*Not all Saudi men thankfully are the way described below but this post is written as an advisory for those who have had little to no exposure to Saudi culture and the Saudi man.

For some reason it seems to be culturally acceptable for a Saudi man to abandon a woman, in spite of ‘alledged’ rights to which a woman is entitled.  A high percentage of Saudi men will go outside the Kingdom as students or for employment.  They are exposed to differing lifestyles and cultures.  Many will gradually believe they have blended in to the new lifestyle and culture and eventually find themselves in a relationship.  What most women who are unfamiliar with Saudi Arabia and Saudi men does not realize is that the Saudi man can be a most persuasive and charming speaker, kind of like the devil in disguise as the most magnificent Prince Charming.  He can easily cajole a woman who would naturally resist strongly to give up her virginity to him.  Now the Saudi man after receiving his “present” will either move on to other challenges (read conquests) or continue to enjoy the “free feast.”  Yet if the woman becomes pregnant it is not surprising that the man will rapidly move on and avoid contact with the woman.  After all, she is the one who is now pregnant, not him, so it is her problem.

The Saudi man who is outside of the Kingdom for a period of time also needs to be viewed with caution, particularly if he is older and therefore assumed to be more mature than a young student.  This man may be even more charming and sophisticated and appealing to non-Saudi women of all ages.  He will unlikely wear a wedding ring yet due to his age and position in life, most often married.  But of course he would likely quip that he is not married, separated or divorced.  The likelihood he has a Saudi wife and at least four children in Saudi.  It does not bother his conscience to cheat on his wife.  He is satisfying his needs and probably has the perspective that he is also bringing pleasure to a willing partner.  Being more sophisticated and culturally savvy, he may even integrate himself into the family of the woman with whom he is having a relationship.  He may make references or innuendos to a future with her and while probably sincere at the moment because he wishes it could be so, he also knows realistically there is no future and furthermore deep down he does not want a future with her. When his business or position which brought him outside of Saudi is complete, he’ll depart without a backward glance.

In both cases of the younger student or the mature sophisticate, they may not make any attempt to hide their involvement with a foreign woman outside of Saudi.  The foreign woman may be introduced to their male friends.  Of course she would not be known to any Saudi females or members of the Saudi family because the man is engaging in activities which are considered haram (forbidden) in his own country.  While a woman may think it is flattering to meet his friends this is actually disrespectful in the Saudi culture.  And of course when the man makes his exit from her life, the remaining Saudi friends will be polite to her but it becomes clear that no matter how kindly they treated her with him, she is an outsider and will never be accepted.

Then there are the Saudis who are married.  First, like the sophisticate who seeks female companionship when outside of the Kingdom, he illustrates no loyalty or faithfulness to his Saudi wife.  It is also ingrained in him that if his Saudi wife ever needs assistance, has problems or illness, how own “blood” family will take care of her.  He views himself of absolved of responsibility.  And if he is the Saudi with a foreign wife he will expect her to find her own way to solving problems and meeting her needs.  If she becomes ill it is expected her expat friends and family (from abroad) will take care of her.  He should not be exposed to illness or upsets.  She is also not from the “same blood” so there is not an expectation or obligation on the part of his family either.

I hear of these situations more and more frequently.  Most seem to come from someone in a relationship with a Saudi man over the age of 40.  How come these men have become adults without a sense of responsibility or loyalty if someone is not from within the inner “blood” circle of family?  Does this again go back to the impact of segregation and pre-defined roles of a husband and wife in an arranged marriage?  Yet even in an arranged marriage or any Islamic marriage there are rights to which the woman is entitled.  Sadly though, too many Saudi men make no effort to meet those rights and simply ignore them.

What options are available to the woman, regardless of where she is or what nationality, who finds herself abandoned by a Saudi?  Saudi Arabia is the exclusive men’s club where the men do stick together and protect each other and women’s needs and rights are easily forgotten.

Yesterday morning after I’d made the pastry for the pumpkin pies and put it to rest in the fridge, seen the kids off to school, and had coffee, Donn and I headed up to the Takkadoum market to buy a chicken. Earlier in the week I’d gone there hunting turkey and I’d found one all right—over 13 kilos, pure white, gobbling at me from its cage under the counter. I eyed it askance, while Khadija laughed heartily at the thought of Donn and I and 3 kids needing a bird that big. I don’t think it would even fit in my oven!

So Thanksgiving morning found Donn and I at our old friend the chicken seller’s, eyeing the white chickens hopping about and pecking each other. I tend to be somewhat tender-hearted and was tempted to choose the scrawny one being attacked by bigger birds before common sense intervened—first of all I was choosing a bird to EAT, hardly an honour for the chicken set, and secondly, well, I was choosing a bird to eat.

We’ve come a long way quickly from that first experience of choosing our pretty pretty chicken. Turns out we, in our ignorance, bought a stewing chicken. We made a lot of jokes about how we’d ended up with the marathon-runner of free-range chickens—that thing was skin and bones under all those feathers, tough and sinewy. Now we know. Take the white ones in the little yard, the one the slaughterers are tripping over.

We picked out the chicken, watched it die, let them pluck it in their machine, brought it home. Donn left to deliver some photos to a client and I finished baking the pies and then dumped the bird out into the sink. Surprise! It still had the organs. I’m a strong believer in my right to be a Victorian female if I feel like it so I left it for Donn to deal with. (aside: yes, I know REAL Victorian females would have had no problem with chicken innards, but I am using the term to mean helpless and feminine and I can squeal at mice and climb on chairs if I feel like it. I am Woman!) Once he’d come home and done that, and we had forced Ilsa to take these organs in a bowl outside our gate for the feral cats to enjoy (Us: Think of the great stories you’ll have to tell your kids! Ilsa: yeah… I dunno), I was ready to cook it.

I must admit that I have come around completely to Khadija’s way of thinking. By the time I was done with it, the chicken was tender and juicy and falling off the bones and tasted way better than the frozen, shipped-from-Brazil chickens available at the supermarkets. I rubbed it with rock salt, let it sit an hour or two, rinsed it, and stuck garlic slivers, s & p, thyme and rosemary all over the outside and inside. In my fear of it being dry, I poured a tiny bit of olive oil over it, stuck it in the oven, and basted faithfully. It was perfect. The meat tasted subtly of herbs and garlic. The house smelled heavenly. Of course we had dressing and mashed potatoes and corn soufflé and fresh peas and green beans to go with it. (I shelled the peas myself and they were perfect) We even had a tin of cranberry sauce, thanks to an American friend here who took pity on us.

