Lost in Translation: Eid activities!

Eid mubarak everyone!

The holidays have begun and there will be lots of entertainment and activities during the next three days around Riyadh. Check out my pictures from last year's celebrations here.

If expats were more aware of all the interesting cultural events going on, I bet their attendance in these events would be much higher. Last year we found ourselves the only western expats in all the events we attended. It seems to be difficult to find accurate information on the events in english. It's the same problem every year!

A decent website that has all of the following information (which are needed to attend an event..) is hard to find. Location. Opening times. Dates. Programme. Directions. Family/Singles?

I'm especially interested in the programmes because I don't want to drive in the traffic for an hour to the location (which has not been marked) and get lost seventeen times only to arrive and realize the event is in fact: A men's only kite-flying, car-crashing, firecracker-exploding, break-the-time-barrier-while-riding-a-remote-controlled-airplane- event. I would guess many others would feel the same way.

It's pretty easy to find info on the events in Arabic and lucky me I have my own translator. However not even the official ArRiyadh city website was able to provide a clear picture of what is exaclty going on. The descriptions of the events had my husband and I cracking up so bad tears ran out of my eyes. Most activities for singles have something to do with remote controlled vehicles and surprise surprise cars.

Check these out they are all from their website.

"Activities for families include Men Tent"
Meanwhile the women and children can play a fun game of "fiddle your thumbs" "find the dung beetle" or "use camel dung balls to count how many cups of kahwa daddy will drink" games outside the tent.

"Shows by the communities, and many activities and programs that suit the folklore tent." 
It would be interesting to know what exactly those might be. Remote-controlled motorcycles and boats show, perhaps?

"There are benches for men and women." 
Really? Wow. Amazing.


"Car races. Breaking the time barrier, remote control show"
Umm..So who exactly is going to break the time barrier and is it going to be using the remote controlled car?

"Colors."  
How intruiging, fascinating even.

"A comedy show on how a person make friends through facebook." 
Click. Send friend request. Click.

"Colorful folklore arts and folklore and popular colors for a number of areas in the Kingdom and many activities and programs."  
Downright mind-blowing. 


"Corners for Childrens" 
Aww now that's just mean. Isn't it a children's holiday anyways?

"A number of various festival activities designated for the families, each of which shall host a different activity."
Good that they clarified that it's actually the activity that hosts a different activity.

"Time to show off your modified cars. Participants will display their modified cars." 
This has got to be my favorite. That means the show has just moved from Tahlia street to Shows Square. And this time it's legal.

Which one would you attend?

I did gather a list of the most interesting events translated from Arabic websites, see the Events section :)
There were many that are actually worth going to! If you are in Riyadh check some of them out and have fun !

Hmm. I wonder what's inside?

Ramadan- Favorite Month For Saudi Religious Police

Ramadan, the busiest season of the year for the members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) aka Saudi religious police force. I like to refer to them
more familiarly as the muttawa.

DISCLAIMER: This entire post is written in a sarcastic tone, tongue in cheek. For those readers that suffer from over-sensitivity and lack sense of humour, I recommend you don't read any further, because you might get offended :)

During Ramadan malls all over Riyadh will fill up with Saudis shopping until they drop (which would be around 3 am). What a better opportunity for the moral cops to get some serious moral enforcement done! If you don't know what Saudi religious police are read more here and find out some of my previous encounters with them here and here.

New toys for the bearded boys
Before the Holy Month the muttawa have been busy preparing their fleet of white GMC Suburbans in anticipation of making many new arrests. CPVPV recently received some (about 53 million dollars) bribery ahem sorry support money from the royal family and they were able to pimp their 600 rides with hi-tech anti-immorality gadgets. The GMC's now contain laptops, scanners, fax and copy machines and I bet a coffee machine and a plasma TV too.

Why is Ramadan such a fruitful time for muttawa?
Firstly because the pure numbers of immodestly dressed women and men at malls nearly triple compared to normal months. Uncovered faces, male-leggings (meggins), pink shirts on men, shorts, flashy abayas, high heels, t-shirts with the highest button left unbuttoned.

You name it- surely the muttawa will find it.

During daytime the religious police will be on the look out to catch foreigners secretly taking a sip of water or chewing gum in public places which is viewed as forbidden during Ramadan daylight hours (but only in Saudi-Arabia!)

Ramadan also enables easier entry to malls for single men who are normally unable to enter malls without a female (guardian). They might try to sneak into crowded malls by infiltrating into groups of women as fake brothers.

Special opportunities 
Food courts are another place of interest for the religious police since lots of haram mixing happens if the food court counters are not separated by screens. Women tend to remove their veils partially when eating in the closed family sections. This poses great potential for eager officers who've specialized in terrorizing dining females.

Women's clothing stores might have hidden dressing rooms in the back rooms and if found the muttawa have really hit the jackpot!
Another point of interest for muttawa are mirrors. Some shops for women's clothing actually hide mirrors behind the racks.

