It only costs about $400 a month to rent a car here, which is much less than we were spending on taxis to get everyone where they needed to go. Since we are sharing the car with another couple at the compound, it's even cheaper. And to fill up our tank from completely empty to completely full costs less than $4. The convenience is amazing - the kids can have their car seats strapped in all the time, we can go grocery shopping and load up our bags into our own trunk and drive them right into the garage under our apartment, and of course, Josh and his colleague can drive to work together every day and drop Misha off at school on the way. We two wives continue to take a taxi to our campus during the week.
Having a car means we get to go exploring a little more on the weekends. Somewhat disappointing is the fact that Riyadh is not a very "walkable" city. Between the traffic and the heat, walking anywhere is a rather daunting task. With the car, we can drive ourselves where we want to go, and if we get lost in the process, we at least learn better how to get around.
Josh has very quickly discovered that one must drive like the locals in order to get anywhere. If you don't go fast enough, other drivers will come right up behind you honking and flashing their lights. They have no idea how rude that would be in America. If the honking and flashing fail to get someone to move, drivers will actually start tapping your bumper with their car. That would be unthinkable in America!
The downtown traffic is quite something - full of merging service roads and turn-arounds. There is no real process of merging - you simply dive into the lane and the others will have to make way. Slowing down will only land you in more trouble with cars whizzing by. We are seriously considering upgrading to a larger, more expensive car - something like an SUV - for safety reasons.
Weekend day-time traffic is a little more manageable.
Portrait of a Saudi.
Riyadh is full of mynah birds. This one was rescued and adopted by one of my supervisors on campus. She brought him to work one day.
We found a delicious Lebanese restaurant downtown.
Misha and the Lebanese feast.
Every so often the wind picks up and creates a mini dust-storm. Notice the poor visibility of the Kingdom Center building (as seen from our balcony).
A downtown mosque.
The ubiquitous McDonalds ... (I don't forsee us eating there any time soon.)
The boys in the Hyper Panda supermarket.
Misha downtown.
Josh and Sebby downtown.
In the store, I was trying to figure out what kind of meat this was. All the labels said "fresh hashi chops." I was wondering what hashi meant. Lamb? Beef? Then I noticed the sign on the side! We bought some out of curiosity, but we were not too impressed. Perhaps we didn't prepare it right.
6 comments:
questions:
I just realized that men don't always wear the white robe. Are men not required to wear it all the time?
The Lebanese feast looks amazing! Is the cost of living relatively low?
Crazy driving! Must be too much testosterone in the drivers' seat. oh well, I guess it works out.
A good rule of thumb, never eat what you ride. ha ha. I don't like the driving part there. Yes a bigger vehicle is definitely in order. Josh looks dapper driving.
Grandma Kate
No, men are not required to wear the thobe - but it seems that most men prefer to wear it. It marks them as Saudi. On the men's campus where Josh works, the students' dress code is the thobe, so the students do have to wear it to class. I think about half of them would prefer to wear Western clothes; the other half wear the thobe all the time.
The cost of living seems fairly comparable to the US, give or take. Restaurants seem about the same. Meat at the grocery store is really cheap ($1 rib eye steaks) and of course gas is cheap! The malls are a bit expensive, but that's to be expected.
Hi guys! This is your cousin Shannon (Thomas) Schuster in Warner SD...loved reading about your family and all of your adventures! We will be praying for all of you! Can't wait to hear more!
Hi Shannon - thanks for reading!
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