What’s to say about Thanksgiving besides being thankful and eating a lot? We did those things. We followed up with a cheese course (we learned good things when we lived in France) and then pumpkin pie for dessert. We spread this meal out over about 4 hours, so we were comfortable. The kids skipped afternoon school—and you’d better believe that made it on their list of things they’re thankful for. When I wrote their excuses this morning, I wrote “Thanksgiving” in the “reason for absence” line. I wonder what the French will make of that?

Of course today isn’t a holiday. It very nearly was. Tomorrow is the biggest Eid of the year—Eid Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, Eid elKbir, the big feast. In Mauritania they used to call it Eid elHamm, Feast of Meat. (Like Americans calling Thanksgiving “Turkey Day.”) Our neighbours bought their sheep last Sunday; we heard it arrive, lowing and bleating and protesting. It’s settled down now, resigned to its fate. (In fact, I haven’t heard it since yesterday—perhaps it is already in pieces in their kitchen)

The Muslim calendar is based on the moon, so holidays move throughout the western calendar—approximately 10 days a year. Our first year in Mauritania, the end of Ramadan coincided with Christmas-time; this year it was mid-September. So, for the first time in about 30 years, this Eid has nearly coincided with American Thanksgiving. I ask, why couldn’t it have been just one day earlier so we could have had an American Thanksgiving weekend? At least Elliot has Saturday morning off school.

Ismail’s mother has already sent us a plate of goodies. I will never lose weight living above this woman!

Eid Sayeed! Because I know you secretly want to see this, I’m attaching a video a friend took during last year’s Eid. This is a river flowing red with sheep’s blood, washing into the Atlantic. The sheep are slaughtered in the street and the blood rinses down into the little tributary. Mmmm. Guess Donn better not go surfing this weekend!

adica acel mamaaaaaaa! cum e la astia aici! intr-un fel e cand o faci pe turistu’, cand incerci toate cafenelele si braseriile, faci poze multe si tampite si stii ca in x zile o sa te trezesti la tine in pat. alta e cand ‘la tine in pat’ nu mai e. nici acolo nici aici. cand zici ‘alo, ce faci mama, eu cred ca stau acasa de sarbatori’. si mama intreaba’ acasa unde?’. ooops. vorba aia, nici cal nici magar.

I was telling my sister recently to just keep going.  She was sharing with me how she’s having a hard time landing a job and was ready to quit.

I had my share of those moments when things seem to not favors me no matter how hard I try.  Many times I kind of given up too.  Other times,  I just had kept on.. something  made me go on and I did.  And looking back, those were the times when I kept going that I was able to reap rewards.

I started reading Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich free ebook and I got pass the Three Feet From Gold story that reminded me of an experience about a wild trip to Baguio.

It was  ”…three feet from where the Darbys had stopped drilling that the gold is found.” by the ‘Junk’ man to whom Mr. Darby sold his machinery for mining ore for a few hundred dollars .

Indeed, one of life’s irony is just when we feel so defeated and about to give up on something that the answer shows up all of a sudden.  And we later realize the lesson.

The Baguio Wild Trip

It was a chapter in my life when I decided to start over.  I talked my  friend Leo into accompanying me and since he’s never been to Baguio he was delighted. Not to mention that it’ll be an all-expense paid  for him which I shouldered. He was kind of broke at that time.  I didn’t have much either.  But it was the way to go for me.

Another buddy named Joey went along.  So it was three of us.  I told them my plan which is to look for a job and stay for good.  I kind of gave myself a one-week target to get settled.  It was a do-or-die situation.

We got very limited money and no definite place to go in an unfamiliar place. It was crazy.. and perfect.  Amidst the uncertainty is the incomparable freedom of a dare-devil adventure.

We got there late in the afternoon and set out to our first task of finding a place to stay for the night.  The boarding house hunting started the next day.

Our first stop at Joey’s church friend in Crystal Cave did not go well.  I remember how some of the house structures there with base posts on slopes kind of given me a scare and wonderment at the same time.  I was used to seeing and inhabiting level ground houses.

Come dark we were exhausted and so beat, we settled with the second immediate option we got.  They slept over at one of the church centers, I in one of the several market stalls owned by another of Joey’s church friends, walking distance from them, which I remember to be nearby the airport.

It was frightening for me to be separated from them on that first night in a cold place and to be sleeping at someone’s stall that has wood strips for a door.  I scolded them in the morning for making me sleep there alone.

We grab some quick food along the way as we search for a boarding house.  It started out exciting as we explore the roads and sites of Baguio until after several failed inquiries for a prospect pad.  The thought of sleeping again in that stall made me cringe, we have to find a house to crash in tonight, I told myself.

So, after several more road blocks covered and seen houses, still no success. It’s either beyond our budget, not so cool for our tastes (but we’re not that choosy alright.. ), no vacancy, or the owner or landlord simply doesn’t want to take us in.. maybe for some ethical reasons.

Imagine a girl with two bisexual-looking guys with baggages and a sleeping bag, who looks like stowaways without much, looking for a place to stay.  Hmmp.. maybe I would think twice too if I were in their shoes.

By late afternoon we were tired and desperate.  The guys were deciding to call it a day.  I feel them but wasn’t gonna give up yet and so beg for one more house.

We trudged wearily up the hill as the sun was setting down and knocked on one more door.  Finally, a sense of hope.. the owners seemed accommodating and empathic of our situation.  We know we’re not that appealing group of boarders.. we told them our story, of me staying for good…  They probably took pity and admitted us that night.  What a relief. Whew!

And thank goodness we decided to check one more house.

The days that followed were mixed feelings of ecstasy being in ‘paradise’ and the stress of job-hunt and getting by each day with mainly noodles or canned sardines, rice and bread.  It was a humbling and empowering experience all at the same time.  We had to call long-distance for some money support from close sources to survive that week. We weren’t let down.

Before the week ended, I scored a job as a graphic designer for a mall with a very minimal pay compared to my last in Manila.  I was culture-shocked.  Anyway, that will do for now I thought.  One day at a time.

On the seventh day, I move in to a new room-for-rent just a stone’s throw away from work.  We were evicted from the first boarding house by this time.

It was the last day of our adventure together, as planned.  So that same day Leo and Joey bid me goodbye and good luck as I escorted them to the bus terminal.

