Regional Unrest

Well, it has been going on for quite sometime now but, now that I've taken up the blog again, I guess I feel that I should comment on what has been going on in the world. Or, rather, what hasn't been going on here in Saudi Arabia.

During the last several months somewhere between protests and civil war have been taking place in the Middle East and Northern Africa:

Egypt

Tunisia

Libya

Algeria

Bahrain

Djibouti

Iraq

Iran

Jordan

Syria

Oman

Yemen

..and, can we forget (or have we forgotten) Afghanistan?

In fact, if you look closely at a map, you'll see that with little exception, Saudi Arabia is entirely surrounded by countries that can loosely be described as "in conflict". A seeming island of calm in a sea of unrest.

I wouldn't say we, and by we I mean the ex-pat community, have been entirely at ease with what has been going on. There were calls in Saudi Arabia for a "day of rage". That day was March 11th. March 11th came and went, however, with nothing eventful happening. A large police presence and no demonstrators. A few days later, our maid came in in the morning as we were getting ready for school and work

"Is Emily's school closed?"

"No [confusedly] We haven't heard anything."

"There were protests last night and the king has closed all of the schools"

A quick call to the school

"Have you heard anything?"

"No, we havent heard anything"

Later that day we find out that no, there weren't "protests" there were "celebrations" and the king didn't close the schools as a response to unrest but instead as a gift to Saudi families. (That explains why the international schools weren't closed!) These spontaneous "national holidays" happen quite often.

From what I have seen and experienced, it seems as if the people here really love the king and he is of course not a stupid man. Quite the contrary, in the midst of unrest in the middle east the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah is adding thousands of new jobs to the government payroll, raising the minimum wage, fighting corruption.... and the people are celebrating him.

With that, I must remind everybody that I am not Arab and do not speak Arabic (of course you know this but, a little reminder in context never hurts!). I was completely shocked over the events in Bahrain and Oman....we were just in Bahrain in January and loved it, it felt safe and easy. We never would have imagined a situation as the one today...there. Instinct can be wrong.

An article that you may find interesting:

Saudi's Interest in Arab Upheavals Dwindling

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article336631.ece

Islam and Capital Punishment

Yesterday I received a question regarding my latest entry "Chop Chop!" and thought it deserved an entire entry of its own:

Is there evidence that this public display serves as a deterrent to capital crimes? Or is this just a time honored tradition?

I would like to answer this question with neither....but, one must remember, I am not an expert. However, when questioning the workings of the state of Saudi Arabia one must never forget that the Saudi Arabian state is guided 100% by Islam. That means, every decision, policy, and act of state has its footing in the Qur'an. This is different than what we are used to in the west. Although the countries in the west are Christian cultures, government runs based on the representative will of the people whether or not they adhere to any given faith. Here, it is not the will of the people that is formost, rather it is the word of God (Allah) and his prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). This applies to EVERYTHING. It is difficult to describe but say one is a grade schooler learning math in KSA. The justification for teaching math to grade schoolers must lie in the Qur'an or else math is not taught to grade schoolers. King Abdullah isn't His Majesty King Abdullah, he is King Abdullah Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The two holy mosques being those in Medina, KSA and Mecca, KSA.

So the question really is, Does the Qur'an support public display of capital punishment?
(Here I had to do a little research)

Two verses out of the Qur'an seem to support this:

"...If anyone kills a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he killed all people. And if anyone saves a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all people" (Qur'an 5:32).

"...Take not life, which God has made sacred, except by way of justice and law. Thus does He command you, so that you may learn wisdom" (Qur'an 6:151).

It seems to me (not being a theologist) that the first verse seems to speak to the average everyday person or citizen: Do not murder and do not spread mischief in the land, however, there may be some exceptions to murder if the murder was of a person who has murdered or spread mischief in the land. And the second verse to the state: You may take a life through justice and law. So, it seems to me that the Qur'anic law do not murder or spread mischief in the land is punishable by the Qur'anic justice: your life may be taken from you.

It doesn't say that the life must be taken, but it is clear that should the authorities choose to take the life, it is OK as far as Islam is concerned. This may be where "blood money" comes in. If the wronged party agrees, an offender can pay blood money and be spared capital punishment or other harsh sentence. That is, in order to get out of a physical sentence one can pay a fine instead. It seems as though the amount is set by the wronged party, although, I don't know.

As in the US, these harsh punishments are unfairly enacted overwhelmingly on the poor and non-Saudis.

Two articles you may be interestd in:

Saudi State is Based on Islam

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article335132.ece

Death Row Maid Seeks King's Intervention to Save Her

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article332172.ece

Chop Chop!

Today I hopped into a car and ventured to the other end of town where Deira Souk is located. I thought I would wander around and look for some traditional Saudi items. This is not an easy task in Saudi Arabia as everything is imported. Although, there are some traditional pieces of hand carved furniture, swords, and jewelry that one can find. I was hoping to find some sort of stool that would be something we could eventually bring home with us.

Pulling up to the Souk we passed what is affectionately known as "chop chop square". This is the place where public executions are regularly held and is adjacent to Deira. At some point in history, these executions were only held on Fridays but now they can be held on any given day of the week. Similar punishments, like the severing of a hand are, from what I understand, no longer held at chop chop square but instead are carried out on premises where the original crime took place. So, as an average everyday person, running errands, one runs the risk of bearing witness to such public punishments.

We passed just in time to see them washing the blood off the stairs...thank goodness we didn't get there earlier!!

Parenting isn't for Sissies!

