Well I can hardly believe I am into week 4 of 12 of my Saudi Arabian adventure. As eluded to previously Visas are a big annoyance to most expats here. For me or any expat, without an Igama (permanent residency permit), you are required to leave the country every 30 days to have what is known as a Visa reset. For guys that have been doing it for a while, some choose to simply fly to Dubai, or drive to Bahrain (about 4 hours’ drive from here) – have a quick beer, turnaround and either fly or drive home. For me Dubai has always been on my bucket list and this visa requirement allows me to stroke this item off my list. I leave on March 13 and return on the 15th. I am staying in a hotel close to the airport because: one, I like airports and watching planes, and two, it is very close to the metro line which can take you to most places in the city without the need to find a cab – though rumor has it they are cheap and you can hire one for a spell to tour you around. One of the touristy things I’m looking forward to is visiting the Burj Kalifa (world’s tallest freestanding structure) and visiting the observation deck on the 124th floor (of 160), among other attractions, including having a drink with dinner! While the flight is cheap at approx. $125 all in, the other costs are in line with what we would spend at home. People have suggested I stay in the world’s only 7 star hotel (Burj Al Arab) but at about $2,300/night a little too rich for my budget.
On a different topic, I was forewarned about this, but I do miss the company of women. As you know women are 2nd class citizens in this country and must be covered up at all times with most still wearing the niqab. Ironically though when walking thru the mall there are both Victoria’s Secret and La Senza outlets to stock up on the lingerie that no one will see. The nasty rumor here that I wish I could verify is that with the heat here a lot of women wear only their scivies underneath (men with the predominantly white thawb don’t have that option). While I see and chat often with the wives of our guys and others in the compound, you miss going to a restaurant and not being segregated or just being in places where men and women congregate together. Women are very subservient to men as well – coming out of a grocery store it was me and a Saudi woman approaching the door at the same time, and as a courtesy we would do with anyone at home, I offered her to go first (as she was pushing a shopping cart and I was not), I had to really insist (with hand signals due to language) and re-iterate to her several times that she was welcome to go first. Despite being well into my first month I still can’t get over seeing women all covered up in black. The picture below I think represents the embodiment of women in this society, or like the antithesis of what we used to say about well-behaved children – should be seen but not heard. Here they can’t ‘really’ be seen.
This is not a camera fault - what you are seeing is the ad banner in a shop window at a women’s clothing store - and the faces are deliberately 'pixeled' out. There is hope though – the younger generation, with increased exposure to the internet, social media and other information sources are quietly putting insidious pressure on the Kingdom to liberalize the current standard here. This can be seen in many younger Saudi women who choose not to cover their faces with the niqab though still wearing abaya. Driving and the other freedoms women take for granted in our country will take time and when it will change is anyone’s guess. Some guys speculate that there will be a revolution here as a result the question being - peaceful or violent? Though I haven’t read it, apparently the Holy Qur’an makes no such restrictions on women – only that men and women should not wear tight fitting clothing (forget those Lulu lemon pants that are popular with women at home). So a cultural interpretation of the Qur’an is the only explanation I have. Sometimes these annoyances really get to you, and why I am looking forward to a function at the Canadian embassy where, as mentioned, I can have real booze, but also mix and talk with other Canadians (hopefully women) to quench these thirsts. Get your mind out of the gutter – I say conversation only – though a Canadian single women who has a taste for adventure (why else would she be here?) just might be the ticket.
OK that’s my rant out of the way – lets’ get back to stories – and if you noted the title of this blog Going Saudi I have officially adopted the Saudi dress code – namely as noted – the thawb that men wear. Here is your first (and only) Arabic lesson (and unlike previous post where I spelled phonetically this is the correct English spelling and Arabic):
Thawb (ثَوب) – the long usually white ‘gown’ worn by men;
Tagiyah ( طاقية)– the white beanie cap worn on your head;
Agal (عقال)– the two black straps that sit on our head
Shemagh ((شماغ) – the red scarf thing on your head – white is ghutrah (غُترَة).
As for the Arabic – I apologize if I didn’t get it right – I went to Wikipedia and copied it – the best I could do given my understanding (which is zilch).
While I sometimes complain about the restrictions in this society sometimes I get the same uncomfortable feeling about Canada as well. For example one of the guys here printed off a news wire thing about another anachronistic decision from the big heads (note I say head not brains) at the CRTC. Apparently porn channels available in Canada do not meet the 35% Canadian content standards, and the 90% closed captioning requirement (as noted in this article) for its various “oohs” and “ahhs”. There’s a world of material in there that I will choose not to touch (pun intended).
