I am completing my 4th week in Kingdom tomorrow and have to admit that I’m starting to get used to most of the differences between here and home.

This post will be mostly unrelated thoughts and observations of what I notice from day to day or what has been happening.

Wednesday at work we had 2 full fire alarms.  Both were “false alarms” but only because there wasn’t actually a fire.  What tripped the alarm were broken sprinkler pipes or heads.  Evidently these are just breaking off rather randomly and once the water starts to flow it triggers the fire alarm.  I know at home we always kind of enjoyed the chance to get out of the building and stand around talking for a while.  Here though….not so much!!  The first alarm happened about 10am.  So remember that I work on the 9th floor which because of parking levels and a mezzanine level I’m actually 13 floors up!  The stair is NOT air-conditioned and there are over 1000 working in the building.  The stair is also at the very minimum width per code (I think it’s less than code but it’s hard to prove) so you can’t really go down the stairs 2 abreast.  I think it took about 10 minutes to actually get to the ground floor.  And if you know much about codes…..the Exit stairs only open INTO the lobby!!!  Not to the “public way”!!  Go figure!  Any way, once I finally got to the ground floor we exit the building and head to our assembly location which is 2 blocks away in a dirt parking lot.  Oh, it’s also about 100 degrees out, humidity is in the 80% range and the sun in blazing.  I’m in my “signature” bow tie and dress shirt and sweating like a race horse at the end of the Kentucky Derby!!  Since I’m a “farm boy” I just happen to have a bandana in my back pocket which I use to mop the sweat from my bald head and then wear like a hat.  Believe it or not….it helps!  So there are about 1000 sweating men standing around in the sun in a dirt parking lot for about 30 minutes!  They finally tell us we can go back so now we all trudge back to the lobby.  There aren’t that many elevators in the building so think about several hundred, hot, sweaty, smelly men trying to get packed into elevators that are no more than 4′ x 6′ to get back to the upper floors!!  I took the stairs back up!!  Yeah, it was hot and I was panting like a dog when I got back to me desk but at least I didn’t have to pack into an elevator with guys oozing garlic and curry from every pore!!  I’m a white guy from the Midwest, I need my personal space!  Besides, taking the stairs is about the extent of my exercise since I’ve been in Kingdom.

Fire Alarm #2 came about 3pm…..now it’s about 111 degrees!  Same story just more sweat this time!

Something else that I’ve noticed here.  More often than not when a building has outlived it’s usefulness it is often just abandoned, not demolished and a new building is built right next to it.  I can sort of understand this as there are hundreds of miles of undeveloped desert out there so the city seems to be “moving” to the West over time.  Oh, and the new buildings…..well, they never seem to actually get completed!  More about that phenomenon in a future post.

It’s Friday morning here, Holy Day, so most businesses are closed if not for the whole day at least until after afternoon prayer.  I woke up bright and early at 5am feeling rested and anxious to do something different today.  So I got up, got ready and drove down to the Corniche (the beach) for a run.  I got there about 6:15am and it’s already 92 degrees and humid again.  But I’m determined.  This will be my first run in over a month and I’m not going to let a little heat and moisture take that away from me!  I’m thinking, it’s Holy Day so I should have the beach to myself.  Wrong!  Not even 6:30 in the morning and there are already families on blankets having picnics!!  The place is really busy.  There are lots of Eastern expats fishing using poles and cast nets.  And apparently they are catching fish!  So I take off on my run.  I get out about a mile or so and decide….enough!  Turn around and head back to the car.  Hey, at least I ran!!  Maybe I’ll try it again tomorrow only earlier!  Say around 5 am.

Here are some photos of misc stuff…..

Fire alarm evacuation #2....heading to the assembly location. Most of us just stood in the shade of the building until they told us we could go back.

Fire alarm evacuation #2….heading to the assembly location. Most of us just stood in the shade of the building until they told us we could go back.

On my way to work this week. Looks like I'm taking this selfie in a mirror doesn't it? It's the elevator door in the apartment building! They keep things very shinny here! snacks in the plastic bag....

On my way to work this week. Looks like I’m taking this selfie in a mirror doesn’t it? It’s the elevator door in the apartment building! They keep things very shinny here! snacks in the plastic bag….

I had to take a picture of this mural. This is in the Hardee's across the street from the office where I work. Just a little reminder of home!!

I had to take a picture of this mural. This is in the Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. across the street from the office where I work. Just a little reminder of home!!

This is the Jacobs ZATE building. We have the entire space except for the car dealership on the street level in front. It's a very nice building but it was designed for apartments not office space. There is a pool on the roof - empty though and they are going to fill it in and make an outdoor lounge/lunch room. I'd rather they fill the pool with water and let us use it!

This is the Jacobs ZATE building. We have the entire space except for the car dealership on the street level in front. It’s a very nice building but it was designed for apartments not office space. There is a pool on the roof – empty though and they are going to fill it in and make an outdoor lounge/lunch room. I’d rather they fill the pool with water and let us use it!

First of three photos looking North out of the window on my floor at the office. Kind of a panorama series.... The Gulf is on the far right in this picture.

First of three photos looking North out of the window on my floor at the office. Kind of a panorama series….
The Gulf is on the far right in this picture.

Looking pretty much due North.

Looking pretty much due North.

Looking Northeast.... Basically into the desert beyond the city.

Looking Northeast…. Basically into the desert beyond the city.

My new car! Not the upper end model but hey, who can complain?? It's paid for and costs me nothing to use for the 2 years that I'm here. I even pay an East Indian guy to wash it 3 times a week. He does this for SAR100/month. That's $26.67 USD or $2.22/wash! Wouldn't it be great to get that kind of service in the States?!

My new car! Not the upper end model but hey, who can complain?? It’s paid for and costs me nothing to use for the 2 years that I’m here. I even pay an East Indian guy to wash it 3 times a week. He does this for SAR100/month. That’s $26.67 USD or $2.22/wash! Wouldn’t it be great to get that kind of service in the States?!

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