... and it even rains sometimes! Yes, we had a heavy rainstorm two nights ago right here!
But back to the main story. No no this is NOT an April Fool. I am here to tell YOU that two days ago at about 7am local time we, here in Khobar, North-East Saudi Arabia had short and VERY sharp snow storm.
Don't believe me? Well, HERE is the video proof! And this is NO FAKE!
Well, imagine it! What would YOU do if you'd never seen snow in your life before??
And here is what Khobar looks like on a normal day. This video is about a year old but you get the idea.
Sun Sun Sun ..... and then some :)
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
"Against boredom even the gods struggle in vain"
This quote is taken from FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, 19th century German philosopher.
Monday 6th April 2009
I seem to repeating myself a lot on these pages lately.
Sorry. I know it's getting a bit boring for you out there reading this that I write (yes, that means YOU!). But I can't help it. There is nothing else to write about. And what's a diary or blog for if not to vent my spleen and look back on later to have a laugh at. Well it might become funny later, but the only laughter now is coming from Fate which has placed me here in Saudi Arabia.
I remember one thing well about my job in Krakow. At the end of October, I was told that I was “the unluckiest teacher in the school” as my timetable had been hit hardest due to the late starting or non-starting classes at Fortis bank. Well, that kind of “bad luck” (if that's what it is) is still hanging over me and seems to have followed me here. But this time I didn't have any classes to BEGIN WITH. But Bad Luck is, it seems, what I still have.
You know what annoys me a lot? Well, I talked about this on a previous blog entry. Anyway, it is still the fact that the other new teachers both DO have classes and I still have nothing. Maybe that is what they were planned to have even before I arrived. Maybe I'm taking the thing too damned personally. But these things are following me around a lot lately. And when I say “lately”, I mean over the last two years in very many ways. Sparks of Good inside a big, old fire of Badness that just won't go out.
I guess the problems with my ear have made my mood a little more extreme this week – again as I said before. That may be true. It does show signs of clearing, but then it did THAT last week before Friday morning in the shower. So strange that I have had this for so long. I don't believe in coincidence. Some change in my environment must be the thing that is causing it. Could it be the water from the shower? It does have a rather salty taste. No, obviously I don't drink the stuff, but I do get some of it in my mouth during my morning shower and the taste is there. Also, at times I notice that if I have cuts or some raw areas of skin, there is some stinging for a while. Maybe that water is getting in my ear and causing a reaction of some kind. I think I will have to take steps to prevent water getting into my ears in general in future. Some kind of shower earplugs are called for or cotton wool. Vaseline has also been suggested. Also, although I never use cotton buds to clean out my ears, maybe such things are more necessary here. Yes, yes, don't worry, I DO clean my ears properly every day as a matter of course. But maybe a little more care is needed here.
Ears is one thing, but BOREDOM is totally ANOTHER!!
Now, think back to any occasion where you were so bored you didn't know what to do and could only wait till it was all over and done. Now imagine that is happening five days a week. Now, in addition, imagine that your boredom is compounded week after week so that the thing you did LAST week to beat the boredom is now ITSELF getting a bit boring.
Every week this is the situation for me.
Now, I have to tell you this. It is really NOT easy to get me bored. I have a very high tolerance level of boredom. In fact, often I like my own company and don't always need others around me to get by each day. But I am talking, of course, about leisure time in evenings and weekends. Certainly NOT talking about the NORMAL WORKING DAY!!
Another thing to say. In my short time in Krakow last year I was satisfied in how I managed my time and got myself better trained to manage my day better. I could organise myself better, and this was specially important when I needed to get to and from lessons in different locations in different parts of the town. Not easy to do without a car. But I did it and I was very pleased with how I got it all together.
“Managing my time” here in Saudi Arabia is taking on a whole new meaning. I'm talking about the management of boredom and how the HELL to fill the empty day. For GOODNESS SAKE! This is WORKING TIME! I shouldn't HAVE this problem. I should be able to get up when I need to, go out and do what I need to do, get to where I need to and return home when I need to. Keeping my mind active and keeping myself in reasonable physical shape and enjoying the time with colleagues and friends.
Yes, i knew I'd have to cope with a lot of drudgery here. But I assumed that would be OUTSIDE the working day. I was prepared for THAT with all my books and with my laptop and (hopefully) the internet that I will have. But I cannot deal well with boredom during the working day. Yeah Yeah I could prepare my lessons .... for my one class-to-be. But how long will THAT take? And in any case I don't believe in being over-prepared because you need to take a class as it comes and go with the flow and do what THEY need to do. When the time comes, I will enjoy that normal part of the teaching process. But now??
OK, OK, nuff said. Let's write about something else now.
Hmm sorry but I can't think of anything positive or humorous to write about. Cos the next topic on my mind is the internet connection and what I've heard about it here. Basically the company who provides the internet DSL connection for everyone here in the compound is utterly hopeless. Downtime is part of life, and they have no service people to speak of. If there is a problem, if you get disconnected, there is no telling when you might get reconnected. A week, two weeks, a month or even more. THAT'S what many teachers here have had to put up with.
Weighing up things, it seemed to me that I had no option, initially, than to sign up with them since there was little else I could do as a new teacher. So I decided to sign up just for three months, and with that they have given me an extra month for free. Not bad! But it is NOT cheap, they are slow, and as to WHEN they will bother to get us all connected is anyone's guess. And even when we DO get online, we might be off again soon with no info as to what is going on.
Now, I checked online yesterday and I did find many other companies in Saudi Arabia and, indeed, in the local area who also do DSL packages. Why, I thought, did we have to put up with this kind of bad service when there are so many others around? The answer, unfortunately, is that because this is a compound, any company who provides a service like this needs to be approved by those who run the place. And the DSL line internet provider here IS the ONLY DSL company who have been approved to operate here. So no other companies, however good they are, will be permitted to come in here. And get this – not only are these people the ONLY DSL internet connection allowed here, they are also (according to what I have seen) one of the most EXPENSIVE!!
So we get hit in two ways.
I have paid my money now, and I'm not even going to bother going to ask for a refund since THAT word will not register in their vocabulary I'm sure. All I can do is hope they get it set up quick and that there really ISN'T any more trouble. But like everything here, I'm not too optimistic that this will be the case.
I'm so tired of fighting. WHY CAN'T IT BE EASIER FOR ME HERE?? Why is EVERYTHING just so IMPOSSIBLE? Yes, it IS a foreign country and yes, of COURSE I realise things ain 't the same everywhere. But please, PLEASE just give me a bit of peace!! I'm not travelling, I am living and working. It's not like I can laugh it off and move on and write about it later for the sake of “Traveller's tales” round the campfire. The travelling thing? Been there and done that. I'm here to work and to TRY to live as “normal” a life as I can.
