Reflections.

Missing the desert.

Greeting the sunrise with a tree yoga pose.

 

Camping.

 

Tree in the Desert.

An expat no longer.

Having left Saudi 10 months ago I am no longer an ex-pat from UK. I’m now in the dilemma of having to stop using this blog and set up a new one or keeping this one as an option to reflect on my 28 years in the Middle East. ???? What to do?

Happy camping days in the desert:)

An expat no more!

It’s now 2 weeks since I arrived back in Scotland. I can’t really believe I won’t be returning to Saudi in a couple of weeks. I have a feeling that after 28 years away it won’t all be plain sailing settling back to everyday life. I know there are quite a few aspects I will miss – a big one being the lovely friends I had, but I am looking forward to having time and opportunity to pursue some of my interests. One huge change will be being able to drive myself anywhere I want. I’m still procrastinating on that one as I haven’t taken courage to drive our new car!

No Love day in Saudi Arabia

As even the most casual interaction between a male and a female who are not related is forbidden in Saudi the idea of Valentines Day is abhorrent to the religious mattawa. The selling of traditional symbols associated with this ‘western’ tradition is banned. With all things banned this leads to those who are willing to take a risk and find ways to still make a sale. Normally, this means that those in the know buy their red roses and heart adorned presents before the sinful 14th of February. Lucky for me, my husband is well in tune with the local idiosyncrasies and arranged with the local flower seller to pick up his 12 individually wrapped red roses on the 13th:)

I know there’s only 9- I had unwrapped 3 before I thought of taking the photo!
The day before the national newspaper the ‘Arab News’ were thoughtful enough to inform us English readers of the upcoming ban on the day of love!
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JEDDAH: Flower shops and gift shops have been asked to remove all red items and heart-shaped gifts until after Valentine’s Day by the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia).
Celebration of the so-called day of love is frowned upon by authorities in the Kingdom.
Every year, Haia officials visit the shops a few days before Valentine’s Day, giving them instructions to remove all goods that have even the slightest hint of red, including roses, chocolate, wrapping paper and stuffed animals.
“We’re used to seeing Haia members a couple of days before Valentine’s Day asking us to put away all red items until after that day,” said Alan, a salesman at a gift shop.
“They also threaten that if we sell even one red rose or gift they will shut the shop down and get all the staff fired.”
Chocolate shops usually manage to make big sales the day before Valentine’s.
“Many young men come in a day before Valentine’s Day and ask for red chocolate boxes for the day of love,” said Hassan, a salesman at a chocolate shop in Rawda Street.
“They ask for heart-shaped chocolates in red heart-shaped boxes. If Haia men saw us selling those kinds of goods, they would stop our business, saying we are encouraging these young lovebirds.”
Members of the commission mobilize on the streets as part of a mission to trap couples who secretly meet in restaurants and cafés.
“I was so furious last year when I was having a romantic dinner at a restaurant in Jeddah. Haia men marched in and grabbed my husband by his arms and cornered him, while I was surrounded by a number of them asking both of us stupid questions,” said Sara Naseem, a 27-year-old college lecturer.
“I was horrified by how they ambushed us and treated us like we were doing something immoral and inappropriate in public.”
The ban on selling red flowers on Valentine’s Day could have a negative effect on profits, according to florist Alex.
“Our annual plan for Valentine’s Day to keep our profit stable is to sell red flowers and gifts from under the counter or behind closed doors,” he said.
“We don’t sell them to everyone, we only make secret deals with trustworthy people or tell open-minded people to keep ourselves safe. We raise the price from SR10 for a red rose to SR30 because it’s the high season for them.”
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! 🙂

Arabic

Having lived in Saudi Arabia for 28 years I can certainly imagine that most people would expect me to have a reasonable knowledge of Arabic. Alas, this is far from true. I have tried and probably know a little more than many of the expats I know. Partly, this is due to the limited possibility of  interaction with the Saudi people. Living as an expat on an expat compound I have no need to use Arabic. When I do venture out and about to go shopping many of the shopkeepers are not actually Arabic  and those that are  are male, which in this very sexually segregated society can lead to a minefield of cultural faux pas, misunderstandings and misconceptions on everyone’s part! As for writing and reading Arabic, mastering a new alphabet and writing system is just too much for most.
A couple of days ago the Year 2 teacher arranged for one of the parents to come into school and show the pupils how to write their names in Arabic. My class was invited to join them.

The children took the experience in their stride and enthusiastically attempted to write their names for themselves, which hadn’t really been expected.
I took the opportunity to have my name written too!

I have a feeling that many of the children will already have mastered their names, admittedly by ‘rote learning’ but I will take an awful lot longer to master it by any means! Hopefully, some of them will keep adding to this and not be as handicapped as their parents and teachers in their time in Saudi.
 

