Dress Code in Saudi

I've been here a little over a week and today, during a shopping trip at IKEA, experienced my first encounter with a Mutawa representative.  Now, a Mutawa'een is a member of the Saudi Religious Police.  They usually wear a shorter white thobe, sandals, a long scragely beard, and a  head scarf (gutra).  Their job is to make sure that people are following the religious mandate, that they pray during prayer and that all are covered properly.  So, here I was, in line at the register at IKEA, with Worth and the kids when, low and behold, prayer time was here.  This meant that ALL registers closed, that ALL IKEA employees disappeared and that ALL customers either stood in line waiting for prayer time to be over or left their shopping carts and left the store.  We needed our stuff so we just stood in line waiting for check outs to reopen.  After a few minutes of this, I just decided to go back in the store and browse while Worth and the kids stayed at the register.  I'm walking toward the back of the store and start up a conversation with another French speaker I had overheard..She was from Lebanon and were chatting when we heard somebody in Arabic talking...  I turn around and here is a Mutawa'een, walking toward the back of the store as well.  You should have seen me...I was wearing my abaya but quickly grabbed my scarf and pulled it over my hair!  The other lady was not wearing hers and did not have any.  As we just were the two of us, the Mutawa'een let us be and did not address us..Actually he is not allowed to address women and as Westerner, I probably will never have to worry about it...  But, a few steps in front of us were a Western couple.  The lady's hair were not covered...So the Mutawa'een looked at her, pointed to her husband, pointed to the woman and made the gesture to cover up!  Obviously she was very quick to follow suit!  For once, I was glad to have my black scarf handy!

So, let's talk about dress code. 

To go anywhere by car, I need to wear the Abaya and I usually have my scarf handy too.  In the morning, from the house to school ( a quick 5 minute drive) I wear the Abaya.  Once at school I can take it off.  Underneath, I've been wearing a professional get-up of dress slacks and dress shirt everyday.  However, because the school is split between what you could call two city blocks, when I go to the K-3 area, I need to leave the school ground and thus have to wear my abaya between one part of the school and the K-3 area.  It's kind of a hassle to have to remember to put it on, but it's also a sign of respect toward the Saudi culture.
To go back home, there goes the Abaya again.  If we need to go to the store/mall/Ikea/souk/anywhere in public, I need to wear the abaya and always have a scarf handy...just in case of a Mutawa encounter.

Just to talk Fashion, an abaya is not just a piece of black cloth...Mine is black with some embroidered design on the sleeves and back.  Some are totally black, others more intricate and like all clothing they can range from very cheap to very expensive.  I've seen older girls wearing abayas with TinkerBell embroidered on the back.  It looks like teenage girls like to express some individuallity through their abaya and those tend to be more colorful around the sleeves...
The first time we went to the Mall, I wore my abaya and had my scarf loosely around my neck.  I felt like everybody was watching us.  Emma and Alex were holding my hands and it seems that all the women (who for the most part wear a hijab or full burka) were looking at me.  I think I even saw kids point at us.  It was strange to stand out so much!  As a social and cultural experiment, I think one day I'm gonna try and wear the burka..to see what it is like and what the world looks like underneath all that!
That would be the subject of another post though!

Fore play.

I had a very active week.

This is our first week with students and I got a chance to meet them for the first time. And....it was a six day workweek. One weekend a month we will have to work on a Thursday (re: Saturday) and this was that weekend. The students stayed until 12:15 and then we have professional development until 2:30. Most of the teachers from the west then went to the hash. We walked in the same area as lastime but through a different part of the wadi (dry river bed). I had an nice talk with some other new hashers and the walk was easier this time with less up and downs over terrain that would give under your feet. There was one major climb that took a good 5-10 minutes depending on your fitness level but overall I thought it was easier than the first hash I partcipated in.

Today I had the chance to go play GOLF!!!! A man who lives in the compound and his wife who was only visiting for 4 days invited me to play golf with them at Dirab Golf Club. Nico and his lovely wife were gracious hosts and very good company. Even more amazing was that they were willing to take me considering she was only here to visit Nico for four days. I am very humbled by the fact that they were willing to spend some of their precious time with me.

Dirab www.dirabgolf.com/ is an 18 hole facility that is about 45 minutes from our compound.

It is a par 72 course and is a very nice facility with several interesting holes. There is a good bit of elevation change and you can bet that when the wind blow that this course is very difficult. I can't say that I know what type of grass they use but it was quite tighly grown and had very little grain. There was one bermuda grass green that was absolutly terrible but I have to admit that was the only putt of any length I made all day.

The course has a wonderful practice range and you can see there is the logo of the club on the back of the range on the hill. Apparently at night there is a lighted display behind the facility and there are light standards on the back nine for nighttime golf!!