Sending our children to nursery school has been an... interesting experience. Our daughter screamed and cried when being dropped off at nursery school right up until her little brother started demanding more and more attention at home. She was almost 5 then. Daily screaming and crying right up until almost 5 years old. Now, those of you who know me, know that I'm a sap and can cry while watching a car commercial so while trying to keep calm on the outside watching my little angel cry on a daily basis because she did not want me to leave her was no easy task.

I always assumed it was because she was adopted. Now, I don't usually think about the fact that our daughter is adopted. It rarely crosses my mind. But, sometimes I am forced to wonder if certain behaviors or reactions are directly related to that day that we ripped her away from the only life she knew, took everything away from her, and tried to substitute it with our love. Today, I do not believe that the day she was abandoned was the greatest trauma in her life. The most traumatic event in her life was the day she was adopted. As the parent of an adopted child and a non-adopted child I have had the luxury of being able to compare the experiences on occasion (to those of you out there that told us we could not love an adopted child as much as we would love "our own"--you could not be more wrong! HA!). I have always thought that when leaving her at nursery school she was experiencing some sort of separation anxiety or something.

Fast forward to our son. Almost two years old. He is the only child in his nursery school class that screams when being dropped off. The other kids walk in as if they own the place. He screams bloody murder and the tears...OH MY GOODNESS the tears! It had nothing to do with being adopted...it is us.

It is at these times that I realize I just don't have the backbone it takes to be a parent...Parenting isn't for sissies and I am the biggest sissy of them all! I guess my kids know it and are using it against me :-)

The Real Housewives of Riyadh, KSA

So I'm flipping channels the other evening and land momentarily on The Real Housewives of New York. I don't know why I stopped, there was something about the way the women looked, and sounded...a little hardened or something, but maybe that's the accent. Do New Yorkers sound more hardened than others?

Anyway I came in as LuAnn de Lesseps was explaining to Bethenny Frankel (yes I had to look it up) in the back of a car driving through Manhattan how Bethenny should never introduce LuAnn to a driver as LuAnn but as Mrs. de Lesseps. It was a little bit of a lesson on manners that LuAnn was giving Bethenny..the whole time Bethenny looking and sounding as if she could not believe her ears and LuAnn looking and sounding as if she could not believe that Bethenny didn't understand the finer points of entitlement. It was clear that LuAnn thought herself better than others while Bethenny just didn't get it.

Sometimes in KSA I feel like a Bethenny in a sea of LuAnns. LuAnns talk about "these people" where I only see "people"

"These people don't understand...."

"These people don't know..."

"These people can't..."

"These people won't..."

LuAnns treat the drivers, gardeners, maids, etc as if they are invisible, instead of saying:

"Hello"

"How are you today"

"What is your name?"

"Where are you from?"

"Thank you"

"Have a nice day"

LuAnns make snide comments about others under their breath instead of giving others the benefit of the doubt.

I'm hoping to find more Bethenneys soon.

Questions, questions and, more... you guessed it...

I know, it has been several months since I've posted anything. I think quite often that I should post something...you know, something happens and I think, I should write this on my blog. But, then, by the time I get home, feed the kids, say hi to the husband, get the kids in bed, I'm lucky if my eyes are still open. I even thought a few times...OK Friday, Friday is my blogging day. But, many Fridays have come and gone since thinking that. Now, through reading other peoples' blogs, I have been inspired and luckily I have about a billion "drafts" already started that just need whipping into shape. Ok, maybe not a billion but more than one :-)

Today I'm going to answer some questions...questions I have received from people out there like:

1. As a woman in Saudi, can you work? Shouldn't you just take care of the kids and eat dates?

I'm not sure if the question applied to me specifically or to women in Saudi in general. But, the short answer is yes, women can work in Saudi. (There is of course a much complicated answer but, I'm not sure if I am qualified to give it...without getting it wrong.) I have seen women working at schools, hospitals, airports, and salons. Selling mobile phones and working in gift shops I have met women that run their own businesses. I know foreign women here on work visas. Women are working as maids and nannies. But there is a category of women...those like me who are here because their husbands have work visas who are not supposed to work. Many do however...illegally. The risk is that businesses may be (and are) "raided" by the Department of Labor looking for women working illegally.

I'm not sure that women take care of kids here, that seems to be left mostly to the nannies. A woman's job seems to be to shop and socialize with her girlfriends if not working.

Dates? I've never really cared for them, but a cup of real Arabian coffee (its green by the way) together with a date is a nice treat!

2. Have you bought a camel? Do they have camels there or are they dromedars?

No. We don't have a camel. And, one thing I have learned since being here is that this question between camel or dromedar is really important to some. Well, dromedars, as I understand itare camels. So, if you have a dromedar you also have a camel. It's like asking do you have a mellon or a cantaloupe. That said, I've only seen one-humped camels.

3. Have you come across any fun traditions that you think you'll bring back with you? Do you celebrate Ramadan?

No, not that I can think of...and well, I wouldn't say that we celebrate Ramadan but in a way we are forced to observe Ramandan. During Ramadan it is forbidden for example to eat, drink, smoke, spit, etc during daylight hours. In order to follow this Islamic law, most everything is closed during daylight hours, everybody sleeps during daylight hours, and then in the late afternoon early evening everything opens. It is as if day and night change positions...for everybody in KSA. This year we'll be celebrating Ramadan by leaving KSA.

4. Is your post office like those here in the U.S.?

I have yet to understand how (if) the postal service works. In general, it cant be trusted.

5. How big is the compound? Since your home is new, what is the make up of the homes there? Some older or in a different section of the compound? Are you able to take outdoor pictures of the compound, or of your home?

Our compound is about 400 homes. The compound was built about 15 years ago. We can take pictures while on the compound.

6. Is there a Starbucks in your compound?

No, but just about everywhere else!

Goodnight!