Oh Christmas Tree? Oh Christmas Tree!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!
Thou tree most fair and lovely!
Oh Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!
Thou tree most fair and lovely!
The sight of thee at Christmastide
Spreads hope and gladness far and wide
Oh Christmas tree, O Christmas tree 
Thou tree most fair and lovely!

Saudi version:
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!
thou tree most scarce and forbidden

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!
where are thy branches hidden?

The sight of thee in Saudi-land
Spreads fear and loathing in the sand


O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!
thou tree most scarce and forbidden


Christmas decorations such as trees in public are pretty much non-existent during the holiday season in Saudi-Arabia. Christmas is viewed as a Christian religious holiday and all items that celebrate it are supposed to be forbidden here. Christmas trees would be seen as religious symbols (which they are not really). Despite the lack of holiday spirit in the public sphere, many expats and even locals celebrate the holidays in the privacy of their homes.
The only Christmas tree that I know of on public display in Riyadh was in Hayat mall and it was not even decorated. It's pretty amazing how they pulled that one off without the Hai'a having a say. Maybe there were too many women with nail polish around on that day for the religious police to notice anything. My friend sent me this pic:

The only way I knew people got Christmas trees in Saudi was if they had shipped theirs in like my friend Nicole who managed to ship in a pretty large fake tree among her stuff from the States not so long ago.
That's why I had given up on the idea of ever having a tree here.

How I found my own fake tree was by pure accident. I was in an area in Riyadh which could be called a ghetto, looking around for some holiday decorations. We went there knowing they sell Christmas-sy decorations such as lights and those colorful frills people here use on Eid.


I entered one of the shops that sells all sorts of tawdry stuff and plastic crap. In Finnish I would call it a rihkama store. The place was packed with people and I saw an entire shelf full of what could not be mistaken for anything else than Christmas ornaments. I was shocked a little but happy to have found them. Out of the blue I asked the salesman if they happened to have Christmas trees for sale.

The look on his face was as if I had just asked him for drugs.

The salesman turned red and whispered back to me, yes we do have as if he was letting me in on a state secret. I remained calm but inside I was now very excited. I had not expected this at all! Christmas trees for sale in Saudi-Arabia? No way!

I excitedly asked what sizes they had since I didn't want to leave the store dragging a huge log behind me. He tried to show me the sizes with his hands while constantly eyeing the nearby Saudi customers with suspicion. He pretended to arrange some boxes around while doing it. I asked if the trees were decorated and did they have a stand. His nervous replies started to make me nervous too.

I told him I needed to see it before I could buy anything. The salesman hesitated but then motioned me to follow him. My heart was now beating faster as I realized my dream of having a cute little tree might come true after-all but at the same time I was nervous because the salesman was acting like we were about to commit a horrid crime.

It felt like he was a drug dealer about to show me his stash of cocaine.

The man walked to an aisle in the middle of the store fearfully glancing around, now visibly anxious and fidgety. He said "if any man with beard come, problem".

I nodded and said mafi mushkila. He kneeled down and removed the screws that had been loosely placed on the bottom of the corridor shelves. The front came off and revealed the long cardboard boxes hidden inside.

Now two Saudi women walked by. The salesman scrambled quickly closing the door and stood up while I pretended to browse through the cheap alarm clocks on top of the shelf. I wondered what my husband would say about the tree.

The women finally left and the salesman opened the door again. I could see three different sizes of boxes. He asked me which one I wanted. I told him I would have to see the actual tree before purchasing, but I wanted the smallest one. He opened one of the boxes and showed me the top of the tree which in all honesty looked really darn crappy, but beggars are not choosers.

"Will you take it ma'm?" I told him yes, I will take "it"!

The man pulled the box out of its hiding place. Suddenly the box fell apart and a portion of the tree was now showing.

My heart almost stopped.

The salesman panicked and started shouting in Hindi to his co-worker while trying to hide the branches with his arms. The co-worker flew to rescue with two large white plastic bags. With trembling hands they shoved the tree in the bag and placed another one on top covering all the green parts.

He told me he would take this "ahem" to the cashier to wait for me. Luckily it seemed as if the Saudi customers around the store were oblivious to our sneaky Christmas tree business and no bearded men were in sight.

With my heart still racing from the adrenaline rush this piece of green plastic had triggered, I tried to pick up some decorations for the tree. Strangely they were all out on display. I found colored pine cones, ball ornaments, frills and stars. One salesman even brought a big box of stars to me.

I wondered why it was acceptable to sell these ornaments but the actual tree was treated like the anti christ.

When I was done I apprehensively approached the cashier. I tried to wait for a moment when there was no queue but that was not going to happen on a busy evening like this. When my turn came I quickly handed him the basket full of tree decorations. He glanced around from the corner of his eyes and took the things directly into a plastic bag.

Next I wondered how I was supposed to tell him about "it". I said there was 'ahem ahem' something for me here. I tried to look for the white plastic bag and noticed it stashed behind his chair. The cashier did not understand my code language for hidden christmas tree so I had to point to the bag and say I think that was mine. "Oh OK ma'm". He did not even touch the bag.

At this point my husband suddenly rushed into the store. My first thought was he came to warn me about approaching muttawa but he wanted me to hurry up because the children were crying in the car. I pointed to the tree bag saying that's ours. He asked, "are you sure? Why is it there?" I told yes I'm very sure. So then my husband just threw it on his shoulder unknowing it was in fact a Christmas tree.

I tried to act normal but couldn't help laughing at the situation and the very pale face of the cashier. My husband with the tree hanging on his shoulder asked what's in here anyways? Weren't you supposed to buy some candles? I told him "oh, nothing special, I will tell you later."

So we ran to the car parked close by with the Christmas tree on my husbands shoulder. He opened the back door and threw the bag in. We ran not because we had just purchased a black market Christmas tree but because of the crying babies, but admittedly it might have looked suspicious. I giggled about the experience for a long time and managed to keep the tree as a surprise for my husband.

The next day I set up the tree and decorations. Although very small, it didn't look too bad at all. My husband laughed when he saw it and realized that he had been running around the ghetto with a Christmas tree on his back!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

You fill my heart with music.
Reminding me on Christmas Day
To think of you and then be gay.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree
You fill my heart with music.

Saudi IKEA's Misogynistic Madness

I might have gotten out of bed with the wrong foot as we say in Finland, but I noticed something so disturbing today that I just HAD to rant a little bit about it. I mean this is complete and utter madness. So Dumb. Disturbs me what kind of sickos and women haters are out there.

