Ladies Only

Some shopping malls here in KSA have ladies only floors. As the name indicates, they are floors where only women are allowed. Last week I had chance to visit one ladies floor in the center of Riyadh. There was a guard at the bottom of the stairs and once you enter you are asked to take off your face cover.

What are the security concerns that the sign refers to? After all... most Saudi ladies walk around with their faces covered at all times and it's not a security problem. Well yes, but if you don't take off your face cover on the ladies floor then you might be a man disguised as a woman! No joke, apparently some men sneak onto ladies floors to get glimpses of those forbidden female faces.

On the ladies floor most women do indeed take off their face cover. It was an interesting to actually SEE Saudi women for the first time after coming to KSA. I guess taking off your face cover also makes it easier to approach people because as soon as I entered a lady approached me asking where I am from etc. That was my first ever contact with a local woman. She wished me a nice stay in Saudi Arabia.

Cacophony

I(K) read somewhere that the recommendation in the Quran is that no one should need to walk more than 800m to their place of worship – i.e. the closest mosque. I'm not sure if it's true or not, but based on the cacophony of prayer calls that we hear at prayer time it very well could be.

There are at least three mosques in the immediate vicinity of our compound. And when I say immediate vicinity I am not exaggerating because the closest one is right on the other side of the compound wall. There are five prayer calls per day. It’s interesting that every time it’s prayer time you can hear it already from afar even if the mosque closest to us is a few minutes late with the call. You hear this cacophony of calls starting somewhere in the distance getting closer and closer as each mosque starts the call.

The first prayer, or "salat" as it’s called in Arabic, is at around 4AM and the four others during waking hours. The last one is at around 8PM every day and the most important prayer is on Fridays. So Friday afternoons the mosques actually broadcast the whole sermon and if you sit outside during that time it sounds a bit like the imam would be commenting a football match, only it comes from every direction at once so you can’t make any words out (not that we’d understand anything even if we could).

For some reason we’ve been waking up almost every night lately when the closest mosque starts the 4AM call. Maybe they have a new imam who wants to make sure everyone wakes up so he’s turned the volume up a bit?

To finish up, here’s a picture of a roadside mosque that we saw a few days ago

Fitting Rooms – or lack thereof

The first few days here in KSA I (K) was going around a shopping mall trying to find a shop with a fitting room. Shop assistants kept telling me to buy the item and take it to the ladies toilet to try it on. Since I’ve yet to discover a shopping mall with western toilets (squat style seems to be preferred here) and considering that most toilet floors seemed to be flooded I didn’t think that was such a great idea. Add the abaya that almost touches the floor to the flooded floors and squat toilets and you get the picture.

So what do you do then? Well you buy the item, take it home and hold your fingers crossed that it’s the right size. If it’s not, then most shops will let you take the item back within three days and get your money back, or then go and exchange the size to another within seven days. If you exchange it, then you cross your fingers and go home again to try it on, all the while hoping for the best.

But, upon closer inspection, it’s now become apparent that at least in some shopping malls there are separate fitting rooms in the toilets. So you actually don’t have to deal with the flooded floor and squat toilet seat while trying on your Coco Chanel pants (… it pays to dream big right?). You still have to buy the item but you can return or exchange it right away if the size is wrong. Apparently some shops also arrange an unofficial fitting room for you if you ask, all the while keeping an eye out for any approaching muttawa.

Abaya Liquid

Wondering what this is for.

Sandstroms and Thunderstorms

Prior to arriving in KSA, I (K) thought that the weather in Riyadh is always hot and sunny between March and November. It’s quickly becoming clear that this is not the case at all. Most days it’s been sunny and warm, but a few days ago we had a sandstorm and last night we had a major thunderstorm. At around 4AM (at the same time with the first prayer calls) it started raining. It’s been raining more or less since then. On other days, I’ve had to turn on the air conditioning because it’s been quite warm outside. Today I am wondering if we’ll have to turn on the heating because the temperature’s dropped down to 18C, and seems to be falling still. Here’s a picture of one of the compound cats trying to stay dry. Poor thing, it must not be used to this kind of cold and wet weather.

