VIP treatment

This weekend, I flew to Jeddah on the Red Sea to lead a 2 day PYP workshop. The coordinator at the school had arranged VIP treatment for my arrival, which was a first for me both in and out of Saudi. I was curious about what this exactly meant!

Upon landing at the Jeddah International Airport, I had received clear instructions: do not board the bus taking passengers from the plane to the terminal. Instead I found a beautiful dark colored full leather interior VIP Audi A8 waiting for me at the bottom of the jet way stairs.

I was whisked away in the plush comfortable Audi and taken to the VIP terminal, all furnished with fluffy sofas, wooden coffee tables and beautiful Arabian artwork, a far cry from the uncomfortable gray plastic chairs usually used in airports. Once in the VIP terminal, I was greeted by two representatives from the school who delivered me to the hotel.

The return was as interesting. Last night, the school representative borrowed my Iquama (the Saudi resident card) and my flight information, and went to the airport to check in for me. Today, he picked me up from the hotel one hour before my flight and drove me to the VIP lounge. I sat down, relaxed and when it was time, was driven in the wonderful VIP Audi A8 and dropped at the bottom of the jet way stairs. I had seat 1C, in first class… Still can’t figure out how that happened, since I was booked on an economy seat, I guess I should thank the VIP treatment! After finding my seat, I was offered a few dates and Arabic coffee.

Unfortunately, after a 30 minutes wait, we were all asked to deplane due to an issue with one of the doors and return to the terminal. Since no Audi was waiting for me this time as this was unscheduled event, I ended up boarding the bus and was taken back to the terminal. Once there, I saw those horrible plastic chairs…not very tempting! So I followed some of my fellow first class passengers directly into the first class lounge. Might as well use the VIP treatment all the way! I had access to the buffet, comfortable chairs, cappuccino machines, juices and soft drinks, but unlike any other first class lounge in the world, no hard stuff was served! After an almost three-hour delay we all boarded another plane and finally were en route back to Riyadh, enjoying a great flight in first class. Is there any other way to travel than VIP? It’s going to be difficult to fly economy next time!

At the Border

Last weekend, we had planned a mini-vacation in the marvelous Kingdom of Bahrain…so a short road trip to the border to be followed by an uncertain amount of time at the border. Before leaving the Kingdom, we all had to get the Exit-reentry visas for our passport. No paper, no leaving the Kingdom!

For those who are not too sure about its location, the Island of Bahrain is situated just a stone throw from the Eastern Coast of Saudi, right across from Dammam and the huge ARAMCO compound. It’s connected to the mainland via a 25 km long causeway with the border point in its middle.

Arriving to the border is usually painless. Its crossing on the other hand can be very lengthy or quick as a whistle, depending on the time of day you get there, mostly due to the fact that we are not going through just ONE border crossing, but more like SEVEN..yes, you’re reading this right…there are seven border checkpoints/stops/booths to go from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the much smaller Kingdom of Bahrain.

So, on a Wednesday evening, arm yourself with loads of patience, as the Saudi weekenders arrive in drove and all have to go through all seven points, just like all of you.

Number 1: Toll Booth – each vehicle pays a 20 SR (about 5 US$) toll to access the causeway and in exchange gets a receipt for that toll.

Number 2: Custom booth employee prints out a Custom paper and hands it to you.

Number 3: Saudi Immigration - You hand in your passport with the utmost important Exit-Reentry visa and get the Exit stamp from the Saudi Government on the paper visa stapled to your passport while your name is checked on their computer system.

Number 4: Hand your custom paper back to an officer, quick and easy!

Number 5: You’re about to enter Bahrain – so hand in your passport to the Bahraini immigration officer who skillfully applies yet another stamp to one of the empty (or near empty) passport sheets.

Number 6: Bahrain Customs – as a Saudi vehicle going into Bahrain, we are not stopped…Don’t have anything to hide! Story may be different for a Bahraini vehicle going back home.

Number 7: Bahrain Insurance, as it is necessary to purchase additional insurance in order to enter the island, even if you have already purchased additional insurance from your Saudi insurer…don’t bother, that insurance is useless. You will still have to get the Bahraini insurance, so hand out another 20 SR with a smile and the gate opens.