Religious cops are also keen to check on the abaya shops for anything with too much color or bling-bling on it. In other words, anything other than ALL BLACK is a big no-no. There is no point of going to the abaya shops when the CPVPV members are present at the mall (if looking for anything else than the standard all black version). Abaya salesmen are clever enough though and often manage to trick the muttawa by hiding the flashy abayas and scarves. Even the catalogs for the embroidery and sequins have magically disappeared.

Muttawa field trips
Just the other day the Saudi religious police force were having a blast at one their favorite hangouts Granada Mall, known to locals as "Gharnaata Moll". As my husband and I entered I noted the presence of not one but two CPVPV vehicles parked outside the entrance. I made a remark to my husband betting we will run into them inside the mall. I counted a staggering seven muttawa apprentices in addition to the Big Boss donning the black cape (bisht), all accompanied by one or two security officers. They were armed as if going into war.

We actually went to this mall specifically to check out the Saudi Cancer Society Photo Exhibition held there. Funny how they allowed that btw.

I took some pictures of the expo and before I could say "maashallah" I spotted the muttawa.

The commission members didn't seem to have any interest in the exhibition itself (although images of living things and art by Saudi women were on display and there was no segregation of sexes) but instead they were going in and out of stores checking for above mentioned forbidden things.

The bearded bullies enter a kids clothing shop 
The store we were in was packed with women and children when the joyous mood suddenly changed to silence and wary looks when a religious police officer entered with a mall security guy.

The bearded threat naturally did the most important thing first and went around telling all women to cover (all had niqab on). He then picked out one of the salesmen and took him to the back room with the visibly awkward mall security officer. Everyone in the store was quiet and the atmosphere was like being in a horror movie, will he return alive?

After they emerged (the clerk looked very pale) the commission officer approached my husband. He started interrogating him; name, family, tribe, workplace and so on. The muttawa had an issue with my husband's shorts, which were below the knee length and should be OK, but nevertheless were deemed inappropriate. The muttawa told my husband to immediately leave the mall! 
My husband did not take him seriously but politely promised not to wear them next time.

During this grilling session the security guy stood nearby looking extremely squirmy and embarrassed trying to motion for the commission member to leave to the store.

The muttawa ignored his request and then shifted his interest to me, asking my husband: "Why doesn't your wife have a niqab (face veil) on? Her face is exposed!" My husband replied: "What she is wearing is fine. What is your problem?"

The muttawa replied "Saudi men should keep their jewels hidden."
Hehehe. How nice to be called a jewel ;) And what was this exposed jewel doing during all this? Laughing to herself and snapping a pic of this silly situation.

So what happened to the salesman they harassed? The highest button on his T-shirt had been open and muttawa had given him a long lecture about it in the back room.

Interesting to see what the priorities of the CPVPV members seem to be during this Holy month.

Dear Riyadh

Dear Riyadh!

I hope this letter finds you in good health and inshallah the dust is not covering you too much. How have you been doing otherwise? How is your great grandfather Old Diriyah doing? I have been wanting to visit him for a long time but it has been too hot! I heard he has done some serious gardening in Wadi Hanifa.

Is the traffic still overwhelming you and are the fumes making your lungs hurt? As a nurse I worry for your health! Perhaps you should get some more greenery and parks to ease the pain. I bet the people would enjoy having serene places like that too. Certainly they would prefer a park for their picnics instead of the dirty and dark parking lots or construction areas they use now. I honestly never understood why you allow those Princes to keep perfectly good land as empty wasteland in your best areas. Imagine how beautiful you could become! Like your name implies, "Gardens".

Speaking of construction, have you ever counted how many cranes you have? You must hold the world record, or perhaps your uncle-Dubai wins that title.
Have you ever considered obtaining some of those qualities your uncle has? Don't get me wrong, I am not implying you should become just like him. I know he has his faults. But everyone should always try harder and strive to become better cities don't you think?

Maybe a cinema would be just the thing to would cheer you up?
You could implement it with your own Saudi twist! Have a separate hall for women and men and put guards at the doors. That way you could keep the pests  muttawa out.

That reminds me, do you still have the problem with those cockroaches? They seem to get their tentacles into everything don't they! How will you ever get rid of them! I guess it's impossible to totally eliminate pests like that. Especially because the government is not helping you fight them off. I feel for you.

Do you think the streets cats deserve the bad treatment they get from most people here? After all they are God's creation and we must look after them, not try to kill them! I try to feed them every once in a while I hope you don't mind.

I wanted to ask you, have you seen any Saudi women driving on your streets? If you do please be mindful to them and fix those potholes, make clear road signs and set up street lighting. And do say hello from me!

Lastly I wanted to thank you for all the amazing experiences you have given me!

Riyadh, you are like a box of dates. One never knows what is inside unless they give it a taste first. Some people assume there's always just a hard seed and do not even bother taking a bite. If they only knew there are dates filled with nuts, cookies and even chocolates to be discovered!