Stress, Stress, Stress!! And when I get stressed, things which shouldn't bother me are WORSE than they SHOULD BE! There is one of the teachers who is obviously quite an intellect and who always has some opinion and informative set of anecdotes on .... well, for me, topics which are often rather obscure and uninteresting. Now, I'm sure others find him fascinating, but right now under these conditions I'm in I just wish he'd SHUT UP!! Oh, and the newest teacher. What's HIS problem then? And he annoys me with his lack of knowledge about this country. No, I'm not an expert, but you would think that before coming to a country like this you should at LEAST acquaint yourself with basics of the culture – Do's and Dont's and the like. He seems not to know things he should. And the other new teacher – the one who joined a week after me. Well, he's alright, but he takes things way too easy for my liking and thinks I should do the same and just enjoy the time now and generally chill out and watch the world go by. Might be a good idea, but I'm sorry but I can't for reasons explained many times before. I'm NOT about to waste my time here having wasted three months of my life back in London waiting to GET HERE!
This year, 2009, is shaping up to be the most BORING in my entire history ..... but, err, .... yes, OK, it will be the most financially profitable. So, yes, I got to keep my eyes on the prize.
And don't you know that ..... “Things .... Can Only Get Better ... Can Only Get, Things Can Only Get, Things Can Only Get BETTER!!”.
Thank you Tony Blair and thank you D-Ream for this annoyingly optimistic song.
Sorry, but I don't do optimistic. Please close the door when you leave. Thank you.
Tomorrow's task? Well, I think I have to progress things to a higher level. So .... mobile phone games then .... I've got the Fish Photos game and the Crazy Golf games. Better not play the Tennis cos it will mess up my Sony Ericsson joystick. But anything else is considered.
Oh, almost forgot. I DID do something different today, and I'll do it tomorrow too. Exam invigilation. Yes, right now is the mid-term exam season at the college and one of the teachers had me in two of his classes today so sit and watch his class for any signs of cheating. Oh, and one more of those tomorrow!
Now, HOW EXCITING IS THAT!! Roll on the morning!!
Monday 6th April 2009
I seem to repeating myself a lot on these pages lately.
Sorry. I know it's getting a bit boring for you out there reading this that I write (yes, that means YOU!). But I can't help it. There is nothing else to write about. And what's a diary or blog for if not to vent my spleen and look back on later to have a laugh at. Well it might become funny later, but the only laughter now is coming from Fate which has placed me here in Saudi Arabia.
I remember one thing well about my job in Krakow. At the end of October, I was told that I was “the unluckiest teacher in the school” as my timetable had been hit hardest due to the late starting or non-starting classes at Fortis bank. Well, that kind of “bad luck” (if that's what it is) is still hanging over me and seems to have followed me here. But this time I didn't have any classes to BEGIN WITH. But Bad Luck is, it seems, what I still have.
You know what annoys me a lot? Well, I talked about this on a previous blog entry. Anyway, it is still the fact that the other new teachers both DO have classes and I still have nothing. Maybe that is what they were planned to have even before I arrived. Maybe I'm taking the thing too damned personally. But these things are following me around a lot lately. And when I say “lately”, I mean over the last two years in very many ways. Sparks of Good inside a big, old fire of Badness that just won't go out.
I guess the problems with my ear have made my mood a little more extreme this week – again as I said before. That may be true. It does show signs of clearing, but then it did THAT last week before Friday morning in the shower. So strange that I have had this for so long. I don't believe in coincidence. Some change in my environment must be the thing that is causing it. Could it be the water from the shower? It does have a rather salty taste. No, obviously I don't drink the stuff, but I do get some of it in my mouth during my morning shower and the taste is there. Also, at times I notice that if I have cuts or some raw areas of skin, there is some stinging for a while. Maybe that water is getting in my ear and causing a reaction of some kind. I think I will have to take steps to prevent water getting into my ears in general in future. Some kind of shower earplugs are called for or cotton wool. Vaseline has also been suggested. Also, although I never use cotton buds to clean out my ears, maybe such things are more necessary here. Yes, yes, don't worry, I DO clean my ears properly every day as a matter of course. But maybe a little more care is needed here.
Ears is one thing, but BOREDOM is totally ANOTHER!!
Now, think back to any occasion where you were so bored you didn't know what to do and could only wait till it was all over and done. Now imagine that is happening five days a week. Now, in addition, imagine that your boredom is compounded week after week so that the thing you did LAST week to beat the boredom is now ITSELF getting a bit boring.
Every week this is the situation for me.
Now, I have to tell you this. It is really NOT easy to get me bored. I have a very high tolerance level of boredom. In fact, often I like my own company and don't always need others around me to get by each day. But I am talking, of course, about leisure time in evenings and weekends. Certainly NOT talking about the NORMAL WORKING DAY!!
Another thing to say. In my short time in Krakow last year I was satisfied in how I managed my time and got myself better trained to manage my day better. I could organise myself better, and this was specially important when I needed to get to and from lessons in different locations in different parts of the town. Not easy to do without a car. But I did it and I was very pleased with how I got it all together.
“Managing my time” here in Saudi Arabia is taking on a whole new meaning. I'm talking about the management of boredom and how the HELL to fill the empty day. For GOODNESS SAKE! This is WORKING TIME! I shouldn't HAVE this problem. I should be able to get up when I need to, go out and do what I need to do, get to where I need to and return home when I need to. Keeping my mind active and keeping myself in reasonable physical shape and enjoying the time with colleagues and friends.
Yes, i knew I'd have to cope with a lot of drudgery here. But I assumed that would be OUTSIDE the working day. I was prepared for THAT with all my books and with my laptop and (hopefully) the internet that I will have. But I cannot deal well with boredom during the working day. Yeah Yeah I could prepare my lessons .... for my one class-to-be. But how long will THAT take? And in any case I don't believe in being over-prepared because you need to take a class as it comes and go with the flow and do what THEY need to do. When the time comes, I will enjoy that normal part of the teaching process. But now??
OK, OK, nuff said. Let's write about something else now.
Hmm sorry but I can't think of anything positive or humorous to write about. Cos the next topic on my mind is the internet connection and what I've heard about it here. Basically the company who provides the internet DSL connection for everyone here in the compound is utterly hopeless. Downtime is part of life, and they have no service people to speak of. If there is a problem, if you get disconnected, there is no telling when you might get reconnected. A week, two weeks, a month or even more. THAT'S what many teachers here have had to put up with.
