Weekend Morning

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The Weekend

It’s the weekend (here) and I’m in a really good mood this morning.

Yesterday my hotel phone alarm didn’t go off (user error, I’m sure), but fortunately I have an alarm clock back-up and that jolted me awake. Thank God for back-up systems! I was looking forward to sleeping late with no alarm clocks. So I slept to 6:30 and then got up. How decadent. 😊

I went to breakfast this morning at The Dining Hall. I’m embarrassed to say how inexpensive the food is there. Obviously it is highly subsidized. I had an “everything” omelet, a plate of bacon, and a mug of coffee for 11 SAR, which is about $2.75. The bacon is obviously not pork, and I have no idea what it is made of, but I try not to ask those kind of questions (it’s better not knowing, I think!). It actually tastes pretty good. And you don’t get just two strips of bacon; you get a whole plate of it.

I went to the table with my Catherine Watson book (she was a travel writer for the Star Tribune), but Wolf and Pat stopped by and we ate together. Pat is in love with the waffle woman. Wolf has a bit of trouble with our American accents. Pat asked if I knew where the dry cleaners was and Wolf thought he asked me if I knew where the drag queens were. I never laughed so hard.

After breakfast, we went to the “commissary” which is the grocery store. It’s amazingly well-stocked and is kind of like a Cub Foods. We bought surgical masks because the sand is still in the air. Oh great. NOW it’s 40 degrees and sunny in Minneapolis and I’m supposed to be in the Mediterranean and I’m wearing a mask and it’s hazy. Life is not fair!

I also bought some munchies for our training session this afternoon. If I’ve learned anything over the years about training, it’s have food on hand. Especially if it’s a weekend training session.

So it’s now 9:30 AM[ typing my blog and listening to my iPod on portable speakers (“Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, The Musical”). Life may not be fair, but it’s good.

I'm sure you are wondering what is on TV, so today's photos are an assortment for your viewing pleasure.

P.S. Today is the first time I was able to log in to my PC, where I remembered my Aramco ID and password without looking it up. Now I only have to memorize about 12 other sets of passwords I have (desktop, PC’s at the Center, Inscape, and of course, the login/password for the PC’s, which are different than the ones to reach the Internet.

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Photos

TV 1
Saudi talk show. There were people who called in. Have no idea what they were saying.

TV 2
More Arabic. Some Saudi news, I'm sure.

TV 3
I think she must be a movie star. Don't know, it's in Arabic too.

TV 4
This was the set from the show in TV 1. I think the pillows are a nice touch, don't you?

TV 5
This was in English. Sort of like The View. But different.

TV 6
Yes, again in Arabic.

TV 7
It's Malcolm in the middle, subtitled in Arabic. No wonder Saudis can get a misimpression of us. Malcolm in the middle??

TV 8
This one was in English too, with British accents. They were cooking Indian food. Maybe this is the Food Channel? I miss Alton Brown!

TV 9
This appeared to be some sort of Indian game show. But who knows.

TV 10
Would you be surprised if I told you this one is in Arabic?

Comments

[eve]

Ted--I love the TV shows! I'm totally LOL about the one with the artistic shot of the pillows in the foreground. I'm assuming you'll be fluent in Arabic by the time you return to the US. The sandstorm was gorgeous. Great exfoliation without all the work. "Bacon"....camel....??

[Ellen]

Hey There Never is Good TV
With our 5000 channels you think there would be something to watch. Now I realize moving to other countries isn't going to make a difference.

[TedTravel]

Bacon
I was thinking it might be camel bacon too!

[fawaz]

This is Pakistani
Hello Ted, I have enjoyed ur posts about Saudi. Anyways, I was just gonna say that this is Pakistani News, PTV. Arabic, Farsi, and Urdu use similar characters in writing.