Post #3 from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Day 43 in the Kingdom:  September 25, 2016

It's taken 42 days to get my cell phone working here. Yesterday, I had to go to the "Ladies Only" section of the Rashid Mall and into the "Ladies Only" STC store for my SIM card.  [This country.....ugh.]

It's taking more than 43 days for us to be able to wire money back to the USA.  [Again, this country.....ugh.]

We have not seen one drop of rain in 43 days.

Since my last post 14 days ago, the weather for each day has been:  103, 104, 104, 104, 102, 104, 104, 111, 102, 111, 102, 102, 105, 108 & a balmy 105. [And again, this country.....ugh.]

In the last 43 days, we've either been driven by a private driver or taken a compound bus wherever we need to go. This is a new lifestyle.

I met Xiu Mei Pan from China who works at "The Spa at Sara Village."  She is an amazing practitioner and I have already enjoyed two therapy sessions, a one hour massage and a one hour reflexology treatment. It was my first time experiencing reflexology and it was very interesting.  She definitely hit specific pressure points on my feet which corresponded to other areas of the body or systems.  When she whispered that the one hour session was over, I couldn't believe it.  It felt like only 10 minutes had passed.  I may have to try that one again, although the three outer toes held a lot of pain and I'm not sure I want to feel that again anytime soon, although that is exactly what I probably need.  Each one hour session cost $31.99. [This country......yes!]

On September 14th and 15th, we took a very short trip to the country of Bahrain.  Our hired driver, Bhilal, is from India where his wife and 6 year old son live.  He travels home for one month a year to see them, otherwise he owns his own driving company and makes a very good living in Saudi, which is what he must do since he can not make a decent living in India.  While here, he rents an apartment with three other men that shares a common living area for 1000 Saudi Riyals a month. [$266 divided by the 3 men.]  

To get to Bahrain, we traveled 25 kilometers [15 miles] on the King Fahd Causeway which included five security controls and six gates.  It only took us 2 solid hours to travel through security as often times the back-up can take 4 to 5 hours.  At the controls, they asked to see our passports, Iquama and entry/exit visas.  They checked underneath the vehicle, collected money and checked Bhilal's insurance. There was also a driving lane "For Ladies Only."  We saw many fancy, clean cars and loaded SUVs with license plates from Bahrain, KSA, Kuwait and Qater.

The Baharinin currency is the Dinar which is basically 10 Saudi Riyals.  One Riyal is $3.75, so we were doing some crazy calculations between the three currencies in our heads every time we made a purchase!  Let's just say that math is not our strong suit [I can hear Megan laughing now] so eventually we just estimated the conversion, said f** it let's buy it and be done. 

While there, we went to the movie "Sully" which was a REAL TREAT to be in a movie theater!  [There are NO movie theaters in the Kingdom, this country.....ugh.]  We ordered the combo and the popcorn was a mixture of regular and caramel!  Wow, that was snazzy!  I really liked the movie.

In the evening, we sat in the hotel courtyard surrounded by the aroma of tobacco and observed couples, men only and women only smoking from hookahs. It was an option to order a hookah. Instead, we ordered two tall Heinekens, admired the full moon and watched a giant music video screen only to realize that the music we heard did not match the video we were watching in the slightest.  I thought, "My God, doesn't anything make sense over here?"  Geeesh, bring another Heineken.......Ahhhhh, as I sipped my tall cold glass of beautiful beer, I sensed someone standing next to me, looked over and there stood one of my 6th grade students.  "Hello Mrs. Wyant."  OMG.  Seriously?  He pointed out his family sitting behind us. "Mr. Jacob" and I turned around and the family of 6 all waved at us.  Later, we made our way over for the "meet and greet" and as we approached, they all stood and remained standing the entire conversation.  The Muslim mom was completely covered and as I stood there sweating from the night humidity, I thought that the customs of this culture and Muslim religion really make the women endure more than they should in this climate!   As the family left, the waiter informed us that they paid for our pizza and beers!  Wow.

We made our way back to our super huge luxurious room  [http://www.elitegrouphotels.com/elite-seef-residence/elite-seef-residences.php ]  and proceeded to scan the TV channels, all 2000 of them.  One was "Iran Fun."  That channel didn't come in. 