Weighing up things, it seemed to me that I had no option, initially, than to sign up with them since there was little else I could do as a new teacher. So I decided to sign up just for three months, and with that they have given me an extra month for free. Not bad! But it is NOT cheap, they are slow, and as to WHEN they will bother to get us all connected is anyone's guess. And even when we DO get online, we might be off again soon with no info as to what is going on.
Now, I checked online yesterday and I did find many other companies in Saudi Arabia and, indeed, in the local area who also do DSL packages. Why, I thought, did we have to put up with this kind of bad service when there are so many others around? The answer, unfortunately, is that because this is a compound, any company who provides a service like this needs to be approved by those who run the place. And the DSL line internet provider here IS the ONLY DSL company who have been approved to operate here. So no other companies, however good they are, will be permitted to come in here. And get this – not only are these people the ONLY DSL internet connection allowed here, they are also (according to what I have seen) one of the most EXPENSIVE!!
So we get hit in two ways.
I have paid my money now, and I'm not even going to bother going to ask for a refund since THAT word will not register in their vocabulary I'm sure. All I can do is hope they get it set up quick and that there really ISN'T any more trouble. But like everything here, I'm not too optimistic that this will be the case.
I'm so tired of fighting. WHY CAN'T IT BE EASIER FOR ME HERE?? Why is EVERYTHING just so IMPOSSIBLE? Yes, it IS a foreign country and yes, of COURSE I realise things ain 't the same everywhere. But please, PLEASE just give me a bit of peace!! I'm not travelling, I am living and working. It's not like I can laugh it off and move on and write about it later for the sake of “Traveller's tales” round the campfire. The travelling thing? Been there and done that. I'm here to work and to TRY to live as “normal” a life as I can.
Stress, Stress, Stress!! And when I get stressed, things which shouldn't bother me are WORSE than they SHOULD BE! There is one of the teachers who is obviously quite an intellect and who always has some opinion and informative set of anecdotes on .... well, for me, topics which are often rather obscure and uninteresting. Now, I'm sure others find him fascinating, but right now under these conditions I'm in I just wish he'd SHUT UP!! Oh, and the newest teacher. What's HIS problem then? And he annoys me with his lack of knowledge about this country. No, I'm not an expert, but you would think that before coming to a country like this you should at LEAST acquaint yourself with basics of the culture – Do's and Dont's and the like. He seems not to know things he should. And the other new teacher – the one who joined a week after me. Well, he's alright, but he takes things way too easy for my liking and thinks I should do the same and just enjoy the time now and generally chill out and watch the world go by. Might be a good idea, but I'm sorry but I can't for reasons explained many times before. I'm NOT about to waste my time here having wasted three months of my life back in London waiting to GET HERE!
This year, 2009, is shaping up to be the most BORING in my entire history ..... but, err, .... yes, OK, it will be the most financially profitable. So, yes, I got to keep my eyes on the prize.
And don't you know that ..... “Things .... Can Only Get Better ... Can Only Get, Things Can Only Get, Things Can Only Get BETTER!!”.
Thank you Tony Blair and thank you D-Ream for this annoyingly optimistic song.
Sorry, but I don't do optimistic. Please close the door when you leave. Thank you.
Tomorrow's task? Well, I think I have to progress things to a higher level. So .... mobile phone games then .... I've got the Fish Photos game and the Crazy Golf games. Better not play the Tennis cos it will mess up my Sony Ericsson joystick. But anything else is considered.
Oh, almost forgot. I DID do something different today, and I'll do it tomorrow too. Exam invigilation. Yes, right now is the mid-term exam season at the college and one of the teachers had me in two of his classes today so sit and watch his class for any signs of cheating. Oh, and one more of those tomorrow!
Now, HOW EXCITING IS THAT!! Roll on the morning!!
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Ear Problems and Non-Starting Class worries
Saturday 4th April 2009
I've just got out of bed, and unable to get to sleep easily I thought I'd get writing this.
The ear problem is still bugging me. Having endured a full Friday of “monophonic sound”, and then having woken up this Saturday morning still blocked, I had to go once again to see the doctor. What would he do or say this time?
Well, first of all, it seemed that – even though I was there last week and the week before for various things – they had already mislaid my medical records. They could not find me on the medical records section of their computer!
So .... before I could get my ear looked at I had to go to the 'Patient Affairs' desk of the hospital (which is not labelled at ALL as such!) and give him what I had of my 'temporary White card' in order to get a proper White Card done and my status as an employee-proper restored as far as hospital records goes. Actually, I had some help to find this since I had looked a few times before without success. And, having had help to find it, I am SURE I would have NOT found it myself. And that would have got me even MORE worked up and frustrated and cursing the whole system EVEN more. But luckily I DID find it, gave in the details I had, and after the obligatory waiting period I once again WAS on the medical records and I HAD my White Card.
So back to the medical center for what I originally went there for. Yup, and after explaining to the nurse and receptionist what my problem was, I was sitting down in the waiting area and .... well, you've guessed it ..... WAITED for the doctor to see me. Oh, and of course the standard blood pressure and temperature checks which seem to be standard for every time anyone comes to this place.
My time came, and in I went to the, by now, familiar setting of the doctor's surgery. Explained the problem yet again. Oh, he noted, where had my medical records gone because now he had no record of what prescription he had given me last week. Well, I didn't remember the actual names of the three pill types but I described them as best I could and said I had finished two of them now since the prescribed dose was over. So he had another look in both my ears. Yes, he said this time, you have a lot of wax in your ears. Hmm OK .... did I NOT have this last week? Did he not SEE this last week? Why, after one week, had all this wax appeared? Or wasn't it important last week? Or did he just want to fob me off with some pills as many doctors do? Why IS IT that doctors never get to the root of the problem straight away but go round the houses like this and waste valuable time? He could have made this diagnosis LAST week, given me the prescription for drops LAST week and potentially saved me this second visit to his surgery and saved us all valuable time and worry. Ah, but there's no reasoning with such people! So off I trotted to the hospital pharmacy to queue up with the Saudis at the Pharmacy counter window to give in my prescription, take my number and wait (!) till it was ready. How did I know it was ready? Hmm good question since there is no screen to display a queue number anyway, but instead there is a loudspeaker which seems to give out names every now and then. I didn't hear my name, but maybe that was due to either my impaired hearing or their bad pronunciation. Anyway, after a while, I got my bottle of drops.
