Got Carried Away -

Whoops! Started blogging and just couldn't stop. Nope. Absolutely no self-control.

Did not mean for my Deer post to get lost in my ranting and raving. Should have done it last...

Click on "Deer" for more photos...

Locally...

Just a couple of things, locally...

A lot of "pirated items" have been seized... Good that the authorities are out there hunting this "stuff" down. Not to make light of it, because pirating is a crime, but perhaps if the resources used to track down pirated items were put into traffic control there would be a whole lot less road carnage. Just a thought...

Hmm... Is this a single, isolated incident, or is there something more sinister going on? How is it that only one person has been poisoned? If the bottled water was really contaminated, would there not be many others that wound up being hospitalized?

A Saudi woman that allegedly killed her husband - eight years ago - has been sentenced to be beheaded...

And, this. I'm not going to dissect the entire article - just most of it!

"The presence of a housemaid in a Saudi house has become inevitable. If this inevitability is not because of her services, then it is because of the need to imitate others. This is a fact that everybody knows. The need for housemaids is connected to the ways Saudis live - women go to work, responsibilities for the social and educational welfare of children, men failing to help with house duties, few day-care facilities for children, large and spacious homes, extended families and increasing numbers of children."

[Wretching!!!] Let me just start with that... I'd be more willing than not to say that the need for housemaids has to do more with the "need to imitate others" than what services are actually needed. Everyone wants to keep up with the Joneses' - it is, to a degree, just part of human nature. At least there was some honesty in that statement. As far as the need being "connected to the ways Saudis live?" Just stop it. Get over yourself! Women all over the world live the exact same way and they don't need housemaids! Ut-uh. Calling B.S. on that. You've brought it upon yourselves...

"The net result is that the majority of families need to have housemaids. The truth of the matter is that some of us need more than one housemaid. The problem does not lie in hiring a housemaid, but the problems these housemaids possibly bring to the home." Gimme a f'ng break... No. The majority of families do not "need" housemaids, they "want" housemaids. Needing more than one? You have obviously stretched yourself beyond your means - and probably in more ways from one. Did Saudis in days long past, before oil dollars elevated the lifestyle and moved families from out of a tent and into a McMansion, require more than one maid? Yeah. Didn't think so.

Moving on...

"Some of these problems are difficult to deal with, especially when they relate to the murder or abuse of children. Some of these crimes, such as thefts and absconding maids, can be surpassed." Interesting that there is mention whatsoever of the abuse that many household maids and domestic help is forced to endure and suffer... None. Whatsoever.

Gosh. Imagine that. An article written in complete and utter copycat style of the New York Times. Totally ONE-SIDED!

DWF and Learing Arabic

Driving While Fasting... Dangerous. Driving in the Sandbox is scary under the best of conditions! To say that driving, here, is challenging is the understatement of the century if there ever was one - and you literally take your life in your hands the moment you step into a vehicle, whether as the driver or as a passenger. The chances of being in an accident are exponentially multiplied during Ramadan as "drivers, eager to reach their destination, throw all driving sense and caution to the wind." Yep. 'Tis true. Today's Saudi Gazette has an article that says, "The standards of driving are known to be erratic in the country and it only gets worse in the holy month of Ramadan." Go back through any of my archives and read what I call, "Locally..." Road carnage is rampant. Want to increase your chances for a long and healthy life? Stay OFF the roads as day turns to dusk! "At sunset, the time to break the fast, many people will be moving on the roads at once and it will be more dangerous than usual." Which is why, except for the weekly trip downtown to do my grocery shopping - FIRST THING IN THE MORNING - I'll be staying home until October 4th!

The article gives some statistics - and makes statements - all of which I've previously done blog posts on:

"Saudi Arabia has the highest auto accident rate among all Gulf countries. Nearly 3,500 people die and 28,000 are injured in over 153,000 traffic accidents each year. Official sources attribute the causes of these crashes to aggressive driving, speeding, failure to obey traffic rules and poor car maintenance." Poor car maintenance? Gimme a break! I know - you know - everyone knows - that the crashes, here, are caused by any and everything BUT poor car maintenance!!!

"The common denominator and the number one cause is, of course, speed. Traffic accidents involving high speed are the norm." My point, exactly, as I've been saying all along... Thank you, very much!

"The use of mandatory seat belts for the driver and the passenger in front is neglected by many and contributes to nearly 81 percent of deaths in car accidents." No, you don't say... You've really got to see it to believe it, but it is quite common to see a man driving his car - cigarette in one hand, mobile phone glued to his ear with his other hand - with a couple of children - toddlers, babies - crawling back and forth over him, the steering wheel, the dashboard, the seats... Child safety seats? Oh, sure, they have them here. You do not see them very often in the vehicles of "locals," however.

"...car accidents in the Kingdom cost the country SR13 billion each year. ...SR3.4 billion is spent annually on repairing vehicles, SR734 million on providing medical care to those injured in car accidents and SR326 million on administrative costs to deal with car crashes." In U.S. dollars, those amounts translate to $3,485,254,691.68, $911,528,150.13, $196,782,841.82, and $87,399,463.80, respectively. Astounding figures, pretty much unfathomable by the "average Joe."

"Saudi Arabia or the Gulf area is considered to be No. 1 in car accidents in the world. Accidents by car are among the top five causes of death in Saudi Arabia." Well there's a claim to fame, worth boasting about... Um-hmm. It sure is...

And, one final statement: "Meanwhile, the new traffic rules that have come into effect include a point-based system and codified punishments for joy-riding." Newsflash! If drivers that are breaking the "new traffic rules" or even any of the old traffic rules do not get pulled over and ticketed there is absolutely no point whatsoever in implementing them!!!

So, the daily road carnage will continue. Authorities could put a stop to it. Or, at the very least, make an effort to decrease the aforementioned statistics, by actually enforcing the laws and traffic rules. But don't expect for THAT to happen anytime soon. I know I'm not holding my breath...

On a totally different note... Today's Arab News has this article, "Learning Arabic in the Kingdom a challenge." Why make the statement that "Learning Arabic in the Kingdom a challenge," when learning Arabic anywhere would be a challenge! It is a difficult language. I, am, however, adamant about learning it, and bound and determined that in my lifetime I will be able to speak, read and write Arabic. I am going to be taking Arabic classes again beginning in October. I've taken three classes - two on speaking Arabic and one on reading and writing Arabic. Can I speak Arabic, yet? Only the most basic of basic words! Hello [marharba]; thank you [shukran], you're welcome [afwan], yes [nam], no [la], and big dog [kabeer kalb]. That's pretty much all one needs to have a conversation in Arabic, no?

It has been a couple of years since I took my last Arabic class, so I feel the need to start from scratch, and sign up for the two most basic courses that are offered to us here on our compound. Perhaps they will be just a tad easier for me this time around. I could wait, and sign up for the more difficult courses this January, but I really feel as though the refresher courses are a necessity in order to be able to even try to excel in the more advanced courses. Learning Arabic would be a lot less difficult if we were forced to use it, but in a country where everyone speaks English it is not a necessity. Somehow I am going to find a way to thrust myself into a situation where I will have to adapt to the language... Even if it means that I become a fixture in my DH's office where the men that work there can get a good laugh as I struggle to pronounce words that have throaty, unnatural sounds.

When I start writing posts in Arabic, you will know that I have finally achieved my goal!

Deer

Oh my gosh. I am so NOT high-tech. I stuck the little "film thingy disk" in the little slot to download my deer pictures and got the pictures from when I redid the bedroom. What?!? Where are the deer pictures? I took a hundred of them! Oh. No. They can't be gone... They weren't. Thankfully. I had the wrong little "film thingy disk." I have my deer pictures. Phew! Not only am I so NOT high-tech, but I am so NOT a photographer, either. My Dad was a photographer and would have done the deer justice. Me? Nope. Thank goodness for digital cameras where all I have to do is point and shoot, though, because if I had to deal with lenses and speeds and little dials and meters, there would be NO pictures of anything - ever!

You can't imagine the hours of enjoyment I derived from sitting on my Mom's deck or in the screen-porch just watching the deer. It was so peaceful and tranquil and beautiful... Each and every morning and then again at dusk when they would come to feed on the corn that was put out for them. Well, it was mostly peaceful. Deer are not always the gentle animals they appear to be. The larger of the two females was quite mean, actually. If she was eating - no one else was going to eat from "her" pile - not the two adolescents - a male and a female - or the two fawns. The "Momma" deer clocked the young male one evening with one of the loudest "thunks" I've ever heard! You just know her thunking him on the noggin' made for one mean headache. The Babies - the fawns - got no favoritism by her, either; she'd knock them out of the way if she wanted their pile of corn. [There were - at a minimum five different piles of corn put down in a couple of locations - spread apart - so that others, besides the "Momma" could eat.] And, something I had never, ever heard before is the gutteral, nasal hissing sound deer make when they are not pleased with something - their surroundings, my being too close, or other deer coming to feed...

