Boring week off :(

 So, it is the last week of Ramadan and then Eid al Fitr. Then I can go back to work. Yippie!

I just found out yesterday that my employer has a letter with a list of names on it whereby people can come back to KSA directly from the U.S. without having to spend 14 day quarantine in a non-banned country prior to entry. The U.S. is one of the 20 banned countries. (Can you say 'politics'?) However, the company neglected to inform anyone that this was even possible. Therefore I will be missing my daughter's graduation from her MBA program - Congratulations! PMO, b/c the return issue was why I didn't go ahead with 3 weeks off this month. Bummer all around. Now I will have to track down whoever is in charge of this 'list' and see what or if I can be added to it. One of the drawbacks I already know of is that the only flight this would apply to would be Saudia from Dulles airport to Riyadh - my opinion of Saudia flights has be a topic prior in a previous blog post.

New Dec. 2020, after about
500 miles of walking around here.

Worn soles from Sept. 2020,
shoes I brought, ~2 y.o.

 Either shoes have gotten much worse wear-wise or the heat and distance I cover (~5 miles per day) has really taken its toll. I can't believe that I will soon have to go out and buy yet another pair of sneakers (for sneaking). Can't wait to see how my new hiking boots hold up.

I may have mentioned the hoopla when I was told to park next to the officer's admin person in our office. The guy actually made me go out and move my car to the third slot, right next to where the Col. & LTC park. The admin guy uses the 4th slot. There was a great noise about this with many of the Saudis complaining that they should have been bumped up to the slot instead of me. Side note: I am usually the first one in the office and unlock the door. Anyway, the LTC decided to removed the assigned parking (except for the officer's) and people would park where ever. I generously offered the choice slot to anyone who got in to the office ahead of me.

'VIP Visitor'

The picture on the right is a couple of fuzzies - the little one belongs to a guy here on the compound.

Someone thought my ears
needed cleaning.

 So, partly given the kerfuffle listed at the beginning of this post, but mostly because I had been threatening it for some time (I had planned to do this almost 10 years ago) I have scheduled my little hill climb. Anyone want to join me?

 

Starting from July 7th I am undertaking a climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. We will be back from the little walk by July 15th. If anyone wants to go with there are 9 more open slots for this hike. Tanzania has minimal C-19 restrictions and no issue with return to KSA except for the obligatory brain-probe via nostril. 

Little 9-day walk up the hill

I'll spend another week in Moshi, probably take in a couple day trip events like the coffee plantation and maybe the falls or hot springs. There is supposed to be some sort of artists area within the city and I also see there is a large market building. Adventure awaits.

We got new walls around the compound b/c the government wanted the roads back. Makes for a little more convoluted driving and some of the tenants had to move to units further in. So, the "MSP" has new walls.

Oh, and Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!

'Pretty" new wall

"DANGER"