I find waiting in that hospital and, indeed, walking through it a rather stressful affair. Saudis in full white smock and red checked head-wear everywhere together with burka'd women all over the place. It is a big and confusing place with four or five places marked 'Reception'. Quite how you are supposed to know where to go is beyond me. Well, I am not familiar with hospitals anywhere and certainly have not been to one without help before. It all adds to the stress of the unfamiliar environment which I seem to be suffering more than I expected I would. Well, the stress of hearing from only my right ear also doesn't help!
Having got my drops, I tried to find my way out of the place. I was trying to find the way back via the hospital canteen, but with corridor after corridor ending in a a dead end or a women's waiting area, I gave up and went out the front. Although this is the long way around, it is the way I know and so better stick to it.
This all took half the morning.
I had already signed in on arrival. However, when I arrived back to the staff room I was met by our HoD. And he had news about the classes. Can you guess what it was? Go on – have a guess ....
Ohhh you've picked up my cynical ways I see, because yes, you're absolutely RIGHT! He had been to see the main Course Director who had been away on holiday last week. On asking him about the courses, he was told approximately this: “Ohh, well I think the classes will probably start in about a week's time”.
A WEEK'S TIME!!??
OK, I know I shouldn't be thinking about such things in a non-gambling country. However, on 'Grand National' horse racing day back in the UK, I am wondering now what the odds are on this class actually NOT STARTING AT ALL! Hard to judge I'd say, but the odds are surely getting shorter as the weeks go by. Place your bets now please!
Yet ANOTHER week of nothingness. With this, and combined with the stress of my lack of hearing in my left ear, the day was never going to be a good one. And so it wasn't. I just could NOT concentrate on anything for any period of time. This was more so listening to the other new teachers who were being given information about THEIR new classes which either had ALREADY started or were DUE TO START by the end of the week. So how is it that two new teachers – both of whom started after me – ARE being given classes to be getting on with? And I have NOTHING and little prospect of anything meaningful this week or next week! Paid or not, this “doing nothing” lark is getting out of hand. And I am rapidly losing patience especially seeing those others GETTING classes.
OK OK, so the ear problem has made everything today seem twice as bad as it probably is. But the ear problem merely goes on TOP of what exists. Yes, I suppose I SHOULD be taking it easy, and in the current economic climate I am glad to have a job at ALL I suppose. But I just want to feel useful and not feel like my time is wasted out here. I have said it before and I'll say it again – after having sat on my ass for three months in London doing absolutely nothing and not knowing what was coming or not, I am NOT happy about repeating the same procedure out here. Yes, OK, it is out of my hands and I “should” be sitting back and just enjoying my leisure time and generally 'chilling out'. Well, I'm trying to – really I am. But so far the year 2009 is turning out to be the Year That Nothing Happened.
Another thing that is at the back of my mind. Since I am doing nothing, and given that my first three months is the 'probationary period', who's to say that at the end of this 3-month period the powers-that-be could decide that they have no further use for me and decide to send me home? No, no, NO, that must NOT happen. I don't WANT it to, I can't AFFORD it to, and it would be very bad indeed. AND, of course, it would be yet another failure in my working life and my life in general.
It is not likely to happen of course, but my instincts are on full alert in any case. And I listen to what they say ....
OK, enough of that. So, did anything exciting happen yesterday or today? Not much. Yesterday was washing day as it always is and, apart from trips down the corridor to the laundry room, I spent the whole day in my room resting, trying to 'unplug' my ear with my fingers and water and the 'peroxide' drops I'd been lent by my colleague, the other new teacher. None of those was successful, I suppose I should have left my ear alone and not kept sticking my fingers in it which probably swelled it up more.
Oh, but I had great success in my 'Railroad Tycoon' game in which I chose the “China” scenario and built lots of great routes, tracks, stations and trains and achieved 'silver medal' status by amassing a $7M fortune in my railroad empire across the planes and mountains of the orient. Well, as it's one of only two games I have on here, I gotta give it a go!
Ah, I've just remembered one piece of good news about today. My music player – it LIVES again!! Yes, I took it in to the English Department to see if it would charge up on the internet computer there. And, sure enough it DID! How weird is THAT!! But, as I see, it STILL will NOT charge up plugged into the USB port of THIS laptop. Why that is, I have no idea at all. But what a relief – my music is SAVED after all!! PHEWWWWW!!
OK, the last thing I did today was to write some of my “Eastern Province” postcards to send to a few people back home. If any of you want a postcard from this part of Saudi Arabia or from Riyadh or other assorted Saudi places then I'll gladly oblige! Hey, they're not so bad, you know! Camels, bedouin tents, sea and beach shots, oil refineries, ..... All you could ever want for the “true” Saudi experience!
I've just got out of bed, and unable to get to sleep easily I thought I'd get writing this.
The ear problem is still bugging me. Having endured a full Friday of “monophonic sound”, and then having woken up this Saturday morning still blocked, I had to go once again to see the doctor. What would he do or say this time?
Well, first of all, it seemed that – even though I was there last week and the week before for various things – they had already mislaid my medical records. They could not find me on the medical records section of their computer!
So .... before I could get my ear looked at I had to go to the 'Patient Affairs' desk of the hospital (which is not labelled at ALL as such!) and give him what I had of my 'temporary White card' in order to get a proper White Card done and my status as an employee-proper restored as far as hospital records goes. Actually, I had some help to find this since I had looked a few times before without success. And, having had help to find it, I am SURE I would have NOT found it myself. And that would have got me even MORE worked up and frustrated and cursing the whole system EVEN more. But luckily I DID find it, gave in the details I had, and after the obligatory waiting period I once again WAS on the medical records and I HAD my White Card.
So back to the medical center for what I originally went there for. Yup, and after explaining to the nurse and receptionist what my problem was, I was sitting down in the waiting area and .... well, you've guessed it ..... WAITED for the doctor to see me. Oh, and of course the standard blood pressure and temperature checks which seem to be standard for every time anyone comes to this place.
My time came, and in I went to the, by now, familiar setting of the doctor's surgery. Explained the problem yet again. Oh, he noted, where had my medical records gone because now he had no record of what prescription he had given me last week. Well, I didn't remember the actual names of the three pill types but I described them as best I could and said I had finished two of them now since the prescribed dose was over. So he had another look in both my ears. Yes, he said this time, you have a lot of wax in your ears. Hmm OK .... did I NOT have this last week? Did he not SEE this last week? Why, after one week, had all this wax appeared? Or wasn't it important last week? Or did he just want to fob me off with some pills as many doctors do? Why IS IT that doctors never get to the root of the problem straight away but go round the houses like this and waste valuable time? He could have made this diagnosis LAST week, given me the prescription for drops LAST week and potentially saved me this second visit to his surgery and saved us all valuable time and worry. Ah, but there's no reasoning with such people! So off I trotted to the hospital pharmacy to queue up with the Saudis at the Pharmacy counter window to give in my prescription, take my number and wait (!) till it was ready. How did I know it was ready? Hmm good question since there is no screen to display a queue number anyway, but instead there is a loudspeaker which seems to give out names every now and then. I didn't hear my name, but maybe that was due to either my impaired hearing or their bad pronunciation. Anyway, after a while, I got my bottle of drops.