There were seven "regulars" to this deer menagerie. A family of five - the Momma, the two adolescents - a male and a female, and the two babies, the cute little fawns. It was absolutely amazing how much the fawns grew on a daily basis... And, then there were two males who would come, separately, one with antlers a good six or eight inches long - still covered with "fur," and one with smaller antlers - only a couple of inches - nubs... Occasionally there would be other stragglers that would wander through the woods and stop and munch the corn, but the seven - the family of five, and the two young bucks - were out there twice a day, like clockwork.

It distresses me to no end knowing that our feeding them was both good and bad. Good in that the deer weren't going to go hungry, and bad in that we were encouraging them to become freeloading, welfare recipients - turning them into liberals, no doubt... But worse, fattening them all for the upcoming deer hunting season! [I can't think about it. I know that the deer herds need to be thinned so that there is enough food in the wild to go around. Still, hunting just seems like such a cruel sport - and crueler in North Carolina where dogs are still allowed to run deer. At least make it a fair hunt! Having dogs do the work is NOT fair. And, once again, I am reminded of the scene from My Cousin Vinny, as Vinny is about to go hunting with the District Attorney [Trotter] - and Vinny says to Mona, "What about these pants I got on? You think they're okay?" To which Mona replies, "Imagine you're a deer. You're prancing along. You get thirsty. You spot a little brook. You put your little deer lips down to the cool, clear water - BAM. A fuckin' bullet rips off part of your head. Your brains are lying on the ground in little pieces. Now I ask ya, would you give a fuck what kind of pants the son-of-a-bitch who shot you was wearing?"]

A Cold Front, Projects, and Other Stuff

A cold front has moved in. Yep. Really. When I went for my morning jaunt with The Kids yesterday it was stifling, outside. Over a hundred degrees with a LOT of humidity. One of the very reasons the high temperatures and heat here is so bearable is due to the fact that we do not have much humidity - most of the time. Oh, sure, there is that last couple of weeks in August OR the first couple of weeks in September when we expect it - humidity - every year, but during June and July - when it is 120° degrees every single day - there is no humidity and dry heat is much different than humid heat. The humidity this year has been with us since July, and according to friends who live here it continued through August [we were only here for the beginning of the month] and now, it is almost mid-September, and up until late yesterday afternoon it was absolutely wet, outside. I went outside with The Boy so he could do business when I got up at four o'clock [almost back to my regular sleeping schedule!], in my nightshirt and bathrobe, and it was almost chilly! The thermometer said 88° - it is dry - not an iota of humidity in the air - and there was actually a breeze. Damn! Time to get our winter coats out already. Yes. There is a huge - HUGE - difference in 88° that is dry as opposed to 88° that is humid. I know I am probably not going to garner much sympathy from anyone that lives in upstate New York or Minnesota or Canada...

Actually, I am almost glad that it was so humid yesterday. I was inspired to do some of the "chores" I wanted needed to do, because it was just too bloody uncomfortable to be sitting outside next to or in the pool. The two refrigerator freezers got cleaned out, organized and inventoried. Geez. I had no idea we had seven bags of frozen green beans! Just have to do the same with the freezer in the garage, now. That one needs defrosted and I need to do it in the next day or so because DHL called yesterday and our shipment has left the States and will be in Dammam on Monday. I'll need to put 30 cartons of cigarettes in the freezer and a half dozen large bottles of fish oil capsules...

And, I started reorganizing my book shelves. Big mistake to have HB15 take the books out, shelf by shelf, to clean and dust. HB13 has done this task in the past. He is coming this week - maybe even today - to talk to me about working here again. At least I will not have to go through the training process with him, and he knows that if you take the books out of the shelf, one shelf at a time, to clean, then they need to put them back on the shelf in the EXACT order in which they were removed them. HB15 did a miserable job. The books were out of order - half of them were upside down [this, from a houseboy who claimed to be able to read English!]. I only did the non-fiction hardcover shelves, so will have to finish the paperback shelves and reference books... I made a good dent, though, in this project. Can finish it in an hour or so, later today.

Tomorrow morning a couple of us are going downtown - need to go to the market, again. Our Commissary has just gotten worse and worse and worse insofar as stocking the most basic foodstuffs and necessities. How can there be no low-fat milk?!? I'm going to go to the paint store, again, because I need some frustration. Tan paint. Taupe. How difficult can it be to get the right color?!? I wanted taupe for the living room and the living room is not taupe. And, DH's bathroom is going to be redone. I won't be posting all of the details like I did with the bedroom. But I will before and after pictures. No construction is going to be necessary - just a coat of paint - and there is another man that I will talk to about doing the work. There is no way I'm going to deal with Rev telling me he'll be here when I know good and well he won't show up. [There is a leak in the pool; Rev is "fixing" it. He was supposed to be here at three o'clock on Wednesday - he didn't show up until late Thursday morning. Big surprise, there. Not!]

This country is facing a labor shortage... Hey! Here's an idea: Put the unemployed masses, here, locally, to work. Problem solved. This article in today's Saudi Gazette says that the "acute shortage of foreign manpower" is due to "a sharp increase in the cost of living and high recruitment fees." Yeah. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that other countries are willing to pay higher wages. Good grief. What do you expect when you are only willing to pay "unskilled workers from India between SR400 and SR500" a month? "...now the minimum salary is SR700." [SR400 = $107.23, SR500 = $134.04, and SR700 = $187.66] I pay my gardener SR500 a month - and he only works 12 hours a week! Perhaps if decent wages were paid the 70,000 workers that need to be imported every year could be recruited. "Locals" wouldn't even consider working for such measly wages. How can you possibly expect that foreign manpower will?

There are a couple of articles in today's Arab News on marriage. This one, "Marriage officials to be punished if bride consent not sought," is somewhat convoluted and misleading. Just your typical "passing the buck" kind of thing... And, this one, "Married with no legal rights," lays it all out in plain black and white.

Road carnage. Will it never end?!? Never mind. It's a rhetorical question...

That's all I have, for today. It is time to put my walking "uniform" on. Think I'll grab a sweatshirt this morning...

I'm Staying Home Until October 4th

Well, well, well... Just in case anyone thought I was being a tad snarky when I said that Saudis do not wait in queues - that waiting one's turn in a line is something that other people do, but not Saudis - read this article.

Not that I needed any proof for myself - I've seen it with my own eyes - I've personally experienced it, as well: Once at Zamil's where I was getting some fabric and being served, after waiting "my turn," a Saudi woman covered head-to-toe in black pushed herself right in front of me and all but demanded that the guy cutting my fabric cut hers. Whoa, whoa, whoa!!! Not so fast, lady! Just because I am clearly a Western woman - with only my body covered in a black bag and my blonde hair exposed - doesn't give you the right to dismiss that I am right here! The young man [imported help] would have bowed to her demand had I not have spoken up. Yes, it was late in the morning and the shop was getting ready to close for the mid-day prayer - and it remains closed until late afternoon - but too bad. I was here first, I was being waited on, and you ARE going to wait. Either get your butt out of bed earlier to get here sooner, or come back later when the shop reopens.

Then, once at our Commissary, in the "fast" lane - 6 items or less - there were quite a few of us in line - Westerners and Saudis - when some man in his thobe and gutra went straight to the front of the line and demanded a pack of cigarettes. Out of the six or eight of us in line - I was the only one who spoke out and said, "No. We are all waiting our turn. You go to the back and wait for yours." The man was stunned. Apparently no one had ever challenged him like that before in his life, but he very sullenly put his head down and went to the back of the line. [See? That wasn't so hard, now, was it? Waiting in the queue for YOUR turn?]

It happened at the pharmacy queue at our clinic, too, in the line for women only. The majority of women who go to the windows - one to drop off prescription slips, and the other to pick up filled prescriptions - have absolutely no clue what a queue is and do not believe that there is such a thing as "waiting." It was there, at the "drop off window," that I refused to let an older woman cut us all off, and I was quite verbal about it - getting a nod and a quiet thank you from the young Saudi woman in front of me. It has absolutely nothing to do with respect, either, insofar as letting an older woman go first. It has to do with the fact that Saudis just do not believe they should have to follow societal norms and wait their turn.

