Bon Voyage and coconut shells

August 18, 2009

Anticipating passport/visa material in the mail today.

I'm getting a bon voyage party in a couple weeks. I've sent out a wish list of books and videos to my friends, partly to forestall receiving a well-meaning slew of gag gifts that would simply be confiscated at customs in Riyadh.

In return, I've decided to make an open offer for friends to come and loot my house (still to be rented) of any item that is not nailed down or otherwise needed by whoever rents the joint. The deal is they can have use of the item for a year at which point I either return to reclaim it or, if I'm holed up in a hostage camp, they get to keep it.

Some of the items include:

• golf clubs
• bikes
• stuffed gorilla
• 35mm camera
• tripod
• coconut shell bra

The coconut shell item was spoken for quickly, as one can well imagine.

Da shippin' news

August 17, 2009

I'm going through my punch list (as the realtors say) and knocking down items.

Renting the house is still top on the list, but there's only so much I can do on that front.

Figuring out how to ship my clothes and misc. belongings for a year's stay overseas is still a bit of a puzzlement. Hundreds of people do this every day so there must be some standard way or ways to accomplish the task.

I now have several very good options for keeping my car out of trouble for a year. In adddition to saving about $1,300 in gas, I can save $800 in insurance. I may also be able to get something back for deregistering the car with the state.

And now I've got to call into the Superior Court to see about jury duty. I'm thinking I'll get a pass on that.


Update
Aug. 18, 2009:

Checklist

August 14, 2009

The clock is really ticking now. My checklist of things to do includes:

• Getting a new USB drive and wireless mouse for my laptop (done)
• Cancelling the newspaper (done)
• Changing the electric company service (APS) to autopay and equalized monthly billing (done)
• Having a long involved and probably painful discussion with my all-in-one telecoms provider (Qwest) to see what phone, Internet and satellite TV services I can get rid of
• Car insurance options (done)
• Car storage options -- currently I'm debating either (a) just parking it in a guest space at the townhouse complex here and removing insurance for a year, (b) taking advantage of a friend's offer to park it in other unused side of her 2-car garage, but leaving the insurance coverage so she can borrow it when needed. (in progress)
• Obtain shipping information for my belongings to KSA
• Re-instating my home warranty policy from Old Republic
• Developing a wish list of books and DVDs that friends may (or may not) want to send me off with (done)
• Deciding whether to go and have immunizations. This is not strictly necessary but I'm sure it's a good idea. It's another sizeable expense though.

and the biggie:

• arranging for my house rental

Da plane, da plane!

August 13, 2009

Received a call from the Saudi embassy in Washington this morning: they are having my plane ticket -- undoubtedly an e-ticket -- issued and will be sending my passport back to me shortly.

Apparently the plane-change from United to Saudia at Dulles will be only an hour so they're advising that I'll have to hustle to make the flight.

In other news, my tennis friends are planning a going-away party for the end of August...or maybe it's a good-riddance party.

This group has been getting together for tennis every Monday night for at least 8 years and there have been only a couple nights per year that we failed to play. We've played in the 110-degree heat of summer and the 55-degree coolness of winter, wearing parkas and gloves. We've had ski trips, hiking adventures, wilderness campouts, holiday parties, Super Bowl parties, dances, bike hikes, BBQs, art walks, movie outings, outdoor concerts, TV-night dinners, water volleyball and group trips to Mexico.

Participants come and go; the group remains.

(pic above from 2003, I'm 3rd from left in white ball cap)

*The title of this piece, for non-American readers, is a famous catchphrase from the 1978-1984 TV show, "Fantasy Island." The character "Tatoo" opened the show each episode by ringing a bell and calling out "Da plane! Da plane!"

Visa has been issued

August 11, 2009

Message from the Saudi protocol officer in Washington:

Your visa has been issued, and I am currently working on your tickets so I can send them all together.

I've been busy the past few days advising friends and family about my Saudi adventure. Many of these are people who should have been been brought into the picture a month ago, but the uncertainties associated with the visa process made it difficult. For one thing, informing the department at Arizona State University that I won't be able to do either class I typically teach means that I'm completely off the list if the Saudi adventure doesn't pan out.

I have to say that, to a person, everyone I've told about this has been very encouraging and for the most part actually thrilled. This could just mean they're glad to get rid of my pesky self.

Woo hoo!

August 6, 2009

I just got an e-mail from the SACM saying that my degree has been authenticated, the package is complete and is being forwarded to the Embassy to get the visa issued. At that point, the airplane ticket can be issued.

I'm counting this a (provisional) success.

Visa requirements -- all done? Maybe

August 3, 2009

Woohoo...I received the last vital piece of information I needed -- the "visa block number" --from the Ministry of Labor to the IPA that allows me to complete the visa application package.

What's aggravating about this piece of information is that it is not referenced, as such, in any of the documents outlining visa requirements. Apparently it's item #4 on the list: "A reference note showing the number and date of the residence visa issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

Now, how you get from that description to "visa block number" is a mystery so naturally I wouldn't have known to even ask for such a thing. In fact, it would have seemed to be a typical chicken-and-egg situation: How could one know the residence visa number until one had received the visa? And you can't get the visa until you have the number.

