So I’ve been posting far less than I’ve been wanting to, but rest assured I’ve got loads to tell you about, and a bunch of blog posts on their way. This last 6 weeks have been a real whirlwind of sorts. In early February I spend 12 lovely days in Cyprus, and then had a couple really busy work weeks immediately following. Then I moved out of my shared housing into private housing. Once I eventually get everything into its place I’ll do a blog post on it…..just don’t get too excited. It’s a studio apartment. Literally from my couch I can almost reach out and touch my bed, bathroom, and kitchen. But it’s all mine, and that’s really all that matters!
Mid March I traveled to Scandinavia for 16 glorious days on a mission to see the Northern Lights. My mission, FYI was successful!! My kiwi sidekick and I visited Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. I can’t wait to tell you all about it and show you the photos over the next few weeks. I’ve currently just come off a set of nights and my body really wants to sleep in the day, but I can’t since I’m back to day shift tomorrow. The next week is going to be busy as I’m studying for a course for work involving Neonatal Resuscitation, as I work with very freshly made babies. It’s proving to be more studying then I was expecting, So wish me luck on my test next week. Inshallah, I will pass!!
The other major thing that has been going on here is that there are more security related concerns. While I was in Finland the US embassy in Riyadh closed for a week amidst security threats. Warnings have been circulating informing westerners to be aware of their surroundings, minimize their profile when out and about, and to avoid crowds or large gatherings. Most of these warnings seem like common sense and apply when traveling to many countries that are politically unstable. This week Saudi Arabia started airstrikes within Yemen and there is talk that Saudi forces will be following up with a ground offensive as well. No one can predict the outcome of this, or in fact if there will be an increased instability or hostility in Saudi as a result. So, we just wait and see. And continue to be aware of our surroundings, and keep a low profile, while still maintaining some semblance of a life here………
After our time in the coastal city of Paphos we headed inland to the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia. As I previously mentioned, Nicosia is a city literally split in two. The southern part is the Greek portion of the city and the northern section is the Turkish part. We spent 3 nights wandering the city and crossing back and forth between the 2 borders. Pedestrians can cross the border at the Ledra Street crossing, which is a really cool and happening area lined with shops, restaurants and loads of cafes. This was a short 10 min walk from our hotel. We were really keen to explore the northern part of the country, as both myself and my kiwi travel mate have been to Turkey, and I especially loved it. We had rented a rental car in the south, but it is somewhat difficult to drive your rental car across the border. Well not exactly difficult per say, but rather that you would inadvertently void your rental contract. We did not want to risk that and instead concocted a rather genius plan with the help of a kind stranger who was able to help us out with wheels (more on this is a separate post.)
So we drove into the north, and there is so much to see over there. So much so, that we just scratched the surface really. After our GPS directing us into a military occupied zone we eventually arrived at Bellapais Abbey an extraordinary Abbey dating from the 13th century. Shocker of all shockers, it was raining that day, but it still made for beautiful photos. The inside of the church had beautiful lighting, that I didn’t want to stop taking photos in, except that a bus load of loud German tourists entered making it difficult to navigate the now crowded room. The archways on the outside were in varying state of decay and only added to the place’s photogenic appeal. Well worth a visit!!
The inside of Bellapais Abbey
Such beautiful lighting
Arches, arches, and more arches
The outer decaying walls
From this point our GPS decided it didn’t want to cooperate with us at all. We weren’t sure if the weather, or the fact that we had crossed into the northern area were to blame, but for the rest of that day we flew by the seat of our pants. We headed towards the coastal city of Kyrenia, and after driving thru the super-cute harbour area we arrived at the Kyrenia Castle. The castle is very large, with several museum type rooms. Had the weather been better there would have been beautiful views from the top. I’m sure you’re surprised to learn it was still in fact raining. We got utterly lost leaving Kyrenia, but eventually made our way to St Hilarion Castle which is perched high up a cliff overlooking another military zone. This castle is said to have been the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Snow White. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived it was closing time, but we were still able to get some photos. We then headed back to Nicosia- getting lost several more times, and almost driving our borrowed car into the south. Lucky for us there was a turn around area, as I would’ve hated explaining this to the kind man who’s car it was.
A ghost?? Or just a guy in a hoodie?