This is the source of my headache, an article in the Swedish Metro magazine this morning: http://www.metro.se/nyheter/kvinnor-gar-inte-att-retuschera-bort/EVHlja!2mPseJ6LPTrK2/
So the new IKEA catalogs are out and can be viewed online at their site www.ikea.com.
All the countries have pretty much the same stuff on offer and the catalogs look the same. Except for of course Saudi-Arabia, the so called model country of Islam.

What's different in the Saudi IKEA catalog then? Can anyone take a wild guess?
They censored it. ALL THE IMAGES OF WOMEN have magically disappeared from the Saudi version. A misogynistic airbrusher has vandalized the entire catalog.

You might have seen how they censor stuff in Saudi-Arabia before, like blacking out half clad women from the swimming pool packages or placing white tape on celebrity decolletages, drawing imaginary black leggings and T-shirts on women in the women's magazines or spray painting the bare skin parts black. Heck they even black out the word PORK from food items.

I can understand why some of the censoring is done in Saudi-Arabia if I really really try hard to block most of my brain activity while at the same placing my head in a very narrow tunnel. But people, this is a furniture catalog, OK? Who the hell needs to censor a furniture catalog anyways?

Take a tour of the Saudisized IKEA here: http://imagesofsaudi.blogspot.com/2012/02/saudi-ikea-experience.html
The censorship at the actual Riyadh IKEA store has always creeped me out. Check this out:

 What on earth was going on in their minds when they decided to do that? It's just the babies mother for God's sake!

How about this? The woman is fully covered! Looks like someone has some serious issues with women.

As a woman I find this highly offensive and insulting. This must also be the height of hypocrisy. I wonder how many of the men responsible for this stupidity have maids (as in unrelated females) living in their houses? I would guess 99%.

What is the point to remove all the women from the Saudi catalog? Women do exist. What are these misogynist men trying to accomplish by this, trying to imagine women don't exist? Do they not watch the news or TV at all? Do they not go to malls or grocery stores? Images of women are everywhere in Saudi-Arabia! Heck there is even REAL uncovered women out there on the streets of the conservative capital Riyadh. Should they be blocked from public view too? Even the women's magazines that are allowed in the Magic Kingdom are not censored like this. So why IKEA?

I wonder how IKEA as a Scandinavian company is even agreeing to this. Sweden is one of the most gender equal countries in the world. What a mockery this is to equality of women. This is oppression of women. What an absolute shame and disgrace that is going on with Saudi IKEA. I feel insulted as a Scandinavian. As if the women are indecent or shameful and thus needed to be removed. These are normal everyday images of women, of mothers with children in their homes, not of women posing in sexy positions in bikinis or miniskirts.

What do these people think, that Saudi men can't handle a few images of mostly fully clad women? Are Saudi men expected to be so sex deprived they would go crazy to see these tempting Swedish women? Do these perverted minds assume all men think like them and would take the magazine into the bathroom for some "private viewing"? How disgusting. Is someone out there really this sick? For the life of me I can't understand what is wrong with this picture of a family brushing their teeth together:

And in the Saudi version the mother has disappeared. I find this very sad that someone thought she needed to be removed. What kind sick minds are these?

This is the scene from the normal catalog kitchen section, the screen shot taken from the UAE catalog. How are the UAE men able to handle the images of women btw?

You would think that women naturally appear in the kitchens right? Not in Saudi! They also removed the man though. But hey, by taking a closer look we can see the woman looks Asian. Wouldn't this be a scene from a typical Saudi home then? An unrelated, uncovered Asian woman working in the kitchen, mixing with the Saudi males of the family. Why is it totally fine in the home but not in the catalog? Can anyone say double standards?
Maybe they removed the guy too so that Saudi women don't get any ideas of hiring male maids! God forbid an unrelated male mixing with Saudi women. What would the world turn into.

Another image from the real world. A family cooking happily together, father, grandfather, mother, children all joyfully together. What is so wrong with this image that Saudi-Arabia can't handle it?

First of all scenes like this just don't exist in Saudi homes. Better to remove the grandpa (although he looks culturally acceptable with his muttawa-look) and the father so that Saudi women won't get any ideas in their heads that men do actually cook in countries like Sweden and thus become too demanding on the Saudi men. The woman is dressed so indecently that she needs to be removed straight away. The kids are helping to set up the table. What! Helping?? Where is the maid? Totally unacceptable to make children to do housework. This is what it should look like:

Except that the magic deleting wand forgot the wine bottle on the table. What a horrific mistake! Someone might some bad ideas from that!
How about this image. Honestly I can't even tell which one is the woman immediately. She seems to be dressed just like the male counterparts. But because she's a woman..DELETE.

How ridiculous can this get really? The entire catalog is full of examples like this. Why does the IKEA censor hate women so much they need to be completely deleted from the catalog? Above all how could IKEA, which is a company based on family values and comes from a country once chosen as the best country for women to live in, accept this misogynistic madness? Are women not welcome into the Saudi-Arabian IKEA stores?


Edit: IKEA has issued a statement saying it regrets its decision saying "We should have reacted and realized that excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalog is in conflict with the IKEA Group values." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444592404578030274200387136.html?mod=WSJUK_hps_LEFTTopWhatNews

Crossing The Line

I've said it before I will say it again. Most Saudis don't know what a queue, also known as a line is.
Other foreign concepts include (but are not limited to):
Standing in a line.
Queuing.
Waiting for your turn.
First come, first served.

Just in case someone might not know what the last phrase means here is what Wikipedia tells us:  "first-come, first-served and first-come, first choice – is a service policy whereby the requests of customers or clients are attended to in the order that they arrived, without other biases or preferences. The policy can be employed when processing sales orders, in determining restaurant seating, on a taxi stand, etc. In Western society, it is the standard policy for the processing of most queues in which people wait for a service or two.

Why doesn't this concept apply to Saudi-Arabia? Why am I constantly being cut in line by a "VIP" who thinks their existence is more important than others? Why are people in such a hurry to be served first? Why are people so indifferent to others in their presence? What causes this rude behavior? Why is it acceptable to act this way?

Just an example from yesterday.
I was shopping at the IKEA food market and had picked a few must-have items (such as Finnish black licorice, rye crackers, gingerbread and frozen crawfish) and had proceeded to the cashier with my basket. There was one woman standing there so I automatically went to stand behind her, to form a line.

