Guest Blogger 2: Groceries and Mall

Second Blog entry written by my sister in law, visiting us for a week... 
Yesterday was my first full day in Saudi Arabia. Worth, Chris, and the kids all had to go to school, so I was in the villa on my own. As I indicated in my comments yesterday, I decided to take the van to the mall to get an abaya rather than try to wear one with a giant hole in the back. So, at 9 o'clock, I went to catch the van provided by the compound for the women during the day. (Remember, women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia.) I was told it was for "villa residents only, so I couldn't ride. Chris happened to call at just that moment, and I wasn't back in the villa for 3 minutes when I got a call from the Compound inviting me to come ride the bus. Go Chris! At that poing, I was really hoping that I'd meet a nice lady on the bus who'd take me under her wing. Sure enough, I did! Chris's friend Sarika from Thailand was also in the van that morning and agreed to let me tag along with her.

The drive itself was a bit harrowing (the lines in the road are apprently just a suggestion) and I was quite queasy by the time we got to the mall. Fortunately, that subsided quickly, and we wandered around a bit doing some window shopping. It was truly amazing to see the number of shops that catered to women. There was shop after shop after shop after shop of fancy-dress establishments, with gowns fit for the Oscars! Yet no one would ever see them but their husbands or other women. What a shame! I was also surprised by the number of women in veils. I expected the abayas (black robes) and the hijabs (head scarves), but was not expecting to see women's faces veiled, with only their eyes showing. I even saw one woman in a full burqa!

The mall does have a smaller number of shops selling nothing but abayas, though not nearly as many as sold fancy dresses. I was able to get one that fit (see blog #1 about the problems with borrowed abayas), though it's not particularly attractive. Some are very elaborate with gems and embroidery; mine is of a nice fabric, but it simply has some braided ribbon around the sleeves. Oh, but those sleeves are about 18-24 inches around, which is much nicer than the tight sleeves of the borrowed abaya. They're so dang hot. I'm hot natured normally. Just a few degrees above my comfort zone and I'm sweating like a pig. Anyway, I nearly caused a diplomatic incident when the male clerk told me to try it on. I asked "here?" He said yes. So I started to take off the abaya I was wearing to try on the new one, when both clerks & Sarika yelled "NO!" I was supposed to try it on *over* the Abaya. Oops. I guess I'm just too damned American. When we went to a different mall today, I noticed that in the ladies' restroom, there are dressing rooms. Apparently, you have to buy the clothes, take them to a dressing room, try them on, and either take them home or return them to the store. It's a really good thing Sarika was with me when I was buying my abaya; she's so nice and helpful, and I'm glad she was there. She talked them down from 400 SR to 200SR, and they hemmed it to length in the 10 minutes we had to wait. Sarika's a natural at haggling!

The other big experience that morning was going to the grocery store. But the mundane term "grocery store" doesn't do this place justice. It's called Danube, and it's probably equivalent to a Central Market in Texas, or maybe a Whole Foods. Not organic, necessarily, but beautiful and well kept. The bread section was at least 50 yards long. The fruits and vegetables were arranged with an artistic flair. There was a whole section--bigger than the fruit & veg section back home--devoted *entirely* to dates. Yep. Dates. Shrink-wrapped; dried; paste; suitable-for-gift-giving-tinned. If it's associated with dates, you name it, they had it in that corner. Worth said they produce something like 500 or 600 different varieties of dates in K.S.A. alone.

When in foregin grocery stores, I always love to look at the chips aisle. The flavors are usually ... well, ... different? In Japan, for example, there's shrimp-flavored chips. In Australia, they make chicken-flavored chips. The tempting flavor here was "French Cheese" Lay's. Judging by the picture, it's apparently Swiss cheese. But oh my, I have a new favorite flavor!!! Naturally, I bought a bag of something so unusually named. I also bought a couple cans of ginger ale to settle my tummy, and a bottle of water. Unfortunately, I had not picked up a basket, and this is what led to my "freak out" experience that I mentioned yesterday.

I had my arms full of stuff and a young man kept pointing to a basket that no one was using. I wouldn't take it b/c it had some stuff in there, but he just emptied it for me and gave it to me. So I put my stuff in, smiled, and said "thank you." Oops. Apparently, you're not supposed to smile at men here. I'm just too damned American, I guess. Anyway, I went about my business, went around the corner of an aisle, and there he was again. I thought that was kinda funny, & he was smiling, so I smiled and said "hey." Oops. Apparently, you're not supposed to say "hey" to men here. I'm just too damned American, I guess. A few minutes later, I ran into him again. By this time, I was feeling awkward, and in my typical way of dealing with an awkard situation, I smiled real big and said hey again. Oops again. (See oops #1 and oops #2.) At this point he walked past me, quite closely to me, actually, which I deliberately ignored. Then he passed behind me again, said "very beautiful" and grabbed my butt! ! ! ! I was floored! Gobsmacked! Stunned! BUT NOT speechless. I whipped around and yelled "Stop it! NO! NO!" with a very stern face and a finger waggle. Turned out that the first pass was a brush-by, not a siple accident due to lack of concern about personal space. I guess I'm just too damned American.

I had to self medicate after that. With two -- count 'em -- TWO scoops of ice cream. Kiwi and Passion fruit. 10:30 a.m. is not too early for ice cream after you've been practically assaulted, is it?