Adil Ibrahim is a typical Saudi in that regard - that he doesn't believe he should have to wait in a long queue and that he should be served first... How'd that work our for you, Adil? Did you enjoy spending iftar [the after sunset meal that breaks fasting during the month of Ramadan] in jail? The story as reported, is that Adil wanted to go have iftar with some friends, who asked him to bring some ful and tameez [which I think, but am not positive, is a type of bread] with him. So Adil jumped out of bed - did he sleep all day? - and raced to the shop selling ful and tameez and upon seeing that there "was a long queue" he thought if he waited - like EVERYONE ELSE - that he would miss iftar so he "jumped the queue and asked the seller for some ful." The shop seller, who had his wits about him, "noticed that [Adil] Ibrahim had jumped the queue and so he refused to sell him ful and asked him to, instead, go to the end of the line." At that point an argument ensued and they began fighting. Unfortunately, the ful seller also ended up spending time in jail, along with Adil. Why didn't others in the queue, who obviously witnessed the scene, come to the defense of the shop seller to prevent him from being carted off to jail, when obviously, the entire situation was the fault of ONE man? No matter. The story, details Adil "jumping the queue," and serves as a perfect example to prove a point I made in a post a day or so ago...

This report in Arab News will, no doubt, be one of many published in the next few weeks - Ramadan started on September 1st and lasts for a month - which depicts the chaos that ensues as fasting ends for the day... I have said it before, and will say it again... I think a month of fasting borderlines on being downright dangerous. People get testy and anxious. They are thirsty and they are hungry. There are going to be car accidents, and face-to-face altercations, along with some health issues, as well. I had a discussion about this with a friend on the telephone the other day and she disagreed with me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. She says that if you "work up to it" fasting is not difficult and can be, in fact, quite healthy. [What?!?] Perhaps she is right. I don't know and I can't say - I have never, on purpose, fasted. But I do think that going an entire day with NO LIQUID whatsoever is unwise given the fact that it is still very hot outside - yesterday our thermometer outside said 118° - that there is very little shade, and it has been slightly humid and dusty.

Although I have no problem with being respectful, here, in this Country, for the month of Ramadan and I am not going to go completely against the grain and be seen driving in our truck with my Evian in one hand and a cigarette in the other - I am not going to go without. I don't flaunt it, though, either. And, I continue to put water on the patio table outside for the gardener and the pool guy - and I did it for the guys that work in pest control who came again this week to spray those damn mealy bugs I just can't seem to get rid of. Whether they choose to drink it or not is up to them. Some have - and some haven't. Again, choice...

On the other hand, I am not going to be out walking The Kids without water for them. No way. The weather is NOT conducive to being without water! [If Ramadan fell in December or January going without water wouldn't be an issue.] Several years ago, I asked one of my DH's Saudi co-workers if this would be okay - for me to allow The Kids to have and drink water during our morning jaunts. His answer was, "Absolutely, that is okay." Ahh. Thank you. He did, however, give me a look that said, "You can't be serious, right?" But I was. Like I said, I don't want to be disrespectful about it. [I have my morning routine - and it is no secret that it starts out with my having "breakfast" at my computer - coffee and cigarettes, while I blog - then I put my walking "uniform" on and The Kids and I head out for an hour or an hour and a half. Part of my routine includes a ritual where I put chap-stick on - yes, I'm an addict - and chew two pieces of gum - while I walk. I cannot go for my walks without gum. So I am, I guess, going against the grain by chewing gum during daylight hours during Ramadan. If anyone "calls" me on it... Well, that hasn't happened, yet.]

Whatever... I just know that I am safer staying right here in the confines of our compound, than venturing outside during this month where schedules are turned upside down and people are tired, testy, thirsty and hungry. The driver that took me downtown a couple of afternoons ago said that it was absolutely "crazy" at night and that I should schedule my trips to the market in the morning. I don't have to be told twice. No siree. Next week when I need to go downtown I will make sure that I do it at nine o'clock and not wait until two o'clock in the afternoon when everyone is doing their shopping to prepare iftar meals. And, there is NO way you'll catch me going downtown in the evening until Ramadan and Eid are over. Sometime after October 4th...

Locally...

These men are so SOL... Might it not have behooved you to talk to a few of your compatriots before coming to the Sandbox to see how things work, here, for men such as yourselves? Good luck with your plight, but if you want to stay and work, you'll do the menial laborer jobs that you've now been assigned to do, and for a lot less compensation, for no benefits, and living conditions that are far below standard. Oh. And, you will like it. Recourse? Ha. You have none!

Just another maid... Who slit her wrist after being here for six months who was in "a constant state of shock and sadness." May peace be with you, now.

Good grief! Just how fast were you going when you crashed into the back of that garbage truck?!?

Oh my! What are the chances of this, happening? I guess, stranger things...

Hmmph. Who knew that that Chicago and Al-Jouf could be so similar?

Weather today? Same as yesterday's. Same as tomorrow's. Hot. Humid. Sunny. Some dust in the air...

Not Enough Time In The Day

If I had an extra seven or twelve hours every day, perhaps I could get all the things I want to get done, done. Then again, I'd probably still be behind because I'd try to fit more in. I guess I don't want the extra hours at night - just during daylight hours. [I should live in Alaska for six months of the year! There. Problem solved.] I'm still not done unpacking. Which isn't really true - the bags have been unpacked - and the clothes have all been put away - but the rest of the stuff that we brought home in our shipment - it is, for the most part, on the dining room table, on my craft table - which is still up in the dining room and has been there since I re-did the bedroom - and on the coffee table and on the kitchen table and on counters and on the desk in the study - and strewn about in other places as well.

Some of what is on the dining room table involves filing - receipts for "stuff." I still have six or eight months of filing sitting on the desk that I haven't taken care of - and it seems rather pointless to me to file the new stuff before filing the old stuff - then the files wouldn't be in the chronological order that they HAVE to be in. [Yes. I DO have SOME issues.] The documentation that we have to do for our shipment that we send here from the States every year is massive. That's all sitting on the dining room table - for this year's shipment - and I am pretty sure that last year's documentation is in that pile of "six eight months backlog" because I wanted to discard duplicates and only keep what I had to keep - even though last year's shipment documentation is a lot older than six or eight months. Why, you might ask, do I have to have all sorts of receipts and documents? Answer: When we finally leave here and have to do our inventory for our "stuff" I have to be able to prove that we have the "stuff" we do for insurance purposes in order to be reimbursed if something is damaged or missing. No, not for everything - but for items like furniture, televisions, appliances, etc. I will not need a receipt for the jeans I bought from Banana Republic - although each and every item we own will be listed on our inventory - but for certain things we will be required to have proof of purchase.

When we moved over here and did our inventory prior to doing so - I made a huge mistake. I had a library of books and instead of listing every single book on our inventory, instead I took pictures of the bookcases [this is not proof enough for the insurance company] and on our inventory sheets listed "box of 26 hard-cover books," "box of 34 paperback books," "box of 21 reference hard-cover books," "box of 18 'coffee table' books," etc. So when 100+ books were confiscated, and I was unable to provide the insurance company with the exact titles - even though I knew many of them - I was NOT reimbursed. Honestly I don't remember it if was 121 books that were confiscated or 211... It was that long ago. I do, however, still have in our "files" the little pink sheet that we received from customs after they inspected all of our belongings that came over by slow boat that said that they had confiscated books and some other things from our "household possessions" which says how many of my books were confiscated. [Why some of my books were confiscated by Customs here, remains a mystery to me. There was no rhyme or reason. I had nothing "schmultzy," or "trashy," and I removed every single dust-cover from every single book - another mistake I made, which I regret - so as not to offend the sensitivities of anyone, here.]

Now, I have on our computer a list of all of my books. Yep. Learned that lesson the hard way. [I can pretty much be guaranteed that if I have lessons to learn, they will be learned the "hard way." I was told to inventory my books. I didn't do it. And when books were confiscated, because I had no inventory - photographs and the number of books, yes - but no actual list of each and every book I owned - there was no getting reimbursed for the ones that did not make it to us.] So, before I can put my new books on the bookcase shelves I feel that I must add them to the inventory lists I have on the computer. Lists? Yes. One list by title, the other by author. Nothing like a good cross-reference! The books that came home in our suitcases are piled in front of the bookcases on the floor. Why add them to the list, today, when I know there are another dozen or so that are coming in the shipment that will be here soon, when I am just going to have to add them, too?

