Letter From Saudi Arabia

While roaming the world, Cal introduced me to her friend Greg, who then became my friend Greg. Greg is currently posted in Saudi Arabia, and he sends out absolutely fascinating emails describing his life. He has kindly agreed to let me reproduce one here. So here it is!

18 Rabii II 1428H (corresponding to 5 May 2007AD)
Salam aleikum min il Mamlaka, Peace and greetings upon you from the Kingdom.
I am now into my fifth month in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia I have learnt is a land of contrasts and I’m finding some of my earlier stereotypes were too simplistic in construction and in need of some fine tuning. As with any place, the longer you spend somewhere the more you come to understand it. Daily frustrations are growing fewer. I now, generally, know when prayer time is and can avoid being locked out of (or locked in) stores during the compulsory five daily prayer breaks. I have also learnt that to push in a line is not considered ‘rude’ in the strictest sense, and if I can do it stealthily (a little more difficult given I’m a white foreigner and stick out), then I can save a lot of time (please don’t judge! – “when in Rome”).
My new car has helped out a lot too in the transition into Kingdom life. I’m now cruising the streets of Riyadh in a 2007 Toyota Yaris. It isn’t the huge 4×4 I had promised myself in New Zealand, but then while it may cost only six New Zealand dollars to fill the tank, I have, we have, a responsibility to our climate – and the large gas guzzling Humvies and 4x4s that circle Saudi roads only contribute to the city’s and our planet’s pollution. I also figured it would be more manoeuvrable too – and fast. Did I say fast? Saudi has the highest per capita road fatality rate in the world (most accidents per capita too). I drive using my mirrors, and use my horn more than is natural. Currently I have the stock standard Yaris horn, which I have decided needs to be pimped up into a fog horn. Given Saudi drivers, it is survival of the fittest, or rather largest or loudest. My small Yaris needs to be loud.
We’re on a virtual lock down at the moment. We are not allowed to go into the desert because we’ve been warned by the Foreign Ministry here that there are terrorist attacks likely against westerners (its been in all the papers). As such we have been advised to stay inside the city boundaries. Its meant a major inconvenience to me, as the desert is one avenue of entertainment that I can enjoy outside of the Diplomatic Quarter, residential compound and City Centre (I usually go to the desert with Saudi and Yemeni friends). Given there are no bars, nightclubs, movie theatres in Saudi Arabia (all considered haram, and evil), social activities tend to be limited to cafes (of course only with male friends – men can’t sit with women in restaurants – unless in special curtained off areas for “families”). Sometimes people get around it and simply pretend they’re married. Its risky as getting caught by the religious Police is an ever present threat.
I joined up with the Riyadh Hash house Harriers for a while too – in other cities they are known as the “drinking group with the running problem”, in Saudi there is no drinking, but the desert runs are great. Its getting warm now, early forties, so I’d be guessing my running in the desert days are soon to come to an end for this season – while the desert is fun, dehydration is not. Its only going to get warmer. Mid fifties are apparently the height of summer… but I can wait for August for that.
I had dinner the other night with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. Four of us from work went. It was, to put it mildly an interesting, yet warming encounter with what you could term the religious right. Imagine a group of middle aged men, all with huge beards, dressed in their white thobes and red head scarves, meeting to discuss the perceptions of Islam and Saudi Arabia in the West. It was an enlightening experience. They were warm, jovial, and honestly interested in dialogue and hearing our perceptions. One observation I have come to very rapidly is that Saudi Arabia is a confusing country that is misunderstood by the West. The people are very introverted (unlike their gregarious Egyptian neighbours), and unlike us in New Zealand, they do not tend to take to strangers quickly. A private people, devoted to their families, and strict with their religion (which is more than a faith, it is a way of life, constitution, legal code and a societal order).
I think events of the past six years have challenged Saudis to consider who they are, and how they fit into the global framework. They are a nation of contrasts, there’s the official line on most things, yet a definite subculture that often exists beneath. Saudis are known throughout the Arab world for tending to be cold, which while on the face of it sometimes appears true, underneath exists a web of desert culture and tradition, where I’m told “smiling” has traditionally is interpreted as a sign of weakness. The intermarrying of the nomadic tribes (first cousins marry) has meant there has been little need in the past to extend friendship to strangers. Society has been closed, and to be blunt it hasn’t needed to open up. A case in point is the difficulty in obtaining Saudi visas. You can’t visit this place unless on a religious pilgrimage to Makkah or Medina, or if you are sponsored by someone already domiciled in the Kingdom (such as myself). Oil revenue has meant the tourist dollar, sought by so many other countries is not needed here – and to bring it in would mean the introduction of western ideas, freedoms and sins.
So, I live my day soaking up the culture and trying to be non judgemental. Rather accepting the differences as merely that, differences in a way of life that is a virtual antithesis to that of New Zealand. Yes, I miss the greenery of home, friends, family, the ease of life. Here I have desert and heat, a tight knit, and small western expat community, and a handful of Saudi friends who are brave to also stretch out over the cultural divide to embrace that which Saudi society is not yet prepared to allow, mixing of the sexes, small screenings of DVDs at friends houses with projectors, and talk of the Kingdom of the future, the societal changes that are underway, the pressures to bring about reform, peacefully from within the Monarchy or more forcefully through the sword, eg Al Qaeda and other Islamists.
Anyway, enough from me.
With love and regards from the Kingdom,
Keep in touch,
Maa’salam and Peace,
Greg

Thanks for this Greg.