Riyadh, Saudi

Hi All

Well my first impressions aren't the best. We were picked up from the airport, Julia and I, and taken to a 'hotel' room in Town. We were told we would be here for a day or two but have since discovered the school and all the teachers are on holiday until Saturday and we cant have a room till then as whoever we will be rooming with are away on holiday with the keys. Hello!! I don't think they have even allocated us a room yet... and if we think the school will be in touch before then for some 'training' on the curriculum, syllabus or technical facilites in the classrooms I suspect we have another think coming.

The hotel is nice, aircon, tv with English and American tv BUT no towels, food, coffee, milk, toilet paper, soap.. get the picture. Of course it was 11pm local time when we arrived and lucky for us there was an Eqyptian girl also staying in our two room hotel apartment. Thankfully that means she is fluent in Arabic and ordered us in some food. However this morning was disastrous without coffee, tea, milk or sugar or any food either. We waited and waited.. finally at 2.30 ordered a taxi (women aren't allowed to walk places) to go to the shops when our driver turned up to take us to arrange our Iquama (residency permit).

Now that was another fun thing. We are to be given cellphones (with Saudi sim) and laptops on arrival. Surprise surprise! Nothing is available and won' be for a week or two.. in the meantime we can't use our phones here. THe guy there said phone him if we needed anything. How the f**k can we? We cant use our cell phones, the hotel phone isnt equipped to dial a cell phone and everyone at the Company only have cell phones! It's all very Faulty Towers (and I told him so in not quite so elequent language) so he arranged for the driver to take us to get a sim on our travels. Mmmm... We were then told it would be Saturday before we got into our apartment and probably Saturday before we hear from the school.

Does it get better? Oh no! Next stop was the medical centre for our medical (yes another one the same as the one we had to do in London less than a month ago!). What a have. They just looked at us.. no blood pressure check.. listened to my chest (well I do have bronchitis), ticked all the boxes and sent me to the next room. Blood test.. ok.. and then a bombshell. We had to do wees and poos (sorry for those of you who are saying 'Too much information Puleeeze'.... mmm... thats an impossibility. And even if it wasnt impossible they dont use loo paper over here.. so it was DEFINITELY not gonna happen, a chest xray (very camp Phillipino did that one.. I guess he wouldnt be tempted by the sight of a woman's body :-) We were told we had to give them two passport photos for our Identity. WOTEVER!! No one told us that before we arrived so Julia didn't have any. Lucky for me I had been reading advice from other Saudi Expats on the net and had been advised to bring 30 with me as they need them for everything so I was safe.

Then to the Supermarket. 5pm by now and we still hadnt eaten for 20 hours. Carrafour (for those unfamiliar with this little gem its like a huge Foodtown/Woolworths/Pak'nSave/Tesco/Asda all rolled into one) where they sell everything.. pork and alcohol aside of course. And they don't have instant meals. I LIVE ON WW Meals.. so that will be another change to my lifestyle. However at the end of this little excursion our driver informed us he didnt have time to take us to get a SIM. Still.. I have now eaten.. yoghurt and honey and a pot of instant noodles and as I am writing this my mocha is boiling away for a REAL COFFEE.

And what does tomorrow and the next day and the next day hold? Not a lot really although we were told today we don't have to wear our headscarves when we are outside only the abayeh AND we can walk to the shops if we wish. However the roads might be three or four lane highways but there are no footpaths and you never see more than a dozen or so people walking anywhere over here. Taxi's are cheap though.. so perhaps that will be our line of attack.

I went outside a couple of times for a cigarette last night - wearing my abeyah and headscarf and all seemed ok. However this morning I was told in no uncertain terms it's uncommon for women to smoke here and those that do MOST DEFINITELY DON'T SMOKE IN THE STREET.. that must be done in your room. OMG! And I asked for a non smoking room seeing as I hate smoking inside. Watch this space!

Well it's Tuesday evening here and well... I guess until Saturday morning we will do little or nothing. And even then we only teach 25 hours a week as women don't attend school in the afternoon's.. heaven forbid! I have a book, my laptop with Slumdog Millionaire, Doubt and Benjamin Britton and the first 4 Seasons of Outrageous Fortune... who knows if I will crumble under the pressure :-)

Until next time... the Latte's good though.. not up to Italian standards however....