Oh I've been to the desert in a bus with no windows ...

Know the song? (about 'the horse with no name')

Are you familiar with the (quite old-fashioned) saying:

"Children should be seen and not heard" ... Well, in this country women should never be seen.

The rain has gone away again, and it was finally the girls' turn to go to the desert. The female faculty members (us) and staff (office and administrators) were all invited.

I sat on a bus crowded with women in full cover-up mode (except for us foreign women who were wearing our black abayas but not head coverings). Women are not permitted to drive, and so in the presence of a male driver the women were all required to be covered. I found myself staring at the eyes peering through the slits in the headgear and listening to the excited voices chattering in Arabic, trying to recognise by their voices the women I work with day by day at the college. Of course, traveling by bus is in itself an unusual experience for the ladies. There are no public buses in this city.



And the windows of our bus (the 25-seater bus we travel to work in every day) are totally covered over. I glimpsed some spectacular scenery through the little square of windscreen that was visible from my seat, but couldn't take any photos.



The farm belongs to a relative of the (female) Deputy Rector of the University. In order for us to visit, all of the men associated with the farm had to leave.

Of course when we got there, and the bus and driver had left, all the women uncovered and relaxed, and it was well worth the trip.



The word "oasis" takes on new meaning when you see the stark reality here.



The ubiquitous palm trees are growing on the very edge of the desert,



bearing luscious dates.



And then, of course, there are the very valuable camels.
For what? Well they are not used for transport any more ... I think they race them. And I have seen camel milk, and camel meat products in the supermarkets.
(We keep telling them that we have a million and more wild camels in Oz that we'd all like to get rid of ...)



The farm house is a lovely relaxing place to be.



This outside room (patio?) was where we spent most of the day. More carpets were brought, and cushions and chairs and there was room for the whole group.



Inside - this would be such a nice,cool place to live!

This is one of several large sitting rooms.



Those cushion-sofas were easily moved into our outside area, along with the elbow-rest cushions - very comfy!



Flat roof - another place to relax, and with a view of the desert.



The buildings in the distance are where the camels are housed and fed ... and if this blog had smell-a-vision, you would know why they are so far from the homestead!



Despite the desert being so close, the garden is fresh and green and pleasant. (I don't know what it's like here in the summer with the 60 degree heat and dust storms!)



Another barbecue area with a rolled up carpet all ready to roll ...

Because, of course, early evening (and morning I would guess) is when the desert is at its best.



Absolutely the best time to walk in the desert.

And then back to the farm house.



Then it was time to abaya-up ... a quick smoke on the roof for Sally ...



And back in the bus to the big noisy city.

Now why didn't they build the college out there in the desert?

Ticked off

We have heard of the "Mutawa'a" - the religious police who (among other things) make sure the women are all modest and safe.

And today I met my first one. Wish I could've taken a picture!

We were sitting on a bench in a shopping mall, waiting for our bus ride back to the apartment, and I noticed first of all a man in khaki uniform - police, I presume. Then I noticed the man next to him wearing unusual dress - over his thobe he had a black cape trimmed with gold.

He came over to us (W and I) and asked us to cover our heads. My colleague apologised, saying she did not have her scarf with her and would remember next time. I obediently reached into my bag for my scarf, but by the time I got it out he was gone, around the corner having a word to M - another one of our teachers.

Empty Streets

A couple of times I have looked out of the windows in our hotel suite. Obviously the windows are not there for views - far from being French windows, the sill is chin-height for me, and they are heavily curtained. When I touched the glass it was really hot, and it took a couple of minutes for my pupils to recover from my quick peek outside.

Well, there really isn't much of a view out there!

We are having trouble getting used to the idea that we can't walk anywhere. And not (just) because it is very hot out there. We have been told very definitely that it is "unseemly". That applies to any time of year, but especially now because it is the fasting month of Ramadan.

(This also means we can't carry food or drink with us, nor purchase and consume any when we get there.)

So here we are doing the unthinkable. That is Amani, the only other teacher who has so far arrived and who lives in the hotel suite next to ours. As her husband and kids are still in the UK, and women really can't 'go it alone' here, Peter has to look after the two of us.

The bright green building behind me is right next to our hotel. We are standing by a service road - on the other side of the fence is the 8-lane northern ring-road with vehicles ripping past at much more than 110 kph.

We were trying to walk to the Carrefour shopping centre, only about a 9 minute walk away (in theory). There were a couple of high speed roads for us to nip across to get into the air-conditioned coolth of the shopping centre. Most of the shops (other than Carrefour itself) were of course closed because of Ramadan. They would mostly open around 8 or 9 pm until 3 in the morning.

DAU University

This is the main front gate of the University where we work. There is a lot of green tinted glass, it's all very new and very shiny, and makes an interesting picture when you see it reflecting the surrounding landscape!

Here are Amani and myself outside again - can you imagine how hot that is! We had to go into the women's side of the building, and we walked there from here without anyone noticing. Later in the afternoon when it was time to return home they wouldn't allow us to walk the 10 or 20 metres from the Women's gate to the main gate where the college van was picking us up, someone gave us a ride in a car for those few metres.

