Home Sweet Home (wait, what am I saying!)

I have a new home now...Sharbatly Village.  It is a community with close to around 3,000 people.  The entire community is walled off from the outside with only one main, secured entrance.  The reason for this is to keep the community seperate from the outside so that the residents living inside can live as they would anywhere else in the world.  That means that women can dress how they want, shorts are allowed, and if one were to be drinking an alcoholic beverage, no one would stop them.  Saudi locals are not allowed to live here, so most everyone here is European or from elsewhere in the Middle East.  I haven't run into any Americans yet.  There are quite a few communities similar to this around Jeddah.  They are usually referred to as "compounds".

Sharbatly Village has 2 pools, a restaurant (which I eat at basically every night), tennis courts, basketball courts, a fitness center, grocery store, laundry, and even a bowling alley.  The villa I live in has 3 bedrooms and is really no different than any 3 bedroom apartment.  It is a nice place to live, especially with all the recreational activities available.  Plus, the shisha at the restaurant is only 15 SR which is pretty cheap in comparison to all the other restaurants that sell shisha in Jeddah.

Shisha, or hookah, as it's called in the US, is pretty popular over here and in the Middle East in general.  If you don't know what shisha is, you can read the wikipedia article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookah.
I have been smoking it fairly regularly, mainly because there is nothing else to do.  It is really the only vice, besides cigarettes, that one can legally have in KSA.  I was thinking about giving it up for Lent, but then I remembered that it is illegal to practice any religion other than Islam over here.  Sorry Jesus :(.  I'm sure He will forgive me.

Still, no one has come to pick up their car.

This past week Jeddah got some rain.  It was amazing to see how freaked out people get over even the chance of rain here.  Everyone leaves work early if there is even a chance of rain.  No one wants to take the chance of getting trapped in a flood or even drive in the rain.  I guess I would feel the same after what happened in January (look up "jeddah floods 2011" on youtube and you will see what I mean).  The drainage here is terrible, but I suppose when it rains only a few times a year, its not all that necessary.  However, from what I hear the King was pretty upset about those floods in January.  I'm sure it really hurt the tourism industry here in Jeddah...

It didn't rain much but the next day most
of the roads were under water.

This past Friday I spent my day off by waking up early to go golfing at the only golf course in Jeddah (I think).  It was probably the most interesting thing I have done in Jeddah so far.  I definitely recommend it if you ever find yourself in Jeddah.  What's so unique about it is that there is no grass.  The course is entirely made up of sand!  I will save that for the next post.  I need to watch Michigan pull off this upset of Duke.  Can anyone tell me if MSU is still in the tournament?  You can just leave a comment, thanks.

The Old City

I don’t know how many of you had the chance to watch Michigan dominate MSU for the second time this season, but I certainly enjoyed it.  I was able to watch the game online and hopefully I’ll be able to do the same for the tourney games.  Here’s to hoping the internet connection is better than it is now.  I’m sure you have all experienced a painfully slow internet connection or the constant disconnecting and reconnecting.  Well, it’s about ten times as bad over here.  I must say that it’s very frustrating, not only because you can’t connect to the internet, but because you are worried that the Saudi internet police might have taken control of your computer because you clicked the “Entertainment” tab on CNN.com and happened to see a picture of Jessica Alba in a bikini.  OK, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I’m pretty sure it’s not too far from the truth.

I was thinking about writing this entire post about the fact that Michigan beat MSU twice this season but then I figured that you Sparties have taken enough of a beating this year.  I'm sorry to say that it's only going to continue in the fall.  

There is a district in Jeddah called Al-Balad, which means "Old City".  Here you will find many old buildings and traditional markets called souqs.  Souq just means "market in an Arab city".  I think they are in most cities in the Middle East but I can't believe that any of them are as large as the one here in Jeddah.  I'm guessing that it's so large due to the fact that Jeddah has the largest seaport on the Red Sea and was a major trading city long ago.  When they began getting wealthy selling oil in the '70s and '80s many Jeddawis (residents of Jeddah), moved out of the old city and many poor immigrants took their place.  Most of the buildings in the area are made of coral from the Red Sea.  They are very run down and many of them look like they are about to topple over. 



There was an area of the souq selling all
 different kinds of spices and dates.



 We went to explore the souq on a Friday evening a few weeks ago.  Before going there, I was thinking it would the size of about a few city blocks with shops selling spices, different foods, and cheap watches.  This was not the case.  I bet we walked about 2 miles through that place.  It was seemingly endless.  There were shops that sold cheap electronics, fabrics, dates, spices, toys, perfumes, and jewelry.  The funny thing was is that there were about 50 different shops selling each of those things.  So really, there wasn't much of a variety of items being sold, just many different vendors selling the same thing.  It was very difficult trying to get pictures because there were so many people.  If I stopped too long to take a picture I probably would have been run over.  It was definitely worse than Michigan Ave a few days before Christmas.  The shops were all so close together and there was so much to look at that it was even hard to focus on where you were walking, let alone take a picture.  I didn't buy anything, but I plan on going back to buy some things before I head back to the US.

