The Bank

Bank-October

On the Bank application there is checklist to determine if we have any personal limitations.

Some of the conditions you may check are:

Are you…

·         Blind

·         Illiterate

·         A Veiled woman!!!

The whole process of trying to open a bank account is a lesson in patience.

There was one chair available and the banker invited Phil to sit down.  There was no acknowledgement of my existence. I know this is culturally appropriate; however it just doesn’t  feel right. After spending about 40 minutes filling out forms, the banker told us, “Too many customers. I’ll try later to open your account.  Inshaalla.  God willing.  Mabye Monday.  I will try. Inshaalla.”

(it was Wednesday when we were there.)

After waiting a week, we went back in. There was no recollection that we had even filled out the paper work. So we started over again. It’s just the Saudi way. Everything has to be done many times. Once we completed the applications, Phil received his bank card about week later. Not me. We had to fill out an application again. When I went in to retrieve my bank card, he asked me (because I was alone, I presume he could talk to me) if I had filled out the application. I replied, “Yes, twice.” He asked me again. I repeated myself.  He couldn’t find it, so he looked in the mail on his desk, and lo and behold, Inshaalla, it was there.  Everything requires so much labor and persistence, that even the small accomplishments like getting a bank card, seem like a monumental triumph.  Above all, we must have a sense of humor or else we would go mad.

Shopping Malls

September 11, 2010

There are beautiful malls about 45 minutes away. They carry all the latest fashion and every brand name imaginable is there. The window displays are exquisite. There are such beautiful clothes for women to buy, yet these fashion statements are never allowed to be seen, except by other female company.

I needed a product from Clinque.  When I entered the cosmetic store, something didn’t seem right. As I looked around it was void of any female sales clerks. It was just another sad reminder that there is no employment for females. I obviously have not been involved in all areas of commerce or professions.  I do know what I have seen up until this point; few females have ever attended to me and of those females most are not Arabian.

As we continued walking through the mall I realized why women are not allowed to try on clothes in the stores; all male sales clerks.  If a woman wants to buy clothes the easiest thing to do it is buy 3 sizes of the same item of clothing; leave the store and go the female bathrooms, which are equipped with changing rooms. Then try the items on and decide which one fits best, then return the other two. One woman I work with has 2 elementary children, and when she wanted to try on some clothes, she left her two children as collateral in the store so she could run to the bathroom and try the clothes on!!

When we lived in Hong Kong, and sometimes even in the states, I would slip clothes over my outfits to see if they fit. It’s a bit more difficult to make that judgment call when you slip a blouse over 4 yards of loosely fitting material called an abaya!

Ramandan

Ramandan began August 10th. This creates a whole different shopping system for a month. Shops are either closed down entirely during the day or are partially opened in the mid afternoon for a few hours. Once sunset arrives and people eat the evening Iftar meal, afterwards shops will open again. Trying to shop off campus becomes limiting.



We went into Rahima, right outside our village to buy abayas, sims card for our phones, and get more passport photos. (I already submitted 30 passport photos when we arrived. Guess that wasnt' enough). We went to dinner at the East-West Indian Restaurant.  There are two sections to most restaurants. One is for males only. The other is called the Family Section where men can eat with their wife/wives and children. If the women want to take off their veils while eating, some restaurants have curtains that you can pull around your table so the females are not exposed to the other males that are present. While we were there, prayer call occured, which meant we could not leave the restaurant. Oh, well we were satifisied eating and drinking our Saudi Champagne, orange juice and 7-Up.

Phil showing us the entrance to Family Section

Afterwards, when the stores opened at 9:00 we shopped for abayas. I never in my whole life thought I would care about the style of an abaya. After searching through the racks and trying on many, I finally decided on one. It was too wide so the male attendent took in the sides and measured the hem length. The hem has to cover most of your feet, which have the potentail to expose your ankles while walking. Once we-all the new teachers-were decked out in our new black abayas I asked Phil to take a picture of us. At the same time two local Muslim women came in fully covered. One looked at us earnestly and we invited her into our picture. She gladly accepted, giggling the whole time. Her friend did not join us. Once the picture was taken I showed her the picture on my camera. She laughed and giggled some more. Our other male escort for the evening, Jonathan, said, that was like a wild night out for her! I was completely taken back because I had come to understand that it was forbidden for women to be in pictures.

