Emma's weekend

On Wednesday afternoon, Emma was invited for a "get together" at one of her classmates's house.  After calling the nanny for confirmation of the time and date of the event, we went drive her to her friend's house.  Worth knew the street so that made navigation easier.  We werent't quite sure exactely which house it was, as the map had no house number.  We eventually found the house using a football /soccer field across the street as a landmark.  Well, the house per se really was not what we would call a house.  Looked more like a palace, protected from the street by 10 feet walls covered in white marble, with the house decked similarily!  The whole compound was made up of probably 6 to 8 huge houses, each with a squarefootage of 6000 sq ft, this is just an estimate as we are not sure of that and never were invited inside the house!
Emma was invited for the evening, along a bunch of other children, all cousins of some sorts.  They played outside, inside, swam in the underground pool... got a tour of the house, with Emma telling us that there is a disco at the pool and in another room.  With her new birthday gift cell phone, Emma called us later in the evening, to ask if she could sleep ove, r which she did.  She says that the little girls' bedroom is bigger than our villa here (and our house in Copper Mill)!  There is even a kitchen and a fridge inside her bedroom!  Now, what may look huge in the eyes of a 9 year old may not truly be bigger than our villa...but after seeing the outside of the house, it would not surprise me!
Yesterday, after coming back home, she was invited to another little girl's house for a sleepover.  They ended up going to the girl's grandmother's farm where they went camel back riding! 
At least one of the family is living the life!

Bridal Shower a la Saudi!

Last night, I attended a Bridal shower for Maysoun, the finance manager assistant at the school who recently got engaged to get married this summer. She’s one of the nicest and sweetest people at the school and we all wanted to give her a nice bridal shower. Having a party like this is just one occasion to let your hair down, figuratively and literally in the case of several of my colleagues.


Maysoun wears the hijhab (headscarf) and the black abaya everyday at school. So, after seeing her every day, I still had no clue what she would look like with regular clothes. After a while I just got used seeing my colleagues dressed a certain way and took it for granted that it’s the way they look like. Several of the teachers who attended also wear the hijhab daily and again I didn’t know what their hair would look like.

Now I kind of knew that, being a girls only party, they would not cover since they did not have to shy away from men’s eyes. What I was not expecting was how different they all looked like without their hijhab. I definitely would have passed them on the street without recognizing them. It’s just amazing what a difference having styled hair did to their faces. It made them look younger and much more relaxed. And what beautiful hair is hidden, the long, thick and beautiful kind full of body! I know I sound kind of cliché but it really was revealing to see them like that.

The music selection for the evening was all middle eastern and we danced… you can say I was a belly dancing fool, or at least a fool trying to be one. Most of them have a lifetime of practice, so poor little me, with my European upbringing and the two left feet…well you can easily imagine the scene. To make dancing more fun, there were several tie-around the waist embellished scarves to make jingling sounds when dancing. Now, those women could dance! Their bodies had some moves and their bums had a life of their own. Very beautiful and sensual dancing…all for women’s’ eyes! One of them, who was married last summer, told us that her husband had forbidden her from dancing like that because she’s just great at it and very provocative. The poor husband wants to protect his wife from other men’s eyes!

At one point in the evening, we played a game: having been provided with raw materials, in teams we had to design a bridal veil… some interesting designs came about. We also ate some delicious foods. But honestly the dancing was the highest point of the evening…well, maybe after seeing my colleagues’ hair! Amazing how little things you take for granted make an interesting blog entry…

