Well, I’ve been rechristened again…. Earlier this Spring some friends said my name should be McBedu due to my nervousness when four-wheeling over steep dunes in the Desert.  Now that I am recovering from surgery and having to wear a brace for about a month which makes me have to walk somewhat stooped, they (kindly) are calling me the “Hunchback of Riyadh.”  Gotta love my friends! 

Pet peeve time again… tissues are the all-purpose and most frequently used item here in the Kingdom.  I wish I had invested in Kleenex stock!  But I must admit that my patience runs thin when I see too many Saudis who will use a tissue to service their nose inside a residence and then instead of tossing the tissue into the trash, will toss it onto the floor instead.  I’m saddened to say this happened in my own and I could not keep my mouth shut.  I asked the culprit to pick it up and toss it in the trash.  I do not believe in allowing such gross negligence and laziness to happen.  To begin with, a housemaid is a human being and should not be expected to pick up such items from the floor as a normal occurrence and secondly, I don’t like the concept of such a dirty germ filled item littering my floor.  Now I’ll be blunt, some Saudis have disagreed with me on this topic and think I overreact.  I’m certainly curious to what readers views are on this topic and for those in Saudi (or elsewhere) if they have had to contend with this experience?

My Saudi mother-in-law is a traditional woman in her 70’s.  She was educated formally in school until circa age 10 and by the time she was 15 had given birth to the first of her ten children.  She remains a dedicated, compassionate and most beautiful mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.  Although her formal education finished when she was still but a young girl, she is in fact an open minded individual and keeps herself apprised of news and world events.  She is the matriarch of the family as well as the rock of the family.  She is the glue keeping everything and everyone together in spite nowadays she is a widow.  And during my hospital stay (and beyond) she was my angel.  In spite of her age and some lack of mobility problems she insisted in no uncertain terms to the rest of the family she would be my sitter while I was in the hospital recovering from my surgery.

That first night following the surgery while I was in pain and disoriented I remember sensing a soothing and calming presence who kept my brow cool and squeezed my hand reassuringly.  When the nurse wanted to raise my body to adjust some bandages and I was unable at that time to move, it was my precious mother-in-law who was on the other side of the bed assisting the nurse.  She also kept me free from those who were curious about having a westerner amongst the all-Saudi midst. 

She also made it a point to become acquainted with the other patients, their families and the nursing staff.  She quickly became known as the mothering angel of the ward with a kind word for everyone.

My mother-in-law and I have thankfully always had a close and warm relationship but my recent hospital stay bonded us even closer together.  I should also point out that she does not speak a word of English but we managed to find our way and make ourselves understood.  I do remember to daily count among my many blessings that I have such a beautiful mother-in-law.

Zamzam water is the holy water which is available at the Grand Mosque (Haram) in Makkah.  For those not familiar with the term zamzam water it can be viewed (somewhat) in the same terms like holy water which is used in the Catholic faith.  One of my family members visited me while I was in the hospital after returning from a trip to Makkah so she brought a generous pitcher of zamzam water with her to the hospital.  It is typical for individuals to drink the zamzam water.  When this family member was leaving the hospital she left what remained of the zamzam water in its pitcher and on a small stand which was located at the foot of my bed.  This happened to be an especially busy night during my hospital stay and for whatever reason, a group of around 6 visitors did not leave the room from visiting their loved one until around 0200 hours.  Because they were a larger group and the area between beds was narrow, they accidently bumped the small stand (through the curtain).  Before my sitter could react the pitcher of zamzam water went flying and that is how in the middle of the night I found myself awakened by being anointed with zamzam water.

WordPress is experiencing problems with rendering images on the posts. Most images are still viewable if you click on them. You will get the larger image, which is better anyway.

Hopefully they can resolve this problem soon.

As the only westerner as an inpatient recently at the National Guard Health Affairs government run hospital I was naturally a subject of curiosity for other patients and their visitors. I not only shared a room with three other female patients but should point out that National Guard Health Affairs in general has a majority of patients who are Bedu’s. By being a bedu, they likely come from remote areas of the Kingdom for their treatment, are usually not educated and perhaps have not even seen or been in an elevator before. So it’s also safe to say I’m likely the first westerner they’d seen up close as well. As a result, either the mobile female patients or their family members would try to obtain glances of the lone westerner in the other bed. Some were discreet and would quietly pull back the opaque curtain shrouding my bed to sneak a glance at what I looked like and others were not shy at all confidently entering into my space. Thankfully I had a diligent and compassionate sitter staying with me who protected my privacy in this regard. However as curious as I must have been to them, in turn I was also intrigued by them. I learned that two of the three women sharing my room were from conservative and very traditional tribes from deep within the desert. I’m probably one of the few who got to observe these women (when they peeked in to view the blond hair blue eyed westerner) that they both had the old tradition of tattoos covering their face. In remote tribes and among the most traditional of women it is considered a sign of additional beauty to have blue tattoos criss-crossed over the face around the cheeks, chin and perhaps the forehead. These tribal women pointed at my hair in wonder and awe while I gazed with curiosity at the uniqueness of their tattooed face wondering how old they were when they received the tattoos. Both of these women appeared to be at least in their 70’s if not older and had wizened wrinkled faces. They may have been uneducated but I had no doubts on their kindness and saw the concern in their eyes that they had for the westerner who at the time could not sit up to look at them more closely. If it had not been for the hospital stay, I do doubt that I would have seen such traditional tribal women from the Kingdom’s desert so closely and personally for outside of the hospital they would be among the women fully cloaked and veiled making it unlikely to ever know they sported their tattoos on their wizened faces.

I wanted to give those readers who are able to view Saudi Television Channel 2 a heads up that a program in which I was one of the commentators will be reairing today from 12pm to 2pm.  This is a special program which reviews, discusses and analyzes the World Dialogue which concluded yesterday in Madrid.

When heading out towards the desert one will pass by a number of men who are selling firewood as it can get quite cool in the desert after dark.  These men will have simply pulled their pick up truck with its truck bed filled with stacks of tied firewood over by the side of the road and be in business until it is all sold.  There is a reason for this thriving business.  While at first blush the desert may appear to be shifting sands, rolling dunes with occasional small trees and other signs of vegetation, other life also exists in the desert beside the camels, sheep and desert dogs.

 The Saudi viper is an extremely poisonous snake.  If bitten by one of these and particularly while in a remote area such as the desert, chances are very high one would not survive.  The venom reacts instantly going into the bloodstream and causing cardiac arrest.

If one notices irregular lines in the sand that could be an indication of a viper having slithered by earlier.  And when setting up a desert camp, it should not be near any “brushy scraggly tree areas” or particular where one may notice a small hole going into the sand.  These are areas where the viper likes to make its nest.  And as illustrated by the photo, they can be grouped together in “packs” rather than an isolated viper here or there.

For those who get squeamish of snakes. I loaded the pictures as thumbnails. Others, please click to get the full image.

I am changing the blog look and tools on a regular basis to keep it interesting for the readers.

Instead of writing posts about the topic, I have added a “What’s New?” box on the right side column. Please, check there when you visit the blog.

One of the items I expect to change on a weekly basis is the song list available on the joke box. I will try to feature different Arabic artists periodically. This week I have added songs by Fairooz, one of the best Lebanese singers. I hope you enjoy it.