Saudi Jeans

My cousin Ahmed al-Haddad, who got married last summer, has been blessed with a baby boy he named Mohammed after his beloved father. Both mommy and the baby are doing fine, and the whole family is happy.

While waiting at the train station in Ahssa, I thought it would be a good idea to take some pictures of the arrivals and departures schedule so I can consult them next time I take the train. Well, maybe it wasn’t the best idea.

Police Officer: HEY YOU! What the hell are you doing?
Me: Taking a picture of the train schedule. Is there a problem?
PO: Don’t you know that photography is prohibited?
Me: As far as I know, there is no law banning anyone from taking pictures here.
PO: Says who? Photography is prohibited in government buildings.
Me: I’m sure the law clearly states that photography is allowed in all public spaces except military buildings and places which have a sign in view saying “Photography Prohibited,” and I haven’t seen one here.
PO: There is no such law! If there was one how come I never heard of it? Show me the pictures you’ve just taken.

I show him the four pictures, he tells me to delete them, I delete them, and he tells me to go back to the waiting area. I walk back to my seat, shaking my head in disbelief of what just happened. I hear the officer loudly calling me again.

PO: Why are you shaking your head like that? You don’t like what I have told you?
Me: It doesn’t matter if I like it or not. I just found the whole deal absurd and that’s why I was shaking my head.
PO: Are you Saudi?! Shoe me your ID!

I hand him my ID, he inspects my name and asks me where I live. I calmly and politely answer in the same manner in which I responded to all his previous questions. He stares at me and then angrily shouts: “Go back to your seat!”

What happened with me at the train station could happen to anyone. You do something seemingly harmless and you find yourself in for a stupid long questioning with one of those ignorant, incompetent and rude police officers. The difference here, however, is that I knew the law was on my side. My arguing irritated him, especially that he looked like he had no idea what law I was talking about. He expected me to apologize for an offense that I never did, and I when I didn’t he didn’t know what to do with me. It didn’t help that his younger colleagues where standing there watching the scene.

Similar incidents happen all over the Kingdom all the time and one problem is that most people don’t know their rights according to the law; the other problem is that some low ranking police officers seem to believe they can abuse people just because they carry a few stripes on their shoulders.

NSHR has been working to raise awareness by publishing and distributing booklets educating people about their rights according to the Law of Criminal Procedures, which is a good step, but they also need to work with law enforcement officials to ensure that police officers know citizen’s rights and respect them.

Ghazi al-Gosaibi, the Saudi Minister of Labor, is seen here wearing a waiter uniform and serving food at Fuddruckers in Jeddah. The minister criticized those who look down on some jobs saying they do not understand the spirit of Quran.

My brother Hasan has been asking me to change the header picture. I was hesitant to change it because I loved the “legs in jeans” header. But since many people were positively surprised by my new Facebook profile picture, I thought I would use it here too.

This picture of me is unusual because I’m wearing thobe and ghotra instead of the usual jeans and t-shirt. The other thing is that I’m not wearing glasses; I was wearing contact lenses for the first time. The picture was taken by my brother Abdullah during my cousin’s wedding last summer.

Pictures can bring nostalgia, and nostalgia can bring more pictures. I took the chance of being home for the weekend and asked my mother to show me some photos from my childhood. I’m glad and thankful that my early years have been relatively well documented photographically by my parents.

I’ve posted one picture from when I was a kid here, and I thought I’d share a couple more of these old pics with you today:

This pictures was taken when I was probably 9 months old, some time around the winter of 1985. Apparently I was trying to eat what looks like a fork instead of the vegetables my mom allegedly cooked for me

Here, I’m standing in front of the flamingo lake in Riyadh Zoo, summer 1987. Guess what? The absurd arrangement for having separate days for men and women at the zoo has been in place since the ’80s and still going!

My beloved hometown of Ahsa (aka Hassa) has entered the race of candidates for the New 7 Wonders of Nature Nominees. This is the second campaign for the New7Wonders Foundation after their first campaign to choose the New 7 Wonders of the World.

Jordan’s rose-red city of Petra has won in the first campaign, and they are also present in the new list with Wadi Rum. Now I don’t think Ahsa will make it to the final nominees (it’s in the 47th place right now), but hey, please do me a favor and go vote. It will cost you nothing and you will make me happy

This was the first thing I saw when I entered my college building this morning:

Few hours later, someone decided to give them a piece of his mind:

P.S. I’m not in the mood to translate but if you can read this and want to volunteer to translate, please do in the comments.

