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!