MY RICK’S CAFÉ IN SAUDI ARABIA, Chapter 5 Dear friends I believe I am up to chapter 5 on my post about life here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). As Mel Brooks would say, “It is good to be the king”. Might I add that it is good to be in the royal family as well? First, last week I posted about my not being perfect. I appreciate my friend’s admonitions that I don’t have to be perfect and that I am doing quite well. Second, I am treated like a king here in KSA and last, the local paper takes a different perspective from almost everything we see in the American media. Here in the café I was eating my nutritious dinner and I looked around the room. Oilfield men from all over the world and I noted that I was in better physical shape that almost every man in the room. And when I examined things closer, the only ones in better shape with a slimmer belly were those half my age. With a smile I realized I was in better shape than 100% of the men 40 years of age and older. Pretty good feeling and to boot I added a diamond studded pendant to my belly button ring. The ring gets great laughs in our KSA office. Some don’t believe I have the ring so I have to show them. Question: why don’t people believe I have a belly button ring? While out in the pool I made another discovery. By a wide margin I wear the smallest swimsuit of those at the pool. I don’t prance around in the Speedo but I discretely slip off the walking shorts, shirt, sandals and jump in the pool. While in the pool I also swam freestyle the length of the Olympic pool twice. Better than any Chinese in the pool and I felt good knowing I was swimming like I did back at NSU more than 40 years ago. There is nothing like getting back to shape like I was in college/ university years. Here in KSA I am treated like a king. At the airport I am picked up by a private driver, delivered to the hotel and as I walk in the double wide doors, everyone is smiling and saying, “Welcome back Mr. Newton”. It is good to be the king, at least in someone’s eyes. Lately I have ask a number of friends why so many people are happy to see me. A number of them have said, “Mr. Newton, you are friendly and you talk to everyone; you make everyone feel special.” In the café they come to my usual table with unsweet ice tea and ask me if I need anything else. Next door to the café is the barber shop where I go in every two months, sit there like Sampson know I will lose strength as the gray curly hair is cut and hits the floor. Lord I wish I could have a ponytail like Willy Nelson. Pam has said I could have that pony tail once I put an extra million dollars in the bank with her name on the access card. Lord I am trying. The haircut is not your traditional haircut by any means. First he had no electric clippers; everything is scissors, strait razors, and flaming cotton swabs. Since I now am sporting a beard the procedure is a bit different. He uses the scissors to cut nose hairs, straight razor for the outline, and the flaming cotton swabs are to burn the ear hairs. As you could expect I sit real still in the chair as I think of Samson and what Delilah did to him. To end everything I receive a tremendously effective head, neck and arm massage. He is good very good at massage but I prefer Pam’s more intimate massage but that serves a different purpose. After my evening shower to get all the cut hair off my back and neck I was standing there drying off and looked at the fancy toilet this hotel has. Instead of the spray nozzle I usually see on these Middle East toilets this one had a water sprayer built in to the fixture. I did not need to use the toilet but I thought since I have been in the Middle East for a number of years and I have yet to use the toilet as the native do. Now was the time to at least simulate the procedure. I sat there, put my knees together and reached back to turn on the faucet. No great surprise but the water came fast and cold. Now give this some thought, how do you relax and let the water flow when you are puckered up because of the cold water? I certainly don’t know how this is even possible in the winter. All things considered, I will continue to use Western styled toilet paper, not even the Russian sand paper they call toilet paper. A friend ask me in a message how I liked being in KSA today. My usual response is I am greatly concerned about how women are treated. Especially women if they happen to be beautiful. My nature is to be very protective of women and without a doubt here in the kingdom I am concerned. Many times I have made this trip and I will not have spoken to a woman in a Southern gentlemanly manner the entire time I am here. That is not my nature at all, women are to be honored and respected for who they are. My third or last observation for this chapter 5 of my little Rick’s Café here in KSA is the local news paper. Front page deals with the: Israeli atrocities there in the Gaza Strip, Obama’s dealing with the Iraq situation were the paper noted he did nothing until the Christians and Kurds were attacked, the Ebola outbreak, how the USA is a patsy for the Jewish and Christian communities, the different prices for world oil supplies, sports and would you believe American comic strips. I am very strong in my beliefs about Israel and a lot of Americans don’t agree with me. That is ok; in American we can disagree and still be friends. After having been in Iraq for 18 months in support of US Marines I have a deep appreciation for the Iraq people and disagree with American policy over the past six years, to put it mildly. The Ebola outbreak also hits close to home because I spent the summer of 1973 in Liberia and contracted Malaria while there. Those symptoms are very similar to Ebola so I can identify with what some people are going through. My goodness I love the oil business here in the Middle East. Something exciting is going on all the time and I am in the big middle of it all. Thank God I need a little excitement in my live and it is all around. While here I have made a dramatic life style change for the good by eating right and exercising. Where else can a guy from Louisiana be treated like a king? And last, I have a world perspective for what is going on all around the region. Without a doubt I love my life here and what I am able to do for others.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 19:09:55 +0000
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