Diving

We completed our PADI diving course a week ago. The course is fairly thorough but still I think it's like flying; you really have to get your hours in before you can get good at it. I learned how to use a compass underwater to find my way back to where I started. That was kind of eerie, it's just a bunch of water with no landmarks, made me really think about diving out in the middle of the water far away from anything.

The water here is very clear; we had pristine visibility from 55 feet down all the way to the surface. It is very easy to get deep fast without realizing it if you don't pay attention. I was stunned to see I was down to 55 feet.

One of the more hilarious moments happened when I couldn't sink on the first open water dive. I let all of the air out of my BCD and I'm still bouncing around on top of the water. My instructor had to yank my feet to get me under and then he started stuffing all kinds of extra weight in my vest. In the pool I only need 6 pounds to allow me to sink. Apparently between the wet suit and the salt water I'm just a buoyant individual. I ended up with 16 pounds. David was only using 18 pounds, go figure. We definitely want to buy our own equipment, just seems like a lot less guesswork.

The reef here runs up almost the entire coastline. You walk about 100 meters out from shore in a couple of feet of water and then boom, it drops off to 30 feet in one step. No gradually getting deeper, just there all of a sudden. The fish are plentiful and gorgeous. Lots of color and they will swarm all around you, almost like swimming through a rainbow at times. Where we were diving is quite popular. You need to be in the water by 7 AM, because by 11 AM you need a traffic cop down there to keep up with all the underwater traffic. I'll try to get the pictures posted next week.

We would like to dive in Egypt and are hoping to get there for a weekend in the near future and then perhaps dive near Cypress, both areas are supposed to be quite lovely. Unfortunately we can only do weekend jaunts from now until opening in September because there is no leave allowed. We have already booked our September vacation and will be going to South Africa to stay at one of the big game preserves and we are counting down the days.

Reflections on news

Sorry- time just got away from me and it's been a while. I was exchanging some email with a friend of mine back in the states and I was talking to her about how different news is here. It's interesting to hear about the US from different perspectives. There is only one "local" newspaper here which is printed in English, and it is a general newspaper about the gulf region, not about this country specifically. There is also no local news as we know it. Back in the US there is generally local news and that's followed by national news. There is also cable news like CNN. There is no such thing here. The closest we get to a local TV news show comes from Dubai, and there is NEVER any news about the Kingdom on it. It's kind of like the whole country doesn't exist. Most of the news we get that's truly local is completely word of mouth.

There is also the issue of distance in this country. The eastern province is a 2-3 hour flight from here and driving is 1) incredibly long, 13 hours or so and 2) not exactly great conditions. The roads here are nothing like they are where you are. There are regular reports of truly horrific accidents with people going off the road because conditions can be quite bad. Even doing the 1 hour commute we have to the site is sometimes at very low visibility because of the sand. Our current vehicle has 2 gas tanks because it can be a great distance between gas stations. I say all this to tell you that internal travel, which is a way that news travels, is also difficult here. You don't get internal travelers the way you do in other places. If you are traveling internally it is usually because you have to for business.

So back to the topic of news. Generally we watch the international version of CNN, which is quite different than what we see in the US. The news is truly from around the world and there's not a preponderance of airtime devoted to US news. I used to watch BBC America back in the states and here we watch BBC straight. Again, much more news about world events especially news from Africa and Asia, which quite frankly, we don't see a lot of back in the states. I've been exposed to stories that simply don't make the newscast back home.

The other really big difference is trying to see US news events through a totally different filter. We only see US news as reported by foreign nationals, whether from London, Hong Kong or wherever. It is so difficlt to tell if the news is just the news or if it's editorialized at some level. I read US newspapers online and quite often a story that I read in the US papers is almost unrecognizable as the same event we have heard on a newscast. The perspective is just different. You are hearing about the event from the slant of how does it effect the home country of the news cast which is a very different way to look at the story. Truth be told, I have no idea what things are really like back home. I only know what I think they are like.

A good example of this is the "Tea Party" event on April 15th. If you look at online news it was this grass roots protest that took place in 700 cities across the country and involved tens of thousands of people. The Atlanta and New York coverage of the event was fairly detailed in the NY and ATL papers. It didn't even get a single word on international news here. If I hadn't read about in in an online newspaper, I would never have known it happened.

So my question is, if the news I get about the US is filtered or missing because I am out of the country, how much of the world news that I used to get at home suffered the same fate? Was it accurate? Was it the whole story? What stories were missing completely? Anyway, food for thought...watch this clip as it makes my point pretty well.