Breakfast at IKEA

One of the best kept secrets in town as far as Best Breakfast deal is the breakfast at IKEA on the weekend.  From 9:00 to 10:00, before the actual store opening at 10:00, carloads of people walk into the IKEA and get the best deal in town. Entire Saudi families, with dad, mom and the average number of kids (seven, according to the latest pole) arrive as well as a faire share of expats also looking for something different to do on a weekend morning.  Unbelievably,  4 Saudi Riyals (about a quarter US) buy you a plate with the equivalent of two scrambled eggs, two long beef sausages, two slices of beef bacon and two pieces of toast served with jam.  And, all coffee and tea drinks are complimentary...  My favorite is their cappuccino!
So, about once a month, we load up and go have breakfast there.  It's probably Alex's favorite place to eat...I've never seen a kid eat eggs that fast and with so much energy than when he receives his plate. 
As with all eating places around here, seating is divided: one side for single men - tables and chairs separated with a opaque wall partition from the other side for families only.  Each family table is separated by its own wall partition with curtains to completly close it off from other dinners.  It's actually nice to sit together and not have to worry about seeing thekids misbehaving at the neighboring table...  unfortunately, I can't do any people watching with that kind of seating arrangements.  There are a few tables without curtains, but that doesn't help with the people watching as all the curtains are closed...

Anyways, after a good hearty breakfast, we can leisurely go on to the store and enjoy the nice lines of the IKEA collections...

Traffic

It’s funny how a city without much of anything to do would have so much traffic at night! Mind you, there are no movie theaters, no large concert venues, or bars or dance clubs….but man; you would never think traffic could get this bad!!! If you plan on going anywhere at night, at least double the time required in order to get there on time!!! I’m not exaggerating: Interstate 10 at peak hours in Baton Rouge looks like a speedway….


I think part of the problem comes from the configuration of the major “shopping” areas in Riyadh. Although the city has grown over the past 40 years at an amazing rate, it looks like the 4 major streets where all the “good” shopping is located are all interconnected and fit into one square kilometer of each other. If you look at a map, locate the Kingdom Tower, go down Olaya Street and here’s Faisaliah tower…they must be less than one kilometer away from each other. Right after Faisaliah you have Thalia and Thalatheen Streets where all the good restaurants are…So you just get stuck in traffic whenever you go in that area of town. That’s probably one of the funny things around here: stores are grouped according to their specialty. Looking for flowers, turn right on the street after the Kingdom Tower; looking for tires: easy – go to the used car parts souk off of Aruba Street. Chocolate anyone…Thalateen Street is the place to go… so I guess the grouping of stores makes it easy on you to find what you’re looking for…but makes the traffic heavier at times.

Should I also mention that Saudi society is a night society? It’s not uncommon for our students’ mothers and fathers to party all night, send the kids off to school, sleep all day and get up when the kids come back from school. Stores and malls are open every day until 11:00 pm. Dentists see patients from 4:00 pm till midnight…I know this because my colleague’s husband is a dentist and that’s his daily shift! So, people here sleep during the day and live at night. No, the working people have a slightly different schedule: we get up in the morning, go to work, get off work, and go to bed at a reasonable hour. Those who don’t work can do the night life! And the “normal” people get stuck in that night traffic when they dare leave the house at night.

One last reason I can think about to explain this traffic is the traffic patterns and the way drivers deal with the Riyadh streets!! Since we got here, I am not sure how many times I have thought to myself it may be a blessing in disguise that I am not allowed to drive in the Kingdom! For one thing, you have to understand that, fifty years ago, Riyadh was nothing more than a little village. It’s grown tremendously since then, at a rate of adding ONE million people every 5/10 years!! So, you can imagine that the road infrastructure that was here 10 years ago is so totally outdated! There are not enough roads for the millions of cars on the streets… and the roads that are here are all making you turn right down one road for 1 km in order to do a u-turn and turn left…. That’s pretty much the only way to turn left throughout the city.

Add to this chaos the way MEN drive here…(and for once, you can’t blame it on the women….) Let’s say you’re on a four lane highway, you need to turn left…..where do you go? Any right thinking person would place their vehicle in the furthest left lane to make a quick and easy turn…Well, in Saudi, if you need to turn left, ANY lane works…. Being in the furthest RIGHT lane won’t prevent you in any shape and form to turn LEFT…you take your life in your hands when you do this but this is not too infrequent to be cut off at the middle of an intersection by someone going from the furthest lane in the opposite direction. This habit does slow down traffic and create more traffic jam….

