Running Errands

I'm not sure if I am cut out for these Ramadan hours.  I am completely over the whole jet lag thing by this time but Ramadan is certainly making things a little difficult.  For one thing, most of the stores are all closed during the daytime and open up at night.  Usually around 9:00 PM and they stay open until like 2 or 3 in the morning.  In a way, this kind of makes sense because it really is rather hot in the afternoon and when one is required by law to be completely covered in black polyester... well, it doesn't exactly make things any easier.  Oh, and just for the record, not all abayas are made out of polyester.  I have seen some made out of silk and a fabric sort of similar to the polyester but thinner.  We did look into getting me a new abaya but we only actually looked in 1 or 2 stores and I didn't want to get the first one that I saw.  Actually they have tons but for the most part they are huge.  From what I can tell, they arrange them by size and the bigger ones all seemed to have much nicer details. (at least at the store I was in)  In the second store that we went into, one of the men working there told me that they could have the abayas altered to fit within 30 minutes.  There was one that was OK.... but I decided that I wanted to look around a bit more since obviously, I will be wearing this a lot.   My current abaya is a little annoying because when I sit down it tends to gap a bit at the snaps. There is a little flap on the inside that is supposed to prevent this but on mine it is only about an inch wide.  On other ones, I am noticing that the flap is more like 2 or three inches wide.  One even had a whole other flap of fabric that was about a foot wide with a hole in the top that goes over your head and covers your front before you snap up your abaya.   I am almost always wearing shorts underneath since it is 115 degrees outside, so when my abaya gaps I tend to show a bit of skin.  Shameful I know!  Reminds me a bit of Halloween during the Magic World days.   There were always two versions of most of the costumes.  ie- Nurse or Sexy Nurse,  Pirate woman or Pirate wench, Witch or Mistress of the Dark.  You get the idea.  Evidently I have the slutty version of the abaya.

The other night Matt came home around 10:00.  Since he didn't have to work the next day he suggested that we go out and get some errands done.  (Yes, at around 10:00 PM!)   There are several things that we still need to do such as get my picture taken for the Iqama card,  get me a new abaya (previously mentioned), and also get me a phone.  Despite the fact that I was getting really tired and probably would have been in bed by 10:30 otherwise, I agreed to go out.  What the heck?  I wasn't doing anything anyway.  So I snapped up my slutty abaya and off we went.  First stop was for pictures.  It was at this point that it occurred to me that I had no makeup on and that I had not bothered to do my hair.  I had done a 6 mile run that afternoon and had let my hair drip dry after my shower.  Not my best look, but I hadn't figured that I was going anywhere.  The guy taking the pictures pointed me towards a mirror with a ratty hairbrush under it.  I think he was trying to tell me something.  Anyway, I looked in the mirror, ran my fingers through my hair and gave up.  I will probably regret that once my Iqama card gets here but again, that is a worry for another day.  Also this picture taking stuff was a very complicated process involving all kinds of special lighting.  Anyway, errand number one... over and done!  Check.

On to errand number 2.  Get me a phone.  By this time it had to be after 11:00.  I was fading fast but evidently I was the only one because the phone place was packed.

We went in and the place was huge and there were phones everywhere and it was just too much for me to process at such a late hour.  Anyway, one phone looks pretty much like another.  In the states I have a cheap little pay as you go tracphone that has lasted me several years now.  Other than the fact that it takes me forever to send a text, it has served me well.  We looked at the phones and Matt was pushing either the super cheap phones (ha ha) or the blackberry.  I just don't think that I am a blackberry kind of gal.  Too many tiny little buttons.  Anyway... at 11:30 at night, I am certain that I am not.  Way too complicated.  Eventually he asked me which phone I wanted, to which I replied, "Well, of course if I am going pick one, I would pick the iPhone.  That being said though, I really don't care."  When we asked about the price, it was really rather ridiculous.  The cost was $2,800 Riyal.  This is roughly about $750 US.  And that is just for the phone.  I have no idea how much it costs monthly.  Anyway, it got to the point where they had the box with the phone out and Matt was filling out the paperwork.  I was standing around trying to stay awake.  While I did this, I snapped another picture of some guys who just seemed to be hanging out in the store.

Not too interesting... just passing the time.  Anyway, I must have been really really tired because when it got to the point where money was about to exchange hands... I had second thoughts and said, "You know, I am just not so sure about this.  It sounds like a lot of money and then there is going to be a monthly cost as well, so I think we should wait."  Also, I am really having some difficulty with the accents here.  Usually I am pretty good at understanding what people are saying to me as long as they are speaking in English, but I guess I am just not at all used to the accent here because I only get about 50% of what is being said.  (This may also be due to the late hours as well, I think my brain ceases to function after about 10 PM.)  The other day we were out to dinner (again, around 10:30) and the manager of the restaurant came by our table, (I am assuming to ask how things were?) and he said something, and Matt replied something to him.  After he left the table, I leaned over and asked, "Did he just speak English to us?"  Matt laughed and said that he wasn't really sure.

End result of the phone errand was that last minute, we decided to think about it.  So still currently have no phone which is not that big of a deal since lets face it, I have no friends here and Matt pretty much knows where I am.  Where am I going to go?   So errand number 2 did not work out so well.  Matt is probably going to take one of his managers with him and get the phone himself, which is fine with me.  As it turns out, the phone store is kind of like Fry's or Moran's to me.  It's a place that I would rather not go.

By the time we left the phone store it was after midnight.  I was so done.  Except that now, I was hungry.  (Which would not be the case if I had gone to bed at 10:30 as previously planned.)  We ended up stopping by the Subway on the way home.  (In case you were wondering... the bread seems chewier here but other than that, not a whole lot of difference)  We took it home and ate at around 12:45.  I conked out shortly afterwards.  I think I will be glad when Ramadan is over.  I don't know how they manage to keep this up every night.