Inside Kyrenia Castle
Military zones everywhere
St Hilarion Castle
The rest of our time in Nicosia was spent wandering, and eating. We visited the Shacolas Tower (on the southern side) which has great views overlooking the city, but sadly none into the Green Line or DMZ that separates the south from the north. As Nicosia was a walled city there are many gates scattered throughout the city. On the northern side you can visit Selimiye Mosque from the 12th century which originally was a Gothic church and still pretty much looks like a Gothic church. It’s very similar to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, but on a much smaller and less grand scale. There is a municipal market near by that sells many Turkish treats. We also spent some time wandering next to the Green Line on the southern side. It’s creepy and cool and the same time, as much of the in between space is purposely blocked from view, and many of the building snext to the Green Line have been abandoned.
The Northern side
Local men
A man praying inside Selimiye Mosque
Still looks like a Gothic church to me
Abandoned buildings near the Green Line
The Venetian Walls
So that wraps up my 10 days in Cyprus. We flew back to Riyadh via Doha and we spent a night in Doha which I will give you my thoughts on later!
On our 6th day in Cyprus we left the comfort of the lovely flat we rented in Limassol and headed towards the town of Lemona. The day was cool, dark, and rainy, but we wanted to visit a winery we had read about. Tsangarides winery is just off the main road at Limona. We called ahead to make sure they were open as February is considered the off-season in Cyprus and some things are closed. Thankfully, this winery was!! Back home my family lives in a major wine region in Canada, and this winery reminded me of being home. It’s a smaller winery, but the tasting room is beautifully crafted with the tables and chairs designed out of wine barrels. We sampled quite a few (well rather I did as my Kiwi travel partner was in charge of the driving.) We bought a bottle of the Red and the Rose for our consumption later. From here we stopped off at an abandoned village not far from Lemona. As we pulled up it started to rain really hard, which only added to the eeriness. The village became abandoned after an earthquake in 1969. There are several toppled homes in the area, some roaming goats, and an abandoned church which appears unscathed from the outside.
Abandoned village thru the rain
After getting completely drenched and trying to not ruin my camera while taking photos of the ghost town we stopped off at Chrysorroyiatissa Monastery which had a sign out front warning of not entering if scantily dressed. We found it a little too hilarious as we basically looked like soaked cats in our rain gear and couldn’t have been further from being scantily dressed. The monastery itself is pretty plain as compared to Kykkos monastery. With no sign of the rain letting up, we headed in search of food. We read about a restaurant called Maria’s Place in Fyti in my Lonely Planet guidebook, and it was on our way to Paphos. Maria’s place is in the center of the village and we found it full of locals looking to stay dry in the rain and 3 ex-pat olderish Brits looking to spend the afternoon getting drunk (and they were well on their way!) Maria was nowhere to be found but someone called her and she arrived and served us delicious pork roast and hot tea. She was lovely, and her home cooking skills are legit.
We then drove onwards towards Paphos. Paphos is about 50km west of Limassol. It’s a coastal town with a beautiful harbour, a castle, and several archeological ruins. In fact, the entire city of Paphos is classified as a UNESCO site. We checked into a middle range hotel that primarily serves as a long term hotel for British and Russian tourists. We were very young compared to the 50 shades of grey hair on the other hotel guests, and as an added bonus our mattresses had plastic covers that crinkled every time one of us turned over. These “incontinence pads” as we called them provided endless jokes for our time in Paphos and led to much speculation between me and my kiwi mate over breakfast as to which hotel guests they had saved the night for. I never claimed to be very mature..
One of the really cool things you should see in Paphos is the Tombs of the Kings. It’s a large site with underground tombs dating from the 4th century BC. I loved it, and the coastal views are beautiful. As I’ve already mentioned the weather never really cooperated with us most of the time we were in Cyprus, but this day the rain was kept at bay even though the sky looked really dark and stormy which made for very dramatic photos. Have I mentioned yet how much photography is a huge part of travel for me? It’s my only real artistic form of expression and I love the way the world looks thru the lens of a camera. The Tombs of Kings is a photographers dream site.
