Jeddah

Last weekend I went to Jeddah with a group of girls from work. Jeddah is on the coast of Saudi Arabia, and is supposed to have some of the best diving in the world. Saudi Arabia has virtually no tourism industry- so the reefs here are largely untouched. The group that I went with was there to dive- I was there to relax and get some beach time in.

We stayed at a hotel that offered a weekend dive package including 2 nights accommodation, breakfast and lunch both days, and a BBQ buffet. The entire package was 1300SAR which is the equivalent of around $350US- so $175/ person. It was an amazing deal. The hotel was clean, beds comfortable, so I was happy.

The public beaches in Jeddah are for men, and women who are covered. Luckily, our hotel had a western beach access, so we didn't have to swim in our abayas!!! The western beaches are basically lots of beachfront that have high cement fences that run into the ocean to prevent locals from seeing too much skin. The beach was great- there were enormous umbrellas so I could keep my albino skin in the shade! On the 2nd day we snorkeled- it was a little too ruff, and the water wasn't super clear, but we were still able to see a ton of colourful fish!

Jeddah is much more liberal as compared to Riyadh. That being said, we still had a minor run in with the religious police where we were asked to cover. On our hotel we were allowed to walk around without our abayas assuming we were conservatively dressed. Jeddah has lots of beachfront walkways that are lined with sculptures and beachfront mosques.

Jeddah is super humid, and a little too uncomfortable for me at this time of year. I found that I was sweating in places I didn't know could sweat. In Riyadh the temperatures are higher, but its a dry heat, so I have found it easier to tolerate. It was difficult to take photos in Jeddah as my camera lens would immediately fog up. In the end we hired a driver to take us around the city so we could take pictures from the inside of the car. It was so great to get away from Riyadh for the weekend, and I'll definitely visit Jeddah again.....when the temperature is a little more manageable!!!

What Security??

This past weekend I went to Jeddah with a group of girls from work. I will blog about Jeddah in a later post, but would instead like to discuss what it is like to fly within Saudi Arabia. It should 1st be mentioned that I am not a good flier. I pretty much am convinced that I will die every time I get on a flight- this can only be helped by either alcohol or meds, and unfortunately alcohol is not an option in this country. For this flight I was flying with a friend, which tends to help a little, and also brought along my long time friend Ativan to help me thru the tuff times!!

I was planning on carrying my bag on and was concerned about the liquid allowance that you find on any North American/ Europe flight. Apparently, this is no problemo here. Not only can you pretty much carry whatever you would like on- liquids do not matter. I walked thru security with a 1L half drank bottle of water and no one batted an eye. I feel like back home I would have been tackled for this. I may test this theory next time I'm home!!!

Women here go thru a separate security area then men. One might conclude that this is because we will be asked to remove our abayas- not so. You enter a separate area where a women who is fully covered swipes a wand over the outside of your abaya. Mine beeped several times, and yet no further investigation was required. Please note that none of this was doing anything to subdue my fears of the upcoming flight.

The airport here is similar to most airports anywhere else in the world. Starbucks, and several other eating places can be found. We seemed to be one of only a few other westerners on our flight. We boarded the flight without incidence and found our seats. It seems that they had seated us next to a member of the religious police and his family. Interesting. As with all Saudi flight there is always a mass shuffle of seat switching. You don't like your seat, or who you're sitting next to throw a temper tantrum and you will be moved. Its sort of like a game of musical chairs, minus the music. As it happened there were not enough seats for this man's family, and his wife who was next to me was attempting to hold a screaming 4 year old on her lap. Now the flight was only an hour long, but there is only so much screaming I can take. Luckily I had a caramel candy in my purse that calmed the child, and helped to further Saudi/Western relations. In the end they were able to clear a row so the entire family could sit together.

Normal rules such as turning your phone off, keeping you seatbelt on, seat forward, and tray table upright during takeoff and landing do not really apply here. I have witnessed passengers walking down the aisle as the plane is going down the runway. Again no problemo- to each there own. I prefer to be strapped in clutching the arm rest for dear life!! The rest of the flight went off without incidence and we safely made it to our final destination!!! We took a shuttle to our hotel, and ended up chatting with a group of western pilots that had just flown in from Iran. They did nothing to lessen my flying fears, and told me that they too were afraid of flying, and often held hands on the takeoff and closed their eyes on the landings. Really funny guys...HAHA!!

No- I will not marry you

Apparently this is the week of wedding proposals. My 1st future husband is a 65year old physician who has asked for my hand in marriage twice now, and even went so far as to ask for my father's phone number to discuss the matter in more detail. Answer: NO. The 2nd incident was a visitor of one of my patients who after learning that I am Canadian told me that he would like to marry a Canadian, and could we set something up. Answer: NO. As with many cultures people here are very concerned as to why a woman would be unmarried and have no children by my age. Sadly, I'm pretty sure my mother is wondering the same thing!!

I also had my 1st encounter with the religious police last week. Prior to coming here, I had read and heard horror stories about them. Things have relaxed in recent years, and mostly they roam the local malls looking for unrelated males and females interacting with one another, or telling women to cover their hair. I happened to be shopping with 2 other western nurses, and we passed them on the escalator. Instead of telling us to cover our hair we were told to cover our faces. Being the super attractive women that we are we chose to conclude that we must have looked super hot. None the less we did not cover, and didn't encounter them again.

I finally tasted camel last week- yah you read that right.....camel. Not the best think I've ever tasted, and not the worse. Was kinda dry and tough. Probably wouldn't eat it again, but who knows??

Am heading to Jeddah this weekend with a group from work. Am really excited to get out of Riyadh and Jeddah is supposed to be much more liberal. As with all hotels in Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to use the pool, but there is a western beach were you can wear western swimsuits! Am excited as I wasn't quite ready to bust out my swim abaya quite yet!!

