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!