I know that there is something to said about not being responsible for your own actions, but how do you learn anything about who you are if you have no liability? I ask this question because of a conversation that I recently had with a colleague of mine. She explained to me that here in KSA women are not liable for anything that they do, their husbands, fathers or brothers are. She told me that at the company that her father had worked in previously to coming to KAUST, a man had been fired because his daughter was being disruptive.
Now, let's think about that for a second. What does that do to the women who are, technically speaking, free to do anything they want because their male counterparts will take the blame? Well as you might suspect, that gives men even more of a reason to control everything that their women do. And the women listen to their men happily. When this same friend and I went shopping I ran into a group of friends who invited us to dinner. I was happy to eat out and eagerly said yes, inviting my friend to come along, she decline but urged me to go on without her. Not really understanding what was going on, I left for dinner with my friends and met up with her later in the evening. On our way home, she explained to me that she had not joined us for dinner because she had not asked for permission. I should probably point out that she is 30 years old and has a masters degree. I was shocked (for lack of a better word). Here was what I considered an educated woman who was still conforming to the rules we might ask of a child.
So it dawned on me that what I had always considered to be one of a best attributes, my independence, was probably seen as a serious flaw in this country. I have always been proud to say that I have taken care of myself and relied on anyone to get me to where I want to go and where I am. Now, I live in a country where I can walk alone, can't catch a cab alone and can't drive simply because I am a woman and can't be trusted to make decisions on my own (that's what men are for apparently).
The land of abayas has many more hurdles that I had originally thought, in fact, the very fact that the abaya is black while the thawb (the male counterpart to the abaya) is white, speaks volumes of how women are seen and see themselves in this culture. Now, I should probably point out that the women that I have talked to all seem happy with the arrangement. But, I will also admit that I wonder if that is because they just don't know any better or if there is something to not being liable for your actions that is actually freeing.
In the end there is something very powerful about culture, both the Saudi culture and my mixed Latino-American fusion culture. Which is better? Who knows.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
What do you do when there is nothing to do.
Life on KAUST's campus consists of going to work, then going to the gym and finally going to sleep (with a few meals interspersed here and there). Basically we are determined to leave KAUST in good fiscal and physical shape.
So when the announcement came out that the pools were going to be opening this past weekend, I was beyond excited! Granted they were separate men and women's pool, but my apartment faces the men's pool and it's nice! Looks like a 25m pool with lounge chairs and umbrellas for laying out. "Lovely!" I thought, "surely the women's pool will have to be equivalent to that." But, alas, I was wrong.
Where as the men's pool is open, spacious and large, the women's pool is not. It is 10m long at best and is 5ft deep in the shallow end. There are five lounge chairs that fight for the tiny bit of sun that can get through the roof and wall enclosure where the pool is located. And to add insult to injury the pool dress code is one piece suits only! It's all women pool! But the gym staff assured me that is the rule in KSA (I should also add that while she was saying this me a Saudi woman interrupted her and said that this was, in fact, not the case. In the all female pools in Jeddah, the women are allowed to wear whatever they want and that includes two piece bathing suits.)
So, I go to the pool in my one piece bathing suit and attempt to make the best of a less than optimal situation, when suddenly it dawns on me, the women's pool means the mother's pool. Mothers = children and this pool isn't large enough for people who want to swim and children who want to play, and worse the pool is too deep for most children anyway (ok maybe not worse for me who has no children, but you know what I mean).
Oh well, the pool situation was finally resolved when several angry mothers complained (and rightfully so) that the pool was unsafe for young children and that there is a perfectly suitable toddler pool on the men's side. Now the men's pool is a family pool, what that means exactly I'm not sure but it's a good precursor to the beach that is supposed to open this Friday!
You might think that after the pool debacle I would know to curb my enthusiasm about the beach, but again when there isn't much to do or look forward to, you work with what you have. I'll definitely let you know how that works out.
So when the announcement came out that the pools were going to be opening this past weekend, I was beyond excited! Granted they were separate men and women's pool, but my apartment faces the men's pool and it's nice! Looks like a 25m pool with lounge chairs and umbrellas for laying out. "Lovely!" I thought, "surely the women's pool will have to be equivalent to that." But, alas, I was wrong.