So, to sum up this diatribe about traffic….in Riyadh, traffic totally sucks and yes, I am glad (for once) that I am not allowed to drive in this craziness!!!


Proof that drivers and passengers are crazy  doing what they call "land skating"

Best Bread in Town

I've always been a Bread Snob!  Growing up I'd be the one going to the bakery and getting fresh bread...some of it would never make it home, being eaten on the way by a "mysterious" mouse...  I've always loved good bread and am always looking for that tasty crusty bread.  After 15 years of deprivation in the States, I've finally found it!!!
Well, close to the compound there is a little stripmall of stores...nothing much to it, just a little grocery store, dry cleaner, some kind of office AND a bread store.  What I call the Bread store is nothing more than a counter in front of a open oven.  Set-up is easy: you hand in your ONE Saudi Riyal ( a whooping 25 cents US), grab a plastic bag and when the bread comes out of the oven, you get FOUR, yes you are reading this well, FOUR awesome, hot, crispy and soft flat arabian bread! 

We stopped there again tonight to pick a few for dinner.  Kids were all excited to see it, as usually Worth stops by himself....  It also was my first time as many of those hole in the wall places usually are for men only!  I took a risk today and was not quicked out...always a good sign.  I asked the baker if I could take his picture and probably made his day.  He was halfway posing while flattening out his rounds of dough into a perfect circle.  Then he lightly sprinkles water on a wooden paddle, places the flat round of dough over it, makes a few indentations with his fingertips and skillfully places it on the oven brickfloor!  Now comes the hardest part: waiting for the bread to be ready...excrutiating pain, major mouth watering just thinking about its crunchiness!  If only you could be here with us to share those four flat breads....  Too bad they don't taste nearly as good when cool....

Ain't this the most beautiful bread in the world?

Prayers

Five times a day life stops for prayers when the minarets relay the Muezzins’ prayer call to all Faithful Muslims. I don’t know how many mosques are in Riyadh, but I’ve read somewhere that there are enough that you can walk to a mosque from anywhere in the city! Imagine when the calls starts, that it starts almost simultaneously all over the city, that the call is different for each prayer of the day and that you hear it from all directions. In the morning, before sunrise you have Fajer, around noon there is Dhuhr, mid-afternoon is Asr, Maghreb comes later and at sundown Isha. The times for those prayers change daily according to sunrise and sunset, and also change depending on where you are in the kingdom. As a result, the prayer times get later in the day as you move to the west.


After a few months here we are now really attempting to plan our shopping around those times. When the call for prayer is heard, stores, banks and all businesses shut down, iron curtains fall down, store clerks leave their good and either go to mosque or take a break. We’ve been caught several times right at the beginning of prayer and the only thing to do is just wait until the stores reopen. We’re finally wisening up and are now timing our grocery shopping with prayer, entering the store around the beginning of prayer, getting locked in the store and taking care of the weekly shopping during the time when most everything is shut down. Although little stores ask you to leave before close, grocery stores will let you stay during prayer and lock you inside. They dim the lights a bit, out of respect I guess, and let you fill your carts with all the goods you want. As the end of prayer nears, you can see families starting to line at the registers and once the iron curtains open back up, check-out clerks come back and business as usual starts back again.

During prayers, although business life is shut down, traffic doesn’t stop and cars move freely from one place to the next, although you do see, on occasions, cars stopped on the side of the roads and men keeling on their prayer mat, facing Mecca and praying.

Dust Storm

Discovery of the day: living in the desert means being surrounded by sand. However, if you are thinking that sand here looks like what you’ve walked on the Florida beaches, think again. Depending where you go, which area of the desert surrounding Riyadh you go to, the “sand” goes from hard little rocks and pebbles to the fine stuff the consistency of talc you can’t drive through without having a 4x4 vehicle.


