Dubai & Abu Dhabi

I'm not sure what ya'll did this past weekend...but 3 of us jetted off to Dubai for a little change of scenery...and a few beverages!  Our generous hostess was a former colleague of Sioux's who is now working in the Emirates.  We kept the debauchery to a reasonable level...and packed quite a few activities into 3 days.  Thao fortunately had some extra Halloween costumes so we could properly attend her friend's house party Thursday night.  Afterwards we headed to the Westin's bar party near the beach & mingled with other freaksters.  Sioux had on this skimpy taxi outfit with a patch saying, "Free Rides" and I had a 1/2 angel, 1/2 devil getup complete with horns & a halo...a fitting choice for the crazy polarity in this odd country.  Needless to say, our little group got plenty of attention.  The next day we drove to Abu Dhabi where Thao had scored free Formula One tickets...combined with free Jay-Z concert tickets.  Ha!  I'm still chuckling.  I'm not sure what the race-car hype is all about & the rap concert was...pretty hilarious!  I will never forget my nice, proper English friend Katy bobbing her head and swearing right along with Jay-Z!  The next day we admired some of the crazy, futuristic architecture in Dubai & took our compulsory snaps of the Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world.  I swear these Middle Eastern countries are having a pissing contest trying to see who can top who with the highest this and widest that...incredible use of resources, but don't get me started.  Although this was certainly an atypical vacation for me, I have to admit good fun was had :)

Arabic, Wahbah Crater...Thank You!

To be clear, it is entirely possible to live & work in The Kingdom without more than a handful of key Arabic phrases.  At a minimum, you could even get by with 1 word - Nsha'allah - which means, "God Willing."  It is used profusely - and appropriately - in almost EVERY conversation, regardless of how brief.  Once in your vocabulary, this word will probably never leave it.  So, whatever possessed me to take a proper, structured Arabic class is beyond me.  Glutton for punishment I guess!  For those of you who are aware of my relationship with "the French lady,"...well, you are probably sympathizing with my Arabic teacher already.

I still have no desire to learn or comprehend the (literally!) backwards squiggles & dots that somehow coalesce into a functional language, but it is proving beneficial to sputter out a few more phrases to my patients.  Most laugh & love the attempt, some are clearly not impressed and continue to ramble on & on despite my blank stare.  Then there are a few that demand an Arabic-speaking nurse - surprisingly only a few!

Because we are learning phonetically, challenged spellers can be pleased as we spell words however we want and are not wrong :)  Instead of Standard Arabic, we are focusing on the dialect most commonly spoken here in Jeddah - a fab decision since we are working with the general public.  Despite being from Egypt, and speaking his own dialect, our instructor is Fantastic & incredibly patient.  We are 7 (semi) stubborn nurses: 2 Americans, a Canadian, a Kiwi, a Brit & 2 South Africans.  The S. Africans have a slight advantage as Afrikaans also uses the back of your throat lugi-hawking sound.  It will continue to be interesting... nsha'allah I can at least learn some basics.  Although I won't need to know how to order a beer in this country, knowing the word for bathroom is handy in any language!  (Hammam, if you ever need it :))

Wahbah Crater

The same handful of gals joined a larger group trip to spend the night in the desert.  All-in-all not super exciting, but I figured a trip to the desert is compulsory while in the Middle East.  Somehow a 5 hr bus trip turned into 7...making multiple U-turns in the middle of the desert at night was slightly disconcerting, but eventually the driver figured it out.  Luckily gas is cheap.  How cheap?  Are you ready for this?  Petrol here is 25 Halalas/Liter.  There are 100 Halalas in a Riyal, 3.75 Riyals in $1 US.  There are 3.8 liters in a gallon...which I will round up to 4.  Math has never been my thing, but I think that's about 27 cents/gallon!!

Anyway, I digress.  We finally made it to our destination and crashed for a few hrs in a flimsy sleeping bag on large carpets under one big open tent.  We got up early to beat the heat (make an attempt anyway) and hiked down into the crater.  Whether formed by a meteorite or an underground steam explosion, it was pretty neat to see.  It was nice to know the desert wasn't ALL flat sand & tumble weeds for miles & miles.  Once we hiked back up it was Hot-Hot (as opposed to just HOT) and tootling around on old lava by the camp was even Hot-ER, so we just simmered under the tent until it was time to eat & sleep.  We slept under the stars that night...you can imagine how Amazing the view was far, far away from any light pollution.

