Its Saturday..no Wait...Thursday Morning...Whose going to play with me?

Am currently watching the videoclip from a self proclaimed 'king of arabic pop' Amr Diab...just so you get some of the joy I'm getting here's his mugshot and I know you all can't wait to go to his website and follow the link the the marriage agency:P. They do love the crooners here.

http://www.amrdiab.net/index.php

Had a wonderful day yesterday. Went with one of the girls here to a French restaurant down by the beach on the Corniche in Al Khobar. we were both on a bit of a downer, she had found out her son was getting up to a bit of michief here of the herbal variety which would result in punishment if found out of the head chop chop variety (all the kids do it and their parents let them but its so dumb and the kid in question is currently grounded and waiting for his father to come home off a rig and kick his ass. He's a really good kid actually just got caught up doing what the other kids do...comes over a lot and kills things on the computer with AJ:) You wold not believe it...parents here even seem cool with their sons driving cars out on those highways...20 thousand deaths on these roads so far this year and they let them out at 17 in their very suped up cars (BMW Z4s and MX5s are really common as are Suburbans gah) without a driving lesson in site...Gives me nightmares. You know, I've yet to drive into Khobar (an hour away) without seeing a least one fatal accident. Yesterday's involved a Semi running over a sedan...there is a reason we're not getting a car and take the bus. Bus verses car always comes out with bus winning!

Anyways...We both had to roll out of the place...smoked salmon, russian caviar and blinis, escargot, (btw...I didn't know snails were halal but there you go), and steak chateaubriand...we were the only Western guys in there, the rest were Saudi girls. Ve haf now found their lair! Its been a bit of a quest of late to work out where the Saudi guys eat. We've found the Pakastani quarter (great food and material), the filipino quarter (Fish head curry), the thai quarter(Yum), the bangladeshi and the Indian quarters (Foods and bricabrac and for some reason a meelion lighting stores) (the latter quite some way away from the Pakistani) but no where the Saudi's eat until now.

I just brought a seven foot 'ehem' 'Holiday Tree.' (As long as it has the right name you can buy yuletide stuff everywhere.) Tinsel is classed as 'art supplies,' Tree Ornaments are sold everywhere as general bricabrac and the most obvious stuff is usually available from under the counter. (no kidding you have to ask to see the 'special tree hangings'

I tried to send Jen a t-shirt with a document the other day and the guy at the post office arbitarily decided that would be too hard and that I'd have to pay 100US dollars for the priveledge...even though the sign in arabic numbers (which you lean to read here in the first week or get ripped off) said that it should only cost about 20 hmmm. when I argued the price went up to 200 dollars. So AJ n I are trying to work out how to get everyone their 'Holiday' presents...it may be a case of buttering up the post office guy with chocolate.

We're still experiencing a large amount of visa angst. AJ's planning on going in to the office for another loud yell this coming week and hopefully that will work. You will all hear me going mental from Aus if I don't get to go on this holiday to Europe with Jen..it will not be pretty. The admin works here in a way completely opposite from home. At home if you badger someone they get shirty and may not do what you want. Here, if you don't badger people they don't think you really want what you've asked for/applied for and really wont do it. This is the case with absolutely everything. We're calling this a 'learning curve' hmmmm.

Anyways...its a very sunny autumn day here...round 24 degrees...just nice. I"m thinking of trundling down for a coffee after AJ gets his butt outa bed and a snoozy read on the beach. I've started my PhD again during the week and between that and just organizing bits and pieces with finalizing reparation from shipment damages and other bits and pieces its been a manic week.

Still watching the arabic music channel...the ladies are so plastic you could sell them as Fulla Dolls! And the video clips are so overdramatic...very entertaining.

Oh just watched 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead' (The Richard Dreyfus screen adaptation) last night...it was brilliant...get it out and watch it!