Being surrounded by all that sand does come with pros and cons. Pro: you don’t need to cut the grass twice a week because it doesn’t grow in non-irrigated sand! Pro: The colors of sand change, depending on the light of the day and the sunrays, which makes the desert a tantalizing and beautiful place! Cons: it gets all over, enters all the little crevices. You know how, when you go to the beach and you log sand in your shoes…. Well, living in the desert is that on a daily basis. Given, although Riyadh is in the middle of the desert, the cities, malls, schools, compounds…are all surrounded by concrete. Concrete streets, concrete parking lots, paved sidewalks… But when a lot is not developed, when a hole is dug to plan a tree or build a house, sand is always there, just beneath the surface.

One weird thing linked to living in the middle of the Arabian Desert happens when the wind blows. It starts picking up the sand and blows it all over the place. A couple of weeks ago, we were woken up in the middle of the night, by wind and by our bathroom vent flapping like crazy. We could hear the wind, and after pulling the curtains, it was eerie outside: the streetlights were surrounded by an orange cover. The sand being picked up was landing all over the place, the cars, the streets, the doors, even through the closed windows and doors. In the morning, the dining room table seemed covered with a film of sand. When we opened the back gate of the truck, sand had crept up under the door and all over the back bumper.

It happened again last Friday afternoon, our “Sunday”, when our whole word turned orange. I’m not exaggerating; just everything was surrounded by that orange dust. From Alex’s bedroom window, the view was surreal. What is usually an open view of the desert was just a blur. I did take a picture but it doesn’t do it justice. We tried to go outside and feel it but the sand was everywhere and I really am not too keen on tasting that gritty sand through all the openings of my face!

Worst Sandstorm in Riyadh caught on tape

La Francophonie dans le Royaume

Bon, je viens de lire le blog d’Eugénie, une des mes voisines françaises dans le compound et elle m’inspire a écrire en français. Ca fait très longtemps que je n’ai rien écrit de substance en français et j’espère que mes lecteurs me pardonneront.


Apres avoir vécu en Louisiane pendant presque 15 ans, on penserait que mon français n’est pas aussi terrible…mais j’ai un manque de pratique flagrant! Il fallait que je déménage de l’autre bout du monde pour le reparler régulièrement… Comment est-ce donc possible d’avoir une telle présence francophone en Arabie Saoudite?

Commençons à l’école. Nous sommes 3 profs de français; Claude est un français de 40 ans, Zoulaikha est une algérienne dans la quarantaine et moi, la petite Belge et la cadette! Donc, chaque fois qu’on se voit on parle français et ca fait du bien. Je ne me rendais pas compte a quel point ca me manquait d’avoir des conversations intelligentes avec des adultes. En classe je parle aussi le français, autant que possible et suis agréablement surprise au niveau de certaines de mes élèves. La plupart ont des profs particuliers qui leur donnent cours plusieurs fois par semaine. Avec une telle intensité, il est normal que leur français soit assez bon! Et puis, elles ont une motivation: aller faire les magasins a paris, lors de leurs séjours a la maison de l’Avenue Foch…non, je ne blague pas…Nombreux parents ont une résidence a Paris, et/ou a Londres, et/ou a New York…Enfin tout ce français fait du bien !

Dans le compound, il y a également plusieurs francophones. J’ai déjà mentionne Eugénie, une jeune française, mari également français et dont la petite fille Agathe – 2 ans- commence à maitriser le français et l’anglais car elle est en crèche a l’américaine ! Il y a aussi Lea et Lina, deux gamines françaises dont le père est français d’origine vietnamienne et la maman est marocaine. Faut aussi que je mentionne Vinciane, une belge du Tournaisis et son mari Pierre Emmanuel, aussi belge. Ils viennent d’agrandir leur famille avec la petite Eléonore, née début décembre. Une nouvelle famille de français vient d’arriver il y a moins d’un mois... La petite Reem et sa famille habite aussi dans le quartier, ainsi que Faong et sa famille… Comme quoi il y a pas mal de francophones, certains dont je connais le nom et d’autres dont je connais juste le nom des enfants avec lesquels Emma et Alex jouent. Il y a également quelques libanais qui parlent aussi français, mais dont le français n’est pas la première langue.