The Kingdom Tower

The streets around the hotel are an unsightly mess with road-works, building sites, and rubble, and we figured there must be a more up-market side to Riyadh. So, come the evening, we grabbed a taxi and instructed the driver to take us to the famous Kingdom Tower in the centre of the city.

It was night, and sparkling with lights - making photographs impossible, especially as the taking of photos is generally frowned upon anyway.

The 3 lowest floors of this remarkable structure are a shopping centre. I'm not sure what the rest is (although I'm sure there is a hotel there, among other things). And it was basically your slightly-better -than-average shopping mall, very flash ... but I really wished that I could've taken some photos of the men and women strolling around. The men were almost all in their 'thobe' s (long white robes) with their red and white,or plain white, tea-towel-like cloths ('ghutra') on their heads. And the women were all in black. Although I have heard heard that coloured abayas have started to become popular, I have yet to see any. About half of the women had chosen to have their heads uncovered - as is permitted in these malls - but the rest were totally covered with only their bright eyes showing through the slit in their veils. I used to think the women covered because they were forced to do so; but I have observed from the women I have talked to so far that it is very much of their own choosing. Or so they say.

There were a number of restaurants in the mall. But each one had two separate sections. The main eating area (unmarked) was for men and boys only. Nearby, off to the side, and screened off, was the 'family section'. Even the food serveries, which were no more than an open counter, had a screen halfway along where 'families' could place their orders.

On the third floor is a brand new concept - a Women Only floor! There is a guard on the lift to make sure no men enter. We didn't go up, but we have heard that the attendants are all women (elsewhere all shop assistants are men, even in women's clothing stores) and there are even changing rooms in the clothes shops up there ...

Starbucks

We wandered around the shops, made a few small purchases in 'Marks and Sparks', and then felt drawn to Starbucks for a cuppa before finding a taxi to take us home. Starbucks looked familiar and inviting with it's big comfy chairs and range of coffees and other treats. I noticed a number of white-thobed men relaxing there ... uh oh. The man behind the counter pointed next door to the 'family section' behind some screened glass doors. In here there was the usual counter service but the floor was cracked vinyl which grabs at your shoes when you are trying to carry a try of drinks to the grubby little curtained-off booths, each of which contained a wobbly table and some old wooden chairs. It was not quite the plush homely feeling we are used to in Starbucks!

As it was after 11 pm, things were just hotting up in the shopping centre - it was beginning to be almost crowded. We went outside and thought about walking down the street to do a bit of window shopping. But it was out of the question as the traffic was horrific and there was no one else walking around. I figure this is how these big malls are designed, so people just go to the one mall to shop around, and then get back into the car and drive home. There are no outside community areas, parks or whatever, just malls.

The taxi driver wanted to charge us twice what it cost to come into the centre, so we walked away until he brought the cost down a bit. But when we drove back to the hotel he took us to the wrong ring-road exit and had to go miles around to get back.

These cement barricades are everywhere, blocking off roads and redirecting traffic. If you come down our road on the other side you then come to a T-junction and you have to turn right for about half a kilmetre, do a U-turn and go back the other way for another couple of kilometres, do another U-turn and come back to the T-junction, and then you can turn right into our street and go down the one-way service road next to our hotel. Fortunately petrol is very, very cheap!

I THINK I'm gonna like it here

It was our first day at work today.

We were picked up in a minibus from our hotel and taken to the Dar Al Uloom University.

Dar Al Uloom

I have my very own office! (In our previous university jobs we had to "hot-desk" in an overcrowded staff-room.)

Everything is so big and sumptuous, and brand new. I have a brand new laptop computer, and the phone on my desk still has plastic on it, and they said my printer is coming soon. I have a big empty desk and bookshelf/cupboard with glass doors and a big gold key to lock it with.

My window looks out over the front of the University:

There is the gate where the women come in, and then a courtyard.

Not much greenery because everything is so new, and ...well, this is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia!

And then, when I go out of my office door the corridor stretches away past the other faculty offices ...

There are lots of (big, empty) hallways.

And this impressive skylight that goes down through all floors.

No students yet - not that I would be allowed to take photos of them - and lots of empty hallways.

And then there are the big, echoey classrooms

Bright - no curtains or blinds - and bare.

And then there's a bigger hall.

Actually it's really big! And then there are the other facilities - these are all in the girls' college (a mirror image of the boy's side, I'm told).

Here is one of the three gyms - bear in mind that Saudi girls can't go outside to exercise.

There is a playing court ...

and a lovely big swimming pool,

and a spacious area for billiards and table tennis.

And then there are language laboratories and computer rooms,

a restaurant and a cafe, and, of course, the mosque.

You can see the university mosque past the (men's) car park. There are also prayer rooms in the girls' university because they can't exactly walk across to the mosque.

At this stage it all seems so exciting and full of possibilities, and at the same time a little alarming and overwhelming.

I think it's going to be good. I hope so!