Hugemongous Thank You's to those who have added postcards to my fridge door & an extra hug to the Boisvert's for the Fantastic care package - I almost did a cartwheel in the hallway, but remembered my abaya & thought better of it :)  The sticky ghosts are on my mirror, the mustaches are going to prove Awesome, and the puzzle will help me practice my new Saudi-appropriate cuss words!  Thank You!!

Oh!  A few ppl have asked about Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.  Muslims can travel to Mecca at any time, but if they go during this particular week they get bonus points :)  [I intend no disrespect with that description, just breaking it down...and I'm secretly jealous since non-Muslims cannot even enter the city!]  For us, banks, businesses, the administrative part of the hospital (including clinics) shut down for 10 days...the ER was, for the most part, nice & quiet...and now we are paying for it!  Busy, busy!

Oh Vacation...

How sweet thou art!  I was hoping to write soon after returning, before the freshness fizzled out…but we all know how efficiently work-life sucks us back in.  Oh well, my trip is still recent enough to continue enjoying its ripples…

Before I get to the highlights, I’ll say a quick word about the airport in Istanbul (which I perused 4 times in 2 weeks.)  What a wonderful convergence of people, languages & cultures!  Initially I was a little embarrassed for them, but it was truly nice to see folks waltzing about in their tight tank tops & short-shorts.  And, OMG, some of them were even holding hands & communicating with their significant others!!  I know, Crazy!  I was only briefly traumatized and resisted the urge to give them more clothing to cover up.  All jokes aside, I look forward to checking out the rest of Istanbul sometime soon…

Next quick stop – Madrid:

Keep in mind I was about 32 hrs awake (including a 12 hr shift) by the time my feet hit non-Saudi soil.  I had a six hr layover so I zombied into town.  Since I had gotten my skin-shock over with in Turkey, my first thought was how nice it was to hear a more familiar foreign language.  Despite the Spaniard’s funny lisp & extra verb tense, it was comforting to my ears.  I loved the old waiter who served me my 1^st beer.  He let me stutter Spanish to him & didn’t make me feel like a complete buffoon – even when I said, “Shukran” instead of, “Gracias” – oops! J

The main attractions…

Portugal:

Gorgeous!  The friend I went to visit lives in Porto, which is where we spent most of our time.  Pictures fail at expressing the beauty & feel of the city.  A river from the mnts runs through town, shops and houses sit on the hillside, folks fish from the street & hang their colorful laundry out their windows to dry and, obviously, much of the architecture is older than America can remember.  Bakeries create little desserts that are almost too cute to eat, every restaurant serves Bacalhau (cod) and people everywhere, despite their current economic challenges, were beyond friendly.  Porto is known not only for port wine, but also for being the largest producer of cork in the world.  Since the trend for plugging wine bottles has diversified to other materials and the demand for cork has dropped, they are now making many other items – hats, shoes, bags, wallets – with the impermeable, buoyant, fire resistant stuff.  Tourists, including this one, ate it up!  Not only did we see the sights of Porto & hang with Diana’s adorable, non-English speaking family, but we hit up a port tour at a winery that was founded in 1692, took the train down to Aveiro & rode free bikes around the cute little town & drove up north to see an old castle.  Super Good Times complete with frequent, deep, appreciative breaths – Ah, the world really is continuing to go ‘round & function as we know it! J

Diana's Mom, Dad, G-ma & Uncle

Kyrgyzstan:

I have found my new dream car!  I will have a Lada – definitely one built in the 70s or 80s!  Before you google it & laugh, be sure to check out the very practical 4-wheel drive version (Lada Niva.)  Of course mine will have sturdy tires & a rack…green please.  Most important, they look Awesome!!  Also slightly relevant, they can be easily fixed from Russia to Western Europe & everywhere in between.  Anyway, Kyrgyzstan you say?  Yes!  It’s SE of Kazakhstan, west of China, they speak Russian (& Kyrgyz of course) and have incredibly stunning mountains!  Good friends who used to live across the street from me in Portland are there doing a stint with MSF.  We had grand plans for borrowing their friend’s car & venturing out to see Lake Issyk Kul, traversing the mnt range to Naryn and then bopping down to check out Osh & the world’s largest walnut forest before returning to Bishkek.  Oh, the best laid plans! 

