First day of school. Wow, what a rush. Turns out that I will be teaching the third grade instead of the first grade. It's all good; it's nice to know that they have that kind of confidence in me. On my end, I know that I can do the work and get the kids to learn, God-willing.
I started the Iqama process today. That is the process where I will be sponsored by the school to stay in the country and bring my family (and my cats) over. It also allows me to get a bank account and my medical insurance (which is totally free, woo-hoo).
Basically, I will work from 6:45 AM - 1:45PM. For the mathematically challenged that means that I will be working seven hours the entire day and all the rest of the time is mine. I get to grade homework and do lesson plans during free periods, so I never have to take my work home with me.
The jet lag is finally wearing off and I am feeling really sleepy, that's good if I slow down enough to actually sleep. I had to run out and buy a new alarm clock because the American clock that I bought couldn't handle the power outage here. Advice to those who plan on making a trip to a Middle Eastern country... pack light. I wasted time bringing that alarm clock. I brought a George Foreman grill, too and that will probably break a few minutes after I plug it in. You're better off saving the luggage space and just buying all new stuff over here. Just like my cellphone incident earlier, I wasted time and effort bringing my other two cellphones here because the American stuff is not made to work over here or even be compatible. The non-American stuff allows the flexibility of interchangeable simcards that are very inexpensive.
Lesson learned.
Another lesson learned today is that I can make whatever process I am doing here (as a foreigner) much faster if I care 6-8 extra passport photos on my person at all times. In order to do the medical evaluation over her for the Iqama, I needed 8 more photos of my oh-so-sexy self. Gonna have to do this for my driver’s license, too. Oh yes, Saudi Arabia, the land where you don't need headlights or blinkers, just a horn. The land where a full tank of gas is #3 and car insurance is $25 a year.
Speaking of cars, it is odd to me that pedestrians do not have the right of way here. People are in a rush (almost as much as they are in Canada) and they will slow down if you were crossing the street already, but don't expect them to stop or swerve too much if you try to cross in front of them.
Laterz.
--Bill
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