First Abaya Shopping

Shopping at Ikea

August 10, 2011


Every day I add a few more items to my shopping list. Finally the day arrived and we took a bus into the city of Khobar about an hour away, to shop at Ikea. There are 5 new female faculty at the school I am working in. Once we reached Ikea we all slipped on our black borrowed abayas. Ladies, I have to admit it takes the fuss out deciding what you want to wear. I have worn sleeveless cotton dresses, and shorts and tops underneath. While navigating the aisles, the only difficulty I had was pushing the Ikea cart. The front flaps of my abaya kept getting caught in the cart wheels. I would take about 10 steps forward, come to an abrupt halt, and then take a few steps backwards to unwind the fabric from the hungry wheels. I tried to tie the two front flaps together, but when I did I could only walk about 8 inches at time, waddling like a penguin. Ikea is stocked with the same items you see in most other Ikeas. I saw my daughter Renee’s duvet and was reminded of how much I miss her. Every woman in Ikea was wearing a black abaya and full facial cover-up. I cannot fathom this concept. My western principles balk at this archaic code. We were at Ikea during two prayer times. The first was 20 minutes. We are allowed to continue shopping, but they close the doors so people cannot come in or go out. The Muslims that choose to answer the call, go to an in-store mosque. The rest of the employees must abandon their work stations; therefore you cannot check out during call to prayer or get food from the café. The second call to prayer lasted about 40 minutes. There are no female clerks. Most of the help are immigrants from around the world, but predominantly from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

Phil and I were able to get some much needed household goods. We looked at furniture and the cost seems to be about 50% higher than US prices. My Ikea gift certificate, so creatively crafted by Maggi and the Federal Programs group from Bellingham, was put to good use. Thank-you to all my work colleagues! I will be reminded of how special each of you are to me when I sit on our new loveseat.

Jonathan & Stacey Dupont

Phil & Liane and sales staff

Orientation

August 7, 2010


The orientation from the school staff has been impressive. They have personally chauffeured us around the “village”. Taking us to lunch and touring our new surroundings. It’s beautiful with the Arabian Gulf about 200 yards away from our doorstep. But the heat is too unbearable to go into the 90 degree water. The tops of my toes feel like they are going to burst into flames as the heat from the ground is so intense.

Taking advantage of the facilities here, we have been to exercise classes and the swimming pool, which is CHILLED. It’s so refreshing!! The faculty have been so helpful and they have taken us out to a few of the restaurants, the Hobby Farm- the equestrian area, and The Surf Club-on the golf course. My teaching partner, Julie and her husband Mark, took me to Rejima only about 5 miles away to shop for vegetables. I had to wear an abaya and it kept flapping open so I was practically tripping over myself trying to manually hold it closed. I purchased apples, mangoes, ginger, lemons, spinach, ice-berg lettuce, a kilo of potatoes, and green beans all for 33 riyals = $8.00. We tried to go into a large grocery store, Panda about 10 minutes before call to prayer and were blocked from entering the store. Once call to prayer starts everything shuts down. You either have to be out of the store or you are locked in until it’s over. A reminder of the importance of the pray schedule. I am thankful all the minarets are off campus and I cannot hear them at our house.

The Flight

August 6, 2010


We flew Business Class, thanks to Aramco. It was so sweet. We felt like kids in a candy store. Should we drink the orange juice or the champagne? Oh, we can have both and as much as we want? Our over the top flight attendant was almost too attentive, waking us for the next course of the two hour meal delivery.

Arriving in the Kingdom, I felt conspicuously out of place with all the different types of robes, gowns, burkas, abayas, thobes, and head coverings. Each color of head covering depicts Muslims from various tribes or parts of the world. The women were dressed in full black abayas with only their eyes exposed. Looking around the airport I am sure I must have made some cultural errors, like when I glared, frowning at one Saudi attendant who was smoking a cigarette at his work station. Or looking at men in the eyes and smiling. It’s hard not to make eye-contact and maintain sober face. The immigration process was relatively painless; fingerprints, photos, luggage retrieval of 9 pieces-we were helped by local attendants for 2 riyal a bag = .50 cents. We met up with about 10 other families who had also arrived and needed to be processed. Warmly greeted by the head of the school and handed homemade cookies by his wife was comforting. Once we were escorted out of the airport we arrived at our new townhouse about 1:00 am. Our first, among many of the welcome committee- Jonathan- went over the essential, including the local prayer times. Phil and I glanced at each other wearily thinking why would we need the prayer times? Was Jonathan serious about this? Were we expected to observe the call to prayer? Two days later we were to find out the significance. Too excited to sleep we unpacked most of our boxes. I was really looking for those nice, new, soft sheets I had purchased. Nirvana. I found the new bamboo soft sheets. Our house is sparsely furnished, but contains the essentials.

So long, farewell...

August 5, 2010

By far the hardest part of moving is saying good-bye to family and friends. We are thankful we were able to see most people before we left. Some good-byes were quite clever with Saudi Survival Kits containing items that produced huge laughs; burkinis, fabric & patterns for making an abaya. Our neighbors to the left (both politically and location) acquainted us with our first Iftar; the evening meal eaten after sunset during Ramadan. Other kind neighbors had the last farewell as we left Bellingham; kind words were painted on a poster, which was hung over our garage the morning of our departure.

Liane in Saudi

We leave for Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia exactly one month from today.
Here begins our next overseas adventure.