The two cases of dog food from The Honest Kitchen is still sitting in front of the kitchen pantry doors. Why? Because putting it away means - to me - that I MUST clean the closet out first and then open the boxes of food to store it and put it away properly. I've got three more cases that will be delivered in the next week or so - with our shipment from the States - so I really, really need to get my butt in gear and do this - or I'm going to have five huge boxes blocking the pantry. I know, I know... It sounds so simple to just open the pantry doors and shove the boxes in there, but, nope - no can do.

I brought back, in our suitcases, six or eight cartons of cigarettes. Another thirty cartons are in our shipment, which is on its way... They are in the refrigerator, right now, but really need to be in the freezer. [Yes, you can freeze cigarettes and yes, they stay fresh this way.] They are not in the freezer because in my mind, I really need to clean all three freezers - the two refrigerator freezers and the freezer in the garage - and do an inventory of exactly what is in them. And, yes, for the record, I do keep an inventory of what is in the freezers. It is hanging on an inside cupboard in the kitchen. This lets me know that I don't have to go and buy hamburger - I have it in one of the freezers. But, that inventory needs updated. I update it a couple of times a year. And yes, at this point, the freezers have not been cleaned in quite sometime, so it IS time...]

There are stacks and stacks of unread newspapers laying around, in nice neat piles, that need to be read. Why would I read old news? Because when I moved here, I started a scrapbook of "interesting" articles. I've not worked on the scrapbook since we moved into this house. Part of me says it is time to eliminate the "scrapbook project." The other part of me says, "Oh no you don't! You've invested too much time in it already. Why stop now?" But, working on the scrapbook is a winter project. Who in their right mind would want to work on that when it is so nice outside?!? So, that is waiting for me. And, yes, of course it is done in chronological order and cross-referenced... [Yes. I really, really DO have SOME issues.]

[Anyone that keeps their spices in their cupboard in alphabetical order - with a list that is posted on the inside of the cupboard of what spices are there - has some issues... Or, maybe not. This way, I can tell right off the bat - when I open the cupboard - if I have Old Bay - it is listed on the "inventory sheet" and I don't have to go rummaging through everything that is in the cupboard and mussing up the order that everything is in to see if I have it or not. See? There really, really is a reason and explanation as to any method for all of my madness!]

So much to do. So little time. And if I don't get a new / old houseboy to come and help me with the stuff that has to be done just to keep a household clean - then I am going to be stuck cleaning the leather furniture and the bathrooms and the floors and the windows and won't have time to do the things that I want to do - that I need to do...

DH has already bought me the birthday present I really wanted. We got it in the States. My birthday isn't for another month, though. [He was relieved when I picked out my present - now he only has to get me a card!] Unfortunately I have just recently realized that what I really, really need for my birthday is my own laptop computer. DH has one. And, I have disliked it since day one. I disliked using one when I had to for work many years ago - it belonged to the firm I worked for - and wasn't mine - but I was forced to use it - a lot. I much, much prefer using a desktop with a real keyboard - and even carried a real keyboard with me to use for the laptop that I needed for work. Now, though, I have decided that if I had a laptop I could make my life a whole lot easier. I could use the laptop anywhere... I wouldn't have to drag the stack of books sitting in the other room to in here to do the inventory. I could simply take the laptop to the living room and do the book inventory and then put the books away. Piece of cake. Ditto for the inventory of the freezer contents in the garage. I could just take the laptop out there and get it done. Instead, I have to write everything down and then come in the house and do the inventory on this computer. I could be sitting outside, "working," while I blog - or read blogs - because I would have a laptop and wouldn't have to be inside... What was I thinking when I picked out that absolutely stunningly GORGEOUS PURPLE Coach bag?!? I should have been picking out a Dell... Nope. The absolutely stunningly GORGEOUS PURPLE Coach bag is something I "want." The laptop is something I "need." Big difference. I'm going to try to talk DH into getting himself a new laptop... This way I can have the one he has now, and that should solve everything, right? I won't need that extra seven or twelve hours in a day, after all...

Call me crazy, but...

Andrea - If you read this, tell Donna I miss her!

My Mom, DH and I spent a glorious Labor Day Weekend at Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina along with four other couples. I have already posted that the weather couldn't have been finer - clear blue sky, bright sunshine and almost no humidity. Andrea and her husband, Ray, ARE my BFF's, and I keep in touch with them via e-mail or telephone on a weekly basis. It had been a while, though, since I had seen Donna and her husband, Patricia and her husband, and Cary and her husband. We had a splendid time catching up and partying for an entire three-day weekend. Couldn't have been more fun! Andrea is the mastermind who found the house - right on the beach - and got it all together insofar as what we all needed to bring, where we needed to go, making the requisite payment to rent the house, etc., etc., etc. She did the same the year before at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina - but she raised the bar this past Labor Day! Anyway, in catching up with those I hadn't seen in a while, I tried as best as I could to describe my day to day life, here, in the Sandbox...

...including the fact that up until the time we left for vacation in the States I had had a lot of houseboys and that I have a gardener and a pool man and occasional driver... [There was no sympathy for the fact that I am now without a houseboy from any of my "friends."] No matter. What started out as a joke, by one of them calling me Queen Sheba, stuck. I got called Queen Sheba much of the weekend. It was all in fun - for me - and I am glad that the group of them came to their senses at last and realized that I, am, in fact, Royalty. They were quite correct and proper in addressing me as "Queen." [Trust me, this is much nicer than how my "friends" have addressed me in the past...] Like I said, it was all in fun, but I did take quite a keenness to directing that my desires be fulfilled, and pronto, by Donna. "Get me a beverage... Light my cigarette... Spray my back with sunscreen... Turn the page of my book..." Where is she now? [She's small enough that I could have put her in my largest suitcase - yes, she might have been uncomfortable for the trip, but hey... Being household help isn't always comfortable, now, is it?!?]

My gardener - who does a fabulous job - Appuk, is the uncle of Houseboy No. 13. HB13 was let go shortly after we moved from the townhouse to this house - because he was so damn slow, dumber than a box of rocks, and disliked my Kids. [Big mistake there. I can overlook a lot. But I cannot overlook someone NOT liking my Kids! I'm not asking anyone to love them as I do - but for DH, I doubt there is anyone in the entire world that could love my two Kids as much as I do. And, I can appreciate that not everyone likes four-legged Kids. I am asking, though, if you are going to work for me, that you tolerate them. And I better never, ever catch you pushing The Baby away from you with a broom! I will beat you senseless with that same broom, if I do.] HB13 could not seem to accept The Kids. But, he did, do a really good job with the work I wanted him to do. It only took me some dozen times to show him how to clean the bathrooms to my standards, but once he finally got it, he did it to my exact specifications. Ditto for the entire cleaning schedule: Bathrooms get done on Saturdays, along with the windows and some "general" duties [floors swept and vacuumed, etc.]; dusting gets done on Mondays, along with the baseboards cleaned, the leather furniture cleaned and polished, air conditioning vents vacuumed and some "general" duties; and on Wednesdays the tile floors get cleaned with the floor cleaner, the kitchen cupboards get wiped down, and all of the appliances and cleaned - outside only - I'll do the insides - the outside patio furniture gets cleaned and the same "general" duties are done. HB13 did have it down and as slow as he was - he did it all well.

Yesterday when Appuk was here I asked him if his nephew was working full-time and if he wasn't, would he have him give me a call. I am willing to hire him back - even though he made me a crazy woman sometimes - with his inability to move much faster than a snail. My biggest mistake with him, I think, is that I paid him by the hour - because who wouldn't make cleaning the leather furniture take several hours if you were getting paid hourly? HB13 called me this morning. He is going to come see me on Saturday and we are going to discuss his working for us again. Call me crazy, but... I really do "need" a houseboy if I am going to be able to spend my free time doing the things I want to do - working [sunbathing IS work!], blogging, reading other blogs, doing my newspaper scrapbook, sewing, reading [I brought a stack of great books back thanks to Gill who recommended a fabulous site for buying books at a huge discount!]... Socializing... Volunteer work at the Garden Center... Scheduling play dates for The Baby with a new Kid on the block [I'm so excited about this! A friend is bringing a Giant Schnauzer puppy back with her when she returns to the Sandbox later this month... The Baby is going to have a ball with her new friend! The Boy? I suspect that he won't want to be involved in romping and tugging to the extent The Baby will want to be. The Boy is going to be six and is much more content just laying in the sun with me than he is in chasing tennis balls. Not to say that he doesn't enjoy his games of tug - with Mommy - and his flying squirrel - but he does not have nearly the energy that The Baby has!]... I have a lot I like to do and want to do and cleaning my own bathrooms and doing the floors does not rank very high up there on my "things to do list." But, unless I have a houseboy, I'm the one that is going to have to do all of those things.

