The Waiting Game

Everyday I went into work and sat and waited for something to happen.  At first I tried asking if there was anything I could do, plan lessons, take over classes, or grade papers or anything, but everyone just shrugged.  From what I could tell, everyone was more or less doing the same thing as me: nothing.   Of course, every once in a while they would leave to go teach a lecture, but they were always back in an hour or so.  This was kind of strange because when I asked about the teaching load, and how many classes everyone taught, they all insisted they were very busy.  Still, we all spent a lot of time sitting in the office talking and drinking coffee, and I never saw them do anything but just sit around, playing on their phones or looking around.

About three of the ten women in the office seemed to speak some English, and at first I was really confused by this because I thought they were all English teachers.  As it turns out, there were only three English teachers were in this office, the rest taught something related to dentistry or nursing or medicine.  Apparently somewhere there was another office with other English teachers, but I never found it and no one ever offered to show it to me, or introduce me to the rest of the English department staff.  I had a sneaking suspicion that they may not know themselves. One of the women spent at least an hour every morning straightening her hair.  The funny thing about that was that her hair was beautiful all wavy and curly, and when she straightened it she looked so much more plain and dull.   I hopped she was doing it more out of sheer boredom than any real belief that she was improving her looks.

The two part-time English Teachers got to leave everyday more or less by noon, but the full timers like me were all stuck in the office until 3pm everyday.  I started bringing my laptop into work everyday and that wasn't so bad.  It got even better when they came to give me the log in and password to the wireless internet.  I spent most mornings checking email, practising Arabic, and sorting out all the files on my computer that I have collected over the years.  Whenever I needed to stretch my legs I would walk over to Zaineb's office and ask if my housing was ready yet.  "Not yet." was always her standard answer.  As the days passed, my visions of exactly what they were doing to improve the place grew.  My expectations had been low at first.  I thought they would probably clean it, and that was all.  On day two I thought they might be getting new furniture or something.  By day three, a combination of being bored in the office, and the fact that hope springs eternal, had me picturing new paint on the walls and actual cabinets in the "kitchen/closet/hallway".

So when they told me the place was ready to move into on Thursday just before the weekend, I was feeling pretty excited.  They took me to see it first and give it the okay before we went to get all my stuff from the hotel.  I was disappointed to find out that "fixing" up the place meant that they had bought a refrigerator, a water dispenser and a "new" rug that came pre-stained so I wouldn't have to feel bad if I got I spilled anything on it.  There was also a box with an assortment of random kitchen supplies.  A new knife and cutting board, a few chipped mugs.  One cracked pitcher, and a single fork inside a 12 pack of spoons.   What I was going to do with 12 spoons and only one fork, I wasn't quiet sure.

I had more or less left everything in the suitcase during the two weeks that I was at the hotel, so packing up and moving to the new place was pretty easy.  Of course, I did have the help of the hotel doorman and the taxi driver, so maybe I'm underestimating how difficult it was.  I thought about not unpacking at my new place in case they didn't get my iqama by Tuesday. but part of me knew that even if they didn't have it, I would still have to fight to get the exit visa, so I wasn't going to be leaving any time soon.

I have to say that after a few hours of cleaning, and another few hours of re-arranging, and another hour or so of unpacking, it was starting to feel a little like home.

Moving Out and In Again, Again

As soon as I had my passport back and knew I would be able to start with the new company on Sunday, I asked about moving in to the new accommodation.  Gemma said I would be able to move in on Monday or Tuesday.  I figured that I could hitch a ride back on the bus with the other girls living in the accommodations already.  I wanted to see what they were like, and also, to find out where it was.  My attempts to find it on Google maps were so far not working out.

The buildings in the background
are my new home.

So after work, on Sunday I joined the rest of the girls on the bus.  It was about a half hour ride from the college to the accommodations, so I would be shaving 15 minutes off of my commute every day.   The accommodation is actually 4 six story apartment buildings arranged around a central pool and recreational facilities, and surrounded by a ten foot wall with barbed wire on top.  As “compounds” go, this one was pretty small.  Personally, I was thinking smaller would be better anyway.  The apartments were in the middle of a construction zone for other tall buildings that were going up, and in front of them was a Walmart like store called Hyper Panda.  I was thrilled to see it was within walking distance so that I could go shopping whenever I wanted instead of having to wait for shopping trips.

The swimming pool and recreational buildings.  We have a pool table, a ping pong table, and a treadmill.

The bus let us out in front and we walked through the doorway into the compound.  The apartments are built on stilts with the parking lots below them.  So my first impression of the compound wasn’t great.  But when you walk past the parked cars, you can start to see the glimmer of the pool and flashes of green palm trees.  The biggest difference for me though was the noticeable absence of putrid smells.

The living room and dining room area.

Since I didn't know what apartment and room I would be assigned to, I invited myself up to see Princesses’s place, because she had been the friendliest in the training and I didn't think she would mind if I just had a look.  When Princess first opened the door I was shocked. We walked into a room three times the size of my entire old apartment. There were a ton of couches and a beautiful long dining table that seated 10 and a kitchen with a breakfast bar. All the furniture was new and modern looking and beautiful. There was even a laundry room with a washing machine and utility sink. A washing machine! She took me on the grand tour of all three bedrooms and four bathrooms.

The Kitchen area, lots of light.

