A Taste of Home at El Chico's

You know how it is, living abroad and craving some foods that you don’t have access to! Well, last night, one of those cravings was met! Up until 3 days ago Riyadh did not have a Tex-Mex restaurant worthy of the name! The lacune has been filled and you can now enjoy El Chico’s for lunch and dinner. It is located on Tahlia street, between Chili’s and the franchise store for the Riyadh soccer team.


My family met up with two other families, with a total of 7 adults and 8 children. We were seated around two big round tables, and received first class service, with a slew of waiters and lots of trainers present. To tell you the truth, the group was very Southern, with one family from Texas, one from Alabama and one from Louisiana. The El Chico trainers all hailed from the south as well, Texas and Alabama, so in a way, it was like a reunion of like minded people.

The menu is very extensive and offers exactely what you would expect from a Tex Mex place, with the exception of Alcoholic bevarages and pork dishes, of course! Even the chips and salsa were delicious and are directly imported from the US. The iced tea were served in large tall glasses with ice filled to the top and Sweet and Low and simple syrup on the side, never encountered experience in Riyadh. We almost felt back in Louisiana, enjoying dinner with the friends.

The children also had a grand time, while their parents were discussing the meal, the chips and the ice teas! The restaurant has built a children proof room, with 3 playstations, climbing toys, and games… Actually, we hardly saw them! Not even sure what they ate and drank among the orders of REAL corn dogs and mac and cheese!

Now, we are ready to face the days left in our contracts, bellies full of a taste of home!

Selling our vehicle

Another page is turned...this morning, we sold the trusty vehicle that took us around Riyadh and the region for the past two years.  After moving to Riyadh, we bought a 2 year old 2 wheel drive White GMC Envoy and that was a smart decision.  We had no major problem with the car, unlike many of our colleagues who bought well used and abused cars and had to replace many parts/motors/tires...over the two years. 
The only regret we had was not having a 4-wheel drive to go dune bashing in the desert... Thankfully several of our friends did and we got to dune bash in their cars!  So, if you want to spend a lot of time offroading  in the desert, get a 4-wheel drive.  Otherwise, for city and highway driving, it's not necessary and 2-wheel drive will be more than enough.
Selling the car was a pretty seamless process.  We advertized around at work and through our networt and expat.com, found  a buyer over a month ago who was willing to wait to get the car until June and willing to pay a good price.  My husband met up with the buyer at a car dealership, signed the papers there, paid a small fee (800 SAR split between buyer 600 SAR and seller 200 SAR) and walked out with a wad of cash for the sale of the car. 
The only thing left to do is going to the Insurance Agency, cancel the insurance and get some money back from them...but that is another story as dealing with insurance places sometimes takes a few trips!

Normal Life

As we are getting closer to our departure, our social life has been picking up!  That’s probably going to be my biggest regret about leaving Riyadh…  After almost two years here, we’ve made acquaintances and friends in various circles and now it seems that all those circles are intersecting!!!  We’ve been so busy lately, with parties, get togethers, barbecues, movie nights, Masalama parties and this weekend our last party at the American Embassy with a whole bunch of friends. 

Just last week I was talking with a Lebanese friend who’s lived all over the world and, after I was telling her my regret about leaving, she told me that it is the hardest part about moving on, but also that it’s hardest the first time!  I guess we acquire special skills at making friends.. 

So, if you are reading this before moving to Riyadh, it is totally possible to have a very busy social life…  Just make friends around your compound, join a hash group, attend social and cultural events at the embassies, and make friends at work…  If you stay at home, take part in the coffee mornings and the social activities on your compound.  Lots of expat women don’t work and are so busy while their kids are at school.  There are lots of things happening….it’s just a matter of finding a way to find out about them!

Men's Fashion

Everywhere you go in the Kingdom you will see Saudi men wearing the traditional Thawb and the head cover. I’ve always find them intriguing and like to observe the different ways of wearing the Shamag and the many cuts of the seemingly simple thawb. Here below is a very easy to understand description of the various components of the traditional Saudi dress for men, adapted from http://www.saudiembassy.or.jp/DiscoverSA/TC.htm

The Thawb is the full-length, loose garment with long sleeved made of cotton or a polyester mix. The color is usually white. However, in the winter, you can see some in darker colors such as brown, navy blue, black made out of wool for warmth.

The Taqiyah or Kufeya is a small white cotton hat worn directly over the hair. Wearing the taqiyah keeps the headscarf from slipping off the head.