So next thing you know another woman comes from the side and shoves her chocolate bars on the counter and the cashier automatically serves her. I was annoyed but thought this is normal here so I didn't bother to say anything. Then another woman comes from the other side of the counter and starts waving her money and candy at the cashier. He sees me, but takes her first.

My annoyance is growing. Next I push my basket in front of the cashier and say, excuse me, I'm next. No use. He takes the chocolate bars from the insisting man next to me. A boy comes from the behind him and pushes a licorice bar almost directly in the cashiers hand. All the while I'm standing there with my basket and telling him I've been waiting for 10 minutes here. He completely ignores me and proceeds to serve the Saudis as if he didn't understand anything I just said.

I have the baby in a stroller behind me and she is getting really fussy and my husband is still busy with something else. By now six people have jumped the queue so now I was determined to get served next. Then what completely topped off my irritation was when a girl and her mother came next to me demanding to be served immediately, of course. The girl was waving a chocolate bar. I told her mother excuse me there's a line here, I was first. She ignored me. Then the girl tried again and I pushed my basket in front of her so that she couldn't even reach the cashier. And guess what the mother does?

She whispers something in the daughter's (age around 7 yrs old) ear and next thing you know the kid shows up next to the cashier with her chocolate bar. I glanced at him with a look that could kill but regardless he took the chocolate bar and the girl and mother started giggling in a juvenile manner. That is parenting at its best for you. What an exemplary woman. I'm sure the girl will grow up to be just as rude, selfish and immature as her.

The cashier then finally took my basket, dumped all the stuff out on the counter and started throwing (no joke) THROWING it around. I asked him what are you doing the cookies are fragile they might break! He looked at me with a blank stare. Then I asked him why didn't you take my things before, I was waiting a long time. He said, because you have so many things.

REALLY? You have got to be freakin kidding me. So the more things I have purchased the longer I have to wait in line for? Everybody with less items is allowed to cut me in line? What if I purchase two items at a time and then make a new purchase every time? If a hundred people come with one item, I will have to wait with my 15 items until you finish them? He obviously had never heard of customer service or first comes first served principle. Just because I chose to buy more doesn't mean I loose my right to be served when it's my turn. Sheesh. Who will teach these people manners?? Who will instill customer service into their brains?

What would you have done in this situation? Had a nervous breakdown, called the manager, grabbed the chocolate bars from the other customers hands and thrown them around or just walked away and not bought anything?

For more pics from the Saudi IKEA experience go here: http://imagesofsaudi.blogspot.com/2012/02/saudi-ikea-experience.html
Saudi VIP's: http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2010/08/excuse-me-excuse-me-excuse-me.html

Women to Finally Sell Lingerie in Saudi-Arabia?

Scene from a lingerie store in Riyadh, Saudi-Arabia.
Woman enters shop fully covered in her black abaya.
An Arab male salesclerk approaches with a smile while closely eyeing her body up and down. "Hello ma'm can I help? You need push-up bra?"
-No thank you.
"We have new sexy panties you want to try ma'm?" 
-No thank you, please leave me alone.
Salesman follows her around store within close proximity of about 2 meters. Woman picks up a bra in her size. Salesman takes a long evaluating look at her breasts.
"We don't have your cup size ma'm. That is not your size."
-I think I know my size, thank you.
Woman tries to act as disinterested as possible to make him disappear.
The salesman doesn't take the hint and continues to follow her eagerly bringing a lacy push-up bra in bright purple color for her to see.
"This push-up bra is very excellent quality and we have your size ma'm". 
-No, no, no! And I don't like the color.
"What color you like?"
Woman ignores him and proceeds to cashier. There are no fitting rooms because they are banned, so she must buy the lingerie without trying them on.
"No return or exchange ma'm. Are you sure it's your size, we also have the panties in size XL."
Does my arse look that big in this abaya, the woman thinks to herself while also feeling utterly humiliated.
-This will be fine.
The woman leaves the store blushing and makes a note to self never to purchase underwear in Saudi-Arabia again. Unless it's in the ladies only section of Kingdom shopping mall.

When will this madness and humiliation end?

Soon, if we are to believe that the Kings ruling in June earlier this year to start employing women in Saudi-Arabia's lingerie stores will actually be implemented. According to this news article there have already been measures taken by some large lingerie chains for the switch-over to female staff. A store in the more relaxed city of Jeddah is rumored to have employed women.

Until very recently, women were banned from working in public places like grocery stores because of gender mixing issues. The women that began working at Saudi-Arabia's Panda food chain as cashiers created an uproar of protests from the public and religious authorities. Read about some of the reactions:http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2010/08/boycott-fatwa-madness-by-supporting.html

Currently if women in the Kingdom wish to purchase the lingerie from saleswomen and have the option of actually trying the clothing on in fitting rooms, they need to go to the female-only sections of shopping malls. It will be interesting to see if the lingerie shops will install fitting rooms along with the change to female only staff. That just might be pushing the limit though.

Closed off from public view, ladies only clothing shops have fitting rooms inside. Will the lingerie shops also be concealed like this to hide the female workers? How will men buy lingerie anymore? Will there be a guard outside to prevent men from entering? Surely there are men out there who wish to buy lingerie as gifts for their wives.

The previous minister of Labour, Dr. Al Qusaibi, issued a law back in 2006 decreeing that only women were to be employed at lingerie shops. It was never implemented because of the strong resistance from religious clerics.

"Women are entrusted to us, we should not involve them in matters far from their nature," mufti Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said. How far are female body parts from their nature?

A brave Saudi woman Reem Asaad has campaigned for a change to the awkward situation for many years. She reaches out for women to boycott the stores that are non-compliant to the law. She says: "The way that underwear is being sold in Saudi Arabia is simply not acceptable to any population living anywhere in the modern world" . Let alone in the worlds most conservative and private country Saudi-Arabia.


The current Labor Minister Adel Fakieh has given the lingerie stores a deadline of hiring all-female staff by the end of 2011. The law for women working at lingerie stores, make-up stores or other shops selling womens items has a long list of conditions including:

• hired women must be Saudi
• security must be provided
• stores can be family section or women only
• appropriate dress in either traditional abaya or uniforms that conform to hijab
• employer must provide health coverage for female employee and all dependents
• toilets must be provided
• sectioning of female only areas for department stores

Men selling lingerie in Saudi-Arabia has always raised eyebrows and caused unease in both the women buying and the men selling them. Despite the King's ruling, the revised law and social pressure for change, not a single female employee has been seen in Saudi-Arabia's stores, yet.