We packed up the minivan and excitedly headed towards the lake.  There were a few sputs, spurts, squeaks & other minor complaints from our trusty “Super Caravan” in route, but we were not to be dissuaded.  The gas leak we noticed under the car had slowed from a dibble to a drip…and stopped completely if we parked the car just right.  We also decided the plastic bag wrapped around the hose was normal enough.  (Keep in mind two of us have lived in the African bush & the 3^rd has us both beat with crazy travel experiences.)  We spent the night in a fantastic Yurt Camp right on the lake surrounded by snow-capped peaks.  You would never guess this was probably the birthplace of the plague.  The air was fresh & cool – insert more refreshing deep breaths – and I even wore jeans & a fleece!  Day 2 found us optimistic and off to a wonderful start.  Despite our confidence (ie; denial) that all was well, we started formulating Plans B, C & D just in case the minivan refused to get us up and over the mnts.  The day progressed – complete with frequent roadside stops for reassessment, speculation & a bonus stop for apple picking.  At one point we had a repair shop take a look…the mechanic reassured us the car wouldn’t explode, but he declined to guarantee it wasn’t going to completely crap out & leave us stranded.  We carried on.  As our heroic driver was getting leg cramps trying to stay in the sweet spot – somewhere around 35 mph (60 k/h) – we began to accept the fact that this hunk of metal just wasn’t going to cooperate.  Our extremely resilient travel buddy – who happens to be 2 ½ – seemed to agree, it was time to head home.  For the record, I continue to be impressed with how well this young man tolerated our adventure – his capacity for reading (and re-reading) books is astonishing, and most adults would’ve complained more than he did.  We also figured it might not be the best plan to take his 35-wk pregnant mother over 4,000 meters…although a little pre-term labor would’ve really spiced things up!  We planned to abandon the vehicle in Karakol – where we stayed in a nice little B&B – but luck was in our favor.  The owner of the car came out from Bishkek, found s’one to tinker a bit more & we successfully made it back safe & sound the next day.  If only we’d had a Lada…

Yurt Camp

Inside the Yurt

Me n Aziz

While in Bishkek we also toured a felting co-op where they felted carpets, shoes, scarves & small toys – very cool!  We also spent an afternoon on an Amazing hike in Ala-Archa Gorge (I think?!) – if crossing bottomless bridges, fording glacial streams & being surrounded by breath-taking mountains doesn’t recharge your batteries…you’ve got some issues.  It was just what this soul needed.  My holiday cumulated with a serene evening sharing food, wine and stories with great company.  I crashed on the couch for a few hrs before heading to the airport for my reluctant journey back to Jeddah.

Bottomless Bridge

Freeeezing Stream

It felt a bit strange to be returning from vacation to a place that doesn’t really feel like “home”…but here I am!  Back to heat, humidity & the glorious frustrations of work J  Honestly, it was a Wonderful two weeks and, as we all know, without a touch of stress at home, vacations would lose some luster.  I want to again thank my hosts/tour guides/friends!!  Thank you for sharing your homes, meals, energy & time – I am such a fortunate gal!  Nsh’allah I will be able to offer the same hospitality one day...

Ramadan Kareem!

Or Ramadan Maasalama rather…We are wrapping up the month with the 3-4 day celebration of Eid al-Fitr.  Eid marks the end of Ramadan & is the biggest Muslim holiday of the year – often compared to Christmas.  Indeed, work has been pretty quiet this past week – especially during the day when folks are sleeping.

Unfortunately I haven’t been around long enough to get much of an insider’s look or a really good feel for all the intricacies of Ramadan, but I can try & share a few things from the periphery.  Superficially, almost EveryThing is closed, or has severely reduced hours, during the day, during the entire month.  They even altered our “shopping bus” schedule to run later.  Here are a few (fuzzy – sorry!) snaps from Balad (the older district of town) at 1 am…plenty of men, women & children milling about.

