Hello…..I got here August 2nd last year so now I’m on the “down-hill” side of my 2 year contract to work in Saudi Arabia. I won’t say it’s gone fast but at times it surprises me that it’s already been a full year. On the 2nd I was standing in the 9th floor elevator lobby of the office looking out the extremely dirty windows at the dusty, dirty view of Khobar and Dammam thinking about my first day in Kingdom. I can remember back to that day and the trepidation I felt with being in a totally new place, new culture, new job and away from all the everyday stuff I took for granted. This year on the 2nd as I looked out the window I was also thinking, crap…..I have to do the commute back across the causeway in a few hours to get “home”. It’s over 100 degrees here and the humidity is so high when you leave the building it’s like walking into a hot wet blanket!
Yes, I’m now used to the work, the weather, the culture (for better or worse…..usually worse) and the commute. Although in thinking back over the past year I’ve had to admit to myself that I came with a lot of fears and preconceptions that, fortunately, have not proved out. True this is not the most wonderful place to work or live but it’s not what the world media makes it out to be. I have met some truly wonderful people and consider many my friends. Sure there are the radicals just like we have radicals and zealots at home but overall this past year has been a good one.
I’m now working on some interesting and challenging projects at the office which makes the days go much faster and holds my interest. I’ve found several Saudis that I have high hopes for and will be working a lot over the next 12 months with trying to train and mentor. There is a LOT of healthcare work in the Kingdom and in the Middle East in general so for someone that is good and wants to try something new give it a shot. One of the individuals is Hind, a 25 year old Saudi lady with a drive and passion for architecture that is refreshing. She has been working with me on 2 of the projects and has proven to have a lot of ability and talent. Another individual is Tareq; a great person, lots of talent, dedicated, very intelligent. However, Tareq is heading to the US for a year of advanced training so I don’t get to work with him this next year.  We do plan to get together in LA on one of my trips home.  There are others in the office with similar talent and initiative that I’ll focus on now.  I’ve said before that the true goal of my time here is to “work myself out of a job”!

Here is a photo of most of the people in the Buildings Group this past Thursday during a meeting to recognize 2 projects and the great job the teams have done.

All hands meeting at the office for the Buildings Group.

I now have 51 weeks left to go!!

My next post will be about my Eid vacation trip to Jordan…..Lots of pictures!

Ok, I’ve been really remiss with keeping current posts. So let this serve as an apology. This may not be long but it gets me going again. Yes, I know I’ve mentioned before that I’ll try to do better but then my weekends come and go, nights at home after work usually result in my having a quick dinner then falling asleep in one of the red chairs only to wake up around midnight or 2 am with a horrible neck ache! Every night that I let this happen (and it’s usually not more than 5 times a week!!) I resolve to NEVER let it happen again. That should tell you just how good I am at “resolve”!

So for those of you who don’t know or have never heard, it is Ramadan here. This is the annual Muslim month long fast and self denial to remind them of the blessings they have the rest of the year. Please don’t hold me to that description as being totally accurate but it’s the best I could do for now. Being here during Ramadan we are, by law, to abide by the same restrictions during this month as well. Actually it’s good for me! I’ve been gaining weight so when you aren’t allowed to eat or drink (even water) from sun up to sun down, it can flush your body. Just so you don’t feel too bad for me there is a room at the office where non-Muslims are allowed to consume both food and liquid. I am trying to abide the fasting but I give in around lunch to at least a small snack. There are other benefits to Ramadan namely traffic is SO much better!! Apparently the custom is to break fast after the next to last prayer (after sunset) with a meal called Iftar. Usually a very large and wonderful meal. I’ve been to a couple of Iftar meals and they are very good! I love the traditional Arab foods which seem to be much healthier as well. After this meal then families will stay up most of the night and sleep the day after. I’ll try to add more about Ramadan as I get through it.

This is just a very brief update and a reminder that I’m still out there and kicking!

More to come…..

