Sober Saudi

If there is one way to justify spending half of my KAUST stipend on traveling during my first semester, it’s that I got invaluable experience getting on to an airplane departing for “Saudi Arabia;” a mental accomplishment in itself every time (if you’ve done it, you know what I’m talking about).

I don’t know if it’s intentional or just a coincidence, but the departure gates for Saudi Arabia are always in the weirdest, most aloof parts of the airport… take a look the next time you’re in an airport and let me know if I’m just dreaming.

After spending four fabulous weeks back in Heaven doing my fair share of things that are not permitted here in the Kingdom (a hug anyone?), I was surprisingly ready to get back to the swing of things in the desert.  I don’t know if it had to do with the celebrity status I now hold at John R. Williams elementary school, the added attention that I got from the ladies with the stories I had to tell (“…yes ladies, I own an oil company called KAUST…”), or the fact that I knew what I was getting into this time around.

Back in California, in-between sipping Shirley Temples, catching up on the newest words in the Dictionary (to google; a verb!), and watching plenty of Jeopardy with friends and family; I was actually able to do some serious story-telling.  I spoke to a rotary group (excuse me, it was “Kiwanis”), two different companies, a few high school classes, and my Mom’s elementary school.  Besides getting a taste of the “motivational speaker” lifestyle, it was truly eye-opening to learn just how little my native Californians know about Saudi Arabia (but who’s to blame them, really?).

A few entertaining questions included, “Can girls play soccer?”, “Is the Red Sea red?”, “What language do Saudis speaks?” or “Do people there ride camels?”  As an Arab reader, you might chuckle at these questions as I did, but the sincerity in which they were asked was encouraging to say the least.

Even more entertaining were the responses to some of the facts that I brought up to the listeners, like “There’s no alcohol in the Kingdom” or “Women can’t drive” (although, when I told a group of sixth grade girls that women had personal chauffeurs they were quite pleased with the alternative).

One of the unspoken perks of living in Saudi Arabia (besides being recently added to the official “airport pat-down list”) is that we really are ambassadors when we return to our homes.  It’s especially true of the few Americans at KAUST, seeing as how “involved” our country is in this part of the world, and how little our country actually knows about it.  It’s a job that I truly enjoy.

I know that New Year’s resolutions are made to be broken, but one of my humbler resolutions is to get a deeper appreciation for the people of Saudi Arabia while I’m still here; both old and new, hijab and hijab-less.

I know, good luck Eric.

Sober shout out to all of my friends and family who I saw back home and commented on their enjoyment of this blog.  Look for entries to get back up on a weekly basis (Insha’Allah).

*Wikipedia has a number of reasons for where the Red Sea got its name, my favorite being, “The name of the sea may signify the seasonal blooms of the red-coloured Trichodesmium erythraeum near the water’s surface.”  I’ll make sure someone else gets a pic when the season comes.