So... I am going to talk to HB13 and ask him if he wants to come back to work here. [No one in their right mind would ever consent to coming back to work for me - so he may say no - but then, again, he did call me...] It is fortunate for me that I can set the terms and conditions for household help. And I will not be making the same mistake I made the last time by paying him by the hour is he decides he wants to work for me again. I do not pay Appuk by the hour. He is paid monthly. On the other hand, I have not had nearly the issues with Appuk as I did with his nephew. Appuk comes and does his work - he anticipates what I want done before I even realize I need it done. He checks with me if he has questions about cutting bushes or trimming trees or uprooting old flowers to plant new ones. Why is it so damn easy to get a good gardener and so damn difficult to get a good houseboy?!? If HB13 decides he was to make his life absolutely miserable for three days a week and come back and work here I am going to pay him a set wage - I will pay him decently - and give him three months as on a trial basis and then raise his pay - but again, it will be a set wage - and I will expect the same work to be performed on each of the three days that he comes to work for me that he would do if he were being paid hourly - I will expect the same level of work that has done in the past but suspect his work will be accomplished in a more timely manner than if I pay him hourly. I know it doesn't take me more than an hour to clean ALL of the leather furniture - there is NO reason whatsoever that it should take two or three; ditto for the bathrooms - I can clean them in forty-five minutes each, not and hour and a half, each. But more importantly, his working for me will depend on how he decides to interact with my Kids. As I said, I don't expect him to love them like I do, but he has got to understand that if The Baby takes a ball to him, I do expect him to take a minute or two and throw it for her. I don't think that I am asking all that much, am I? We shall see...

If all else fails, I can see if Donna would be willing to come work for me for next to nothing wages [all relative - good wages, here, but next to nothing in the States] and virtually no benefits... Donna? What'd ya say? And, yes. Of course I will expect you to address me as, "Queen Sheba."

Locally...

Geez. Who's left? Some prisoner's have been pardoned. But not those who committed crimes "who have been convicted for serious offenses." This a good thing. The pardon has "excluded grave crimes like torture or endangering of children, crimes which have harmed members of the society like all forms of thefts, as well as financial violations... In addition crimes that undermine the security of the country... crimes involving weapons, explosives, poisons, and terrorism... crimes which run counter to the values of society such as the violation of honor by means of blackmailing. Crimes which lead to undermining confidence among dealers in the market... as well as crimes which contradict the teachings of religion." Jay-walking. That's what is left. If you committed the crime of jay-walking you may have been pardoned.

I believe that if you have committed some relatively minor crime - and it is a first offense - you should be punished - but that you should also be allowed to redeem yourself and show the world that you can be a good and forthright citizen of whatever country it is that you live in. Here, if the King believes you should be given a pardon, I hope you have learned your lesson. But I am very, very thankful that the King has chosen NOT to pardon those who have committed "real" crimes. Yes, I realize that the pardon has been done in the spirit of Ramadan, but nevertheless the U.S. could learn a thing or two from the justice system here. Keep the real criminals in jail. Eliminate for good the ACLU, once and for all. Quit coddling and defending the criminals. I could go on... The criminal justice system in the States has failed miserably and has turned into a complete and utter mockery where the victims have no rights whatsoever and the criminals are running the asylum...

I am not even going to comment on this, except to say that the problems experienced with any other nationality of maids is probably not going to be solved by recruiting Ethiopians...

Here's a novel idea: Starting fining litter bugs! Oh, wait. Supposedly this was going to take effect and it was going to be against the law to litter, here. Saudi Arabia could increase revenues by fining litter bugs and, conversely, would save money by not having to import and pay so many workers to clean. I get irked to no end by seeing the litter, here, on our compound, NEXT to the trash bins! We have lovely common areas with sports fields - soccer, mostly - and parks. The walking path around our golf course is outstanding - complete with a pond and fountain and picnic tables - and "watering holes." Self-serve watering stations have been strategically placed all over our compound with dispensers for those little paper cups that you fold open. Do the paper cups, once used, make it into the trash bins placed right there next to them? Nope. Why? Because someone is going to come along and clean up. The cups are used and just capriciously thrown to the ground regardless of the fact that there is a bin RIGHT THERE in which to dispose of them. When the authorities on our compound start holding those responsible accountable, this will change. Not until then. [I have, in the past, volunteered to run a community-service type program where litter's who are caught are forced to spend a weekend day picking up trash. My generosity to do such, apparently, fell upon deaf ears. See? I am, personally, willing to be part of the solution!]

There is no OSHA, here.

And, finally, a sad "human interest" story.

Life in the Sandbox, as the hour glass is turned to slowly release its granules...

Long Flight Home

Flying to the States - no matter how you do it - and back - is a long trip. For all but the last year we have flown from Bahrain to Amsterdam to Detroit to Raleigh and back the same way. We probably add some travel time by leaving Saudi to drive to Bahrain instead of flying out of Saudi, but I cannot stand flying in or out of our local airport. First of all, I must be covered in black in order to do so. Secondly, and more the reason I refuse to do so, is that the "chaos" at our airport is too much for me. There are no "queues" or lines that resemble any sort of order. Sure, there are signs that say there are, but they are NOT adhered to in any way, shape or form. Saudis, for the most part, do not "queue." That is something that other people do. Saudis go first. All of them. At the same time. You may be in what you think is a queue, but if you are not aggressive, you will be left standing and waiting and go end up going nowhere as everyone cuts in front of you. This aggravates me to no end and I want to push and shove people and say things that would get me in trouble. Best if I do not fly in and out of our local airport. Amazingly, for the most part, in other countries, Bahrain included, Saudis are able to queue just like everyone else, but not here. Truly this is something that either has to be seen or experienced - it is not describable - I cannot, in words, give this "scene" any justice. Others will disagree with me about this and tell me that it is so much easier to fly in and out from here. I avoid doing so at all possible cost. I've been there and done that; I have the proverbial t-shirt. No thanks. We'll spend the extra - money and time - to go to Bahrain - where there it is "civil" and where people do what they are supposed to insofar as following queues and such.

Returning through Saudi is just as bad. Only once or twice in the half dozen or so times I've flown into our airport - where I must cover myself in black - have my bags not been gone through with a fine tooth comb. If you are looking for contraband, you have x-ray machines - try using them - instead of reaching into my suitcases and pulling out item after item - and article of clothing after article of clothing - questioning my every belonging. Some man in the Custom's line opens my bags and starts pulling items out one by one and asking, "What is this?" "It is a book." [You can't be serious, right? As you open it and flip through it - upside down... I'll tell you the title of the book, and what it is about if you'd like - you've made it quite obvious that you can't read English. Seriously, do you actually think I'm going to try to bring some book into this Country that will raise eye-brows?] "What is this?" "It is a dog toy." [Okay. It is a given that you have probably never seen an IQube with squeaky balls in it, but it does look like a toy that even a child could play with.] "What is this?" "It is a curling iron." [What did you think it was, dumb ass? Never mind. I don't want to know what you think it was!] The feeling of personal violation is beyond anything I can articulate - nicely. No thanks. I'll go in and out of Bahrain which adds an hour or an hour and a half, one-way, in travel time, by car - provided you are crossing the Causeway in the wee hours of the morning and not during the afternoon or evening - in which case, add a couple or three hours, one-way, to the travel time.

Up until this past February, DH and I had been fairly loyal to KLM and Northwest, flying back and forth. I have no idea how many gazillion points we've accumulated. Sometimes, I could book our seats without a problem and other times, it was a major pain trying to get either Business Class seats or exit row seats, and upgrading with points was close to impossible. So I determined that there was no reason to be "loyal" to one airline if it was not going to be in some way advantageous [with our gazillion "points"], and decided to try flying a different airline, Qatar Airways. The price for a round-trip Business Class ticket on Qatar was not all that much more than what we had been paying, and Qatar offers a flight that goes non-stop from Doha, Qatar, to Washington, D.C. So, in February, I had a driver take me from my house to Bahrain at 3:30 in the morning, for a 5:30A flight from Bahrain to Doha - a forty-five minute flight [airtime, twenty minutes or so]. Once in Doha, as a Business or First Class passenger, you are transported directly to their Premium Terminal to wait for your connecting flight where there are two separate lounges, one for First Class passengers and the other for Business Class passengers. Both are very nice, but nothing to "write home about." [The KLM lounge in Amsterdam is still my favorite. Amsterdam's airport, by the way, if you must wait for a connecting flight - is the place to be, and if not there, then wait in Dubai's airport - probably one of THE nicest airports in the world, in my opinion!] In Doha I boarded the plane to fly, non-stop, to Washington, D.C. The flight - specifically, the service on the flight - was beyond anything I have ever experienced.