I find waiting in that hospital and, indeed, walking through it a rather stressful affair. Saudis in full white smock and red checked head-wear everywhere together with burka'd women all over the place. It is a big and confusing place with four or five places marked 'Reception'. Quite how you are supposed to know where to go is beyond me. Well, I am not familiar with hospitals anywhere and certainly have not been to one without help before. It all adds to the stress of the unfamiliar environment which I seem to be suffering more than I expected I would. Well, the stress of hearing from only my right ear also doesn't help!
Having got my drops, I tried to find my way out of the place. I was trying to find the way back via the hospital canteen, but with corridor after corridor ending in a a dead end or a women's waiting area, I gave up and went out the front. Although this is the long way around, it is the way I know and so better stick to it.
This all took half the morning.
I had already signed in on arrival. However, when I arrived back to the staff room I was met by our HoD. And he had news about the classes. Can you guess what it was? Go on – have a guess ....
Ohhh you've picked up my cynical ways I see, because yes, you're absolutely RIGHT! He had been to see the main Course Director who had been away on holiday last week. On asking him about the courses, he was told approximately this: “Ohh, well I think the classes will probably start in about a week's time”.
A WEEK'S TIME!!??
OK, I know I shouldn't be thinking about such things in a non-gambling country. However, on 'Grand National' horse racing day back in the UK, I am wondering now what the odds are on this class actually NOT STARTING AT ALL! Hard to judge I'd say, but the odds are surely getting shorter as the weeks go by. Place your bets now please!
Yet ANOTHER week of nothingness. With this, and combined with the stress of my lack of hearing in my left ear, the day was never going to be a good one. And so it wasn't. I just could NOT concentrate on anything for any period of time. This was more so listening to the other new teachers who were being given information about THEIR new classes which either had ALREADY started or were DUE TO START by the end of the week. So how is it that two new teachers – both of whom started after me – ARE being given classes to be getting on with? And I have NOTHING and little prospect of anything meaningful this week or next week! Paid or not, this “doing nothing” lark is getting out of hand. And I am rapidly losing patience especially seeing those others GETTING classes.
OK OK, so the ear problem has made everything today seem twice as bad as it probably is. But the ear problem merely goes on TOP of what exists. Yes, I suppose I SHOULD be taking it easy, and in the current economic climate I am glad to have a job at ALL I suppose. But I just want to feel useful and not feel like my time is wasted out here. I have said it before and I'll say it again – after having sat on my ass for three months in London doing absolutely nothing and not knowing what was coming or not, I am NOT happy about repeating the same procedure out here. Yes, OK, it is out of my hands and I “should” be sitting back and just enjoying my leisure time and generally 'chilling out'. Well, I'm trying to – really I am. But so far the year 2009 is turning out to be the Year That Nothing Happened.
Another thing that is at the back of my mind. Since I am doing nothing, and given that my first three months is the 'probationary period', who's to say that at the end of this 3-month period the powers-that-be could decide that they have no further use for me and decide to send me home? No, no, NO, that must NOT happen. I don't WANT it to, I can't AFFORD it to, and it would be very bad indeed. AND, of course, it would be yet another failure in my working life and my life in general.
It is not likely to happen of course, but my instincts are on full alert in any case. And I listen to what they say ....
OK, enough of that. So, did anything exciting happen yesterday or today? Not much. Yesterday was washing day as it always is and, apart from trips down the corridor to the laundry room, I spent the whole day in my room resting, trying to 'unplug' my ear with my fingers and water and the 'peroxide' drops I'd been lent by my colleague, the other new teacher. None of those was successful, I suppose I should have left my ear alone and not kept sticking my fingers in it which probably swelled it up more.
Oh, but I had great success in my 'Railroad Tycoon' game in which I chose the “China” scenario and built lots of great routes, tracks, stations and trains and achieved 'silver medal' status by amassing a $7M fortune in my railroad empire across the planes and mountains of the orient. Well, as it's one of only two games I have on here, I gotta give it a go!
Ah, I've just remembered one piece of good news about today. My music player – it LIVES again!! Yes, I took it in to the English Department to see if it would charge up on the internet computer there. And, sure enough it DID! How weird is THAT!! But, as I see, it STILL will NOT charge up plugged into the USB port of THIS laptop. Why that is, I have no idea at all. But what a relief – my music is SAVED after all!! PHEWWWWW!!
OK, the last thing I did today was to write some of my “Eastern Province” postcards to send to a few people back home. If any of you want a postcard from this part of Saudi Arabia or from Riyadh or other assorted Saudi places then I'll gladly oblige! Hey, they're not so bad, you know! Camels, bedouin tents, sea and beach shots, oil refineries, ..... All you could ever want for the “true” Saudi experience!
Another weekend of fun fun FUN!!
Thursday 2nd April 2009
“Another Saturday Night And ....”
So sang Sam Cooke about 40 years ago. Well I wonder what he would be singing right here in Saudi Arabia in my position. I mean, there IS no option of having “anybody” around other than those people you work with. No, I don't dislike them – they're a very pleasant, amiable bunch of teachers. But you know, it's like all the time I am around the place I work, I see the same kind of people every day, I see the same buildings, I walk the same routes, I do the same things. And STILL I haven't started teaching yet. Well, that will come I know, and it isn't really the thing that bothers me as I sit here tonight.
It is another weekend. Yeah Yeah – you know by now that the weekend here is Thursday/Friday so don't pretend you don't understand that by now. Here the weekend is the time to get away from the confines of the compound and go down town to Khobar to the Shopping Mall Of The Week.
Shopping malls .... used to try to avoid them. Now they are the only entertainment there IS round here. Well, maybe there are restaurants and other eateries – and indeed there are many on view as we drive around in the various taxis we get around town. I say “we” as I mean myself and the other new guy. Oh, there is YET ANOTHER new guy who arrived midweek and also had problems on arrival. Ah, but not problems with not being met at the airport this time. HIS problem was non-arriving luggage. But maybe he's got it back now.