UPDATE: I guess someone didn’t like what the first someone did:

Spent the day at Ogair beach with my family. Weather was really nice and the kids had lots of fun. Here’s some pictures:

It is flattering and humbling to see Saudi Jeans featured in a full page of the latest issue of brownbook magazine:

Many thanks to Rashid bin Shabib and the rest of the brownbook team for choosing my blog and for this beautifully produced magazine, content and design wise.

The patient education course I attended on Monday was OK. It suffered a lack of organization and they were lucky the number of participants was small. It could have been chaotic, and it didn’t help that the presentations were lame. Not much to say about the sessions, and I’m pretty sure you are not even remotely interested in knowing stuff such as the fact that 24% of the Saudi population have diabetes and 28% of those are not even aware they are diabetics!

But what I want to say is that I was really impressed by the female pharmacists. Despite being locked kept in the upper deck of the otherwise mostly empty auditorium, they were very vocal and gave the speakers a hard time with tough questions and critical remarks. Fellow male students tried to keep up with them (or was it to get the girls’ attention? but to no avail.

After the end of the course, and since the weather was nice and sunny, I went to take a walk inside the King Abdulaziz Historical Center area, one of my favorite places in Riyadh. I had a good time but I missed a friend of mine that I used to enjoy walking and taking pictures with. Speaking of pictures, I have taken some many of these during my walk; a couple of them are shown above and you can find the rest here.

Upon my return from the United States, and even during my trip, this was one of the most frequently asked questions: What surprised you the most about America? My answer was always: nothing. Sorry to disappoint you guys, but there was no major surprising findings for me during the two weeks I spent there.

I’m not a big fan of Thomas Friedman, but probably he was actually onto something when he said the world is flat. Thanks to satellite television and the internet, we have been exposed to the American culture and lifestyle for a long time. Of course, many Americans say mainstream media misrepresent them: the boy doesn’t always marry the girl, and the likes of John McClane usually die. But I think that consumers of media around the world have come to learn not to take everything offered to them as facts.

As soon as I arrived to Washington DC I received a copy of the program schedule and was taken aback by the number of meetings. In general, the meetings were good and thought stimulating, but I honestly was not used to this kind of intensive 8-to-4 days of consecutive meetings. And with this kind of schedule, we had little time left to do other things such as discovering different parts of the city and going for sightseeing. Nevertheless, we visited some parts of the Smithsonian, had some fun in the Black Family Reunion, and I had dinner with Jordanian blogger Natasha Twal Tynes as well as some American friends who used to work in Saudi Arabia.

My favoutie discussion out of all the meetings in DC was about federalism and government system in the States. The individual is the most important element of this system and individualism as a value is highly regarded and protected. This may sound contrary to the conventional wisdom in this part of the world where conformity is the norm and any leaning to being different is frowned upon, but I think the goal of any system should be to find a delicate sustained balance between the interests of the individual and the interests of the whole. The maintenance of this balance is the responsibility of the different branches of government which should be independent and transparent.

Also of interest to me is how the system was designed to minimize the interference of the government in citizens’ lives. This might also be a little bizarre to people in our country where the government is very large to a degree that it has become hard to make it functional anymore.

After five days in Washington DC, we flew to Montana. It was a long trip and we had to change planes at Chicago, but after arriving to Bozeman we realized it was going to be very different. Montana is considered a rural state with a small population, and none of the people we met in DC knew much about it. The pace of life there is painfully slow and boring, and due to the fact that the population is dominantly white (~ 97%) we were stared at wherever we went. The reason why it was picked is the presence of six Indian reservations there. We met a native American scholar in the state university to talk more about that, and the conclusion is that there is more to do on both sides: the Indians and the government.

Montana was boring, except for the day we spent at Yellowstone National Park. I always wanted to go to a place like that, where nature remains unaffected by the pollution and fakery of modern life. One day is absolutely not enough to see much of the wonders of that place, but I’m extremely glad we had the opportunity to make it.

So five days were kind of a kill for a state like Montana, but we managed and we were ready to fly again. This time, the trip was longer and we had to stop at Salt Lake City and Atlanta before landing at Montgomery, Alabama. I was really looking forward to go there because this is the place where the civil rights movement was started and took shape. Standing in the podium where Martin Luther King gave his famous speeches and seeing the place where Rosa Parks was arrested were just indescribable.

