Just Arrived

I’m here! I’m safe. It’s HOT and humid. I’m sitting right now in an air-conditioned, monstrous house…at least for just one person. Everyone is so incredibly nice and welcoming.

On the flight from Amsterdam to Saudi were several families who work for the school, and one other new teacher. It felt very comfortable – like I was with friends. When we arrived, some representatives from the travel agency managed to get permission to escort all of us through the entire process of immigration and baggage check so that we sailed straight through without a single bag being checked. Leanda & David (a couple who I met in Oregon) warned me that this was very unusual and not to expect the same luxury treatment next time. We were met outside by the Superintendent, the Asst Superintendent, and the Principal of the school, along with a van & a Filipino driver (there are a lot of Filipino workers here).

It was 8:20 p.m. when we arrived, so we flew over the desert at night. It was different than what you would see flying over America or Europe: pitch black, then a cluster of yellowish lights, then complete blackness again. There didn’t seem to be many lit villages or towns in-between the large ones. Just a big empty, black desert. It had a mysterious feel and somewhat eerie, even flying into the airport. Again… just blackness with one lit freeway-type road leading to the airport (it’s about 30 minutes outside a city). All the lights you could see were a strange yellowish color. Nothing white or colorful except the runway lights. The terminal, the houses…everything…is the color of sand. Very monochromatic.

At the housing compound, there is first a guard checkpoint that is Saudi security police. I was told that the King made it mandatory that western compounds have Saudi security after some of the terrorist attacks on Western compounds. After they check you, you drive inside a long line of big concrete barriers about 10 feet from the curb to the actual compound security gate where they also make sure you are a resident. So security is tight although I’ve been told that we can order out for just about any food and they deliver it to the second gate. So I guess if you’re a delivery guy, you can get past the first guards with no problem.

The compound has 36 houses on it with a pool, exercise room, and racquetball court at the end. They are all in one long line of houses on either side of a road with a center divider. The houses are all connected so it looks like one very long town house, sand color of course, with a little bit of green on the dividers and in front of the houses. The teachers living here call them “villas”. The villas are big. High ceilings, big rooms, big windows, air conditioning. Ah, that air conditioning… it runs non-stop until Oct or Nov when they say it cools off enough that they don’t need to run it continuously. But right now, it’s a great temp inside: comfortable in shorts & t-shirt. But walk outside and it’s a blast of hot, humid air. Reminds me so much of the Philippines. Stand outside for more than a minute and the sweat is dripping down your face. So imagine putting on a polyester abaya and being outside. The idea, I think, is that you’re never outside except to just walk from one air-conditioned place to the next. The humidity seems to come & go now, and will get much better in a month or so.

Last night after I arrived at the compound, I was invited over to one of the teachers houses for a drink of homemade…drink – the red kind, only it wasn’t really red. It was kind of the color of beer. Tasted slightly like vinegar. Melissa & Robert have been here for one year and Melissa was assigned to me as my “buddy” a few months ago to answer any questions I had about moving there so I felt like I was meeting a friend. They have 2 kids, 7 & 11. Leanda and David came over as well. Around midnight, another couple rang the doorbell as they had also just arrived back in the Kingdom. We were up until 1:30 a.m. talking. It feels like a tight community, at least among these westerners. Everyone is offering to take me places, help me out, loan me stuff, fix me coffee, etc.

Today, I slept until 11 a.m., was treated to coffee & yogurt at Melissa’s, and then went grocery shopping. Most everything is in English and Arabic, on local and imported items. There’s a good choice of food, but it does seem expensive to me. The other new teacher & I were treated to dinner at an Indian restaurant. All the workers here are from other countries, mostly Pakistani, Indian, or Filipino: the cashiers, the waiters, the salesman at the rug shop, the guards, the drivers, etc. Apparently, this kind of labor is beneath the Saudis. Leanda told me not to smile too much around Saudis.

One last note: a year ago, May, there was a terrorist attack here against a large western compound. That compound is within sight of ours, just down the street. But it’s a much more obvious one, with around 1500 people. Last year, several of the teachers here, who were brand-new last August, nearly backed out of their contract after hearing about the attack. But they are still here and glad they came.

The pictures are of the housing compound and my house.