A slightly traumatizing and terrifying day

I had been putting off a trip to the local medical clinic to get my residency permit for a while. Mostly because I knew they were going to draw blood. But I put on my big girl pants and got Lucy and I dressed and ready to leave by 9:30.

When we arrived the clinic was very busy. Thankfully the three lines were clearly marked "Dentist", "Family", and "Sabic", so there was no confusion as to where I was supposed to go. We had to wait a while in the (hot) reception area (side note--I really don't understand why they don't crank the a/c up here like they do in the states. Being pregnant in a polyester curtain makes me really miss and appreciate Houston's blasting a/c's). Thankfully the receptionist helped us and showed us where to go before I started feeling too woozy from the heat.

The first frustration: I needed my passport. Or more specifically, the visa in my passport. I always carry it with me, but Travis had been told I wouldn't need it and he did need it for something else at work today, so this is the first day since I got here that it wasn't on me. Of course he was in the middle of one of the most important meetings he's had since he got here when I called. They were very nice though and said I could come back when he called back with the number.

Lucy was pretty patient during this waiting period, and we looked through our papers several times. There was a page with a picture of Travis' residency permit which also had his passport picture. Lucy was excited to see a picture of daddy's head and started saying "DADDY NAKEY! DADDY NAKEY!" which she yells whenever Travis takes off his shirt. I was hoping that her toddler american accent was just as intelligible to everyone else as their accents were to me in the waiting room.

The second problem of the day: They wanted to take a blood draw from my almost two year old. Travis had also been told that she wouldn't have to do this. Of course she hated it. Thankfully I had just pulled up her favorite Abby Cadabby video on my phone so that helped distract her a little, but my poor baby was absolutely traumatized. She kept screaming "ALL DONE! ALL DONE!" Of course Travis calls back in the middle of Lucy's blood draw with my visa number, creating more chaos.

After my blood draw (and this one hurt much worse than when I was at the hospital a few weeks ago! I understand why Lucy was so mad!) they wanted to take a chest x-ray. No idea why a chest x-ray is required for a residency permit, but they were accommodating when I explained I was pregnant and not supposed to get one. To exempt me from the chest x-ray they needed medical proof. I'm pretty sure that in most western countries they would let you do a urine test, but here they actually made us wait while they tested my blood for pregnancy. This time the kind nurse put us in a small office out of the way. I'm not sure if it was because they didn't want the woman and child in the public waiting area or if they were simply trying to make Lucy happier by giving us our own space. This room had a great a/c blowing in it. Several times a nurse came by and asked if it was too cold. I hope I didn't show my feelings of "you've got to be kidding me" too plainly. 

About an hour later a nurse came back and asked me for the second time "Are you sure you are pregnant?" Then he handed me the paper that said "Pregnancy Test--Positive". Was he trying to tell a joke? I'm not sure. I said something about I thought it was obvious and he mumbled something about it being hard to tell in an abaya. Newsflash--it is not hard to tell if a woman is 7-8 months pregnant in an abaya.
Next we were taken to the x-ray room. Turns out while I was exempt from the x-ray, my almost two year old was not. For at least the third time in the day I was asked "Where eez your husband?" to which I replied "He is working." I guess most women don't attempt to go to these appointments by themselves? Obviously I could not hold Lucy for the x-ray, so I had to wait outside while they x-rayed her. All I could hear was crying. Thankfully this was the last hurdle for our time at the clinic and we were able to go home after this.

I treated Lucy to macaroni and cheese ("Oni! Cheese!") for lunch and I think that mostly helped her forget the trauma of the day. She took a good nap and then we had the chance to videochat to our dear friends the Sealocks! That certainly helped to cheer me up. I know Lucy was excited to see you guys even though she seemed more concerned about her Elmo videos for most of the conversation :)

To make up for the traumatizing part of the day, Travis treated me to dinner at a good Thai restaurant in the older part of Jubail. Dinner was delicious and Lucy ate exactly 8 french fries and 3 small pieces of chicken. I guess that's a success?

Cashew chicken, chicken fried rice, and fried prawns. Yum!

After dinner Travis wanted to walk to a store near the restaurant where he heard we could buy really good dates. If you aren't aware, dates are the one 'crop' Saudi Arabia is known for. We have them growing on palm trees (date trees, I suppose) behind our backyard. This is where the slightly terrifying part comes in. I think walking through Old Jubail during the day would be a fun cultural experience. At night... Woah. There were SO MANY PEOPLE (men) in the streets. And so many cars on the road. I'm still a little unclear on exactly what the rules are and how I'm supposed to act (can I look people in the eye? is it ok to put my hand in Travis' arm or is that considered PDA? Can I walk in front of him?) and there was not another female to be seen. Travis was carrying Lucy, I had my bag on one shoulder and Lucy's owl bag on the other. It was so crowded I said heck with etiquette rules and held on to Travis' arm so we wouldn't get separated. We passed lots of stores that seemed to sell a really random assortment of food, electronics, and home goods, plus a few dedicated grocery/produce stores. Once inside our destination I was again terrified I was breaking some rule by being outside after dark (no, no one has ever mentioned this is a rule, but not seeing any other females on a 10 minute walk makes you question this), but the shop workers turned out to be very nice. They let us sample the dates and gave Lucy a whole scoop full of raisins. They also told us we could just spit the seeds on the floor. Ooookay. After spending less than $15 on 2 kilos of raisins and dates we were on our way, and I felt a lot more prepared for the walk back to the restaurant where the driver was going to pick us up. The dates are delicious, by the way. Lucy snacked on one the whole way home! And with that, our day has come to a close. I really hope tomorrow is less eventful.

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