Jake's healthy outlet.

The next day, we took a taxi to the "The Skate Shack" where we purchased a TREK mountain box for "Mr. Jacob."  At this point in our Kingdom adventure, this purchase was a necessity for my husband's mental well-being.  He enjoys his "Tour de Compound", along with other riders who exercise in 3 mile circles around Sara Village.  Some purchases within a marriage don't seem logical, given this environment or lack of it and sometimes wives don't question, we just support.  LOL.  [This country.....ugh.]

While we can say that we've visited a new country, this constitutionally monarch ruled country with its archipelago of 33 islands in the Arabian Peninsula specializing in oil, fishing and pearls was nothing special. Once was enough for me, although if we want to go to a movie theater, we'll have to endure the five checkpoints and six gates to get there.

One of my favorite lines from the movie "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" sums up how I feel SOME of the time:  "This is a new and different world.  The challenge is to cope with it.  Not just cope but thrive.”

The ISG Dammam Varsity Girls Basketball Season officially started last week with our first practice!  I walked into the gym where 18 girls in 10th-11th and 12th grades were waiting.  I said, "You here to play basketball?"  "Yeah. Yes. Yes Miss.  Yes Mam"  "Good, I'm Coach Wyant, line up on the baseline tallest to shortest, let's go." And so it began......  

One girl wore her hijab during the entire practice. I said if we don't make 50% of our lay-ups this first practice, we're running. Didn't make 50%.  I took off my whistle, said "Line up behind me, single file, we're playing follow the leader."  After lap #3, the girl behind me panted "Coach, how many laps are we doing?"  I said, "10."  I could hear the number 10 being passed back through the line and we continued running......in silence...... until the 9th lap when they were happy to be almost done!  [Let's just say that the next 3 days, I was VERY sore!] After 1 hour 30 minutes, we had our first team meeting. It was a great first practice.  Stay tuned for more news on the Leopards because I've recruited fellow colleagues and formed a staff BB team to scrimmage against my team and I'm organizing a team bonding event on the compound.

My Ukrainian Russian friend, Olga.

OLGA is doing well.  She has the middle school science lab completely organized and is working on her English skills.  She asked me what the word "defect" means.  You can imagine how my wheels were spinning after she left my classroom.  The next day, she asked me to read an email she wrote to see if it sounded proper.  The email was about one new microscope that was shipped to the school and not working and how it has a defect.  Dang, that shot my spy theory to pieces, for now.......

The overgrown, unloved patio.  

We're hiring a gardner from the compound staff to clean up and help rebuild our patio and landscaping.  Stay tuned for the updates in the coming months.










We've also booked our flights for Christmas vacation, departing December 17th from Dammam to Bangkok, Thailand.  Jake and I will explore the sights, including the River Kwai before we board the train on December 23rd to Suratthani and pick up our SUV and drive to the Poseidon Bungalows

Where we will be Dec. 23rd-Dec. 31st.

[ http://www.similantours.com/ ]  We'll settle in and wait until early Christmas morning, drive to the Phuket airport and pick up Megan and Jonah! We're looking forward to a day of snorkeling in the Similan Islands, trekking through the Khao Lak National Park on an elephant and hanging out at our beach bungalows! The kids will fly back to the states on New Year's Eve and Jake & I will be back in Bangkok ringing in 2017!

Here's the new addition to our villa, a clock with Arabic numbers!  Bought it at the second hand store on the compound for 20 Riyal!  

The sideways villa clock with Arabic numbers.

                               

Finally, I must end with the positives about our adventure life here in the sand box..... We are having a blast together.  We go out to eat to eat on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.  On Wednesdays, we have authentic, homemade Chinese dinner at the Oasis restaurant.  On Thursdays, we are at Bo Diddly's Poolside Restaurant for fish & chips or grilled ribeye and on Saturdays, Senjay, the chef from India, grills us salmon or lamb chops at Harley's restaurant.  On these three days, we eat with our friends, Ann & Clay from Florida and Carolyn & Chris from Oregon.  

I continue to follow home by reading Google News every morning, the Aitkin Age, scanning Facebook and sending/receiving emails from friends and family.  Again, if you have a moment, please check in with my mom by sending her a quick email:  wyants@frontiernet.net.  

Until next time, my friends.