The DMV

This weeks big adventure involved me trying to navigate my way through the local Saudi bureaucracy to get a drivers license. It seems that everyone here has a story and when it comes to getting your drivers license they are all long and varied. One guy said (women can't drive here so they don't go through this) it took him 10 trips into town to the license center to get his. So here it goes:

Trip 1:

I have to leave school to go to the drivers license center. The drivers license center is run by the local police. For the most part Aramco tries to handle all paperwork type stuff for you but when it comes to getting a license you are on your own. Those who have already done this have put together a list of all the forms and papers you need to take with you and that is a huge help...but not enough.

I arrive at the station at 9:00 because the sign said they opened at 8:30. Well I forgot about Ramadan. Ramadan is the month long holy period in which Muslims fast from sun up until sun down. The reasons for this vary but it is similar to how Catholics abstain from meat for the 40 days of lent. I can remember trying to pull off the no meat thing and thinking how terrible it was. Well say what you want about Islam but these people are deeee-vout! They go for a whole month and have absolutely nothing to eat or drink all day long - in this heat! Not one drop. Plus everything is either closed all day or is open during really late hours. In the end people break the fast each evening with large meals called Iftar. They stay up late and eat and go shopping etc. Marie was out the other night shopping after dark and was out well past 11 PM. Because people stay up real late all month long nothing opens when it is supposed to. So back to my story - when I arrive at 9Am the station is not open. Damn Ramadan. So back to school I go.

Trip 2:

I get another ride after lunch from a fellow teacher and sure enough the office is open. The cop looks through my folder and begins to staple the forms together and I think "Wow, I am going to get this done." NO!! The cop looks at me and says "your third form is not good. You need blue stamp from Aramco security office" and gets up and walks away. So off we go back to camp to get the stamp. I am starting to sense this could be tough.

Trip 3:

Back we go to the station and I think I am home free. I got the blue stamp on my paper and I have everything else on the list. We wait in line. We get cut on twice and in Saudi an American must just say OK and let them get in front of you. I finally make it to the window and the guy looks through everything again and hands it back out and says sorry your picture is black and white. Damn, damn, damn. This one is my fault. I was supposed to bring a passport picture with me for them to use on the license. I picked up a black and white instead of a color. In fact I don't have a color and have you ever seen a black and white drivers license picture? So the guy tells us to go up the street and get one taken at the photography shop and bring it back. So off we go up the street. I am not licked yet! Oh wait. It's Ramadan and of course at 1 freakin' o'clock in the afternoon the picture place is closed. AAHHHHHHHHH! My patient friend who is driving me says he will bring me back that night for my picture. Wahid, ithnan, thalatha, 'arbaa, khamsa, sitta, saba, thamaniaya, tisa, ashra (I am learning Arabic from my 9th graders and we are starting with numbers - I am counting to ten to keep from blowing my cool.)

Trip 4:

A good friend, Keith drives my back into town at 8PM to get my picture taken. At 8 in the evening during Ramadan the town is alive with people. Ok it is alive with men. Women are not seen. (I am thinking we need to apply these rules back in the states to driving and golf.) Anyway, we get my picture taken and while we wait we go across the street for some tea and pastry at the local bakery. I guess I should stop at this point and explain what the local town looks like. It's easy. Star Wars. Call me a dork or whatever but the local town, Rahima (Rah-he-ma) looks like Mos Eisley. You know the town where Luke first meets Han Solo. I lost you didn't I? The guys know what I am taking about and just in case here is a picture of Tatooine. We leave to return back home for the night pictures in hand feeling good about returning the next morning.

Trip 5:

I take a cab back into town at 10AM confident that I will be successful. The cop looks through the folder for what seems like the 200th time and seems to be moving toward acceptence when he turns to me and tells me I need to go get an eye check. OK, Mafi Moshkela - no problem. Off I go with my driver up the street to find the "eye clinic". Luckily my driver knows his way around Rahimah and we are there in no time. I kid you not when I tell you there are chickens running around in front of the place. I am feeling confident and stroll through the front door where I am greeted by two lovely ladies in full abyas. I shoot them my most debonair look and I am told to head to the back to pay 25 Riyals for the exam. I am taken into a room by a nurse who uses a piece of printer paper to cover my eyes one at a time and I am made to read off the wall. But wait the wall has a mirror. The room is too small and I am looking at a mirror with a reflection of the eye chart in it. The actual chart is behind me!! They basically covered each eye and made me read off the wall. Ok - back to the police to finally turn in my folder with everything complete. When I get back they take the folder and flip one more time through the contents. They close it and stamp the cover then look at me and say "Where is the money?" I begin to take the 75 Riyals out of my wallet and the guy shakes his head "No, no, no. You need transfer." Huh? "You need to tranfer 75 Riyals from your bank to the police account. We cannot accept cash here." Wahid, ithnan, thalatha, DAMN IT!! At this rate I will be able to count to 10 in just a couple of days.

Well that is it. Here I sit at home contemplating my next move. How do I transfer the money to the police bank account without a Saudi bank account of my own? The guards at the guard house outside of school are Saudi and extremely kind and generous. They've translated my drivers license forms for me and now they have offered to go on their own time to get the receipt I need. So on Saturday it will be trip number 6 into Mos Eisley and I am very confident that will be it. We shall see. Wahid, ithnan, thalatha....