On Being Saudi, and How I feel about it
To me, Saudi is like a rose that grows from concrete, against all odds. You can look at it and be amazed at its ability to grow in such conditions, or you can decide to only look at its imperfections, but in the end you can only be amazed. (The Rose that grew from concrete)
The way I feel about being Saudi, is a bit complicated, here it goes.
I received my education at a public school, got a scholarship and got paid to continue get my bachelors degree in engineering, I did pay for my masters degree, because I studied for it part-time while working, but that was my choice.
So am I in debt to the government? No. They would confirm that, they never ask for any of it back, and with citizens of many countries with heavy debts from student loans or getting help from their parents to continue their education, and start their life already in debt, I feel extremely lucky.
One of the best investment any parent could make is in the education of their children… And my government continues to do so, and for that I am grateful.
Having said the above, we do have a problem with administration and with some curriculums, but which country doesn’t have that problem? We are all waiting for superman.
While some might argue that the distribution of wealth is not fair, and I will not argue that it isn’t, I would be extremely pissed off if my hard-earned tax money (the kind that I see taken out of my monthly salary) went into funding wars, or for funding shows like jersey shore. The world is not fair, and I’ve learned to live with that.
So how do I feel about being Saudi? Proud… But it wasn’t always this way. I remember when I was in my teens and I asked my mother if she was happy that she was Saudi and she confidently said Yes, I asked her why? she said she looks at the state of the world around her, and is grateful for what she has and how she is living, in peace and prosperity.
As a restless young man, I just thought she was just telling me that to shut me up. But as a parent now, I sometimes feel terrified at what the future might hold for my son, however, I do feel the same way as my mother does, and looking at the world from a holistic point of view I also feel lucky, for having parents that made sure I received my education, and for the government that paved the way for me, my brothers and sisters, my wife, and I hope soon my son, to be able to get that education.
Image by No one controls their government’s actions, and my society is still formed as a patriarchal society where the king is like a father to all, and he continues to give, some even say bribes his people… But then again there is a problem in administration, just like there is a problem in administrating anything.
So, happy national day Saudi Arabia, my country, my family, my friends, God knows I love you.
I end this with a quote from my friend Fouad Alfarhan, who once told me a few years ago “if you are looking for a home country to live a comfortable life in, then I can tell you never comeback, but if you are looking for a country to build, then this is where you should be, this country needs sincere people to build it” #wordstoliveby
Signed, your proud, confused, happy, terrified, comfortable, yet struggling brother.
Saudi Short Film – Monopoly
Just as I was taking about my recent struggles with employment (I read somewhere that between 2005 and 2009 2.2 million jobs were created in the Saudi private sector, only 9% of them went to Saudis, but I cannot find the source now) a movie director named Badr Alhumood, made a mockumentary about the situation of employment and housing. I liked it, but the presence of an “economic writer” (that is what the description of Esam Alzmil was) in a film like this ruins the flow and the sequence of the scenes.
I liked the part where a Saudi coach has to go to Brazil and lives in the favelas to run away from high home prices
I also liked the part where the land one of the guys received was in the middle of the sea, in a district called Venice -B
As you might have known, I am a supporter and a follower of these movie making initiatives… I just can’t help it.
Previous posts
Saudi Movie Daken
Saudi Cinema The epilogue
Saudi Cinema in the making
Remembering 9-11 Ten Years Later
I have no words of mine, but the words of Suheir Hammad will do just fine
“first, please god, let it be a mistake, the pilot’s heart failed, the
plane’s engine died.
then please god, let it be a nightmare, wake me now.
please god, after the second plane, please, don’t let it be anyone
who looks like my brothers.
i do not know how bad a life has to break in order to kill.
i have never been so hungry that i willed hunger
i have never been so angry as to want to control a gun over a pen.
not really.
even as a woman, as a Palestinian, as a broken human being.
never this broken.
more than ever, i believe there is no difference.
the most privileged nation, most americans do not know the difference
between indians, Afghanis, Syrians, muslims, Sikhs, Hindus.
more than ever, there is no difference.
….
I am looking for peace. i am looking for mercy. I am looking for
evidence of compassion. any evidence of life. I am looking for
life.
Ricardo on the radio said in his accent thick as yuca, “I will
feel so much better when the first bombs drop over there. and my
friends feel the same way.”
on my block, a woman was crying in a car parked and stranded in hurt.
I offered comfort, extended a hand she did not see before she said,
“we”re gonna burn them so bad, i swear, so bad.” my hand went to my
head and my head went to the numbers within it of the dead Iraqi
children, the dead in Nicaragua. the dead in Rwanda who had to vie
with fake sport wrestling for america’s attention.
yet when people sent emails saying, this was bound to happen, lets
not forget u.s. transgressions, for half a second i felt resentful.
hold up with that, cause i live here, these are my friends and fam,
and it could have been me in those buildings, and we”re not bad
people, do not support america’s bullying. can i just have a half
second to feel bad?
if i can find through this exhaust people who were left behind to
mourn and to resist mass murder, i might be alright.
thank you to the woman who saw me brinking my cool and blinking back
tears. she opened her arms before she asked “do you want a hug?” a
big white woman, and her embrace was the kind only people with the
warmth of flesh can offer. I wasn’t about to say no to any comfort.
“my brother’s in the navy,” I said. “and we”re arabs”. “wow, you
got double trouble.” word.
one more person ask me if I knew the hijackers.
one more motherfucker ask me what navy my brother is in.
one more person assume no arabs or muslims were killed.one more person
assume they know me, or that I represent a people.
or that a people represent an evil. or that evil is as simple as a
flag and words on a page.
we did not vilify all white men when McVeigh bombed Oklahoma.
america did not give out his family’s addresses or where he went to
church. or blame the bible or pat Robertson.
and when the networks air footage of Palestinians dancing in the
street, there is no apology that hungry children are bribed with
sweets that turn their teeth brown. that correspondents edit images.
that archives are there to facilitate lazy and inaccurate
journalism.
and when we talk about holy books and hooded men and death, why do we
never mention the kkk?
if there are any people on earth who understand how new york is
feeling right now, they are in the west bank and the Gaza strip.”
