Stories and photos from my time living in the Middle East

[DoggyDaddy]

I would have so been serving time in prison there....

"Why did you endanger lives by stealing that camel crossing sign?"

"Dude...How could I not try to get that sign??? It's a freaking camel crossing sign for Pete's sake...I got a man cave that needs that sign sir..."

I would have liked to have gotten a Wombat Crossing and Kangaroo Crossing sign when I went to Australia too!

 

[Brandon]

Mom didn't bring home many pictures from her time in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, but she did bring home all sorts of menus, business cards, flyers, and I think the funniest of them all are the food containers (like a cake mix box).

She says she felt safer over there than she does here. Walk into a gold/jewelry shop and they let you try on $100,000 worth of stuff and turn their backs to you while they help someone else.

The only thing she ever told me that kind of scared me was how bad they are at driving and leaving the wrecks on the side of the road for long periods of time.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Interesting point your previously brought up, our company does a lot of work oversea's, middle east, asia, north africa. It seems as though Indian's have become the world workforce. As mentioned the expat's out number the locals. Also given the region, Qatar varies from Saudia, to Oman. Law's rules, and the way they treat there women. It's deferentially very different, make's your appreciate being in america. At the work camps in the refineries they treat the american's way better than the Indian workers, they are almost like slaves. There's the expat's bathroom that's over flowing with feces, where you crouch and wash you hand off with a water bottle or bucket, then the western style that has a toilet, when lucky, with a seat, that actually flushes. (It's those types of things people don't usually bring up.)

That's very true. The spread between wealthy and poor is much larger than what you see in the US. The Indians were treated like you say for the most part, as far as common laborers. Shopkeeps and tech workers and the like seemed to do a bit better. You were better off as a British mechanic then as a Indian doctor, though.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

"Safety" display in the mall to illustrate the hazards of driving recklessly. I still don't think they worked.

Motorcycles, too. I never saw a helmet in use.

The display sign said "the new look police car". Yes, its a BMW. I only saw Land Rovers on the street as police vehicles.

A big stadium they were building for the upcoming "Asian Games".

Another guard and the pearl fountain at the seashore. (Al Corniche) where people walked and basically did things we'd do at a city park.

Some sort of carnival at the City Center Mall. The little girl couldn't decide if she was fascinated of the guy on stilts or terrified of the guy on stilts, so she kept running up to meet him, then running away from him. It was very cute. Children are allowed to roam shops and the malls unattended at ages I freaked out about. I mentioned this to Fawad and then had to explain what a pedophile was and why it worried me. He explained since they killed those sorts of folks, the children were in no danger and could safely run free. The "stranger danger" is apparently very minimal there.

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

Thank you for sharing. It's interesting to read about others experiences in someplace that I'll probably never visit.

 

[Alamo]

Interesting point your previously brought up, our company does a lot of work oversea's, middle east, asia, north africa. It seems as though Indian's have become the world workforce. As mentioned the expat's out number the locals. Also given the region, Qatar varies from Saudia, to Oman. Law's rules, and the way they treat there women. It's deferentially very different, make's your appreciate being in america. At the work camps in the refineries they treat the american's way better than the Indian workers, they are almost like slaves. There's the expat's bathroom that's over flowing with feces, where you crouch and wash you hand off with a water bottle or bucket, then the western style that has a toilet, when lucky, with a seat, that actually flushes. (It's those types of things people don't usually bring up.)

Certainly the Saudis had no problem treating people very differently based on their national origin and race. I didn't notice it so much in Abu Dhabi, but I did not have the same interaction with Emiratis that I did with Saudis. "TCN" was formal term used when I was over there, it stands for "Third Country National". It meant anyone who was not a host country national (in my case, Saudi), was not a American or European, but was from a "third country" or "third world" nation. I.e. Filipinos, Malaysians, Pakistanis, Indians, etc. TCNs often had very grim living and working conditions -- for laborers, 10 square feet of living space in housing (basically enough to unroll a one-person mattress on the floor), no personal transportation of any kind, usually worked six or seven days a week, crummy wages, etc. More skilled TCNs got better conditions, but nothing compared to Westerners. (Interestingly, in Saudi Arabia Filipino men seemed to have a lock on the phone technician business, and many many Filipino nurses. (Lots of western nurses too)). The host country was not keen on us trying to improve conditions for those folks either. I don't know about your company's business, but in Saudi the Western companies did not hire TCNs directly in most cases, they had to "partner" with a Saudi company who did most of the local and TCN expat hiring, and thus the western companies did not exercise direct control over the hiring arrangements.