SMILE, take a deep breath, you are in Bahrain. Enjoy the weekend. On the cultural side, I can recommend the National Museum, the old Fort and a walk in the old town and tours of its restored houses. Some great little restaurants are nicely tucked in an area right behind the Gulf hotel. This time we stayed at the Novotel Al Dana Resort. I highly recommend it, quiet, picturesque and their breakfast buffet is just finger-licking good!

Eid-Al-Ahda

Yearly, the Muslims only celebrate two religious holidays: at the end of Ramadan and on the 10th day of the last Islamic Month. Those days move each year since the Muslim calendar is based on the lunar months. Eid-Al-Ahda commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son, following an order from God, but instead Abraham sacrificed a ram. The Bible has the same retelling but Christians do not celebrate it. On this holy day of remembrance, the Muslims will celebrate by slaughtering a sheep, the halal way. That means the sheep will face toward Mecca and won’t be allowed to see the blade of the butcher’s knife. The meat is then divived in three equal parts, to be given to the family, to their relatives and friends and the last third to the poor. In Saudi Arabia, Eid also means that millions of pilgrims converge annually to Mecca to perform the Hajj, the pilgrimage to the Holy sites of Islam in Mecca and Medina. Trying to fly towards Jeddah on the Red Sea is virtually Mission Impossible as pilgrims are flocking in droves and all planes are fully booked… Over four millions will again perform Hajj this year, including some of our colleagues who are going on “family trips” to Mecca as the pilgrimage is a good experience to live together.  They purchased an all-inclusive package, with flights, transfers, hotels, all meals and even a guide - a guarantee that all their needs will be met timely and in an organized fashion. 
As a preventative measure, we went grocery shopping this morning…as last year, by the time the holiday was over, the stores were empty: no produce and dairy were available, since the stores had not been replenished during the entire holiday. We also withdrew cash from the ATM, as those will soon be emptied and won’t be refilled until Nov 20! The country basically shuts down on the last few days, as all Muslims are celebrating, families are gathering…

One measure that the Saudi government has taken is the passing of strict laws for sheep slaughtering, preventing people from doing it in their backyard or in the street, but instead having them use mobile slaughter houses. As for the four million pilgrims in Mecca, they are also slaughtering…but indirectly. The pilgrims pay for a sheep that is then slaughtered. They receive some meat while the rest in given to the poor, in the country and also shipped to other poorer Muslim countries. It is a highly organized enterprise that works like clockwork and gets better at it each year.

Only sad that we, Christians, are not allowed in Mecca, the holiest place of Islam…

Children's Paradise

Last night, both children were invited and attended birthday parties. Both started and ended at about the same time and were rather close in proximity... So we spent our Thursday night driving around town, dropping kids at parties, having dinner at Café Blanc, a traditional Lebanese restaurant with a modern twist and picking up exhausted kids from parties. But, boy, was it worth it!


Emma has been invited to a Wave Pool party that could compete with any wave pool at an expensive water park! The location was in the Diplomatic Quarters, tucked away from the street and protected from eyes and noises by high walls. Her classmate’s parents had reserved the entire facility and expected between 200 and 300 children. Emma loved the full-size slides, the enormous waves and had the time of her life. When I dropped her, I met both parents who were very nice and welcoming. In typical Arabian hospitality, the mother invited me to stay, have coffee and eat a few sweets…so, in order not to be rude, I accepted and sat down, ate my sweet, a delicious chocolate covered with Almonds and nuts and drank a small Arabic coffee, but explained that I couldn’t stay as my son also had a birthday invitation and we still had to drop him. After inquiring about ending time, I left Emma in all the surrounding nannies’ hands and only came back five hours later to pick her up, exhausted, fed, happy and bearing more gifts than she came with! Those party favors would rival any “regular” birthday gift you could offer a “regular” child back in the States or in Europe! We’ve already decided to try and visit that wave pool again, as a family…