I was forewarned by an American friend before going to the south that I might be faced by many people who still strongly support the Bush administration and blindly repeat whatever Fox News is feeding them. “They like Fox because it makes it so simply to them: ‘here’s the good guys and here’s the bad guys’,” he told me. Well, that didn’t happen. I guess the reason why that didn’t happen is because we had only two days there and most of the people we met were highly educated intellectuals, not regular guys on the streets. But ironically, one of these people that my friend told me about was actually traveling with us as an interpreter. He is an Egyptian immigrant who came to the US more than 20 years ago and now has the citizenship and is married to an American. I can’t recall a single political discussion where he took a stance different from the official PoV of the Bush administration.

As I said earlier, Alabama wasn’t so much fun, but it was certainly inspirational. The stories of murder and torture we’ve heard were horrific, but how the African-American community overcome all the tragedies to gain their full rights overshadowed the horror. I truly believe that we in Saudi Arabia have much to learn from this experience: the non-violent approach, the resilience, and the impressive sense of community. We desperately need to understand these values and make them a part of our thinking if we want to reform our country.

Finally, it was time to go to the place we wanted to see the most: the World’s Capital, the Big Apple, New York, Baby! Unfortunately, we had very short time in NYC. Just a little over 40 hours in a city where most residents say it took them years before seeing it all. We’ve been to Central Park, Ground Zero, China Town, and few other places. I was also lucky to meet some good friends over there such as Mona Eltahawy and fellow blogger-on-hiatus Aya. I apologize to all the people who wanted to meet me and I couldn’t make it happen due to time limitations.

“So, after what you have seen in America, do you like it?” This is the other question I was often asked while I was there as well as after returning home. But this question does not usually come up until people learn that the program was sponsored by the Department of State. Why would they spend this kind of money if it wasn’t to make people like them, right? However, this is not the case. As fellow blogger John Burgess, who is a former US diplomat said, the goal of this program is not to make people like the United States, but rather to give them a better understanding of life and culture in America.

After fourteen days, twelve planes, seven airports, six cities, and four states, I’m back home trying to enjoy the remaining days of the holy month of Ramadhan, and also trying to catch up with the classes that I missed. Got questions? Feel free to ask in the comments, but I can’t promise to answer everything, because in case you didn’t notice, I’m no genius.

Alabama wasn’t so much fun, but it was absolutely amazing to see the landmarks of the civil rights movement and experience the stories of its history in places like the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and the house of Martin Luther King. Tomorrow morning we fly to New York which will be the last stop in our trip. Our time in NYC is short but we will get a chance to attend a Broadway show and meet some friends. It should be exciting.

We are finally in Montgomery, Alabama after a long trip all the way from Bozeman, Montana. More from here later.

So today was our last day in the state of Montana. We spent the day doing meetings and had a chance to meet Governor Brian Schweitzer who used to work in Saudi Arabia in the 1980’s and spent seven years there. It was certainly refreshing to meet an American official who lived in our country and know about our culture. Tomorrow morning we will fly to Montgomery, Alabama in our third stop to learn more about the civil liberties movement. It should be interesting.

Back from Yellowstone National Park. Now I probably have not seen much of the world, but these colorful lands have to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. It is amazing that when you go to spend some time in the nature you realize how we human beings are always touched by the simplest things in life, like sitting on the grass by the river talking with a friend or walking slowly between the long trees. A lot of emotions and ideas are floating in my head upon returning from Yellowstone but I don’t think now is the right time to bring them out. Some pictures can be found here. I leave you with this fascinating scene of the Old Faithful geyser erupting like it has always done for thousands of years:

Our second day in Bozeman, Montana, was good. Aside from the regular meetings, we got a chance to visit a middle school were we met American kids and answered their questions about Saudi Arabia. We also enjoyed some home hospitality in one the most beautiful places that I’ve ever seen in my life. It was unbelievably awash with colors and had this amazingly peaceful feeling. A group of the Saudi Students Club have come to meet us while we were there, and they even were nice enough to invite us for breakfast. Tomorrow we will spend the whole day in Yellowstone National Park, a place everyone here says is fascinating. Later folks.

Ramadhan Kareem everyone Here is the view from my room window in the Holiday Inn of Bozeman, Montana. It was a long journey from Washington DC through Chicago to Montana but we are finally here. The place is very different and quiet, but we are interested to explore more.

On our last day in DC we finished our meeting early so we got a chance to go to George Town and visit the National Gallery. More pictures can be found here. This picture is particularly dedicated to my friend Roba: Eat your heart out!

