July  17^th

I had my first few days working on the MICU-C unit at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center.  The hospital was at one time mostly employed by Westerners, but left since all the tragic events involving the middle east went down.  I would feel like I was working at home because it is structured the same way, same sorts of policies and procedures.   

After work I called the Halal taxi company, contracted with the hospital for a ride out to Eskan Village to spend a few days with Spencer.  This is when I met my new Kenyan friend, Mooriah whom I now use regularly to pick me up and transport me to and from Spencer’s place.  

We went to the ECC (Eskan Community Center) to chat with Spencer’s co-workers. It is the hang-out in the evenings since a lot of people have found it too much of a hassle to head out of the Compound.  They have a Bingo, and Texas Hold ‘em nights, and I'm not sure what else.  The ECC also houses a restaurant with various theme nights, German, Steak, Italian, Southern Cooking, but then every month is probably a reaccuring theme.   Ruby, Kelly, Danny and some guys were sitting at the same table on the balcony that we had found them last week. We chatted for a while before heading back home to make some dinner.  

When I come out to Eskan I encourage Spencer to get some CrossFit workouts for us. The equipment is limited so it consists of various sets of squats, pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups.  This last week he incorporated doubles with the  jump rope, and swimming.  I am not a swimmer, and after doing squats, kettlebell swings, and push-ups I am barely keeping myself afloat to the edge of the pool to take a breather before continuing back to the other end and start another round.  But it feels good afterwards and it is something we do together, I like that.

Spencer had mentioned that Sergeant Falcon, a paralegal in his office was going to give us a little tour down town.  I was excited. Serg. Falcon has been here over a year. I assumed he was going to  take us to several places and highlight a few things for us.  I was looking forward to it since my last tour was just of the outlying sights of the city.  Not long after we left the traffic was horrible, and come to find out there was construction and three of the 5 lanes had been closed down.  So it took an hour instead of ½ to get into the city.  We went to ‘Chop Chop square’ and a market nearby.  When we pulled up things starting looking familiar, I had been here before.  Last week I had gone by the hospital transport to Dirah Market in search for an abaya…I didn’t know this was near to ‘Chop Chop’ Square.  This place is where the government publically punishes its felons for various crimes. No, there was no action that day, and apparently if there was the people pull in the foreigners and make them watch the process.  I am not sure how I would react, would it be fascinating, cruel or dehumanizing.  Anyhow, Spencer was on a mission looking for a card, which we didn’t find.  Serg. Falcon took us behind the market a perused the week before to the carpet, jewelry, and various Saudi Crafts market.  This is what I enjoy. I could have spent a while here looking at things. I’ll just have to find some time on my own when I can do so.

We also went into the old, renovated Fortress turned into Musuem that had limited informational boards translated into English.  It was basically describing about the history of Saudi, process of unifying the various areas and the recapture to what it is today.  There used to be a wall surrounding all of Riyadh, the kings city, but has since mostly been torn down with the expansion and growth.

As we were driving around, the building were old and falling apart.  It looked like war had passed through the area. Yet, in other parts of the city the roadways have landscaped medians and huge beautiful  new buildings.  The material they used to use and the rush to build didn’t withstand the elements or time, hopefully they have improved since.  There are some very cool architectural buildings in the city, most noteabley the Kingdom Tower, and the Faisailaria both huge skyscraper building that you can go to the top of and get views of the city.

After, we had wandered a bit in the Dirah market we headed back to the car and on to Ikea and the grocery store.  The sun was beating fiercely upon us; I decided before we left that I was going to go cloth-less underneath my abaya.  LDS people are the only ones to wear two forms of religious clothing in Saudi Arabia and I wasn’t about to wear more clothing than necessary in this weather.

Spencer and I would love to find a more comfortable couch, and a blanket or two.  We didn’t think about needing something here or we would have brought Spencer’s love sac and some blankets we got for our wedding.

We also went to church for the first time. For the sake of security I am not going to mention specifics. Apparently the government knows we are here and about how many of us there are.  They don’t mind but the Matawa, the religious police, will reward anyone who reports suspicious activity.  The branch has had to move locations four time for the threat of discovery.  There are actually two branches, one with mostly Filipino (may be married but working here single and sending their money home) and the later one is families with kids.   I’ve heard there are quite a few ex-pats in that ward.  I am not racist and I am not being derogatory but I work with Asians, live with Asians, and now go to church with them.  I just miss my own people, ‘the undercooked clay,’ as was stated by a Filipino in his talk. Apparently brown is just right, and black is burned…I know a few people that might get offended with that statement.  The thought of it made me laugh.

Weekends are different here, and so are the meetings, Sabbath is Sabbath no longer, and isn’t the 7^th day. It is taken an adjustment for Spencer and I to keep the Sabbath day holy, but who’s Sabbath are we keeping holy?