26 strange things.

Here is a list of some different things about living in Jeddah

1. On is down, off is up. The light switches are backward like that.

2. There are two kinds of electrical outlets. One is for things that run using 125 V the other is for 240 V. Don't get them confused, things may explode.

3. There is no city water or sewer line. Each building has it's own septic tanks and water tanks. Make sure you get a good landlord who monitors these, ours has proven to be great so far.

4. People sleep during the day. If you are not working from about 1 pm to 5 pm, you are sleeping. Then you stay up and go out till very late at night. Playgrounds are vacant durring the day and hopping with kids past sunset. I really need to stop asking the question, "is it going to be open this late?" Ikea is open till 1 on weekends.

Mariam and Michael at a desserted daytime playground.

5. Weekends are Thursday and Friday instead of Saturday and Sunday. Friday is the holy day here, just like Sunday is at home.

6. Prayer calls happen five times a day, starting at about 5:30 am. There are mosques all over and they broadcast the call to prayer on speakers, we can hear about three different ones. It is spooky singing, some may think it is beautiful. If you are out shopping at one of these times, you can keep shopping, but you can't check out. That gives the employees the option to pray if they want.

7. Guys hold hands and kiss-kiss all over this place. It is not gay, but it sure catches me off guard.

8. Most middle class people have maids.

9. Our car gets washed every day by the doorman of our apartment. It would be awfully dusty otherwise.

10. Families and single men have separate sections at most restaurants. It is not as strange as it sounds, the family sections are often times nicer with private booths and hi-chairs for Mariam.

MareBear chillin in the family section at Jamaican Grill

11. Women wear abayas. But not all of them are black, not all women cover there heads, and you rarely see a woman in a full on burka in this city. Women also work at grocery stores and malls here, contrary to popular belief.

12. Lots of men wear long white shirts that go down to there ankels. These are called Thobes. You also see guys rockin' sarongs every once in a while. All the 12 to 20 something boys dress like total hipsters, not kidding.

13. Public art is everywhere.


14. Driving can be scary. Where there are three lanes painted there are typically five lanes of cars. No one looks when turning right, and you have to bully your way through roundabouts.

15. I also need to stop asking the question, "is this a parking space?" Everywhere is a parking space. You can even park people in when you run in to grab food or whatever at the corner stores. The etiquette is that if you are blocked by another person and need to leave, you just stand by your car and lay on the horn. The other driver comes out and scoots the car down a few spots. It happened to us last night.

16. The people here love american food. They have tons of restaurants from the US, fastfood and sit down. Burger King costs about the same here, around $6 for a meal, and Mcdonalds has a 5 riyal ($1.25) menu. You can also find whatever you need at the grocery stores. There are rapidly growing diabetes and obesity problems here as well.

17. You can get ridiculously good local food for super cheep. Foot long tuna, egg, tomato, and cheese sandwich for about $1.25. Yummy shwarma sandwiches for about 50¢.

18. There is a store called Hyper Panda. Like Super Target. There are also just plain Panda stores.

hyper panda sign

19. There are like 1,000 different malls. Some are luxury, some are rundown wastes of time. Lots have ice skating rinks.

20. Lots of parts of this city remind me of Las Vegas, with out all the naked girls, drunkenness and gambling.

21. The people here are really nice. We actually know our neighbors and help each other out all the time. In 4 out of 5 apartments I have lived in in Minnesota I have never befriended a neighbor, you usually just turned the other way or did a quick hello. When I got here neighbors stocked our kitchen with bowls, plates, cups and filled our fridge with lasagna, rice pudding, juice and deserts.

22. Kids rule this town. Everywhere you go you see hundreds of kids. You also see tons of toy stores and stands selling junk toys at parks and on the side of the road. Amusement parks are taking over the city and highways. Guys sell cotton candy in trafic, yesterday I saw one car buy six bags. Every store has it's own play area. All these kids are also allowed to do whatever they want. I have seen kids gorging themselves at the grocery store and rollerblading or riding scooters through stores. The best are when they are driving their Powerwheel convertibles or SUVs and tip over displays. These things are not dangerous, someone will pick it up...

junk toy stand.

23. The S is burnt out on the Saudi German Hospital sign. At night it reads Audi German Hospital. I think this is really funny.

24. 107.1 FM is NPR here. We can listen to This American Life, Prairie Home Companion, and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me as we drive down the seaside. 93.7 also plays American rock music not unlike 93X.

25. Cats are like squirrels here.

meow meow.

26. Everything has a musk scented option. Jergens body lotion, laundry detergent, you name it... these folks are into smelling like musk.