========================Saudi I==========================
Here is another of my group emails to let you know what is going on with
me. If you have questions and you write me I will write you back, if you
don't care and want me to stop emailing you please let me know ;).

So I got in to Jeddah,SA after about 17 hours flying/sitting time. When
I arrive I find an Arab guy in White Sheets with my name on a piece of
paper. I give him my passport and he runs me off to the express line and
gets me through immigration no questions asked to me in a couple of
minutes, which is real nice. After we get my luggage I have to then head
to customs, here they tear through all you bags and search everything.
He didn't know what shoe polish was but most of other stuff he just
asked my Arab guide and everything was ok cept my CD's. So then we have
to goto another room to have my CD's personally checked. I assumed this
wouldn't be a problem, they were all backup CD's and misc stuff. I did
have one I burned with all my music on it and some personal files. Here
unknowing to my knowledge was a gif file of a naked lady. It seemed that
someone downloaded the picture to my desktop and I thought it was a
program file of some sort and there ya go. I told him it wasn't mine and
that didn't work since it was on my CD, then 'I said it must of been
from a virus. I am thinking right now about the possibilities of getting
body parts chopped off. After he checks everything else out he asks if
it is ok if he keeps the CD and I say sure and I am done. So no worries
glad I had the Arab guy to help me out.

After this I have an Indian Driver who works for Turner as a Messenger,
Lunch Getter, VISA pickeruper ,etc. He is real nice and all, and says he
will pick me up the next day.

So I get to work and everyone is happy to see me I work with 2
Americans, 2 Brits, and a bunch of Middle Eastern guys. I got a nice big
office and we have a Tea Boy who delivers anything you want to your
office. Seriously you just call for a cup of Tea or food and it appears
on a tray in your office. If you don't like how he made it you just send
it back and get a new one. I wonder if he peels the grapes for you too?

So basically I am an Office Jockey for now, the boss here didn't want me
to go to the Capital and build the Royal Palace till I got adjusted to
Saudi life first. This is ok with me and I can live near the beach and
they have fishing, Diving, Para Surfing, Windsurfing, and Jet skiing
here. You can also live in compounds with Private beaches and Dive boats
for use on the weekends.

So after work I hung out with the Palestinian/Jordan guy who is a little
bit younger for me. We had some Arab food and Palestinian dessert, which
was pretty good. The eating-places are segregated for single men and
families with a solid wall in the middle and women can't eat alone. At
Prayer Time (5 times a day) they have Arabian music blasting through the
streets for two minutes, everything shuts down and everyone evacuates
their buildings and runs to the local Mosque.

At my hotel women can't goto the pool or the rec center at all. I went
to a late breakfast today at the hotel and the staff was nice but was
starting to stress as the restaurant started to fill with families and I
was the only single person there and no one was able to sit at a table
near me. It was dubbed as family brunch with a clown and everything,
since it is Friday everything else is closed in the hotel and the staff
is on minimum, no laundry, Internet cafe is shut, and all the shops are
shut.

I also asked my Jordan worker about all the rules, and he debriefed me.
Sex, Alcohol, and Drugs are all thought of the same and are against the
Moslems and are serious crimes. If you look at women with her Father or
Husband you get yelled at or dirty looks, it happened to us in the car.
If you break into a persons home or car and steal something you can lose
your hand but that is after a 10-person jury is unanimous.

So that is it so far, I kinda can't wait to get into my house and can
feel a bit more at home. I am still adjusting to the time difference,
but tomorrow I will have the driver take me a round to the different
compounds to check out. I would have sent some postcards out but the
shop is closed today and last night when I went to buy some it was
closed for prayer.

Take care all,

B
============================End of SaudiI==================

==========================Saudi II========================
Hello all,

Well….. I have been here a week and I must say it is different in some ways than I expected and
exactly how I expected it in some cases. I am actually enjoying myself and learning a lot about
the rest of the world.

First of all the city is surrounded by female ninjas in black outfits with only their eyes
exposed. The Saudi men all wear these white robes and checkered table cloths on their heads. It is
defiantly a funny picture; I will have to pick up a digital camera one of these days.

One of the things I noticed based on the "prohibited items" is the scantly dressed women on TV and
even the naked ones on the music channels. They also sell swords and binoculars, which are
supposedly prohibited from import into the country.

