A Great Trip

The Educators to Saudi Arabia trip is a wonderful trip to experience. I highly recommend that every teacher consider applying for this chance to travel to a country that is normally closed off to Americans. I think I may have more questions now about Saudi Arabia, than I have answers. It is a country where often there are not exact answers, and even more often there are many complex factors at work. It is a country that is changing, perhaps being drug along kicking and screaming, into a world where we strive to give equal rights to all. How long this will take in Saudi Arabia, I am not sure. It certainly hasn't reached the rest of the world either, but most places in the world are well ahead of Saudi Arabia currently when it comes to human rights. One important detail that I learned was that the Israel/Palestine conflict is the number one world issue that Saudis are concerned about, and their view is an exact opposite of most American and European views. Until this issue is settled, true goodwill between the Middle East and the rest of the world will be hard to achieve.

To any newcomers to this blog: Please start reading at the bottom so you can go in chronological order. This blog was created to be daily communication with my students, family, colleagues, and friends, but now that my trip is over, it will remain up, unchanged, so that any interested parties can read it. Email me directly at mbheiden@gmail.com or mheiden@hse.k12.in.us with any questions or comments. Thank you.

A Trek Halfway Around the World

It took about 20 hours of transit time, but I did make it back to Indianapolis at the time I was supposed to arrive. My connections were tight, but I made all of them. However, my bag did not. It would seem that United Airlines had a great deal of trouble getting bags from Chicago to Indianapolis. I took my bag through customs in Chicago, but then I didn't get it in Indy. Supposedly United will deliver it to me--we'll see. But, still, I made it home to the very cold weather. It is good to be back.

Bahrain

What a wild place Bahrain is! It contrasts with Saudi Arabia in several ways, with the most evident being that many of the strict rules from Saudi Arabian society are relaxed. We did cross the bridge to Bahrain, with took longer than most of us thought it would. It was quite an experience because we went in a convoy of large SUVs with our police escort. Once in Bahrain we drove to a little smokey bar for dinner. We all felt it was very much different from our dining arrangements throughout the trip to this point. Still, we ate and had a good time, emerging smelling of smoke, before going to the airport and checking in to leave the Middle East for Frankfurt.

A Final Day of Saudi Arabia

Today is the last day of our amazing trip here in Saudi Arabia. It will also be the longest day that I can imagine. We began today with a visit into the Saudi governance compound here in Riyadh. We visited the Ash-Shurah Council (the Saudi Consultative Council). This is a group of 150 men who advise and review laws that are proposed in Saudi Arabia. You can see below my place at the table, and also our hosts answering our questions.


After a question and answer session with three of these members focusing on education in Saudi Arabia, we toured two very important rooms. The first is where the King addresses his legislative body once per year.

I was also chosen to give a speech to the entire Saudi Nation, and you can see me speaking below.

(I’m just kidding about that—this is just a photo op!)
Then, we were ushered into a room where the King receives official guests. You can see James and I discussing important national and international issues below.

After this we visited the diplomatic quarter (compound—very heavily guarded!) and drove the streets looking at all of the embassies. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant, and then we visited the American Embassy compound. This embassy was very heavily guarded as well. We heard from some foreign service officers about American outreach in Saudi Arabia. I don’t have any pictures to post of this visit because cameras were strictly prohibited. Next we took a bus to the Riyadh airport to fly to Dammam, and then on back to the Saudi Aramco compound in Dhahran for about 45 minutes before we set out for Bahrain.

We are getting ready to head out from Dhahran to the country of Bahrain. Bahrain is a small country in the Persian Gulf that is connected to Saudi Arabia by a long bridge. We fly from Bahrain on Lufthansa flight 627 to Frankfurt, Germany. We take off at 2:30 AM (6:30 PM EST) to arrive in Germany at 6:50 AM (12:50 AM on Dec. 22nd). Then, I have a quick turn around to fly on United flight 945 into Chicago O’Hare leaving at 8:10 AM (2:10 AM EST), to arrive in Chicago at 10:35 AM CST. I should then fly to Indy on United 304 to arrive finally in Indianapolis at 3:16 PM. I hear there is a lot of bad weather all over the US, so we’ll see if I actually make it in anytime soon. We’ll see….

Last Night in Riyadh

This morning began with room service for breakfast, and then a visit to Al-Yammam College. This is a private college for men and women on the outskirts of Riyadh. We started off with a meet and greet with college students, a welcome by the president, and then we saw a debate performance by the school’s debate team on the question of whether the West’s perception of the Middle East is the fault of the Middle East itself, or of outside forces like the media. After the debate we had meeting time with the students, and then lunch. The college was very nice, and the students were great (this was our first time to spend time with male students), but it was strange to see the segregation that happens between the males and females. They don't sit together in the auditorium, and their classes are separate. After lunch we had a quick break back at our hotel before we visited a museum and a souq for shopping. Finally, this evening we visited the historical center that traces Saudi Arabia’s history from the dawn of time until the present day. The day ended with a late dinner with Saudi Aramco engineers and public relations workers. I need to get a lot of sleep tonight because this is my last time to have a night in Saudi Arabia. Tomorrow is a full day, ending at 2 AM with my trek home beginning. In the photo below you can see downtown Riyadh, with the Kingdom Tower on the left, and the tower connected to our hotel behind it on the right.

