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.

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