The driving here is insane, I have a 2002 Maxima that was given to me, so I have been doing some
exploring, made it to the beach where they have a locked up gated area and Men and Women can mix
and lounge around in their bathing suits which is cool.

The restrictions on women are crazy, no driving, no eating or buying food alone in the restaurant.
They even had a sign in Basken Robins, "Obey the law, women are not allowed to sit in the parlor."
The women can only eat in the family sections if and only if they are accompanied by their father
or husband. They also have guards outside the family sections. Women can go shopping and even have
women only floors at the mall and women only burka shops.

The main food here is Hummus, Falafel, Toboule, Kebobs, and gyros believe it or not, all the stuff
we thought of as Greek food. It is defiantly excellent!!!

Ok on to the adventure………..

So I went exploring on my day off and checked out some of the Souqs….. markets. I was the only
white person in my two hours there to be seen. People starting asking me where I was from and one
guy even said out loud "you from USA", I was like ack I am gonna get lynched here. I said I was
from Ireland, and moved on quickly and was asked again in minutes if I was from England or
Germany. I started to worry a bit, once again being the only white dude, (it is getting night
now), and walked off in an unknown direction ending up in a mass crowd in the streets with all
eyes staring at me. Some guy whispered something in my ear in Arabic, and I think was trying to
pickpocket me. It was so crowded and there was no where to go cause of the mass crowd all walking
and shopping. It was kinda jam packed like a Thailand market.

So I just kept my head down, hands in my pocket and tried to get out of the mob of people. It was
defiantly a bit terrifying to be so out of my element with everyone staring at me. But I survived,
next time I think I will wear my Ireland hat, so people don't ask me questions. They can't tell
the accent so it doesn't matter.

Just a few things on the stuff I noticed, a lot of the people here are way over weight. Our male
receptionist puts his bare feet on the counter and smokes cigarettes at the front desk. I was told
that Bush was the mastermind behind 911, because no problems happened while Clinton was in power.
Men kiss each other on the cheeks and hold hands and pinkies in public. They pray here 5 times a
day and there is a mosque every ten feet. They hold public executions (beheadings) and I have been
invited to attend one this week.

The people I work with are all very professional and shower and shave everyday. They are all nice
people and they are not the stereotypical people you would think of on TV. Some love it that I am
German and they all show me a lot of respect and I enjoy working with them. They also all comment
on my Arabic and how I can pronounce things without an accent at all… this is a bit scary.

I found my apartment in a European/American community and I should be in this week. My hotel food
sucks and I just eat on the streets. It is hard to spend money here it seems there is nothing to
buy, which I guess is a good thing. Clothes are dirt cheap, I got work socks for a buck a pair and
jeans and dress shirts are like 10 bucks.

I hope you enjoyed my book. I will work on getting a new camera, to get some pics of the Ninjas.

Peace,
B
=======================End of Saudi II======================

===========================Saudi III======================
Hello All,

My name is Brian Gruber and I am an Alcoholic, I haven't had a drink in 16 days. Just kiddin, but
I could use a few beers, especially over the 4th…. Geez it feels so weird.

Well, here is update number III, and I got my place and I have gone to a party and stuff. I live
in a place called Lotus IV and it is a western compound with 2 pools, tennis and squash courts,
gym, restaurant, laundry, haircutter, and a Mini Market. The security is tight. They have the
barricades all around and they give strangers a hard time. They even checked my car one time for
bombs…. So that is good, but a bit scary. I 'm not used to that shit.

The place is like 700 SF with Marble floors and stuff, so it is cool. I got my new car, 2002
Maxima and it is pretty fast.

So I guess you want to hear about life here. Well, I work 70 hours a week, with Fridays off. I
found the black market and I have all the latest movies from the states. Including Star Wars, Mr.
Deeds, Windtalkers, etc. So that is something to do. I went to a party two weeks ago and met a
bunch of cool people. It was a pool party in a compound and they had beers and cocktails so I was
happy. They had women in normal clothes and quite nice looking. There was dancing and stuff so it
was cool. I met a bunch of folks from the Consulate and I will be on the list next weekend to go
to the bar there. So I am stoked.

Let's see what else is going on… it is 114 degrees F today. I went to the pool but I couldn't stay
too long, just too hot and the water is baking. I have a beach club that I can go to, but I just
got all my stuff in so I have been busy putting it away. I got a maid for 20 bucks a week to come
twice a week and do laundry and stuff so that is cool.

