Bits and Pieces: Life in Riyadh

Many of you are curious about the little tidbits of life here so I thought I would throw in a post about some random aspects of life in Riyadh. I really need to write down things as I notice them especially now that I've settled in and daily life is becoming more routine.

Riyadh is a dry, dusty place in the middle of the Arabian peninsula. There are a few trees on the street but for the most part it is just yellow sand-colored concrete buildings (I like to call them glorified sand castles) with piles of rubble in between. Even when a palace is built the rubble is just moved from one square of the city to another.



As I was walking around I noticed a few people make an attempt at a front 'yard'. Every now and then I see lawn mowers for sale in the stores, but I think scissors would do the job just fine.



Women are not allowed to drive here and although the legal driving age is 18 I sometimes wonder if there are younger teenage boys driving around the streets - showing off their Hummers and Maseratis, peeling out, fishtailing, speeding around, and cutting people off. I guess that's what happens when entertainment is limited and gas is only about 50 cents a gallon.



For entertainment the foreigners like to get together and take trips out to the desert. I went on one of these outings a few weeks ago and it was nice to get out of the city. Our caravan was slowed by some Bedouin sheep herders.





We also saw some camels along the way. There aren't really wild camels anymore - we were informed that most of the camels wandering around are actually privately owned and their owners take great pride in them. I heard there is even a big camel beauty pageant once a year.





We finally made it to the camping area far away from the city. The landscape is pretty barren but people have a chance to let their hair down (literally) and spend an evening free from restrictions.



Shopping is also a big form of entertainment. Ironically fashion is huge here so many of the women are probably wearing Gucci and Calvin Klein under their black abayas (I usually just wear my D.I. shorts and T-shirt underneath). The shopping malls are huge with tons of shops, water fountains, and mini amusement parks for the kids.



Even the men have stores to get their fancy thobes made.



Sometimes when I'm wandering the huge air conditioned malls I forget that I'm in a foreign country. And then I come across a display that shows just a bit too much of women's faces and I remember where I am.



I'm glad to be in a country where I can get familiar food. The shopping malls all have big supermarkets like Carrefour (a French chain), Panda, Danube, or Tamimi (a version of America's Safeway) where I can buy everything from high-quality French cheeses to Betty Crocker brownie mix to a wide range of Pakistani curry sauces. I had Campbell's Chicken and Stars soup the other night just to remind me of my childhood. I even found blueberries (!!!!!!!) but this small pack cost about $8 so I decided to resist temptation.



One thing about shopping that is different here is that by law everything must shut down for prayer time. So five times a day when the prayer call goes off, customers are escorted out of the shops, the gates are locked, and then everything re-opens about 30 minutes later when prayer time is finished. If you are in a big supermarket they will just close the gates and lock you in while you continue your shopping (but if you are already standing in line at the checkout it can by kind of annoying). Here's a little video of when I got locked in the Carrefour. I tried to be discreet while filming in public.



All in all, despite the little idiosyncrasies and contradictions I'm learning how to enjoy myself in this mixture of old and new here in Riyadh.