Oh The Joys of Shobbing :D

Hi - Well I decided I had better get back on track with more updates and news as such to let everyone know what has been happening in our lives:D - we have settled into a sort of routine - if we need groceries or feel like going out then it is onto the compound bus at 5.30 after work to be delivered to whichever shopping centre it is going to that day and then back with a timely tip or box of chocolate goodies for driver - this means he will drop us off at our building instead of having to walk fully laden down with our groceries - read slabs of diet coke for Jesse. "Inshallah" (this is meant to mean God willing.......however in local terms it means maybe one day... perhaps... or NOT) we will have a car soon.......lol :D

One of our favourite locations at the moment while the weather is still cool enough, is to go on the Monday night bus down to the original old shopping streets of Al Khobar. It is a real mixture of Phillipino clothing markets in laneways, cheap eating places, to modern malls where I purchased an "original" (hahahaha - not) Jimmy Choo handbag for the grand price of about $30 and a Luis Vuitton cloth phone holder for my i pod for all of about $3.

We love to get into the many souvenier shops that abound in this area and I am constantly amazed and surprised by the variety there is on offer both good taste and extremely bad taste, and the willingness of the shop keepers to get us in and have a laugh at Jesse's attempts at Arabic and to sell us stuff - some don't speak English, Jesse's Arabic is limited but enough to get by on, so they are talking at us as if we understand, we are talking to them as if they understand - we are all smiling and laughing and using sign language and pointing,then when it comes down to it - we ALL understand HOW MUCH??? HOW MANY RIYALS???

There are many shops that sell the long curved Arabian swords and knives framed behind glass - I have really fallen in love with a pair of daggers with horse heads in one of the shops and will most likely get them at a later date. We got some really cheesey typical Arabian pictures that are almost like a shadow box set up of silver Arabian icons - the first is a silver camel train with 7 camels ranging from about 2cm down to really tiny. The second has 4 squares and different icons in it like the palm tree, coffee pot, shishka etc, and then I decided that for it to look really nice on the wall we then got a larger one with about 9 icons. We put them on the wall directly opposite our front door and have had sooooo many comments when people come in and see them. I also think that it wouldn't be Arabia without getting an Aladdin type lamp which they have in many different varieties down there and which I haven't seen in the shopping malls.

 

It is also a great experience to go into the many carpet shops set amongst the souvenir shops - we have been thoroughly educated on what the many different carpets are and the areas they come from like Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan etc and once you know you can really tell the area they are from. One of the things that is really strange here is that because they are real hand woven carpets and not machine made, they are all folded in the shop rather than rolled up like at home. Then even though we aren't going to buy one (lack of funds) they are opened up and spread out one on top of the other for you the look at and admire. They really are works of art and the ones that they make for wall hangings are just unbelievable with the amount of colour and detail that goes into them. The ones below are for actually walking on.

On one of our first trips down there we thought "oh it's very close to prayer time" so we were on the lookout for somewhere to settle in and eat - it is a very good way of passing the 30 minutes or so of the last prayer as all shops shut during this time and they kick you out. As long as you get into a restaurant before the doors close then all is well, you can order, eat, or sit the whole time during the prayer break.

I noticed a sign down the alleyway - Family Entrance: so down the alley we went. Most restaurants here have a family entrance or a bachelor entrance - even takeaway shops like Macca's or KFC etc - one side for single males, the other for families or women. We weren't 100% sure about this fine eating establishment as at first glance we couldn't find the main front of the shop to have a look, but decided to take the bit between our teeth and plunge in regardless. It turned out to be and Indian Restaurant :D and for the grand sum of $12aus for the both of us we had a most satisfying and enjoyable meal that was very fresh & very tasty.

I must admit we were a bit worried by the fine plates that the waiter set at our table - polystyrene meat type trays and plastic forks. Then he brought some very nice  melamine plates (matching) which was very a pleasant surprise after the polystyrene, but he then proceeded to wipe the aforementioned plates with a tissue and phhhht - tissue was slung straight onto the floor......lol. The look on Jesse's face was worth taking a photo of for posterity. We both went into gales of laughter after he went away.

The meal was very enjoyable and we have been back two more times since. The funny thing is that each time we go we are not really sure what we are going to get when it comes. We asked for Roti as we had it the given to us the 1st time we went. The blank look we got when we asked and the shoulder shrug, and the total incomprehension on his face, then the guy called the older waiter over and the discussion that ensured after - we ended up with chapati....lol. The Indian waiters here are the archetypal Indian dudes with the head wobbling from side to side (almost touching their shoulders)as they speak. I think I am the only white female that has ever set foot inside this establishment and they do try with the niceties of wrapping the ends of the plastic forks in tissues.