Entertainment Redux

We went to a party at the British Consulate last night which was their State of the Nation address for their community. It was a black tie affair which was kind of fun to get dressed up and be almost like it is at home even for a brief 4 hours. The party was held outside and it was 85 degrees, so it was a bit warmer than I normally like to see it for nighttime The grounds are kind of uneven so they lay Persian rugs on top of the ground to sort of even out the terrain. When you are in 4 inch heels, I'll tell you, all the rugs in the world don't help. They did lay down an actual dance floor so that part of the evening was not a safety hazard, unless you call dancing at very close quarters with people who have had one too many a hazard.

We learned more than we ever wanted to know about Great Britain however. Apparently there is a big schism between those who have a Celtic background and those with a Saxon background. We happened to be seated at a table with a Scots couple and they did not toast to the Queen nor listen to the ambassador when he spoke. We thought it was a tad bizarre so of course, we asked why. We then proceeded to get a lengthy talk about the difference between the Celts and the English and how we should never confuse the two even though they are all Brits. So apparently the Irish, the Welsh and the Scots are the Celtic people. Toward the end of the night there seemed to be a division around the music with Celtic and non- Celtic . Wow, of all the things to worry about when you are in an armed compound with people with machine guns on the roof and armored vehicles around the perimeter at an unadvertised party for security reasons, that point completely escaped me. It's funny, you just don't see the security anymore when you live here. It's just part of the background. I literally don't even process it on a conscious level. And yet, I feel totally safe here. I feel safer on a street here than I did back in the states. Anyway, some pictures of the event are at the top.

Entertainment

Again, a little different topic. There are lots of things to do but they are difficult to get to and access. One of the big issues is driving. Obviously, I cannot drive, now mind you it's not that it is against the law, it's not. Any woman may drive as long as her husband gives his permission. Therein lies the stumbling block. I do not want to drive here. There are virtually no rules to the road. Traffic laws are mere suggestions, generally ignored. There are very few traffic lights , seriously, I live in a city of 3 million people and I don't think I've seen half a dozen lights in this place. Traffic police are routinely ignored. The level of testosterone evident on the public thoroughfares would just blow you away. People drive on sidewalks, routinely cut through parking lots (seriously, I have seen people cut through an ATM machine lane to beat traffic), and create an "extra" lane to get someplace a second or two faster. WOW!

Now even if you are a guy, as an expat, you have to be gainfully employed and have a work iqama. You then get a letter that enables you to get a license which if you are from the US or UK is kind of a pass. Get a lot of stuff stamped, pay your money, take an eye exam and you're done. No license, no insurance and you have to have Saudi insurance. So now you get to drive.

Now the next hurdle is what to drive. There is no used car market like we know it. You have to go way out of town up to the mountains and it's more like an auction; remember buying and selling here is always negotiation no matter what the item or where you are buying it. People sort of auction cars on the side of the road. Don't think auto auction like where you are. People use car loans to get cash flow. You get a loan to buy a car then sell the car immediately so you have cash. You still owe the loan, but you now have cash money. It's quite different. Most of the car dealers we have here are the same ones as you have there but the models are all different. They look the same in some cases and in others, the car is one you would not recognize. All the big US dealers are here: Chevys are everywhere and clearly dominate the US brands here. Car prices are cheaper than the US, but not by a lot. You cannot buy a car here and ship it back because they don't meet any of our environmental standards. And since gas mileage is not an issue here, people routinely buy big SUVs. Now there are many types of cars here we don't see where you are, mostly from India and China. So for an expat, you have to pay cash for a new car or simply lease one. Once you have a car, you can do things.

Don't get me wrong, taxis are cheap and plentiful and ubiquitous. But there is nothing like your own vehicle. Once you can travel then you can explore and find things. I hear there are golf courses here, I have yet to see one. There are tons of water parks and amusement parks. Obviously there are beaches, but all of them are private and the cost is about $25 US to get on. That is per person, every time you go. Bowling seems to be kind of big. Live theatre and music is available. Parties at the embassies happen with a fair amount of frequency. We're going to a big black tie affair this week as a matter of fact. It's just a nice break from the routine and sort of like being transported to the west for just a little while. I've heard that the expat population where we live is more than half the population, so it is kind of amazing that more western entertainment is not available. There is not a movie theatre in sight, no miniature golf, nothing like that. You have to learn to make your own fun. You have to be social, you have to make the effort to meet lots of people and you have to go the extra mile to maintain relationships. We are working quite hard to cultivate friendships outside of work so we have some diversity in our lives. What's the point of living overseas if you only hang out with people like you??