Anyway, so today's shopping mall activity involved the English-language book store chain, “Jarir”, of which there are at least two around town. As well as English language books (and the books the college uses for students), it also sells laptops and other computer accessories.
Now, before I go on, I should say that I have now signed up and paid for the DSL internet service that right now is the only option for new arrivals in SA until I have the “Iqama” (residency permit). As I understand it, after I have this Iqama I will have more options of longer-term contracts for things like internet service and the like. Well, that's what I assume since in Poland they wouldn't let me have a monthly contract for pay-by-month internet like in the 'Play' Mobile Phones office I tried. So I suppose the same applies here.
Options for having internet here seem to be:-
1) Zajil DSL – much hated and much cursed by everyone who has used it because of LOTS of downtime. Not much of a choice in speeds either and the top speed is only 512kbps which, by today's standards, is pretty average. However, is is easily available and easy enough to set up. But you need to have a DSL modem.
2) Orbit Satellite TV/Internet – satellite internet can be very fast indeed BUT it is VERY expensive to set up AND use. Too expensive to justify really.
3) STC/Mobily plug-in USB dongle Wireless – this is actually my most favoured one since no connections or wiring or engineers are needed to get going. Just a USB dongle, a simcard and some kind of account which I believe is pay-monthly. I don't know if they do a pay-as-you-go service. Neither of the websites is at ALL helpful in getting info on this. Most likely it is pay-monthly which probably would require an Iqama to allow an account to be set up.
NOT brilliant any of those! Well, I have opted for the Zajil option for now and I paid my money late last week. It is one of these packages which includes the DSL modem at a vastly inflated price. However, since my only visits to town are on a weekly basis, I didn't want to waste any more time or have any more delays on setup. So I paid my money, and A LOT OF MONEY it was too.
Today I was in the 'Jarir' book store with the other guys. And what did I see? DSL modems galore at prices from less than 100 riyals. The DSL modem that Zajil provide is 400 riyals. I had lost 300 riyals in one weekend of being too hasty in my choice! How DEPRESSING is THAT!!
300 Saudi Riyals is almost 60 pound sterling in the UK. Yup, 60 pounds I had thrown away just like it was water down a drain.
And seeing as I'd decided to try Zajil for only 3 months it made each month VERY expensive indeed (actually I have now found out that I am getting 4 months, ie, one month free. So this softens the blow somewhat!). Assuming the reputed rubbishness of Zajil continues, I will be throwing even MORE money down the bloody drain due to lack of access.
I hate finding out that something I have been looking for is cheaper elsewhere. And here it is a case of being 75 PERCENT CHEAPER!!
So that was it for the day really and I didn't care what else happened. It is one thing to be in a strange, foreign land like this but totally ANOTHER to be wasting the money that is to shape my future, and I don't mean a small amount here.
Something else interesting that I saw in this 'Jarir' was wireless internet network boosters that actually increase the range of your WiFi so you can latch onto wireless networks from further away that your existing WiFi card allows. But I wasn't sure if they were the things I needed or not. There IS one wireless network that I can see with the WiFi card in this laptop of mine, but currently it is too distant and the signal is too weak. Would I get it better if I had this booster? No idea at all. And the wireless network boosters in question were not cheap enough to take a risk with and buy.
Ah, and there was another thing that annoyed me too about the supermarket we were shopping in. I have seen “Carrefour” before plenty of times so it is nothing new. THIS one was packed with lots of stuff and looked good for some things but not, in fact, for all. I did manage to find some bread which looked OK (walnut bread and so-called 'Special Diet Bread'!!??). But the only cheese they had was Dutch Edam, Gouda and Emmental – none of which I like. So it was looking like I was going to return home cheese-less and have a whole week without any cheese at all which would be VERY bad news indeed! Yes, I do need my comforts. Ah, and speaking of those, I regret to say I bought lots of chunky Kit-Kats, two packs of Galaxy Caramel bars and two packs of McVities Hob Nobs biscuits. Very bad, but they will act as my comforters in these testing times to come.
As we were going home, we also stopped in the Tamimi's (Safeway) supermarket. It is much smaller than Carrefour or Hyper-Panda or the other big super / hypermarkets in Khobar centre. But I must say now that I really LIKE IT! They have great cheese, an excellent bread selection AND it is generally a smaller and more manageable supermaket where you are not overwhelmed by aisles and too much choice and it is not so in-your-face either. MUCH better! It is a little further to go than some others, but well worth it!
Buying the cheese and bread there And many other essentials that I failed to find in the Carrefour maze perked me up a little. Well, one thing I DON'T want to do here is become any more lost than I feel already. A bit of familiarity works wonders to help the time go by sweetly!
Got paid of course a few days ago. The process involved getting the cheque from Finance and taking it to the SABB bank (a renamed HSBC), picking a number for queueing purposes from the ticket machine, waiting (inevitably!) and then taking the cheque to the cashier. Well, we waited nearly an HOUR till our time came to get in the queue. But once there, I found the process quite painless. Just handed over the cheque together with my ID and the money came. The other guy had a bit more trouble for some reason – the cashier asked him for a mobile phone number!!?? WHY on earth should they want THAT just for cashing a cheque?? They didn't ask me after all! Is it some kind of security precaution in case the cheque is fraudulent? I suppose so.
The weather this week has been more of a challenge. Apart from seeing my first RAIN in Saudi Arabia (was very warm evening rain, and also there was rain at night and in early morning early in the week), there has been a large dust cloud around for most of the week. It looks like simple fog, but it IS dust because you can smell it and it gets EVERYWHERE. Makes breathing tricky too. On a couple of days too it has been much more humid and difficult to get around easily without a lot more effort than normal. Humid heat is a killer. Last Saturday especially was a bad day for this and I found that the usual to-ing and fro-ing which is a part of the day here was that much more difficult to do and my mood was that much worse than normal and I felt much more restless in my chair than normal.
Ah, by the way, if you're waiting for a report on when my class is due to begin, you'd better stop here. The latest info I have is that it “might” be Sunday or Monday. So this week I have, again, had nothing at all to do. Ah, but this week I have got by more easily. The answer? Crosswords and Sudoku! And I have never done Sudoku before in my life .... which shows because I cannot do anything more than the 'Easy' level of Sudoku puzzles without messing it all up after a while. And although Crossword #1 I did most of, numbers 2 and 3 proved to be much more difficult to get far on. Maybe I'll try an easier one next week .... or maybe the challenge is one worth rising to. Yes, I will take my thesaurus-dictionary in next week and that will help.