Then if you stroll a few blocks down you get the the main shopping street (Sarkat? St) and that has literally 100's of abayer shops interspersed with mens shoe shops, thobe(Saudi mens caftan) & guttra (the red checked head scarf) shops,  homeware shops, evening dresses that are so over-done they they become grotesque and they even have a few 2 riyal (60c) shops.

They also have the Arabian "oud" shops which sell all the incense and incense burners as well as all the different types of Arabian perfumes and lovely bottles. When you walk past these shops the vendors are all out with their bottles and either spray or rub u with oil. They also have the accessories that go with them such as drink carts – see below :D

We were given as a gift, from one of Jesse's work colleagues who owns a date plantation, some really nice smelling incense balls (a lot of these balls are made from dates) and a burner, so we then had to go to one of these oud shops to find out how to use them. We were shown that you get a charcoal and light it and put the incense on once lit - so we purchased the charcoal rounds and the lighters they use are really awesome - it's like a mini blow torch and really flames the charcoal up till it is well and truly alight and will be coming home with us.

I ripped the side and front of my first abayer, and being in the fore-front of students coming in at work decided I had better get another one that didn't look so tatty. So now being in the "know" of where to go to buy one, I ordered a really nice "trendy" abayer with brightly coloured satin sleeves, overlaid with black chiffon type fabric that is split right down the middle of the sleeve so that is falls open and you can see the nice fabric under it. there are lots of brightly coloured crystals along both sides of the opening and around the sleeve edge and satin chanel trim down the front. The abayers on this road are around 1/3 of the price that you would pay in any of the malls and it becomes almost hard to choose as there are so many different colourful designs added to the basic black abayer now.

We found by accident an Indian shop that sells push bikes, so.......Jesse has decided he needs a push bike to get him around the compound when the weather warms up as it is now starting to do...... the weekend was quite warm and I had the aircon on most of it. He has really fallen for the Indian made very retro looking gearless...... to get from the unit up to the swimming pool and gym once it is ready - this way he will avoid the blisters popping up on his feet and with the compound being flat he won't need the gears and with the width of the seat he won’t get a sore rear end. We are able to get a brand new one for the grand price of about $70aus  so thought it would be a great idea for him to get one to avoid the blisters and it will make a nice Birthday pressie for him :P

 

Well after this marathon effort will settle in to do some work......hahahaha and will post some other commentaries soon.

Back to Work (again)

I know, I know, I have been a bit remiss in posting a blog since before Christmas, but I am back :D albeit only a short entry and no pics to go into this post. I will go back to the first week in the New Year of 2010.

I was still in bed, resting my eyes soundly when my phone rings at the ungodly hour of 9.30am (rudely awakening me) and it was the husband, calling to say he was on his way home to collect me for a surprise interview scheduled in 1 hour time with the Rector of the university.

I flew out of bed and raced into action with the prayer that please please don't have water turned off, or electricty down (they had been doing random maintenance days in the compound around this time and sometimes you would get up at 8 am and have no water or power for hours) - Lucky me, all was good so I showered, make-upped, and hairdress'd, and threw the abayer on just as Jesse walked through the door. The good thing about wearing the abayer here is that it hides a multitude of things - including rumpled clothes, trakkies, or even pj's if you so desire :D but I did dress very nicely under it (just in case).

No time for pre-job interview jitters for me, no time even for brekkie :( and 50 minutes later we arrived in the middle of the desert (slight exaggeration - it is really on the coast but surrounded by sand) for my job interview. The Rector greeted me very pleasantly in his huge marble lined, massive office and introduced me to the Director of HR who was to sit in on the interview. Lucky for me I didn't know that these 2 men hold the most senior positions in the Eastern Region of Saudi so I wasn't really nervous at all.

The interview started out as all interviews do, but soon got to the nitty gritty :D - There was one sticky moment when asked what my university qualifications were but we sailed past that with flying colours and a job offer was in my inbox that afternoon. Oh the size of my head - it took days to come back to normal .....hahahaha

My job title is......IT Support Officer - Student Affairs :) and I work in the admissions department so have full contact with new students wishing to enter our fine institution. I am even having business cards printed for me - English one side and Arabic on the other side. I have been readily accepted by the ladies into the admin section and must admit that I was a bit worried on that front as I am the only western female working in this area.

Jesse is still most surprised at the speed with which the offer was made and how quickly I was introduced to university life thereafter :P and in the 4 weeks I have been here have done some very interesting things like web surfing to make a report on how other universities post their student application sites, and visiting a high school for recruitment purposes, student "Stress Free" days the week before finals which included aerobics, yoga, exercise, diet, sleep and study habits, and I did aromatherapy for relaxation. All the admin staff joined in the activities so you can imagine how sore I was from all this uplifting exercise after 2 days........oh the joys of having anti inflammatory’s available without a prescription :D but it was a very fun few days.

Well I will post more in days to come with pics as there is a very big chunk of time that has been missed out on.