KKU foreign teacher appreciation party, somewhere down the mountain from Abha. December 2015.
[from FB post: August 25, 2013]
I had the most rigorous physical EVER. I took a form to a hospital and had it stamped endless times, I was asked if I had ever had a major operation and if I was "healthy" and they took a vial of my blood. Oh and I had an eye test and it didn't seem to matter what I said when they pointed at the test chart. The Saudis are OBVIOUSLY worried about the health of their foreign employees.
[August 26, 2013]
The Dean of the school helped to locate apartments for all the new teachers. When I showed up to pay for my room, the nice young Egyptian man behind the desk said "sorry, no rooms, we are fully booked....your friends just came and took the last rooms" So then I said, "but we only called you 15 minutes before and you said there were three rooms available?" "No, only two" Hmmmm... so I asked to speak to the owner. "He is sitting right behind you" Imagine a very severe, dour Saudi man. Anyway, after a bit of protesting, etc. Suddenly the nice Egyptian man was showing me a room (I guess they had three rooms after all) I asked what the problem was and he said "this is a family floor" (meaning husbands and wives and kids) Well I am not living with them, am I? How odd! Anyway... in good news, I got an apartment and keys. I'll be moving my stuff in very soon!!! Hurrah!
[August 27, 2013]
Truth in advertising! one of the mobile networks here has a detailed map of the country down to the street level and you can "pin" your location. Then you can query which services are available there. You can get "no service", "outdoor only", and "indoor/outdoor" So if you sign up for a service that is NOT available in your area according to the map, there is very little bellyaching that can be done. Compare that with maps of "coverage areas" in the USA which are vague at best. The technology can't be THAT complex -- I think the big mobile carriers at home would be terrified if you found out just where their service did NOT work! ha!
(later that day)
I got a local mobile number, the first time I tried to top it up, I couldn't do it as I was entering the wrong "ID" (my passport number). After many calls to customer service that did nothing, I went back to the main office where I got the number. They left out one digit from my passport number. So the man said "Just remember it's your passport number minus the second 4" I asked "can you change it?" He said "Yes, but it would really take a long time, so why don't you just remember your passport number minus the second 4..." hahahahaha And THAT is a bit of a glimpse into getting things done here.
[August 28, 2013]
I got an important FedEx document today. It took as long for it to go from Washington DC to Abha, as it did from the Abha FedEx office to my hand it's a different pace of life here to say the LEAST!
[August 30, 2013]
I am in my new apartment! I am finally getting settled The neighborhood is great with services right out the doorstep. The WiFi doesn't work in the master bedroom which is a bummer. But in the Living Room it's great. And my water dispenser gushed out water when I put a big bottle on it (quite the mess). But these are minor details. A new chapter is really beginning
[September 3, 2013]
Passed my SECOND medical exam for my residence permit for Saudi. First one in the USA, second one here. I don't have HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis, malaria, parasites, etc etc.... so NOW I can start a whole new set of forms to eventually get my "iqama" -- residence card.
[September 4, 2013]
I submitted the form for my "iqama" which is my residence permit for Saudi Arabia. After I get that, I can open a bank account, get a drivers license, basically do ANYTHING. But I still must sign my OFFICIAL contract and submit other papers for my housing allowance and furniture allowance. Honestly, I think these people invented paperwork!
[September 5, 2013]
Another day of filling forms and getting stamps. I turned in the forms for my housing and moving allowance. Also I signed my contract and showed them the dearly sought after attested diploma copies as well as my reference letter (also stamped and attested). Alas, they NOW need my diplomas translated into Arabic!!! But that might just be the last step?? It's MY weekend now... woo hoo!
[September 16, 2013]
I got my "iqama"... I am a legal resident of Saudi Arabia.
What a crazy few weeks!
During the very long and drawn out visa process for Saudi Arabia, my mainstay there was Abdul Rauf Khan, a Pakistani-Canadian guy who became my friend even before I arrived. Rauf was overseeing all the paperwork on that side of the world and encouraged me not to give up during the long, frustrating process. He insisted I stay with him after I arrived while I looked for housing and I took him up on the offer partly out of politeness and partly because I had no idea what I was getting into. That turned out to be a great decision!
The university had hired a bunch of foreigners at once (we were all American, except one South African) and it had been years since any native speakers had been hired at King Khalid University, so they literally did not know what to do with us. We didn't get housing as part of our contract and the university only paid for two nights in a hotel and then -- we were on our own. Wow!!! I was so glad I took Rauf up on his offer. In fact, since I was one the first arrivals I told Rauf we should meet people at the airport (which the university was supposed to do and occasionally forgot - Rauf had picked me up) and then help them find housing. I entirely dodged a bullet as I watched the other guys being moved from place to place with no one stepping in to help.
Finally, it was our Romanian colleagues to the rescue! They told us there was a hotel not too far from the main campus that accepted foreigners (where they also lived). The main issue was that although Abha was swimming in small hotels (it was a summer resort town), no one wanted to rent to any single males (let alone non-Muslim foreigners) lest they disturb the "family" guests (read: women). It was my first experience with just how far the Saudis took this "no mixing" thing (males should not mingle with unrelated females). Luckily, our Dean intervened and helped me get an apartment in the building where I would live the next five years.
Take note that my hotel only received a real street address in my last year in Saudi. Prior to that, everything was delivered via landmarks or by guiding a delivery driver (in Arabic) by mobile phone. I was urgently waiting documents from the US that I needed to finalize my contract (and salary rank), so I had TFR send them to me from DC. The envelop took a couple of days to reach Abha and then.... a week to find me in Abha! Basically, they messaged me "the package had arrived" and I had to find their office and pick it up myself. That was all due to the fact that Abha (and most of KSA) had no street addresses! One of the big modernization pushes in my last year was creating street addresses for every building. I remember when I received the street address from the hotel manager I had a good chuckle. I no longer lived "Across from the first Al Nahdi pharmacy on Abu Horaira Rd near a boys' high school in Al Mansak, Abha". I now lived on a street with a name and my hotel even had a street number.
We were on our own for everything - getting our health screening for residency, setting up a bank account, registering a new local SIM, and finding transport to and from the university. When I look back on the experience and my age at the time, I am amazed at how well I handled it. Not all of the new arrivals did - we had some very early departures because of Saudi culture and because of the strange working environment at the university. As I have mentioned before, the foreigners I met at King Khalid University all deserved blog posts of their own. "Quirky" or "eccentric" did not even begin to describe some of those guys.
I was settled. EB from South Africa lived next to me and became a stalwart companion against the craziness we faced on a daily basis. Rauf remained a good friend throughout my time in Abha and I owe him a debt of gratitude for those first few days in the Kingdom.
Note: I found the above photo ironic that two years after we arrived, those of us who remained were fêted with a fairly lavish party. The Saudis told us how much we were appreciated - the very people who didn't help us get set up when we arrived!