Our first afternoon...continued

Well, here I am again, and I have again today a substantial number of experiences to add to the list of things to write about. But, I think I have to continue with day 1 or I'll forget...there is something about the aging mind...or, at least, my aging mind. :-)

After our fantastic brunch we pulled our 5 year old away from her new best friend Salwa who politely told us that if we wanted to go shopping sometime and drop the kids off, she worked as a manager at the Children's Care Center inside of the mall. Not only was I happy to find such a nice brunch, but I now had learned that there was a Children's Care Center inside of the mall and a staff person that the social although very picky 5 year old liked. What a kind, thoughtful, helpful woman, and to top it off she let me take her picture! Something that all of the guide books told me was a big no no.

We then walked from the hotel, into the adjoining tower that was connected to the mall. The security guard was right, the mall was open. The shops, however, were not. (I have to smile at this). Some of the shops were open but very few. We decided to walk around anyway just to get a feel for what Riyadh had to offer. (After four days I see that Riyadh has everything any big city has to offer. Take away the Arabic, the clothes, the call to prayer, the radio and tv and Riyadh could be a large city in the middle of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada...or any other desert climate. Everything you could want (except for pork and alcohol) is available here....at least everything I have thought I may have wanted in 4 days time...we'll see what I feel like after a year). But, back to my story...on day one I was happily surprised to see shops that I recognized: Gap, Aldo, Next, Aldo (did I write that twice? I've always loved their shoes...and while we're talking about shoes....) 9 West, Karen Millen, Claire's accessories...etc, etc. Did I mention we only "hit" 1 floor of 3??

We got a little side tracked because when we went down to the lower level, we were faced with an indoor amusement park! When the temp is 120 outside (50 C-ish), and you have two kids, an indoor amusement park is a blessing! And the amusement park was really made for kids. Teacups, rollercoaster, train ride, bumper cars, etc all at kids sizes. In one corner there was a "bushus" like play area ...our 5 year old was in heaven.

Here, our 5 year old was busily making new friends, including a 6 year old from India whose father is here working for some company. The playground friendship ended with the dads exchanging phone numbers. Meanwhile, mom (that's me) was sitting on a bench watching the children play along with 3 arab women. After a short time, 2 more women arrived..all very happy to see each other with lots of kisses and hugs and as they were talking they suddenly started including ME by commenting or asking a question in english and then they would translate for each other and for me. The whole thing was so unexpected. And they started asking 101 questions: where are you from? why are you here? are these your children? why doesn't she look like you? have you been here before? how long have you been here? how long will you stay? have you been to any gulf state before? how old are your children...etc, etc, etc, Finally, I asked whether they were related and they all started saying yes, yes, and they removed their hijab so that I could see their faces (2 had faces covered and 3 had faces uncovered). Then started pointing to each other to explain who was who's sister etc. It was all so unexpected and really, really pleasant. We sat and spoke the entire time the children played. Fantastic.

So, I guess, in a nutshell, I'd have to say that day one was a success.