Breathtaking coastline
Me at the Tombs of the Kings
Paphos also has a great harbour area with a promenade with cafes and shops lined up. There is also a castle on one end of the harbour with great rooftop views of the stormy sea. We spend an afternoon drinking wine and later coffee watching the choppiness of the sea. Later in the evening we visited the recommended Kiniras Garden restaurant. They serve traditional Cypriotic food and the owner Georgios was our server that night. We ordered based off his recommendations and the food and wine were very food. Well worth a visit. From Paphos we traveled to Nicosia.
In mid-February I flew from Riyadh via Doha, Qatar to Larnaca in Cyprus. Thankfully, I was heavily medicated and the flight was uneventful!! My Kiwi travel mate and I had booked a rental car, so after a short shuttle to a nearby parking lot we were on our way. Limassol bound. I love the way the name of this city rolls off my tongue. I never tire of saying it. It sounds like a flavour of gelato or an exotic dance move. Anyways, it takes about an hour to drive from Larnaca to Limassol. The roads are good, but they do drive on the left hand side so I left the driving to my Kiwi sidekick. The last time I drove on the left hand side was in Scotland and my pops has very vivid memories of me removing the passenger side mirror by rubbing up against a narrow bridge. In my defense, a large truck crossed the center line so moving over was my only option. Pops thinks I should’ve stopped on the bridge and waited. We still have a difference of opinions on this matter. Regardless, I wasn’t feeling up to testing my luck on Cyprus roads.
Limassol is larger than I had envisioned and the old town is chaotic to drive in, with all the one way and blocked off streets. We stayed 5 nights at an Airbnb rental that was perfect. The owner Pandora was lovely. Such a kind sweet lady. It was just a couple blocks from the castle and had parking out front. Not to mention that the place was beautifully restored. On the first night we were there we walked down to the main square and found 110 euros on the street. This made me especially love Limassol. That entire night we joked that “our benefactor” was picking up the tab!
Our lovely flat
The streets of Limassol
Most of the main tourist things in Limassol can be seen in a day. There’s the Limassol Castle which has a pretty cool museum and great views from the top. There’s a Grand Mosque although it was pretty small and not very ornate compared to mosques in the Middle East. My Kiwi sidekick was required to wear a cloak to cover her arms and seeing her looking like a Harry Potter character was well worth the visit. There are a couple oldish churches, and a central market that was less impressive than I was imagining. Then there is the beach area and the harbour.
Inside Limassol Castle
A tiny tucked away church
Limassol makes a great base to day trip from. There are many monasteries close by and wineries to tour. We were there off-season so not all the wineries were open. I was unaware that Cyprus was know for its wine, but it makes a sweet desert wine called Commandaria which is well worth trying. Cyprus wines are also great if you don’t know much about wines. You can literally order wines by saying you want “a medium sweet white, or a medium dry red” and you’ll get a bottle with that exact label.
The mountain area of Troodos also makes a good day trip, if the weather cooperates. We were there in what is still considered winter and the roads are considered high mountain roads and are very windy. This area apparently has a ski hill although we never saw it, or any skiers for that matter either. Fortunately, we encountered loads of rain but it never snowed which would’ve made this area difficult to see. There are wineries in this area also, and ten Byzantine churches that are classified as UNESCO heritage sites. They are quite a distance apart so it would be very difficult to fit them all into a day. We managed to see 3 of them and they really are quite incredible. Since it was off season many of the churches are locked, so in order to see the inside you have to find the “key-holder” or as in our case with the first church the “key-holder” found us. Outside of the first church an old man came walking down the lane gangling a ring of keys moments after we walked up. We were super excited as we figured that getting the church unlocked would pose more of a problem. So we’re inside this amazing church and we’re looking at the beautiful paintings on the walls and ceilings and this old man is getting a little close. At first I think he’s just being helpful, pointing out this and that, and next thing you know he’s got his arm around me and he’s rubbing my back and working his way down to my ass. And he wreaks of alcohol. So I step away. And now he tries to make a go at it with my Kiwi pal. Needless to say we were out of there lickity-split because Grandpa tried to get to first base. The other 2 churches we saw were also very cool, and thankfully no one tried to molest us. One of the them had an interesting painted image of Mary breastfeeding Jesus, and the other one had an image in which Mary appeared pregnant. Kykkos monastery is well worth a visit also, if only to take in its opulence. It is still a functioning monastery so you might see some Orthodox monks whilst there.
