Tonight is my third night in the shabby brown hotel room that is my home for the next few weeks. The curtains are stained, the pillows are hard, but it serves as a pleasing contrast to the ridiculous luxury of the mansion in which I spend my working day (I say this before cabin fever has set in... watch this space). In my last post I made a gross overestimate of the amount of free time I would have. My predictions were based on the job description I was given, but what's a job description to someone who's never worked?
Today a car arrived for me three hours early, and one of my student's after school activities meant I had to postpone his lesson until 9pm. Not that this eleven hour day was arduous by any stretch of the imagination - I spent more time reading Arab News ("The middle east's leading English language newspaper") cover to cover than actually tutoring, but I'm beginning to see the problems attendant on being stranded, a phone call away from your employer.
So with all this I've not really had time for the predicted culture shock. My only excursions have been to the British International School and the supermarket across the road from my hotel. The former was unexceptional aside from the concrete barricades and vehicle mounted machine gun at its entrance, while in the supermarket, globalisation has ensured that my shopping experience is as homely as possible. In short, other than than the odd aberration like the peanut wizard, above, nothing's really screaming "blog me!" at the moment. In time all this will change, honest.
Until then, I'm going to see if the heavily censored Saudi internet will allow me to download the new Four Tet album or the new Pangaea EP. Perhaps this weekend (that's Thursday and Friday to you) I'll be able to throw together some sort of review for one or both.
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