Time will tell if this time around the Saudi society is ready to have females employed in lingerie stores.

The law issued in July 2011 for females to work at women's item shops: http://www.riyadhchamber.com/tamim/tjobweman.pdf
Read more on women working in Saudi grocery stores here: http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2010/08/boycott-fatwa-madness-by-supporting.html
More on King Abdullah and his mission to improve the status of Saudi women:
http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2010/08/king-abdullah-emissary-of-saudi-women.html

Saudi Dating Scene

Dating? In Saudi-Arabia?

It would appear that there is no such thing as dating in Saudi-Arabia. The countries strict laws on gender segregation make sure all contact between the sexes is minimized. There are no movie theaters, restaurants and cafe's are segregated by gender and single men are denied entry into malls and even parks.

This makes dating in the western sense practically impossible, driving young men and women to meet online in forums where the virtual dating scene is flourishing. Nevertheless young Saudis find ways to go around the rules. Where there is a will there is a way as the saying goes. Sometimes dating and flirting attempts from young Saudi males tend to go a bit overboard though.

Here are some examples of my observations of the Saudi ways of dating.

Going grocery shopping.
Tamimi supermarket seems to be a popular place to go looking for girls/boys. Some Saudi girls go here "grocery shopping" usually with a friend or a maid in tow. She will be donning her flashy abaya and most likely have very strong make-up on.
Any interested guys (all of them) will then have a chance to give her their numbers. This happens by standing close by and repeating the number over and over. She may or may not accept the offer. Some guys think the uninterested girl might not have heard him and keep following her in the store.

A couple that takes interest in each other must seem like they are casually picking up groceries while doing this to avoid getting thrown out by the security. It's sometimes hilarious watching these things going on in a grocery store!

Role playing
Another tactic is pretending to be husband and wife. The interested guy goes to the girl, grabs the cart and starts walking next to her as they were a couple. They can chat freely while pretending to shop together. The guy will pay for the groceries. This way they could also leave together in the same car and drive to a house where the parents aren't home.

This happened to me once, a guy just came and grabbed my cart and started pulling it from me despite my protests. We were yanking the cart back and forth for a while. First I imagined he thought that it was his but when I pulled out my mobile to call my husband the guy went nuts. He started frantically repeating his number to me while still hanging onto my cart. By the time he realized that I was in fact calling my husband and not eager to hear his phone number he ran like the wind out of the store!

Bluetooth and Blackberry Street
Tahlia street is a popular place for men to sit outside at its numerous cafe's and restaurants. Women or families are not allowed to sit outside, they are all  male-only singles sections. The boys will have their toys parked on the street waiting to attract the girls attention. This street gets very congested with traffic in the evenings, especially on weekends. Some girls go driving around with their drivers putting their Bluetooth on looking for guys with nice cars. Read more details here: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/03/12/meaw_pm3_saudi_dating/

 

Boys cruising in expensive rides can try to attract girls to contact them by putting Blackberry PIN number stickers on their cars. Sometimes the guys can be seen hanging out of car windows waving papers with their numbers on the.

Mall madness
Another popular place for meeting people are the shopping malls, particularly Kingdom and Faisaliah mall. Although it might be tricky for the single guys to enter because security guards don't allow them inside. But there is an easy way around it. Either the men take their sisters or try to enter with a group of unknown girls as fake brothers. Some women are known to take advantage of the guys desperation and will walk in with the guy for a charge.

The napkin technique
Group of  two or more guys stroll around the mall searching for girls they like (all of them). They make sure to have their expensive watches and phones on display. If a girl sees a guy she is interested in, she will walk past and subtly drop a napkin with her name and number on it. The guys then rush to pick it up. They can continue strolling the mall and Bluetoothing or chatting on their Blackberries while flirting with each other from afar.

Desperate loosers
Some guys are so desperate they even resort to calling random mobile numbers hoping for a girl to pick up. When they do reach a young female, the game is on. The calls will keep coming constantly, usually in the middle of the night. Shouting, name calling and slamming the phone on them will only make the guy more enthusiastic.
These guys simply won't take no for an answer. I've found that having my husband answer the phone and have few words with them is the only way to stop the phone harassement.

Fair game
Naturally not all Saudi girls are looking for a date or to have some fun flirting with guys. In fact I think the majority couldn't care less for these types of guys. But whether the girl is in a grocery store, a shopping mall or happens to be in a car on Tahlia street they seem to be viewed as prey to some men. The certain type of Saudi male views all girls in any of these places as fair game.

This can lead to a lot of annoyance and even dangerous situations like guys chasing girls in their cars, speeding and violating traffic rules. Perhaps all the strict separation of genders and preventing normal human interactions is what makes many Saudi males so aggressive in their attempts to talk to women.

Saudi-Arabia: Pathetic customer service

Sometimes I wonder why all the shops in Saudi-Arabia have employed so many shop assistants. There seems to be a man in every corner of the store yet actual customer service is unheard of.
I guess the cheap labor enables the employement of 10 Indian, Pakistani or Philippino men instead of one very efficient salesperson seen in western countries.
The sad fact which probably everyone living in Saudi has faced is that the majority of shop assistants seem to be clueless, indifferent and lazy.

I've given up altogether even bothering to ask for advice to save myself from the utter frustration that results from trying to get customer service from them.
My husband on the other hand is more tolerant and will often go and ask the shop assistants where a certain product is located. However 90% of the time I have gone and found the product on my own before the shop assistant even understood what my husband was looking for. A frequently heard response to most questions is "I don't know".

Another annoying aspect of dealing with the shop assistants is that if they don't know where an item is located (which is majority of the time) they will point you in a random direction and leave the scene.
On occasions the shop assistant will say "we don't have this product" but countless times I have managed to find it after a while of searching. Once we were unknowingly standing right next to the item and the guy is convincing us we don't have it.