The Schools

school lobby gym exterior university in distance


general construction from caf. to basketball courts theatre in distance

The schools are about 60-75% finished. The large school is designed to house 1200 students and all of the picture you see are of that specific building. It is hard to imagine at this juncture what the actual finished product will look like but the plans are quite lovely.

Update on the jobsite

looking up a street 2nd floor terrace Viv andI in dining room


kitchen master bath office


master bedroom guest room formal dr and living room


exterior family room staricase from top (24 steps)

We went up to the job site to check it out the other day and I thought I would share some of the photos with you. This is a typical 3 bedroom house. The furnishings come in 3 flavors: Oriental, Mediterranean and Italian. Since we all live in virtually identical housing, it's going to be like the Stepford house or something. The housing is all fully furnished pretty much the way you see it and houses come in 2-5 bedrooms, depending on your need. All houses come with maid's quarters on the first floor as domestic help, especially for those with young children, will have to be live in because of the remote location. The houses are very unlike those in the US as there is a tremendous amount of "extra" space with hallways and atriums and the like. Building efficiency is a non-issue apparently. All of the construction is cement, no wood at all and all floors are tile, usually 18 inch squares with area rugs if there are rugs at all. The back courtyard off the first floor is surrounded by a 4-5 foot wall and has the usual selection of outdoor furniture. There is no backyard "lawn" at all. There is grass in the front of the house as a landscaping feature. Houses are quite close together as you can see from the pictures, with no lawns and grass it would be pretty tough to space them apart, the sand would be everywhere. The AC units are enormous and there are 2, even though you only need 1 to cool the home; they are built for redundancy. The square footage is huge. I estimate that the 4 bedroom homes probably run in the 4500+ sq ft realm. There are no basements and no attics. All ceilings are quite high. They use no ceiling fans at all. All homes have a balcony or terrace off the second floor as well, either off the family room or the master or sometimes both. Family rooms are considered family or personal space and are placed on the second floor or behind closed doors in alcoves on the first floor. Move in date is sometime after May, but no deadlines are set in stone yet. There are 3000 residential units to finish and a log way to go.

Language

K- on to something a bit different. I'm truly trying to learn the language and the spoken language is not really all that hard but the written language is very hard. I can make myself understood at about the level of a 3-year old, sort of the "want, 3, that" variety of speech, but I am getting better. I can pick out words if people talk REALLY slowly.

Arabic belongs to the Semetic languages and the history is thousands of years old. It is one of the oldest of all human language groups. It took root and flourished in the middle east. It used to be thought that the Arabian Peninsula was the home but more recent thoughts are that it started in what is now Somalia or Ethiopia. BOth areas are dominated by the 2 youngest members of this language family: Arabic and Amharic both of which date to the 4th century CE.

The spread of the language illustrates a common trait, it tends to assimilate the parent language and obliterate it for all intents and purposes so it is no longer used in common life.

Sentence structure is different with a verbal sentence being: Verb then Subject then Object. The girl wrote the story is literally wrote --the girl--the story.

Nouns and adjectives are just as different. There are three ways to designate a number, not just singular and plural , but also plural that means two and exactly two. This one makes me crazy. Every body part just about uses this form, likes eyes, ears and so on. In English we add (e)s tomake the plural and just a few nouns are irregular like children and feet. The opposite is true in Arabic, they are almost all irregular. Way too much fun for the beginner!

The word "drink" is made of three consonants in Arabic, sh-r b. The verb sharaba means he drank. You alter the verb to get other nuances. Doubling the second consonant would mean you made someone drink. Sharraba, or he soaked it, or watered it. Lengthening the vowel shaaraba means doing the action with someone, like having a drink with somebody. Add a t to the front, tasharraba, he got soaked.

Other patterns kind of like this are used for nouns and adjectives. Add ma to the root and delete any vowels in the first consonant and you get mashrab and then it becomes the place where you drink, like a watering hole or a restaurant or a trough. Are we having a good time yet?

If you lengthen the first vowel of the root and insert an I between the second and third root letters you get sharib which is the person or thing who does the action, like drinker.

All of this explanation can be found at www.indiana.edu/~arabic/arabic_history.htm

Below is my name...now you know why I cannot read. Yikes!

فرجينيا