On that flight, to the States, I was seated next to a man - he had the aisle seat, I had the window - where we made the perfunctory "small talk," and then kept to ourselves. It was once he had reclined his seat - and me, mine - and he started "sleeping" that I realized I had to move. A plane is not a quiet place to sleep. I had, before we even took off - knowing that I would sleep on the flight - apologized to him that I snore and hoped I would not wake him. I do snore. It is not quiet and it is not pretty. Little did I know that this man was going to be able to out-snore me by tens of decibels - and along with snoring, this man made other bodily noises that I don't want to get into - along with apparently not being aware of his surroundings - that he was on an aircraft and not at home in his own bed - and was doing things in his "sleep" that I am going to leave to any readers imaginations - although where his hands were will forever remain a "fresh" picture in my mind. I quietly got up and went to the galley and asked if there was another seat I could take. The flight attendants happily obliged me and helped me move my belongings back to another row of empty seats. Thank you! Here, one of the flight attendants, Julius, realized that as I was eating nuts and drinking wine [one of the best red wines I have ever tasted, by the way!], that I was not eating the almonds. When Julius brought me another warmed finger-bowl of nuts he had picked out the almonds for me - I didn't even have to pick around the nuts myself for the "good ones!" Talk about service!!! The manner in which ALL of the flight attendants on this flight - especially this flight - and on my return trip from the States home - was impeccable. I was impressed. I sent in my comment card to Qatar praising the flight attendants and the service of all aspects of my flight - queuing, transport to and from planes, lounges, etc. Qatar touts itself as being an airline that offers five-star service and they did NOT disappoint.

My mind was made-up from that flight that when DH and I flew to the States for vacation we would not be flying KLM or Northwest or Emirates... We would be flying Qatar from here on out. I booked our flights. Our flight to the States was completely pleasant and uneventful - as a flight should be. Service was excellent. Food is great. Movie selection is good... All of those things. DH agreed with me that this would be the way to do the long trip home and back.

Our return trip from the States was the complete opposite. As I said, I'd flown Qatar to the States and back in February. DH had had only the one trip - to the States - and he, along with me, anticipated that we would have just as pleasant trip home to Saudi as we had had to the States. Wrong. It wasn't quite the trip from Hell - we've had those in the past - we have done a lot - I mean a lot - of flying. It does not help that DH is a pilot and that the very last thing he wants to do when he is not working is get on a plane. We got on one of Qatar's code-share partners in Raleigh, N.C. and flew to Washington D.C. In Washington, where we waited at Virgin Atlantic's lounge - Qatar does not have their own lounge at IAD - for our flight to Doha. We were called to board the plane and got in line with the rest of the masses as there was no one trying to differentiate between who was flying Business Class and who was flying in Economy. [Yes, at this point in my life, I can say I've become a snob this way. I've flown back and forth too many times and am willing to pay the costlier fair for the "extra" service that flying Business Class typically provides.] As we boarded the airplane, DH and I both looked at each other and shook our heads... "No. This cannot be happening." We were surrounded by children. Little children. A six-year or so old girl, directly behind DH, her two or three-year old toddler brother directly behind her - and across the aisle from my seat - a woman with an infant AND three-year old or so toddler! The horror!!! I immediately went to the galley to see if there were other seats available we could switch to - knowing that sitting with so many children/toddlers/babies was going to be a big mistake. ALL of them surrounding US! I realize that airlines cannot discriminate against families with little ones traveling. But how can it possibly be OUR luck that we are the ones that are ALWAYS seated next to them? Both Business Class cabins were completely full so there were no seats that we could switch to. Damn!

The two children behind us - the little girl and her toddler brother - used the aircraft as their own personal playground - doing gymnastics off of their seats and into ours. It took several of my "cold hard glares" for the father, who was seated directly behind me, to realize that I meant business and that if he was not going to get his unruly brats to behave, then I would do it for him. The gymnastics did, finally, come to a halt. However, the toddler boy - seated two seats behind us - the father and daughter were in the row separating us - with his mother - could not be consoled and screamed bloody murder for half of the flight - keeping everyone in the cabin from getting any sleep. It was when we were deplaning that the father asked the flight crew if their nanny - who was seated in Economy - could join them on the bus to the terminal. WTF?!? You had a nanny with you this entire time - back in cattle class - who could have perhaps consoled the toddler who screamed for much of the flight - and you didn't either try to put the kid back there with her - or have your wife - who was quite useless insofar as attending to her son and his screaming - switch seats with the nanny? [A perfect example for a case for forced sterilization, in my humble opinion!] Whatever. Many years ago, when DH and I first started traveling, we used to jokingly say to one another that we had had an unsuccessful trip if there were no crying or screaming babies/toddlers/children. Now? We avoid being seated next to passengers with babies/toddlers/children if at all possible. Yes, I realize I should feel sorry for the parents - that I should be a little more sympathetic and/or tolerant. And I can be, for some. And, yes, I know that you cannot have a baby that is not going to cry at some point. But a toddler - and this child was old enough to be reasoned with - in my opinion - needs to know that some behaviors are just NOT acceptable. Using a plane as a jungle-gym - for a toddler and his older sister - is NOT acceptable. Using my seat as a bumper pad for your gymnastics is totally out of the realm of what is and what is not acceptable behavior. This is the parents' fault. Here's a novel idea: Just say no.

So, along with having unruly toddlers next to and behind us - the poor woman with the baby had a toddler with her as well - and that toddler had more energy than any child I have ever witnessed have. She had her hands full. Between baby and toddler! Her husband, who was seated in the row behind her, directly behind his son, did his best with the infant while the mother did all she could to contain the toddler. I at least give her credit for trying. The two parents with the older child and toddler? They did NOTHING to contain their two brats. NOTHING!!! The crying / screaming continued off and on throughout the entire night's trip. It was not pleasant for any of us in the cabin - I am sure that I will not be the only one to complain. If it wasn't the two/three-year old boy screaming at the top of his lungs, then the baby was crying... Oh, yeah. Just a fantastic trip. Not!

Worse, though, was the service on this flight. The service on Qatar's flights, up until this one, was exactly what one would expect for "five star" service. I am not going to go into a whole lot more detail about this as I want to give the airline a chance to respond to my six-page, single spaced, letter that I have sent. Depending on whether or not I am satisfied with any response - or if I get one at all - then I might just decide to publish the entire letter on my blog, and give anyone out there who considers flying the "heads up." If on the other hand, the airline assures me that our flight home was a fluke and will not ever happen again, then I will keep the rest of my complaints to myself and give them another try. In the meantime, I'm going to see what my options are with another airline: Etihad is one that I will check into. Or Lufthansa. And we still have KLM / Northwest - with a gazillion miles, for whatever they are worth - to fall back on...

I am so not looking forward to the trip "home" to the States again in a few months. It is, at a minimum, a twenty-four hour trip, that really, really does take its toll on your body. This year, with our trip home planned for over the holidays, I will have done the trek three times in one year. And that IS just too much!

Locally...

Nothing has changed. Life in the Sandbox remains status quo... [Was I expecting differently after being absent for just short of a month? No. I guess not.]

Expatriate labor workers continue to commit suicide. People commit suicide around the world. There is no reason why I should be shocked by a suicide taking place on this side of the globe - saddened, yes - shocked, no. What, though, was happening in the life of this Indian man that was so terrible that he could see no solution other than flailing himself off of a fourteen-story building? That it is Ramadan and he was suffering while toiling in the humidity, heat and sun going with no water to quench his thirst or food to give his body strength? Did he miss his family? Was it that he decided that his coming, here, to earn a living, from a country where he was unable to do so, was just beyond what he was capable of doing? Rest in peace, Sir; life can no longer treat you cruelly.

