Life in Saudi Arabia 2013

Life in Saudi Arabia is much different from living in the United States. This is my initial thoughts and impressions of living in Saudi Arabia.

Life on the Las Dunas compound has been really good so far.  We are in walking distance to everyone and to the clubhouse that has lots of amenities.  At the clubhouse there is a restaurant/cafe', Mini Market, aerobic/ballet room, conference room, library, hair salon, gym, squash court, Sauna, steam room, Spa, swimming pools and tennis court.  In another area on the compound there is a play ground with 4 swing/play sets, a basketball court, and a walking path.  In another area there is a full size lap pool and more tennis courts;  this area is still under construction. There is also an empty building that use to be a bar/night club with a dance floor.  The parents are working on making it into a game room with a pool table, ping pong table, foosball table, music, movies, etc.  A fun hangout place for the kids!

The families try to have activities that we can do together.  We had a pool party , the kids have movie nights, and the girls have more freedom to go play with friends.  The ladies get together to do things often.  They get together for coffees, lunch, shopping trips, Bible studies, Zumba classes, and exercise together to mention a few things.

The Clubhouse!

The clubhouse pools!

walking back to our villa F-50

The light switches in our villa are opposite from what we have back home. To turn the lights on we need to push the switch down and to turn the lights off we need to push the switch up.  I'm still not sure if the switch is on or off just by looking at it.  I usually just push them until I get the result I'm looking for.  Also, we need to be careful plugging in things.  We need to pay attention to the voltage of the outlets and need to use special adapters.  It took me about an hour to figure out how to plug in my blender to make a smoothie.  I almost gave up!

Maintenance is taken care of by the compound so if we need something fixed we just let them know and usually within minutes someone comes over to fix our problem.  They have someone taking care of the yard, watering and trimming.  There is garbage service everyday!  Marty can get use to this!

I never thought that using a phone would be so difficult.  I think making calls is the most frustrating thing for me so far.  I still don't know how to make calls.  If we use the Villa phone we are limited on where we can call because of area codes.  To call another villa you need to dial a 2 the villa # then a 1 for calling family villas.  To call a bachelors villa you need to dial a 4 villa # then 1.  If we want to call a number outside the villa we have to first dial 9 to get out and then the number.  Then to add to my confusion I set up our phone from home here.  I got confused the other day using our home number to call AT&T back home.  I kept dialing a nine then realized I didn't have to do that because I forgot that I was not on our villa phone.  Both phones look the same.  Cell phones are not any easier to use.  If some gives you their cell number sometimes you have to add a 0 to the number but from your villa you drop the 0.  Saudi Arabia just changed area codes of some places.  Now we need to add a 1, 2, or 3 to some numbers that we called before without adding that.  Also, all land line numbers in the kingdom will be modified by adding the digit 1 after the zero in the current zone codes 01, 02, 03, 04, 06, and 07 will become 011, 012, 013, 014, 016, and 017.   First of all I usually don't even understand what part of their phone numbers are their area codes now I need to modify the number.  I feel so stupid when trying to make a call!

It is challenging to get out to shop or go to restaurants because of transportation and prayer times.  Muslims pray 5 times a day, starting around 4 a.m. If you are out and about you will hear the call to prayer.  The prayer times change everyday so it makes it harder to plan.  If you get there and prayer time has started you are locked out and have to wait until they open again.  If you are in a store you can continue to shop but, you can't check out until prayer is finished.  Prayer time is usually 20 to 30 minutes. Because they pray during the day most stores and malls have prayer rooms (one for men and one for women).  On some days places close for prayer around 12 p.m. and don't open again until 4 p.m.  And some places close for prayer around 10:30 and open again around 12:30.  So it takes a lot of planning or a lot of patience.

The grocery stores actually have a small strip mall inside and restaurants or cafe's.  Some grocery stores are also 2 to 3 stories with elevators and escalators.  The escalators are more like moving ramps because they don't turn into steps. The Hyper Panda by our villa has a strip mall and a food court in it.

Hyper Panda

Trying to grocery shop can be challenging and time consuming. There is no organization or system for where they decided to put things.  It can be hard to figure out what some things are because of the packaging , you need to search for the English writing amongst all the Arabic writing. You also need to do a lot of math to figure out how much things cost, but some stores have the American dollar amount available. We are able to find most foods that we like back home it just takes time and going to 2 to 3 stores to get everything you need.  I am open to trying new foods and some of the new things we have tried I really like better than what I was use to back home.  The fruits, vegetables and seafood are amazing here.  Sometimes the store you found an item at will not have it next time you go.  So, I've learned very quickly to buy 2 or 3 of that hard to find item when I see it. Rachael even found Tony's Chachere's seasoning for us.  There are a few foods that we do miss; Rachael misses grits, we can't find corn bread mix, or corn meal.

