Not too far from the truth driving in KSA (from Columbia Basin Herald, July 22, 2020)
[from FB post: December 20, 2016]
Riding to Work
My life here Saudi Arabia is just like the rest of you with the exception that it is liberally sprinkled with what you might call "WTF moments". This is my typical morning and commute to the university.
I wake up at 6am with the alarm if I am lucky enough to have slept the night through. Most days I wake up long before the alarm. It seems life at 7000 ft is just not conducive to a good night's rest. The only people who really get good sleeps here are those who were born at this altitude. Even Saudis who grew up down on the coastal plains complain about getting a good sleep here in the mountains.
I turn on my laptop to check the news and listen to BBC morning radio online. I check my phone for messages and instagram. I read online news as well... it is tough not having a cup of joe first thing, but I am really addicted to espresso drinks these days and I don't have a Starbucks right downstairs from my room.
I have my breakfast - a bowl of bran cereal with some fruit. The Saudi diet is blissfully free of fiber. If you love meat of all kinds and rice and bread, then you would find yourself in gourmet heaven here. If, like me, you cherish taking a dump at some point through the day, fiber supplements are essential. I sometimes wonder if this entire county is constipated? At any rate, thank you Kelloggs for exporting All Bran to Abha. My colon and I are forever grateful.
I head downstairs and wait for my colleague to pick me up on his way to work. He is a young Jordanian in his second year at our school and is already the registrar of our college. Of course, he is fluent in English and Arabic, has computer skills and works hard. Saudis typically avoid jobs that require them to work hard, show up at specified hours and take responsibility for their work. Almost all the college registrars across the university are non-Saudi. That way we actually have schedules of classes at the start of the semester and grades entered at the end.
So the next hurdle of the day is the 15 minute ride to work. To put it bluntly, Saudis cannot drive. Now if you define driving as hurtling at high speeds while texting and ignoring all traffic regulations, then yes, a lot of them drive. So each day we nervously chat and silently pray that we will make it to the university in one piece. Traffic accidents are a way of life here. The campus is filled with maimed students (no exaggeration) and I lose 1-2 students each year to a traffic accident. Not to worry though, Saudis have large families so there is usually a ready replacement.
Another fun factor on the drive is that children drive here. One of the bi-products of women not being able to drive is that kids as young as 10 or 11 routinely ferry their moms or sisters around shopping. Sometimes you see driverless cars only to find there is a kid behind the wheel who can barely see out over it. The Saudis all bemoan this, but do nothing to stop it either. Actually, they are all secretly proud that they have one of the few countries where 10 year olds are experts at hurtling down desert roads.
So we do arrive at the university in one piece most days (Praise be to God) and take the last dangerous walk through the faculty parking lot avoiding colleagues who compete for the parking spaces closest to the main doors. I bid farewell to my young Jordanian friend and go get my morning coffee.
The coffee shop staff know me well and know my order. The receipt calls it "hot boys lattah" - I don't even go there. The coffee tastes like distilled cat piss, but it IS made with a proper espresso machine. How they manage to make it taste so bad remains a mystery. I just take a dash of sugar to take off the edge and not the usual 15 spoons that most locals take. "Oh doctor, I can't taste your tongue" was today's comment as he gave me the cup. Well yes, thank God for that... I am not much into tongue tasting before 8am.
I try to remember not to drink any before I get to the office. The lids just don't fit snuggly and my shirts often attest to my forgetting not to sip before I sit at my desk. The students' white traditional robes often speak the same story I might add. It seems almost a conspiracy to have everyone be coffee stained before the first class!
Finally I arrive at my desk to start my day. As I said, most parts of my day are just like any other place in the world. It just happens it is liberally sprinkled with a lot of "colorful" stuff that makes living overseas such a "dream"
I laugh re-reading this. I doubt much has changed except women can now drive and I hope that has finished the young boys driving cars! To be determined though....