I welcomed my new life in ‘paradise’ and the new work the next day with a smile.  The end.

A couple of weeks ago, while I was minding my own business online, our broadband access went out. For expats, the internet is akin to a vital  biological function, like breathing. When it disappears inexplicably it is never good.

After much poking at wires and turning off and on of the router, (pretty much the sum total of my technical expertise right there) Mr B, who arrived home in blissful ignorance of this unfolding domestic drama, promptly copped the flak.

It turns out our landline bill has not been paid.

Since we moved in.

In June.

Apparently, even though we’ve never used it and even though ADSL service is part of our rent, a monthly fee has to be paid for a landline in order to keep the ADSL on. After a mercifully short excursion to China Unicom where one employee spoke enough English to help me fill out the myriad forms in Chinese characters, we were told to wait a week and then service would be resumed.

My problem with this is not that we were cut off. That’s normal for non payment of bills. What is totally baffling is that we have not received a single bill, reminder notice, or in fact ANY kind of communication from China Unicom telling us this was coming.

When I mentioned this little episode to one of the very helpful employees in our building, she looked at me as if I came from another planet. Which in many ways I do.

Her response was, “but everybody knows that around 20th of the month bills must be paid!”

“Even though there is no bill sent? No reminders? And there is no mention of this in any of our contracts?”

“Yes, of course. This is China. Everybody knows this is how it works here,” she confirmed.

Everybody except a remedial wife it seems.

]]> http://americanbedu.com/2009/11/27/a-new-taste-of-home-in-riyadh-%e2%80%93-the-australian-outback-steakhouse-has-opened/ Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:05:11 +0000 American Bedu http://americanbedu.com/2009/11/27/a-new-taste-of-home-in-riyadh-%e2%80%93-the-australian-outback-steakhouse-has-opened/

A New Taste of Home in Riyadh – The Australian Outback Steakhouse Has Opened

It is indeed with great pleasure for me to advise that the Australain Style Outback Restaurant and Steakhouse has opened in Riaydh, Saudi Arabia:

The new Outback Steakhouse is located right in the middle of the Localizer Mall on Tahliya Street.  There are two separate entrances…each with a sItaircase and an elevator, as the store is located on the second floor of the mall.  The hours that are posted are Sat-Tues 4-11pm and Weds-Fri 4-12.  There are two separate dining rooms, of course, each of which is the size of a stateside Outback , with the kitchen in the middle.  The restaurant has 100 tables total, with a seating capacity of 397 people.  On the family side, they have a room that we call the “Microsoft Room”, with dividers, and privacy screens are available.  Each side has smoking and non-smoking sections.  The family side has floor to ceiling windows that overlook the interior of the mall, and the singles side has floor to ceiling windows overlooking Tahliya Street.  The space has been done very tastefully with very good craftsmanship…I am very impressed with everything.  I have volunteered to stay on board until Nov 22nd to help smooth out the bumps, then home for a week, then back to Dubai to train the staff for the new store opening there in December.

Although the Outback does not deliver, one can call ahead and place their order.

The Outback restaurant is known for its mouthwatering steak and chickens

The Queen song as you have never seen it (or heard it) before.

This is some artwork I did this year, a weekend at home with my daughter.

I was actually trying not to get worked up–and to keep any crankiness to myself–today. But, Thanksgiving is pretty fraught as hoked-up celebrations go. For some of us, it may as well be called “Historical Trauma Day”–if not “Thanks For Not Killing Us All Day”, as archanglrobriel called it on LJ a few years ago! “Let’s Pretend We’re Not (Still) In The Grip of Wétiko Psychosis Day” would also be appropriate, if not very catchy.

In that spirit, I feel compelled to offer some links. Thanksgiving: a myth-debunking, record-straightening roundup offers a good overview of the historical reality behind the politically convenient mythology.

So, we find out that Powhatan’s people kept feeding the Jamestown crew to keep them alive (not to mention that, indeed, women were chiefs). That settlement would not have survived at all, were it not for local Native help. A lot of the people the Virginia Company sent starting out didn’t even know how to fish or grow food at all, and had to be shown. They even needed help building houses, apparently; thus the same construction materials the locals were using. The site was uninhabited for good reason, and a lot of people died from drinking bad water, not knowing any better. I saw something on PBS a few years back, about some shocking new discoveries about how much practical help they did get, and how many of the initial group married locals–really amazing, since they were mostly young men! Marriage into a matrilineal society (with plenty of food!) was a major reason so many of them went to live with the Natives, hardly the only time or place this has happened under colonialism. A lot of the feast mythology was based on Powhatan Federation people repeatedly pulling English chestnuts out of the fire. I already knew all of this, but it’s hardly common knowledge in the U.S., for good reason.

The area I’m from got multiple waves of coastal refugees, including Powhatan Federation people (Renape), Meherrin, Delaware (Lenape), and escaped slaves of all descriptions (including Irish and Highland Scots). Thus did my family. It’s hard to forget.

Karen Ordahl Kupperman has written an excellent piece: Indians and English Meet on the James, about each group’s attitudes going in. Often overlooked/obfuscated points: this was not the first time the Pamunkeys and related nations had dealt with Europeans around the Chesapeake, and the English saw the Natives as “accomplished people living in highly developed societies. It was the Indians’ accomplishments that made colonization feasible in English eyes…Moreover, the advanced nature of Indian societies was the best indicator of the land’s potential.” The “primitive” slur came in much later, as justification for grabbing other people’s stuff. As for Renape experience:

For almost a century ships had been in and out of Chesapeake Bay. One had taken a young Pamunkey man with them and this man, baptized as Don Luís de Velasco, had spent a decade with Dominicans in Spain, Havana, and Mexico City before he returned to the James River in the company of Jesuit missionaries in 1571. The mission, which posed a fundamental threat to Pamunkey culture, was soon destroyed and Don Luís returned to his own people. Through his lore the Pamunkeys acquired detailed knowledge of Europeans and their capacities.

So, with all the emphasis on the Plymouth Bay Colony (Massachusetts) in modern Thanksgiving mythology, what really happened there? Daniel N. Paul* shows us some history in his The Real Thanksgiving; the whole thing is worth reading. Hmm, separatist Puritans relied on God to provide, and it happened: through Native compassion, and however gadugi is expressed in Wampanoag. Paul’s page describes nicely how this help was returned: “Once the European settlements stabilized, the whites turned on their hosts in a brutal way.” The differences between approaches to warfare (“internal policing” is a good description on the Native side) are also instructive. The Native version, though the specifics were different, bore more resemblance to Highland cattle raiding; “Indian ‘wars’ were largely symbolic and were about honor, not about territory or extermination.”

