Latest struggles of the First Pancake

You may not know (and there is really no reason you should) that KSA requires that all companies employing expats, yours truly among them, must be paid within the country. This means direct deposit usually which is once a month. The company I work for has paid every two weeks. The one detail is that one first must have an iqama (national identity card). So, that's the highest priority to apply for that in the first few days in-country.

I received mine over two months ago. Since it wasn't to my advantage I waited for HR to notify me that I had to set up a bank account and promptly forgot about it. A couple weeks ago I asked our differently-helpful local American HR guy when I was going to get info about setting up a bank account. He was flustered and said I was supposed to have already done that. But first, I had to have a KSA address on the national system. Surprise! It didn't work when the Saudi HR guy tried to set my address via the online system. After two tries I suggested he let me know when he got it figured out. About 4-5 days later I got an email with the address information. First step down, haba-haba. So, I stop in at HR for the 'letter' to the bank (wrong start date and not my preferred bank - np.) I go to my preferred bank and try to get either my old account reopened (not possible since it was closed) or to open a new account. This is Tuesday afternoon. No go, need my passport & a photo for some reason, hmmm. OK, I want to hammer this all out and I do know that there are built-in days in the contract for just such purposes. So I arrange with the Colonel to take Thursday off to complete my bank details. I get there a little while after they open and there is still some problem, the helpful guy at the bank suggested that I try to apply for an account online (to me, this is code to 'go away and stop bothering me') since he was having no luck. I told him that I had tried the other evening and there was something I was unaware of called Absher which I was not familiar with. This is apparently the national clearing house for traffic tickets, visas, etc. where you can pay fines, get exit/reentry visas, etc. OK, I go back to my apartment and try to set this up online. I manage to enter the account set-up information and the 'helpful' website says to fill in the conformation code but they neglect to say whether it was sent to my email or my cell phone. OK, I check both, then I check my work email on the off chance that is where this is headed, no luck. 

So I head back to our 'differently-helpful' HR guy and was immediately told that I had already been told to register in Absher (I had not) and that I was in the system if I had my driver's license (also not the case since my license was a transfer.) So the Saudi HR guy tried to set me up online with Absher, he got exactly the same results that I got. So he gave me his cell number and told me to have the bank guy call him. Back to the bank and a 1+ hour wait (it is 'Friday' after all.) The bank guy spoke with our Saudi HR guy after not being able to set up my account. Then the bank guy called the Saudi Post office and verified that my name, iqama number, phone number, etc. was all correctly entered, it was all correct. (This is kind of important since often, and in my case, mobile numbers are recycled frequently - mine belonged to a former employee named Dave.) Therefore the problem lies within the Absher system itself. I showed him the number I had tried to call (but didn't get any useful response) and his reaction was that the name that showed was 'Police Station'. But since he kindly looked up the number on the Absher website and it matched he called it anyway and tried his best to get through - no luck, stuck in HLHP (Help Line Hold Purgatory). I call our Saudi HR guy back and the upshot is that they will have to use up another of my workdays to take me to the Ministry of Magic, no, it's some other ministry, to sort this all out. I told him to let me know when it is all arranged. I am no longer tracking this mess.

I get out to my car and there is a thin film of fine sand all over the car. I had started to notice earlier this day that my car was making an odd noise and it seemed the cooling fan was running a little loudly when I shut the car off. Since there's an active sand storm I've got the windows up and the AC on. Heading back to the compound it is rather alarming to see the engine temp head way up, fortunately I'm only about 5-10 minutes from HAFH. The dash shows a '145' code which stays on, not a good sign but fitting considering how the rest of my day is going. I go right to the motor pool and everyone is gone (it's 3:45 p.m.) bummer. I visit the operator and he calls the back up guy to come back so I can get a car for the weekend at least. On the plus side, it's a newer car with much lower mileage.

Oh, did I mention that a local hospital which is about a half mile from where I work had at least one patient with the COVID-19 diagnosis? There are 10 or more cases in Jeddah now. No worries. Friday the 13th issue of Arab News newspaper - front page story - KSA is banning flights to and from the EU & Switzerland for the time being. IMHO Heathrow beats CDG any day, that's the extent of any silver lining.

Wash your hands.

More on the weather and other stuff

I was listening to the weather report on the radio the other day and, no joke, the announcer read: 
"Sunday, hot, sunny and humid with zero percent chance of precipitation; 
Monday, hot, sunny and humid with zero percent chance of precipitation; 
Tuesday, hot, sunny and humid with zero percent chance of precipitation; 
Wednesday, hot, sunny and humid with zero percent chance of precipitation; 
Thursday, hot, sunny and humid with zero percent chance of precipitation; 
and for the weekend, hot, sunny and humid with zero percent chance of precipitation." 

Yes, he read those last 6 words for each day, I can't make this stuff up.

This past Tuesday I was checking the weather on my phone app and the report was 34°C (93°F) with winds of 24 mph, wind chill was 40°C (104°F). Hmmm, I always thought the wind chill lowered the temperature.