This thawb is made of fine, thin cotton and while I decided on the priest collar (something wrong with that statement in this Muslim land), covered buttons and open cuff. There are various options available in terms of color (white is predominant), collars, cuff, etc. Underneath you wear, as I’m sure all the dirty minds are wondering, regular gitch, T-shirt, and fine cotton white pants with elastic waist (basically white pajama bottoms). I love it quite frankly – how I look I will let you decide – but like a lot of things – I don’t care!
One unexpected benefit in my change of dress is the attraction I have created amongst the Saudi’s here; I have local guys that I never met stopping by my cubicle to check out the white guy out in the thawb! Good news, I am happy to report, is that everyone is appreciative of my respect for their ways, and love that I have adopted their local dress code. Even one of the VP's of the company, that is on our floor, had to come and check me out and was all smiles and thumbs up. People also come around to have their pictures taken of me: celebrity Saudi style! Given that everyone has a smart phone here I am probably the poster boy of what real white guys should do in Middle East by now. While I do not wear it around the compound I wear it everywhere – though the guys say that if I wear it to the Cdn Embassy – they don’t know me, and they probably won’t let me in. The first day we came home the security dude that lets us in the compound was hesitant to open the gate but let me pass. That said I do go international most times and implement legacies of my past MHI assignments – as I will wear the lungi (loon-gee) which I got in India in 2002. Again while strange in the compound outside not so uncommon as the majority of the service and construction work force are Indian, Pakistani’s, or Bangledeshen`s.
Me, being as graceful as a German jazz band, had my first ‘incident’ - the agal (the black straps) on top of your head doesn’t fit firmly on top as I had anticipated, merely sits loosely on top of it. So I went for lunch that just happened to be beef stew that day which I ordered, sitting at the table I reach for a napkin and poof the Agal falls off, into the stew and splashes on my beautiful white thawb. Good news – the stain came out when I washed it that night, and with the shemagh being as long as it is, I was able to flip it in front which covered my clumsiness.
As with many things I realize now that two or more thawbs are a necessity as you wear one and have one in or back from the muswgal (laundry) so I have a clean, pressed thawb at the ready. The muswgal is inexpensive as well – I dropped off my shemagh and thawb to the dude close to the compound for just a press – done within the hour and only 4 SR ($1.20).
With that item off our list it was a quick visit to the museum that outlined not only the early, prehistoric days of the region but also a significant section devoted to the Prophet Mohammed’s entry into the scene at around 650AD. I say quick as it is something to visit on another day when there is time to absorb all the artifacts within. I am fascinated with the Muslim faith given its prominence, unfortunately for the wrong reasons, in the world today. I had watched a 3 part series on PBS about the Prophet Mohammed and was fascinated with the story and how different it is from the side we hear on the news. No need to worry about my imminent conversion though – as a confirmed agnostic I could not believe in this or any other faith/religion as they all have one thing in common – they all have somewhere in their doctrine where the believer must take a leap of faith, that you must accept as true. For the Christians it’s that JC rose from the dead, Mormons’ it’s that Joseph Smith actually received those revelations from God over his lifetime. For Muslims it is that Mohamed was the messenger of God and also got messages from God in the cave he visited often to meditate that overlooked the city. There are some quirks to the religion, at least locally, that I find fascinating. Gold for example is not worn by Saudi men, and do not wear jewelry except for their wedding bands. Me with my two diamond stud earrings is an oddity and as told to me by the main guy in our finance team, Khaled, is treated with suspicion by men. I asked if I should not wear them he said it wouldn’t hurt to remove but also clarified by noting that as a westerner they are more tolerant of the jewelery worn. My last religious note, I am disappointed to report, is that as an infidel I will never see the Kaaba in Mecca (the holiest of the holy's in the Muslim faith) as only Muslims are allowed inside (how they tell I don't know). Pictures are the best I will be able to do (the link below contains images of the Kaaba.
Afterwards it was time for lunch - so keeping with the Saudi lifestyle we just adopoted (though Antoine decided to change back to his western dress after the fitting) we left the decision up to Ahmed to choose a place to eat - the only requirement being that it had to be Saudi style. Good to his word he found a great place that had an open garden and traditional Saudi sitting area's that ringed around it.
Afterwards it was time for lunch - so keeping with the Saudi lifestyle we just adopoted (though Antoine decided to change back to his western dress after the fitting) we left the decision up to Ahmed to choose a place to eat - the only requirement being that it had to be Saudi style. Good to his word he found a great place that had an open garden and traditional Saudi sitting area's that ringed around it.
With so much to do and see the work weeks seem so long. This working for a living is not what it is cracked up to be. I look forward to my weekend in Dubai next week.
A wonderful new adventure everyday
So little time yet so much to say
A wonderful new adventure everyday
So little time yet so much to say
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