So now I have got quite a routine going. Week 1 was (after the medical and registration) tea drinking only with some talking., Week 2 I added book reading to my pastimes, but it was difficult to keep a book going for long. And last week (Week 3) I improved things further with crosswords and sudoku! So now I am fully armed, dangerous and fully prepared to go on as long with this tedious waiting as is necessary.
Aside from work there is this Recreation Center which contains a weights room, ten-pin bowling alley (four lanes!), table tennis tables, pool tables, table football, a cafe and a swimming pool next door. I have now submitted my application for a membership card which is actually academic since they let you in anyway! Have tried table tennis so far which, sad to say, I have been soundly beaten in. But it's the taking part and the exercise that counts, isn't it? The thing I'm really interested in is the weights room so I can get some proper exercise done. After all, I don't get the walking done here like I used to do in and around Krakow centre to and from lesson locations. And NO WAY will I be getting back to that 95kg blob-guy that I used to be about a year ago.
I just need a gentle “push” to get started .....
Oh, before I finish, I managed to get in a couple of short Skype sessions on the “internet computer” at work. Managed to speak to a couple of people, and that was nice they were there. This is something I am REALLY missing out here – keeping contact with those at home and those I know. Isolation Blues ..... :( But soon I will be Connected again :)
Oh, and one more thing. I do now have some picture postcards to keep as souvenirs and to send to people as well. Decided too that, as I can't take any pictures, I have to start a scrapbook like I used to do in early years in Poland. So far, it is comprised of only shopping receipts, my baggage tags (I think) and the remaining postcards that I do not send to anyone. And I did buy a LOT! So you never know – one may be coming YOUR way some time soon ....
Oh dear – this is now getting all very bitty as I am tired but keep just remembering things I have to write about. And THIS thing I'm now writing could be a serious problem. For some reason, my music player will NOT charge up. Even NOW I have it plugged in via USB to this laptop. The red light is on but no charging is taking place and I have NO IDEA why that is. I have tried it with my new USB hub, I have tried it plugged in exclusively to the USB port but it WILL NOT CHARGE UP! Is its battery dead? Is the voltage level not enough to charge it coming from the computer? Will I lose all my music like a similar thing which happened with my Palm Zire all those years ago? I don't think I will since my music player is a hard-drive based MP3 player rather than flash memory or card memory. Maybe I need to buy a separate charger here. But I don't know the voltage! WHAT TO DO?? The laptop does recognise that it exists but it does not show up in 'My Computer' when it is plugged in like now.
Without my music, things can only get worse so FINGERS CROSSED that I can sort THAT out VERY soon!!
OK, time to end. Friday awaits which means a lie-in and lots of washing and drying throughout much of the day. YIPPEE I can't want!!
“Another Saturday Night And ....”
So sang Sam Cooke about 40 years ago. Well I wonder what he would be singing right here in Saudi Arabia in my position. I mean, there IS no option of having “anybody” around other than those people you work with. No, I don't dislike them – they're a very pleasant, amiable bunch of teachers. But you know, it's like all the time I am around the place I work, I see the same kind of people every day, I see the same buildings, I walk the same routes, I do the same things. And STILL I haven't started teaching yet. Well, that will come I know, and it isn't really the thing that bothers me as I sit here tonight.
It is another weekend. Yeah Yeah – you know by now that the weekend here is Thursday/Friday so don't pretend you don't understand that by now. Here the weekend is the time to get away from the confines of the compound and go down town to Khobar to the Shopping Mall Of The Week.
Shopping malls .... used to try to avoid them. Now they are the only entertainment there IS round here. Well, maybe there are restaurants and other eateries – and indeed there are many on view as we drive around in the various taxis we get around town. I say “we” as I mean myself and the other new guy. Oh, there is YET ANOTHER new guy who arrived midweek and also had problems on arrival. Ah, but not problems with not being met at the airport this time. HIS problem was non-arriving luggage. But maybe he's got it back now.
Anyway, so today's shopping mall activity involved the English-language book store chain, “Jarir”, of which there are at least two around town. As well as English language books (and the books the college uses for students), it also sells laptops and other computer accessories.
Now, before I go on, I should say that I have now signed up and paid for the DSL internet service that right now is the only option for new arrivals in SA until I have the “Iqama” (residency permit). As I understand it, after I have this Iqama I will have more options of longer-term contracts for things like internet service and the like. Well, that's what I assume since in Poland they wouldn't let me have a monthly contract for pay-by-month internet like in the 'Play' Mobile Phones office I tried. So I suppose the same applies here.
Options for having internet here seem to be:-
1) Zajil DSL – much hated and much cursed by everyone who has used it because of LOTS of downtime. Not much of a choice in speeds either and the top speed is only 512kbps which, by today's standards, is pretty average. However, is is easily available and easy enough to set up. But you need to have a DSL modem.
2) Orbit Satellite TV/Internet – satellite internet can be very fast indeed BUT it is VERY expensive to set up AND use. Too expensive to justify really.
3) STC/Mobily plug-in USB dongle Wireless – this is actually my most favoured one since no connections or wiring or engineers are needed to get going. Just a USB dongle, a simcard and some kind of account which I believe is pay-monthly. I don't know if they do a pay-as-you-go service. Neither of the websites is at ALL helpful in getting info on this. Most likely it is pay-monthly which probably would require an Iqama to allow an account to be set up.
NOT brilliant any of those! Well, I have opted for the Zajil option for now and I paid my money late last week. It is one of these packages which includes the DSL modem at a vastly inflated price. However, since my only visits to town are on a weekly basis, I didn't want to waste any more time or have any more delays on setup. So I paid my money, and A LOT OF MONEY it was too.
Today I was in the 'Jarir' book store with the other guys. And what did I see? DSL modems galore at prices from less than 100 riyals. The DSL modem that Zajil provide is 400 riyals. I had lost 300 riyals in one weekend of being too hasty in my choice! How DEPRESSING is THAT!!
300 Saudi Riyals is almost 60 pound sterling in the UK. Yup, 60 pounds I had thrown away just like it was water down a drain.
And seeing as I'd decided to try Zajil for only 3 months it made each month VERY expensive indeed (actually I have now found out that I am getting 4 months, ie, one month free. So this softens the blow somewhat!). Assuming the reputed rubbishness of Zajil continues, I will be throwing even MORE money down the bloody drain due to lack of access.
I hate finding out that something I have been looking for is cheaper elsewhere. And here it is a case of being 75 PERCENT CHEAPER!!
