Oh Dear, Or: What I've Learned About Saudi

I've officially been here two months now, have gotten to get off compound several times.  Here are a few things I''ve learned about my new home.

1. You can get antibiotics over the counter with NO PX!  When Kellan had an ear infection, I was able to go to the pharmacy, ask for Amoxicillin, and only paid 15 Riyal or $4 for it!  The insurance companies back home are ripping us off!

2. Saudis do not eat snack food or microwaveable food as we know it.  You can find basic chips, cookies and crackers, but for the most part, they do not do fruit snacks, pretzels, party mix or any kind of quick microwaveable pizza bites, corn dogs, burritos, etc.  When you do find chicken nuggets, they are almost always raw and need to be deep fried.  Almost nothing can just be microwaved, including the frozen vegetables which need to be heated on a stove.  You can find hot dogs, but because of the ban on pork, it will always be all beef, chicken or turkey.  I have not found any turkey or beef bacon, (yes, they make beef bacon but I haven't tasted it yet) and ground turkey is next to impossible to find, though they do have minced chicken and minced mutton.  The beef they have here is usually Australian, and while good, it does have a distinctly different flavor then American beef.

3.  Produce comes in a much more limited variety than we are used to.  It's hit or miss to find fresh broccoli; more often you'll have eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers and cauliflower.  You can usually always find tomatoes, onions and potatoes.  Sometimes you'll find green beans and you'll always have cucumbers.  On the fruit, you can usually always find apples, kiwi, oranges, bananas, grapes and pears.  Very rarely you'll find blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and cherries.  When we do see them, we buy two or three packages of them at a time, sometimes paying over $7 per package!  You don't know when you'll see them again, so you always buy more than one when you see something you really want.  And you pay whatever it costs; you can't afford to be choosy on price when it comes to rare items.  A few days ago I found Ritz snack mix in our little compound BX.  I bought two boxes for 28 Riyals or over $7 a piece.  And had I had more cash on me, I would've bought more!  On the plus side, bread is plentiful, cheap and good!  From fresh rolls, to the arabian flat bread, to chocolate croissants, you name it, you can find it.  I bought some delicious sweet rolls the other day for 50 cents!  Water is cheap also.  A 24 pack of Aquafina costs about $4!  Again, we are getting ripped off in the States on water, and water is harder to come by here!  What's the excuse America!?

4. Okay ladies, this paragraph is for you.  They do not have tampons here.  You heard me right.  They do not sell them, I have not seen them.  I've heard fables of women who know someone who found some in Riyadh, (the capital city on the opposite side of the country) but have never seen any in person.  They only use pads.  ICK!!  Thank god I was warned before I came here.  I bet my customs person's eyes bugged out of his head in the airport when they scanned my bag and saw a five month supply packed into every crevice of my luggage!  Hahaha!  Take that, prudes!

5.  It's more amusing than annoying the lengths the sensors will go to ensure there is nothing visible to tempt men to wickedness.  Case in point, they use black sharpie to scratch out women on packaging.  I should open a sharpie shop...I'd be rich!!

6. It's amazing how excited you get about things you'd never eat or go to in the States.  Back home I wouldn't have been caught dead eating Little Caesar's pizza; just too many better pizza joints around.  But here, I almost cried when I saw it, and I swear it was the best thing I'd eaten in a while!  It was right next door to a smoothie place, so we had fresh fruit smoothies and pizza!



In the end though, as much fun as living here is...it's always nice to see that Saudi gets the best of American exports!!