I Survived

Today I had an experience that I never thought that I would enjoy...I spent all day with a room full of kindergartners. When I walked into the room, thousands of little eyes from different cultural backgrounds were looking at me. It was a wonderful sight to see so many cultural from around the world represented. One little girl from India locked eyes with me and smiled at me all day long. The classroom was full of action and I was impressed by the curriculum. These children could read at a first grade level, and I helped them do a game of subtraction. Do you remember doing subtraction at that age? The day went by very quickly.

I never thought that I would enjoy spending a whole day with children but it wasn't so bad. There was one child who had recently been diagnosed with autism. You could tell he was very intelligent but at every play break he was excluded. At the last play period I sat down and played a game of cars with him. He was polite and friendly. I am so proud that I survived kindergarten!! I should get a sticker for this accomplishment.

The Fish Market

It's a small world.  This week I met someone that I knew from my hometown. She was here visiting her daughter, who is an Aramcon.  We took the shopper's bus today into Khobar since both of our husbands had to work.  We went to my favorite mall, the Mall of  Dharhan. Her husband offer to take us home instead of the bus and to take us to a really fancy restranant. This would require us to spend over 9 hours in the mall, but it was wonderful. I am still amazed at the size of the malls here, I spend those 9 hours and still did not see everything.  I am sure I gained about 10 pounds because during each prayer call we ate a snack. Smoothies, pizzas, desserts, and cookies were all scrumptious. 

Later that night I was taken to the Fish Market. The Fish Market was an experience.  When you entered the restranauant you had to walk up four flights of stairs. There was aquariams everywhere full of all of types of fish.  I was required to pick out my own seafood from a large selection of very fresh product on ice.

We were able to obtain a seat by a window that overlooked a beautiful park. The park was filled with hundreds of families and there was a beautiful mosque in the distance.  I have observed in Saudi culture that everything happens later than in the states. For instance when we were dining it was approximatley ten at night but families were still arriving at the beach, and the restruanant. Children play in  the streets until very late at night. Society doesn't seem to get moving until Westerners are going to bed.  I was very happy to had the opportunity to experience the Fish Market.  However, am still ready to go home and eat some pork!!!

Only Me

It got up to 55C this week or 130F and it has been absolutely miserable for me. The hottest day of the year I somehow managed to lock myself out of the house. I went to the garage for a few minutes and I guess my husband had pushed the lock in without my knowledge. Luckily I see my neighbor is home, so I quickly run across the street. Every week they publish who is on call for lock out so I thought I could simply use the phone and wait patiently. When I rang the doorbell she seemed very shocked to see me. She invited me in and I ask to use the phone. She told me I could walk to the Housing office and solicit their help. Can you imagine someone with a car in the garage telling you to walk in 130F weather? She did offer juice for my journey, how nice! As I walking out of her door she told me she once used the window to get inside her home. How lucky for me my front window was open.

What a sight to see! I jump over using a chair as a prop and go in upside down with my legs sticking straight out of the window. I saw so many pausing to watch this show that I was putting on. In the end I got inside and now I check that garage door every time I go out of the house. Asking someone to walk in 130 degree weather, unbelievable.

Prison and Lashes

Check out the sentence for young teens that spent time together...

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article71462.ece

Let me begin by apologizing for not writing in a couple of days. I appreciate those of you that follow me and will try to catch you on things here in the Kingdom. Things have been hectic as I get the whole house painted. Since my last post we have a new person that has come into our lives. Many Aramcons ( Saudi Aramco employees) have housekeepers. In the Kingdom they are referred to as "houseboys" but I find that term to be somewhat derogatory to a grown man. A housekeeper was not my idea by any means. I already feel like I don't have anything to do with too much free time on my hand. However, am not fooled, my husband is preparing for some trips that I have planned and he wants to make for sure that all his bases are covered before I leave.