Bit of a pattern developing here. It does, indeed, seem to have been a common one, with lots of “feasts” involved wherever a colony was started. Mitchell Cohen wrote something good about this, starting with Columbus.

I tracked down one rather illustrative piece I’d seen before, What are the Underlying Values of Haudenosaunee Culture?. Note that, in the “ethics” section, “To feed others” is listed separately from “To be hospitable,” “To be generous,” and “To share”.** The fact that all of these ideas are individually emphasized might give you a pretty good idea of their cultural importance. This doesn’t just come from the Haudenosaunee; these are all values stressed in my own upbringing.

Living in a house with just Nigel and the animals, immersed in a very different culture, with not a lot of other people likely to stop by, I still consistently cook more than we need. It would be a shame if we did not have enough to feed anybody who should happen by. That’s OK; the extra is rarely wasted, but gets eaten as leftovers and/or dog food. It’s worth it.

This cluster of cultural messages is very strong. On an individual level, my attitudes have been taken advantage of by people from different cultural backgrounds. (Not to mention expectations of politeness, however strained.) This has also played out multiple times within my family. Elizabeth Moon’s fiction actually helped me understand how this difference in approach to giving and taking works in a lot of cases, as I described in the last few paragraphs of this economic post. The assumed power dynamics involved are still very different between cultures. Experiences living in the U.K. have also illustrated this point.

Still, I have to consider living correctly by own standards to be far more important than the fact that some louts are inclined to take advantage of this. I’ve also had to learn to temper this with recognition that, past a certain point, people forfeit any right to the politeness and generosity they insist on misinterpreting as chumphood. They still deserve compassion, but you do not have to carry a snake down the mountain in your shirt.

It ’s a good thing in multiple ways that I’m no longer concerned about sending whatever punk cred I may once have had up in flames, by mentioning Billy Ray Cyrus twice in as many weeks. (Though a lot of my earlier embarrassment there came straight from carefully inculcated internalized racism.) Considering the continuing clash of cultural values, I can’t help but think of his “Trail of Tears”:

Too many times you walked away
And was made to feel ashamed
And though you only tried to give
You were often blamed

Yeah, some themes are still very much with some of us after 400+ years. The personal is very political indeed.

Another point I’ve been thinking about a lot today is the anger factor. Again, I try hard to temper it with compassion–in the interests of duyukta–but a lot of people would still consider me unreasonably angry and shrill about things that happened centuries ago. That’s privilege for you, and it’s hard not to see how some of the same crap continues if you don’t have that privilege. I guess it’s more internalized BS that keeps nagging at me that maybe I’m being unreasonable even thinking about these things.

Daniel Paul put it nicely, in one newspaper piece:

I’ve been asked so many times, by non-First Nations people, about the cause of the high rate of suicides, violent crimes, alcoholism, drug abuse and so on within First Nation communities that I couldn’t put a number on the times asked if I tried. My response to these queries has more often than not been, “you figure it out then give me your views.”

In order to help them figure it out, I spent over four years of my life writing a book called We were Not the Savages. I wrote this book for people to use as a tool to help in their efforts to understand. Yet I still get asked the same questions. And, interestingly enough, not more than a handful of the people who tried to come up with an explanation were even in the same ballpark as the answer.

Well today I will try to provide an answer. What has caused and continues to cause children in such places as Davis Inlet to overdose on drugs and substances, the suicides at Big Cove and other reserves too numerous to mention here, the alcoholism, drug dependency, and so on, among our people is quite simple. Try the after-effects of centuries of unmitigated racist persecution for an answer. . .

The trauma you experience by being subjected to racist persecution practically destroys your self-esteem. To overcome the experience of being brainwashed by a foreign society into believing that you are descended from an inferior civilization, peopled by inferior human beings, is nearly impossible. I can vouch for this personally; its been a struggle of mine for more than half a century.

Historical/multigenerational trauma is very real. I am working hard “[t]o overcome the experience of being brainwashed by a foreign society into believing that you are descended from an inferior civilization, peopled by inferior human beings” (in a dubious “New World”, to boot). Learning helps you deal with it. That’s part of the “truth” sense of duyukta helping bring you to the “harmony and balance” and “dignity and honor” senses; most of us could use more of all the above!

Edit: I was about to completely forget the bizarre nature of setting aside one day of the year specifically for giving thanks. To quote Tecumseh:

When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself.

That’s every single minute of every single day.

Also, from the Haudenosaunee values piece linked to earlier, “People should be thankful everyday.” It seems simple to me, but obviously not to everyone.

_________

* I have spent some time on (Mi’kmaq) Daniel N. Paul’s website before, and would like to pick up his book at some point. Chilling stuff, bearing an uncanny similarity to what happened further south. The same people were even involved, in some cases; e.g., the Cornwallis family.

** And a lot of them are ways of trying to wrap English around the northern Iroquoian version of gadugi. Another linguistic insight I’ve had? English concepts of “generosity” and “hospitality” map about as well as “charity” onto the values we’re trying to express here. The English versions imply some alien things about power.

Can’t say everyone hasn’t been fearing this news for a while now. It’s really not something that we can plot the course of as civilians.

We have watched this worst case scenario in blockbuster summer hits for the past decade.

A super virus is something that we panic about for five minutes and then get back to our Starbucks and carpool. It’s a fact.

Life in the fast lane, with little access to the resources to predict, combat, or even outlive such a scenario gives us little time to ponder over articles like this.

Back to living, and being thankful for everything we have for this moment.

Tomorrow is never guaranteed, unless you are the hero in the billion dollar summer hit.

In that case, prepare yourself for the sequel.

Quote

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/44717-china-expert-warns-of-pandemic-flu-mutation

I´m starting to come toward the end of my time here,  so I would like to start a series of posts that reflect on my time and experience here as a whole.  I was thinking over recently some of the things that shocked me a bit when I first arrived, but that I now accept as a part of everyday life.