Lately my husband and I have been on a quest to find proper baby strollers and a car seat and we finally found some in Toys R Us. So my husband asks the shop assistant that's responsible for the stroller/car seat section of the store some simple questions. To elaborate the "quality" of customer service you get, here is how the conversation went:
My husband: Excuse me, what is this? (pointing at the attached base of the baby car seat)
Salesman: It is the same as the stroller sir.
Husband: No I mean what's this part for?
Salesman: It is Peg Perego.
Huband: No I mean what is this part here used for?
S: It is a car seat sir.
H: Yes of course it's a car seat, but how does this work? (still pointing to the base part)
S: It is for the baby.
H: Yes I know what the SEAT is for, but what about this base?
S: I don't know. (starts trying to remove the car seat from the base without succes.)
H: Is the car seat attachable to the stroller?
S: No sir.
At this point I told my husband to try it himself because I remembered seeing it online. So they try to attach the seat to the stroller but it doesn't work out. The salesman says once more that it is not possible, chuckles to himself and leaves the scene.

Does this sound like professional customer-friendly service? Or more like asking questions from a random guy off the street? Why don't they train these people? Or maybe they just don't care?Wouldn't it be more cost effective to hire one professional shop assistant than to have random men hanging around the store?
Once we got home we checked online and the car seat does indeed attach to the stroller, and the base is meant to secure the seat more safely in the car.

Letter to Saudi women: Please leave my husband alone!

Dear Saudi women out there who have the bad habit of stalking my Saudi husband. Please leave my husband alone. You drive me crazy!!
Not that this letter will be likely to ever reach you.

Could you please stop staring at my husband and following him around when we are out together?

Yes he is married to a westerner, does that make you feel jealous or bitter that he didn't marry one of his "own kind"?

Please just leave him alone, he is a shy guy. He doesn't want the attention.

Staring is actually really impolite, did you know?

In fact leering at someone is viewed as inconsiderate and uncivilized.

Civilized people do not stare at strangers so recklessly.

Civilized people also do not whisper, point at people and giggle in their presence. Especially adults.

Shouldn't you be minding your own business rather than gawking at him like he is an alien?

Or do you perhaps view him as a traitor? Since he is with me, a western woman who stole such great marriage material from a Saudi woman?

Yes, my husband is very handsome, tall and well-built. Are you checking him out? I think sometimes you are.

Please lower your gaze.

Wearing niqab is not an excuse to stare and does not give you the right to neglect the first part of the ayat of lowering gazes.

Aren't you worried your husband if you have one, will notice you staring at another man?

Sometimes I've seen you with your husband, looking at mine.

Do you not feel guilty at all for leering at him so blatantly, and for flirting with an obviously married man?

What about batting your long fake eyelashes at him like you are the Queen of Sheba? Do you seriously think it has any effect on him?

And for your information, I am not a stupid, or blind. I can see very well you eyeing him from behind the anonymity of your niqab.

Sometimes you follow him around the store with your girlfriends like he is a piece of meat and you forgot to eat your iftar.

Or are you really this bored? If so, couldn't you think of a more stimulating and intelligent way to pass your time than shopping and evaluating other womens husbands?

Can you please be a bit more respectful? My husband does not stare back at you, he has done nothing to you and just wants to do some shopping in peace with his wife.

Sorry to disappoint you but he is not looking for a second wife.

Your co-operation is highly appreciated.

Thank you!

P.S Here is a very similar experience written by an Englishman in Riyadh:http://margraves.blogspot.com/2006/11/i-am-not-piece-of-meat.html


P.S. Just to clarify this letter is not meant for ALL Saudi women!

Excuse me! I'm a VIP and Need Service NOW!

During Ramadan night time shopping the other day I ran into this rather irritating phenomenon of Very Important People aka unbelievably impatient Saudi women. Unfortunately typical in Saudi-Arabia. I hate it when some people disrespect others especially based on nationality, imagining themselves superior and treating them in a very demeaning way.

These VIP's are women that can be found continuously shouting "excuse me" in high pitched demanding voices to waiters, shop assistants, cashiers, or whoever they want service from. Seems like they have not heard of such things as "patience" "courtesy" or "respect". These women behave like they are the only people in the world.

Everything has to happen NOW. Immediately. Pronto. YALLA!

Waiting in line is also an unknown concept to them. What line? There is other people here?

The poor victims are usually Filipinos, Indians or other Asian nationalities trying their best to please the demanding Saudi women.

These hopelessly impatient women might not know any other word of English but rest assured will master "excuse me" from early childhood by which they will call all "servants".
Usually the VIP women will be wearing niqab. That way she remains anonymous which enables her to act like a spoiled kid in public. No one will recognize her, after all.

Last night I was at the food court of the shopping mall, it was closing time around 2 am. Because of the gender segregation even the counters of the food stands are divided by screens. The place I wanted to order food from was packed with VIPs shouting in a chorus on the women's side.

The male side was empty so I decided to order from there. The friendly Filipino guy came and took my order, all the while the women continued their aimless racket. He was running around like crazy doing his best trying to get the important women served. I felt sorry for him, he was sweating but he still managed to keep calm and smiling.

Perhaps the women didn't realize that pizza doesn't actually cook any faster however many times they shout excuse me to the guy making it.

What just topped off my irritatation was when they all stuffed themselves next to me in the men's section trying to push themselves into the front as if I wasn't even standing there. The shouting continued and the Filipino worker ran faster.

Then a little girl VIP started shouting to the guy in a very disrespectful tone hurry, hurry! The mother was standing right next to her and didn't say a thing. So I told the girl, the poor guy is doing his best. It's not nice to shout at him because he can't make the food any faster. We must all wait in line.
Her reply: But I've been waiting at least FIVE minutes!

FYI Pizza nor any other type of food does not cook in less than five minutes, unless you want yours raw of course.

Thats all. Just had to let it out.

Fatwa Madness and Panda Supermarkets

In my previous post I talked about King Abdullah and how he is trying to move the Kingdom forward to this millenium. However some other Saudis seem to feel the opposite.

They want to regress.

Whenever something advanced happens in the Kingdom there will always be the people who want to drag things backward as much as possible by making people feel guilty and blaming them for "imitating the west" or being apostates. Many of the progressive issues that stir conflict involve women. Conservatives just cannot let go of their total domination over women. The excuses are always the same.

For example the female cashiers now working at Pandas and the commotion it has caused.

Some comments from public and clerics have included:

"this could lead to harassment because women will meet young men and that could harm both of them."

So lets see, so only when women are on the other side of the counter, they will get harrassed?
But if they are standing on the opposite side as customers, that wouldn't of course happen right?

The difference between normal interaction and gender mixing:

Also women and men don't really meet when the woman is the one buying and the man standing about half a meter away from her is checking her out while doing his job. That way it doesn't lead to any "harm". But if the woman is the cashier, then boy is that dangerous!

