Many people, including myself before I got here, think of Saudi Arabia when they think of the middle east. Strict outfits, no drinking, and Muslim laws. Bahrain is a very different place than Saudi. Bahrain has places that allow drinking, I can wear
my clubbing dresses out, and in general, things are much more relaxed. Bahrain recognizes that there is a huge ex-pat population (
52% in 2009), and that in order to function with such a diverse population, they need to keep things "hip". However, Saudi is just a short bridge away from the party mecca that is Bahrain.
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| Saudi Dudes' Butts |
This hipness draws the attention of Saudi hipsters (if you will). Or just Saudi's that want to let their hair down. This creates a situation where many MANY Saudi peeps end up making the 15 minute drive (with no traffic) to Bahrain on the weekends. When a teensy tiny island like Bahrain has it's population double over night, things tend to get a little hectic. Fortunately, Saudi weekend is on thursday-friday and Bahrain weekend is on friday-saturday. That means Bahrain has one weekend day that isn't mayhem. That was, until this week- when the King of Saudia Arabia
changed the weekend to be the same as Bahrain's weekend.
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| What the whaaa??? |
That's right. He made a royal announcement, and then the weekend was changed. Can you imaging this happening anywhere else? Obama makes a decision that actually - we're going to have Mondays and Wednesdays off. Think about all the songs that would suddenly not make sense. 'Raining on Sunday', 'That's what I love about Sundays', '...it's friday I'm in love'. Not to mention that TGIF would suddenly not make any sense. Thank god it's the middle of the week?
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| Doesn't have the same ring to it. |
So beyond the awe from the immense power of the Saudi king, I'm sorry to say that this change kind of sucks. The malls (which are actually cool here, not just for teenagers going to Clairs) are packed. The supermarkets run out of things (Apparently, refried beans are a hit with the ol' Sauds). And traffic is a bitch. I know it sounds silly to complain about traffic when I used to drive an hour on the interstate to get to work, but when it takes 45 minutes to go a mile, you tend to get a little cranky.
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| Just shopping away... |
The stickler is - I don't think the Saudis like me. For one, I get bumped into a lot. This might be because of my American discomfort with not having 'personal space', or it might be that I just get bumped more often than most. Is there a secret rule about who goes in what direction that I don't know about? I tried going right all the time, like in the states, then I switched to left. Nothing seems to work. I often find myself surrounded by ninja-like women, and I feel like a marshmallow in an ant hill.
What I need is an 'in'. Just ONE Saudi friend to either introduce me to other Saudis, or at least tell me the secret rules. How does one say, 'excuse me' in Arabic? How does one say 'get your own weekend' in Arabic? Maybe this is just a rant, and I'll look back one day with all my Saudi friends and laugh. Or maybe I'll get trampled in a shopping spree stampede and never be heard from again. If I have red checkered cloth on my flat dead body, you know who it was. :)
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| No one ever suspects the sexy ones. |