Pourquoi autant de francophones : Carrefour a 3 gros magasins, il y a plusieurs compagnies de construction françaises, il ya aussi Schlumberger, une compagnie pétrolière… il y a une école internationale française assez importante. Dans le quartier, la plupart des femmes restent à la maison la journée et socialisent entre elles. Heureusement, mes nouvelles copines francophones m’acceptent malgré mon statut de femme qui travaille !

Un des avantages d’avoir des francophones dans le quartier c’est que les enfants parlent beaucoup plus français au quotidien. J’adore voir Emma jouer avec Agathe qui a 2 ans et demi. Elle est très attentionnée et super gentille avec elle, une véritable petite maman ! Pour les mamans, c’est chouette de parler français et d’échanger des idées, magazines et livres. Puis, on s’est déjà fait quelques petits soupers très sympas entre francophones…. Ca me rappelle mon groupe de copines francophones à Bâton Rouge. Eugénie nous avait invite pour un diner anniversaire pour son mari Laurent : comme il est chef, il avait préparé du pate de fois gras ainsi qu’un poisson cuit sous croute de sel. Un vrai petit repas gastronomique dans le quartier ! On est également invite la semaine prochaine chez Vinciane et Pierre Emmanuel, le couple belge. Il est le consul à l’ambassade de Belgique et Vinciane travaille à l’ambassade des Pays-Bas. Un des avantages de leurs boulots est qu’ils ont la valise diplomatique et on accès a toutes sortes de choses interdites ici…je ne les nomme pas mais une est un animal avec une petite queue en tirebouchon et l’autre est une boisson juste pour adultes ! On se demande déjà ce que ce diner nous reserve comme surprise !

Donc, on ne s’embête pas trop dans notre nouveau petit monde. J’ai même l’impression que Worth et moi avons plus de « sorties » qu’en Louisiane… toute occasion qui nous permet de sortir du quotidien est la bienvenue ! Avec l’absence de cinéma, bars, discothèques, salles de théâtre dans le Royaume, il fait bien trouver d’autres façons de s’amuser ! Allez, faudra que je raconte ca une fois prochaine !

Masalama ! Au revoir !

Souk

Living in the Middle East offers one of my favorite places to shop…the SOUK. A souk is the Middle East equivalent to Wal-Mart in terms of the variety of goods they sell, except they date back to before Christ. You have the plastic department, but it is a whole street full of vendors selling plastic. The toy department is a different street and fabrics usually take up a couple streets. In most of the older large cities the souk is usually in the old part of town. Part of the attraction is that the souk is a labyrinth of streets and passageways. There are maps in travel books, but we found the best way to experience a souk is to just explore. If you’ve ever seen movies set in Egypt, you know you’ve seen a souk… Think about Indiana Jones, running in narrow alleyways to outrun his attackers, faced with the numerous merchant stalls, selling their baskets, pots, spices…

What exactly does this SOUK word mean? According to Wikipedia, a souq (Arabic: سوق,) is a commercial quarter in an Arab or Berber city. The term is often used to designate the market in any Arabized or Muslim city. It may also refer to the weekly market in some smaller towns where neutrality from tribal conflicts would be declared to permit the exchange of surplus goods.

What it means for me is a few hours of aimlessly roaming little streets, darting in and out of shops, feeling, touching, smelling, and visually absorbing the sights. I just love to go to the Souk and hopefully won’t tire of it. I guess it gives me an insight into the Arabian culture. The products sold range from rugs, abayas, spices, gold items, knick-knacks and what’s nots that you know you don’t want or need but that you will end up buying regardless. As much as the idea of roaming in the souk is appealing, what’s even more thrilling is the bargaining that needs to take place before a purchase is made. We were told to cut the price in half and start bargaining from there to meet the merchant halfway... So what can at first cost 200 Riyals may end up in the 120/150 range before it’s all set and done. Being “the first customer” can also have its importance. It is believed by many that the first customer of the day, if she leaves your shop without purchasing, is a bad luck sign...so it’s possible to get a much lower price if we are the first customer of the day. I’ve also been told that I was the first customer after prayer..but that may be carrying it a bit far. Anything to get a good deal! Superstition is one thing, abusing of it is too much!