Yesterday, Thursday, we where in the midst of a sand storm, not all that big, and visibility was about 1/4 of a mile. I was in the bank for about an hour and a half and went from a clean car to one covered by dust.

The wind picked up over the evening and night so the sky was completely shut out. The absolute worst thing is that the wind was from the south, which apparently is rather rare here, that meant that in my bedroom, on the south side of the building, got the distinct whiff of the compound sewage treatment plant. Yuck, not all that pleasant a bedtime odor, I believe lavender is better to help one get to sleep.

Today, Friday, it is actually raining for a little bit. Thankfully cooler (28°C) but still a 14 mph wind.

Odds & ends

Gee, where to begin...

Today is March 6th already, been almost 3 months here in the wilds of Jeddah. The company still has not provided me the tools to do my job so I'm using my own computer and advanced CAD/FEA software. Still don't have my security clearance, not even interim (which, according to the job description, is required.) You may well ask why I use my personal property to do my job? It's because I don't like being set up to fail and I will do (almost) anything to get the job done. Other than that, I'll keep pushing. On a good note, they did finally get me a printer at work.

Driving is still crazy. Over here they seem to close roads randomly for "construction" and rarely offer detours and absolutely zero notice. The good thing is that I'm learning my way around and can find work-arounds and shortcuts. Did I mention that occasionally the cops block the U-turns on the main road so you'd have to head about 2 miles south just to find a way to head north? And there are still many drivers who think they are playing Pac-Man - easily identified by their driving to 'gobble up' the dots on the roads - either that or their AI driving program is set to follow the dotted line instead of staying between two of them. I wish I had a go-pro to video my usual drive, it would be excellent to show for driver's training on what not to do.

Found a new (to me) and bigger grocery store that is easy to get to after work and then a relatively quick & easy drive to HafH. As usual though, I still cannot fathom the thought process behind the product placement and aisles. For some unknown reason, condiments are placed over the frozen food (low not upright) locations, far away from seasonings and spices. Cashews & pistachios are placed with beans, jar of dry-roast peanuts with snacks, both no where near all the other types of nuts. I was finally able to find a soap dish, $2.13, for the bathtub (the store is kind of a bigger Meijers, both groceries and everything else.) 

Had a bit of a rain storm with a lot of wind the other day. Quite the storm surge across both lanes on the Corniche. Traffic headed south was backed way up with water halfway up to the rocker panels on the cars. Usually there is almost no traffic on this road which is why I like to take this one home. Most people avoid this since there are pedestrian crossings which are rather massive speed bumps and you really have to slow down or risk tearing out the suspension. Peaceful and scenic drive after a long (relatively) day at work with the bonus that it avoids most of the traffic jams.

I don't think I've described much about my work day schedule. Basically I have to punch in (finger print scan) before 7:00 a.m. The Saudi staff slide in by 7:30 a.m. or so. Then we all have breakfast together in the 'buffet' room, just a mini kitchen area. Someone brings in typical Saudi food and other times my company co-worker brings Subway or McDonald's. Micky D's has a really good breakfast thingy here that consists of a fried/scrambled egg, a hash brown and what passes for sausage wrapped in a flat bread (not gyro/pita/tortilla). Put some hot sauce on that and nom-nom. (Ahmed, my office mate, told me that I'm the first American he has known that likes the local hot sauce on stuff.) Then we 'start' work about 8:15-8:30. Things come to a halt all over again at prayer time for about 20 minutes or so about mid day. Then at about 1:45 p.m. all the Saudis leave and I punch out at/after 2:00 p.m. for the fun drive back to the compound. Sounds easy doesn't it? However, please remember that I am still basically in a prison with walls all around and barbed wire all up the outside and a long security entrance to check vehicles, etc. just to get in. Kind of a country club prison but secured none the less.

*Warning* (skip this paragraph if you don't like sensitive topics)
I saw something the other day which was rather disturbing but is most likely not all that uncommon here in KSA. I was parked at a light and happened to look to my left at the row of parked cars along the other lane. Here's this big Saudi man (yes, it is simple to distinguish between men and women here b/c of how they dress) who had some sort of stick about 2-3' long and he was hitting a much smaller woman who was in the back seat of the SUV. Not just once but several times. Light changed and I drove along, you do not interfere in 'family matters' wherever they happen here. Unfortunately I have seen similar if not as violent behavior in the U.S. in stores and even once at a county clerk's office. It seems that human nature can be the same everywhere.

I'll sign off for now and try to update on a more regular basis.

A few photos ...

There appears to be a meta-message
on this label. Hmmm...

I assume they are not selling spelling

Near the Souq

From the other side

My office (window goes to hallway)

Sign outside my office

Flowering shrub near my office

Going native at the souq

Saudi?

Or Yemeni?

Choices, choices. Should I stick with the traditional Saudi head wear or what the majority of the shopkeepers would wear? Which one makes me look thinner?

Updated CoS

Yes, that's the way I park to drop off my shirts.
Got a problem with it?

