Getting out and about in Dhahran
Yesterday, as my very personal driver was driving me home from an afternoon of Bridge at a Western Compound, our conversation struck me as extremely normal for this area. "Look, they are building up the walls around this compound! Wow, they are really high. Gosh, their guard is behind an extremely protective bullet proof and bomb proof cage. I never really noticed that before. He doesn't have any contact with those who leave, does he? All he has to do is push the button that opens and closes that solid iron wall. You know, more and more of these Western Compounds are becoming more secure than the U.S Consulate! Man, wish we could get a picture of that mounted machine gun pointing right at us. However, I don't know if I really want these kinds of memories in pictures. Hurry up, lets just get back home. You know, I just have to pass through these secure points maybe once a week when I go to my Bridge group on this particular Western Compound. I really understand why some of the women who go out from our compound and teach in the Western school on this one get emotionally beaten down by these daily sights."
Today our car is in the shop getting some work done and we will be without it for several days. Of course, I wanted to rent a car so we could maybe go to Bahrain next week. My emotions bounce up to, "Gads, I wish we had our car so we could just maybe go for a ride or something!" These apartment walls can close in on me pretty fast sometimes. However, my man refuses to pay extra for a rental and it would be even more stressful to deal with the local police to get the special required permit on rental cars for going over to Bahrain. I suppose he has a point.
Looks like it will be Taxi time for a bit. I did take the Taxi early this morning to a ladies luncheon over at ARAMCO. To get in I needed the driver's work permit, and his taxi license along with my own copy of my passport and a copy of my husband's Igama. I dashed from the taxi into the check-in office where I needed to call the contact inside ARAMCO that was expecting me so the guard at the office could talk to her , get her 'badge number' and verify that I was a legitimate visitor. Fortunately there wasn't a long line of visitors so the process went very quickly. The Saudi guards at this point are pretty sour. When I got out at the building inside ARAMCO where the luncheon was, I left my name with the taxi driver and the same phone number to call so he could return and collect me in 3 1/2 hours. Taxi's are unmarked, and I was glad I remembered that his car had a bunch of red plastic grapes hanging form his rear view mirror! Taxi driver's are really excellent here and allow women to have a tad more freedom in their comings and goings. When I told him to pick me up at noon, I knew he would be right outside waiting for me along with all the other drivers.
The taxi driver I had today, however, was having a hard time stopping at the stop signs inside ARAMCO. He ran two of them before I decided I really needed to helped him out: "WHOA! That's a stop sign! OK, there you go! Thank you!" I can't help but feel pretty relieved when I do return home after any outing I go on by myself!
Today our car is in the shop getting some work done and we will be without it for several days. Of course, I wanted to rent a car so we could maybe go to Bahrain next week. My emotions bounce up to, "Gads, I wish we had our car so we could just maybe go for a ride or something!" These apartment walls can close in on me pretty fast sometimes. However, my man refuses to pay extra for a rental and it would be even more stressful to deal with the local police to get the special required permit on rental cars for going over to Bahrain. I suppose he has a point.
Looks like it will be Taxi time for a bit. I did take the Taxi early this morning to a ladies luncheon over at ARAMCO. To get in I needed the driver's work permit, and his taxi license along with my own copy of my passport and a copy of my husband's Igama. I dashed from the taxi into the check-in office where I needed to call the contact inside ARAMCO that was expecting me so the guard at the office could talk to her , get her 'badge number' and verify that I was a legitimate visitor. Fortunately there wasn't a long line of visitors so the process went very quickly. The Saudi guards at this point are pretty sour. When I got out at the building inside ARAMCO where the luncheon was, I left my name with the taxi driver and the same phone number to call so he could return and collect me in 3 1/2 hours. Taxi's are unmarked, and I was glad I remembered that his car had a bunch of red plastic grapes hanging form his rear view mirror! Taxi driver's are really excellent here and allow women to have a tad more freedom in their comings and goings. When I told him to pick me up at noon, I knew he would be right outside waiting for me along with all the other drivers.
The taxi driver I had today, however, was having a hard time stopping at the stop signs inside ARAMCO. He ran two of them before I decided I really needed to helped him out: "WHOA! That's a stop sign! OK, there you go! Thank you!" I can't help but feel pretty relieved when I do return home after any outing I go on by myself!
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