The Kingdom

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

A true color image of the street outside my hotel during a sandstorm.

Yes, I know "The Kingdom" is a movie title and somewhat overdramatic name for Saudi, but you have to admit it is cool. And since I plan to talk a bit about the country, I thought maybe it was appropriate.


So..... What the hell is the deal with Saudi Arabia? Well, in many ways it's much better than I expected, in many ways it's worse. But it's entirely different.


The culture here is very restrictive and entirely segregated. Since I arrived here nearly one month ago I have not talked to one woman in this country. I haven't said a word to one, nor heard a word from one, and that includes the occasional western woman I see in the supermarket. In fact it's rare to even see a woman on the street or in a store, let alone her face or hair. It really is... different.


In general the people here are friendly although they are quite distant. I can't help but get the impression that for the most part, they don't particularly wan't foreigners here, and don't particularly want to talk to us. Most of the locals I talk to are other ex-pats, either from another middle eastern country, or from the phillipines.

Saudi's rarely work in the service industry. Instead they hire foreign workers from poor countries that will do the job for very little pay. Every adult male gets a fairly significant annual payment from the government for... well... for being Saudi I guess. About 20,000 USD. Students also get paid by the government to go to university and since all their positions are based on who you know ie. inheriting your father's business (as opposed to WHAT you know, or how capable you are) they have very little motivation to learn or excel. I foresee this being a huge problem for the country as globalization increases and foreign influences exert themselves.


Nonetheless, living here, you can feel the history. Perhaps unsurprisingly, more than any other place I've been too, Saudi Arabia has a distinctive flavour. They're proud of their country and extremly proud of Islam. However, despite their extreme passion for the religion, I would say I have yet to meet anyone I would classify as extremist. For the most part they seem to do an extremely good job of focusing on the positive aspects to the religion. Of course they're extremly uneducated about any other religion or way of thinking and don't welcome other opinions.


One of the first things I was told upon arriving was "don't talk about religion, government, or women. Chances are any positive or negative discussion of any of those subjects will get you fired and sent home." As such, I avoid talking about them.


On the plus side, I have an extremly fortunate opportunity. It is extremly difficult to get a visa to this country, and little about this place is known throughout the world. Especially the western world. I have a great chance to really see one of the last, true, purely independent cultures in the world and that in itself is an exciting prospect.


My room here is far above par, and all of my needs (except food) are covered and for the most part covered well. Money never seems to be an object of debate here, so they are quite happy to provide me with whatever I need. I will talk more about some of the places I've been soon. For now I've included a few pictures of my hotel room, so you can get an idea of my accomodations. Yes I am staying in a hotel. Isn't it expensive you ask? Yes. Yes it is. They why does my company pay it you ask? Because someone with my visa can't live anywhere else.

My hotel lobby


The living area of my hotel room


My bedroom

Kitchen

Bathroom

First payday. Ever seen 9000 in 50's before?

My New Home for a While

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

I've been meaning to write this message for a while now, and I've been putting it off because until recently I'd been pretty upset about it and it was something I didn't want to write about when I was angry.

Before coming to Saudi Arabia and when I first arrived, a lot of my friends facebooked me and said to me "be safe," or "be careful over there," or something to that effect.

This upset me for two reasons. The first is perhaps somewhat selfish and not as serious. Surely in all the years people out there have known me, you have realized that I have no history whatsoever of taking foolish risks or not paying attention in questionable or dangerous situations. I realize some of you maybe only said it to let me know that you are thinking about me, but nonetheless I found it a little frustrating.

The second and much more serious reason this "be safe" thing upset me is because Saudi Arabia is the 15th country I have been to on this trip, and no one said anything for any of the others, which says to me people are concerned simply because it is Saudia Arabia, a country in the "dreaded" middle east.

In the last five years there have been no terrorist attacks on foreigners in the country, with the exception of four french nationals in 2007. Many euopean countries can not boast the same. For example I doubt America can boast less than 4 foreign traveler murders in the last five years. I wonder if even Canada can. The government here is extremly pro-active in keeping this country safe from those types of attacks and have been quite successful. In addition there is currently no travel warning by the Canadian government for coming here.

So why then is eveyone so concerened? This type of unjustified fear of anything middle-east is extremely damaging to not just people from this region, but also unwarrented fears of Islam, foreign governments and most importantly it is counteractive to the idea (and dare I say fact) that a third world country can change, grow, and evolve into something better. And most impressively, Saudi Arabia is doing it without westernizing or sacrificing its culture.

I'm sorry if it sounds like I am soapboxing here, or picking on anyone's general well-wishing, and there are certainly many serious problems that Saudi Arabia faces in its future which I will discuss in detail another time on this blog, but I think this is an important thing to think about, and if we truely want to come together as one people in this world, these sorts of negative preconceptions have to be left behind sooner rather than later.

I'll write again soon and update with some pics of the first couple weeks of my stay here.

It's a new decade

Izmir, Turkey



New Years in Istanbul....

I have to admit, there wasn't much too it! A group of five of us headed into Taksim where we went to a restaurant, had a pretty good meal along with free (bad) alcohol. Unfortunately, the place Sedef's friend had picked was more or less empty. There wasn't much of a party or anything like that, we just hung out at a table and talked and drank. That said though, the company was good, the temperature was in the teens and I had a great night. Just lower key than Sedef and I had expected.


As far as other matters are concerened, this is likely to be my last post from Izmir. Well, for a number of months anyway. As usual, I don't know what the future holds, but I do know this:

Within the next week or so, I will catch a plan to Riyadh, the capital of Saudia Arabia where I will teach english for a while. I say "for a while" because I don't know how long. I'm excited to see the true middle east and finally get a true perception for what it is. Everyone I tell I am going there seems to think I am some brave fool or something but that's not the case at all, and bravery has nothing to do with it (although foolishness.....). I'm not worried for my safety or anything like that. People are people are people, no matter what country you are in. They change a bit with religious and culture differences but in the end they generally want to help you and not the opposite. I don't see any reason why Saudi Arabia should be any different.

Still, I will be away from Sedef for a number of months and that will be hard. I'm really not sure about how I plan to end my trip at this point. I will think heavily about it when I'm ready to leave Saudi and know more about my money situation and what kind of a plan Sedef and I come up with. In the mean time, things will continue their freeze as my bank accounts return to the black again :) i only have a one time entry visa for Saudi so unlike my hopes I won't be able to explore a lot of it's neighbours while I'm there. But I am thinking afterwards I will take the long route back to Turkey by ground and check out some of the neighbourhood.

Anyway, will write again soon. For now it's just a short one.