Riyadh has several souks: the one I consider the “newer” is known as the “Kuwaiti souk”. It is located pretty close to our compound, a quick 15 minutes drive without traffic and we have found the “quick” way to get there! One must wander in and out of the many small shops and narrow alleyways. Everything is negotiable. The Kuwaiti souk contains a little bit of everything from household goods, carpets, furniture to abayas, thobes, shoes and dresses as well as gold and spices and food stuffs.

Street stalls that old ladies have are also interesting. The other night, we found the coolest looking Arabian traditional dresses. When we inquired about their price, the lady did not speak a word of English, nor did she understand what we asking her. Emma, with her burgeoning Arabic skills, another child and another merchant worked with us and we finally had the price. What she asked for the dresses was low and we did not have the heart to haggle over their prices.

My favorite Souk in town so far is the Deira Souk, located in the old city adjacent to the infamous “chop chop square” where public executions are still held on Fridays. Deira, like the Kuwaiti souk, is another traditional style souk that goes on and on with a multitude of shops and offerings. Deira is especially known for antique watches, daggers, traditional clothes, hand carved furniture and other items representative of the Kingdom. I’ve been there during the day and after evening prayer and I can say that the atmosphere is totally different! Both times have their advantage: during the daytime shopping as you can really see what you are looking at and it’s not crowded at all; at night the narrow streets are packed and the merchants are more prone to accept lower prices. The street vendors of nuts are always attracting customers and we’ve already made it a habit to get some salted almonds, fresh cashews and pistachios at the end of each of our souk visits.

The weekly Second Hand souk, held on Thursdays, is worth a look too. From the compound, it took almost 45 minutes without traffic, which in Riyadh means it was on the opposite side of town. Its name says it all: a plethora of second hand clothes, party dresses, handbags, and shoes. Also a good place to visit if you are looking for traditional Saudi dresses, like abaya, thobes, headdresses, winter coats… I got myself a party abaya, black silk on the outside, turquoise on the inside, all decorated with sequins and embroidery and I had to pay a whopping five riyals (less than US$ 2) Another five Riyals was spent on a cute party dress for Emma, with organza and silk. Now, of course, this price was achieved after haggling! All the merchants need to hike their price is to see my eyes and hair…and they think it’s OK for them to ask four times as much as they ask the locals! So, the abaya started at 30 Riayls, then I said 5, then he said 20, then I said NO and walked off, to what he said..OK, you take it! About the same happened with the dress!

Another visit is definitely needed to the second hand souk, as it sells gorgeous party dresses. Now, although women are covered from head to toe in black in the public eye, when they get together for a party or a wedding, those gatherings are segregated and all the coverings fall off, revealing the sexiest most intricate designer gowns you can imagine…No, I have not been to one of those YET, but this is what I’ve heard from expats who were lucky to attend a special event…. Anyways, once the party is over, what happens to the dresses? It’s not acceptable to wear them again so they end up in the second hand souk where girls like me may end up buying one! I really was tempted, as I saw some cool designs, all sequined and flashy colors. Before I get one, I need to check with a cleaner and find out if it would be possible to get one cleaned… The intricacy of the dresses in my opinion makes them impossible to hand wash…hopefully they can be dry-cleaned!

The souks are not just limited at clothes and household items… The outskirts of Riyadh is home to one of the largest camel souks in the Middle East. Spread out over several acres there are camels in every color and size, hay and stalls as far as the eye can see. They are available for purchase as food, as assets or as pets. One Friday afternoon, the whole family loaded up the car and went look for the Camel Souk. It was hard to miss, being located right off a major highway and the camels were all visible! We walked around and it soon hit us: the SMELL…Let’s be honest: camels are not pretty smelling and when you put a whole bunch of them in a contained area, their proximity makes it nice for the shopping but hurtful for your nose buds! Camels often wear shiny harnesses and have elaborate seating equipment. Some merchant sells everything that is needed with the camels.

