A new life in the Kingdom

Where do you start with a post concerning moving to a country like Saudi Arabia?

I'll start my piece with a bit of useful information, did you know that Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the world not to have a river? I didn't know it either. In fact, there's a lot of things about Saudi Arabia I did not know about until I got here.

There was also a lot of misconceptions on my part, which are continuously revealing themselves to be false misconceptions. For a start, the locals are the friendliest and kindest people you could meet. A lot more tolerant and welcoming than the western media gives them credit for.

From what I have witnessed so far there is, however, some things that are true about the country.

A) It is quite hot.
B) It is quite arid
C) It doesn't seem to rain here
D) There are camels here (although I haven't laid eyes on them yet)
E) There is a wealth here (and equal parts poverty)
F) Saudi's are a very religious people
G) The drivers seem to learn how to drive from the Grand Theft Auto manual.

The heat takes a bit of getting used to, especially after moving from the U.K. A place where the locals descend into almost hysteria if the temperature gets to the high 20's (degrees that is). I have given up wearing my glasses outside as they continually mist up, upon exiting my house.  Another thing I've noticed is there is a definite sense of 'Saudi time', much like 'Fiji time', everything moves along at its own pace...which is a tad slower than (the maniac) Western world. Jeddah airport can be a confusing and bewildering place, especially upon entering it at five in the morning.

To be honest my brain has fully yet to kick into gear. It probably doesn't help that I still feel like I'm in holiday mode. This Insha'Allah will be the first in a long list of updates from our new home over the course of the next 2-3 or maybe more years

I'll finish with a few facts. I love facts!

A few quick facts I was ignorant of before moving here:

- Saudi is the birthplace of modern Islam.
- It is home to Islam's two holiest shrines - Mecca & Medina.
- The king's official title is the custodian of the two holy mosques.
- The modern Saudi state was founded in 1932 by ABD AL-AZIZ bin Al Saud (Ibn Saud) after a 30-year campaign to unify most of the Arabian peninsula.
- It holds about 17% of the world's proven oil reserves.
- Immigrants make up more than 30% of the population.
- The Arabic print on the national flag translates as: "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger".
- The Saudi flag is one of only three national flags that differ on their obverse and reverse sides - (the others are Moldova & Paraguay).
- The country has 82 airports with paved runways and 132 without paved runways.
- It has 47, 529 Km's of paved road versus 173, 843 Km's of unpaved road.

*All facts and figures are taken from www.CIA.org.