Road carnage continues, unabated. And, by all means, do not hold the driver of the SUV in this accident responsible for his actions: "The accident may have been caused due to poor visibility as a dust storm was sweeping the area." There is no chance, I suppose, that the driver was speeding whilst distracted - smoking a cigarette held in one hand - his cell phone glued to his ear by his other hand - and children in the front seat performing gymnastic routines. Nah. Not here. Why no mention of the driver of the fuel tanker that the man in the SUV drove head-on into? Because he was an imported worker and not worthy? Or, after further investigation, regardless of the fact that the accident was in no way caused by him, will he be found at fault due to merely being on the road at the same time as the SUV was? [And yes, the driver of the SUV was a man, as was the driver of the fuel tanker: women are not allowed to drive here!]

Rain is always welcome in this part of the world. We got very, very little rain last year. The year before, though, it rained every single weekend in November and part of December - and by raining, I do not mean a gentle shower - but a downpour - enough to flood our garage! Whether there is any scientific method of determining that it will rain - two months from now - or whether this is merely a guess - any rain will be welcomed. We enjoyed the rain storms we experienced in the States last month - the rain washed away the dirt and the grime - leaving everything lush and green and new. No. That won't happen here, and the "rain smell" will never be the same as it is at "home" in the States, but it would be good to get some rain to force the humidity out of the air and make life outside bearable for all living things.

Every year at this time we read this story - each version might be worded just a little differently - but its gist remains the same. Tailors are gouging people for their new Eid clothing. I can't say whether the prices go up or not; there is no way I'm going to a tailor right, for anything. I've got some things to take to our tailor for alterations - but they can wait until October 3rd or 4th or 10th. This is, after all, their busiest time. But, why must the blame be put on the tailors? How about assuming a bit of responsibility for this by planning ahead and ordering your new clothes in August? Nah. Never mind...

Weather Report

Well, okay, so not a real weather report, but my version. Right now - at 7:30 in the morning - outside it is already 98 degrees - going on 100 - and today, like most days in the Sandbox, is going to be hot and sunny. And humid. Very, very humid. It was humid yesterday. The kind of humid that means your hair is going to be wildly uncontrollable. Today's MSN weather report says it will be 114 degrees outside. I have no clue what the humidity percentage "technically" is, but suffice it to say that it is a lot. A lot!

The Kids and I didn't go for our morning jaunt today. For a couple of reasons - the first because DH and I were up until one o'clock in the morning watching the first six episodes from the very first series of Lost. I know. I am way late to that party. People have been watching this show and talking about it for years. I'd seen an episode or two here and there but couldn't get into it. I'm hooked. I finally went to bed - after six shows. DH was still up but I made him promise he wouldn't watch any more of it without me - and when he first put it in and asked me if I wanted to watch it, I said, "Nah." Go ahead. I remained on the couch however, and by episode two wasn't moving my butt off the couch. We'll watch more tonight. Needless to say, I didn't get up at 4:30 or 5 to get The Kids out there before it started to get nasty outside - and now it is quite unpleasant - and as much as The Kids think they want to be out there - they don't. Looks like we will spend much of our day - after I get back - playing with our new toys... That'll work, too, but a walk is definitely better. Sorry, Kids. Promise I'll go to bed early enough tonight to get out to walk tomorrow.

I am going to the clinic this morning. Seeing Dr. M. about my knee again... It is just a follow up appointment which I wanted to cancel, but after the fuss I caused about seeing him, no way I'm canceling! He won't have anything to say to me, different than what he said to me the last time I saw him, because I haven't done what I was told to do when I saw him the first time - i.e., get a knee brace and do five weeks of physical therapy. Not because I didn't want to follow his advice, but because it was only a couple of days after I saw him that I headed for the States - and he knew I was headed for the States and wasn't going to be able to get in for the physical therapy - although I did try to get fitted for the brace - and that didn't work out like I thought it would. I can go this morning and get that taken care of, before I see Dr. M. And, I can schedule my five weeks of PT appointments. Oh joy.

What I do not want to do today is get dressed. Really get dressed. On the days I don't leave the house - but for walking with The Kids - my "uniform" does not change. I get up in the morning and put walking clothes on - bike shorts and a tank top - and walking shoes. Then I come home and shower. My at home "uniform" is the same as my walking "uniform," but I wear colored bike shorts instead of black and I wear sandals instead of walking shoes. Yep. The "uniform" doesn't change. I live in bike shorts and tank tops, here. Unless I have to leave the house and go to the Commissary or the clinic. So, today, I have to put real clothes on. I am in quite a dilemma about what to wear. But, as it isn't a choice - about whether I get dressed or not - I'll suck it up and do it and wear my black garbage bag, too. Have to.

It is Ramadan here. A holy month for Muslims. This means I need to be respectful - thus, fully covered. I'm going to wear bike shorts with my tank top to the clinic. Since Dr. M. is going to want to see my knee - no sense wearing jeans - and it is far too hot and sticky outside to have jeans on. No way. If I wear shorts, will only have to rip off my black covering for Dr. M. to examine my knee. Problem solved. Sort of. I also need to go to the Passport office - there was a big problem with my Visa when we left here to go to the States and I almost did not get to leave the Sandbox. If I was wearing jeans to the clinic, then I could go without it - the black bag - and not have to worry about what I am wearing if I go to the Passport office - but frankly, it is more comfortable to wear almost nothing and cover up in black than it is to wear jeans and a "modest" shirt. There is something to be said about wearing an abeya, as much as I hate wearing it - you can wear virtually nothing underneath and no one knows it! Nothing says comfort, though, more than wearing black in the heat and humidity! Yeah. Right. And, yes, there is going to be some outside walking involved, for me, today - although with it being Ramadan I suspect the clinic will be empty - everyone is home sleeping - but I still will have to park some distance from the Passport office and "hike" in black... [Note to self: buy another pair of walking shoes to use for "dress up."]

This concerns me. I get concerned every year about this. Muslims fast the entire month of Ramadan. They do not eat or drink [not even water!] from sun-up to sun-down. This is fine if you are not outside working. But what about the gazillion workers outside, toiling in the sun, the heat and the humidity? The majority of them are Muslims. The majority - if not ALL - of them are the imported workers - the laborers, the street cleaners, the gardeners... It is just downright dangerous, as far as I am concerned, to have these men out there working without allowing them to drink water. What are the statistics that show how many of them die during this time each year because they are not allowed to drink water when it is a necessity? I don't know what the rest of the Muslim world does, insofar as working hours, during Ramadan, but I know that here, where I am, Saudis work decreased hours during that time. They are not expected to be at their offices at regular opening hours - and many leave early. The imported workers are not given the same opportunity. They work their expected, normal, usual hours. If Ramadan fell in December or January, this wouldn't be a big deal. It is much cooler here then. But now? Nope. No relief from the weather for those poor men.

UPDATED PRIOR TO POSTING: Well, I botched that one up. Big time. I was determined NOT to wear my abeya. I wear it only when required; just not going to get so that I wear it because I am too lazy to get dressed. Will. Not. Do. It. So, decided instead to wear a white long-sleeved "oversized" button up shirt - like a man's shirt - but made for a woman and blue, long length capri pants. Get to the Orthopedic clinic and what am I sent to do, first thing? Go get x-rays taken. Why?!? "Doctor has ordered, Madam." Okay. Fine. And I decided NOT to wear bike shorts and a tank top and cover it with a black garbage bag, why? Whatever. Off to x-ray where they made me take off both my pants AND shirt because Dr. M. wanted an x-ray that included my right hip - along with a half dozen other x-rays. Fine. Strip to my "knickers" and bra, and put a HUGE green "over the head" hospital gown on - wanted to bring it home with me - very comfortable - of course you may as well just wear a sheet that you poke a hole to stick your head through, but... Anyway...

The poor x-ray technician. She was Saudi. She was very sweet. But we had a very, very, very difficult time communicating. Apparently since it is Ramadan, the more proficient English-speaking technicians must have somehow gotten the day off - or something - and this woman got the short end of the stick. I have to include, here, that she was quite, oh... how to put this delicately, screw it - she was overweight. Large. I had no problem with the standing x-ray, or the on my right side with my knee bent x-ray. I had difficulty with the knee in a bent position because she tried to bend my knee with a foam triangle under it and flatten my foot. Sorry. My leg DOES NOT GO THAT WAY at this point. I can do that with my left leg and foot, but NOT the right! That is not happening. The biggest problem we had though was when she tried to tell me to get on my hands and knees. She did not know how to just outright say, "Get on your hands and knees with your butt in the air." She kept trying to position the front half of me - which was really more of a yoga position - but couldn't actually tell me what she wanted me to do with my "back half," so she tried to show me. And, yes, she was dressed head to toe in white - with a full-length "lab coat" over her skirt and blouse. Head covered in white; face covered in white. She tried. She really did. And she was trying to show me without actually getting down on the floor on her hands and knees to get me to do what she was doing. To say it was comical is an understatement. I told her how to tell us Western women from now on, "Get on your hands and knees with your butt in the air." There. If she would have just said this to me at the start, I could have saved her a lot of frustration - and could have saved her from having to get down on the floor [our clinic and all of the floors of the various departments are immaculate! thank goodness].