The idea of having someone come behind me and clean house after me was not appealing to me at all. I must admit as the days have went by our housekeeper is growing on me. He is a young gentleman from Bangladesh with a wonderful warm personality. My husband attempts to feed him all kinds of treats but he resist, am sure in him mind he is thinking he doesn't want to become fat like those Americans, ha ha. He responded yesterday that he likes being skinny. He laughs often and wants very much to learn about America. We learned that he has a brother in New York that he hasn’t seen in over 20 years, can you imagine? The housekeepers here are so willing to do anything, because many send money home to support a family. We are so fortunate to have someone that meshes with us so well. I could use to not doing housework!

Reptiles are not my friends

I don’t like pest, rodents, or reptiles. I despise these little creatures, and anytime I see one of them I immediately find a way to eradicate them. We have a little visitor in our garage and I am certain that he knows he my dislike for him and he is determined to torment in any manner possible. One of the first things that I wanted to know when I thought about the possibility of moving here was what types of pest are there. Everyone told me that lizards were here, but I didn’t need to worry. Well, they lied to me.


I saw the little guy in my garage when we first arrived here. My husband doesn’t understand my fear of lizards and keeps telling me that he is just a little guy. A little guy is what am accustomed to at home, a lizard that is no bigger than the length of a toothpick, this guy in my garage is a big as a remote control. We constantly have attempted to get him out of the garage but nothing is working. Yesterday I came home and made the mistake of letting the garage door down before I turned on the garage light, and I was alone in the dark with the lizard. I survived! I guess this little guy is going to be part of the family whether I like it or not.

There are alot of things that I am still trying to get accustomed to here in the Kingdom. This week I was in an office building and of course I was sitting on the female side because I don’t' have any other choice. I entered the room and a lady was sitting there completely covered in her abaya, and I immediately noticed that she seemed uncomfortable at my arrival. Later, two more women arrived with their sons and the only seating left was near me. These women chose to stand up rather than sit near me. I had smiled, and try to show them that I was a friendly person, but they wanted nothing to do with me. I felt so isolated by this incident. One of their sons was on the only side with his father and he kept looking at me when he thought I wasn't looking. When I got up, to go around the corner he gave me the most horrific look that any child has ever given me. This incident has stuck with me. Do they view me as the American devil?

This isn’t the first incident where local women have shunned me. My husband put it in perspective by telling me that they know that am American and how would I feel seeing a woman that is able to go in public without her head covered and enjoying more freedoms. Perhaps I serve as a reminder of their limited freedom. Even as an American woman am dealing with limitations on my freedoms as well. After I have these encounters I am always glad that I have the opportunity to feel like an outsider. When I return to the States I will make a conscious effort to go the extra mile to those visiting my country.

Last night my husband and I decided to take a drive into Damman. It's a trip we have made a thousand of times in a cab so we thought we would have no trouble finding our location on our own. Apparently, we made a turn to quickly and found ourselves surrounded by desert and construction. It didn't alarm us because we saw the corporation signs so we knew that we were in a safe area. I did mention to my husband that there was alot of signs that stated no photography. As we drove on for a little while we decided to turn around and go back. As we made the turn we saw a security office in the distance but we thought nothing of it, anyway my husband is employed with this company.

We stop a guy and asked him the quickest way to get to Damman and he stated “Follow me". We thought finally we are on our way. Suddenly we see three police cars blocking the roads, stopping each car. When they got to us, they told us to pull over and stay there. We stayed put for about twenty minutes. My husband and I both watch the National Geographic show “Locked up Abroad". and thought this is about to be our National Geographic story. The officer approaches our vehicle and wanted to have a little chat with us, but he didn’t speak any English. In fact all three officers did not speak any English. They kept speaking to me asking me if I spoke Arabic. I was able to decipher that they became suspicious when we turned around. They thought we may have been avoiding security. After they realized that we were not a threat they became very nice and I even believe that they thought it was funny. They let us go. At the next security checkpoint my husband pulled over and stated he was going to ask the checkpoint guys a question. I told him do not get out of the car, because they have machine guns!! He laughed and we pulled up and asked the question and off we went. Those who know me, know only I could find that kind of action here in Saudi.

I would like to applaud their diligence in protecting the area; because of their cautiousness we continue to be safe.