Ushaiger Village

Last week I took a day trip with a friend of mine through the social club at the hospital. It was an all day excursion to a village about 2 and 1/2hrs from Riyadh. We got an early start, and left the hospital compound at 0730. The scenery was mainly desert (I'm sure you're super shocked by this), camels, and a few times we dipped into a valley and there were lush green villages from the underground water supply.

We arrived in Ushaiger Village mid-morning, and our 1st stop was the village museum. It was more an assortment of random displays including stuffed animals that were actually quite terrifying, and a peculiar display of pagers and cell phones. Sadly, my current phone could easily have been on display in this exhibit. I give it an A for effort.

We left the museum, and headed for a tour of the village. The village itself is quite small. The homes are made out of mud and possibly straw, so there were newer houses mixed with older crumbled ones. Even by mid morning the heat is near unbearable, not to mention that we are wearing our fashionable abayas, making things even more uncomfortable. We were able to tour the mosque, and a couple homes. The mosque itself was beautiful, and I took a bunch of photos while in this part of the village.

Around noon we settled down for a little siesta from the heat, and were served a traditional Saudi meal, on the floor as local people would eat. With our bellies full, the entire group napped again, and got back into the bus to head to the Red Sands Desert. The desert is the most unusual color, and we stopped the bus so some of the group could attempt to scale one of the massive sand dunes. It was enormous, and they were pretty exhausted by the time they came back down!!

We then headed back to Riyadh, but there was still one last surprise in store for us on the highway!!

A Grocery Shopping Experience

I'd like to walk you through grocery shopping as seen thru my eyes. Step 1: call your driver. This is very important as your safety, and your life depend on having a driver that you trust. (Not really, but the driving here is terrible so why tempt fate right?) Step 2: make sure that you have agreed on a price with said driver prior to arriving at the grocery store. Step 3: shop, shop, shop.

My newest fav grocery store is Danube. It is amazing, and better than any other grocery stores I have been to. It is clean in almost a sterile way, and super organized (like a grocery store with OCD). The shelves are so high that even an NBA player could never reach the top.

This store also sells the most amazing things, such as Burka Barbie and Abaya and Thobe wash!!

Every now and then you feel like you hit the jack-pot when you come across some random item that you forgot how much you love from home. Finding tortilla chips was a huge score- and I'm currently rationing the bag I have till I find more!

The Safety Situation

One of the most common questions I'm asked is regarding whether Saudi Arabia is safe. In the past month or so there have been several incidents of western women being targeted. Since I have only been here 5 weeks it's difficult to say whether there is an increase in violence as of late. Word on the street (compound) is that things are on the rise, and to be cautious when going out. Go out in groups, cover your hair ect.

I do not cover my hair when I go out (unless I've just curled it and its very windy out). I carry a scarf with me, and if told to cover would do so. I have never left the compound alone, but feel that I could comfortably do so. I have a couple drivers that I trust, and would feel quite safe going somewhere I am familiar with. Some of the women on the compound do not feel the same way. A neighbour of mine reports feeling like she has no control here, and because of this she is reluctant to go out alone.

There is violence in any major city, and I don't really feel like it's much different from back home. I think the difference is that word of incidence spreads like wildfire, and the expat community is quite well linked. I do notice that I'm on guard more than I am back home. I feel like I often go into "bitch mode" when out. Basically my face reads don't eff with me!! I think its also important to realize that cultural norms of back home are very different here. Back home we smile at guys in the mall/ grocery store, or innocently joke around. Here this type of behaviour is easily misinterpreted, and can invite some unwanted behaviours.

I feel pretty safe inside the compound. The entrance to our comound is well protected and armed. Vehicles must stop, and are often checked under the hood and trunk. The real question is are they checking for explosives, or to make sure we're not smuggling men in???

Work Work Work

Well I have officially survived my 1st month in the Kingdom. It has gone by surprisingly fast. I have been super busy with orientation and mandatory education classes, but will be on my own this friday. So, wish me luck. I have already stated how extensive this orientation process has been. In some ways it has made me feel like a brand new nurse having to get checked off on basic nursing tasks, but on the other hand it has caused me to review my practice which never hurts!!

I am going to rant a little about my new job- the good and the bad. The staff are excellent, super friendly, and very welcoming. My preceptor is lovely- she is a fellow Canadian (so you may ask how could she be anything but lovely right?) I will be working more hours here than I did while working in the US. Still working 12hrs shifts but basically 2 shifts one week, 5 shifts the next, and every 6 weeks we work a free 12hr shift called the "Kings shift" just for the hell of it. The major plus is over 8 WEEKS of vacation- yah you heard it right- it actually works out to more than that if you schedule it right!!!

Work wise- nursing is nursing basically the same everywhere. Here procedures that would require day surgery or an overnight stay often end up staying 7-10 days depending on when the patient chooses to leave. New moms often stay up to 10days. Culturally its very different. Patients have huge numbers of visitors. They often are awake until the wee hours of the morning, and sleep the day away. This can be a real challenge for diabetic patients, and monitoring their blood sugars. All patients will have a "sitter" with them at all times- most often this is a paid caregiver/servant that has worked with the patient for many years. These sitters can make your job much easier if you have established a good relationship with them. The majority of my patients speak English which is great, but dosen't challenge me to have to use my newly aquired Arabic words. The following are some pics of the flowers on our unit- I've never seen anything like them. Those white rods are actually glass flutes. Really a site to see!

 Often times patients book 2 rooms and use one as a sitting room, and the other is the patients room:

Chocolates, chocolates, chocolates:

Anyways, that's all for now. Am still happy I decided to come here!!! More soon....