When It Rains, It Pours

Nine months out of the year, it's hellishly hot in western Saudi Arabia, and during that time, there's so little condensation that if it 'rains', it usually comes down as dirty globs of spittle for about an hour and then stops completely. Luckily, from November to January, the weather is actually very pleasant, and occasionally, it actually rains proper rain...which tends to lead to utter fucking chaos, since there isn't the proper infrastructure to deal with it!

Recently, at our school, a few minutes into the fourth block, it started to rain--not in the aforementioned "spittle" way, but real, honest-to-goodness, civilized world kind of rain. Of course, all of the trainees rushed to the window to witness this most wonderful of natural phenomenons, as if it was the first time in their lives they have ever witnessed such an event. Water? From the SKY? What strange magic is this? Basically, once it starts raining, there's a camel's chance in Siberia that the students (being a mere twenty-two years old, on average) will be able to pay attention, or go to the next class.

And so it was when in really started coming down. Now this building wasn't built with rain in mind, so there are electrical outlets on the floors--like actually coming out of the floor itself. And, rain has a habit, in some classrooms of coming in through closed windows, pooling on the floor, and creeping towards the electrical outlets. Such was my concern while the students all crowded outside to check out the rain. We ended up cutting off the electricity to the buildings and letting the students go, which was kind of nice, because we got half of the day off too.

I took the opportunity to drive around with a colleague and take pictures of the city. For a while, I felt like Rabigh wasn't so bad, after all.

Riding around, we could see big pools of water here and there, on and off the street. Not surprising, seeing as how there are no storm drains, or even a sewer system in Rabigh. Also not surprisingly, we saw a couple car accidents. Bonus: while driving around, we saw a herd of camels too!

All in all, it was a pleasant afternoon off, and all thanks to Saudis having no idea how to cope with rain. It happened again Sunday morning, so school was cancelled again...even though it turned out to be a sunny day. The best part: this was all on the heels of the king asking everyone to pray for rain!

Coming Up on the Final Stretch

It's been more than nine months since I arrived in Saudi Arabia, and I've got to do some serious thinking about what happens next. Should I endure Saudi Arabia for another year? Are the fat paycheck and the vast swaths of vacation time worth it? Or should  I go back out into the world and experience a new country while I am still young and full of vigor? Should I take my earnings and spend the next year traveling the world? Or should I pay back what's left of my student loan, and hurry home to rack up a new one?

I'm always weighing the pros and cons of living in the Kingdom. The job is, frankly, a cakewalk...which isn't always a good thing. Because I am not held up to very high standards, the incentive to grow as a teacher and reach for excellence isn't always there. The money is good--but I have to make a lot of sacrifices for it: I have to live in a back-water burg in a theocratic dictatorship which regards alcohol, premarital sex and dating, music, even cinema as sinful--and illegal. It's not danger pay--it's desert pay. They give us tons of vacation time, which is nice, but the cost of plane tickets adds up after a while--and no one who hasn't had their brains baked solid wants to stay in Saudi during time off. All things considered, I don't think I can handle another year. I can see myself coming back eventually, but I need a break.

I am tempted to throw caution to the wind, and buy a sixty liter backpack and just travel. I had this idea to start out in Tunisia to practice my French, and then work my way west across north Africa, cross over to Spain, swing over to Portugal before making my way into France, check out Marseille and cross over Italy into Austria to arrive in Hungary and visit my good friend Dave and his family. From there, I would decide whether I wanted to continue on into China (via Siberian express) go home, or whatever.

The responsible part of me wants to go back to Canada, study to get my teacher's license and become a bona fide teacher, to start a master's degree in creative writing or linguistics, or to get some kind of technical writing accreditation--but probably not in Vancouver; Ontario or Quebec would suit me better. The irresponsible part of me wants to go back to Canada, pick up a guitar, start writing songs and learn to paint while I work on the great Canadian novel. I love that part of me, but it lacks discipline!

BUT, what I will most likely end up doing is find a job teaching English in either Japan, Taiwan or Singapore. All three countries have something different to offer: for me, Japan has always had a powerful mystique about it, and I've wanted to go there since I was a teenager. Taiwan has Taipei, which is maybe my favorite city anywhere. And Singapore offers a slightly higher paying job, which requires fewer hours, and in which I would teach to students who already speak English. Of these options, Japan seems like the best, because there I can get a four month contract, which I can renew if I like the place, or not if I decide to move on to somewhere else.

So, those are the options on the table. Should I be responsible, or reckless? Should I stay in Saudi, go home, or go someplace new? Who knows? Thankfully, I'm not anxious. I have faith that the best option will assert itself in time...and time will tell!