Next week is the Saudi Arabia Amature golf championship and I am giving strong conideration to playing. The cost would be the equivlant to two rounds and they would acutally give us three rounds and goodies for particiupating in the tournament. I would seriously doubt that I have any chance to win considering I only played the course once and that was the only time I have played in 5 weeks. But I did knock the rust off and it has done wonders for my spirits. This place would be a great place to play often but when the family gets here there will be other things to do so a memberhips doesn't really make any sense. But if I can play once a month or so, it would be a geat thing and I am pretty sure Chris wouldn't mind that too much at all. After all we are here for new experiences and I intend to find them rather than 'just play golf'. Golf will always be my first outdoor love and the great thing about the game is that it is always there waiting for me.

Waiting Game

Today is October 6th...Unbelievably, Worth left 4 weeks ago and we still have not received our papers in order to apply for our visas...so we are playing the waiting game.  This past weekend we spent a few days in North Louisiana at Tante Elaine's house and played tourists in Shreverport and Bossier.   We did some shopping at the BoardWalk Shopping center and enjoyed the fountains.  Also went through an Science museum where Emma and Alex were able to touch, feel, jump and spin through various science set ups.  They enjoyed it a bunch and Elaine and I were just running back and forth between them calling us "Come see this, it's so cool!"

Last week, Alex went on a classfieldtrip to the New Orleans Aquarium, as the jumpstart to his unit of study.  It was great that he had the chance to do this, on his last day at the Lab School, but he will not have a chance to do the unit of study on Ocean Ecosystems with his friends. 

This afternoon, although it's a little early in the month, we carved a Jack-o-Lantern in a pumpkin that Aunt Lindy brought back from South Dakota for the children.  It was 91 degrees outside, with 85 % humidity and infested with mosquitoes...I guess a good preparation to Saudi, although the humidity and mosquitoes will not be there! 

On this note, I hope to write my next entry from Saudi! 

The Desert.

I am sure most of you think that Saudi Arabia is all desert. For the most part you would be correct. There is an area of high mountains with ample amounts of rain that provides a great deal of the Kingdoms fruits and vegtables. When I think of the desert, I think of sand dunes. To be sure there are ample sand dunes here. However, this weekend I went hiking with a local walking/social club called a Hash. The area we went to is on a large plateau. In fact there is an escarpement that features a shear wall that drops in the order of 1,500'. It may be higher in fact, but let's just say your last step off of that cliff would be your last step.....

The hiking club is a highly organized group of expats who live in the community. They meet every weekend at different locations and go on 'walks'. Actually there are three seperate treks that you can take. There is a run that goes on longer distances and you move for speed. There is a long walk which moves relativly briskly over a long distance and there is a shorter, more leisurely walk. The club charges a nominal fee for walking and you have to sign in and out so that you don't get lost in the desert. To become a member you must particpate in 10 hikes and be a hare for one. A hare goes out ahead of time with a bucket of flower and you mark the trail with the flower so that people know where to go. The different trails have different marking systems so it really is quite an important job. Prior to the walks everyone gathers in a circle and there are proclomations, awards for making milestone walks and hare's, & introduction of guests. After all of that is done, there is then a cerimony for those who have breeched some form of etiquette like letting someone see you pee or you (or your guest) wore a new pair of shoes. If you have been selected, you kneel on a piece of foam while the group sings to you and you are then doused with a bucket of water. A mild form of hazing to be sure but done in good fun.

I chose to go on the long walk. The walk took around 1:30 minutes and we walked along down into a wadi. A wadi is a dry river bed that is now a canyon (immagine the Grand Ganyon with no water-a wadi). During the hike you could see evidence of why Saudi Arabia is an oil producer extrodinare. There was fossilzed coral all over the place. You could see pores in the rocks as well. The area we are in has no oil but you certainly can see where it wouldn't be difficult to find it elsewhere in the kingdom. I was fancinated by the rocks, the whirlpools that have been left dry, the shear power of how nature made this canyon....and yet there has been no water here for millions of years. To be honest, I was exploring and walking less. You could find me near the back of the group because I would stop and look at the rocks or just take in the view while looking up the canyon walls. There was a sweeper who is always at the back to make sure that noone would get lost and I stayed forward of them but behind the main body of the group. At the water break I just sat and stared at the landscape thinking about where I was and what I was doing. I thought a lot about my Dad and how much he would have enjoyed being there and seeing what I did. Though I would have loved to have a talk with him about the landscape, I am not sure that I needed to. I realized that there was no place I would rather have been at that time of day. Being outside and really observing nature was something that he taught me how to do. It took me 25 years to learn how to enjoy it.

At the end of the walk everyone signed in and there are barbques and people drink their homemade drinks. We didn't stay long and left about an hour after the Hash ended. There are campouts in certain areas and I think that when Christelle and the kids get here we are going to have to get a 4 wheel drive vehicle. The desert is going to be our playground and we just couldn't access it otherwise. I look forward to going again and can't wait for the kids and Chris to get here. Though.........she might want to get her brand new hiking boots broken in first. I don't want to get wet!!