Sandy Burgers?

We're supposed to go to a BBQ party tomorrow. Not sure if it will happen if this sandstorm doesn't stop. No idea how long these usually last, hope not too long. Here are a few photos taken just before sunset when the storm hit Riyadh.

Water Guys

In our compound it’s not possible to drink tap water. We order water in 5 gallon containers that are delivered to our doorstep. T had inherited some pre-paid water coupons from his predecessor. So we figured why not use them. The water is delivered on Tuesdays, so today I (K) stayed at home and waited for the water guys to come and exchange the empty containers to full ones. There was some confusion because we didn’t know our customer number, which is supposed to be written on the coupons. All we could find was a phone number for Ahmed. We decided to live on the edge and forget about the phone call to Ahmed and not write any number on the coupons and see what happens. The trick was that we had three empty containers, but we only wanted two new ones. So this is the conversation with the two water guys that followed:

K: Hello.
WG1: Uh.
WG2: You not live here before. Live another place.
K: No, no we didn’t, we’ve moved here now.
(guys taking 2 out of 3 empty containers, K trying to give them the third empty container.)
WG1: No. Coupon!
K: Huh?
WG1: Coupon! (pointing at the third empty container)
K: No no, we only need two new ones. We don’t need more water.
WG1: Coupon! Coupon!
K: No but I just want to give you the third one. We only need two for now.
WG1: Coupon! (holding the coupon for K to see)
K: Ok, so do you need a third coupon just to take the empty one away?
WG1: Yes.
K: Ok, just a moment. (K goes inside to get a coupon, already knowing that they don’t need a third one to take the empty one away, just wanting to get rid of the empty container since it takes up space)
K: (handing over the coupon) Here you go.
(WG2 brings a third full container to doorstep.)
K: No no, look, we are happy with two. We don’t need the third one. Only two.
WG2: No need more?
K: No need more.
WG1 and 2 look at each other, although I don’t think they are able to communicate with each other, I can just feel them thinking: “Why didn’t she say so in the first place?”
WG2: We come back Tuesday.
K: Ok, you come back Tuesday. Thank you! (K rolls the containers inside, wonders what kind of a discussion will follow next week if the customer number is indeed needed for the coupons and they just didn't notice it missing this time.)

Customs Office

Our very modest four card board boxes that were supposed to leave our country of origin 5 days before K's departure have yet to arrive in KSA. It's not like there isn't freight being flown between Europe and the Middle East on a daily basis. On the contrary, I know for a fact that European goods are arriving in the Kingdom every day. If you are now wondering how I know this, I can reveal that we have the option of buying European produced yogurt at the closest Carrefour. (No, T and I do not buy that yogurt since we feel our carbon footprint is big enough as it is.)

So what is it with the clothes, running shoes and the ice cream machine that is taking so long then? Well it's the customs office. Since T still doesn't have a residence permit the customs office doesn't really understand why he should be able to receive any stuff here in KSA. Their view is that since T's stay here is only temporary (little do they know) then why should he be able to make his own ice cream and wear his clothes anyways? Hopefully we will get the paperwork sorted out in the next few days so that we can finally get the ice cream machine from the customs. 

Oh, and rumor has it that the all-important paper that T has been waiting for for 5 and a half months now that would get his business visa converted into a residence permit has now been signed by the prince. This is yet to be confirmed though. We will believe it when we see it.

Running around in an abaya ?

A friend sent a facebook message the other day asking how things are going here in KSA and whether or not I'm (K) running around the city in an abaya. The answer is yes and no. Let's take the yes first.



Yes, I am going around town in an abaya. All women are required to wear an abaya whenever outside of a compound. The abaya is a long black robe designed to cover the female curves. Saudis I’ve seen around in shopping malls cover their hair and face as well. Most Saudi women only leave their eyes uncovered. Foreigners are not required to cover their hair or face, unless you happen to run into an eager muttawa.

