Halloween Party

There was a costume party up at the bar in Eskan on Halloween. Spencer was creative enough to come up with our costume, and get the right accessories online.  But I went against wearing the handcuffs that night.  We paid a bit on money, and no candy, not one piece.  We got a beer mug that lit up different colors instead.  What is Halloween when you don’t have candy?.

We danced around together for about a half hour. Chatted with our few friends, and took pictures. Then we made our way to the balcony, where we sat the two of us.  By 10 we were both ready to go, so we went by Spencer’s office to go trick-or-treating after hours since we didn’t get any candy at the party.

Dammam

Well, this is my second blunder for attempting to escape Saudi Arabia for the weekend.  For whatever reason only certain cars on Eskan can leave the country, Spencer’s is not one of them.  Everyone told us that it was easy to go to Bahrain, so we assumed it was just a ‘get in the car and go’ kind of deal.
We learned a week before we wanted to go that you had to get approval, and some written thing letting you drive over to Bahrain.  I didn’t want to fly, I wanted to sightsee, taxi all over the island would be expensive, you to rent a car there you have to have an International Driver’s license. I didn’t just want to shop and sit on the beach either.  In the end we had to bag the trip and go somewhere else.  Spencer did have 10 days off of work because of Saudi's Eid so sitting around didn’t seem like a good idea, and I changed schedules to get these days off so I wanted to go somewhere.

We ended up picking Dammam which is near the Causeway that leads over to Bahrain.  I had picked out a few things, museums, oil exhibit, parks and such that looked interesting to visit.  But we neither had directions or a map to get us to any of the places I wanted to see.

On the drive to Dammam we saw 3 accidents.  One of them I saw the driver on the ground; he had apparently opened his door and rolled onto the ground.  I could see blood all over his arms.  Saudi’s have no patience when it comes to driving.  They behave like children on the road, and have no regard to theirs or their fellow driver’s lives.  Why don’t they have driver’s education, pass laws that prohibit children from driving, and enforce the laws?  They are good at enforcing other laws, like wearing an abaya, and other ridiculous thing non-life threatening things so why can’t they do this?

Double decker!

We went out to eat in the evening to some Italian place, and afterwards walked along the Corniche and pedestrian walkway park along the Coast.  It was much more humid then I thought it would be, being October.  People were sitting out enjoying their company along the Corniche.

We visited Half-Moon Bay which was ridiculous unless you wanted to pay to go to a private beach.  The locals would drive their vehicles on the sand, which compacted the sand so much it wasn’t really a beach anymore.  And the particular beach access we visited had cement alcoves that had a table inside.  It was basically to protect people from the sun, and the women from other people’s eyes.  No, women can’t swim unless they hop in the water with their Abaya.

This dude got stuck in the sand.

Camel or Carriage ride anyone?

The next day, I talked with the hotel staff about a few places I wanted to visit. They spend at least 15 minutes with me on the maps helping me to find the Aramco Oil Exhibit, and various museums in Dammam.  But the other places I gave up on because on the internet I didn’t get directions and I spent so much time trying to find out where two places were.  I was frustrated. 

We did make it to Aramco but the wrong gate. The guard told us in very broken English, meaning a few words and lots of hand gestures where we needed to go.  When we did eventually get there, I laughed and shook my head; the place was closed for renovation.  Did anyone think to tell us that it was closed?  Why else would we want to drive there?

The next place we attempted to visit was the in the heart of Dammam.  We drove around for a while, good thing Spencer is patient and cool as a cucumber while driving.  We located both Museums and stopped at the Heritage Museum, which looked closed. Aha, it was Eid, everything is closed for like 5 days of the holiday. People really don’t work around here as I said before.  So we just took pictures from the outside.

After that we stopped by a mall to look for a dress for me to wear at the Marine Corp Ball coming up the end of November.  I wanted to go because I heard the Marine Corp balls are the best and this was also located in the Embassy which would be cool.  I hadn’t been to any Embassy yet to any parties.  I didn’t find a dress that would suit that occasion.

A big poster of a no-face woman. No public adverts or anything can have a women's face on it.