So that was it for the day really and I didn't care what else happened. It is one thing to be in a strange, foreign land like this but totally ANOTHER to be wasting the money that is to shape my future, and I don't mean a small amount here.
Something else interesting that I saw in this 'Jarir' was wireless internet network boosters that actually increase the range of your WiFi so you can latch onto wireless networks from further away that your existing WiFi card allows. But I wasn't sure if they were the things I needed or not. There IS one wireless network that I can see with the WiFi card in this laptop of mine, but currently it is too distant and the signal is too weak. Would I get it better if I had this booster? No idea at all. And the wireless network boosters in question were not cheap enough to take a risk with and buy.
Ah, and there was another thing that annoyed me too about the supermarket we were shopping in. I have seen “Carrefour” before plenty of times so it is nothing new. THIS one was packed with lots of stuff and looked good for some things but not, in fact, for all. I did manage to find some bread which looked OK (walnut bread and so-called 'Special Diet Bread'!!??). But the only cheese they had was Dutch Edam, Gouda and Emmental – none of which I like. So it was looking like I was going to return home cheese-less and have a whole week without any cheese at all which would be VERY bad news indeed! Yes, I do need my comforts. Ah, and speaking of those, I regret to say I bought lots of chunky Kit-Kats, two packs of Galaxy Caramel bars and two packs of McVities Hob Nobs biscuits. Very bad, but they will act as my comforters in these testing times to come.
As we were going home, we also stopped in the Tamimi's (Safeway) supermarket. It is much smaller than Carrefour or Hyper-Panda or the other big super / hypermarkets in Khobar centre. But I must say now that I really LIKE IT! They have great cheese, an excellent bread selection AND it is generally a smaller and more manageable supermaket where you are not overwhelmed by aisles and too much choice and it is not so in-your-face either. MUCH better! It is a little further to go than some others, but well worth it!
Buying the cheese and bread there And many other essentials that I failed to find in the Carrefour maze perked me up a little. Well, one thing I DON'T want to do here is become any more lost than I feel already. A bit of familiarity works wonders to help the time go by sweetly!
Got paid of course a few days ago. The process involved getting the cheque from Finance and taking it to the SABB bank (a renamed HSBC), picking a number for queueing purposes from the ticket machine, waiting (inevitably!) and then taking the cheque to the cashier. Well, we waited nearly an HOUR till our time came to get in the queue. But once there, I found the process quite painless. Just handed over the cheque together with my ID and the money came. The other guy had a bit more trouble for some reason – the cashier asked him for a mobile phone number!!?? WHY on earth should they want THAT just for cashing a cheque?? They didn't ask me after all! Is it some kind of security precaution in case the cheque is fraudulent? I suppose so.
The weather this week has been more of a challenge. Apart from seeing my first RAIN in Saudi Arabia (was very warm evening rain, and also there was rain at night and in early morning early in the week), there has been a large dust cloud around for most of the week. It looks like simple fog, but it IS dust because you can smell it and it gets EVERYWHERE. Makes breathing tricky too. On a couple of days too it has been much more humid and difficult to get around easily without a lot more effort than normal. Humid heat is a killer. Last Saturday especially was a bad day for this and I found that the usual to-ing and fro-ing which is a part of the day here was that much more difficult to do and my mood was that much worse than normal and I felt much more restless in my chair than normal.
Ah, by the way, if you're waiting for a report on when my class is due to begin, you'd better stop here. The latest info I have is that it “might” be Sunday or Monday. So this week I have, again, had nothing at all to do. Ah, but this week I have got by more easily. The answer? Crosswords and Sudoku! And I have never done Sudoku before in my life .... which shows because I cannot do anything more than the 'Easy' level of Sudoku puzzles without messing it all up after a while. And although Crossword #1 I did most of, numbers 2 and 3 proved to be much more difficult to get far on. Maybe I'll try an easier one next week .... or maybe the challenge is one worth rising to. Yes, I will take my thesaurus-dictionary in next week and that will help.
So now I have got quite a routine going. Week 1 was (after the medical and registration) tea drinking only with some talking., Week 2 I added book reading to my pastimes, but it was difficult to keep a book going for long. And last week (Week 3) I improved things further with crosswords and sudoku! So now I am fully armed, dangerous and fully prepared to go on as long with this tedious waiting as is necessary.
Aside from work there is this Recreation Center which contains a weights room, ten-pin bowling alley (four lanes!), table tennis tables, pool tables, table football, a cafe and a swimming pool next door. I have now submitted my application for a membership card which is actually academic since they let you in anyway! Have tried table tennis so far which, sad to say, I have been soundly beaten in. But it's the taking part and the exercise that counts, isn't it? The thing I'm really interested in is the weights room so I can get some proper exercise done. After all, I don't get the walking done here like I used to do in and around Krakow centre to and from lesson locations. And NO WAY will I be getting back to that 95kg blob-guy that I used to be about a year ago.
I just need a gentle “push” to get started .....
Oh, before I finish, I managed to get in a couple of short Skype sessions on the “internet computer” at work. Managed to speak to a couple of people, and that was nice they were there. This is something I am REALLY missing out here – keeping contact with those at home and those I know. Isolation Blues ..... :( But soon I will be Connected again :)
Oh, and one more thing. I do now have some picture postcards to keep as souvenirs and to send to people as well. Decided too that, as I can't take any pictures, I have to start a scrapbook like I used to do in early years in Poland. So far, it is comprised of only shopping receipts, my baggage tags (I think) and the remaining postcards that I do not send to anyone. And I did buy a LOT! So you never know – one may be coming YOUR way some time soon ....
Oh dear – this is now getting all very bitty as I am tired but keep just remembering things I have to write about. And THIS thing I'm now writing could be a serious problem. For some reason, my music player will NOT charge up. Even NOW I have it plugged in via USB to this laptop. The red light is on but no charging is taking place and I have NO IDEA why that is. I have tried it with my new USB hub, I have tried it plugged in exclusively to the USB port but it WILL NOT CHARGE UP! Is its battery dead? Is the voltage level not enough to charge it coming from the computer? Will I lose all my music like a similar thing which happened with my Palm Zire all those years ago? I don't think I will since my music player is a hard-drive based MP3 player rather than flash memory or card memory. Maybe I need to buy a separate charger here. But I don't know the voltage! WHAT TO DO?? The laptop does recognise that it exists but it does not show up in 'My Computer' when it is plugged in like now.
Without my music, things can only get worse so FINGERS CROSSED that I can sort THAT out VERY soon!!
OK, time to end. Friday awaits which means a lie-in and lots of washing and drying throughout much of the day. YIPPEE I can't want!!
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