The Flora Issue

There are lots of little flowers and many large and small plants all over the compound. With the "little problem" these past couple months (and yes, it has been over two months now with all the various schedule changes, curfews, etc.) the workers that did the gardening have mostly been scarce. Nature carries on despite human problems. But still, if plants, such as the ones near the base of my stairs, don't get watered they die. I've been trying to water them a couple days each week.

That's AstroTurf

Getting overgrown

Bushes at the end of my building

Same group of bushes

And again

By the dispensary

... with these little flowers

By the office building

These are the flowers

Almost looks like a sort of milkweed

Pretty little flower

With their seed pod?

This picture doesn't do the hedge of flowers justice
(Justice Hedge of Flowers sounds like a good name
for a band)

More white flowers

... and pink ones

Another bush

... with lots and lots of flowers

Of course there are palm trees...

...with a lovely bunch of coconuts

No, the sidewalk doesn't end,
it just turns into a jungle

I've got some seeds from the pods,
maybe I'll try to grow something

Yippiee Ki Yay ...

Looks like we will all be headed back to work tomorrow full time. Sure glad I brought some work home with me, these past three weeks have been very boring. Although I did get to work on my sandal tan some. Got some time to focus a little more on my family genealogy, that was good. Did a little more practice learning a bit of Arabic, German, and Scots Gaelic on Duolingo. I sure have been getting my steps in during my (almost) daily Old Man Walk, averaging under 18 minute miles.

The picture shows the phase-in plan. Looks like I may even be able to get a haircut sometime next week - keep your fingers crossed. June 21st is supposed to be 'back to normal' whatever that means. Still no word on when international flights will open up. I suppose that depends on what Europe and other pass-through airports decide to do. Of course I still need to get my paperwork complete so I can even get an exit/re-entry visa. I hope that will be soon because it would be nice to get back to the U.S. to see my wife (& the fur-babies). We shall see what happens. Haba haba - I'm told that is how they say 'step by step' in Arabic.

Looks like Mecca will still be close though, I have no idea exactly why but I suspect it is to see what happens in the rest of the world before opening it up. It might look bad if KSA were the only ones who could go there so they may just be keeping everyone out for now.

Memorial Day in KSA

The Fallen Comrade table set here in the Oasis restaurant on our compound in honor of Memorial Day. Due to the current circumstances there was no ceremony unfortunately. Remember and honor those who have fallen. God Bless!

The symbolism.

The setting.

Feeling restless ...

I'm sure everyone else's lock-down is as bad if not seemingly worse than mine. However, being in a foreign country with no place to go and nothing to see or do is pretty bad IMHO. Over here we've been at this to some measure for well over two months now. This apartment is just about 700 SF, not much room to roam. In the picture below, my building is about in the center. I'm on the second floor, east end. One, sometimes two, of the guys and I will do a few laps around the internment camp compound around sundown just to listen to the squall call to prayer. There are about 5 different directions that the call comes from and each is a different voice, cadence, tone, and expression. It reminds me of my brother-in-law who used to take an individual classical composition performed by different orchestras, start them all playing at the same time and listen to how well they kept up together. Usually it mostly sounded horrible to me. In my opinion it would be better if the call to prayer were 1) all started at exactly the same time, b) they were performed as a round like Row Your Boat; or III) they used the same recording for each tower.

The path I take for my (almost) daily OMW. 3 laps is just over 3 miles.

And the beat goes on.

News story in the Arab News - for the first week of the two-week 'holiday' the curfew will be lifted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with free movement. The second week is a different story - the country will be on a 24 hour lock-down for five straight days. Won't even be able to leave our interment camp compound. Oh joy.

Still no news of any sort when things may be opening up. I guess I'll find out what the work schedule will be when I finally do get back in to the office on the 31st.

Weather report: sunny and hot with zero chance of rain, current temperature 35°C, wind chill 37°C. That's one ill-wind. It's starting to get up to 37°C (98.6°F) - to paraphrase Ned Stark, Summer is coming!

(blurry pic) My conservative estimate is that there must
be about 200 cats on this compound.

And they have kittens, ~2 per litter,
these little fellas are almost 'tame' - they
run up to about 1 'social distance' and
then sit down.