The site of the church groping
Agios Nikolaos tis Stegi Church
Kykkos Monastery
Colourful stained glass
Another easy day trip from Limassol is to drive towards Pafos and stop off at Aphrodite’s Rock named after the mythical goddess’s supposed birthplace. It is utterly beautiful. From there you can head back towards Limassol and stop off at Old Kourion an ancient city from the Byzantine period. Much of the site is in varying states of decay with some of it being an actual archaeological site. The coastal views from here are amazing. Then you can head to Kolossi Castle which reminded me of an old Scottish castle. It was built in the 12 century and you can climb the winding staircase to the roof for panoramic views. For some strange reason I got a really creeped out vibe at this castle and found the narrow spiral staircase really claustrophobic. Not the usual reaction I have to visiting ancient sites, but I honestly couldn’t get out of the main castle fast enough and out into the fresh outside air. Odd.
Aphrodite’s Rock
The beautiful Cyprus coastline
Ancient Kourion
Creepy Kolossi Castle
We spent a lot of time eating and drinking wine during our stay in Limassol. Sadly, we never really got onto the locals eating schedule of having dinner at 10pm. We ate early, and they always thought we were having our lunch when in fact it was our dinner. It was hard to stay motivated to stay up late while consuming a couple bottles of wine over a drawn out dinner. One of the favourite places we ate at was Il Castello. It has both indoor and outdoor seating in an open plaza facing the Castle in Limassol. We ate here a few times and the staff were super friendly. On our last morning there the kind owner gave us free coffees and tiny bottles of Commandaria wine. It’s well worth a visit. The other place we loved (mostly because of the darling elderly waiter) was Megaro restaurant- also located in Old Town. One night we ate here and tried Cyprus meze. I had the seafood meze and it was phenomenal. There were easily 20+ small plates including Greek salad, toasted bread, hummus, seafood spread, olives, calamari, beet salad, fires, fried fish, pasta, ink fish, mussels, prawns, a rice dish and a few other small plates that have escaped my memory. Meze is a must when in Cyprus, just make sure you come hungry, because the food will pile up in front of you. From Limassol we headed west towards Pafos. More on that soon…..
So 2 weeks ago I spent 9 days in Cyprus. It was a place I had wanted to visit when I was in Saudi Arabia last time, but never had the chance. Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea that neighbours Turkey, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt and Greece. Even though it is geographically close to these conflict areas, the island itself is actually quite safe. Petty crime and such are said to be on the rise related to recent economy issues. Its economy (at least in the southern part) is largely tied to Greece.
Cyprus has a sorted past. In the early 1900s it was a crown colony with ties to Britain. In 1960 it became the Republic of Cyprus and the government at that time needed to allocate a certain percentage of its seats to Turkish Cypriots. This led to internal strife between the Greek Cypriot majority and the Turkish Cypriot minority, so in 1964 UN peacekeepers were brought in. They are still in place. As a side note, we actually met a group of them out at a pub while we were in Nicosia. In 1974 Turkish forces invaded the northern part of the island, resulting in the displacement of huge numbers of Cypriots. It’s understandably been a point of contention ever since. Well, at least for the Greeks. Most of the Turkish we spoke to had no bad feelings towards the Greeks, and the word “peace” was mentioned several times. We met several people on both sides who’s families were greatly affected by the 1974 invasion. Our Airbnb host in Limassol’s family lived in North Nicosia, but was originally from Greece and so her family lost the home they owned and essentially had to start over. Same goes for a cafe owner we met in North Nicosia. His family was Turkish but had owned property in the south which they lost and had to start over on the Turkish side. Even though these events happened 40 years ago, for many people it is like it was yesterday. Spending time here made me reflect on how hard it is to imagine what it would be like to lose your house, possessions, neighbours, your whole life really, overnight. What it would be like to be striped of all your worldly possessions and having to start over.