I’ll bet that for the majority of you the thought of leaving a single relatively small window open for other than security reasons has never been an issue. Ah….well, let’s just say that from now on I won’t be doing that! My apartment is on the 19th floor of a very nice building in Bahrain so leaving a small window open for the fresh sea air never seemed like it should be an issue. My thinking is that unless a professional window washer or Spiderman wanted into my apartment I had nothing to worry about…..oh, now wrong could I be!!

Have you all ever heard of this little phenomenon called a sand/dust storm? Well….let’s just say that I got to experience “nature” throughout my apartment recently! Evidently the current “season” here is now DUST STORM!  I think I missed the “rainy season”, must have fallen asleep or something that day!

Anyway, it’s been days since the intrusion of dirt from the “most severe dust storm in recent times” and I’m still cleaning up.  I had to buy a vacuum with HEPA filtering because this dust is so incredibly fine it would go right through a normal vacuum.  Bought a mop, bucket, dusting spray, a duster…..a rather hefty investment but I was too embarrassed to tell the front desk and have housekeeping clean it up.  I’ve also purchases a box of surgical masks so I’m prepared for the next “storm”!!

Back to cleaning!

Dirt on and in my espresso machine!!

Pushed the dirt with the dust mop so you could see how much there was….

The culprit window is just above this….

The kitchen….

As some of you might know I have a Harley back home and miss riding it quite a lot when I’m here.  I also own quite a few Harley tee-shirts and brought a few with me.  I also bought a really nice Harley logo sweater to wear in the office because when it’s over 100 degrees outside they seem to want it about 50 inside!  Anyway, I was wearing this sweater one day and one of the other architects, Filippo (Italian) stopped me and asked if I really had one or if I was “posing”.  I told him of course I had a Harley after which he told me that he too had one only his is here in Bahrain!  It’s a one year old Sportster 883 and apparently he has not been riding it and his wife was not terribly happy about that.  Many if not most of you guys that have bikes and wives will know exactly what we’re talking about here!  So anyway Filippo offered to let me use/ride his bike while I’m here!!  How awesome is that??!!  When he first offered I was so busy I just didn’t have a chance to go over to pick it up so by the time I had time it wouldn’t start.  After a new battery and a couple trips to the dealership I’m now the very proud “borrower” of an awesome 883 blackout!  I had to buy a new helmet as there is a helmet law here which I’m very happy to comply with.  I also bought some new tint changing glasses so I can ride in both the sun and after dark with the same pair.  Gloves and jacket I brought over from home.

Ironically, I feel safer riding on the roads here than I do in my car!  I think it has to do with being able to maneuver much quicker and having many more options for “escaping” bad situations on the bike than I do in a car.  It is so much fun and so relaxing and reinvigorating to take the bike out for a couple hours each Friday and Saturday.  I only wish that I would be allowed to ride it on the causeway and then I’d ride to work everyday!  OK, maybe riding here in Bahrain is safer than it would be in Saudi but it’s still a nice thought!

Isn’t it a beauty?!

My new cool helmet! Makes me look tough! Well, as long as I take off the bowtie!

It’s even DOT approved!

I had to have Tareq model it for me. He’s another architect at work…..I think he thinks I’m really weird! But he’s a great sport.

What I left at home…..

This was my ’97 but now it belongs to a very grateful friend. Hated to see her ride it away but it’s in a better place!

I can’t believe that it’s been so long since my last entry but I guess the calendar doesn’t lie!  Promise to do a much better job of posting from now on.  I’m embarrassed with how I’ve let this fall to the side the past couple of months.
This week has been a couple of “firsts” for me and I thought I’d seem pretty much all there was to see that would make me go “hmmmm”. The first of the surprises: I’ve never seen it rain dirt before! OK, maybe a better way to describe it is mud balls. Apparently there is so much dust in the air that when it rains lightly it’s actually raining mud! Driving to/from work this week it was “raining” and I had to use lots of the water in the windshield washer just to be able to see. You know it’s bad when the wipers make a scratching sound as they move the dirt from side to side. At first I thought this was car splash but then I noticed that there were no cars around me and it was still covering the windshield.
Now the second thing: I’m sitting here in my apartment flipping through the channels and what do I find??!! It’s Arabic girls wrestling!! They appear to be wearing abayas under the white martial arts suits with head coverings and all!! GIRLS….in abayas with head covering….rolling around on a mat with a referee and screaming fans!….. When a head covering gets pulled off they have to stop and put it back on then continue. Wow….I just don’t know what to say…  The really awesome thing about it is that when the match is over these girls, almost without exception, hug each other with genuine affection and walk off the mat smiling ear-to-ear.  How cool is that??