There are quite a few butcher shops with lamb

carcases hanging around. 

Some of them still have the head attached!

The souq in Al-Balad is not the only one in the city.  There are actually quite a few scattered around Jeddah.  I have only been to one souq (Souq Al-Shate) other than the one I described above and it wasn't as big and the shops were more modern, similar to an outdoor mall.  I walked through it at around 11:30 pm on a Thursday night (equivalent to a Saturday night in the US) and I was amazed at the number of young kids running around.  I know it's sad that I was doing this on 11:30 on a weekend, but it was probably the most exciting thing going on in Jeddah at the time.  I almost witnessed a fist fight between two 8 year olds but then some jerk came to break up the fun.  That would have really made my night.

Some kids playing video games at a
shop in the Souq Al-Shate.



 

 

 



Very old building made from coral.



One pretty common occurance at these souqs and on the streets of Jeddah in general are beggars.  As you probably wouldn't guess, almost all of them are female.  I don't even think I have seen a male beggar.  Usually, they will sit outside a shop on the sidewalk and ask for money as people are walking out.  Not much different from Chicago or Detroit, except the fact that it's mostly women over here.  I'm guessing since none of the women work over here they don't have any means to make money unless they have a family providing for them.  Another thing you will see is kids, usually around 10-15 years old, walking through cars stopped at traffic lights trying to sell shami cloths, flowers, or homemade necklaces.

I just moved into the compound last night so look forward to details on that in the next post...

Oh yea, GO BLUE!



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.

Protests, Food, and Cats

I'm sure most of you have been reading about all this unrest in the Middle East.  First it was Tunisia, then Egypt, now almost every other country in the Middle East and North Africa is protesting its government...except Saudi Arabia.  I think the locals should begin protesting the fact that there are no movie theatres.  I mean there are a plethora of other things that could be protested here, but I think a movie theatre is a pretty reasonable request. 

One good thing (maybe the only good thing) Jeddah has going for it is their food.  They have Lebanese, Turkish, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Moroccan, Italian and everything in between.  There is definately a wide variety of restaurants to choose from.  They even have McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Little Caesars, and Baskin Robbins.  But no matter what restaurant you go to they will always serve you french fries as the side dish.  I don't understand the fascination but I can tell you I am already sick of eating them.


McDonald's here does not have McNuggets :(
but they do have a chicken BigMac!

The restaurant culture is very different from the US.  Nearly all restaurants have two entrances, one for women and families and one for single men.  Once inside, families and women are segrated from the single men.  Most of the time the entire area upstairs is reserved for families.  At McDonald's it is similar.  There are two entrances but only one ordering counter with two cashiers.  A temporary wall seperates the two lines.  The families go to one cashier and the singles go to the other.  Very different.  I am always weary that I will walk into the wrong door and get yelled at, but the entrances are usually pretty clearly marked.

One downfall of the restaurants here is the terrible service.  Everything takes a long time and don't even try to substitute your french fries for rice because they either won't let you or won't understand you.  It seems that everyone knows just the menu and if you ask them for anything more complicated than exactly what's on the menu, you probably won't get what you asked for.  I guess this is similar to how it is in Europe as well.  The 15% service charge is built into the check so you don't have to worry about tipping.  Maybe the service is bad because they're not working for that tip.



DO NOT DRINK!



Some days I have gone over to the grocery store to pick up some snacks and drinks.  Everything is cheap.  I bought a bag of about 6 pitas and it cost 1 SR which is about 30 cents.  I also discovered my new favorite snack, Ketchup Pringles!  You may have a disgusted look on your face, but I'm telling you, they are delicious.  I'm not sure if they have them in the states but if they do, I will find them.  Another section in the grocery store is for all the non-alcoholic beer.  Now, this isn't like O'Douls which has a hint of alcohol, this is 0.0% and it says that on every can/bottle.  I decided to try a Budweiser NA Apple which only cost the equivalent of about 67 cents.  It was the worst drink I have ever tasted!  I had to dump half of it down the drain it was so bad.  I'm sure the non apple flavored taste a little bit better, but who needs beer when you have combination orange and carrot juice!

Now, when you think about all the food that is being eaten at all of these restaurants, you must be thinking

that there is some food that is wasted.  You realize that this food is probably just tossed in the dumpster for a bunch of rats to feast on.  That is where you would be wrong, it's not the rats, it's the cats, EVERYWHERE.  Sometimes they will follow you down the street meowing at you looking for food.  Most of them are very skinny and very dirty, as you would expect.  Kind of sad, really.



3 of my cat friends



Well, I hope you all are enjoying the things I can't enjoy because I am enjoying the one thing most of you can't...



My feet in the beautifully warm sunlight.