 I'm not sure why there were four bathrooms. But the forth was I guess a guest bathroom. It had a toilet and sink but no shower, and an extra sink in the entry way of the bathroom. It was a shame really because that big sink had a lot of counter space, while none of the sinks in an actual bathroom had counter space. Princess had opted not to take the master bedroom because it was just too big. It too was bigger than my whole apartment. It felt strangely cavernous. Even with a huge king size bed, wardrobe and vanity, over half the room was still completely empty. The one great thing about it was the en suite bathroom. The other bathrooms were all in other areas of the house. The two smaller bedrooms had two twin beds in them. Princess had pushed hers together to make one big bed. I was really impressed with everything. Honestly, it seemed too good to be true. It was hard to believe that in a few days, I would be living in a place this nice.

Turns out, I would be living in exactly that place. I asked Gemma If I could move in early because it was really awkward to sneak out in the mornings and try not to be seen by anyone in my old company, and for another, the taxi to and from work was really expensive. So she told me I could move in on Monday, and that I would be sharing with Princess. I was excited. I started packing Sunday night and was amazed to find out how much stuff I had collected in just 5 months. Granted, a lot of it was things I had inherited from teachers who had already left. Still, it was impressive exactly how much was there. I had to expand my suitcase to its full capacity and also packed 2 boxes worth of kitchen stuff and groceries. It was sad packing because I hadn't really been letting myself believe I would really be able to leave my old company so I hadn't done any pre-packing. Although, a lot of that was being stuck in Riyadh. It felt rushed and forced and as crappy as the place had been, it had become my home. Gemma and Fozia came over to help pack and play a final game of Rummy for old times sake. I knew I would still be seeing them, but it wouldn't be the same as just walking down the hallway and knocking on their doors. Part of me wished that my old company would have been willing to match the salary of my new company, I might have been tempted to stay. Then I remembered how hard it was to contact them about anything and how much they screwed everyone over and I realized I was making the right move. I would miss the people surely, but ultimately I would much much happier working for a company that actually responded to emails and let me keep my passport.

So, Monday, I took the taxi in the morning and brought a few bags with me to start moving in. It was a little annoying to carry them around the school with me at work, but I wanted to lighten the load for later. I'd recruited the help of my Aramco buddy to help me move when he got out of work that night. Besides, I could begin unpacking these few bags while I was waiting for him to arrive.

About half of my bedroom.
The room is so big I can't fit it in the picture!

I decided to take the master bedroom, even though it was cavernously large and echo-y and felt sort of lonely because the bathroom was inside the room and because I figured I could use the extra space to do exercise. I had so much space and so many drawers I wasn't sure where to put anything, there were just too many possibilities. It only took me about 30 minutes to unpack what I had brought, and so now, I just had to wait. Waiting is so hard. I was anxious to get all my stuff and move in, obviously, but I was also unsure of what to do with myself. The apartment didn't feel like mine yet, and so I still felt like a guest/stranger. I wasn't sure where I could and couldn't sit.

It would have been easier if there were internet or TV to pass the time, but there wasn't. It was actually kind of a big deal. Everyone (including myself) had been told there would be internet at the accommodation. However the company was telling us now that we would have to buy our own. They also said there would be TV, but without a receiver here, the TV doesn't work at all. I didn't care about the TV because I never watch it anyway, but it bothered some people. Many of the girls had gone in with their roomates and bought routers and internet packages. Princess was just 'borrowing' the neigbors while she decided what she was going to get. I think she wanted to get one of those personal wifi hotspots, and I was thinking that was probably what I would do too. That way, I could take internet with me wherever I went with my tablet. I was annoyed that they were already going back on something I'm sure they had promised, but the reason they gave was that the compound didn't provide it and at the time they conducted interviews, the accommodations weren't fully furnished and so no one had seen them yet and they just assumed that internet would be provided by the compound itself. It seemed to me like that was their problem and shouldn't have become my problem. Still, when I did the math, it would only end up costing me about 100 sar monthly for internet, and on my new salary, that really wasn't much. The pool and the treadmill more than made up for it, as did the ability to keep my passport and get timely responses from the company about my concerns.

Finally, my aramco friend arrived and we drove back to area 91 of Dammam for hopefully the last time. He bravely managed the giant expanded suitcase all on his own while Gemma and Fozia helped me move stuff into the elevators and down the stairs, and load it all up. It was all so fast. I didn't want to take any more time than was strictly necessary since he was already doing me the huge favor of moving me in, so it was really fast and I didn't get to say a proper goodbye to everyone, which is probably for the best since I was still sort of in limbo and didn't need to be answering any questions that might get me in trouble with my first employer. I had wanted to say goodbye to my corner store grocery guy as well, but he probably wasn't even around this late. We drove back to my new digs and I felt relieved to be out of that place and soon, completely free of that company as well. It would definitely be easier getting to work in the mornings without have to do such a long commute. As I unpacked and tried to figure out where I would put everything, I was feeling the same out of place-ness my stuff was feeling. I wasn't sure yet where or how I would fit in in this new place. The rest of the girls had arrived the week, or even two weeks before and had settled in and made bonds. I knew I had some catching up to do. I was already missing Fozia and Gemma and the sense of hominess that comes with living in a place over time, but I just kept reminding myself that I had a lot of new colleagues that would soon become friends, and before long the empty cavernous master bedroom suite would feel like home sweet home instead of a fancy hotel. Of course, there is nothing wrong with a fancy hotel. I think I might just go for a swim.