Uruguay is interesting in that it is in many ways very modern and developed, but nevertheless there are still some social realities here that would be unheard of in most parts of the U.S..  So here it is, 15 things that no longer shock me in Montevideo:

1. Very cracked sidewalks
2. Dog poop on the sidewalks and lots of stray dogs. The lower class the neighborhood, the more dogs there are, and sometimes cats too. Oh, and people in general don´t seem to believe in castrating their pets here.
3. Vendors and street musicians on the buses
4. graffiti. Lots of it. Especially most of it relates to sports teams (Piñarol, Nacional, Bolsa or the most popular national teams) or politics (mostly for ¨Pepe¨ Mujica, but also Lacalle).
5. The people riding through town in horsedrawn carts collecting and sorting through the garbage

6. The traffic: lanes seem to be only suggestions or guidelines. Cars have a habbit of cutting in right in front of or right behind a pedestrian when turning (taxis are the worst). It is often common to hear a horn blowing as they drive through the intersection, should a brave pedestrian be attempting to cross and save themselves a few minutes, as though to say, ¨Don´t even try to cross in front of me ´cuz i´m not slowing down¨.
7. ¨Lindos Ojos.¨ Lighter colored eyes are not as common here and are apparently coveted and worshiped by men. If I had a peso for every time I heard ¨lindos ojos¨ (pretty eyes) from an older man passing by, I would be one wealthy gringa.
8. Montevideo fashion. A lot of people wear more subdued colors, like black, brown, olive, white. But there seems to be a fashion trend among certain groups of the younger generartion to wear bright green, bright purple, or bright peachy, orange-y coral.
9. People–especially men in their 20s, 30s, 40s carrying a thermos under their elbow and mate in their hand. They are everywhere. On the sidewalks, in the plazas, on the rambla, on the bus. In Argentina they say that uruguayans have a longer arm to hold the thermos.
10. People trying to make money at crosswalks during redlights. They juggle, wash windows, and sell flowers or newspapers to the people in cars.

11. ¨Guardacoches¨ — the people who sit on the sidewalks and help people to parallel park and watch the cars while their away. They operate privately and live off of the change people give them for their services.
12. Besos. The normal form of greating someone is a kiss or an air kiss on the cheek. When entering a room it is polite to greet everyone in the group (even if it takes a looong time).
13. No indoor heating and air conditioning in most houses. I lucked out that mine had heat.
14. Milk in bags (those who have been following my blog since the beginning may remember my first supermarket experience…)
15. Artigas statues everywhere. General Artigas is their equivelent of the founding father of Uruguay. You see images and statues of him all over the place.

It appears that King Abdullah is now making his moves towards significant reforms in Saudi Arabia.  KAUST is up and running as the first international and co-educational university in the Kingdom.  And recently Saudi Arabia announced its top 10 projects which are further indicative of major changes which will likely to lead towards additional reform.  Last but not least, there is also a proposal circulating to allow female lawyers to represent female clients within the Saudi courts.

The Top 10 Saudi projects according to Construction Week from 10 to number one are as follows:

10- Jeddah Gate Development

Jeddah gate is a US $1.6 billion project under construction and expected to be completed in ten years.  The projects is comprised of constructing both new residential and commercial space in the vicinities of King Abdullah Street and Abdullah Al Suleiman Streets in Jeddah.

9- Haramain High Speed Rail Project

Haramain High Speed Rail is a US $1.9 billion project and expected to be completed in 2013.  This project is for the construction of a much needed rail link connecting the two Holy Cities of Makkah and Medina via Jeddah.

8- Jizan Economic City (JEC)

The Jizan Economic City is a US $3 billion project anticipated to be completed by 2020.  This is a massive project which will be comprised of residential, commercial and industrial zones.

7- North-South Railway

The North-South Railway project is a US $3.5 billion project already under construction and expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2010.  In addition to transporting passengers in Saudi Arabia it will also be used for the transportation of minerals mined at Az-Zubairah and Al Jalamid to the processing facilities located at Ras Azur Port.  Some Saudi residents along the new railway will have to become accustomed to hearing the whistles of passing trains.

6-  Knowledge Economic City (KEC)

The Knowledge Economic City project is a US $8 billion project which is expected to be built in phases over a ten year period.  The project is to build a Knowledge Economic City in Medina which will help establish a catalyst for knowledge based industries in Medina.  Knowledge Economic City Developers claim that KEC will generate 20,000 new job opportunities.

5-  Prince Abdulaziz bin Mousaed Economic City

The Prince Abdulaziz Mousaed Economic City project is a US $8 billion project which is start in 2010 and completed in phases by 2022.  The project is to build a city within Hail with 12 distinct components for trade and services in sectors such as agriculture and food processing, mining, education, housing and entertainment.

4-  Landbridge Project

The Landbridge Project is a US $10 billion project.  A BOT consortium consisting of Trabot, Saudi Oger, Bin Laden Group and Al-Mada will construct a 950km railway network.  The railway will connect Jeddah to Damman and King Fahd Industrial port with Jubail Industrial City.

3-   Princess Noura bint AbdulRahman University for Women in Riyadh

The Princess Noura bint AbdulRahman University for Women in Riyadh is a US $11.5 billion project and anticipated completion is the first quarter of 2012.  This project is construction of a new university for women north of Riyadh.  The university will include administration buildings, 13 faculties, 700-bed student hospital, laboratories, research centers and residential housing for both students and staff.  This university will accommodate 26,000 students.

2-  Sudair City Development

The Sudair City Development is a US $40 billion project which will be a mixed use development including residential, commercial, entertainment and educational facilities.  Sudair City will be located north of Riyadh.

1-King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC)

The King Abdullah Economic City is a US $50 billion project located in Rabigh.  This massive project is construction of a city which will be divided into Industrial and Residential Zones as well as a Sea Resort and Sea Port.

In addition to the top ten projects this posting would not be complete without citing another significant project under the jurisdiction of the Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA).  This project is the construction and implementation of light rail metro system within the city of Riyadh.  The metro will have two lines consisting of 23 and 13 stations respectively.  A metro system in Riyadh will be a real plus where the city streets are already over-congested.  Although there is some controversy on how well a metro system will be received in Riyadh due to perception of those who will use the metro.  There are factions of Saudis who believe using public transport such as a metro system is degrading and that the metro is oriented more for expats and foreign laborers who are already accustomed to mass transit systems like metros.  The announcement of a metro in Riyadh also does not address whether certain cars will be designated as women or women/families only.  Nor does the announcement state if the metro would close during prayer times.

However in my personal opinion all of these large and costly developments are signs of both reform and progress in Saudi Arabia and initiated by King Abdullah.  I see these plans as steps which will also lead the way to the time when women will be able to drive in Saudi Arabia.