After the 1974 Turkish invasion a UN Buffer Zone was established and monitored by UN peacekeepers. This basically entailed the formation of the Green Line which stretches 180km across the northern part of the island. It dissects through the capital city Nicosia. The border remained closed until 2003 when Greek Cypriots were allowed to cross into the north. I really loved the city of Nicosia, and we crossed into the north via the Ledra Street crossing several times during our stay there. This was an interesting experience as you walked through the DMZ (demilitarized zone or Green Line) to get back and forth. We were given a map of Nicosia at our hotel in the southern part of the city and it was very intriguing as it was basically blank on the map once you crossed into the north. All that was noted was that it was Turkish occupied territory since 1974. No street names. It reminded me of how I once bought a world map in Saudi Arabia and the country of Israel wasn’t identified. It was just left blank, almost as though it also didn’t exist.
So that’s my basic uneducated version of the history of Cyprus. Over the next couple weeks I’ll blog more specifically about what we saw and did while in Cyprus, as well as tell you a fabulous tale of that time a stranger lent us his BMW for 50euros so we could tour around the northern part of the island. It’s a really good story, and one that I’m really looking forward to sharing with you. On the 10th of March I’m heading to Copenhagen and spending 2 weeks hunting down the northern lights in Norway, Sweden and Finland. This has been a long standing dream of mine, as I’ve never seen the northern lights. I’m really, really excited to photograph them! More to come……
Hello there!! I’m back in Riyadh after spending 10 lovely days outside of the “sandpit” in Cyprus (more to come on this later!) . It was a much needed vacation, and it was difficult to want to come back. One of the things that made it a tad bit easier to return was that my Kiwi travel mate and I had agreed to dog-sit for some friends of ours who live in an undisclosed location in the Diplomatic Quarter, and we would have free run of their place in exchange for watching their 2 precious terriers.
The Diplomatic Quarter (DQ) is a secured area in Riyadh housing over 100 foreign embassies and consulates, as well as schools, stores and housing. There are secured gates to get in and out of the DQ with armed Saudi military patrolling the entrances and within the DQ itself. It’s like a different world in that women don’t have to wear an Abaya when out in public here and it has more of a western feel. Not western enough mind you that women are allowed to drive, but it does provided a taste of western freedom that many expats are accustomed to.
The place we are staying is palatial compared to our 1980’s shared accommodation provided by our hospital. It’s a 3 bedroom, 3 storied villa, with a lovely outdoor area and a BBQ that I’m pretty jazzed to grill a New Zealand steak on later tonight. We have an amazing security system with street view cameras and a “safe haven” in the event of intruders. One of the great things about the DQ is the abundance of park areas. They are everywhere, and often very beautiful with water fountains and play areas for the kids. It’s been really lovely walking the dogs around the neighbourhood. They are a big hit. Even at the guard stations.
The only down side of our dog sitting adventure is that we now have to commute to work instead of being able to walk to the hospital. This entails having a driver take us to and from our shifts at the hospital. Not being able to drive is often one of the most difficult things to living in Saudi Arabia. As a woman I am completely dependent on someone else to take me places. That means if they are late, you are late. If they don’t show up, you are stranded. It can be very, very frustrating. Let me describe yesterdays journey to you a bit. I start work at 7am, so normally leaving the DQ at 6:30 leaves plenty of time. My usual driver is home for the month in Pakistan so I’ve been using an Indian fellow. He was a little late. And then he said there was a lot of traffic on the side streets so the freeway would be quicker. As it turned out a camel would’ve been quicker. The freeway was basically a parking lot. The 4 lane freeway was packed at least 8 cars across everyone inching forward bumper to bumper. Some of the vehicles decided to pull the genius move of going the wrong way down the entrance ramp to take side streets. Others preferred to take the 4×4 option of jumping the curb and driving on the garden shoulder and bypassing the whole cluster!! Sadly, my driver was not up for an early morning adventure. So we sat. And inched forward. And sat some more. After 45 minutes I eventually made it to work. Oh wells……..
So that’s been my week. More on Cyprus very, very soon…..
I’m sure you are dying to know how the banking saga turned out. Well as of this afternoon I have a Saudi bank account. Yeah!!! I also have a multiple exit/re-entry visa, well, I will tomorrow after I print it off. This process of printing the visa out is different than the last time I was here. The lady at the passport office was getting exacerbated with me as she kept saying “you brint off goggle” (sidenote: many Arabic speakers have a hard time saying the letter ‘P’ and pronounce it ‘B’) anyways, over and over with a thick accent she said “goggle” pronouncing it as go-glah. After the sixth attempt of her thinking I was a complete idiot it registered. Google. Duh.
