I CAN SEE NOW!!

Hi everyone!  Well I’m here in Saudi Arabia, Al Khobar to be precise, settling into my apartment and getting used to a new work environment.  Life here is not different from the United States here in a lot of ways.  Work starts at 8am and ends at 5pm, or whenever the job gets finished;  American cars are all over the road, falling apart, while the Japanese and Korean cars just keep on churning away; I get a radio station with everyone from Britney Spears to classic Eagles playing; and I watched all of the NFL playoff games last weekend…

But there are also some serious differences from the United States.  Stores open at 9am and close at noon, then reopen at 4pm and pump out commercialism until midnight.  The middle of the day is prayer time and stores just are not real busy; people are at work and women are usually encouraged to be in public only with their husband, and aren’t permitted to drive.  Our weekends are Thursday and Friday, Friday being the equivalent to Sunday in the West (other parts of the Middle East have Friday and Saturday as weekends, but that’s another subject.).  Sitting down for meals is a very important activity, something I believe we’ve lost in the US and Europe.  If you are fortunate to be invited to a meal, you spend time talking about life away from work – health, family, etc.  Prayers take place 5 times a day, beginning at 5am when the mosques begin the prayers over loudspeakers throughout the city.  Prayer times change everyday depending on factors I am not familiar with; 2 minutes earlier, 1 minute later, etc. from the previous day.  If you are shopping, you can stay in the store, but no work takes place and all employees retreat for prayers.  This usually lasts 25 minutes.

I am so excited about this blog, and I hope it gives everyone a glimpse of another culture and world from our own.  So I have to move on before I spend 15 pages talking about everything that’s happened my first week…all in time my blog followers!

Those of you that were around me leading up to this move know that I had 4 goals:  First was to rededicate myself to my faith.  Second was to get back to living a physically healthy lifestyle.  Third was to learn to play the guitar, and fourth was to learn Arabic.  I’m well on my way with all of these activities, and the future pages of this blog are already burning fire with stories, but my first week brought a particularly funny story with it.

My first day in Saudi Arabia was Thursday, January 14th.  I woke-up and said, “This is the first day of a new commitment to being in shape.”  So ok, swim trunks – check , towel – check, keys – check, oh yeah flip-flops – check, and goggles….hmmm, those must be in the air freight shipment that isn’t here yet.  No problema, I’ll just go native…the pool has got to be cool.  WRONG!  The pool is well taken care of, and slightly on the warmer side for families, so as I dipped my head into start my Olympic comeback, my eyes were immediately shouting little warning yelps…”This is going to hurt Matt!!!”  Well it wasn’t too bad, but my eyes were definitely irritated.

Meanwhile, my personal items are held up waiting for my work visa to be completed, so no goggles are on the way anytime soon.  I decided I had to breakdown and make the investment…man, $15 spent already in this country.  I spend Friday (weekend) , Saturday and Sunday scrounging around the myriad of sports stores in Al Khobar and Dhahran with no luck.  I even hit the equivalent of Academy Sports without any success.  I remember walking into this store thinking, well this is gonna be it!  OK, swimsuits, racing swimsuits, racing swim caps, fins, body boards, surf boards, floaties (shout out Titus), Jr. Speedo goggles…and snorkeling masks?  What is that all about?  No luck. 

That lead me to this past Monday.  I was hitting the big mall because my shoes were getting worn out (remember, other shoes in personal air freight shipment, still in Houston).  I trudge into the mall and head for the mall-map.  Bingo, there’s the shoe store I’m looking for.  Hmm, wonder if there is a sports store here.  Well not just a sports store, but a Sea & Land sports store.  I head off to the shop, taking 45 minutes and 2 passes to finally realize that this store was not grand as it’s name would lead one to believe.  Nope, it was a small store, but there was swimming stuff inside, so I was excited.  I asked the owner if he had goggles and he pointed at the ones under the counter.  “Only pink in your size.”  Make no mistake about it, these were pink, not off-white or reddish, but pink.  Full on teenage girl goggles, and I did some research so you could actually see what I was looking at.  Behold the Speedo Skoogle!

I asked about the myriad of others and he said, “Those for junior.”  As with the Skoogle, take note of the Speedo Jr. Hydrosity.  “These won’t fit you.  For junior only.”

Well it takes only 1 full week living here to teach a person that rejections means you just plow on asking, and sooner or later you will ask the right question.  I looked around under other parts of the counter and sure enough there were other goggles. 

He said, “We have these if you want.”  Not sure why those were previously unavailable, but now they were mine.  Speedo, double-strap goggles.  I purchased the ever so NEW, Vanquisher 2.0.  It’s the small victories that keep the day moving along with a smile…

I dropped in the pool that next morning at 6am and it was like the pool came alive…of course 30 minutes later the pool was taking my life, but at least I can see at work now…

01/20/10
Matt Etter