And, even though Riyadh is a modern city, you can still see signs of the past, like camels in trucks!

Here is a close up of our hotel (the building on the left), and the Al-Faisaliyah Center looming behind it.

And, this evening I took a photo from the “globe” portion of the center looking over Riyadh. You can see the Kingdom Tower in the distance.

The Red Sea and Riyadh

Today was a very early start, but I actually made it up in time for breakfast for the first time in a while. We departed the hotel for a drive along the Red Sea coast to a resort where there was a yacht ready to take us out for a pleasure boating morning. The weather here in Jeddah is amazing—about 75-85 degrees with sun everyday. The ride on the boat was great, with food and drinks being served. We were relegated to boating in a bay area, instead of the open Red Sea because of time constraints, but it was still beautiful. They had jet skis ready for us to use, and we boated to a swimming area for a nice swim in the sea. The weather and the very blue water made the morning great. You can see some scenes from our morning below. The first one is a view of us being ferried out to our boat.

Here is a view of the open Red Sea, just beyond our reach!

Also, here are a bunch of us swimming in the sea.

Here is a shot of us relaxing after a nice swim.

After our morning of boating we headed back to the hotel and did a quick checkout, load-up, and trip to the airport to fly from Jeddah to Riyadh. We had a nice flight to the Saudi capital, and then we took a bus to our amazing hotel. We are staying at the Al Faisaliah Hotel. This is one of the landmark buildings in Riyadh, and you can see it on their website here. And, the inside of the hotel didn’t disappoint. The room has to be the best one I have ever stayed in, with a deluxe feel to everything. The picture below of the bathroom doesn’t even do it justice.

The room is controlled by panels like this one around the room. This control screen opens and closes the curtains!

This will be a great two nights here. I ordered room service for dinner: a fancy hamburger with fruit juice and cheesecake with ice cream.

It is time to turn in for the evening. As I write this I know my class is having their final afternoon of school of 2008. I know they are having a good time, but I look forward to getting back to them in January.

And, finally, as some extra information, here is a view of the airport terminal in Jeddah where all the flights arrive for the Hajj. The Hajj is the yearly time when Muslims make the journey to Mecca and Medina. This terminal is HUGE to handle the massive amount of people that fly into Jeddah, and then take busses to the two mosques.

A Hijazi Folkloric Band

We did leave the wonderful hotel in Jeddah to head to the Durah Beach Resort on the Red Sea. The drive took about an hour, and then we checked in and met in the lobby. A bunch of us guys bought thobes today in the souq, and we wore them to dinner tonight. It was strange wearing this garment, and I had a difficult time getting my headwear correct. Saudi men kept coming by and fixing it for me!

We were greeted outside our lobby by the a Hijazi folkloric band and dancers. They played music and danced us to our large room with carpets for dancing. For the next several hours we enjoyed Hijazi folkloric dancing, along with a fine dinner.

The Souq in Old Jeddah

I stayed up really late last night talking over Skype to family and friends, and also finishing a book that I brought along to read: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. We headed out to the old city section of Jeddah today. It was great to get away from the cosmopolitan section that we have spent so much time enjoying. We toured a 150 year old house to see and learn of the history of architecture in Jeddah. Then we had a chance to shop at the souq market that is up and down the streets in this area. I bought a bunch of gifts here, and also I bought a thobe and headdress for myself (you might see a picture of me wearing it soon). Below you can see some scenes from the market.


Also, here is a picture of old Jeddah from the roof of the house we visited. Notice the minarets of a mosque in the background.

Just as we were getting ready to leave the souq, the call to prayer came out over the loudspeakers, projected from the minarets. The shops all closed up and everybody went to a mosque or a place to pray.

We had a short break before we had a talk from the Editor in Chief of Arab News, an English language newspaper. It was an interesting talk because we heard about his wide ranging views of the world and the media. We then had lunch with him, as well as other Saudis. I was fortunate to sit across from Mr. Almaeena, the Editor in Chief, and I had the chance to ask him a lot of questions about world affairs. Now that lunch is over, we are packing and relaxing before we head out to a resort on the Red Sea for this evening through tomorrow afternoon. I may not be able to update the blog again until we arrive in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on Friday evening.