These were the happiest “combatants” I think I’ve ever seen! It just didn’t seem to matter who won they all walked away with huge smiles!

I ended up watching this event for a while.  It was so refreshing to see how much fun these girls were having and how much sportsmanship they exhibited!  I think if guys could approach sports (on all levels especially the “professionals”) with this level of sportsmanship I’d be a fan.  As it is…..well, never mind, I’ll not go into my rant about  “professional sports”!  Trust me; you won’t want to hear it!

This one will be short – just an update on the issue with my car.  Wouldn’t you think that proving you have car insurance, especially when you actually do, would be an easy thing to do?!  Ok, I thought so too….well, evidently in Saudi it’s just not that easy!  It’s now been over a week, going on 2 that I can’t drive my car because they can’t prove the company has insurance on it even though there is an official, stamped, piece of paper that says I do!  I’m getting frustrated with driving a loaner car while mine sits right outside the front door of the office, covered in dirt waiting for its sad driver.

Enough on that subject.  Have to get back to the pecan pie I’m making to take to work tomorrow.

I’ll so another post later when I have the pie in the oven.

Before I left for the holidays (To Dubai) I let transportation at the office know that the letter of permission necessary to take my car out of Saudi into Bahrain was expiring on January 1st.  I did this about 3 weeks before it was to expire.  So I get back from my adventure in Dubai and go to work on Sunday.  During the day I find they have not renewed my police permission to leave the Kingdom with my car!!  Not only that but they renew car insurance on the first of every year as well.  So they give me the paperwork necessary to renew the permission and I ignorantly head for the police station on the Causeway.  I finally find the station and go in, hand them my paperwork and stand there…..and stand there……and stand there….. (you get the picture!)  I’m the only one there so the cops decide this is a good time to have personal conversation, in Arabic of course.  They are laughing, smoking and generally having a good time while I stand there…..waiting!  The one with my paperwork finally enters my number into the “system” then reads something and hands my paperwork back through the window and says, “no insurance”.  Now I KNOW there is insurance as I have a “stamped” letter in my hand saying that I do!!  Evidently a piece of paper is no longer worth anything!  I kept trying to find out what I could do but all I got was Arabic and, no, I don’t speak Arabic…..yet!  I ended up calling one of the Saudi’s that I work with and asked him to talk to the cop and find out what I could do.  After an animated, one-sided, conversation the cop hands my phone back to me and walks away!  I asked Sultan what he said and basically my insurance wasn’t coming up in the system so I can’t leave Saudi!  In other words, I can’t go home!  By this time it’s getting close to 9pm, I’m tired, hungry, frustrated and have to go back to Khobar for the night!  I was fortunate in that I had not yet turned in my key for my old apartment so I headed there to see if it was still empty.  It was!  So I spent the night in my empty apartment.  At least I had a bed and shower the next morning.  Same cloths for the second day but whatever.  Transportation hasn’t yet been able to “fix” my insurance issue so for now I’m driving a loaner car.  It is nice to be home again!

We’ll see what has happened with my car and insurance tomorrow when I go back to work this week.  Wish me luck!

This is Fontana Tower….my new home in Bahrain.

The view from my new living room! Not too shabby huh?! I’m on the 19th floor.

My favorite of the 2 baths in my new place. I don’t ever use the one that’s part of my bedroom suite! This one is so much nicer!