In your view, which of these projects is the most significant for Saudi Arabia and why?

The Palestinians are without doubt some of the most hospitable people in the known universe. But what Allah giveth with one hand he taketh with the other because they are the worst, and I’ll repeat that in bold and italicised for emphasis, the worst timekeepers I’ve ever encountered. Their disregard for the law of hours that govern my life frequently leaves me breathless. At least half of this trip has been spent loitering outside some local landmark waiting to meet someone. The thorniest part is that there’s no pattern to their tardiness. Take my beloved mum; she’s always late, a.l.w.a.y.s. Anyone who’s ever tried leaving the house to catch a train with her will be biting down on their knuckles at this very moment remembering the frustration of it all – there’s ironing to be done, a dishwasher to be loaded, eyeballs to put in, the meaning of life to contemplate before we can get out the door. (Judi I won’t go on to save your shame, alls I’ll say is – eyebrows, Midler, Vegas…) But the beauty of Judi’s unpunctuality is it’s consistent. She’s always late by twenty minutes hence you can micro manage her time keeping shortcomings, if you need to meet at 6 tell her 5.40 and invariably she’ll arrive on time. With the Palestinians it’s completely arbitrary; sometimes they’re late by 15 minutes, sometimes 45, often by over an hour. Friends you know me, I put the mild in mannered but today when Shams was one hour and twenty minutes late some old fashioned British rage flushed over. I won’t disclose details because it doesn’t reflect well on me. Suffice to say Shams is now fully furnished with the intricate wonders of how timekeeping can transform your life.

In a bizarre inversion of the genetic order Shams mum is the complete opposite. She is erratically early. Every Sunday I go to a village in the north of the West Bank to help her with some fundraising. So on a Saturday night at around 11.20 p.m my phone rings and it’s Fatimah;
“Susie I meet you tomorrow morning. I be there in Ramallah ten o’clock. I meet you at ten okay?”
“Okay Fatimah, see you at ten. Sweet dreams”
And so I dutifully totter off to bed and set my alarm for nine.
At 7a.m. my phone rings.
“Susie I in Ramallah, where are you?”
“Fatimah I’m in bed”
“You in bed?”
 “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s where people are when they’re sleeping”
“You sleeping?”
“Yes”
“You lazy girl.”
Awkward laugh from me, silence from Fatimah.
“You meet me in Ramallah, ten minutes, ok?”
“Okay Fatimah I meet you in ten minutes… Sorry for being lazy.”

Muslims from all over the world are now performing the pilgrimage of Hajj, the journey that every Muslim hopes to achieve at least once during his or her lifetime.  During Hajj global Muslims will perform the rites of Hajj in the Holy Cities of both Makkah and Medina.  Among the vast millions of global pilgrims will also be Israeli muslims.  Although Saudi Arabia and Israel do not sustain diplomatic relations, in the case of Hajj there is no discrimination based on ones nationality.

In addition to the highlighted article written by Rachel Kliger of Media Line, the following short video clip also explains how Israel’s muslims are able to perform this significant pillar of Islam:

Just prior to posting I received an update from Rachel with statistics on the number of Israeli Muslims performing Hajj this year.   Ahmad Juma provided the following link, from an Israeli-Arab newspaper:

The link list of all the names of people doing the Hajj this year, and where they are from in Israel.

According to figures from two organizations that help arrange the Hajj (Salam Association for the Hajj and Umra, and the Association for Israeli Arab and Muslim Hajj Pilgrims), there will be around 4,500 Israeli Muslims carrying out the Hajj this year, and many of them already departed for Saudi Arabia a week ago.

Thanks again to Rachel for bringing this topic to my attention and acquring current statistics.

Jun and I went to Costco the other day to get all the last minute things we need for the Thanksgiving party we are throwing this weekend with my co-workers and other foreign friends. I think we may have gone a little overboard…

Who doesn't spend over 300 bucks when they go to Costco?

BUT! Costco here in Japan was selling whole frozen turkeys! We ought a 10 pound bird(/∀＼*))ｷｬﾊ♪”

In other new, I have come down with something. I ended up going to the hospital today…for 4 hours. Two of those were spent just sitting in the waiting room while　I suffered with a fever. I then took the influenza test which consisted of the nurse shoving a long cotton swap up my nose and twirling it around for a few seconds. Totally took me by surprise! In summary, I do not have any form of the flu (swine or any other), but due to a lot of my symptoms, the doctor wanted to do some blood work to check a few other things. My joints have been hurting a lot recently – specifically my knees – so he is running some tests for arthritis and bone…something something. A lot of the conversation was way above my Japanese level. Will e brining my DS and Japanese software with me next visit when I get my results in.

In any case, I think I will be taking sick leave the rest of the week so I can get back on my feet.

If you want to make a positive impression with your resume or cv I advise against starting the document with a quote from a Nazi party member and SS Officer. I know that the US is thought to be politically to the right of Europe, but I am pretty sure that associating yourself with an is not the best way to get a job. Bearing that in mind I was shocked to see a resume today with a quote from SS-Sturmbannführer Wernher von Braun

The reason for this politically insensitive act is that the man in question is looked upon in a better light here in the US than in the UK. Back in the UK Werner von Braun is remembered as the man who was responsible for using slave labour to construct rockets that were used to kill British civilians. Here in the US he is seen as a key player in the success of the NASA Space Program.

In 1960 he appeared in a television documentary called “I aim at the Stars”. It has been suggested that the subtitle of this piece should have been “But sometimes I hit London”

Then to illustrate that is not just being British that makes me wary of this man here is the Tom Lehrer song

Being a Canadian living in the States I often get asked what the biggest difference is between Canada and the US. Rather than answering such a complex question I gear the conversation to the culture shock of moving from a large city of two million plus to a town of 5114.

In Montreal I lived in a small building which had 12 units. I didn’t know anybody in the building. In Vancouver I lived in a building which had 8 units. I knew three of the other tenants well enough that we could sit on the front stoop and order a pizza. As for the rest, I would consider myself lucky if I’d recognize them when I saw them on the street.

In Port Matilda, or Port as the locals call it, there is no such thing as ordering in. My wife and I live on the side of a mountain just outside of Port proper, while we love our 11 acres of wooded land away from all the hustle and bustle, sometimes it would be nice to be able to pick up the phone and have food brought to us.