The Help Center, the Mall, and Great Dinner Conversation

Today we began the day with a trip to the Help Center, a center for children with disabilities. This is a center that was begun by a wealthy Saudi family because they witnessed Saudis having to send their kids to special schools outside of the country. This cost for sending your child to this center depends on how much you make, and they said that they never have had to turn anyone away because of money. It is a state-of-the-art facility that would be the envy of any special school. A bunch of us brought books as gifts, and I was able to donate a copy of Unexpected Indiana to this school’s library. You can see a picture of the outside of the school below.

After this inspiring visit we went to the office of the Saudi Gazette. We toured the building and then met with staff members from the paper. We had a panel discussion about Saudi Arabian issues, and about press censorship. We learned that press censorship has gotten much better over the past 20 years, but that newspapers are still censored (on a scale of 1-10, an opinion I heard was that Saudi Arabia was a 7). I don’t know if that is entirely true because there are still very taboo subjects that you can’t write about in Saudi Arabia.

Then we had a very nice lunch on the Red Sea where we heard a speech about current Saudi-American relations. After our lunch we were taken to a new huge mall and we had an hour to shop. I didn’t buy much, but I did take some interesting pictures that I wish to describe below:
First, you can see Barbie vs. Fulla. Barbie Dolls are banned in Saudi Arabia because of the obvious issues with Barbie’s dress, shape, and other connotations. So, Saudi Arabia has their own doll, Fulla. You can see in the picture below a Barbie vs. Fulla display.

Now, you can see Fulla herself, with her indoor clothes on. She could never wear these clothes outside.

Now, here is Fulla in her abaya for outside business.


Another wild sight was these packages:




Did you guess what happened? The women on these packages were blacked out with a marker because they didn’t have on an abaya outside. Interesting….

Also, here is a display made for other parts of the world that have the face blurred. I am not sure exactly why they do this, but it was everywhere.


And, here is a view of the sunset and the “tallest water fountain in the world” from my window. Saudi Arabia does have immense beauty. especially if you have the money or special treatment (I have the latter) to experience it.

Dinner tonight was at the fabulous Hilton Hotel, and was preceded by a discussion with Dr. Suhair H. Al Qurashi, president of Dar Al-Hekma College. This scholar was really amazing. In fact she had just returned from the UN, traveling with the King of Saudi Arabia, presenting to people like Condoleezza Rice. After the discussion we had dinner, and at our table were two really outstanding young Saudi women. These were two who had really worked hard and were succeeding at business and education in Saudi Arabia. It was very interesting to talk with them, and to learn about their views of the current status of women’s rights. Kholoud Attar was one of the women, and she has started her own design magazine here in Jeddah called Design. The magazine is beautiful, and is a real groundbreaking idea here in Saudi Arabia. The other woman was also named Kholoud and she had studied gifted and talented education as an undergraduate student, so she and I also had a very good conversation about GT and its current status in the US and in Saudi Arabia. This was certainly my best evening of conversation with Saudis yet, and it was because of these outstanding guests at our dinner.

A Visit to Sami Anqawi’s House

This evening we went to an amazingly beautiful house, designed and lived in by the famous Saudi architect Dr. Sami Anqawi. This house was beyond belief to see, with a courtyard in the middle with a pool, and beautiful rooms all around. He has entertained many guests, including former President Jimmy Carter, at this house. He recently designed a new Islamic Cultural Center in Boston. Though the picture below doesn’t really do it justice, you can see a view of the middle area of the house.

After dinner we went to hear a presentation on Saudi women, and how they are doing gaining some rights. It was a good presentation, but we continue to hear the same thing—many Saudi women are in college because the government pays for it and even gives them spending money to go. The problem is there are not jobs available to them when they graduate (except for perhaps some education jobs, some nursing/medical positions, and maybe being a secretary). Saudi women can’t even be a sales clerk because they can’t sell any item to men. Another example of this inequity is the seating system at restaurants in Saudi Arabia. At a restaurant here you have a men’s only section (usually called the "singles" or men’s section), and you have a family section that women can sit in (with their children and husband, if they are present). This “family” section is often hidden behind smoked glass so that no one can see inside. A photo below shows the signs directing the Saudis to their entrances.

And, just for fun, here is the lobby of my hotel in Jeddah. Pretty nice!

A Land of Contrasts

Today began with me skipping breakfast for more sleep, and then a trip to a local women’s college named Effat College. This place is one of the few that serve women who wish to go to the university to learn to be professionals like architects or businesswomen. This is a new idea since Saudi women in the past could only work as teachers or nurses or secretaries. It was a good visit, but it was way too short because we didn’t have a chance to ask the students questions about their life as Saudi women. After that we went to the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce to hear from the director of the women’s department. She was an amazing woman, having been educated in the US for something like 20 years, and now is living in Saudi Arabia, and trying to really bring change for women wishing to join the workforce. She spoke of the gains made for women in the workforce, but also of the extreme difficulties they still face.