I have 2 more days of work and then I’m jetting off to Cyprus for 11 days of vacation. I literally can not wait. I’m counting the hours down. That, being said this blog will be a little quiet in my absence, but rest assured I’ll be back to tell you all about Cyprus when I return. If you can’t wait that long then you can always follow along with me on Instagram- under kristinewanders
By this time Thursday I’ll be sipping some legal beverages and toasting my freedom looking out at the Mediterranean. See ya’ll in a couple weeks!
Generally speaking banking can be a frustrating endeavor in any country, but I suspect that Saudi has most countries beat. We have a bank on the hospital compound, and several ATMs throughout the hospital. Unfortunately, given the delay of getting my Igama (permanent residence card) I have been bank-accountless the last 3 months. Basically this means that when I get issued my old-school paychecks I have to head over to the bank and cash the entire monthly salary and then bribe or sweet talk someone (thanks Katie!!) to wire my money for me. Sounds simple enough right……well with most things in Saudi this would be a dead wrong assumption. So you head over to the bank and unless you are crazy, or desperate for cash, you avoid going within a couple days of payday. Sadly, I was the latter so I bravely headed over the day after payday. I had heard that the day before things were really out of hand and that the police had almost been called because there were so many people packed in and no one was cuing. This I can definitely believe.
So anyways, I get to the bank and take a ticket from the cuing machine, which seems like a foolproof idea to keep things orderly except that often times men (in particular) act as though it is below them to wait in line, and just walk right up, or cut to the front. Often times said men are wearing a destinguishable white lab coat. So, there are 4 tellers, and its quite rare to see all the tellers open at once. From my astute observations skills this is how things seem to work. The teller signals the teaboy who brings tea, and the teller takes a sip of tea. He then adjusts this head scarf. His mobile phone rings he answers it. Chats. Takes a sip of tea. Calls a customer forward. Helps customer. Sends a text. Sips tea. Adjusts head scarf. Customer. Repeat. Its fascinating. And equally frustrating. Now to be fair, they might be making work related calls. I have no idea. And since I’ve never worn a male head scarf on my head I can’t fairly comment on the degree of skill is takes to keep them properly balanced in place. So finally, finally its my turn. I go up to cash my cheque. The teller informs me that he has just run out of cash. And I’m like “ha ha, very funny” and then I remember that Saudi’s don’t often crack jokes, so to convince me he shows me his empty cash drawer. He calls over to his colleague a couple seats down (who has headphones in) and requests more cash. Headphone guy is not quick to respond (I imagine he did not hear him). Again a request for cash is made. Tick toc. So while I’m standing there the teller asks me if I want a cookie. And well, there’s nothing else to do so, yeah, I’ll eat a cookie. So I do. And it’s tasty. And then the teller says “a sweet for a sweet.” Huh. That’s a new one for me. So by this point the cash guy finally comes over with several stacks of bills. And the teller informs me that the bank is out of 500 riyal notes (the largest bills they have- worth about $125US) and that all they have are 100 riyal notes (worth about $25US.) So literally, my entire monthly pay was given to me in $25US increments. I had 2 thick bricks of bills by the time he was done. Held together by elastics bands, gangster style. I took them home and spent the afternoon resisting laying on my bed and throwing the bills up in the air to make it rain money. The only thing preventing me from doing this is that money is super dirty and the fear that I might lose some behind the bed.
On Saturday I went back to the bank because the bank is open for a couple hours in the morning and seeing as the Saudi weekend is Friday/Saturday I figured it would be quiet and I could open my account without any major incidents. Haha! My optimism about Saudi sometimes is hilarious. It’s almost like I forget what a complete cluster most things are and expect opening a bank account to be a smooth process. So I take a ticket and sit. Its 9:15am and the bank opens at 9am. 9:30 rolls on and the money is still being counted, and none of the female customers have been helped. 9:45 and then I realize that the area designated for opening new accounts is empty- empty of employees. So I stroll over to customer service to make sure that they do actually open accounts on the weekend. And the guys says yes, there are 2 guys scheduled. And I’m like “what time do they start?” And he’s like “9am” and then my brain clues in and I ask “what time do they usually show up, or rather do they actually show up?” And all the nice customer service guy can do is direct me to the managers office. Who calls the guys. And gets no answer. And so I leave. And so this week when I’m feeling an abundance of patience I will try and open a bank account. For now I’ll just count my stacks of cash and pretend that I’m loaded.
