've been meaning to post a picture of one of these. This is what a typical Saudi restroom stall looks like! Yes, basically a hole and the floor with no toilet paper. But there is the handy, dandy sprayer. At the bigger places like the malls, theaters, etc. there is usually the option of a "Western" toilet. And the floors are always soaked even if they are clean! Go ahead and try to get a visual of us maneuvering this situation with no hooks to hang your purse and doning a floor-length black abaya! You'll enjoy it!

And yes, my friends, those really are skinned goats you see hanging. Tempted??

Never a lack of something fun to see here in Saudi Arabia!

Vegetable and Fruit Market.....

I cannot even begin to tell you how great the vegetable market was!
These guys love to have their pictures taken. He was pretty proud of his squash.

Now I really do understand that these are way, way, way too many pictures of fruit and veggies. The problem was I love them all and couldn't decide which ones to post, so.......I posted lots, but trust me, it's not all!

....and can I say how much I love my new camera?!?!?!

Here are all the ladies loading our stuff onto the bus.

After the market, we were brought back to a beautiful park in Dhahran for an Arabic picnic. Donna, Leanne and I decided it would be fun to unload all our stuff on my front lawn and take pictures of it. So fun!

It was just a super fun day!

Fish Sticks......

Ever wonder how fish sticks are made. The wondering is all over for me! We watched it first hand at the fish processing plant. It all starts with a big, rectangular block of frozen fish. They put it through a machine that cuts it into little rectangles.A little guy stands there and straightens them all out.

Next, they are sent through a stream of flowing batter.

After the tour they had us go in a lunch room and they served us fish sticks and fried shrimp.

Just for the record, this place was super clean and I would totally buy Alasmak brand of fish.