First part I designed that has been made here.
Works perfectly and looks rather nice if I do
say so myself (and I do.)

Nothing is ever easy ...

... everything is always difficult.

I think my family motto really should be something like - maxime difficile viam - HDWP for short.

When I had my long, drawn out, employment physical back in November I was told I should have a Hepatitis A&B series of vaccinations which is one shot, then another in a month with the third at six months. Silly me, it thought it would be easy to get the next ones. So, got the first one. One silver lining about not getting the go-ahead to 'ship out' in early December was that I was able to get the second shot before leaving the U.S. That's alright, it fit the schedule to be back in the U.S. mid May when I could pick up the third shot - WRONG!

So, I head to the compound dispensary and ask the nurse to set me up to get one here. They couldn't do it in the office, guess they couldn't get the vaccine. I ask her to find me a place around here that can do it. (In actuality she first told me to just go find a place.) She sets me up with an appointment at a hospital in the south part of Jeddah about a half hour away. I asked for directions, what doctor, etc. and the response is Google Maps. Not much to go on.

I get there in plenty of time, go in to be greeted by the obligatory check-point and receive my mask - which I am more than willing to wear in a hospital these days, especially around here, since most of the locals don't get the sneeze-into-the-elbow idea. I'm directed to a desk down the hall to check in only to find out that I must register with the hospital first. OK, way down the hall in another direction, find the desk, get signed up, they take my insurance info (later on to prove useless) and direct me to a third desk back on the other side but down from the first one. Take a number, get called up, find out I need to go to the first desk I went to originally. Go to that one, take a number, get called up, confusion. The clerk heads back to the nurses station to 'consult', come back with something about they didn't have it. Now I'm confused. Clerk invites me to go back to the nurses station for more information. Turns out that they have the Hep B shot but not the combination shot I had received prior and nothing for Hep A. So I leave empty handed. Bummer.

As I'm leaving, I call the nurse at our dispensary and give her the rundown. She told me that another place she spoke to transferred her to the pharmacy and no one picked up the phone so she suggests that I "stop in at another hospital". I suggest that she call around and find me a place that DOES have the vaccine required. Later that day she calls me with another place with an appointment for me the next day. She texts me the name of that place and again pushes Google Maps for the directions like she has stock in the company.

This place actually sent me a text message which I guessed was a confirmation but it was all in Arabic so I don't really know what it said. So, I head out after getting the directions, it's only 15 minutes north of the compound, easy-peasy. I get there in good time and it is easy parking right under the building. I get to the check-point and the gal doesn't read Arabic either so points me back to the front desk. Clerk there tells me that this is the 'clinic' and my appointment is at the 'hospital' (of the same name) which is a half hour south of here. On the road again, trying not to speed b/c I don't need another ticket.

This place is bigger and like many big city hospitals I have seen that had to grow to account for increased population as well as services now has spread through several buildings, some of which accessed easily by connecting corridors across the street. Did I mention that the nearby area seems to be under the usual (continual) mode of construction. There is zero nearby parking and I almost get blocked in to the first little lot. I head down a few of the back streets and find a spot almost on the sidewalk (parking ON the sidewalk, if there is one, is not uncommon.) I mark the spot on the map for the necessary breadcrumbs and head off to find the entrance to this place.

Make it through the check point, get directed to go up to the second floor, across the street,

Small elevator but they provide
good instruction on how you are
supposed to ride in it.

seems the office is in the next building. I stop at the first desk I find and get directed up to the third floor. One more stop at the nearest desk and I get pointed in the correct direction down the long hallway. Success, I find the receptionist desk for my appointment, only 20 minutes late. 

Get up to the desk and get all the paperwork filled out - at least they are computerized and I don't have to fill in the ream of paper I've had to do at other offices in the U.S. Didn't have to wait too long to see the doctor. She was a nice lady, has a daughter who is in Fort Lauderdale studying cosmetic dentistry. She has some difficulty looking up the particular vaccine that I need. It was listed in their system but they don't have any. After some discussion and calls to the pharmacy onsite and consulting with another doctor we come up with a plan. They do have the Hep B but do not have Hep A for adults, apparently it is for pediatric use only here. So, she writes a scrip for the B and a double dose of the A. Now I head down to the first floor pharmacy to pick up the doses. 

