A Day of Rest

Well Friday came and I didn't budge an inch when my body clock went off. I was comfy and I was not about to get up so I just drifted back off to sleep. The good thing about here as opposed to Iraq is that we actually get a day to sleep in. I lay in bed most of the time asleep, until almost 11:00 when lunch was supposed to be served. I finally drug out of bed and got dressed and wandered across the street. The dinning hall was supposed to open at 11:00, but it wasn’t so I sat down outside the door and waited. Many nationalities are here, Korean, Japanese, Nepal, and Philippines, British, Aussie, US, so it was fun to watch and listen to the different cultures talking to each other. I caught myself dosing off about the time I saw the Manager walking to unlock the door.

Once inside the dimly lit room, the line had begun to grow already. They always have a soup, two or three entrees and a couple of vegetables, freedom fries of course, a couple of sauces and then 3 or 4 different salads. They do have a Korean dish they serve also and they seem to enjoy it everyday. I haven’t gotten up the nerve to try the Kemchee because I was spoiled in Korea and I don’t want to be disappointed. I selected the barbecue chicken some freedom fries and a salad with French dressing. I topped it off with a couple of glasses of iced tea, not as good as I make, but it will do. I took my time and listened to all the sounds in the room, the Korean slurping their soup and noodles, the Brits enjoying a good laugh with their meal. The chicken wasn’t half bad and I pretty much finished it all.

Back to the room and log in for a good chat wit the little woman. I beat her to it because she was still asleep. It was about 12:45 my time which was 4:45am for her. I worked on my Blog some and found myself dosing again. I left her a message in case she got up before I was back and told her to buzz me. Well I had no more lay down and closed my eyes when the A/C and half of my lights went off. I got up and called the front desk and they said they would call maintenance. Satisfied it would be handled I laid back down and closed my eyes again. I had dozed about half an hour when I was wakened by the phone. My boss had just come back from the site and wanted to know if I wanted to go to the grocery store. Well of course I wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity like that so he said he would meet me in front in about 15 minutes. I got changed back in to me jeans, which is a must if you go out here, they don’t seem to understand that part of the American culture and they pretty much look down on you if you go out in public dressed like that. Grabbed my sneakers threw them on and was out the door. John was just parking when I came out he said he had just about given up. I hopped in the front seat, buckled in and we were off on an adventure to town.

We were about 10 minutes away from the store and don’t ask me where it is because I couldn’t get there again if you asked me. I am pretty good with direction but I still haven’t gotten my bearings here. We pulled into The Giant and grabbed a cart. It was squeaking the whole way in so John went out to find another one. He started going up and down isles and said I don’t know what you are looking for but if you need something let me know and we will find it. He’s a great guy, always thoughtful making sure I am fitting in. I told him I wanted to look at coffee pots because the coffee they make at the site is terrible. Oh did I mention that they don’t know how to make coffee here either? Well we finally found them and they had one Bunn, it was around $45 US not bad but I wasn’t prepared to buy it. We continued to browse up and down isles I found some peanut butter and some Ritz crackers, a case of water, a case of Diet Coke, a Snickers bar and a Galaxy Bar. The total came out to SR 85.00 which is about $22 US. I think the exchange rate is pretty close to ours just sounds bad. The case of Coke was like $5.88. The sacker pushed the cart out and loaded the car, John tipped him and we were off headed back to the camp.

On the way back John said that they usually have a cook out on Friday evenings and he had asked if he could bring me along. They said sure so we planned on him coming by about 3:30 or so and we head that way. I went to my room and unpacked my goodies and sat down to chat with Diane for a little bit before he came. I filled her in on the morning and told her I would be back in awhile and we could talk before I was ready for bed. John showed up right about 3:30 and we started walking. I didn’t realize this place was on the compound but it was just a short 5 minute walk. This is a small 3 bedroom villa that some of the guys live in, they have a real kitchen, dinning room, living room, bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, not bad for Saudi. Mike was already outside cooking, John said that he comes over on Friday and cooks all his food for the week and hardly eats at the dinning hall at all. He was cooking hot dogs, shish k-bob, and hamburgers. He got through and they put our dinner on, nice juicy steaks. I was a little skeptical but I would give it a try. Inside John and Jeff were cutting up potatoes and onions to be fired, and a pot of green beans. It immediately started smelling delicious right out of a Rachel Ray 30 Minute Meal show.

We sat and talked while everything was cooking and before you know it, Don came in and said you better go claim your steak before they get well done. Now I like my meat a little pink so I was out there in a heart beat with a knife and a plate. I cut one open and it was almost perfect. John said grab me one too so I cut one open and he said it was fine. We headed in with our plates and loaded up with the potatoes and green beans and sat down to dig in. The meat was a little tough but it was seasoned well so it was pretty good eats. We finished up and sat around for a few more minutes and then said it was time to head back. They had just started up a card game and neither of us were interested so it was pretty much useless to stay around they were sure to be absorbed in the game before long. One of the other guys, Fenwick who was the Construction Manager, was driving back so we caught a ride. He dropped us off at the office so we could go in and select our yummy lunch for the next day and then head back to the room.

I got back in the room and chatted with Diane for awhile and then realized it was after 10:00 and I needed to get to bed. We said our good nights and I took some meds and lay down. I had been feeling kind of puny all day, I had somewhat of a sore throat and my nose was running a little but I blew it off and tried to sleep. Soon sleep came and I rested, well that was until about 2:00am when I woke up and my throat was on fire. Well dummy me I had no meds for a cold, or sinus just some Advil and Tylenol. I dosed back off but then it was toss and turn. I knew it wouldn’t be long until the alarm was welcoming me to a new day……