This is why supervisors are present to intervene IF someone started bothering the working woman.
I'm sure women would much rather choose the female cashier over the male one, why not give them that option?

Some Saudi cashiers will take the opportunity to check out women that are bending over to move their groceries to the conveyor belt.

"Abdullah Al-Amri expressed his dissatisfaction with the decision which he said is humiliating to Saudi women who might also end up working as maids and security guards."

Humiliating to Saudi women huh? How about the tens of millions of female cashiers of other nationalities around the world?
Being a cashier is a humiliating job? So how come Saudi men can do it?

According to this racist mentality shouldn't the job be open to Indians and Pakistanis only who are worthy of such "low" jobs. Not sure about maids but Saudi women do work as guards at hospitals and female only venues. They seem to be doing just fine.

"Sheikh Mohammad Al-Habdan, the CEO of Al-Osra religious channel, told a local online newspaper that this decision violates the law of the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta, which states that women should not compete by going into men’s jobs."

I wonder if Al-Habdan is aware that in most of the world cashiers are actually perceived as womens jobs. It's more suitable for a woman because it doesn't include any heavy physical activity. It's certainly not a "manly" job.

"Giving her that opportunity prevents men from having these job opportunities"

So men are more entitled to having jobs than women? What if she has a family to support, if she's a widow or a divorcee and the ex is totally useless and does not provide for her?
Perhaps it's just better for the women to continue to beg outside the Panda because that is all she can do to get money for her children.

Women worked along with men at the times of the Prophet, have the scholars forgotten? Or are they just picking and choosing Hadith again. Prophet Muhammeds dear wife Khadija was actually his boss and employed many other men besides him.

And the worst case of them all Sheikh Al Ahmed has really exceeded himself this time. He actually issued a religious ruling aka fatwa (King Abdullah FORBADE issuing fatwas like this last week) to boycott Pandas. The Sheikh said it's ok for the Hai'a aka muttawa to issue a lawsuit against the chain. This guy really is so frustrating! Does he think he can just overrule the Kings orders?

Read more o the subject from Saudiwoman's blog: http://saudiwoman.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/shiekh-al-ahmed-issues-a-fatwa/#comment-5338

Well I'm definitely going to shop in Pandas from now on just to support the cause of females working their!

Saudizised grocery shopping

There are many differences and peculiarities to grocery shopping especially here in Riyadh, home to over 5 million people. The most popular large grocery stores are HyperPanda, Tamimi, Carrefour, Danube and Euromarche.
There are a few things to remember when heading out:

-Dont forget the prayer times! Everything in saudi closes for prayer, for around 15-30 minutes, depending on the store and how eager the employees are to return to their posts.

Some larger stores like the ones mentioned above, let you stay in the store shopping while the employees go to pray, or if they´re non-muslims they have a break. When they come back you can cash out.

-Avoid "zahma" which is traffic in the stores. Worst on weekends, especially after Maghrib prayer to around 11pm, the stores get way too overcowded, and your shopping "experience" might last many hours.The largest stores are open until 12-2 am, and its much nicer to go shopping around then, or early morning weekdays to avoid nervous breakdowns:) Some are open even 24hrs a day, like Hyperpanda Takhasusi. Best visited at night are Danube on Takhasusi(very quiet) and Panda inside Granada mall.

Shopping BLISS at Danube

-If you're a lady, be careful with your abaya when going on escalators, it might get stuck! Another annoying occurence is it sometimes might get jammed under your shopping cart, or fellow shoppers carts..

-Try to avoid bumping into or getting too close to saudis of the opposite sex to you. They might feel awkward because they are not used to it. You will notice the saudi men usually give way to the women in the aisles, they do this out of respect and they want to be polite to you. Not because they are scared/disgusted/arrogant (most common misperceptions). So be polite and and mindful, especially if you are a man, the saudi ladies are sometimes very demanding, they are used to being treated like queens :)

Just this weekend my husband and I were shopping, and a young saudi lady comes behind him in the aisle. There is room for her to pass my husband and his cart, but she doesn't move just stands there with her cart. I see my husband getting confused and he moves on out of the aisle so the lady can pass (without getting too close to my husband) lol! It was funny, I was watching them from a distance, getting a bit jealous and wondering what is it this lady wants from my husband!

- Dont look around for female staff-there isn't any! All the staff will be male. But the staff is everywhere, there seems to be a man responsible for every 10 sqm of the store. There will always be men sweeping the floors, filling the shelves and whatever else. Surprisingly they might now know the answer to your question because their area of responsibility is so narrow. The man that takes care of the yogurt shelf doesn't know about the milks :) The frustrating aspect of this is that they hardly ever say "I dont know", they will just point you to a random direction (often wrong).

-Be aware that saudis do not acknowledge the concept of queing, or standing in line. What line? Is there a que here?Especially when you're going to have your fruits weighed, there seems to be no order in which the man attends to customers. Usually the saudi women will go first, then whoever is the loudest or has best skills in line-cutting. In this situation you can use your female gender to your advantage, try to go behind or next to the loud saudi lady and have your bag ready immidiately when she is done, place your bag ON the scale!This will not guarantee success though :D

- If you're a young woman, watch out for gangs or teenage boys..Yes, as ridiculous as it sounds, they come there to hit on girls!Shopping malls are off limits to them (alhamdulillah!) because of this exact behaviour. They might follow the girl they are interested in the store, trying to exchange numbers.

Once happened to me in Tamimi: I stayed with the cart next to the ice cream shelf trying to figure out which flavor to pick, while my husband went to get a few things. I was texting on my Blackberry when two guys suddenly come up to me and start speaking in arabic. They might have thought I'm saudi, because I was wearing niqab, in any case they continued even after I told them in english excuse me what do you want? So the guy starts repeating his phone number over and over. At this point I messaged my husband to come back quick. Then all of a sudden the guy takes my cart and starts taking it to the cashier, while I'm holding on to it trying to pull the other way and now raising my voice what the h*# do you think you're doing? He continues on and I start calling my husband, the minute he answers and I start talking to him the guys start running out of the store in panic!My husband runs to the scene, but the guys are long gone. He is very upset and so am I. Apparently Tamimi is one of the best worst places for this..

-At the cashier always have cash! So many frustrating times I have encountered problems with any kind of cards. They will run around the store with your card trying to get it work, but you still might end up having to go to the ATM.

