Tuesday morning I packed up all my stuff and was ready to head to the office for the usual day of waiting around and nothing happening. I could have left my big bag of stuff for the week at the hotel, but ever the eternal optimist, I wanted to have my stuff with me so that I could go straight to the train station if I needed to.
I went downstairs at 8:30am to ask what time the bus would come, and he asked me when I wanted it to come, and I said, whenever, 10, so I can sleep a little more. He laughed and said that was fine, and so I did just that. When I came downstairs at 10am, he was gone and there was just a security guard who spoke very little English, but good for him, was quite keen to practice it. He wanted to know where I was teaching, and I explained to him that I was leaving. He asked me why and I told him simply that the company was bad. He nodded, it's an accepted fact. But then he asked again, why? Because, though a lot of teachers complain, few actually leave. He asked me if it was because I didn't like Saudi, and I told him, no, it wasn't Saudi, just the company and he shrugged. He wanted to talk more, but during the night my cold had migrated to my nose, and I had a slight headache so I made a show of pulling out a book, hoping he might get the hint. He did not. So we ran through all the simple questions about family and where we lived, and I asked him to check again about the bus, which he did and promised it would arrive.
Arrive it did, on Saudi time, which means it was about 10:20. There were two girls already on the bus and they were new teachers. They were so excited and nervous I didn't have the heart to warn them about what would happen next. I felt I should warn them, but at the same time, I didn't want to color their experience. They would find out soon enough.
At the office things were crazy. They had decided to reduce the salaries of about 50 teachers without warning. About half of them had shown up in person to complain. Since I wouldn't know anything for sure until the labor office closed at 2pm. I sat in the auditorium area they usually used for interviews and professional development. It was quiet in there and only a few teachers were around, so I was able to use my computer and do some lesson plans for my new job. I would start teaching on Sunday so I wanted to be prepared. After a few hours I ran into two of the girls from Dammam who had also decided to resign. They were both sick of fighting for the housing and had just decided to quit. The were embarking on the adventure I had started a month ago, and it was clear that they were not handling it well. I went up with them to the finance office to show them the guy they would have to speak with to do their final clearance. He wasn't in at the moment and so they sat around for a while to wait. Heenal, who has a bad temper anyway, was getting more and more upset. She was talking to the receptionist and since I was talking with Jackie, I didn't hear what they were saying until she suddenly shouted "It wouldn't be a problem if you would just do your fucking job you useless Sudanese!" and stormed out. Jackie ran out after her and I just sat there stunned. I couldn't believe she had said that. I turned and gave an apologetic glance at the receptionist, and then left too. It's true that most of the people who work at the company are lazy and don't do their jobs, but it has more to do with the culture of work ethic in the country than anything else. I didn't see any point in yelling at them, particularly not in this way. I was sure they were going to be waiting a lot longer thanks to that little outburst.
At two o-clock I went to the government relations office and spoke to my now good friend Saeed. He told me they had paid a little over 2,000 SAR ( $550) to someone at the labor office today to help speed the process. So now they had something to take to the immigration office tomorrow, and hopefully that would solve the problem. I felt a little uncomfortable knowing the details of the bribing that was happening, but thanked him and said we would try again tomorrow.
As I was doing my disappointed walk back downstairs, I ran into two more teachers from Dammam, this time male teachers. Apparently, there were too many male teachers, so one had been given a choice, go to Al Jouf, or go home. He chose to go home. The other was Syrian and was going to join his family in Beruit and seek refugee status in Canada. They had lost their land to fighting over a year ago and the three family businesses that had once kept them afloat were now either destroyed or closed because there were no more customers. Syrian's were not being given visa's to middle eastern countries anymore, and his contract with the company was ending, and they would not renew it because they could not renew his iqama as a Syrian. I was really glad I saw them again. I hadn't really gotten to say goodbye to anyone properly with all the sneaking about with the new company.
One of them was staying with a friend, but the other was going to be at Rayatona with me. We both lamented the fact that we had come from a really crappy area in Dammam, and now were sent to the worst company housing in Riyadh. We decided we should ask for an upgrade in housing. I wouldn't mind going back to the hotel I stayed in last time. Since I was hoping to only be here one more night, it didn't matter that much to me, but he would be here for a month at least, so he didn't want to get stuck in a crappy place. We went to Osama who sent us to Mohammed who passed us on to Babi. After circling the office and going between them a few more times, we were ushered downstairs and told which bus to get on. He sent the guy to Rayatona still, and I was taken to a new hotel, Massarat. I was a little disappointed not going back to the Saudi Ramada, since at least there I knew a few girls already, and had made such good friends with the reception staff, but it would be nice to see a new place.
The rooms in the new hotel were brand spanking new. I mean, still have the plastic wrapping on them new. They were a lot smaller than the other hotel, but I actually liked that better. It felt much cosier. Also, there were a lot of things the other place didn't have, like a table and a desk and a washing machine. These are key things. Trust me, you never know the value of a washing machine until you don't have one. And since my nose was now in full drip cold mode, the kleenex they put on the coffee table and in the bedroom were also much appreciated. It's the little things.
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