Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
It's been some time, for which I apologise, but quite a lot has happened. I shall attempt to condense it, like milk. Then have a condensed milk and salt sandwich, as suggested by the Sikh bomb defuser in The English Patient. He said it was delicious. Was his name Kip? Or maybe it was evaporated milk and salt. Either way, I've never taken his advice.
Shortly after my last update, a small number of kind people pulled a large number of dangerous strings, and got me a job at a small private medical university in the North of Riyadh. We teach 6 hours a day 4 days a week and spend the remaining hours and the 5th day lazing around in the internet-less office, drinking tea and instant coffee, reading, and running away on lunch trips with the boys (3 female English teachers, and 3 male - through the magic tunnel in the men's section). I have 3 classes every day, of about 25 girls each, mostly aged between 18 and 21 but some are a bit older. A few are even married, one recently told me she's pregnant, and I think one has a child already. I like my students a lot, and fortunately they seem to like me too. Most of them work pretty hard but we also have fun in class.
Our driver, a Palestinian man called Zack, is friendly, funny, polite, helpful, reliable, and a safe driver. What more could we ask for? Our project manager, whom I shall refer to as "A", is blessed with the enviable responsibility of liaising between AlKhaleej and the university, and making sure things run smoothly for us. Well. We basically manage ourselves, and do a lot of his work for him, including ironing out his mistakes. Hmm.
My Iqama (residency permit) finally arrived about 3 weeks ago, but not before I'd spent a fortnight as an illegal immigrant because my visa had run out and a man called Mohammed Qudah, whom I have no qualms about naming and shaming, put my documents in his desk drawer and forgot about them, rather than sending them off to have my Iqama processed.
Did I mention the time the company erroneously docked me 24 days' pay? No? Well they did. In early September, ny pay cheque was for significantly less than I was expecting, and I was told it was because I had taken 24 days of leave without permission. I had done no such thing so I queried this. They said they hadn't received an application from me to leave the country and therefore I must have taken leave without permission. No sir, I told my boss, the reason I didn't apply to leave the country was that I couldn't leave the country because you hadn't obtained the right documentation (my Iqama) for me to legally do so. I spent those 24 days right here in Riyadh, and you knew because I spoke to you (and other staff) about it before, during and after the holiday. The result being that the company still owes me over £1000, two months on. Someone's getting taken down.
Finally my iqama arrived, and the second I saw it with my own eyes I applied for aforementioned permission to leave the country, which arrived just in the nick of time - two weeks in Nepal! I won't bore you with a day-by-day account of my holiday, but: I did 3 days of a 5-day paragliding course, then threw up in mid-air and almost passed out at about 800m, so I cut my losses and quit. I went to the Gurkha Museum and was a grateful Brit. I did some cool things and saw some cool places in and around Kathmandu. I decided I like Buddhist shrines and temples more than Hindu ones because they tended to be a lot cleaner, but the whole country is a mix of both religions anyway so I might just become a Bindu like the Nepalis.
Things I won't miss about Nepal: the awful sausages, even though they were pork; the terrible roads; the incessant noise, particularly in Kathmandu, or cars and motorbikes; the pollution - Kathmandu is in a valley and the streets are very narrow so the air is constantly thick with dust and exhaust fumes; people snorting in the back of their throat and nose, and hocking up phlegm and spitting it out, in public, every 2 minutes. Not just men. One day I was admiring an attractive woman in a beautiful red and gold sari, thinking about what a shame it was that you'd never see anything like that in Saudi, when suddenly she started making horrible snorty gurgly noises, and spat a huge gob of phlegm onto the pavement right in front of me. At least in Saudi it's only the men who do that…!
Things I will miss about Nepal: occasional rain; green things in abundance; a sensible temperature; the friendly and helpful nature of the Nepalis; not being afraid of stray dogs because they're so placid; amazing yoghurt; bright colours everywhere; men taking just as much care of the children as women; incredible breakfasts; cows wandering around in the streets; really cheap food; the lack of pressure to stay out late or drink alcohol; not being stared at or even noticed; the way no one cares what religion I am, or tries to tell me about theirs unless I ask them; no one ever tries to convert you, or tell you you're doing things wrong, or that your lifestyle is immoral, or even just that their way is better … because they are miraculously sane and realise that their business is their business, and my business is my business, and everyone's happier if we all keep our noses out of each other's business. Please can someone tell that to the Semitic religions?
- comments
Sabine Your writing is so vivid. Thank you for sharing your adventures.you are opening a new universe for me and i think that you are very brave and resilient to do what you do. Please keep on writing....
Mummy Tantalising sketch of Nepal .. would love to hear more. Sounds like you'll be going back if at all possible .. could you work there? But possibly working there would be very different from being on holiday, and just as fraught with frustrations and difficulties as working in Saudi, but different ones.