The wheels on the shopping carts are casters and the cart can be pushed side ways, but it can be hard to make turns when you are not use to the way it slides side ways.  I think it's kind of cool. The carts glide very easy and are quiet.  I have not heard a noisy shopping cart yet!  They call the shopping carts "trollies".

Shopping malls are everywhere and they are huge!  It seems as though shopping is the pass time here.  There are many stores in the mall that we have back home.  The malls are so big that they have amusement parks in them for the kids to play while parents shop.  The mall of Dhahran even has a small ice skating rink.  

Al Rashid Mall

 These pictures don't do it justice because this only shows a little section.  It was huge and went on and on and on.

There are many restaurants for us to choose from.  Most restaurants have separate dining areas and separate entrances. One entrance for families and one for men.  They also close for prayer times.  If you are in the restaurant before prayer time starts you can stay in and eat.  They might put up a portion for privacy during prayer.  There are many restaurants and fast food places that we have back home.  So it doesn't look like we will be loosing weight. There is a Chili's, Outback, Olive Garden, Applebee's, Red Lobster, T.G.I. Fridays, Cheesecake Factory, McDonald's, Burger King, Fuddruckers, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Popeye's, KFC, Subway, Quiznos, Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, Baskin & Robbins, & Haagen Das.  Their buildings are big and have very pretty architecture design. 

We were waiting for prayer time to end!

   

                                                   

McDonald's

Burger King

Popeye's 

The words around the big P are "Louisiana Kitchen"

Starbucks

Krispy Kreme

Marty said that gas is cheap here like 40 cents a gallon.  I thought this gas station was cool looking.  Almost looked space age to me.

We are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia.  We are driven everywhere.  When we want to go somewhere we have to arrange for transportation.  We call or email a service to let them know when and where we need to go and someone comes to our door to pick us up.  We get dropped off at front doors to places and if we shopped the driver helps load everything in the SUV and unload the bags when we get home.  Thank God these drivers don't drive like Saudi people on the road.  I'm actually glad I am not allowed to drive, it's much better that I get chauffeured around.  The crazy Saudi drivers seem to do whatever they want.  The only traffic law I've seen obeyed is to stop at red lights.  They usually drive with the lines of the road in the middle of their car.  So it makes a 2 lane road a 4 lane road.  They pass people on the shoulder, jump curbs, drive as fast as they want, turn in a non-turning lane across traffic going straight, cross four lanes of traffic to exit and turn exit ramps into a three lane highway.  To make things worst we have seen 10 year old boys driving with women in the back seat.  It is against the law for women to drive here.  Parking on the side of the road is just as bad.  Many cars park in all different directions and angles.  There is lots of honking at each other.  I thought it was because they were mad at each other but I have witnessed our driver honk to let a car know he will let him in.

The traffic lights are new to me.  They have timers on them.  While you sit at the red light, you watch it countdown minutes until it's green.  The green lights also have times so you can see how long you have until it turns red.  I also like the street signs here.  They are names of Kings and Prince's.  For examples; Prince Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz St., Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz Rd., King Abdul Aziz St., and King Khalid St.  We were told that "Bin" means son of.  So, the first street sign would be Prince Muhammad (son of) Abdulaziz.

 

You need to do a lot of math in Saudi Arabia and it can get extremely difficult.  Trying to do math conversions can be really hard to do on the spot. We need to convert money from SAR into USD so, we need to divide by 3.75 to find out how much things cost.  When buying things in weight, they use kilograms, so we have to convert from kilograms to pounds.  When they measure something it's in centimeters, so we need to figure out inches to centimeters. Their temperature is in Celsius so we need to convert to know the Fahrenheit temp.  Time is in military time.  Keeping track of what day and time it is here compared to back home we need to subtract 8 hours.  The sun comes up around 4:30 a.m. in the morning.  So by 8:00 p.m. we are ready for bed.  Lonny and his two boys would do just fine here with that.  As you can see even if the girls didn't go to school they would be learning a lot.

The language barrier is frustrating for me and the person I'm trying to communicate with.  They usually just say no problem, ok, ok.  And we didn't get anywhere!  And most of the time that means you have to do most things around here 2 to 3 times.  We talk to people from many different nationalities everyday but I do like being called "Madame!"

OMG! the bathrooms! Or as they call them "Toilets".  I carry around toilet paper because some of the public restrooms don't have toilet paper.  They use sprayers to clean themselves, which means that the floors are usually wet.  Some of the restrooms have normal toilets but some just have a hole in the floor, (a traditional Saudi toilet) which I have been told are in most Saudi homes.  I usually decide to just wait until I get home.

I hope this has given you a little taste of what things are like here for us.  There are many differences and many challenges.  I am just going to try to learn and adjust to day to day life here.  I want to have an open mind about everything that we will be going through and grow as a person from this experience.  I do feel safe here with the security that is provided and the penalty for crimes.  I think it is safer here than in New Orleans.  Remember this is just my perspective!  Stay tuned for more from Saudi Arabia and our experiences.