Grumpy bags don't want to travel

Some things work, some things not so much

Had a (mostly) good day Wednesday, the day before, not so much.

Tuesday afternoon, all of a sudden, my internet goes out. (I haul a WAP to work every day, don't leave it here because my employer pays for it and I don't want anyone else 'borrowing' my wireless bandwidth.) I'm fairly clever about networks, routers, wifi, etc. I can handle this. Nope. Nothing. Nada. I check with my co-worker, his little box is working just fine. I send a message to our IT department asking if the SIM card expires - it's not supposed to. So I call the guy and, as it turns out, they had a number of SIM cards they didn't know the location of so they shut them off. In and of itself, this was probably a good thing since the hardware for the old WAP was made by Huawei and if you keep up on technology in the news you'll know why I probably shouldn't be using this in the line of work I'm in. So, trip to IT after work and they give me a new box and it is much faster than before. All is good again.

Also on Tuesday, got an email saying that we would no longer be allowed into compound buildings and had to use our badges to get in. Of course mine has not worked since I got here. I have asked about it several times and gotten many different stories. Now it had all come to a head. So, stop by the office, had to get 'illegally' buzzed in, the guy is there to make the badges but his badge printer has run out of ink and even though he has the cartridges there he says he has to wait for IT to come change them. "Come back in 45 minutes." Yeah, right, Saudi airline time, LOL.

Wednesday morning I went to get my driver's license. Got to work, set up my 2 laptops, checked my email, had a cup of coffee and a bite of breakfast with the guys then I head back to the compound to meet the guy who would take me to get my license. First the obligatory stop at a clinic for yet another 'health screening' prior to getting another government ID document. Blood test, check - I guess I passed, haven't caught anything since the last test I took 6 weeks ago. Eye test, check - I've got two and they seem to work about the same as always. Then a trip to the driving school/test/licensing offices. They had me sit at a computer and pulled up a simulator. After running over 5 pedestrians and hitting two police cars a screen pops up and says I have 5 million points in Grand Theft Auto. No, seriously, I didn't have to take any test since I got my license that was good for 10 years way back in 2012 so all they had to do was transfer my iqama (national ID card) and cellphone number. I walked out with a new card which they added 2 years to so it's good to 2024 now. Probably the extra 2 years was because I have not gotten a ticket nor had an accident in KSA for the past 7 years! (I did not tell them that I haven't been driving here for the last 7 years, they didn't ask.) Got back to work before 11. My office mate thought I hadn't even left because I left my computer there (no Saudi would have returned that day.)

Get back to the compound at the end of the day and check to see if I can get my badge to work on the door. For some unknown reason the guy didn't seem to know how to just add my badge to their system, so he makes a new one. Seems to open the door OK. I walk down to IT to say 'hi' (since I have been there at least every other day since I got here.) and my badge doesn't work. Walk back to the office - the guy has left and will be back in 15 minutes. Of course my badge now does not work in the main office door either. I wait. Okay, he makes me a new badge - this one seems to work but I didn't check it on any other door.

Thursday at about 3 p.m. I get a call from Sayed (badge guy) saying something about a new badge. So, I wander over to the office, aaannnd my badge doesn't work. Have to get buzzed in again. Oddly enough, Sayed hands me my badge back that I got originally in the U.S. He had already transferred access to that badge, hence the reason I couldn't get in, of course why tell me that in advance. IDK why he could now transfer the old one and couldn't yesterday - again I shrug. At least, apparently, my base pass is in the works to go from temporary laminated to permanent. We shall see.

One good thing with this company is that they contract out to a company to do my taxes for me - even 2019, although I've worked in 2019 for Raytheon they hadn't paid me until 2020. Who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth. Even though I had already purchased H&R Block program I will still let these guys do heavy lifting.

...short explaination... mea culpa

Okay, quick update. I caught kind of a nasty (to me) cold, probably in the souq, and was miserable for one day at work and then slept for 12-14 hours each day over that w/e, fitfully I will add. Then came what seems like it has been a month of coughing up lung stuff and being generally stuffy. And this was all before the Wutan Clan came on the scene. (Didn't have any fever so it luckily wasn't any sort of MERS/SARS/flu - good thing since I hear that the shot I got has only been about 55% effective this year.) I understand that to cure the corona-virus you need to drink a lot of Corona with lime. Not going to find any beer here.

Then work has picked up quite a bit. My co-worker came back on the 19th and he's been filling me in on all the ins and outs of the job/location/people/etc. since he's been doing this for almost 10 years.

Then in the evening I've been working quite a bit on cleaning up my genealogy files. I've got most of the place names, if not standardized, whittled down from over 7000 unique ones to somewhat over 5000. I'm also working on making sure the information I have on my relatives & ancestors is at least as up to date as what's available online. That is a task and a half. There are well over 8000 people listed in my database - and some of the readers of this blog are included (you know who you are.)

Hopefully now I am getting back on track and will post a couple updates this week.