Alex had been invited to another Swimming party at a Palace…We had the map, with the location in red and it looked like it took an entire city block.. and boy, did we find it easily! It was THE biggest palace we’d seen before in a residential neighborhood. After showing the invitation to the gate guard (since they never expect Westerners to attend those Saudi royal kids’ party) Alex, his friend Toby and I were let in. Not sure where to go, we were about to knock on the front door…but a nanny came out of a “smaller “residence and gestured us to follow her, in a marbled floors, highly decorated maze of hallways all the way back to the children’s residence! Yes, you are reading this correctly, the children have their own house, decorated and equipped with children in mind: colorful, kids sizes furniture, TVs all over, 2 elevators, one disco, a play theater, indoor video games, indoor riding cars, popcorn and soft ice-cream machines…

But that was nothing compared to the outside playground… Alex calls it the “Fun Land” and it really truly was just that. A foot deep pool with a interactive water playground, bumper cars, carousel, Disneyworld “make you throw up” teacups, a train, 2 inflatable jumpies, one plastic ball pit, and a pool over 6 meter deep made for diving and swimming with two slides worthy of any water park. By the way, did I tell you that all this was there permanently…? The kids have their own play land and use it whenever they want!

I had the chance to talk with the birthday girl mother for a few minutes. She was super nice, wearing a beautiful bright yellow silk/satin gown, made up and coiffed to go out. Following protocol, I shook her hand only after she extended it; we chit-chatted a bit and talked about how much fun the children were having, how much they were enjoying the play areas and the disco. She was happy to hear this and said that this was for her children and their friends to enjoy and that my children were welcome back any time. It was just two moms talking about their kids… Just the two of us, the Belgian-American mother of two with Her Royal Highness, daughter of King Abdullah and granddaughter of King Abdul-Aziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia.

After all that fun, it was time to leave. Kids gathered their stuff and we were led back through the maze of hallways, stopping at the party favors table that again would put to shame any gifts you would think appropriate to give an 8 year old child!

All in all, a pretty exciting, fun-filled, "normal" Thursday night in the Magic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia!

10/10/10

So, where are you today, on 10/10/10 and what did you do? Today was as uneventful as a regular workday can be… Do you remember where you where on 9/9/09? I was in the States with the children while Worth was on the way to Saudi! How about on 8/8/88? That day was a pretty cool one…I was just a kid, hiking in the French Tarn area, sleeping in tents and under the stars, kayaking by day and bivouacking at night…Great memories of that summer camp! On 9/9/99 I guess I was at work too…if it was a workday. Otherwise resting on the weekend. Nothing memorable that day!


Anyways, I just had to log something in for today, 10/10/10! And see you all on 11/11/11!!! Let’s make cool plans for that one!

A culinary victory

For many expats, living in another country is a very culturally and culinary enriching experience, tasting new foods and discovering new places. However, one of the problems encountered living in a new place is not finding the usual ingredients used in recipes from "back home". Living in the States for 15 years, I know there are a few ingredients I couldn't find for my favorite Belgian recipes...and learned how to make do and use alternate options, or would bring back pearl sugar and others directly from Belgium.




Well, moving to Saudi has brought on the same issue. Just yesterday Alex, my son, wanted Southern Style Buttermilk biscuits for breakfast...so; I tried to make him some, knowing full well that I did not have buttermilk or shortening, two basic ingredients for the recipe! Well, the buttermilk biscuits were awful and hard to swallow, both as a food and as a culinary mess-up. But, as the great Charles Chaplin said "Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself." that failure was not important...and gave me courage to try again...this time after seeking better ingredients!



Last night, while at the grocery store Danube, I found what the Saudi call LABEN. I decided to give it a try as a replacement for the buttermilk. This morning, upon opening the bottle, my guess proved correct: ...not milk, not yogurt...not sure what is really is but it smelled like buttermilk and had a very similar consistency...



So, this cooking fool tried her hand again at buttermilk biscuits...and they turned great! Flaky consistency outside, moist and dense inside...just like they should be. Best proof of the success: the baking sheet is empty as my three buttermilk monsters ate them all!

Class Representative

Today, Emma, my 9 year old daughter, scored her first political victory when she successfully ran for class representative for the Grade 4 girls.  We spent about an hour last night making "Emma 4 class representative" flyers, all decorated with stickers...  She also wrote her speech, talking about how she's made friends with all of them, how she's not afraid of speaking up her mind in front of older students, how she will strive to make her classroom community better for all, and she even finished it with a little catchphrase "A vote for me is a vote for you!"  To be honest, she did get a little help from both her parents, but still, she's the one who wrote the speech and she presented it to her classmates this morning!
We are really proud of her, first for wanting to run and second for winning.  Emma is still the "new kid on the block" and doesn't have any title attached to her name...as the majority of her classmates are real princesses with titles to match.  She won "fair and square" with the girls voting for her.  Now, is she the most popular girl in her class?  Not sure, but the fact is that she was chosen a particular student who seems to be the bossiest of the class! 
Sweet victory!