Determination

Some people have a true survival instinct. My husband is one of those types of people; I think it comes from his many years of traveling for work. Me, I have no sense of survival. If I can pick up the cell phone and have delivered, or call my husband I am not going to make it. We all know our weaknesses. I want to share a little story that shows my husband's determination.

My husband often rides his bike to pick up McDonalds for me in the city directly outside of the compound. This week when he went on his journey his bike chain broke and he had a flat tire. A Saudi gentlemen pulled up and asked him what he was going to do, my husband quickly replied “Give me your bike"; the gentlemen said “My bike"? My husband said "yes, for 150 Riyals". The guy got off his bike and gave it to my husband. Who buys a bike directly from under someone? I would never have thought to tell the guy to give me his bike. This bike was much smaller and really not tall enough for my husband. He said when he was riding off all the guys were looking at him laughing saying “Now you make the tires go flat" My husband had to have been twice as tall as the guy he bought the bike from. He looked so funny peddling that little bike home with the basket on the front.

It just goes to show, you never know what you can get until ask for it.

Reflection

I was thinking about a lot of different things that I wanted to write about today, but an old dream that I use to have as a kid come to mind. I have always enjoyed sleeping with my windows open, even in the wintertime. I use to cover my head completely under the covers and pretend like I was in the desert in Saudi Arabia. At that time I thought of Saudi Arabia very much like the cartoon Arabian nights. So now I wonder if it was always in the plans for me to be in Saudi Arabia.

The heat has really begun to affect me, and I hear that this is only the beginning. It is so hot here that when you walk outside you immediately feel the moisture being sucked out of your body. Yesterday I took a brief walk and covered with dampness. Gross! My husband said he had never seen me sweat before, he didn't believe it was possible. I often feel guilty when I see the Malaysian and Indian workers that they bring over to do more of the less than desirable work. Gardening, trash, etc. I understand that it's their choice to come and work in the Kingdom, but they are just trying to make a living the same as myself. They spend their whole day in the sun. I hope that I never get so comfortable that these things don't concern me. Peace!

Smoking

I guess I would consider this to be my own public service announcement.I never expected to see so many individuals in KSA smoking. I am asthmatic and the constant cigarette smoke has become quite an annoyance for me. In the United States it has become somewhat of a taboo to be seen smoking.It has been shocking to see smoking so openly accepted here. We have done such a good job of turning smoking into a stigma I hardly hear individuals proudly confess that they smoke anymore.


Here's are a few example of how acceptable cigarette smoking is here. I was in the mall today and all the men in the coffee shop were openly smoking in the middle of the mall. All the cab drivers have cigarettes in their pockets, and I even saw a young boy smoking yesterday. The Kingdom has an excellent anti smoking campaign running, and health care centers have outlawed smoking in their facilities. I am not passing judgment, but just concerned about the potential health risk. Remember when Americans smoked in abundance, and then we saw the rise of lung cancer. Save your lungs, put down the cigarettes.

Comfort Food

I knew that my finicky attitude toward food would be problematic when I came to Kingdom and I have tried to approach food more open minded but it’s tough. Chicken and more chicken is all that I seem to be eating day after day. Beef is limited here; I don’t see much sea food either, just chicken and more chicken. I like my chicken as much as the next person but I need a break. The kingdom offers wonderful fresh veal, dates, and the greatest roasted, seasoned nuts on this earth. I wish I could more like my husband; he has embraced the seasonings, and eats tabolii every day.

We don’t realize how much we associate food with our feelings. I can have an Oreo and during that time I almost forget that am in a foreign country. You can many American items here but they always seem to taste differently than at home. Living here has made me appreciate the availability of fresh food in America. I absolutely love that at home every corner has a grocery store; now shopping for groceries is something that I view as a treat. Americans often forget how fortunate they are to have the availability of items at their fingertips; I don’t have a Wal-mart or Target, gasp!

Anyway, if you are reading this and know me, I need a care package. Make for sure it has Twinkies, cupcakes, Doritos, and all the other junk that I like.