One thing that is no problem acquiring is various enumerations of requirements. Nearly every time I call and manage to get through to someone at the consulate or cultural mission in DC, they want to send me a list of requirements. And each time I patiently explain that it's not the list of requirements I need...it's an explanation of the requirements.

So, having received the crucial visa block number, and having my visa application package all put together ahead of time, I hustled over to the local US Post Office and got everything certified-mailed to the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM) in Washington. This included an express-mail return envelope for my passport. I'm a bit nervous about not having my passport available, not because I might have to travel somewhere, but because I have no idea how long it will be in the hands of the SACM or whether they might lose it. As it happens, my university transcripts were sent twice, and, as you'll see, had to be sent a third time.

The good news about the U.S. Postal Service is that -- believe it or not -- the whole process only took me 11 minutes, and that includes having the agent look up the SACM zip code. Total cost: $22.45.

I called the SACM person the next day who advised she had received the package...however it appears the medical report was missing the doctor's official stamp with their medical license and the consulate had not verified my university degrees yet.

It so happens that the doctor's office doesn't just have a stamp with their license on it, but the SACM protocol officer advised that any "stamp" with their name and address would do. Of course the doctor's office was closed for lunch at that time, but I have to give them kudos for stepping up when I got ahold of them at 1pm . By now most of the office staff were probably aware of my Saudi plans and they knew how expensive this was gettting for me. The office manager got their address stamp, stamped some stationery, scanned it and e-mailed it off to the SACM within an hour, with a "cc" to me. No charge.

Next stop, the consulate office that verifies and validates the university degree(s). Sure enough, they did not have the 2nd set of documents that Gannon University (my master's degree institution) had sent on July 10. The problem seems to have been that the consulate likes to get all their information at one time from one source. That is, they want me to get the transcripts and then re-mail to their office. At the time, I thought it would be simplest to just have the two universities (B.A, U. of Dayton, M.A., Gannon U.) send official documents directly. The consulate had agreed to that.

Big mistake.

Apparently they don't have a system for keeping track of documents. The Univ. of Dayton documents never did get found. The first Gannon Univ. documents were sent back to Gannon with a sticky note saying "This student is not a Saudi-sponsored student" even though there was a cover letter. The university was sharp enough to call me and let me know that, and that's when I had them send another official document, this time to the specific attention of the person who needed to verify the degree.

In the meantime, I had to persuade him that the university doesn't have a copy of the "diploma" per se, in their archives. They have official transcripts, etc. but I couldn't even tell you where my actual "diploma" is. I still have my high school diploma, but that's just because I happened to find it in an old trunk a few years ago. Anyway, the consulate agreed to waive the diploma and was willing to accept the official sealed transcript. At the same time, I needed to have the National Student Clearinghouse Association verify my degree ($6.50) and send that info to the consulate, along with a cover letter authorizing them to verify the information...and a copy of my passport. Of course my passport was already in the hands of their counterparts at the SACM, so they were willing to waive that requirement.

We agreed that I would ask Gannon Univ. to overnight another official transcript, to the specific attention of the person verifying. At first he wanted to have Gannon send me the transcript, which I would then turn around and mail to him, with the other information that I had on hand. But I pointed out that that could add another 5 days to the process, what with the weekend coming up. And (I reckoned) what's to stop them from losing something from me any more than something from the university. I also figured that with overnight delivery, everything would be fresh in his mind and he could be looking for it.

I made another long distance call to Gannon asking them to overnight the transcripts to the consulate. They were very cooperative and I almost had Theresa convinced to accept some tasty Lake Erie perch as payment (from my brother, who lives there) but we eventually settled on a $25 shipping and handling fee...considering they had sent out two for free.

August 4, 2009

I got an e-mail from the SACM advising me to fill out an airline ticket application form. Fortunately, I had made the plane reservation a couple months ago so I had that information handy. However, as typical with Saudi forms, there was an item that wasn't completely clear: they wanted a "confirmation number," whereas since I hadn't confirmed the flight yet, all I had was a "reservation number." I called the airline the next day (since they were closed at 2pm, Phoenix time), confirmed that the numbers are the same thing, and e-mailed the form.

The only thing now is that the SACM, which is the agency that actually obtains the ticket, pays for it and sends it to me, must complete the transaction by Monday, Aug. 10 at 5pm. And, of course, they can't do that until they have verified university credientials so that they can complete the visa approval.

August 6, 2009

I received a timely email today saying that the consulate received the transcripts. As arranged, I e-mailed the other documentation he needed (the Degree-Verify doc and a copy of my job offer). Shortly thereafter, he confirmed that he received those and had completed his verification process.

At this point, the SACM should have everything they need to issue the visa and get the airplane ticket.

This morning, I felt confident enough that the visa would come through in time that I informed the woman who rents a room that she may need to move in a month. Alternatively, if I find a 2nd renter willing to take the major part of the house, where I currently reside, she can stay. She can even help approve the newcomer.

With the housing market being in some disarray in Phoenix -- as everywhere -- it's hard to know how this will all work out. My townhouse is a wonderful place to live, with a two-car garage, pool and jacuzzi, patio, access to public transportation and two freeways...yet set back in a quiet cul de sac. Still, people are not flocking to the Valley of the Sun in droves and there are lots of housing options. So this all remains a concern.