As you probably know, fasting during the daylight hours is a big part of Ramadan.  It is also an important time for prayer, reading the Qur’an and for personal reflection.  It's recognized by almsgiving and, my favorite, “watching one’s tongue”…to mean “refraining from obscene & false speech.”  Feasting, visiting with family, and making trips to Mecca are also significant activities this month and during Eid – plenty of dates & delicious deserts!  Here is a snap of some families waiting for the sun to go down so they can break their fast with a picnic by the sea – nice!

The Mutawa, or “Religious Police” who work on behalf of the “Commission for the Promotion of Virtue & Prevention of Vice” – No, I’m not kidding.  Go ahead, read that title again :)  They enforce the dress & behavior codes, crack down on public entertainment, make sure women don’t drive & check businesses to make sure they are closing 5 times a day for prayer.  They are said to be more prevalent during Ramadan & have a legitimate reputation for being verbally aggressive.  Fortunately I haven’t had the pleasure of interacting with them, but friends say they have been harassed in the mall – mostly followed around and told (unprofessionally) to cover their hair.  I don't think they can actually arrest you.

Illegal Mingling

Speaking of “watching one’s tongue” and while I’m on a down-beat, the work tid bit of the week was that one of our locum staff (3 month contract) was fired & sent home for cussing, coming clean on a med error, and having a personality conflict with one of her colleagues – obviously the wrong one.  Disturbing & concerning to be sure, but I've decided not to bitch about work in this post :)  Rumor has it the nail in the visa was the cussing…needless to say, those of us remaining with explicative tendencies are trying to come up with more appropriate words to express our frustrations – think “Fudgesicle.”  All suggestions are welcomed :)

On to more pleasant & exciting news!!  I bought my plane tickets for a much anticipated holiday in September!  I’ll be going to visit a friend I met here from Portugal for a week & then to Kyrgyzstan for a wk to see the sights & catch up with old neighbor friends there.  Both places look absolutely Gorgeous & I’m looking forward to seeing some GREEN, and red…as in wine!  Now I just need my Exit/Re-Entry Visa to go through & then it’s only 26 days to departure!  But who’s counting?

My Portuguese Habibi 

Well gang, I hope you are enjoying your August weather & bountiful gardens – Svetlana said she planted 15 tomato plants in my backyard (among many other things) and I can’t imagine it!  Maybe she ripped up part of the lawn :)  

Take care ya’ll & keep in touch – I love hearing from you!

k

Just when I thought...

...they had made a day-shifter out of me.  Whew!  Welcome back to nights Nelson!  No offense to the suits, but it's so much nicer to work when only the necessary folk are wandering about - especially when you are busy.  Speaking of work, I'd like to retract a few statements from the record.  The part about ALL the pts needing to be in the ED & how most of the pts & families are grateful and awesome?  Yeah, subtract about 65% of that.  AND, if we have a few docs who are ADHD, then they have a few here who are Bipolar.  Both require a bit of duck feather, but I prefer the former.  Have I mentioned how much I miss our Pharmacists & the tube system?  Good.  While I'm at it I'd like to thank our XR/CT techs for collecting & returning our pts, Social Work & Psych for facilitating & solving sooo many important issues, Admitting & Secretaries for keeping the background running smoothly, and Techs...Oh, my dear sweet Techs, there aren't enough muscles in my fingers to type the ways in which I miss & appreciate thee!  I'll even thank the lab...well, it seems the ED/Lab - Love/Hate rel'shp is universal :)  Thanks at least for spitting out results this century.  Also, a fat SHUKRAN to our docs (regardless of your psych status) for having more than 1/2 a clue and for treating us as colleagues and respecting our judgment & opinions.  You are Wonderful!  Can't forget my peeps...again, not nearly enough ink kids!  Oh Emanuel, how I miss you!  It's probably a good thing they don't have alcohol in this country or we'd all be alcoholics!