I have no idea where to actually start this one! So many things have happened since my last post. I know, it’s been the longest time so far since my last one and I need to have a really good excuse!

The big news is that I’ve moved to Bahrain! Now you have to look that one up so you’ll know where I’m staying now. I moved into a tower overlooking the water called the Fontana Tower. It’s a very upscale high-rise with lots of amenities: Indoor pool, outdoor pool, 2 hot tubs that will hold at least 15 people each, squash court, pool tables, ping pong room, BBQ, 2 restaurants, 24 hr. convenience store, 50 seat theater, steam rooms, huge workout gym, tennis court, basketball court….. I’ll include some photos. I’m in a 1-bedroom on the 19^th floor with a very nice view of the outdoor pool and the water. I can see a lot of Bahrain and I have a small deck where I can sit outside and enjoy the sea air. I get all of this for less than it cost to live where I did above the mall in Khobar, KSA! There are only 2 negatives of living here: I’m on the North side of the building so get NO direct sun and the other is these units only have the combination washer/dryer and it can take 3 hours to do a load of laundry. Other than that….this place is awesome! Oh, there is also the daily commute to Saudi from here. Mornings are no an issue and usually take me only about 45 minutes but the evenings…..wow, those can be nasty. My very first day of commuting it took me over 3 hours to get home!! Ok, that might have been because it was National Day for Bahrain. It was still awful and people are such jerks when the lines are long and slow! Sadly, the worst behavior was exhibited by those in fancy cars with Saudi plates! And somehow, I’m not terribly surprised with the way driving is in Kingdom. Speaking of driving; the driving here is so much different! It’s almost as sane as being in the States….almost. That in itself is refreshing. The car washes here cost more as does most everything but, again, it’s worth it. I know of at least 3 Jacobs guys who live here in addition to me so carpooling is definitely something we do. Ah, there is another thing I was reminded of as I was leaving to go for a walk this morning: There isn’t infrastructure for the sewer so it has to be pumped into trucks every day! It’s ironic to me that in my 1 bedroom apartment I have a full bath and a ¾ bath with a very large walk-in shower but there is no sewage system for the city! Oh, well….just don’t tell me where it all goes once it goes into the trucks! Ok, it’s still a really cool place to live!

So a few days ago I told you I finally received my Iqama and once I had that doors all over the Kingdom would now be open to me, so to speak! The day after I got the Iqama I submitted the paperwork to get my Saudi driver’s license. A couple of days later I have an appointment at the Saudi version of DMV, at 7:30 in the morning. Woo hoo…..I am on my way! One of the great things about working for a large company in the Middle East is that the process for most of the crazy stuff we have to do has been done so many times it’s second nature to the locals. One of the guys from transportation drove me out to the DMV (or whatever it’s called here) in his car and I’m ever so thankful that he did – I would have NEVER found it! We turn off the highway onto a gravel drive, through a gate and into an area that initially looked abandoned until I see all the men lined up to take the driving test! There must have been a couple hundred and I’m thinking “OH NO!” I’ll be here all day! But NO, I work for Jacobs and I have an escort! We are driving through a very large parking lot, passing lots of empty spaces and I’m thinking….uh, do you not see any of the empty spaces?? Hello!! He gets us to the entry and actually pulls up onto the sidewalk and drives to a “parking spot” in front of the door!! I asked if this was his “personal” parking space but alas, he doesn’t have any idea what I just said. We go in and he motions for me to have a seat – he’ll stand in line for me!! Cool huh?! So while he stands in line I read my book! Anyway, he gets to the window and motions for me to come up. All I have to do is put my left thumb print on the paperwork and we’re done! For Americans to get a Saudi license we don’t have to do anything other than some paperwork!
Back to the office and my normal day and to wait. The next morning when I should be receiving my driver’s license another guy from transportation walks up to my desk with my paperwork: my license had been denied!!! i see some red Arabic at the bottom and he proceeds to tell me my application was denied because, and I quote, “Denied, Ladies are not allowed to drive in the Saudi Arabia”! What?? By now all the guys around me are getting quite a laugh. Then I get the rest of the story. Apparently when I entered the Kingdom at the end of October on my newly acquired work visa the guy in immigration checked the “Female” box and NOT the “Male” box!! Seriously??!! My pictures are all over every document and in my opinion I am definitely a guy or I’m the ugliest lady ever to enter the Kingdom!! So now I’m a “lady” to the officials here! In order to fix the mix-up I had to send my passport and Iqama to some official office to get gender realignment!!
I can now say I have my gender corrected passport and Iqama back! However, I’m still waiting for my driver’s license!