I am taking Arabic Classes which is hard but it helps a little like I can read the Arabic Numbers
and know some of the common phrases.

I realized the people are pretty nice here. I think they stare at me because I look different and
then I smile or do something and they smile and say hello. It is kinda like Cambodia, everyone
stares at you till you smile and then it is all cool. I know I am careful, but I have to do shit
and just cant stay locked up in my apartment.

So when one of my American coworkers gets back from London I will perhaps go for a dive. It is
kinda a pain to get out of the country it seems. I am defintly not in a major airlines hub. But I
will start looking into some trips over the next few weeks.

Also for those of you that don't have it my mailing address it is:

Brian Gruber
c/o Turner International
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 11410

Also I have a mobile phone and I don't get charged for incoming calls the number from the US is
011 966 5 464 1408, so feel free to call at anytime. I am 10hrs ahead from the West Coast, 13 from
Hawaii and 7 from the East Coast.

Also I know it has taken me a while to write back to the emails you guys have sent, but that is
because I work so much, but I love new emails and I will write back to everyone as soon as I can.

I have been pricing digital cameras but electronics are real expensive here, I guess I should just
suck it up and buy one.

Take care,
Brian

P.S. Please print out the emails and give them to any of my friends who aren't "online".

=====================End of Saudi III====================

======================Saudi IV=========================
Hello all,

Here is the latest from Saudi..... I am still doing good. Have been here around 6 weeks now.
Havent been to anymore parties.....the one last week was changed to a Marine House Party and you
have to know different folks to get in there. Oh well. I have done a bunch of things, like finding
new markets to explore, going to the Sheesha house to smoke apple flavored tobacco and drink
Turkish coffee, hiking in the mountains in 114 degree heat.

This weekend I sent to the beach and took one of my co-workers Snorkeling... was an amazing reef.

I don't have much exciting news to tell you guys.... just working plenty. I am pretty much all
settled in so I and will plan on going diving next weekend and then I am off to Riyadh the Capital
of Saudi for about a week on business.

I do not know when I will be going to pick up my work permit in the US. It almost seems better to
not have it. Once you do have it you can't leave without an exit/re-entry VISA and this seems very
hard to get. With my passport I can come and go as I please so I like the freedom a little bit
more, not that I have a lot of time to go anywhere.

I have the first set of pictures up.... http://photos.yahoo.com/gruberb2

So enjoy and let me know if you have any questions. I need emails so write me!!

Take care.
Brian

===================End of Saudi IV========================

======================Saudi V===========================
Hey all doing good. I got a new number for any who need it 966 5 669 8842. Also I got to goto the capital to help out io a different project we have in Riyadh the capital of Saudi. I got to give a presentation in one of the Sheikhs houses which was pretty cool.
After I was done I hoped on a plane to the small Island country of Baharain. It took about 45 minutes and they had bars and discos and stuff. I met a bunch of people from England, Saudi, Somolia, Thailand and Russia. I ended up going out to a bunch of places with the Saudi guy it was real cool. Saw a Fillipino Cover band and went dancing and stuff. When I left the island all the staff in the Hotel bar knew me and wished me luck and asked me to come back soon. It seems they know most of the people that frequent there so. Seems like a standard for people living in Saudi.
It was really a nice break after 7 weeks without a drink. I am flying off to the capital of Saudi again tomorrow and if I stay the week I will goto Baharain again. They have pearl diving trips, but I doubt I can go cause I won't be there long enough. Need like 24 hours before you fly.
Well, that is what is going on here...... any new news in the States?
Brian
===================End of Saudi V================================

====================Saudi VI==========================
Hey all,
Figure you would get a kick out of reading the Saudi Classified Adds. I surely do. All is well here. I had two trips to Bahrain and been diving the last three weeks in a row.
Nothing else is really new, I will be going to Eygpt for a long weekend for our Saudi National Day Holiday Sept 19-23rd so that should be an interesting time. Several Saudi have asked me how the US people feel about them if they were to goto America and it is a difficult question to answer. So I just tell them if they don't wear there funky clothes they will be fine. I have been told that I could hide out with a Saudi Co-worker if things go bad here for Americans, which was very nice. The Saudi people really look up to Americans as beeing on the most technically advanced people in the world. They are all really realy friendly. I honked my horn at a guy driving in the middle of the road the other day. When they saw I was a white man they all started smiling from the car. It cracked me up. The people on the streets all smile and say hello all the time. I never invisioned it to be like this.