Speaking of alcohol...had my first glass of red wine in 10 wks at an Italian Consulate dinner last wk - it was Delicious!!  I sipped & savored every grape.  There are a few other opportunities to get (bad) home-made wine and "Sid" here.  Sid reminds me of Zambian kachasu/latuku which is one smidge better for your esophagus than draino.  The Saudi vice seems to be puffing on the shisha (hookah) - it's flavored tobacco vapor (think artificial grape) - men & women alike enjoy it at home & at some open air restaurants.

 
Other pleasantries...a few of us had a lovely walk along the Corniche a few nights back.  It was nice to see a few stars & hear the waves crashing...and crashing again.  A powerful force beyond man & beyond rules & restrictions.  It provided a refreshing sense of normalcy...

What else?  You may have heard about our change in wkend days - they decided businesses could be more productive with other bits of the world by moving the wkend from Thurs & Fri to Fri & Sat.  Sounds simple enough, but it'd be like the U.S. saying, "Our work week will now be Sun-Thurs."  No arguing or debating - official decree from the king.  Done.  Imagine, we can't even get day-light savings time sorted out! :)

A more significant life shake up = Ramadan!  Very interesting...and tricky for those of us with tape worms (just kidding Grandma!)  I'll save Ramadan for my next post...it has barely started & I'm curious to see how the rest of the month plays out.

Well, (most of) you are probably enjoying summer weather & activities...if you need some extra sweat I'll gladly lend you my abaya & some of this humidity!  I think I'll end up being the crazy lady who wears a hoody when I go home and it's "only" 80 degrees :)  Do some camping & hiking for me - in shorts!!
Maasalama ~
k

OMG

I just couldn't go to bed without posting this Immediately!

So, there I was, out for a run (cuz I will decidedly apoptose in the air-less gym), when I see some sparkly bouncing bits off in the distance....what the?!  As I get closer I could hardly believe it...SPACESUITS!! Although it was difficult to maintain my composure, I stopped, complimented them profusely, and begged them to please let me take a picture!  Of course they were thrilled.  Not quite as good as in the flesh, but please enjoy : )

The Honeymoon is over...

There is really nothing more to say without going overboard :)  It's a unique unit - not really a true ED & certainly not a typical in-patient ward.  It's like a mix between an ED, a chronic medical ward (Thank You OBC for my in-pt experience!) and an ICU.  We also see a lot of transplant pts...not usually fresh ones, but no shortage of kidneys here I guess.  I do try to remind myself this is a specialist/referral hospital so our pt population will be a little distorted.  Just like at home - too many days at work made you feel like 80% of the U.S. was either heroin addicted, drunk, diabetic or wanted to jump off a bridge.  Here, you feel like all Saudi's are either borrowing a kidney, have a congenital abnormality, have had cardiac surgery, are jaundiced or diabetic...obviously not true in either country - just a skewed perspective.  And rather fascinating of course!

Which is why it's important NOT to work too much!  I'm happy to have gotten off the beach (boring!) and into a boat.  A bunch of us booked a trip out on the Red Sea - a few went diving, the rest snorkeled.  Really cool coral reefs with Amazing fish - next time I'll try & get some underwater photos.  I will probably refresh my dive cert & hope to try some wind surfing....I've heard women are "not allowed" to do the latter.  More investigation will be conducted.

Last week a Filipino friend from work took us to the fish market - much cleaner than some I've seen and always more fun than buying seafood in the grocery store :)

  

Lesson of the day - choose boy crabs instead of girl crabs...

Actually, just stick to Oregon crabs & get regular fish - Yum!  After the market we went to another co-workers house (not in a compound!) and enjoyed a lovely meal & afternoon.

On my next stretch off we plan to take a trip to Taif - it's east of Jeddah, past Mecca, and quite a few clicks away.  Apparently there are mountains to hike & camels to ride & monkeys to see!  We may even visit a "flower water"/perfume distillery (not, for the record, my preferred type of distillery!)  We'll see what actually happens.  It's a hospital organized trip so all I know is that it is from 7:30 - 11pm.  Stay tuned...

As always, I hope all is well - wish I could send ya'll some of this hot, super sunny weather!
Thanks again for your comments - just when I feel "over it" (like after Blog Post #1 :))  I read your comments & am encouraged to post again!
Until next time,
k

PS:  Warren, I am dreaming of your...gorgeously....delicious...STOUT!  You bet your rokba you are saving me some!!