There was another first for me here this week. It rained 2 days! It didn’t just rain, it stormed! I was sitting here in my apartment and saw flashes and deep rumblings and I’ll admit my first thoughts were NOT a storm! Happily it turned out to be lightning and thunder. The storm pounded this area for a couple of hours and the rain came in sheets….what a wonderful change. But the next morning, other than wet, sometimes flooded roads there wasn’t much to indicate such a powerful storm the night before.

I took a short video of the storm but I can’t seem to figure out how to get it off my phone and into this post…..I tried.

I just went through what I wrote….wow, I’m wordy! Sorry about that. I’ll spare you anymore this evening. Time for me to go to bed anyway.

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, was a good day! I finally received my Iqama!! I’m guessing that you have no idea what I’m talking about do you?! In Saudi the Iqama is the equivalent of the US “Green Card”.  It is pronounced pretty much like “E-comma”.  At least that’s the way I hear it!  I started working to get this little brownish, laminated card about my second week in Kingdom…..that would be the second week of August and I got it today! Tomorrow, or maybe Tuesday, I hope to get my multi-entry visa which will then allow me to come and go as often as I please. This is a very important visa as it will allow me to move to Bahrain if I so choose. I believe I will “so choose”! I don’t dislike my apartment here in Khobar but I would like to be able to go see a movie or go bowling on a weekend. There are many benefits to living where I do now, above a very large shopping mall, but I think I want to give Bahrain living a try. I’m pretty sure that if the commute gets to be too much I’ll be able to come back here though maybe not to this particular apartment. This has been a very comfortable, safe, quiet and enjoyable place to live but I want a bit more freedom and to get that I need to move. I think this coming weekend I’ll head over to Bahrain early Friday morning to beat the traffic on the causeway and once there look for a new place to call home. A lot of the expats working here in Khobar live in Bahrain so there is a good chance that I’ll be able to find a carpool as well. I’ll keep you posted.

Now back to the Iqama. This little card makes many things possible here, such as; opening a Saudi bank account, getting an ATM card, buying a cell phone, buying a “personal hot spot”, get the local health insurance, get a Saudi drivers license! Of course getting a local drivers license will lead to much improved driving on my part! I just wish it would help all the other guys on the road!

This past Thursday evening I went to dinner with 2 of the guys that I work with, who are both from the States, at Outback Steak House located on the Corniche.  The following evening they invited me to their apartment (They share an apartment as neither believe they will be here very long).    They split the cost of a nice Weber BBQ and had decided to break it in.  So we had smoked chickens, beef, veggies and some misc. stuff.  A very good meal!!  I am now thinking that I might want to get a little Weber one of these days.  The meat tasted really good!  The only thing keeping me from getting a BBQ is that I’m thinking about moving to Bahrain and if I do that I may not have a patio/deck where I could actually use it.  Most of the buildings where other expats live in Bahrain don’t have decks and are high-rises.  I plan to go over next weekend to check into it.  There is another reason….I don’t have a lot of space so the more I accumulate the more I have to move and deal with over time.  Do I want to do that?!  I’ve already got a LOT of stuff here not to mention the 200+ pounds of what I brought from the States on my two trips here.

Granite pavers for the sidewalk……only here! This too is at the Corniche.

It was a beautiful morning at the Corniche…..again!

Guess I’ll post this and follow up with another this week about my trip to Bahrain.