A typical day and how anger is a great motivator!

     Our work week is from Sunday to Thursday.  We are off the weekend on Friday and Saturday.  Our working hours are 8-8 on those days.  The bus to school leaves at 7:45am.  The SECOND the clock strikes 7:45 the driver is off.  It is only a 10 minute ride to my school, but I am not allowed to drive, so having a driver is actually quite nice.  I do not teach in an actual school, but rather an adult language center.  The girls, mostly teenagers or young women, pay to be there and it is allegedly expensive.  We have classes from 8:00 to 12:00 noon, and then the driver takes us back to the dorms.  We are free until the bus leaves again at 3:45pm and we teach until 8:00pm.  The classes last 50 minutes and there are 4 periods in the morning and 4 periods in the evening.  I teach 2nd and 4th periods in the morning and all 4 periods in the evening.  We finish working at 8:00pm and then they take us home.
     The working hours are the EXACT reason I did NOT want to work at a language center.  While it is nice to have 4 (well, actually 3 because of commute time and effort) hours free in the middle of the day, eating dinner at 8:30pm sucks.  Because I am supposed to eat 2 hours before going to sleep, this means I am not getting to bed until 11:00pm, on average.  This makes waking up at 6:30am difficult at best for me.  I am totally an 8 hours kinda gal and it is killing me.  I don't mind getting up early, I DO mind going to bed late.  I may have to start eating dinner in the classroom...LOL  I am sure that will go over like a lead balloon!
     One of the weirdest things in Saudi, is that they fingerprint the bejebus out of you.  They took full fingerprint scans at the airport and I have to sign in and out with a biometric timeclock that requires my hand print.  I wish I was kidding.  The funny part about this is that the women usually line up to clock out the SECOND it is time to leave.  In order to insure their place in line, they leave their handbags.  I call it the parade of bags.

     Through trial and error, I try to get all of my errands and projects done during the lunch break so I can come home and relax.  I find eating salads for lunch and soup for dinner to be a great way to eat the good stuff while not eating heavy meals.  I made my first "meal" on Saturday.  I made a pot of chicken soup and cooked a batch of quinoa.  I can eat this all week.  I am slowly starting to stock my pantry with the basics, like seasonings (I brought 2 jumbo containers of Jane's crazy mixed up salt so I am good), crackers, quinoa, pasta, pasta sauce, canned tuna, etc.  I have some beef and chicken patties in the freezer, so I am good there as well.  Because I have a full size fridge/freezer, I have plenty of room for ice-cream as well!

     Now let's talk about the abaya.  YES, I am required to wear the abaya, a black covering that pretty much looks like judges' robes, or the gowns we wear for graduation.  It is worn to cover you from neck to the ground.  They tend to be very lightweight, and aren't really that cumbersome.  My complaint is that you HAVE to wear it ANY TIME you leave the house.  I was given one (finally) by the school, and had it shortened so I was not tripping over it.  I purchased a second one with lace trim on the sleeves and I have every single intention of blinging it out!  Apparently, full black and black on black are the standard, but trust me, the younger gals have fancy ones.
     I am not required to wear the hijab (the head scarf that covers your hair and head) or the niqab (the thing that covers the face but leaves a slit for the eyes).  I wear my hats for sun protection and gets tons of looks from the older women and the women covered from head to toe.  Spending time in China made me totally unconcerned about the stares.  At night, when it is dark and much cooler, I don't bother with the hat so I don't leave it in my basket at the store....LOL

     Now to the anger part.  Apart from salary, the ONE THING I made a point to ask about was access to a gym or healthclub.  I was told that I would likely have an exercise area/facility in my compound.  If the compound did not have a healthclub, there was likely to be one nearby so working out would not be a problem.  Reality is a bitch, and my apartment building (not even CLOSE to being a "compound") doesn't have squat.  The only facility nearby (remember the part about I cannot drive and there is no public transportation?!?)  is expensive and restricted to men.  So, "access" to a gym means finding one (good luck with that), paying a HUGE amount of $$, and then procuring a driver to take me and pick me up.  

     I can work out at home, but I hate having to spend money to buy something I won't be able to move, like a treadmill.  One of my fellow teachers thinks she might have a wiifit at home...hmmm.  I have some sort of 90 workout dvds, and I bought a cable to run my tv via my laptop...we shall see.  Today I went running....YES, in the heat, and in a full abaya...it sucked really, really, really, bad, but I did it.  Who knows, maybe the neighbors will be soooo offended by this, they will contact the school and shame them...one can only hope!