Salam!

I will give you all an update on my living situation out here.  I moved out of the hotel and into what is  basically a furnished studio apartment with room-cleaning service.  It's in more of a middle class area and not as nice as the hotel but still not a bad arrangement.  I have been at this place for a week already and some of us are moving to a nicer villa style compound within the next few days.  It looks like it is more westernized and I've heard most of the people that stay there are European or American.  Hopefully, there will be a lot more going on there.  Stay tuned.

We have also now moved into our own office instead of sharing office space with the other consultants.  Since we have moved there we have been visiting on numerous occasions by our local sponsor.  I am not totally sure how this works, but every company who does work in Saudi Arabia is required to a have government sponsor to represent them.  I am sure this is true in other countries as well.  I don't really know what his role is other than talking very loudly when he comes to disrupt...I mean visit...us in the office.  I have noticed that everyone who speaks Arabic speaks very loudly. 

A view from the office window.  Notice that
there are still unclaimed cars from the floods.

Another view, its very dusty out there.

I have been learning some basic words and greetings in Arabic thanks to some of my Arabic speaking colleagues.  I try to use these words whenever I can when talking with the locals.  Most of them are pleasantly surprised that a foreigner is trying to use their language.  Although, once last week I was in a cab and the cab driver thought I was Syrian.  After I responded that I was American, laughing, he said that many Syrians look like Americans and that it was probably my beard threw him off.  I guess I fit in more than I want to over here.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to speak Arabic here are some helpful words and phrases to know (I will spell them out phoenetically):

Salam - Hello

Na'am - Yes

Laa - No

Shukran - Thank you

Anaa laa afham - I don't understand

Maa ismuk - What is your name?

As-Salam alaykum - Peace be upon you (this is most commonly used when greeting someone)

Wa-Alaykum as-salam - and Peace upon you too (this is what would be said in reponse to above)

Now you are basically as fluent in Arabic as I am.

Almost every cab over here doesn't use a meter.  When you tell the driver where you want to go, you should ask him how much it will cost.  If you don't, then when you get to your destination it becomes a haggling game.  They will typically charge a bit more if there if traffic.  A few times I have gotten to my destination and asked how much and the drivers just said "help".  They were asking me to pay what I thought was fair.  If I had my choice I wouldn't pay anything, so I tell him 10 Riyals.  Then he says "more".  What's the point of asking me if they already know what the cost should be?  Anyway, the cabs are very cheap here.  The most I have paid for a cab was 50 Riyals (about $15) for a 40 minute ride.

I've been here almost 5 weeks now and I'm starting to miss a lot of things from home.  I found out the other day that I can't watch TV shows online due to liscencing restrictions.  That means no watching Jersey Shore, no watching Modern Family.  I was really counting on that around this time.  It's a good thing I brought a lot of books.

I have some more details to post, hopefully I will get to that on my day off tomorrow.  As-salam alaykum.