One of the things you notice when you start to travel or live overseas, is the little differences. I’m not talking about driving on the wrong side of the road or the language barrier. I’m talking about the everyday things that start after a while to just kind of get to you. Little nerve pokers.
Driving here is an experience in itself and sometimes is the biggest source of frustration of living in working here in KSA. I have actually been told that it was worse less than 5 years ago. They have lines on most of the roads here, but i do question why. No one stays in their lane. Many times you have someone come into your lane and as you pass them you see a phone in their hand. Or better yet, it’s night and you see the glow of the screen lighting up their face. You are told that driving here is the most dangerous thing you will do. And yes it is.
But some of the little things that you don’t even realize. It is now an everyday part of my life to do chicanes through concrete barriers after going through a vehicle search and gate, followed by an ID checkpoint and another gate to get to my villa. Now I know this is for my security, I completely understand that and take it with a grain of salt. But that just adds another 5 minutes to my trip home after a 9 hour day and fighting midday Saudi traffic.
One thing we definitely take for granted in the States or other places, is the ability to just go out and go to a gas station, a convenience store, or for that matter any type of store. Which in the long run, may actually be beneficial to saving money. I have lived on my compound since February of 2018. The thing I have been most excited about happening, is they opened a brand name associated mini-mart. Makes things a little easier. And soon they will have an option that I can order with an app and just go collect it at the store!!! What a grand thing for introverts!!!!
So here’s the sequence of events when it comes to going to an electronics store here. Before I even leave the house, there is the traditional wallet, keys, chapstick check. You know, the necessities . Then I have to make sure that I have my compound ID. Now we get to drive. 10 speed bumps, a roundabout, and a gate later, I hit the road. I’ve already told you about the driving experience here and maybe one day I’ll be able to post a video of the daily drive. Once you get to store, you get to find parking. Most times it’s just easier to park away from wherever you are going and just walk in. Many times the parking spots are taken by cars parked crooked, or you really don’t want to park next to them because you can just see your vehicle getting hit.
You walk in the door and there are two types of reactions to a westerner. You are either looked at and ignored because no one speaks english, or you are followed almost puppy like. Once you find what you are looking for (if it’s available), you have to check out. That’s usually the easiest part of shopping. They ring everything up you hand them your card. So unlike the point of sale systems in the States, all cards are ran on a cellular connected machine. Sometimes you get English, sometimes you get Arabic. Luckily, when they spin it around it is time to put in your PIN. That part never changes. Then the fight of the traffic back to your compound, then back through the system of getting onto the compound.
So a little bit of rambling, I know. I have had this post started for almost a month. The things that bug me were rolling around in my head but I was having a hard time conveying those into words. Today I just decided to sit down and bang it out. Hopefully it makes sense!