-Please try to save the nature and encourage the packers to use less plastic bags! In Finland we are used to buying the plastic bags we need for the groceries, and we pack ourselves. Here there will be one or sometimes even two men packing your groceries. They are taught ( I assume) to put in separate bags different items. If you buy for example bread, milk, deodorant, cookies, chicken and eggs, everything requires its own bag! This total waste of plastic is just mind boggling, especially to a Finn who is used to recycling practically everything.

So what I do is I go to the man and politely advise him to not use too many bags. The problem is the workers are often Indian or Bangladeshi and dont speak english. They would understand inshallah if you say "minfadlak, mafi kees katiir shukran" Sometimes it happens even then they won't listen understand, that's when I start packing the stuff myself :D This raises quite a few eyebrows. My husband is sometimes embarrassed of all the attention it gets, (he is shy and literally the whole store will be staring at us) so he will nowadays go straight to the guy and explain before I need to jump in! We will give the packers a little money when they do a good job, hoping they would continue the practise..

Saudi women "queing"

Attacks on western women outside Kingdom mall!

I would rate Saudi-Arabia as one of the safest countries I've been to. Crime rates are very low and security forces are present everywhere, I've never heard of violent attacks on westerners during the time I've lived here. The only thing to worry about has been the traffic!
However during the past week, there has been attacks on western women occuring next to the main entrance of the Kingdom Mall. So ladies in Riyadh be aware and watch out for expensive jeeps full of teenagers!

What happened is a western nurse from the hospital I work in was attacked about a week ago outside Kingdom Mall, she was waiting for her driver at the main entrance, there is a ramp that goes up from Olaya rd to the entrance of the mall. There are security guards present, they usually tend to the traffic so it doesnt get jammed up. Apparently she was waiting for her driver to arrive when a car full of young saudi men (teenagers) drove up and started shouting at her. They got out of the car and started kicking her, she then ran down the stairs to Olaya and took a regular taxi. The guys followed in their 4X4 and forced the taxi to stop on King Fahad rd. They pulled the woman out of the car and started kicking and hitting her in the middle of the street! The driver did nothing to help her, and this was going on while people were just watching! Luckily a saudi man came to her rescue and the guys drove away. To my understanding they have not been captured by the police, nor did the security at Kingdom do anything to help the woman..She was brought into the hospital and alhamdulillah she is ok now.
 
The other incident involved a group of expat women arriving to Kingdom at the same entrance. While they were exiting their van a group of young saudi men arrived in an expensive jeep and started shouting at them to get out of Saudi-Arabia and at the same time threw large rocks at the women!One of them got hit badly and started bleeding from her head. Yet again the security or men standing around did absolutely anything to help! The security didnt even call the police let alone an ambulance for the wounded woman. The guys drove off and I am amazed how they managed to escape since there is always so much traffic on Olaya. The woman was taken back to her compound to get stiches on her head.

There has been numerous other incidents involving young saudi men in expensive jeeps (I would ASSUME Hummers) verbally harassing women outside Kingdom mall. Is this the same group or just random, nobody seems to know. But it looks like its best to avoid that entrance at least or exit from the Ladies only section upstairs.

I'm surpised they are targeting this mall which is owned by prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Its full of high end stores and frequented with upperclass saudis, royals as well as expats. The third floor is womens only. You would assume this mall wants to keep a good clean image, but it looks like the security isnt doing anything to prevent these attacks. So please be alert, and if you see any kind disruptive behaviour report it to your embassy so we can know if there is something more serious going on! I would advise women to wear headscarves for your own safety!

My question is: Where is the muttawa when women REALLY need them??
Why didnt bystanders help? Where they too afraid?

Inside Kingdom Mall

Thsi issue was also discussed on britishexpats.com and americanlawyerinsaudi-blog and american bedu:

http://americanbedu.com/2010/05/23/saudi-arabia-security-alert-riyadh-kingdom-mall/



EDIT:
I just wanted to add that I feel this shouldn't imply all saudi teenagers or saudi men are evil women harassers. These things happen everywhere around the world. By these things I mean harassing minorities. It happens in western countries all the time. It just seems to be so OUTRAGEOUS to westerners if we are being harassed by muslim men. But if its a western man harassing a muslim woman, its not a big deal really.

Some examples that occured this spring from Finland: A gang of boys aged 14-15 throw rocks at a muslim woman when she is on her balcony. They are driven away, but return to throw more rocks and shout at her later. They are not arrested because they are under aged according to Finnish law, thus not responsible legally for their actions!

Another upsetting occurence: Muslim women get smashed between bus doors on purpose by the drivers in Helsinki. The drivers are given a warning.
I will add the link when I find the news headlines for the above.
So these couple incidents at Kingdom mall are rare and in general western women do get treated with courtesy in Saudi-Arabia! I cannot unfortunately say the same when it comes to treatment of Muslim women in Finland..

Riyadh To Do Guide

I often hear people complaining or boredom and lack of activities in KSA, especially here in conservative Riyadh.
Yet I for some reason am always short of time to do things!
Of course it depends alot on yourself, how active you are in trying to find things to do. It IS more difficult here, but it doesnt mean that theres "nothing to do".
I ask these people, well what did you use to do back home on your freetime then? Often they'd reply: go to cafes, bars or nightclubs, restaurants, friends homes,the gym, shopping..Well you can do all of that here too! Although I'm not going to publicly post where all these activities might be, by asking around you will find quite easily if you're an expat and interested in some of those activities ;)

As an expat in KSA you will have more variety of activities than locals, depending on if you're male/female. By more variety I mean expats can get into all western compounds, that have all kind of activities ranging from dance classes, language courses, theme days for families, rugby or soccer matches, concerts, etc etc. Embassies also arrange concerts, art exhibitions, national days, and parties. The problem is you must know someone to get into these places, and security is high of course.