Hope to hear from you soon!
Yours,

Remember to say mashallah!

Something I learned the hard way in Saudi-Arabia was the importance of saying mashallah. When I had just started working as a nurse I was full of excitement and I was very talkative with my patients. I wouldn't give second thought to complimenting on a Saudi woman's beauty, admiring her pretty dress or beautiful children. Then one day when I was returning to work and was anticipating on having the same patients assigned to me I was in for a surprise. The family had thought I had been "too friendly" and had complained to the head nurse about me. They had mentioned how I didn't say mashallah when I praised their kids, despite them requesting it. They had  instructed me in Arabic to "say mashallah" and I hadn't understood so they had gotten suspicious and requested another nurse. I was devastated, but I took it as a lesson.

So what does mash'Allah mean? The literal English translation is "as God has willed it". It's used for whenever someone or something is being praised or admired. It's supposed to be a reminder that all good things come from God and are blessings from Him. Saudis and other Arabs also strongly believe that saying it prevents the "evil eye". Sometimes Saudis might say mashallah when just looking at something nice.

When lots of children are present and people are talking about them, every other word seems to be mashallah! It can be quite frustrating to always remember to say it, but for Saudis it comes naturally and they expect westerners to know to say it too. The family at the hospital obviously was afraid that I had given them the evil eye. It might sound superstitious to some, but it's dead serious business here.


So be warned, if you're coming to Saudi-Arabia and see a cute baby (they are everywhere) don't forget to say mashallah!

What a cute baby MASHALLAH!

The different sides to Ramadan in Saudi

Ramadan is here and Muslims all over the world will be fasting this month. Saudi-Arabia turns into a much more accommodating place for fasting people to live during the holy month. There are many exceptions in everyday life that enable easier days of fasting, especially for Saudis.

Other fasting Muslims on the other hand and the millions of non-muslims working in Saudi-Arabia might not live this month as smoothly as the Saudis do. Ramadan in Saudi is certainly a very different experience for a Saudi, a muslim and a non-muslim.

I wrote some previous posts about Ramadan in the Kingdom here and one on hospitals and Ramadan here.

Less work, more spending
There are millions of non-muslims living and working in Saudi-Arabia that are greatly affected by the holy month.
Almost all opening hours of business will change, stores will open only from late afternoon up until 2 am. This of course means heavy traffic in the evenings and not much to do during the day for the people that aren't fasting. Schools start later for Muslims and there are less working hours for Muslim employees. Researches have found that the productivity in Muslim countries decreases almost by 50- 80% during Ramadan but on the other hand markets grow due to increased spending and giving charity.

Who does the work during Ramadan?
At the workplace the non-muslim employees are discriminated against in many ways. Starting with working hours, non-muslims work like in any other month while the Muslims work less total days and have shorter hours.
Muslims might take more breaks during the day, arrive late or leave early. This is not frowned upon as long as they are Saudis. Other nationalities even if fasting, will be expected to abide strictly to the working hours.
In the hospital where I worked only the Saudi employees were allowed to leave the workplace during prayer times. Sometimes an employee might have been absent for an hour during prayertime. Especially the male employees seemed to do this because they would go out to the hospital mosque unlike the female employees who prayed in empty rooms.

The untouchables
All this this might add up to the Saudi employee spending almost half less time at the workplace than the other employees during Ramadan.

Or at least that is how it seems to those left behind at the workplace to do the job while the Saudis are gone.

The non-muslim employees might feel they are forced to do most of the work because the fasting colleagues are resting. The fasting workers are exempt from the physically heaviest chores.
No one dares to complain about a Saudi colleague, they have a sort of untouchable status at the workplace.

Forbidden Eating
Another phenomenon that might make Ramadan a less pleasant experience for those not fasting is the expectation that all non-muslims must eat and drink in secrecy during the daylight hours. At the hospital for example even keeping water bottles visible was viewed as almost criminal activity. I think it's silly that kind of culture exists that everyone else must change their normal daily routines so that the fasting Muslims won't get offended by the sight of food. I have witnessed how this behavior made some people feel humiliated and it doesn't exactly indicate religous tolerance either.

The toughest Ramadan?
What about the housemaids and drivers? Their month must be the toughest of all especially if they happen to be fasting. The maids are of course the ones having to take care and feed the children during the daytime while the fasting mothers are sleeping through the day. In the afternoons the maids are preparing the food for the family and likely guests too. Evenings and nights they cater to and clean up after the iftar parties. Some families even send their maids to their relatives houses for extra work. When do they have the chance to sleep?

The drivers don't have it mush easier. Their working hours become longer and they might be forced to skip their night sleep because of family members needing rides to shopping malls or friends houses in the middle of the night.
Naturally there are also Saudi families like my husbands that give their maids extra money or gifts and more free-time during this month.

In any case Ramadan is an exceptional month and an ordeal for everyone living in the Kingdom. For some it may be like a nightmare while to others an enjoyable nightly party.