Desert Encounter

Yesterday, on Saudi National day, we decided to go for a hike in the desert and convoyed with the Fantastic family. Trying to find a good place, we found ourselves on a gravel trail. It was pretty nice and we thought that we would be able to naviguate it without too much difficulty. Mr F however decided to leave his car behind at the beginning of the trail as he did not have high enough clearance.

So, here we are, all in the GMC Envoy, fresh out of the garage...actually almost first time out since we got it back. It is so much fun and the desert is beautiful, not sandy but rather hilly, rocky and gravely!

Those gravels did turn into a trap when the car started sliding, the wheels slipping out of control and eventually we got stuck in the gravel! Now, we are alone, just the two families, in the middle of the desert! None of our cellphones have reception, the "can you hear me now" guy should start working in the Kingdom. On the way there, not too far actually, we did see a bedouin camp, with a couple of tents and camels. So, in real case of emergency, we could always go ask them for help!

We do a quick water check: the camel pack is full, we also have 4 little bottles and another thermos full, so enough for a while. So, the guys dig around the wheel and decide to manouver to get the car out of its current predicament. The moms and the kids decide to explore around, climbing the nearby hills and looking around. Eventually, the car is freed from the gravel and decision is made to go back toward Riyadh, enough adventures for the day.

Guys get in the car and drive back to the Fantastic car which had been left not even a mile away while the kids and moms walk back. We spotted some of the desert gourds that pop up once in a while in the desert. Those are always popular with the kids who pick up the yellow ones and love to crush them! We believe they are not edible, as the animals do not seem to care for them, not even the camels.

Despite the turn of the events, we also were lucky to spot several herds: two of goats and one of camels, that one with their sheppard (I'm not sure how to call the guy working with camels, so sheppard he is today).  The man seemed genuinely happy to see people.  We greeted him in Arabic, asked him how he was doing.  He offered us to taste some camel milk.  Obviously, that meant to milk some of his camels as he was not carrying any with him....and my spirit of adventures had had enough for the day.  We did thank him very nicely in Arabic and he waved and smilled very nicely.  This bedouin would have given us milk if we had accepted, I am convinced of that! 

We also found a discarded camel harness that I picked up and brought home. It did not smell too god, but it's really cool to have one.  If you look at the camel picture you can see that some of them are wearing one. 

A little further we saw a victim of the desert!  A poor little goat seemingly had gotten stuck in wires and fell into a crevace.  Surprisingly it was not covered with maggots and flies, which made us think that it had happened quite recently.  I guess all that watching of CSI has educated me on the process of maggots growing on cadavers!  It did not even smell bad, yet!

 We also discovered another "fruit" we had not seen before: it looked like a giant lima bean, all soft and mushy.  Alex was desperate to pick it but I told him that the animals of the desert were eating those and that it was better to leave it hanging in the tree, so it would be freshly picked whenever an animal would find it! 

 

Despite the stress of getting "stuck" this desert walk that did not really happen was full of adventures and discoveries.  I can't wait for the next one...but with no gravel or inside a 4x4 vehicle!

Saudi Mobility

One of the more familiar aspects of living in Saudi Arabia is the necessity of owning a car. Public transportation is nonexistent, so it is necessary to own a car. Most Saudi families own multiple cars for their husband, wife(wives), and children. I would almost be willing to put money on the idea that there are almost as many cars in Riyadh as there are people in the city. So the roads are crowded and the driving here is unlike any driving that you would ever encounter in the worst driving cities in the United States. We no longer get excited to see cars running red lights as traffic flows, driving against traffic on 6 lane highways, and cars on fire scarcely get more than a nod of notice from us.