Finally find out where this place is, pick up a number and sit, get called up only to find out that they don't have the stuff there - I need to go to the second floor pharmacy. That one is smaller, pick up a number and sit, get called up only to find out that they don't have the stuff there - I need to go to the first floor pharmacy in the other building. Fortunately, since I'm already on the second floor, it is easy to cross the street. After a bit of walking around I find that pharmacy, pick up a number and sit, finally get called up to the desk. The clerk seems to have a lot of difficulty understanding the printed out scrip (it is in English after all.) After she has a couple 'consultations' she heads out back and brings me a couple boxes that she drops in a bag that has a zip-loc with ice in it. I pay the bill, apparently my insurance is useless for this, and I am told that I have to go to the first floor pharmacy of the other building to get the injection. Up two floors, over, down, through the pharmacy room to the injection room. Success, or so it seems. It is at this point I realize that I've been shorted by 50% of the Hep A vaccine - the doc wrote it for 1440 units but this single shot was 720 units, harumph. It will have to do since it has been 5 hours already since I got to the first office. The gal gives me the shots and I ask for the record so I can prove I've at least had the shot(s). She says it's in the computer and I'd need to go back to the doctor for the record.

So, back up to the third floor (at least I know the way by now.) By this time it is a long wait at the desk. [Side note: there was a guy standing in line next to me that the nurse had brought out. She came back up to him and insisted that he put his mask on, seems he didn't want to. Oh joy, just the person I want standing next to me, one that the nurse really feels must be wearing a mask, and he'd been standing there for a while prior to that. As we all know, you have to be two meters from the person in front of you but since viruses can't go sideways the lines can be close together.] There is much confusion at the desk when I get up there. Apparently no one has ever asked for an immunization record before in the history of this institution. So, I sit and wait to see the doctor again. The nurse comes out and we go to see the nice lady again. They don't seem to have any actual form or a way to print out any type of record but since the first time around I had shown her my copy of shot one (and two on a separate sheet) and that there were blank spaces on that paper she figured she could sign and stamp that. Success! Finally free to go. Now to find the car.

The Corniche w/o people...odd but pretty

The Corniche Road runs up the west side of Jeddah along the Red Sea. It is my relaxing drive home most days. I've even figured out the short cuts since it is hectic going through the front gate to work so I go in the back gate to avoid most of the traffic and Saudi drivers. It's still a bit like a GTA video game even so. With some construction over the past couple months I had to figure out the detour but it works well for me now.

Speaking of construction, there was a lot of it going on in the Jeddah area. Not much 'finishing' but a lot of 'constructing'. It reminds me of something someone told me about some other place. "There are ancient ruins, modern ruins, and future ruins, all at the same time." 

In any case, I wanted to take a little time for some pictures along the area which, for want of a better term, is somewhat of a park along the sea shore. Without the normal (I imagine) crowds you might expect. This area is a little north of my usual ride home because I took a bit of a wrong turn to get to the Corniche Road. So I stopped at a likely area and took a little stroll south.

Walking out to the jetty

Looking north

Entrance from the street towards the jetty.

From that entrance point out to the Red Sea.

Looking south from out at the end of the jetty.
That tall building with the heliport is called The Venue.

The Red Sea looks more green to me.

Not much red here.

Looking back south towards the city.

Not a bad spot.

See the fish? There was a fair number of people
fishing along this road further south on a normal day.

Way north of the city, under construction,
supposed to be the tallest building in KSA.
Someday maybe.

From the end of the jetty looking back towards the city.

North approach has plain seating, south approach,
IDK, worms, snakes?

I would not want to get exposed for a penalty.

Gotta love translations.

Bonus that it leads to the island (which does not have
any boardwalk so you'd be kinda hosed at that point.

Looks nice with all the people gone along with the
usual trash (which was still in the little tower I was on).

There are some nice views even so.

Pleasant little area.

If you water them, flowers will grow.

Lotsa flowers.

IDK what kind of tree but it won't escape this time!

I have never been good at interpreting
art, suggestions?