And they brought their national, ethnic, and racial rivalries with them, and were not shy about discriminating on those bases. Camp managers had to make sure to not house the Pakistanis and Indians together, for example.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Last post for today, I want to tell the story of the Jordanian embassy in Qatar.

When my wife and I decided we were going to get married, we needed a metric butt ton of documents to do so. Bureaucracy is a huge business there. They love to make documents, stamp them, use that document to get another document, and then stamp that one somewhere else. It's nearly comical, unless you are in a hurry. Then it's frustrating. There are entrepreneurs who make a living guiding you through the various ministries and departments. You can hire an Indian to stand in line for you and call you on your cell phone when it's almost your turn, for example. Being American or British can usually get you VIP treatment, though. Qatar isn't much for bribes as the people who are high enough to matter are Qatari and thus already wealthier than you, and aren't motivated by money. They just want to talk. If you're willing to donate 2 hours of small talk, you'll save yourself 10 hours of paperwork.

So, as a counterpoint, I had to get paperwork from the US embassy to show I wasn't already married. This was a typical American event. Cold and efficient, with a bit of red tape thrown in just for fun. Very impersonal, but relatively quick. You were treated like a potential terrorist, went through multiple checkpoints, had your passport checked a few times, and dealt with embassy staff through ballistic glass.

Then off to the Jordanian embassy to get the stamps on the stuff I got from the US embassy to show Jordan they were real..or something, I dunno, I still say they just like to stamp stuff. I walked in the front door and...nothing. No guard, no guide, just a 1980's looking metal detector under a thick layer of dust. I "hello?" for a bit and no response so I walk in. It was creepy, I was afraid I was walking in after some terrorist attack, especially after the security at the US embassy. I got to the waiting room and it looked like a bank in a western movie. Wood stalls, those plain glass divider things, and a few bored looking women sitting behind them. I was already nervous, keep in mind, and I walked up and asked the first lady if she spoke English. She did. I told her what I wanted. She said she'd have to notify the consular and he liked to know when Americans came. This was also creepy. I'd not yet been to Jordan and wasn't real sure this was friendly or a set up. But, I needed the stamps, so I waited. The freaking consular himself comes out, apologizes that I had to wait, and takes me into his office. I knew enough at that point to know it was rude to just say why I was there. It was small talk time. He had sweets from Jordan flown in daily, and we talked about that. Then we ate sweets. Then we drank tea. He told me he graduated from University of Michigan and showed me his blue and gold stuff. I think we talked apples for awhile, something totally off the wall but vaguely related to the nostalgia he had for Michigan. I was pretty at ease, then. Then things took a turn. "You're American, Americans like guns! Do you want to see the gun they give me to protect the embassy?" I really didn't, but sorta did, but was really wondering if it was a setup. I stuck to being polite though and said I would. he gave me his Rossi .357 from his desk drawer and told me it was unloaded. I checked, and it was. I was still a bit nervous I was about to be assassinated and would have his gun in my hand, but he was beaming like he was showing me his favorite son, so I checked it out. He was nearly bouncing in his chair as he asked me if it was a nice gun. I was...diplomatic, and told him how lucky he was to have a gun as nice as a Rossi. We were instantly best buddies. Seriously. This guy took me and my wife out to dinner on two separate occasions. He introduced us to other consulars and diplomats. He gave me all the stamps I needed gratis, and probably a few I didn't. I used to visit the embassy occasionally just to eat sweets. Jordanian sweets are very good, btw. If I had a multinational kitchen at my disposal, the Turks would grill, the Italians would bake, the Jordanians would make the confections, and the Yemenis would make the tea. Anyway, you know what he wanted from me? Nothing except to visit and to go out with him occasionally. He was a diplomat and could visit the US as he liked, he certainly didn't need money from me, I had no connections or pull for anything he could want...but he had an American friend which apparently lent him some prestige in the circles he moved in and he got to talk about his 8 years in Michigan and how good the apples were.

 

[Alamo]

Thanks again for posting all this, it's very interesting, and neat to compare with my experiences.

Jordanian sweets are very good, btw.