Football, not Futbol

I didn't get to watch the Super Bowl a few days ago, but I'm glad to see that the Packers won!  The Lions beat the Super Bowl Champs, just sayin'.  The game started here at 2:30am and hardly anything is open at that time.  I went to the front desk of the hotel to see if my room would get the channel that the game was on.  The concierge had no idea what the Super Bowl was.

"Super bowl? What is Super bowl?"

"You know, American Football."

"Oh no, I don't know that."

Unbelieveable.  All these people know is soccer.  There are 3 sports channels in my room, soccer is on each of those channels 24 hours a day.

So I missed the Super Bowl and I'm not allowed drink alcohol and I'm not allowed to wear shorts outside and I'm not allowed to talk to women and I'm not allowed to eat bacon.  Now, I bet you're asking yourself, "What the hell is there to do out there for fun."  Well, I haven't figured that out yet, but when I do I will let you know.  Oh, did I mention alcohol is illegal?

Tonight is Wednesday which is the equivalent of Friday in the US.  Weekends here are Thursday and Friday.  The work week begins on Saturday and ends on Wednesday.  Most people get into work around 8:30 or 9 am and work until 6:30 or 7pm.  The Muslim community will leave around 12:30-1pm for a few hours for a siesta-type thing (I don't what is Arabic for siesta) and come back to work around 3pm.  Everyone eats dinner really late, around 8 or 9pm.

The Muslim religion requires that you pray 5 times per day.  Once before sun up, once mid-morning, once around noon, once before dinner, and once after sunset (or something along those lines, I didn't do the research).  Anyway, a couple times a day during working hours the PA system in our building starts letting out some Arabic singing/prayer which signifies to everyone that it's prayer time.  This doensn't really affect my workday because I work with a bunch of Brits.  The announcement that goes over the PA in our building actually happens outside as well.  I guess it's throughout the entire country?  I'm not really sure.  During these prayer times most businesses close for about 20 minutes and reopen once prayer time is over.

There aren't many locals that work here and definately no women working at all.  Women also can't drive.  Basically, if you are a woman living here you don't want to be a woman living here.  All women must wear what is called an "abbaya" which is a loose-fitting black robe that covers them from head to toe.  Some women have their entire face visible while others have just a tiny slit over there eyes.  Apparently, it depends on how strict a specific family is, but you will never see a woman in public not wearing an abbaya.  I would take a picture to show you, but I'm told that is frowned upon.

Below is a picture of King Fahd's Fountain, the biggest fountain in the world.  It reaches a height of 312 meters.  The picture doesn't really do it any justice but I saw it on my plane ride in and it is pretty impressive.  There are also a few pictures of the view from my hotel room.

King Fahd's Fountain

Some buildings, kinda lame.

Looking out onto the Red Sea, the fountain is just out of the frame of this picture to the left.

  

Hopefully, I can start being more consistent in posting and not post such long, rambling stories once a week, but things have been pretty busy over here.  This isn't a bad thing, seeing that there isn't much else to do here.

Congratulations on the engagement Mike and Katie!

First Post!

This blog is to share with you all of my adventures, or lack thereof, while I’m in the Saudi Arabia. Hopefully, it will give you some insight about the culture, customs, and activities of the people of KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).

Let me start with the reason I am here.   My company has a contract for the preliminary engineering design for many of the buildings on the new airport to be constructed in Jeddah, KSA.  I was given the opportunity to travel out here for three months to work in Jeddah on a part of this large project.  There is a small group of others from my company here as well.  I have been here for almost a week now and won’t be back in the US until the end of April.  This could be extended but for now, it's just 3 months.

Some general facts about Jeddah:

·         Jeddah is the second largest city in Saudi Arabia by population, slightly larger than Chicago.

·         It is located on the west coast of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea.  It is very close to Mecca, the Muslim holy city.

·         It is the most cosmopolitan and tolerant of all Saudi Arabian cities, more on this in a future post.

·         The average high temperature in the winter is around 85°F and in the summer is around 100°F.

·         About 1/3 of the population in Jeddah are expatriates, people who have come from outside the country to make their home here.

·         Jeddah is 9 hours ahead of Chicago.  So when it’s noon in Chicago, it’s 9pm here.

·         Approximately 3.8 SAR (Saudi Arabia Riyals) equals 1 US dollar.

·         You will love this one:  Gas here is 0.45 SAR/Liter which is equivalent to..drumroll..$0.45/Gallon.

The only problem with that gas price is that you have to learn how to drive like a maniac to drive in Jeddah.  However, since everyone drives this way, all of the drivers are very aware of the other drivers on the road and there seem to be a very little amount of accidents.

So far the weather has been beautiful.  It has been sunny every day and the temperature has been around 85 during the day and 75 in the evening.  It is certainly better than all that snowJ.

I hope you all are doing well!  I have a lot more information to post on here so check back periodically.  Please comment and ask questions and I will try to answer them in future posts.

PS. Thanks for blog name idea, Kit!