I should mention that the abaya is not uncomfortable at all. Sure, it’s not something that I’d normally wear, but it’s loose and doesn’t restrict your movements at all. It’s not hot at all inside because the air-conditioning seems to be on max in just about every shopping mall. In fact, the other day at Ikea I was hoping I’d worn a bit more underneath it because it was quite cold inside. Outside it’s a bit warm, but then again sitting at the compound pool today I was a bit warm in a summer skirt. There is no need to spend any time outside in the abaya. The only time you need to spend outside wearing it, is walking from your car to a shop or vice versa.

Then to the no part. I'm not running around the city because there is no public transportation at all. That’s none. Nada. The only way to move around the city is by car and distances are so big that it’s not really possible to walk. So far I’ve seen three pedestrians. People you see outside are clearly waiting for rides, they are not walking anywhere.

Muttawa – first sighting

T's been in KSA for almost six months now and hasn't seen any muttawas so far, or at least hasn't realized having seen one. For those of you who are not sure what I'm referring to, muttawa is the infamous PVPV, aka “religious police”. You can read more about the muttawa here if you are interested.

Last night T and I ventured out to Ikea, to buy some Scandinavian designed dishes, bookshelves and alcohol free cider. As it started getting quite late, we decided to go and stuff ourselves with some Swedish meatballs. As we were walking out from the Ikea restaurant, we saw a muttawa and a policeman walking in. T's guess was that they came to check that the restaurant really closed since it was almost time for prayers. (In KSA businesses close for the duration of prayers, that's normally three times during business hours.)

I was of expecting to receive a lecture about not wearing a headscarf. I had one in my bag because on my first day here in KSA, the Australian lady who helped me pick out an abaya told me that I should always carry a scarf with me, just incase a muttawa asks me to cover my hair. (They can ask non-Moslems to cover their hair. To get rid of the muttawa the easiest thing to do is cover your hair and just take the scarf off as soon as they are gone.) I was surprised that this muttawa could not care less about my hair showing. He didn't give me a second glance although he saw me a few times in the shop after we’d left the restaurant.

Shopping

Last night we ventured out to a big shopping mall to buy some very important stuff, like a grill for example. I have to say that shopping malls all around the world look alike. There's no escaping Benetton or H&M, no matter where in the world you are.

The only thing different about this particular shopping mall were the people we saw walking around. With the exception of hubby, everyone was wearing either white or black. Yes, you guessed right, I was wearing black, as were all the other women in the mall. All men (with the exception of the sales clerks who were wearing uniforms) were wearing white thobes. I’ve seen some malls in the Arab world before, but I have to admit that the contrast was a bit extreme for a first time Saudi mall visitor like me.

Touchdown

Yes, you guessed it. It's been a long wait but the five month wait finally paid off today in the morning when I(K) landed in Riyadh. I was concentrating so hard on looking like this was the millionth time I landed in Saudi (appearance is everything!) that I completely forgot to do my victory dance. Oh well, next time then.

I've already bought my very first abaya. You might have guessed that it's black and long. I was actually about to get one that would have showed a bit of ankle but a fellow shopper (Australian I suspect) told me that it's not a smart idea to get one that is too short because I'll get told off if a muttawa sees me flashing my ankles.

Not quite there yet...

So, sometimes things just don't work out the way they are supposed to. Take for example today. I (K) was supposed to be sitting in an airplane around 6PM on my way to Riyadh. I've been quite ill the entire week and yesterday with hubby's encouragement I went to see a doctor. It turned out that I have sinusitis (again) and an ear infection.

Based on the doctor's recommendation, and the fact that I'd like to hold on to my eardrums and hearing, hubby and I decided that the land of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (that is the formal name of his majesty the king, I kid you not!) could wait a few more days. So here I am, waiting for the antibiotics to start kicking in and my ear to get better so that I could fly. My new ETA on al-Saud land is Mon morning 6AM.

I just might have to do a little victory dance when I get there.