However, I can tell you that we do notice not having a car. For the last seven day we have been sans transportation. Our car would not crank up after we returned from the States. Chris , our neighbor/banker Sammi and the compound employees managed to get the car cranked up and when I returned it still worked. A week ago this past Sunday, I went to do some errands and came home. Our car had been making a high pitched humming noise that indicated an electrical issue since last April but we waited until we returned to attempt to have it fixed since it was not interfering with the operation of the car. Claude, a colleague and neighbor needed us to take him to a car shop because he had an issue with his car when lo and behold, our car wouldn’t crank again. I figured the car wouldn’t crank due to some reason associated with that noise. We couldn’t get the car started that evening so we tried again the next day and drove around. That Tuesday I dropped the car at the dealership to have it worked on. Mind you, the delay in bringing it to the shop had to do with the Muslim Eid holiday. That delay on the front end was being met with the holiday on Wednesday for Saudi national day. Had I not picked the car up today, we would have had another four days without a car. This would have been a problem because we need school supplies and provisions.

Our car got an oil change, changed the idle speed relay, a fan bearing replaced, had an A/C issue fixed, needed a new battery, had the cabin air filter cleaned and the rear door hinges replaced. Some of these things may have been covered by our cars extended warranty. When we got a car I was keen on buying a nearly new car since a warranty would fix any issues we had. This idea was validated by the fact that Claude, Josh and Rick all bought quite used cars and have lost a great deal of time and money on repairs. That’s not to say that they haven’t been good cars for them but I can confirm transmission and engine replacements as just some of the repairs.

We got quite lucky and the warranty covered most of the repairs. We lost the car for the week but all of the repairs I talked about cost less than 1,200 SR, roughly $346. Sure we paid a little more for the car, but it has really been quite worth it.

We have the car back, with the wheel and seat wrapped in plastic for protection!  Alex had a grand time taking it all off!

Saudi National Day

Tomorrow has been decreed a National Holiday by King Abdullah, the reigning monarch of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the Holy Mosques.  In his honor and to celebrate the anniversary of Saudi, I researched a bit about Saudi Arabia history and am giving you my take on the Modern History of the Kingdom. 
Remember the breathtaking vistas from Lawrence of Arabia, vast expanses of desert, uninterrupted by anything beside the occasional camel? From that movie, you know that Saudi Arabia is a huge country occupying most of the Arabian peninsula. It currently has a population of about 22,000,000, including about five million foreigners. Earlier this year, we even became a part of the statistics when we filled in the Saudi Arabian Census form. Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam, has Mecca and Medina, the two holiest cities of Islam, and sees millions of Muslim pilgrims flock to Mecca and Medina yearly for the Haj.

From an economic perspective, Saudi has the world's largest reserve of oil, right below its surface, making it cheap to be retrieved and processed. Worth actually just filled up our GMC Envoy for the whopping amount of $9.00 for 74 liters, or 19.5 gallons!

Saudi Arabia has maintained good relationships with the USA, as all the photographs of the various US presidents meeting the Kings of Saudi Arabia hanging within the US Embassy here in Riyadh bear witness. There is a long history of political and economical bonds between the two countries that was put to a test when it turned out that many of the hijackers of September 11th attacks had Saudi passports and that their leader, Osama Bin Laden, came from a very wealthy Saudi family involved in the construction business. He has been stripped from his citizenship and is persona non grata in the Kingdom, although it’s quite daunting to see the Construction sites at the Kind Saud university protected by huge fences all bearing the Bin Laden Enterprises Name.

Saudi Arabia is a monarchy governed under strict Islamic laws of the Wahhabi sect, which regulate public behavior, especially for women and foreigners. Women cannot drive cars and have numerous other restrictions imposed on them.

From a historical perspective, various cultures have lived in the peninsula for over 5,000 years. But, except for a few major cities and oases, the harsh climate prevented much settlement of the Peninsula. Nomadic tribes always lived in the north and center, while the southern tribes were mostly sedentary. Oases made a sedentary way of life possible and provided stops on caravan routes.

The nomadic way of life and tribal organization of the interior of north and central Arabia made it difficult to form large stable political organizations. Already around 1500, one tribe seemed to take over the land; The Saud family was established in Ad Diriyah, in the center of Najd, near the modern capital of Riyadh. The family’s rise to power was also linked to an acceptance of the Wahhabi, one group within Islam and extended their power over most the center of the Peninsula. They advanced all the way to Mecca and Medina but lost the area to other tribes. In 1824 Riyadh and the vast territory around became the Saud capital. However, rivalry within the family weakened the Sauds and, overpowered by another tribal ruler, the Saud family fled to Kuwait.