The first goodbye.

2 of these like to climb and had made our archway lovely and green for many years.

With departure day now a reality it was time to find homes for things I won’t be shipping back to UK.  My indoor plants were a priority having nurtured them for many years. Luckily, a new teacher at school was happy to take all 5 of them which made the task much easier than I thought it might have been:) 

This one gave me the most grief. Just when I thought I’d sussed what it liked it would reward me by shedding half it’s leaves!

Swiss cheese plant.

The Swiss Cheese Plant was is the one I feeI most proud of. When I inherited a few years ago it looked on its last legs with 2 very droopy leaves! I think, possibly being next to the humidifier was good for it.

The house definitely looks a lot barer without them, but I’m glad I have found them a home so quickly as not everyone wants the hassle of finding someone to water plants when they go away for 3 or 4 weeks holiday.

 

Off to the desert.

One of the highlights of living in the north of  Saudi Arabia is some of the amazing landscapes that surround me. This past weekend some friends and I set off to explore an area about 1 and a half hours drive away near a very small village called Bajda. Being, Friday morning (the day of the big midday prayer in Islam) not a lot happens and everywhere was very quiet.
Our first stop was to look at some Rock Art that we had found a few months ago. Sadly, they have been added to with the more modern type of graffiti – the spray can!

Old and new rock art!

By this time we were in need of a coffee and cake stop so continued on and into the desert and found a lovely ledge to admire the fantastic panorama around us.

Coffee with a view

Driving along I spotted a desert hyacinth in flower. We stopped to show it to some of the others that hadn’t seen one of these before. They are parasitic plants and certainly seem to be successful as we have seen quite a number of them in various parts of this region.

Pretty, parasitic plant.

Although we were exploring very close to where we had been another time we never know just what we’ll find. Around the next outcrop of rocks we came across a couple of caves. One was inaccessible, but the other warranted a look inside. Not much to see but outside there was an incredibly white crumbly rock- the only one in the whole area. I decided to make this a site for a Geocache.

Incredibly white rock.

Exploring the desert definitely gives you an appetite so our next stop was for lunch. We all enjoyed the gentle winter sun and the feeling that we had the whole place to ourselves. None of us was particularly in a hurry to move on but time was passing so we continued our trip.

Lunch spot

Picking up a previously travelled route we arrived at a huge arch not visited by some of the group.
It was time to head back to the Tarmac road and return home before dark. On the way we drove past a really high sand dune. In fact I’m sure I was told its the biggest in Saudi. People were beginning to gather for a competition to see who could drive to the top. Unfortunately, not being an Arabic speaker, it’s easy to miss out on local events.
We waited for about 10 minutes but nothing started so happy that we’d had a lovely day continued home.

Tim Tam Slam

For some reading this the above title will hold no mystery, but for me I was completely clueless until today. In fact, until I won a packet of Tim Tams in the Australian hamper at the Christmas Fayre I hadn’t even heard of these iconic Ozzie biscuits. Considering there are a considerable number of Australians living on my compound, a few of whom we are very friendly with and one is the secretary at the school where I work, I’m quite amazed how long I’ve been oblivious to their existence. Seemingly, every Brit that encounters them immediately insists they’re just like the UK Penguin biscuit.

Just like a Penguin biscuit?

The Australians then protest- ‘you can’t do a Tim Tam Slam’ with a Penguin’!  When our secretary said this a few days ago we all looked at her blankly- even the 4 teachers who had been to Australia to visit friends and family. Obviously, we needed educating!

This morning a packet of TimTams appeared at Tea Break time and we were introduced to the phenomenon known as the Tim Tam Slam. Rather than go into some long confusing description take a look at Graham Norton being introduced to it by Natalie Imbruglia.

I was amazed to notice that this interview was from 2006! being an ex-pat theres always a lot you miss from home, although now with satellite TV and internet i dont feel as out of touch as i used to.

I can’t say I mastered the technique but at least I didn’t end up with chocolate all over my white blouse!  However, I don’t think I’ll become a regular ‘slammer’, as I enjoy savouring my biscuits in numerous bites. As for if you can do a slam with Penguin- let me know the next time you have one. Here in Saudi we can’t buy them so we’re awaiting the next member of staff going to Britain to bring back  enough Penguins so we can give it a try!

Don’t mention the C word!

Most people know that Saudi is a Moslem country but I’m not sure that many know that Islam is the only religion that is allowed. That means that all things related to any other religion is against the law and in the past I have known people who have had bibles confiscated at customs. When Christmas time approaches the religious men, matouaya, become super vigilant in case any shops start to sell anything connected to the upcoming holiday. Imagine my surprise to find these gift bags in the supermarket the other day when I went shopping!