The Ghutra is a square shaped cotton fabric, folded diagonally to form a triangular shape. When worn, the Gutrah is also folded from the front. Men wear their gutrah on the top of Kufeya. Some men wear theirs directly over the head.  The typical color of Gutrah is white.

The Shumagh is similar to the Ghutra, except that it is embroidered with white and red threads. . It is folded into a triangular shape and placed on the top of the head. 　

On top of the Ghutra or Shumag, a doubled black rope-like cord called igal is worn in order to hold ghutra in place. Igal is generally made of tightly woven black goat-hair and sheep's wool.

For special occasions like wedding, the men wear a bisht over the thawba.  It is usually made from cotton or camel/sheep wool and comes in many colors like black, brown, gray, and cream color. Bishts are trimmed with beautiful golden embroidery.

Every man is very particular when selecting their thawb.  Tailors all over town stock shelves after shelves of the similar looking white fabric used for the making of the thawb.  I cannot imagine having to select just ONE fabric as they all look and feel the same to me!  Same goes for the selection of the shumagh.  Stores sell them in nice boxes and although they all look the same, they are different in texture, thickness of the fabric, even designer as Yves Saint Laurent, Dior and like are producing designer shumagh!

Once the different pieces of their wardrobe selected, it is time to put it all together.  And again, although it could look like a uniform, men have acquired their own style of folding their shumagh... just check out these three Saudi men, who were standing next o each other...all alike but all different!

Flying Saudia

Over the years, I’ve flown many airlines, but until I was IN Saudi, I had never flown Saudi Airline or Saudia like the local call it! In all honesty, I hadn’t heard much about it, except that it didn’t serve alcohol on any of its flights, domestic or international… You know that Saudi is a DRY country and so is their airline.


I’ve now traveled on Saudia several times and have had good service, not outstanding, but not bad. Flights were on time for the most part, no luggage was lost and food service still takes place on all flights, which really doesn’t happen on many airlines anymore. In Riyadh, there is an entire terminal for Saudi domestic flights which makes it quite convenient and painless.

You can now even check in online and print your boarding pass from home, for all domestic flights. That service is not available for international flights though. The whole boarding pass at home simplifies your travel, and being a woman, expedites security very much. Last time I flew, it took me less than 5 minutes from when the taxi dropped me in front of the airport to the gate, as women have to go inside a curtained room to be “wanded” for security away from prying eyes…and since way less women travel than guys, it is a rather fast process!

There is also another aspect of Saudia I have enjoyed…the first class lounge! To tell you the truth I don’t travel first class, always stuck in economy. However, at the Jeddah airport, as a Western woman, if you walk in the first class lounge like you belong there, the attendants don’t even bother asking for your boarding pass and you can enjoy the amenities.. food, juices, yogurt, cappuccino machine, PCs with internet access, TVs, magazines…Yeah, the only thing missing, you guessed it, are the libations…Oh well, can’t ask for everything in this world!  By the way, keep this a secret! 

Mary Poppins to the Rescue

Have you ever wanted to become the master at singing Supercallifragilisticexpialidocious and felt the need to call for Mary Poppins? Well, if you lived in Saudi Arabia, you very well may be able to find that special pearl. The majority of families with young (and not so young) children have a nanny, or several of them. We probably are among the minority here, living without a nanny or even a maid!


We see nannies daily, dropping and picking up students, shopping at the mall and the supermarket, at the doctor’s office, anywhere you may go as a family, nannies follow. I had been wondering how much those nannies are paid as they are living with their Saudi employer and are at their beck and call. Well, I finally mustered the courage and asked a Lebanese nanny…and I was shocked!

She broke it down for me into two categories of nannies: the Filipinos, who oftentimes have minimum qualifications beside a high school degree; the second group being the educated nannies heralding from Lebanon, Tunisia, Algeria and Western countries, who usually have college degrees and may be multilingual.

According to my source, a Filipino nanny can pull about 1250 SR a month (or about 333 USD). Her job has her on call 24/7 for duty, living in a Royal Palace, all meals included and sometimes even includes exotic travel with the children and the family. Now, Mary Poppins would probably not approve of many of their appointments and their salaries, but for many of these Filipino ladies, that salary is way more than they could make back home in the Philippines and enables them to send a huge portion of their wages to their families/children back home.

In the case of this particular Lebanese nanny, her salary is 2000 USD a month and she has the same working conditions as the Filipinos. Because of her previous experiences as a nanny and her qualifications, she was able to negotiate her salary up. Now the way she was describing her job includes being on call all the time, having to be the best hairdresser and fashion consultant for the little girl she takes care of. She also mentioned offering services as a shrink and a nurse. Most of what she earns she saves, although she recognizes that taking a shower and washing her hair feels like she’s stealing time from her employer. Several times she told me that this job in Saudi was better than no job in Lebanon and the current state of the economy did not look promising for a job in Lebanon.