In 1902, Abdul Aziz ibn Saud fought back for his family’s hold of Riyadh. Over the next 20 years, his tribe advanced all over the peninsula, including Mecca in 1924 and Medina in 1925. In 1932 he renamed his Kingdom Saudi Arabia, the Arabia of the Sauds! He did fight opposition from the religious group of Wahhabists who had no tolerance for necessary twentieth century innovations, including all machines and telegraph as well as the presence of non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia, forbidden by tradition and ended up defeating them in 1929. However, ever since, the Kingdom has seen internal battles between the most extreme forces in Wahhabism and the more pragmatic strain with suspicion cast on all new inventions. For example, the radio was first opposed but was later accepted when the King showed how it could be used to broadcast the Qu’ran. Wahhabi rule does remain strict in Saudi Arabia. No foreigners can become citizens. Women cannot get drivers licenses and cannot perform legal and financial procedures on their own. Alcohol is forbidden in the kingdom. The internet was outlawed for a while and is still government censured.

Shortly after becoming a kingdom, oil was discovered and transformed the face of the desert nation. Oil revenues have contributed to the wealth and fortunes of the Saud family, but unlike some other Gulf countries, this wealth has not brought on social changes and economic development like in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, UAE.

When King Abdul Aziz died in 1953, his son Saud accessed the throne. Every since, all the kings have been sons of Kind Abdul Aziz, all half-brothers, born from his wives. In 1964, King Saud was forced to abdicate because of criticism of his outrageous spending! His half-brother Prince Faisal became King, naming his half-brother Khalid his successor.

King Faisal was a frugal and observant monarch, raised in the Wahhabi. He introduced innovations such as television, inciting the opposition of conservative elements in the kingdom. Faisal is credited with abolishing slavery in Saudi Arabia in 1962. He was also active in foreign affairs. In 1973, he initiated an oil embargo following the Yom Kippur war, causing a sharp increase (tripled and quadrupled) the price of oil… Those growing up in the 70s remember how poor we were!!! But Saudi Arabia, as the world's largest exporter of oil, benefited from newfound prosperity. However, Faisal was assassinated in 1975 by his nephew, and Khalid became king.

King Khalid continued the process of modernization and under his rule Saudi Arabia initiated several foreign policy initiatives through Crown Prince Fahd. This moving forward was not appreciated by all and in 1979 fundamentalist Sunni riots in the Grand Mosque in Mecca were initiated by those who felt the kingdom had become too liberal and that the royal family had become steeped in corruption, ostentation, and imitation of the West. The rioters shot and killed a guard in the Grand Mosque, a holy place, where bloodshed is punishable by crucifixion. Only a fatwa, religious decree, allowed bloodshed to dislodge them by force.

King Khalid died in 1982 and was succeeded by Fahd, who designated Abdullah as crown prince. Saudi Arabia cooperated with the United States in keeping oil prices low in the 80s in order to hurt Soviet energy trade and bring down the Soviet economy. During Desert Storm in 1991, the kingdom accepted large numbers of US troops, and was a base for US operations against Iraq that remained after the conflict was over, angering traditionalists.

The Saudi Regime was rocked in 2003 by al-Qaeda attacks in Riyadh in May and November. Riots demanding reform by both traditionalists and democratic reformers also took place. Some of these attacks were directed on expat compounds (ours was hit) and aimed at hurting the Saudi Government. The unrest was met with arrests and force, but also with promises of reform.

King Fahd died in July 2005. His half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah became king. He had been acting as regent after King Fahad had a incapacitating stroke in January 1996 and took care of all day-to-day affairs. Abdullah is the fifth son (out of 37 sons) of King Abdulasis bin Abdulrahman Al Saud, , the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, to ascend to the throne.

As you see, Saudi Arabia, in its 78 years of existence, has been torn by opposition, seen riches, family conflicts, attacks on its visiting workers, the end of slavery, a rise to modernity and has many years ahead to look forward.