This post will be mostly photos with captions, assuming the photo upload link is working tonight!

There are lots of things I’ve noticed about the construction here and the “way things are done” compared how things are done in the States.  One major difference I’ve discovered here is that at home the majority of the cost of a construction project is labor, somewhere around 60 to 75% of a project depending on the level of finishes, difficulty, AHJ (Agency Having Jurisdiction), distance to a major city, availability of skilled labor, etc.  The major cost of construction here is material.  Labor is extremely inexpensive so what you’ll typically see when a project is starting to get behind schedule is the addition of labor.  I got to visit a project that was on an extremely accelerated schedule in Jeddah when I first got to the Kingdom.  I don’t have the exact numbers but the project at that time was contained on one floor and about 40 rooms.  For that portion of the project there were over 400 laborers!  Yet, work was being done!  I’m not sure how with an average of 10 workers per room!  That’s just how it works here.

ADA ramps are a bit different here!

This is one of the stair treads in an Exit stair at the office….it’s been on the “snag list”, known at home as the “punch list”, since before the building was opened! The level of finish is high but the follow-through not so much!

There are lots of little “details” that never seem to get completed or resolved.

I really didn’t think you could buy these anymore!! I almost bought a bunch but then had to admit that I’d never use them.

The following is a series of different types of toilets and toilet type devices in the hotel I staying in originally when I got here. I think this is for foot washing prior to prayer.

This is a “bidet” style toilet it just happens to be basically a “hole-in-the-floor!

Just your “almost” average floor mounted toilet!  Did you notice the tile behind?  They look different.  Well this particular toilet has a tank mounted inside the wall!

A urinal with a lid!!

This is a shower in my apartment…..I still think it’s the smallest shower I’ve ever seen!! What you can’t see in this photos is the faucet…..one would almost have to be sitting on it to take a shower!!

Goodnight!  Must get up at 5 tomorrow, Sunday, to start my new and short week!!  Going home this week and quite ready to do so!!

On a daily basis there are things that cross my mind about the differences between here and home.  There isn’t really a theme so bear with me!

• Paper products here are not at all what we have in the States.  Kleenex type tissue is placed on tables in restaurants often instead of napkins.  At least they are unscented!!
• Toilet paper comes on really large paperboard rolls so the amount of actual toilet paper is not a lot.  This must have some direct correlation to the sprayer and hose found beside every toilet here.
• On parking attitude: “…if there is half a space between cars it’s enough for me. Who cares if half my car is still in the street!”
• The major streets here are usually boulevards which means there is a center median so not only does one have to watch for cars turning in front of you, overtaking you from behind, you also have to watch out for the ones heading at you on the wrong side of the road because it’s a shorter distance than to the next U-turn!
• Grilled tomatoes are VERY popular here!  I have a hard time with them because of the texture and usually can’t eat them.
• Ketchup is served with just about everything!!  I’m pretty sure that if I ordered a doughnut and coffee it will come with 2 packets of ketchup!!  I often get chicken and rice for lunch and yes, it comes with ketchup!  I have yet to use the ketchup.
• Coffee is a very big deal here but the coffee in the office is instant, not even drip!
• Gas here is 42 cents per gallon!!  And it’s full service!!
• There is so much construction happening here!  It’s not fast but it’s everywhere you look!
• I finally found a laundry/dry cleaner: shirts and pants are $0.80/each!! And they do them in 24 hrs.
• The mall I live above has these wonderful dress boutiques with incredibly beautiful long dresses but I have not seen a woman wearing anything but an abaya.  So where do the dresses get worn?
• Apparently it’s only Americans that tip
• There is only one holiday in Saudi that is not religious; that is today, Saudi National Day.
• The streets remind me of Vegas; there is dirt and debris.  I think it’s a desert thing.  There is almost never any rain to clean everything.  I might actually be starting to miss the rain a bit!
• Some things are really inexpensive here; a bottle of water is about $0.27 but a bottle of contact solution less than half the size of the standard water bottle is about $9.00!  I’m bringing a couple bottles back with me!
• Apparently one does not require a prescription for medications here!  Just walk into the Pharmacy and ask for what you need/want!  I can’t believe that’s true for the serious stuff though I haven’t tried nor will I!
• I can’t find dryer sheets….you know the softener things
• At work there are guys who do nothing but clean the restrooms on our floor!  Every floor has this.  They are always there…..at least they don’t hand you the paper to dry your hands and then expect a tip like they do in some restaurants in the States!!  I’d go broke just paying off the paper guy!
• It’s very strange to see construction workers wearing sandals and a hardhat!
• I bought an expensive candle for my apartment but they didn’t have matches or a lighter.  It took me 2 weeks to find a place that sold lighters!  What I don’t understand – lots of people smoke here, I’ve only seen cigarettes sold in one store and why is it so hard to find a lighter or matches?  It’s nice to have a nice smelling candle.

Good night.  Time for me to go to bed….

Well, that is definitely another lesson learned this week!!  I just typed for about 40 minutes on a post only to have it gone when I came back to finish it!!  Now I have to start over and that stinks because it was a really good one!  I’ll never be as witty the second time around!!  Lesson learned:  save, save, save!!