Now, without a doubt, such discrepancies in salary do not make her popular among the other nannies. At the function I met her she sat alone, did not speak with any other nanny, except one from Algeria. According to her, the maids and nannies don’t like her and will try to make life difficult for her, by telling the child in her care bad things and criticism of her work. She also appears to degrade the Filipino nannies and consider them lower than herself. The money may be good for her, but it seems to me like living in a viper’s nest! Mary Poppins would probably not be able to pull herself out of this one with a song!

Camel Crossing

Anytime you think of Saudi Arabia or the desert life here, you are bound to picture Bedouins, traveling with their camels across the vast expanses of the desert. Although times have changed and most of the Saudi population live in cities and towns, you still see camels roaming free, or apparently free, in the desert.

 But the desert itself has changed and is now crisscrossed with paved roads. At first, I kept on wondering why the highways were fenced… Could it be to prevent cars from free driving into the desert? I didn’t take me long to figure out the real reasons for those fences…. Everywhere and each time we’ve been in the desert, we’ve seen camels. They appear friendly and don’t shy away from moving vehicles… So, the fencing keeps them safely away from the roads.

However, some roads do not have fencing on either side and, it came as no surprise to me when we saw the famous “Camel Crossing” signs, which really are not just for show. Only yesterday we had to come to a complete stop twice to let a group of camels stop. It is almost comical, to see the biggest male of the herd standing in the middle of the four lane highway and watching around as the mama camels and baby camels are crossing. It’s such a cool sight: the camels are right there, in front of us, trotting across the road, not a care in the world. They truly are the most beautiful beasts of the desert, so elegant in their walk and so proud in their demeanor!

Ushaiger Village

A few months ago, on a flight back from Egypt, I picked up a magazine featuring Ushaiger, a traditional Saudi village having been restored to its former glory, as a way to preserve its heritage and displau relics and pieces from the village in their newly built museum. The photos were so appealing that I kept the article and just found it yesterday. So, since we are all off this week for Spring break, we decided to pack the car, bring our picnic and head to Ushaiger.

 A little internet research was necessary though, as we really had no clue where this beautiful spot was. Here are the coordinates 25°20′33″N 45°11′0″E. From Riyadh, count on over 200 kms each way of easy highway. Take Mekkah Road, pass the first checkpoint, go down the escarpment and turn right at the first exit, direction Shaqra (Highway 505). Drive on that highway for a good long while. When you reach the second town, at the roundabout, turn right and continue for 35 kms. At the next roundabout, go straight for 18 kms and, at km 18, you will see the new town of Ushaiger. Turn right on that road, drive to the end of it and you will be able to spot the old traditional village.

So, according to Wikipedia, “ Ushaiger is one of the oldest towns in the Saudi region of Najd and was a major stopping point for pilgrims coming from Kuwait, Iraq and Iran to perform Hajj or Umrah. It was originally known as A’ekel but the name was eventually changed to Ushaiger. It was changed because the town is bordered by a small mountain north of the Village. The mountain is red in color, yet locals said it was blonde simply because red and blonde were used interchangeably in the old days. Ushaiger means the “Small Blonde”, which is a description of that particular mountain. Historical Ushaiger belongs to the Tamim tribe although other tribes lived there as well. It is also the home land to many families in the Arabian Peninsula. Such families are Al-Elsheikh (The family of Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab) and Al-Thani (Rulers of the State of Qatar) originated from Ushaiger.”

According to me, Ushaiger is what I thought Saudi Arabia would look like. Mud and straw houses, with narrow shaded alleyways, surrounded by defense walls and an oasis. What I was not expecting was the intricate irrigation and water collection systems, with a series of wells connected to each other and providing water for people, living and crops. In many ways, these desert folks knew how precious water was and had engineered a whole system to collect the water…if only today’s generations realized how wasteful their water usage is.

We were extremely welcomed in the village, being offered a private tour of the museum, the traditional cup of tea and Arabic coffee (that the boys drank seated in a cosy male only area, while the girls stood around and waited for the boys to be done). Our private guide, an elder whose grandfather used to have a farm in the village, took us around the restored alleys and houses, showed us many wells, his grandfather’s garden with a great irrigation system, still being harvested to this day. He took us to two of the schools in the village and two of the mosqs as well, one outdoors and one still in use.