I knew moving from a city the size of Vancouver to a community like Port Matilda was going to be interesting. What I didn’t realize was in a small town my anonymity was going to be a thing of the past. Until one Christmas Denyce sent me a Pfaltzgraf catalogue with all the items she would like nicely circled (sometimes life is easy). Now keep in mind that Pfaltzgraf is a very well known, well established 200 year old flatware company located in York PA.

I am sitting in my apartment 3000 miles away from York and I have the companies 1-800 operator on the phone and I’m completing my order when out of the blue the nice lady on the other end of the line says, “So you are the fiancée over in Canada.”! Now anybody who knows me knows I’m not good at small talk. I’ve told this lady the items I want and where I want them sent, thats it! There is no way she can know this about me. I am stunned, I look around the room for the hidden camera, I look at the phone, I find my voice.

“Excuse me?”

“The fiancée, over in Canada, in Vancouver?” she says

“Um, yeah”

“Oh you are just going to love central Pa and Penn State campus is one of the nicest in the country. I certainly hope you like football because it really is big out that way. I know you are not moving to State College but it is the biggest city in that area and chances are that is where you will find work, unless you stay in the magic business, and what a fascinating business to be in, I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to a magician before…”.

And on she went for a good 5 minutes, I sat on my couch with my jaw on the floor. I tried to figure out what number I dialed, could this be the psychic hot line?

“Excuse me” I interjected, “How do you know all of this?”

“Oh I live a few mountain ranges away over in Lancaster county” as though this explained everything.

“by some coincidence do you know my fiancée?”

“No, not at all, although I’ve been to a Penn State football game once.”

I’m not sure how this explained things. The Penn State stadium is the largest of the college stadiums it is used 6 times a year holds just over 100,000 people and probably a good 200,000 show up for each game and if its supposed to be a good game add another 50,000 people. Yet somehow this 1-800 operator knows all about me because she lives a ‘few’ mountain ranges away and has been to a Penn State football game. I know Denyce had never been to a football game so at this point I’m a little confused, and a lot scared.

“okay, is there anything else you need from me?”

“Well Brian, hold on one second I just wanted to che…oh yes here is the order I was looking for, Denyce’s mother called in a week ago and also placed an order, let me make sure you didn’t order the same products. Nope no duplicates however she did order the gravy boat but not the matching ladle, would you like to add that to your order it would nicely complete the set.”

“Um, yeah sure.”

Each month American Bedu blog has a feature called “Use your Imagination.”  American Bedu will begin a story which encompasses some aspect of Saudi Arabia and then, you, the reader, get the opportunity to either finish the story or simply take it to the next level for someone else to pick up.  October was international breast cancer awareness month but I believe this is a disease that needs to be highlighted more often than one month a year. Breast cancer is the number one cancer among women in Saudi Arabia which is not caught in time and therefore fatal to them.  That is a tragedy because if breast cancer is caught and treated early it is among the most curable of all cancers.  Breast cancer is also perceived as the “Woman’s Disease” in Saudi Arabia.  So with a slightly new twist, I look forward to how you contribute to this month’s “Use Your Imagination” with the story of Khalid below.

Khalid had not been feeling well for several months.  He was lethargic, losing more energy daily and had noticed he had a strange lump which he felt on his chest.  Or to be more specific, he could feel this strange lump in the area of his breast.  He was hesitant to tell anyone or see a doctor for to do that was to openly acknowledge his fear that something was not right.  He also could not understand why as a man he would have this hard lump which felt like a small pebble under his breast.  The prospect of cancer never occurred to him for he was a man.  And after all, breast cancer was exclusively a woman’s disease, something a Saudi man would have little to no involvement with.  The women took care of each other for those “female things.”  Yet he could not deny that the lump was slowly becoming bigger.

Khalid was a married man in his early 40’s with four children.  He and his wife, Munira, had a typical Saudi relationship.  His days were spent working as an engineer for Saudi Telecom Corporation (STC) while Munira stayed at home taking care of the children and overseeing her housemaid.  Most evenings he would drop Munira and the children at one of her family member’s home to visit and he in turn would join his male friends at a local coffee house or estraha and pass by the time.

Khalid and Munira had a close and loving relationship but only privately behind the closed door of their bedroom.  They would never think of embracing or sitting side by side with hands entwined in front of their children.  That was not typical of them or their extended family to make such public displays of affection.

However one night while laying side by side in bed, Munira remembered something she had wanted to ask Khalid and to get his attention placed her hand on his chest.  It just happened that the placement of her hand was at the exact spot of Khalid’s lump which had continued to grow even larger.  Initially Munira removed her hand in shock wondering what had she felt.  But as any concerned spouse, she then insisted that Khalid remove his shirt so she could see exactly what it was she had felt.

Although Munira was a traditional Saudi woman who did not have an education beyond high school, she quickly recognized that something was not right.  After all, her mother and several of her sisters had battled breast cancer which had been identified by similar looking tumors like the one on Khalid’s breast.  But could a man get breast cancer?  Wasn’t that the woman’s disease?

When Munira suggested Khalid see a doctor his initial reaction was to scoff at her which was actually a ploy designed to mask his own fear.  Yet Munira’s reaction further scared Khalid.  While he would not admit it to Munira, he knew there was something very wrong.

And now it is your turn to continue the story.  What does Khalid do?  What does he learn?  How does Khalid’s experience change his views about breast cancer?

When I attended my first expat wives coffee morning here, one of the most heated topics of discussion was the treatment of expat husbands in the Chinese workplace.

Not so much in terms of support from corporate HQ, although that came up, (congrats Microsoft, your HR support for accompanying families and working spouses is the only one I’ve heard consistently good things about) but the day to day reality. The overwhelming sense was one of bewilderment.

Of course, adjusting expectations and battling to understand complex behavioural norms is a fact of life for expats. Add a language barrier and you have yourself a situation.

Neither is it fair to say every expat working here has an awful time. Everyone has come here for the opportunity to work in the most important market of the 21st century. Most love it. Some never leave. But almost everyone will also admit to some serious frustrations at one point or another.