I have a bunch more pictures to post but I will wait till I get my internet satellite connection next month and can upload easily. I did aquire some pleasurable beverages that I have been enjoying on the weekends so that is a plus to living here. I am still not sure when I will be flying back to the US to pickup my working papers, but it should before the end of November. I imagine I will just find out one day and be on a plane a few days later. Not sure how long I will be in the states either. Ok have to go back to work, look forward to getting plenty of emails.
Brian

For your enjoyment:

Matrimonial
Indian Hyderabadi Muslim, respectable family, seeks for a MBA boy, age 28 years, working in Riyadh. The girl should be fair, beautiful, graduate. Please contact Mobile No: 057851528.
***
Indian Sunni Muslim, Syed family boy age 47 years, Physician, American citizen, MD in family practice. Practicing in Chicago, married once (having a girl aged 11) desires to marry a Saudi citizen physician lady from respected family. Contact Mobile No: 057837684, E-mail: s_razi2001@yahoo.com
***
Indian Hyderabadi Sunni Muslim, age 32, fair, beautiful, religious divorce (Khula) lady seeks match. Please contact Mobile No: 053236510, E-mail: wellcome_iam@yahoo.com

For sale
Rolex watch model 16233 for sale, new style golden crystal dial at low price. Contact Mobile No: 055213168.
***
Street Sweeper, 99 model, made from Johnson, UK for sale. Contact Mr. Shahid H. Khan, Mobile No: 054624103, E-mail: shaheedhk@hotmail.com
=================End of Saudi VI==========================

===================Saudi VII=============================
Hello all,
I guess it is about time for another update. Well life here in the Dark ages goes on, what else can I say. It is basically like working in ancient times with a few amenities of the future. I just dive when ever I can day and night. I do about 5-7 Scuba dives a week and that and my new movies keeps me busy. I did get to see Red Dragon and The Ring.
On the travel scene I did make it to Dubai a few weeks ago. It is a very modern Arab country full of Westerners and people enjoying life. The land is full of bars and women without their Ninja costumes, so it was a nice weekend trip. It was very clean with wide streets and they are building like mad there. Turner is building like 70 buildings there so it is booming. But of course, once they have you in Saudi they don't want to let you go to a better place.
After Dubai, I headed over to Korea for a week and met up with my Friends Tom and Mikyung. We headed down to Pusan and had a lovely time. Korea is one of the nicer Asian countries I have been too. The people all dress nice and the cities have nice subways and seems pretty cosmopolitan. I wouldn't mind getting a job over there for a little while, defiantly beats the Middle East. It was cool to see some friends for a change it has been like 5 months so far. I also got a mini tour of Seoul, which is nice too.
So Halloween was a good time here. I was invited to the British Consulate for a night of drinking and dancing, which I really enjoyed. I went with my boss and we were the Men in Black. I was Agent Jay (Will Smith) and my boss was Agent Kay. Everyone got a kick out of us and had to chat with us. We had everything down to the Silver Guns, Black Suits, and Black shades. I even put on a black Afro wig and painted my self up with brown makeup and black eyebrow stuff. It was a good time.
I will be coming home for my VISA on December 22nd. I will be leaving Saudi on the 21st of November and will head to Germany. I will spend two weeks visiting family and then I will head off for two weeks. I am planning on going to Berlin, Prague, Vienna and possibly Budapest. On 18th December I will head to Istanbul from Vienna and then on the 22nd Dec, I will fly to JFK. I should be in NY a couple weeks to get my VISA, spending Christmas and New Years there. I am very excited since I only have 18 days left in country before I am off traveling.
Ok so hope all is good in the states.
See some of ya soon. Brian
=============End of Saudi VII ===========================

================Saudi VIII=============================
Hello all, Another long one continuing from my last email von Hungary.... at the end is an update on the situation in Saudi...... enjoy

Well I think my last update was from Hungary back in December. Since then I went to Vienna and had a rip-roaring time visiting all the Irish Pubs in the city. My cousin Sean was a great host and we went around singing Irish and Oasis songs and tried to figure out which pub poured the best Guinness.