It’s the sixth anniversary of 9/11 today and all American flags here are at half-mast. Other than that, few things around here seem to indicate the occasion, and people don’t probably want to bring it up when we are talking. Yesterday and today were filled with meeting starting at 8 and finishing around 17. Tomorrow should be the same too.

Yesterday’s meetings included a talk about federalism and the US system of government, and a meeting with the Commission of Civil Rights. Today we met with the program officer and had lunch with her at a good Lebanese restaurant. We also got a chance to meet a representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Later on we went to the US Department of Justice where we learned about the Americans with Disabilities Act, something that every country should have an equivalent for.

Over all the meetings were interesting and educational, and the people we met were friendly and nice. All meetings are off the record so I can’t tell you much about what we discussed but I will probably write more later about my personal impressions. Tomorrow, we will meet some people at the Department of State and the Center of Immigration Studies as well as CAIR people. That would conclude our stay in D.C. and we will fly the next morning to Bozeman, Montana.

I went out to have dinner with two American friends tonight and it was really great. I really wanted to have more free time to do stuff like that: go sightseeing and meeting people away from the official settings, but unfortunately our time here is very limited and our schedule is overloaded. Later folks.

Today is our second day in the city and we got a chance to go sightseeing. The day started in a not-so-perfect fashion as our tour guide didn’t show up this morning and one of the translators had to do the job. After we got back from the tour we decided to go to the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian. We have had a good time there though we wished if it had more about space than air. Later we went for a walk around the museum and spent some time at an event called the Black Family Reunion. I got back to the hotel to relax a bit and write this post, and will probably go out tonight but we have not decided yet what to do or where to go. Recommendations appreciated. Here is some pictures from today.

The concrete and cement jungle that is Riyadh is finally going to get some green:

Saudi ‘Eden’ built in the desert
The largest series of botanical landscapes in the world is being built in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The gardens - covering 160 hectares (395 acres) - aims to re-create the 400 million-year-old history of the Earth’s plants, trees and flowers. The £100m ($200m) project is due to be completed in 2010. The complex of gardens - to be called the King Abdullah International Gardens - is a gift from the city of Riyadh to the Saudi monarch. The landscapes will be five times larger than the similar Eden Project in south-west England.

For more information about the project you can visit KAIG official website. They even plan to start a weblog next month!

My cousin Haidar owns a little farm here in Hofuf, and today he invited me and the boys to visit it. We spent a couple of hours there and it was a lot of fun. It really was a blast. Like most farms here, this one has its own swimming pool, so it was great having a chance to cool off in the water during the insane heat of noon. We also enjoyed climbing palm trees and eating delicious dates. My hometown is well-known for producing some of the world’s best dates and eating them fresh like that was awesome. Here is some pictures from the farm:

It is common knowledge that Saudi Aramco, the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia and the largest oil corporation in the world, have played an important role in shaping the life and culture in the Eastern Province of the country. Established in the 1930s, the company has become an integral part of the history of the region. I was born in Hofuf, the closest city to the famous Ghawar oil field, one of the world’s largest conventional (land-based) fields. A large number of my family members and friends have worked for the company, and it is hard to find someone in the Eastern Province whose life has not been affected by Aramco in a way or another.

This is why that I follow with interest a website called Aramco ExPats. The website was founded in 2004 by Vicci Thompson and her son Rusty Swayne. Her husband Errol is a pilot in Saudi Aramco’s Aviation Department. Aramco ExPats is mainly targeted at former and current employees of the company to find information and to keep in touch with friends, but I found it also useful for anyone who is interested in taking a glimpse at the effect of such large organization, not only here but also in other parts of the world.

The section of the website that keeps me amazed is the Galleries. It is often updated with photos that date back to the inception of the company as well as some recent pictures of the different places in the EP, and I always find myself spending a long time looking at these photos trying to imagine what life looked like in that time.

UPDATE: Saudi Aramco celebrate their 75th anniversary next year, and they plan a series of celebrations to generate enthusiasm and excitement among its employees, retirees and friends worldwide. They also plan opening a world-class cultural center that will integrate the planned archive center and a major public library. “The 75th Anniversary Committee is searching for memorabilia and other artifacts from your past while working and/or living in Saudi Arabia,” the website said.

While preparing to write one of the previous posts I had come across many images of the new projects under development in Saudi Arabia. I collected these images in this Ikbis album for your viewing pleasure. If one picture worth a thousand words, and if these pictures are any indication, then we are actually experiencing a new boom. Let’s just hope to come out of it with minimum damage.