Let’s try this again!  Tomorrow will be 6 weeks for me here!  Time is starting to go pretty fast (thank goodness!) now that I have a routine.  It goes something like this:  get up at 5am, make coffee, drink coffee, make more coffee, drink more coffee, shave, check email from the night when you all are up and I’m sleeping, make more coffee, drink more coffee, put in contacts, shower, dry, dress, pack up and leave for work about 6.  Work 12 hours, pack up and go back to the apartment where I either fix a sad little dinner or go down to the mall.  Then it’s back to the apartment to watch a movie on Netflix or read a book on my iPad, either way I’ll most likely fall asleep in the middle of each.  Wake up with a stiff neck, get up go to bed and repeat the next day!  Last weekend was really exciting, I polished 3 pairs of shoes and my cowboy boots!  Oh, I ran on the Corniche where I only saw 5 people other than myself and a kitten.  By the way, it’s so hot here that even the cats pant! Back to the apartment where I do things like laundry, dishes and read or watch movies.  I did meet a guy at the pool last Saturday.  He is a Brit living in Scottland.  He and his wife just got married in March and guess where…..VEGAS!  They actually had Elvis marry them!  He told me they flew the whole family over to Vegas for the wedding and none of them had ever been there before!  They loved it!  Anyway, he took me to a Thai place for dinner and it was the best meal I’ve had here so far!  The place was a hole-in-the-wall and I would have never found it if not for Tony.  I’m hoping to go there for dinner again this weekend.

This week I became a bit of a celebrity in the office!  I’m betting you want to know how.  I have been parking my car in pretty much the same spot for the past almost 4 weeks now.  So Sunday after work I go out to my car and find a yellow piece of paper under the wiper.  I can only assume it’s one thing – a parking ticket!  I don’t REALLY know if it’s a parking ticket because it’s all in Arabic so other than a few numbers I can’t read any of it.  Monday I take it into work with me to ask one of the Saudis to tell me what it is.  He was like, “wow….where did you get this?!”  Apparently no one I work with has ever seen one much less received one!  Remember my comments about the driving?  Well, the parking is even worse!!  It is not at all uncommon for cars to be “triple parked”.  Cars will be parked IN the traffic lane so that everyone has to pull out to go around the parked car!  I’ve seen cars parked on sidewalks, in yards, diagonal in parallel spots, parallel in diagonal spots, you name it I’ve seen it here!  I’ve got to take pictures of some of these things….it’s crazy!  Anyway, any of you that know me well know that I’m a bit, mmmm, obsessed, with doing things the “right” way.  So now please explain to me why I get a ticket!  I’m parked about as perfectly parallel to the curb as one can possibly be!  I’m completely out of the traffic lane with the perfect amount of space between me and the cars in front and behind.  So do I get a ticket because I’m too perfectly parked??!!  Anyway, the ticket is SAR150, that’s $40!  Now my biggest challenge is trying to figure out how and where to pay it.  $40 is about what it costs in Los Angeles!  This is Saudi Arabia!  There are many people here that don’t make that in a week!  Like the guy that washes my car 3 times a week for SR100/month – that’s $27.00/mo!  Some things just don’t make sense!

Alright, it’s after 11pm here so I’m going to bed.  Will try to write more this weekend.

This will be short but I had to tell you.  On the road that I take to get to work they are doing LOTS of construction so basically it is closed to through traffic and all cars are diverted around the construction.  Just before the diversion there is a U-turn lane separated by the concrete “Jersey Barriers”.  I take this U-turn to get back to the office.  Okay, so Monday I get in the U-turn lane behind a silver SUV.  There are a lot of cars lined up to make this turn and it’s worse this week because the schools are now back in session.  So I’m inching forward and just before the concrete barriers this black, Chevy Suburban slides up along side the SUV in front of me and starts to “push” his way into the turn lane in front of the car ahead of me.  The guy in the black car keeps getting closer and closer but the other car won’t back off and let him in.  The black car guy is now so close he sticks his arm out of his window and pounds on the hood of the car next to him which, you guessed it, only makes this driver even more determined to not let him in!  At this point I’m probably sitting in my car with my mouth open wondering just what in the world is going to happen right in front of me.  Now these are both Saudi’s and I can tell because they are both wearing the white robes and checkered head gear.  The guy in the black car is now so mad that he literally uses his car to push the other slightly smaller SUV out of his way and pulls in front to make the U-turn!!!  Both guys are hanging out of their windows yelling and swinging their fists in the air but neither stop and both complete the turn and roar off in the same direction!!  I can’t see what happened to the silver SUV but the side of the black one is all scratched and dented now!  I’m thinking, wow, did this really happen??!!  For me at this point the smart thing is to hang back and stay away from both of these guys!  As crazy as this was what really made me mad is that the guy in the black car had his kids in the back with him!!!  What kind of example is this to children??!!  No wonder there are so many terrible drivers here!!

Now let’s fast forward to Tuesday morning….same time, same place.  I’m in the U-turn lane and guess what I see coming up on my right from behind!!!  Yup!  The very same SUV from Monday!  Same guy, same attitude!  Thank goodness when I see this I have just passed the concrete barriers so there is no way this guy can bully himself in front of me at this point.  Now if he had been there a few seconds early and tried, I would have gladly backed off and let him in because we have already established this guy is certifiably nuts!  Anyway, I’m now fascinated and so I slow down and watch the same guy do the exact same thing with the car behind me!!!  He reaches out, pounds on the hood then gets so close the other car’s rear-view mirror gets mashed off and who knows what else may have happened!!  Also, kids in the car again!!  WOW….

Double fast forward to this morning…..I’m getting ready to pull into the U-turn lane and guess who I see!!  Oh, you’re getting good now!  Yup, same psycho from the past 2 mornings…..I do the smart thing this time, I pull out of the turn lane and go another half mile to a different U-turn and get to work just fine!!  I’m driving a company car, not yet a month old with under 1000km….no way am I risking the hassle of battle with Mr. Road Rage!

By the way, we were told in our Defensive Driving class that to get bodywork on a car repaired here in Saudi you MUST be possession of an accident filing/report by the Insurance Police.  Without that report NO one will touch a car!  If they do, they can be put in prison, deported or fined heavily and have their business shut down!  So this tells me the aggressor in this story just really doesn’t care about himself, his kids, his car or anyone else for that matter!

I need to find a new route to work!!