After the guts of a week in Vienna, I headed over to Istanbul, Turkey. I have a friend there named Carter who is a Professor at Koc University. He has a sweet pad there at the University that is full of Beautiful Blonde haired (dyed) Turkish chicks. My Uncle flew in from Ireland for my 30th B'day and we had a nice time visiting all the different underground clubs and putting down the Red Bull with Vodka…. Seems to prevent hangovers but I don't remember getting home.

We tried to tour around a bit in the day and did see Aye Sophia, which was very beautiful. The next night we (me and my uncle) went out to an all-Turkish pub. They had Turk music and dancing and we were drinking Lions Milk at the bar. It is like a black licorice flavored clear drink that you mix water with and it turns white. My uncle got up on the stage and sang a few Irish tunes and after a while the whole club was dancing with us in a circle holding pinkies and kicking up our feet was pretty funny.

Later on there was this table of people sitting near us all sticking up their thumbs to us and saying Ok over and over!! The bartender slips us a note saying they are Kurdish Rebels….. We are thinking great what do we do now. Should we try and sneak out the back door or what? I then make the call that we should just sit tight cause it seems they want to be friends and talk…. This based on them talking about killing English people to us cause we are Irish. So we ended up with no problems and the rebels left…. We left shortly after when a big fight broke out between the band and the audience…….

After barely making it to the airport cause the hotel didn't wake us up……I headed to NY and spent the Holidays there. Had a good time, spent Christmas with the family and New Years with my buddies in Vermont. I guess I only have two stories from NY and one was how I woke up one night with someone puking on me (won't mention names) and got in a bar fight for someone bothering my Sis.

So now I am back in Saudi….. things are a bit tense at the moment. It is rumored that Kuwait will be closing their airport on the 17 of Feb for a war that will start on the 20th. We have been told by the US Embassy to have all our bags packed and important documents together for immediate evacuation. We should also have an inventory of what we are leaving behind too.

Coming back to Saudi was a bother too, they rifled through all my stuff and had to investigate some of my CD's and books. When I got home my water was brown and the TV was out. I did have a nice weekend of drinking with the boss, fishing and diving.

Next week I will be heading to Jordan to see Petra (where the holy grail was in Indiana Jones and the last crusade). I know you may be thinking this is a bad time to go but I am not worried; I work with a lot of Palestinians that have family in Jordan and they will show us around. Also I will see one person who is a Commander in the Jordanian Army and he will take us around too. So I think it is a good opportunity to see this place while it still exists.

Ok will keep you updated on the current events and if I will be evacuating. If my company ships me out I will go to Turkey. If I get shipped out by the US government I will probably get dropped off somewhere in the States.

Oh I have a home answering machine now so you can call and leave messages(cheaper than talking to me, hehe)… 011 966 2 654-8808 x 250.

Take care,
Brian

5/17th

Hello all just wanted to give an update on the situation here. After the bombing in Riyadh took place I was told to stay in my compound until further notice. We were directed to purchase tickets to Abu Dhabi for Friday. On Thursday evening they directed us not to proceed to Abu Dhabi and to return to work on Saturday.

Friday Morning a new alert was issued for Jeddah. I called my company and asked if I should continue or not onto Abu Dhabi. They called me back later and the day and told me I was not working out and they would not be able to transfer me to a new International location. I told them I did not want to be sent home and they told be to consider my personal situation and get back to them in 24 hours. I spoke with my manager at work and he made the necesary calls so I could continue my International employment.

So go figure it is either stay in Saudi or go home. Right now there are still places I want to travel to and it is difficult to do that from the US. So I am here, the major problem there is no procedures in place for emergency situations and if we are to follow the US Embassy directives or not. In addition, our manager returned home to England and is not here to direct us. We wil have a new manager on June 1st.

As to the security situation they have blocked off the entire entrance to my compound with concrete bomb walls. They have the army outside my compound with Machine guns inspecting the cars. When you get to the gates there is a jeep with a M60 or something, a very large machine gun with more soliders there. It is definitly an experience living here. I have almost completed my first year, have about 2 weeks to go. The way I see it I have a year left and I can get outta here.

I am also only going to work and returning home.

I would like to thank everyone for all the emails asking. I recieved over 50 and it made me feel good. Too bad I wasn't answering this from Abu Dhabi, but I am here to work and not to be on holiday every month.

Ok take care,
Brian
=================End of Saudi VIII=======================