Saudi is both an endlessly fascinating and frustrating place. The only real way for a westerner to cope is to see the humour in it. It’s pretty hard to stay angry when you’re laughing about the absurdness of a situation. At least that has proved to be my best coping skill. Also next week I’m heading to Cyprus and Qatar for a lovely week and a half!! Yeah!!
So yesterday it was announced that King Abdullah died here in Riyadh just shortly after midnight. I woke up Friday morning with several messages from friends back home informing me, and asking if things were ok. The event was not unexpected as earlier this month he was admitted to hospital with reported pneumonia and was placed on a ventilator. He was 90 years old when he passed. King Abdullah was much beloved by the people of Saudi Arabia. He was buried yesterday in Riyadh following a funeral prayer at Asr prayer time (the afternoon). In keeping with religious traditions he was swathed in white cloth and buried in an unmarked grave prior to the next sundown. Only males are allowed to visit the grave. Memorial services have also been planned in Riyadh over the next few days allowing for the public to attend and diplomats from the International community.
King Salman the former Crown Prince was sworn in as the new King yesterday after evening prayers. King Salman is himself in his late 70’s. He takes the throne at a time when Saudi Arabia is surrounded by tensions to the North in Iraq and the growing tensions to its southern border Yemen. Inshallah this transition will be a smooth one….
So I’m sure you’ve been asking yourself “I wonder whatever happened with Kristine’s Saudi paperwork nightmare?” Well, let me assure you, it’s been nothing short of exciting. The other day I went to the passport office to inquire as to whether my Igama was ready. In the event that you’re confused or just reading my blog for the first time an Igama is a residency card. You need this card to open a bank account and get an exit/re-entry visa to allow you to leave the country. Seeing as my 90 days of being in the Kingdom have passed and I’m still bank accountless I’m very keen to do both these things. So I’m at the passport office and they tell me that yes, my Igama is processed and the lovely lady goes into the back to get it, and while she’s gone I’m basically high-fiving myself over my amazing luck that this bloody ordeal is now over. In hindsight the mental high-fiving was maybe not such a good idea. Because the lady comes back, and she’s got a card in her hand. And its an Igama. My Igama. And she’s completing the paperwork, and then she says these dreaded words…..”your name wrong on card.” And I’m like, lady don’t joke with me. I can read my name and its spelt right. And she says “Arabic name is wrong.” And I can’t confirm or deny this because, the only Arabic I read are numbers, and last time I checked my last name didn’t have any numbers in it. So I calmly ask her how big of a problem this is, and what can we do about it. And she says “bank will not accept” and that it would take another 7 business days to get the name changed. And because I didn’t know what else to do my eyes welled up, and I tried not to cry out of sheer frustration. And then I asked to speak to the man who originally helped organize my papers. So I was led into a back office where I was handed a magnifying glass (no joke) and was shown where the mistakes were made (even though I still can’t read Arabic). I was then instructed that the mistake was likely not that big of a deal and when I said “but I need to open a bank account” the reply was “just don’t tell them the name is wrong, maybe they won’t notice.” Solid advice.
So I crawled back to the office of a lovely secretary who works for my department and told her my sob story. She made a phone call to someone in charge and walked me back over to the passport department. All the while holding my hand. Hand holding is very common here, not man-woman, but woman-woman, and man-man. Even though it’s common it still feels a little odd, but I knew she was trying to make me feel better about the situation. So we went to a guys office. It was fancy. I told him my sad story. He made a phone call. After he hung up he said the correction would take 24 hours. That was last week. I’m still waiting. Fingers crossed tomorrow. It’s all so frustrating, as per my contract I can’t leave the country for 90 days. Well that 90 days are over and I should be able to leave but I’m trapped until it all gets straightened out. I have vacation coming up the beginning of February as my kiwi sidekick and I are going to Cyprus……if I can get this paperwork all sorted in time. So the saga continues………