Oh man, I found the Arab sweet pastries unbelievably addictive. Perfect flaky dough, drenched in honey, often covered in nuts... and dates...mmmmm...dates.

"You're American, Americans like guns!

HA HA HA HA HA! Take that, Bloomberg!

....and told me it was unloaded. I checked, and it was.

Unsurprising. Near the USAF command post at Riyadh Air Base there was a sand-bagged guard post manned jointly by RSAF and USAF security troops. The USAF guys told me the RSAF guards routinely left their little machine pistols laying around and walked off to the bathroom or some such, so naturally the American guys grabbed the guns and checked them out. Unloaded. At an active guard post.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

I mentioned this to Fawad and then had to explain what a pedophile was and why it worried me. He explained since they killed those sorts of folks, the children were in no danger and could safely run free. The "stranger danger" is apparently very minimal there.

Sounds like we could learn a thing or two from them.


Fascinating thread, please continue.

 

[flatlander]

Memories. When were you there? Went thru in 2004 on way to Iraq the first time. Were you in, I think it was called "blue villa" by the airport? Went grocery shopping in the strip mall right around the corner. Good times. Thanks for sharing.
BTW, saw the most beautiful woman I ever saw while there. She was about 5'8", Lebanese with olive skin and drop dead body and looks. If I remember right, she was an interpreter for CENTCOM working on sifting thru all the intel that was collected from Iraq.

Bob

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Memories. When were you there? Went thru in 2004 on way to Iraq the first time. Were you in, I think it was called "blue villa" by the airport? Went grocery shopping in the strip mall right around the corner. Good times. Thanks for sharing.
BTW, saw the most beautiful woman I ever saw while there. She was about 5'8", Lebanese with olive skin and drop dead body and looks. If I remember right, she was an interpreter for CENTCOM working on sifting thru all the intel that was collected from Iraq.

Bob

I was working there when you came through, then. December of '03 to November of '05. I was in Y-gardens which was pretty close to the airport until I got married. Then I moved into a bigger villa that they had just built. I'll ask my wife if she remembers. It wasn't blue villa, though, I don't know remember that name so DynCorp may not have used that one.

Oh, was it the mall with "Lulu's" grocery store? They had a pizzeria in the back that made decent pizzas for 10 Riyals?

 

[shootersix]

That's Dahlia. She's the Microsoft instructor, and was very nice.

i wonder if she'd be interested in a "green card wedding?"

pretty AND nice?

 

[bradmedic04]

Misty desert colored memories......

 

[flatlander]

I was working there when you came through, then. December of '03 to November of '05. I was in Y-gardens which was pretty close to the airport until I got married. Then I moved into a bigger villa that they had just built. I'll ask my wife if she remembers. It wasn't blue villa, though, I don't know remember that name so DynCorp may not have used that one.

Oh, was it the mall with "Lulu's" grocery store? They had a pizzeria in the back that made decent pizzas for 10 Riyals?

99% sure. When I got there I got a card from a cabbie who was basically "on call" from then on. Nice guy. Had 1 turd (co-worker) drop us around the corner from a mosque 2 minutes before they let out of afternoon prayers because he couldn't be bothered to go a few more blocks. Things were interesting while being glared at by the 100 or so Muslims while we GTF out of Dodge!

Bob

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

 

[BehindBlueI's]

99% sure. When I got there I got a card from a cabbie who was basically "on call" from then on. Nice guy. Had 1 turd (co-worker) drop us around the corner from a mosque 2 minutes before they let out of afternoon prayers because he couldn't be bothered to go a few more blocks. Things were interesting while being glared at by the 100 or so Muslims while we GTF out of Dodge!

Bob

There was a "blue gardens" so that's probably it.

Was it this place? That's the Lulu "hypermarket". Not my photo, but off the web:

 

[KLB]

Thanks for sharing with us!

 

[9mmfan]

Outstanding pics and story. Subscribed.

 

[flatlander]

Blue Gardens was it! Nice little apts. Made it to the Lu LUs once but mainly just to the little strip right by the villa. Do you remember a young guy that got drunk, wrecked a car on a round about and went to the local jail? I left right after that. Wasn't there long as an opportunity opened for Iraq so I took it.

Bob

 

[Jeff]

Brings back memories when I was stationed in Riyadh SA during Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

Having my own car, staying in a condo, the restaurants, the shopping, and breaking bread with the locals. Great time.

Thank you for the story and the photos.