Outside of the Kingdom, I’ve also visited the Dubai Souk, situated in the old part of town. It’s easily accessible by taxi, but once there, it’s a must to take an Abra (a small wooden boat water taxi) to cross Dubai Creek to the spice souk. When Alex, Emma and I had a lay-over of 23 hours in Dubai before flying to Riyadh, we took time to go visit the souk and really enjoyed walking around and savoring the sights and sounds of the fish, fruit and vegetable market as well as the spice souk and doing some window shopping in the Gold souk.

So, on your next visit to Riyadh, we will go together and explore the Souks and you will tell me what you think!

Masalama!

Security

Living in Riyadh requires us to change several of our “westerners” behaviors. When leaving the house, women need to wear the Abaya, guys can’t wear shorts above the knee. A certain degree of modesty is also needed when dressing the children. No hugging, holding hands or kissing in the streets..PDA are more than frowned upon!


One thing I was not prepared for was the security around Expatriates Compounds… Picture a nice little neighborhood, houses arranged in a large rectangle, with a small block of houses in the middle. The streets are lined with trees and kids ride their bikes around or slide on their ripsticks…nothing out of the ordinary so far. Now, imagine that a wall over 10 feet high rise around the whole group of houses and closes off the neighborhood to the outside. Once you have that mental image of a wall surrounded neighborhood, add a really tall chain link fence, topped with barbwire around the whole perimeter of the compound. It’s not easily climbed over… Cameras are also situated all around the fence, allowing us to view on 2 TV channels the comings and goings of anybody around.

Is this enough to make us feel safe? To provide secure housing for a bunch of expatriates workers and their families? You would think so, but after several attacks in the early 2000’s on compounds and the death of several expats, security around those was heightened and now, each entry is guarded 24/7 by armed Saudi soldiers and private security officers. Before being allowed into the compound, each car is submitted to a search. Headlights are turned off, the hood is opened, battery connector wires are checked, mirrors are placed under the car to check for bombs or other explosive devises. Trunks are also checked… The entry is also littered with speed bumps and makes you drive in zig-zag..no good for me, as I get car sick pretty easily! Only after all these security measures are you allowed inside the compound. Even then, once you are in your Villa, you can turn on two television channels that show the security cameras shots so, in case of attack, you can watch it live on television.

It has now become part of our daily life when coming back home after work, after shopping, after an outing to submit our car to the security searches. Thankfully we live in a pretty small compound and cars are usually checked fast if you are a resident. Outside visitors may have to leave their Iquama (resident card) at the gate, to ensure they will leave fast. Or some are not allowed totally inside. They can drive up to the main gate and have to park their car at the entrance.

So, earlier this week, I had signed up to attend a ladies’ coffee morning, one of those gatherings for stay at home ladies where lots of coffee is drunk, small talk is done and little booths sell odds and ends. Pretty uneventful but it’s a way to get out and see other faces and view amenities at other compounds. I usually don’t get a chance to take part in those, as they take place during the work week. So, I had signed up for coffee morning and several of my girlfriends also had. It was going to be a fun time!

After a 30 minute bus ride, we got stuck in LINE to go through the security gate for over 30 minutes… mind you, that compound had organized this coffee morning, inviting ladies from all over the city to join for a morning of fun and coffee drinking. However, the compound security guys seemed to be unaware of this and were checking each bus and their passengers like they were all security threats. Nevertheless, all the ladies were losing their patience. It was past 10:00 am, coffee morning started at 9:00, would end at 11:30 and we were not seeing the end of this security nightmare! Knowing this, we decided, still not close to getting in, that this particular compound was not worth our time and told the bus driver to just go on back to our beloved small compound.

One thing this whole adventure taught me was to truly appreciate our compound security procedure!