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!