I’m not going to touch on the issue of “face” or table manners or how to present business cards. What follows is based on raw observation and feedback from the coal face – tips from anecdotes heard over the past 6 months:

• Start learning Mandarin – you can have an interpreter (and sometimes this is a useful negotiating tactic during meetings with clients) but they will always edit and you won’t gain as much respect as if you have a go;
• However, make sure it is clear from the outset to HQ and the local team that language ability does not happen overnight and, in the vast majority of cases, that’s not why expat workers have been bought in;
• Insist on a foreign line manager – a truth universally acknowledged in Beijing is that reporting to a Chinese boss does not work, leading to massive stress and resentment on both sides which often filters back to HQ. If you can’t, insist on having a liaison at HQ (NOT someone in HR);
• Likewise, understand that for most Chinese, having a foreign boss is like a slap in the face. While it will never be acknowleged publicly, the view is that expat workers are lazy and spoiled and completely unecessary. Maybe they are. More often than not, you will be resented. See point 1;
• Understand that while most Chinese employees will get a kick out of being invited into your home, trying western food and drink, hearing western music etc, it is almost always done out of politesse and will last a very short time. One woman I met spoke of preparing for hours before her team came for a drinks party, only to have them arrive en masse and leave after 30 mins.
• The office hierarchy is unspoken but strict. If you manage to make real Chinese friends at the office, count your blessings, it is extremely rare and will probably consist of Chinese who have studied abroad;
• Yes, at some point expect to be presented with bizarre foods and plenty of booze. And yes, it is a test of your manhood;
• Get used to finding 15 different ways to explain something – short and simple in as many ways as you can think of;
• After handing out instructions, set a deadline for the team to come to you and ask questions. If you don’t, you may find that when you check in on progress days later, team members are still struggling to understand what needs to be done or discussing it amongst themselves;
• Don’t be surprised if after a team discussion about a task where no one appears to have immediate questions or concerns, a team members is appointed by his/her fellows to come to you with questions. Understand that culturally, this is extremely hard for the person in question;
• Don’t be surprised if you receive negative appraisal/feedback on your performance. Remember the Chinese education system is based on trying to shame pupils into good habits and on fierce competition where all tactics are considered valid. Try not to take it personally but above all manage it with HQ – if you work with teams in other offices, insist on feedback from them to provide a more balanced perspective;
• Get used to resentful colleagues sending emails directly to your boss, with you in CC, for all manner of petty issues. These normally revolve around the fact you have refused to do your colleague’s work for them. Emailing up is a daily occurrence, it seems.

Forewarned is forearmed, right?

 It is easy to say as a matter of shyness. However, I still feel strange this reasoning.

There is a famous TV program in Japan,”笑っていいとも.” This is broadcasted around noon (during lunch time) every day in Japan. The main personality (Tamori) has a talk show, and other commentators try some games in an hour. One of the high points of this show is Tamori’s talks with guest speakers. Every day, Tamori talks with a famous person who has been introduced a day before guest speaker for 30 minutes. At the end of the talk, the guest does a game—- giving a Yes/No question for the audience at the TV hall, and he/she can get a strap if only one audience answers YES.

Today the guest was Takuya Kimura, a singer of SMAP and an actor. Then he asked “Do you have families who work as sailors?” tHE RESULT WAS….HE GOT IT. ONE OF THE 100 AUDIENCES HAD A SAILOR IN HER/HIS FAMILY.Then Kimura asked to the audiences, “who is the one?” Of course, NO ONE ANSWERED.

This situation often happens in Japanese society. There are several reasons.

1. The nail that sticks out will get a pounding.
2. Because of Shyness society.
3. Female should be modest.
4. The person does not want to get any attention in some reason.

Whatever, the reason is I cannot help feeling strange. You are there, join the game, so why don’t you enjoy yourself?

In tradition, I start off with a picture of a subway. Man, subways are awesome.

Kicking off the start of this blog, I should bring nothing less but pure awesome. In this case there will be nothing less. Here, I introduce to you the latest from RAM Records call the Dimensions 4 EP. This is the latest addition in the Dimensions series, with it’s previous release being almost two years ago. The fourth installment of the series has gone in a completely different direction of it’s predecessor. Dimensions 4 brings some very techy sort of darker cuts.

The first track, ‘Deception’ from Noisia only promises a killer. With previous tracks such as ‘Facade VIP’ and his remix of Pendulum’s ‘Painkiller’, he continues to live up to his destructive name. The track is very bass intensive and something so hard to not bounce around to. It’s ridiculously good and shows a side of Noisia one hasn’t seen in his previous tracks. Track two, ‘Gears’ from Culture Shock is an interesting addition the signature RAM sound. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Mistabishi’s ‘I Feel LOL’ as far as the liquidity of the track goes. It’s definitely a fun track to bounce around to and get stuff done with.

Track’s three and four are definite killers. Lomax brings the terror of Bristol with his track ‘Jungle FX’. It’s a glitchy, jungly, bassy take on Jungle predecessors and what’s happening in the state of dnb today. Track four is from someone who has done many collaborations with Lomax. The man behind the track ‘No Respect’ is, of course, Xample alongside Jakes. For those who don’t recognize these two relatively new names in the game, Xample did a fabulous remix to Chase & Status’ ‘Against All Odds’ and produced the track Contra. Jakes on the other hand, is a dubstep producer. His biggest and most notorious song is Warface (specifically D*Minds remix of it). No doubt the song is harder than World War II veterans.

This EP undoubtedly brings everything you would expect from RAM. A must snatch, definitely.

Artists: Noisia / Culture Shock / Lomax / Xample + Jakes

Release: Dimensions 4 EP
Tracklist:
1) Deception
2) Gears
3) Jungle FX
4) No Respect
Rapidshare
FileFactory
Alternate Mirrors

Remember, if you like it, buy it!

I saw this sign in the aisle of a local store yesterday.

The purpose of these signs should be to tell customers what items are on the marked shelves. This one seems less than useful, for I had no idea what Licensed Holiday meant. Are Licensed Holidays those that we actually get away from work as distinct from those like Columbus Day which are regular office days?

Looking at the shelves provided an explanation. They were stocked with Santa hats and Christmas stockings emblazoned with the logos of sporting teams – for nothing says peace on earth and goodwill to all men as effectively as American football.

Since yesterday’s post was about Saudi grocery shopping I thought it would be appropriate to have this month’s Saudi Arabic post to cover some of the key staples one is likely to purchase when grocery shopping:

Soup               shorbah

Rice                ruzz (long “u” sound)

Buttermilk       laban

Coffee            qawah

Tea                 shai (vowels are like a long “I” sound)

Water             ma’ or moyah

Sugar             sukkah

Milk                 haleeb

Juice             aseer

Cheese         jubnah

Butter            zeb’dah

Cream           kreem

Meat              laham  (commonly used to reference beef)

Fish               samak

Fruits             fawakeh

Vegetables   khudarwat or khudrah