I was ready to head home, tired that not only did I not get to go to Bahrain but everything I wanted to see in Damman we couldn’t find or was closed.  Very disappointing!  We did stop along the road in some sand dunes and took a walk around. That was probably the best thing we did during this trip.  

Veggie Market

Second trip to the Veggie Market was more exciting.  It seemed as if the veggies were fresher than the previous excursion to the market, we went to the other veggie market I had been to on my tour of Riyadh when I first arrived in Saudi.  One thing I like about the market it you can buy large quantities, at the commissary it comes in almost single serving size packages that it bothers me. 

We headed out the day after Spencer got back from his trip to the US.  There wasn’t much in the fridge or otherwise for us to eat. 

Spencer had one of the boys with a cart follow us around as we stocked up on veggies.  We tried to be friendly with him but he wasn’t having any of it. Either he was too shy or proud.  I gave him 10 SAR which I felt was double the amount I should have given him.  I don’t want them to get too greedy and start demanding more.  We may think we are helping them by giving them a bit extra but it doesn’t work like that.

When we headed over to the fruits this is when it started to get exciting.  We were wandering through discussing what and where we wanted to buy certain fruits.  Spencer left me to put some stuff in the car.  I wanted to buy some mangoes; at man at the same vendor told me those mangoes I was looking at were too soft.  Then a minute later he came back and said the mangoes over here are better. Then he asked me where I was from.  He said he loved America and studied there.  He mentioned his daughter studying English translation and never speaking to an American before.  In the mean time a group of boys had surrounded Spencer and he was joking around with them.  The guy asked me if I would talk with his daughter, as I said yes, he calls her right there. As this is happening our groups combine and I am surrounded by all the fruit selling young men and Spencer is snapping pictures while I am chatting with the man’s daughter on the phone.  It is all a bit chaotic but fun!  The guy who spoke English had said that most people don’t talk with these boys so they loved it and especially getting close to a white lady.  

Hofuf

Spencer was heading back to the States for work, and I decided it would be a perfect weekend to go out of town to see a place Spencer didn’t have any desire to see.  But I didn’t get my visa on time to go to Kuwait like I wanted to so I decided to take a local trip.  I ended up picking Hofuf, a slightly obscure place that Spencer and I didn’t plan on going to.  Hofuf is known to be one of the largest Oasis in Saudi Arabia; it has the largest area of date farms as well.  I was hoping to get some kind of tour of the date farms.

I just went on an overnight journey, and then returned.  Before going I consulted a couple fellow co-workers who were Saudi, my Unit Clerk.  He was kind of helpful in what I might want to see while I was there.  But Saudi Arabia isn’t known for tourism and only in recent years developed a Tourism Bureau but it doesn’t really have offices, you can’t get information, or maps.  If you are here and want to sight see they encourage, by not having information available, to take a tour or get a guide to show you around.

The first train leaving Riyadh wasn’t until 10:39AM, and the journey was supposed to be around 3 hrs.  I got my overnight bag together and took a taxi to the train station.

When I first got off the train I was surrounded by taxi drivers, quoting me outrageous prices to take me to my hotel.  I knew it wasn’t far away.  Once I checked into my hotel they helped me arrange a day tour of the city with their security guard who had the following day off.  But it would 300SAR, about $80.  No hostels, no group tours, and no public transport anywhere so this was a good deal and he would drop me off at the train station after wards.

That evening I wandered the main street looking for something to eat.  I ended up walking out right as prayer was starting which was inconvenient so I walked a couple miles along the road before I head back, picking a not so good place and got some schwarma.  I decided I really don’t like schwarma here in Saudi, the fries are soaked in grease, and there isn’t hardly any sauce so it is quite dry.  Really your only option is chicken as well.  The other meats are more expensive and not as profitable.

The next day my guide, the security guard was ready to get me at 8AM.  He took a moment to enjoy his Arabic coffee before we sit out on for the day.

We visited:

-An old dried up spring.  I tried to ask him how long the water has been gone but he couldn’t understand. For all I know it could have been seasonal.

-A small bread joint. Where they used dates to sweetened the bread, and date pal m to cook it in a vertical fire oven.  It was super tasty bread for only 1 SAR.