Anyway, got all the new half-dozen or so x-rays done, have my brace fitting scheduled for September 29th, and have my first PT scheduled for next Saturday - and I'll get to go three times a week for five weeks! Yeah!!! Finally saw Dr. M. I like this man. I am not at all thrilled at the possibility of needing a new knee in the next five years or so - but I am quite confident in Dr. M's abilities and am thankful that I have him as an orthopedist. The orthopedic clinic I went to in the States can't hold a candle to Dr. M. I did get lucky, in this regard. I have some apprehensions about having surgery done, here, but I can probably get past that if and when the time comes. So I finished at the clinic - two hours and fifteen minutes after I got there and went to the Passport office.

The Visa in my passport is good - but in the computer system - it has expired. The Passport office is taking care of this for me and I can get my passport back in two days, In Shallah. Okay, whatever, fine, just fix it. Not like I am going to need it right away. We just got back from the States, and thankfully it was "fixed" by DH's boss so that I could get into the country, but as of right this moment, I cannot leave. I don't have anywhere to go, and we won't be getting on the bridge and crossing the Causeway any time soon because there is no alcohol being served in Bahrain for the next month due to Ramadan. More on that later... And on the trip home - which I will have to post about - because it was not a pleasant trip - and of course, unload photos to the computer and post the deer... Lots to do. Lots to do. And just what I don't need is to have to go to PT three times a week for five weeks, but, if that is what Dr. M. wants me to - I'll do it.

Pluuuhhezzzze!

Oh my gosh. Honestly. Some stuff you just can't make up. A couple of things - but the first is what really got me. Pluuuhhezzzze! Get a grip.

Apparently there is [was?] a satirical sitcom being shown on MBC [Middle-East Broad Casting - or something like that - they have five channels on local television, here, in the Sandbox] called, "We are all the sons of Kraya." I have not seen the show - of the five channels MBC has, two are broadcast in Arabic and I'd be willing to bet that the show which is causing a bit of a fuss is on one of those. The sitcom has offended "the people of Bahrain after a [Saudi] character in one of the series said that he was going to Bahrain to have a good time in its discos." Yep. That's all it takes to put someone's knickers in a knot.

Bahrain has much to offer, over and above any entertainment here - aside from the fact that in Bahrain men and women are allowed to be in public places together without fear of being arrested, thrown in jail and lashed - it has great shopping and movie theaters and fabulous restaurants and water parks and more - it is not all bars and "discos." [If there is a disco in Bahrain, I don't know where it is. I've never been there.] I have posted before, though, how the Causeway is a nightmare because there are hordes of Saudi men who go to Bahrain for a good time that cannot be had here, in the Sandbox, and sit in bars dressed in their thobes and ghutras clutching their mug of beer or whatever spirit is to their liking in a glass. Yes, that irks me. You want to drink even though it is totally, totally, totally "haram" and against your religion, that's fine by me, but don't be so hypocritical about it. If it is fine for you in Bahrain, it should be fine for you in Saudi Arabia. You are part of the problem - not part of the solution. Do something to change the status quo, here, and work with the powers that be to get restaurants to be allowed to serve alcohol or get bars opened. [Damn! Just now - out my window - I saw a pig fly by!!!]

Really, though, it is worth getting all worked up over just because some sitcom depicted a scene in which a Saudi man tries to talk his brother into going to Bahrain to have fun in a disco? And, that that translates to, "The Arab viewer will conclude that Bahrain is abundant with alcohol, prostitution and sins?" Apparently, it is, and it does. Oh my...

Then, there is this. A debate over birthday parties. Draw your own conclusion, but mine is that because this is something that "Westerner's" do, it must be a bad thing. Is there anything good that comes out of "Western" society in "your" eyes? I just can't even go here... as it will put my knickers in knots!

Daily Piss Off!

Oh, geez, I so don't want to go there - or here - a daily "piss off." Because I CAN DO IT and I may JUST HAVE TO! And, really, I don't want to, but I must...

Yesterday it was the Commissary for not having any U.S. meat, or bags of salad, or low-fat milk. I can live with most of that - we'll eat fish, I'll pay a small fortune for lettuce and I'll just add ice to the milk and dilute it with water. Not my preference, but I can do it.

Today is different, though. It is a REAL "piss off." And I can't blame Ramadan or Muslims for today. Nope. Westerner's! We just got back from our morning jaunt. I'm so pissed off I headed straight from our walk to the computer to vent. I'm gross. My feet are covered with "reclaimed" water [not difficult to figure out what "reclaimed" water is, is it?], and dust. I am sweaty. It is really quite humid out - and a hundred degrees! I'll take my shower when I'm done.

What pissed me off so much this morning? I'll tell you: Dog poop. Lots and lots of dog poop. Assholes! You know who you are!!! No one wants to clean up after your Kids! No one. And it is no one else's responsibility. The workers that are here keeping our compound clean don't want to have to scoop it up. Believe me, they are not in any way prepared to do so with little bags or pooper scoopers. And I'm not going to clean up after YOUR Kids, either. It is one thing to clean up after mine - which I do - and believe it is MY responsibility to do so. [We do not leave the house for our morning jaunts without FOUR bags. We may not need all four bags, but at least I am prepared if I do!] It's like changing someone else's kid's diaper. You don't mind changing the diaper of your own kid, but you are not especially thrilled about changing someone else's, right?

Must we go through this on a yearly basis? If I see you letting your Kid take a crap on someone's yard, I am going to whip out my little phone and take a picture of you and your four-legged Kid. After I snap your "family" photo, I am going to make it clear that YOU NEED TO CLEAN THAT UP, NOW! Then I am going straight to the Kennel Club with the picture to report you. I will haunt you every morning that I am out there walking. If I recognize you from one morning to the next, I am going to follow you for your entire walk to make sure that you are not doing it regularly. [Asian woman with the big hat and white fluff ball, you know that I will hunt you down and make a "stink" about your not taking responsibility for your four-legged Kid! I've been here for over five years and you and I have our share of run-ins!!! I have chased you. I have much longer legs than you and even with a bad knee I can catch you. My two Kids are only more than happy to oblige me when I say, "let's go get her and Toto, too."]

There was so much dog poop out there today it was like walking through mine fields. I had Rockport sandals on instead of my regular "walking shoes." Mistake. Big mistake. But, by the time I finished the last post, the Kids were "antsy" [ha! they weren't "antsy," they were "frantic"], and I just grabbed the sandals. Won't do that tomorrow. Unbelievable how much poop was out there. The yearly Kennel Club meeting is coming up - and once again - it will be my only agenda... Dog poop. I believe that those who are responsible should be warned. Once. Then fined. Take the fines directly out of the paycheck of the family bread-earner - and in almost one hundred percent of the instances, it is going to be the "man of the family." Fine him big. 100 Riyals for the second offense [first offense was a warning], and then double it or triple it each time thereafter. I guarantee you there'd be no more dog shit on people's yards and covering the common areas. It may not be the man of the family walking the four-legged Kid, but when his pay check is reduced, you will see whoever in that family is walking the four-legged Kid start taking responsibility for that Kid's messes!

This irks me to no end. And, again, it is the Westerner's that are being admonished. Why? Simple. Very simple. In this compound-community of some 15,000 or 20,000 or so people there are very, very, very few Saudis or Muslims that own dogs. Very few. Yes, there are some. But not many. The majority of us that have four-legged Kids are Westerner's. I know it, they know it, and the authorities on this compound know it. Once again - as we do every year - we have to go through educating the owners of these Kids that they need to take responsibility for the actions - or piles of crap, in this case - and it just irritates the heck out of me that YOU are NOT cleaning up after your Kid. YOU DO NOT WANT ME TO CATCH YOU!!! And, I will, because I'll be making it my mission to be the self-appointed sheriff of shit...