Today several things happened that may seem small as you read them, but they are huge for us as we adjust to our new life. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind!
1) I drove to the clinic (doctor's office). (!!) This means that I had to drive all the way across the compound and through the Community Gate (there are several layers of gates, and apparently I am allowed to drive out of the Community Gates, but not out of the Main Gate. I also had to navigate the maze-like parking lot. I only got honked at two times! This is good, apparently, because everyone here honks all the time. My sensitive southern sensibilities really reel at this one - according to my experience, you're only supposed to honk if a wreck is *absolutely imminent* or you are waving at someone. We've got a Charlotte friend from New Jersey and two more from Wisconsin (you know who you are!) who tease me about this or deliberately honk at me REALLY LOUD if they see me out, as a joke. And that's ok, too. But the 'You paused too long, GO!' honk is tough for me to take. Mike says don't take it personally, they do it to everyone. And I made it to the clinic! Granted, Mike was in the car telling me where to go, but hey, I did it!
2) I navigated the clinic without flipping out. (!!) Third time's a charm, I suppose. The clinic is scary. It is crawling with people, and they are ALL dressed like Saudis. When I went last time, I was literally the ONLY PERSON in the entire edifice wearing western clothes. I only saw 4 other westerners, and they were all women wearing abayas. I knew they were western (or at least western-leaning) because their heads were not covered. Everyone else has the black pac-man ghost thing going on, where they are totally draped in black except for the eyes, and about half of those did actually have their eyes covered. There are no western employees at all that I saw - all the receptionists, nurses, lab techs, and doctors are all Saudi. (This is a MAJOR difference from what was advertised to us, which was "Only western doctors trained in western schools." hmm. Wrong.) It's really hard to communicate with someone who is speaking half broken-English and half Arabic when you can't even see their face! Half the time they are not even looking at you when they speak, so I can't tell if they are speaking to me. So I get a lot of directions wrong and then I get fussed at. They are pretty curt (Mike says "animated".) Also, only a few select signs are in English - so last time I ended up in the Men's Waiting Area at the pharmacy, which was NOT where I was supposed to be. The clinic is like a whole another country - well, it's like we're not on the compound at all. But I went into the building by myself today and found where I was supposed to be. I drank the sugary drink for 28 weeks gestational diabetes test and came back to have my blood drawn. And I didn't get upset over it, and I was a lot less scared than last time. I am proud of myself.
Incidentally, I also am doing ok at the commissary, too. Often, I am the only westerner in there, as well. Apparently, you could go days and days on this compound without seeing any other westerners, or perhaps only walking by one or two.
So yay for me! And happy Friday...er, Wednesday! The weekend here is Thursday and Friday, so Wednesdays are like Fridays at home. Saturday is suddenly the dreaded Monday ("I've got a case of the Saturdays" just doesn't sound right, though.) And Monday is Wednesday, and Tuesday is Thursday, and Friday is Sunday. Ahhh! I've just about stopped using days of the week at all, and now I'm just using dates. (Good thing Saudi is the world's leading producer of dates! Ha Ha! ok, that was a bad joke, sorry. :) )
1) I drove to the clinic (doctor's office). (!!) This means that I had to drive all the way across the compound and through the Community Gate (there are several layers of gates, and apparently I am allowed to drive out of the Community Gates, but not out of the Main Gate. I also had to navigate the maze-like parking lot. I only got honked at two times! This is good, apparently, because everyone here honks all the time. My sensitive southern sensibilities really reel at this one - according to my experience, you're only supposed to honk if a wreck is *absolutely imminent* or you are waving at someone. We've got a Charlotte friend from New Jersey and two more from Wisconsin (you know who you are!) who tease me about this or deliberately honk at me REALLY LOUD if they see me out, as a joke. And that's ok, too. But the 'You paused too long, GO!' honk is tough for me to take. Mike says don't take it personally, they do it to everyone. And I made it to the clinic! Granted, Mike was in the car telling me where to go, but hey, I did it!
2) I navigated the clinic without flipping out. (!!) Third time's a charm, I suppose. The clinic is scary. It is crawling with people, and they are ALL dressed like Saudis. When I went last time, I was literally the ONLY PERSON in the entire edifice wearing western clothes. I only saw 4 other westerners, and they were all women wearing abayas. I knew they were western (or at least western-leaning) because their heads were not covered. Everyone else has the black pac-man ghost thing going on, where they are totally draped in black except for the eyes, and about half of those did actually have their eyes covered. There are no western employees at all that I saw - all the receptionists, nurses, lab techs, and doctors are all Saudi. (This is a MAJOR difference from what was advertised to us, which was "Only western doctors trained in western schools." hmm. Wrong.) It's really hard to communicate with someone who is speaking half broken-English and half Arabic when you can't even see their face! Half the time they are not even looking at you when they speak, so I can't tell if they are speaking to me. So I get a lot of directions wrong and then I get fussed at. They are pretty curt (Mike says "animated".) Also, only a few select signs are in English - so last time I ended up in the Men's Waiting Area at the pharmacy, which was NOT where I was supposed to be. The clinic is like a whole another country - well, it's like we're not on the compound at all. But I went into the building by myself today and found where I was supposed to be. I drank the sugary drink for 28 weeks gestational diabetes test and came back to have my blood drawn. And I didn't get upset over it, and I was a lot less scared than last time. I am proud of myself.
Incidentally, I also am doing ok at the commissary, too. Often, I am the only westerner in there, as well. Apparently, you could go days and days on this compound without seeing any other westerners, or perhaps only walking by one or two.
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| Of course, we're not supposed to take pictures of Saudi women, so here are a few from the internet that seem familiar to me. |
So yay for me! And happy Friday...er, Wednesday! The weekend here is Thursday and Friday, so Wednesdays are like Fridays at home. Saturday is suddenly the dreaded Monday ("I've got a case of the Saturdays" just doesn't sound right, though.) And Monday is Wednesday, and Tuesday is Thursday, and Friday is Sunday. Ahhh! I've just about stopped using days of the week at all, and now I'm just using dates. (Good thing Saudi is the world's leading producer of dates! Ha Ha! ok, that was a bad joke, sorry. :) )
Love the photo caption :) I LOL'ed.
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