-Jebel Qara (Mountain).  It was a touristy type area.  It is a hill that has eroded away over the years creating channels throughout the hill. It was very cool to walk through a small part of the hill.  I could see the remains of where many people had come and gone, by the trash left behind.  I got a good view of Hofuf and all the date palms.

-A touristy pottery village.  They could do pottery on the wheel and was currently making goblet but I am not sure it was clay you would drink from, because they weren’t glazed.  There wasn’t a variety to their craft either; it was a goblet or a watering jug.  Then the weaved baskets weren’t made there but Pakistan.  I had to laugh, and artisan village that doesn’t even make their own goods. 

-A date farm.  The farm was a small one that my driver claimed his brother owned.  It looked a little run down, and sparse of dates.  Not really a commercial plot.  And not really what I was hoping to see.

-Qasr Ibrahim.  Abraham’s castle or fortress.  Nothing too great. There was a mosque inside the fortress, an artillery, and jail with underground cells, hammam, and a long hall of various artifacts from Hofuf area as well as old pictures so you could compare Hofuf 50 years ago to today.  At one point the date palm basically surrounded the whole city.  We were not allowed to go up on the ramparts to get a view to the city. 

-Souq Sweiq.  Apparently a very cool Bedouin souq which for me just sold junk not from Saudi Arabia.

-Qaisariya Souq.  It was up to the tragic fire 2001 one of the largest covered souqs in Saudi Arabia.  It has been rebuilt but so many of the stalls for businesses are empty or filled with trash.  My driver told me that at night things get more lively.  This is where I should have gone last night.  This stop also included some ice cream.

He asked me if I wanted to meet his wife and we could have lunch at his home.  I agreed it would be interesting to meet his madam, whom he described as recently married, overweight women whose love for ice cream had ceased after they visited the doctor and they were told ice cream wasn’t good for her.  Before that time they would go to the shop a couple times a day. 

When we arrived at their place she unlocked the door and ran up the stairs and locked herself in her room. She had just got up for the day, 11AM, and was watching a cooking show that we interrupted so she was upset.  My driver said to me, change of plans again, and took me to a local joint where he got take out kabsa and dropped me off at the train station.

I forgot one thing. That date market, modern strip mall for date shops.  They sold locally and foreign packaged dates here, the dried kind that I actually like.  I also saw some yummy syrup, also made from dates.  That is what I purchased for 40SAR or $10. I thought it was a good deal. I would use it in place of honey in my cooking at home and was as thick as maple syrup.

I waited about 45 minutes at the train station before I boarded. It was not late coming back.  The train wasn’t uncomfortable.  I bought a 2^nd class ticket and got a cushioned air conditioned seat.  Pretty good for my standards.

Filipino Cultural Night

With Spencer gone I had to occupy my time and nights even thought I was working 5 of 7 days that he was gone.  I had arranged to go with my British friends, Linda and Rachel, to a Filipino Cultural night put on by the hospitals ICU staff.  I had missed the Indian Cultural night a couple months before I arrived.  I would have preferred that actually, but it was more entertaining than just heading out to eat. 

I worked that day and decided I didn’t want to change prior to attending the event.  So I met up with them right after the shift and took the Anfal Taxi over to the G Complex Community Center (the walkway over to that part of the campus was closed so we would have to walk all the way around I didn’t want to do that. 

We had our name put in a raffle upon entering, and then headed to the food.  Some good, and some not so much, lots of rice, noodle dishes, and not spicy at all, which is my preference.  We sat around chatting.  I probably get together with these ladies once a month so I always have so much to be caught up in what they have been up to.  I learned of a Filipino lady that sells knock of purses from her apartment, and also about the Coffee Morning that I missed the bus to go.

Then we congregated to the other room where Rosie, a nurse from my unit was the MC, for the entertainment portion of the evening. We were introduced to traditional clothes, dances, songs, the Philippines National Anthem, flag, and various games.  Rosie pulled me and my friends up for a game of ‘Hip Hip Hooray!’  We were apparently so good she couldn’t make us lose so the 3 of us all won. 

We left before the evening was over; two of us had a shift in the morning.  It was fun to get to see a little of the Filipino pride.