After our tour of the village, we drove up the mountain and had a picnic in a secluded shaded area, overlooking the entire historical village, with its protecting walls, watchtowers and many palm trees. 

Our guide was very proud of his village and we were very complimentary of its renovation. The feel we had was like walking inside a history book. The only missing elements were the people who used to live in the village…. It was so peaceful and quiet, beautiful and serene, historical and humbling. What a great way to spend the day, going back 400 years in history…

 

another blog by another expat on same village

Cars of all shapes, colors and sizes

Saudi Arabia is probably one country with the most variety of cars: if you want it, you can buy it here!  All makes and models, from American Ford, GMC and Chevy to European Peugot, Audi, Mercedes, BMW to Asian Toyota, Hundya...  One thing I thought I wouldn't get used to are the Mazeratti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Aston Marton, Bentley, Jaguar and Rolls that are all over the place...and although they still hold some mystique, we see them so often that they are loosing some of their myth!  Carpool time at school offers a pleasure for the eyes, with all the above brands well represented and just makes me want to get behind the wheel and take off!

But my favorites are the custom cars as they are one of the prefered ways to personalize your ride around here.  Again, imagine the best and worst you've seen and we have it.  I've seen bubble gum pink hummers, Orange Audi SUV with the racing stripe, bright purple limo, Hummer Stretch Limo...but to date, this is MY favorite... a GOLD BMW, parading around town...  Only in Saudi

Quad in the Red Sand Dunes

OMG!  We finally rode Quad bikes in the Red Sand Dunes and it was sooooo much fun!  This Thursday (our weekend, equivalent to Saturday) we left the compound early and rode in our friend Claude's brand new (to him) Nissan Patrol 4x4 to the desert, with the idea of renting quad bikes and enjoy the dunes. 
On our way to the Red Sands, we stopped at a gaz station/convenience store/garage/mosque/tire reseller.  It's always nice to see what there is to discover in those stores, as they are way more stocked than what you would expect to find in your typical Exxon/On the Run in the US.  This one was pretty cool:  we found all the camping gear, desert coats, head scarfs, camel bells and ropes, sheep lined sleeping bags, firewood, kettles, all kinds of dairy products, nuts..  for those in the Felicianas' think of a souped-up Saudi version of the F.S. Williams Store Saudi.  We really did not need anything, but ended up purchasing 3 head scarfs (a pair for me to make pants out of and one for the desert), gum and candy for the road.  The scarves did end up being used on the very same day!  More about that later!

So, as we finally reached our destination, we got caught in an mild sandstorm...not too bad, but enough to prevent us from leaving the comfort of the car and getting exposed on the quad bikes.  Instead, we decided to wait it out and go exploring in the dunes;  with a 4x4 vehicle, it's always more fun!  Once the wind calmed down, we went back and found several quad bikes rental places.  Don't expect rental cabins, with all the gimmics.  This is just us, pulling next to a few quads, a Saudi looking like what I would expect a bedouin to look like, tells us the price, in Arabic.  We haggle  a bit, he draws his final price in the sand and we say OK!  Deal is done, money is exchanged, quads are started. 

We all climb our vehicles and we are off.  No waiver to sign, no ID cards, no insurance, no tutorial on how to use the machine, or how to brake.  It's actualy quite scary, come to think of it, that the guy rents to us, doesn't really check that we can drive them, have my two kids take off without helmets..  I decide to take off my abaya in the car, before getting on the back.  Not sure if it was allowed, but I did it...  Couldn't have driven one of those with an abaya!  Actually, not even sure if I was allowed to drive the quad...but the guy didn't say a thing when he saw me get on the bike and go! 

We did, however, cover our hair and faces, as it was still windy and we had just purchased these beautiful scarves..  would have been a scame not to use them!  And man, did we look cool... 

The children thoroughly loved it.  We could hardly keep up with them and even thought we'd lost one for a while.  She wasn't too far, but nonetheless, it scared me.  The dunes looked all the same and it would have been easy to loose our bearings if we hadn't had a huge mesa helping us direct ourselves.    Both children were natural, taking to those bikes like they'd done it all their lives, when in truth it was their second time driving one, even if they've ridden with an adult a bunch of times in the Louisiana countryside! 

The Quad driving in the sand dunes, up and down, over and under, was just amazing!  I took many photos and even a little movie of what it actually felt like.  While in the desert, everybody should have that experience of driving on the sand dunes.  It's truly an unforgettable experience!  What a rush!  What beauty!