As for cafeterias and restaurants, the choices are endless, and that will be a topic on its own.I will only mention my favorites: Brazilian restaurant Il Terazzo in hotel Faisalia, outside terrace with open oven bbq overlooking Faisalia tower!Or Sitta shams -the ultimate arabic food experience, the restaurant is huge and even has its own parkinghall and elevators. Romaizan is the best the compound restaurant which offers tasty food and drinks in relaxed atmosphere. Dont miss having "High Tea" at the Faisaliah tower Globe. Expats often take off their abayas and the atmosphere is relaxed. Upstairs is the more intimate Cigar Lounge for romantic evenings :)

the shooting range at Dirab Golf club

Tahlia street boasts cafeterias and restaurants one after another. You can walk around the 'boardwalk" and see really nice cars driving by! Ferraris, Hummers, Porsches..The downside is that if you're a lady you will attract alot of attention, so best you walk with your husband or in a group of friends and just ignore the eager beavers.
For men there is numerous terraces you can sit outside and enjoy the warm evenings. Unfortunately at the moment I dont know of any that allow women to sit outside..they are all single male sections :( Although I have on couple of occasions spotted some women sitting with their husbands.
EDIT: 3rd floor Centria mall Lenotre cafe has an outside sitting mixed sitting area!

Theres plenty of male only gyms all around town, but female only is a bit more difficult to find, but they do exist. There is one in Almultaka center, Yibreen spa, Almanahil inside DQ (diplomatic quarters)to name a few. There's also a walking/ running track that goes around the DQ.
If you want to start golfing there are many good places to get started and have lessons like the Intercontinental right in middle of the city has a golf course. Also Riyadh golf club and Dirab golf club have courses, the Arizona compound has their own course too! Dirab also has polo and horsebackriding. It requires membership though..

Females are allowed to golf and even drive golf carts in saudi :)



There are places just outside Riyadh about 20-30 min drive away where you can rent quadbikes for couple hours and drive on the dunes. Yes women can drive them too :) My favorite is Thumamah area, on weekdays its almost empty, you can have the vast desert to yourself, but dont get lost!Weekends it packed with young saudi men, who sometimes get a little too carried away when they see western women driving around. On the way to Thumamah you can pass by the camel souq and haggle on one of the 1,000000 Saudi riyal camels.

The Red Sands area west of Riyadh along the Mecca highway is aa beautiful place to go just for the scenery. Also possible to rent quadbikes there.

There are numerous other desert treks and picnicking spots around Riyadh, but again I will only mention my favorite Rawdhat Khuraim. Once you get there you will not believe you're in Saudi-Arabia, its so green!Its about an hour drive from the city, on the Dammam higway then take the Remah rd. It's a huge green area with trees and a small stream flows through it during the winter motnhs (if its rained).

Then theres alot of historical sites to explore around Riyadh, like the ancient  City of Old Diriyah. Its a historically interesting site to visit including the famous Salwa palace. During 1745, a strong Islamic reform movement took place over here. Besides this in the past the old city of Diriyah was also considered to be the largest in Arabian Peninsula. However, in the first part of 19th century Turks destroyed this city and afterwards Riyadh captured it. Walk amongst the ruins of mud and brick built houses, palaces bath houses and mosques. Best visited in cooler months.

The summer heats are a good time to visit The King Abdul Aziz Historical centre it's located near the Masmak fort in Dirah area. It includes a remodeled mosque, the old original Murabba' Palace with main Diwan renovated as "living museum", the "Memorial Hall" on the outlines of an old courtyard house, a modern exhibition hall for the car collection,  the new Al-Dara main lobby and multipurpose hall, a documentation center with a separated men's and women's library each, an art gallery and a large internal garden.

Nearby and definately worth a visit, The National Museum will take you a good three hours to walk through. I went on a bachelors only evening, but they still let us girls in, so I guess they are not too strict about the visitors genders.

During June 2010 there is an exhibition on King Khaled in a separate building. The whole area is surrounded by parks, waterfalls, fountains and picnic areas. It's especially nice to stroll around in the beautiful evening lighting. It's possible to walk to the now restored old water tower, there is a restaurant on top with nice views of the city. The whole Historical Centre area covers some 360,000 square meters!

Just a stones throw away is the Haia's aka muttawas headquarters next to the the infamous "cho-chop- square. The area is called Dirah, there is a clocktower next to the huge souq area.You can spend hours wandering around the antique, gold and carpet, abaya, souvenir and furniture souqs of Dirah, haggling and having endless cups of tea with the shopkeepers. Most of them are Afghani and have interesting stories to tell.

For families with kids, (small or grown-up) you can go to various theme parks and amusement parks on the outskirts of town, just make sure its singles/families/womens only day accordingly :) Most of them are situated along the Thumamah highway.

Theres many parks for picnicking around central Riyadh, although most are for families only.Theres also a man made river/lake area on Sitteen street where you can rent peddal boats and have picnic in the cottges. Snow world on King Abdullah rd is a smaller version of Dubais inside winter wonderland. They dont have a large skiing slope but you can play in the snow and have fun with your kids!

And when it comes to shopping, new shopping malls seem to be sprouting like mushrooms after the rain :D
One of the newest is Riyadh Galleria which has a nice little river and fountains among cafeterias in the middle.
Most of the biggest malls (Hayat, Granada, Faisalia, Riyadh galleria) have huge entertainment areas for children, the noise is overwhelming though!Alot of families will leave the children there with nannys or their older children to look after while they go shopping. Some even have iceskating rinks and rollercoasters!



For a very different experience visit the huge sheesha cafes on Damman highway. The biggest one is over 10000 sqm and fits 2000 people at a time!if you're a football fan go on a match day and the place will be packed and the atmosphere is fun and welcoming. This activity is mainly for males, but they do have family sections also

If you're into bowling, there's couple places around the city centre you can practise your skills. This seems to be very popular among philipino expats! Theres one in Khozama hotel next to Faisalia tower, one in the Intercontinental hotel and King faisal hospital has one too, but you would need to go as a guest of an employee.

Another popular family activity is rent your own "villa" or whole green area with football field, park, kids rides, swimmingpools and the likes. I dont know what they would be called in english..Like resorts where you can rent your own villa and private pool. Because saudi culture is private, they like to rent out these places for weekends for the whole family to join. Some people rent them for special occasions like birthdays. Its actually quite affordable and there is staff if you want to take care of catering and looking after the kids. In the Almarsa resort on Sharqi rd you can rent family villas, and the Wahat al Noor resort you can rent the whole place for a day and stay the night. Its a nice change for expats too if you are bored of your own compund!

This is a great chance to start or try out scuba-diving!Riyadh has two good diveshops, Blu Reef Divers and Desert Sea Divers. I f you are already a diver, explore the untouched Farasan Islands in southern KSA.

Every month or so there are women only exhibitions held at hotels or exhibitons halls like Nayyara and the Kingdom ballroom. I will post about any upcoming events, they are highly recommended by me :)