This is what I mean by a land of contrasts. For instance, Saudi women can’t drive, can’t walk alone (usually), can’t work (usually), can’t swim in the hotel swimming pool, and have to wear the abaya and head (and sometimes face) covering (though they insist they don't have to wear it, they all do wear it). At the same time, they are beginning to make some progress by beginning to get some women into professional positions, though it seems that this is usually because the woman came from a wealthy family and was educated somewhere else in the world. I don’t know quite what to think about Saudi Arabia right now. I suppose it is a land of contrasts, but it still made me mad when I went to swim in the beautiful hotel pool, and none of the women in our group were allowed to swim. Plus, walking near the tank that is guarding the entrance to the hotel compound is a bit unnerving as well!

At least we are still eating well. Below is a picture of our lunch today at a Lebanese restaurant, though I know we would have traded that long lunch for some more time with those Saudi young women to learn about their thoughts, triumphs, and struggles.

A trip to Al-Hasa, and then a flight to Jeddah

Today was a day that didn’t really go to plan for most of the day. We drove out to a city called Al-Hasa that was about 2 hours outside of Dhahran. We were supposed to go to Garah Mountain, but we stopped off at a pottery village to see a man making and selling his pottery. This was a great experience, but it did take a while longer than we thought it would. In the first picture below you can see the man throwing a pot on a wheel. Then, you can see a date tree. The small little fruits hanging from the tree are the dates that Saudi Arabia is so famous for.


We then had to spend less time at the Garah Mountain because we were running behind for our lunch. But, we did get to see some amazing sights there.

After that we needed to get to lunch, but we wanted to see the Castle of Ibrahim. It turns out that this was a several hundred year old castle that has been restored, but it was closed for maintenance, so no luck there! We then had a quick but very nice lunch at the Intercontinental Hotel before heading back to Dhahran. I did get some good pictures of Saudi life, like the one below:

And, in this photo, notice the Saudi woman walking in the full abaya and face covering. This is something I am still not used to seeing.

By the way, if you were to want to use the restroom in Saudi Arabia, I hope you would know which one to enter!


We drove back to the hotel, at great speed with our police escort I think, and had to pack very quickly in order to be ready to fly to Jeddah this evening. We got to the airport and got through in time to board the 747 that we took to Jeddah. The flight was about two hours long. One interesting note is that they said a prayer for travelers over the plane speakers just before we took off! It was in Arabic, so I don't know what the words were. Once we landed in Jeddah we collected our bags and checked into the fabulous Intercontinental Hotel. The first surprise was that they had fruit juice awaiting our arrival in the lobby. Then, when we got to our rooms we had fruit and drinks awaiting us as a welcome. The rooms really are amazing, and they have a great view as you can see below:

Once I was settled, I called into my class for about 30 minutes to do a question and answer session. Then, since room service would be our dinner tonight, I ordered lamb chops and Saudi Champagne. This was quite a day, and now that we are in Jeddah, we will begin to see more of Saudi Arabia. In Dhahran were were mostly kept in the Saudi Aramco compound, so now being in another city will allow us to see some more of Saudi Arabia. And, just for fun, take a look at the poster below. In Indiana we dodge deer, in Saudi Arabia they dodge camels!

A Saudi Desert Afternoon

This afternoon we were all excited because we got to go out into the desert to see a real camel farm. This is not a tourist destination, but instead this farmer is a friend of one of the Saudi Aramco employees. So, they got us out to the farm. We had to get out of the bus and take 4x4 vehicles into the farm because the cars and buses would get stuck in the sand. Several of us piled into the police 4x4 for a ride over the sand road to the farm.

We visited the camels in pens to begin with (The farmer was nice enough to collect a bunch of his roaming camels early for us to see them. Normally most of them roam around the desert eating before coming home at sundown for water and food.) You can see some of these animals in a pen below.

Then we posed with a fine camel for individual pictures.

We even visited some baby camels that were still nursing from their mothers.

We even watched a camel get milked (and some brave souls tried the fresh milk—I was not one of them—we have pasteurization for a reason!)
Next it was time for the desert trek. We wondered up some sand dunes away from the camels for some exploration.

About that time a huge caravan of camels came home to feed.

We even had camel rides, which were absolutely an amazing experience. The tough part is when the camel gets up, and when it sits down!



We got to experience a Saudi desert sunset,

And then we gathered in the owner’s tent for refreshments and stories. He very much wanted us to stay for dinner (and probably eat some camel!) but we needed to be on our way.

Next it was on to a traditional Saudi meal in a tent at a fine restaurant.

Finally, it was time to return home for some sleep. What a day visiting schools, and then playing in the desert!