Nitaqat
Nitaqat (Ranges) is a new measurement mechanism which will be used by the ministry of Labor, a “saher” for businesses… and a long overdue initiative.
It is sad that the employment of natives, is looking more like affirmative action than actually employing and empowering the local community, and having been a job seeker only a few months ago, the picture is scary.
It is scary because I was turned down for jobs because I was “old”, I was also turned down because I was overqualified, and some bluntly told me “we cannot really pay you what you are worth” because we use workers from out of Saudi for a fraction of what we might pay you , this and they did not even offer me a number to accept or refuse.
It sounds funny because employers always tell fresh graduates that they need experience.
The Saudi Economy
While Saudi Banks continue to be the some of the most profitable banks, since they charge interest on loans while never paying interest to account holders, and Saudi businesses being profitable because they can use the cheapest labor (kind of like outsourcing, by bringing the laborers in instead of opening a factory where labor is cheap) and little enforcement from the government, some business men and women can do whatever they want.
In the USA “The rich hated paying better wages and providing benefits. They hated paying taxes even more. And they despised unions. The right-wing Christians hated anything that sounded like socialism or holding out a helping hand to minorities or women.” (source) then in Saudi it is almost the same… change the right-wing Christians though.
Government Actions
So when King Abdullah declared his royal decrees back when he came from his medical trip, all I could think about is that the government is indirectly bailing out the private sector. Private investors make land and home prices unaffordable, the King builds homes for the nation, banks provide loans with high interest rates, the king gives interest free loans to the nation, and so on and so forth.
I do not understand how this is different that the saudization quota currently in place, only that is requires more movement of labor, could this initiative be the fruits of labor minister Adel Faqih? Or just another system that only lives on paper?
Saudi – First Day of School
I saw this kid sitting on his mother’s lap in a crowded car in an old Chevrolet Caprice at a traffic light. Today is the first day of school after the summer vacation in Saudi, and you can tell he was not excited at all, he kept looking at me, and I kept looking at him, both probably wishing we could exchange our lives for a day.
Eid in Jeddah
We are eid-ing in Jeddah, it has been a while since we did this.
This would be our son’s first eid in Saudi among his extended family.
As customs dictate, buying new clothes is mandatory, we bought our little one his first thobe, light blue as he wished, seeing him wearing it made him seem so big, much older that what we see him as in his little jeans and shirts.
His grand parents gave him eidiyahs, money grandparents, parents, and older siblings give to the younger generation… It has been so long since I received any money like that, I don’t even remember what was the last amount I got. Of course he wants to buy toys, more cars is all he can think about… Oh, and an iPad 2… He even wants his own email and a facebook account, at five years old… We had to say no, but then again I said no to a mobile phone number only to see my dad buying him a prepaid sim card, now he has his own number which he uses in my old iPhone, I have a feeling my dad might set him up with an email account.
The joys of eid, or the eid spirit, are mostly felt by kids, with sweets, chocolates and candy of every kind everywhere they go, I am sure it has to do with the happiness they feel.
These are the days we are happy to be home again, but not when we have to drive from one home to the other to visit and give our respect to family members, that part, is nerve wrecking.
I almost got into a fight yesterday, the streets were crowded like never before, and some guy got pissed off because I would let him cut me off at a traffic light, they tried to get me to stop, one of them even threw his slipper at me while driving, all because I wouldn’t let them cut in line at a traffic light I’ve been waiting at for more than 15 minutes, at the next red light, three of them got out of the car and tried to open the door to the car I was driving, this, while my family was with me, and this at a crowded traffic light where there is always a police car parked there… EXCEPT for when I needed them, I didn’t open the door of course, they seemed like the Saudi version of My Name is Earl, and kept making obscene hand gestures and calling me names, all for not letting them break traffic laws, because when you obey traffic laws in Saudi, you piss people like these off. I don’t take things like that personally, it’s like water off a duck’s back to me, and lowering my self to their level… well, I was raised better than that.
But hey, what are holidays without a little road rage from some ignorant imbecile? The balance of the universe would be upset 
Review: Yanbu Movenpick Hotel
I had the pleasure of staying at the Movenpick hotel in Yanbu for a few days, it is the only hotel in town, and it is not bad at all.
Here are a some pictures of the place.
The bed was big, clean and comfortable
The bathroom was modern, and clean
The room I was in has no bathtub, but a shower with a very nice shower-head
A minibar that was not really stacked, the little invoice had items on it that were not actually there
They do give a complementary bottle of water
A safe and a prayer rug provided by the Gideons hotel
A Desk, and internet is complimentary, but it is not WiFi, you have to connect to it with a cable
The star of the hotel, other than being the only hotel in Yanbu Industrial City is of course the view, all rooms face the red sea
Of course, if you only get the standard room then you get to have a little distracting apparatus blocking your view, but I am not complaining
And because I do not care much about television, I forgot to take a picture of the flat screen TV in front of the bed.
The hotel is not perfect, the finishing touches were put together in haste and it shows here and there, and I once came and found the door not fully closed, I guess the cleaner forgot to listen to the click sound, and when I complained about it, the receptionist acted like it was nothing and gave me a blank courtesy smile.
The hotel has a private beach, with cigarette butts all over the sand.
I would rate it as a 6/10 as a 5 star hotel