Where as the men's pool is open, spacious and large, the women's pool is not. It is 10m long at best and is 5ft deep in the shallow end. There are five lounge chairs that fight for the tiny bit of sun that can get through the roof and wall enclosure where the pool is located. And to add insult to injury the pool dress code is one piece suits only! It's all women pool! But the gym staff assured me that is the rule in KSA (I should also add that while she was saying this me a Saudi woman interrupted her and said that this was, in fact, not the case. In the all female pools in Jeddah, the women are allowed to wear whatever they want and that includes two piece bathing suits.)
So, I go to the pool in my one piece bathing suit and attempt to make the best of a less than optimal situation, when suddenly it dawns on me, the women's pool means the mother's pool. Mothers = children and this pool isn't large enough for people who want to swim and children who want to play, and worse the pool is too deep for most children anyway (ok maybe not worse for me who has no children, but you know what I mean).
Oh well, the pool situation was finally resolved when several angry mothers complained (and rightfully so) that the pool was unsafe for young children and that there is a perfectly suitable toddler pool on the men's side. Now the men's pool is a family pool, what that means exactly I'm not sure but it's a good precursor to the beach that is supposed to open this Friday!
You might think that after the pool debacle I would know to curb my enthusiasm about the beach, but again when there isn't much to do or look forward to, you work with what you have. I'll definitely let you know how that works out.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Un mes...
It has been exactly one month since I arrived in KSA and what a month it has been! I have met a lot of people, and learned a lot about what the expat life is really like. So let me do a quick overview of what has happened in the past month.
We all remember my arrival and pitfalls therein. After which came my abaya shopping adventure (lecherous man included). Then I started work and well, lets be honest, that is pretty much all I've done since, work. Granted, working like a crazy person is normal for admissions at this time of year but you wouldn't think that would be so hard for five people to through 3,000 applications! But IT IS.
First, let's discuss the reading system. I would have thought that considering KAUST has spent all of these billions of dollars getting ready and bringing students and staff from all around the world, they would have invested in a good, solid tested admissions application reading system. Alas, no. They have tried to adapt a business system to fit the needs of admissions. It doesn't. What should only be taking us 10 minutes to do, actually takes closer to 30. I am supposed to have a fairly easy job (at least in the admissions world). All I really have to do is check GRE and TOELF/IELTS score, look at the transcripts and see gpa and coursework and then glance through the Statement of Purpose, the CV, and (if time allows) the Three Letters of Recommendation. Simple enough, no? Well unfortunately, I spend most of my time watching the computer think (a.k.a. the spinning circle of death) while I have to download documents onto my computer so that they can be viewed.
Second, there is no queue, no list on the system that tells me how many files I have to read, have read or are complete. Instead I rely on an excel spreadsheet that is emailed out every week where (hopefully) all the students that have applied to the programs I'm reading are located. I then search for them by application number, determine whether or not the file is complete and then either read the file, and forward it to the faculty committee for decision, or email the student asking them to send me their missing information. Then, naturally, the frantic applicants all send me mountains of application related material that I then have to upload onto their file, so that it can be considered complete and be sent to the faculty for review. Basically there is no real way of knowing how much you've done and how much you still have left to do.
Finally, let's talk about the applications. Now, I realize that reading for Penn made me spoiled. I am used to seeing the absolute best of the best, and have to rethink what a strong application is. However, when you're job consists of "contextualizing" the applications for the faculty, this becomes a little tough. Especially when most of the professors came from places like Stanford and the like and are expecting the same quality of students. So, I have learned the art of "spin" (there are so many people who would be so proud of me) and I hope it's working!
And that in a nutshell has been my life for the last month. I work 10-11 hour work days, six days a week. So, it has been tough to get out and actually see KSA, Jeddah or anything other than my cubicle, my computer, my bed and (on occasion) the gym. I have learned that while it is hard (and expensive) to get an expat here, they are just expendable as the next person. So for now I'll keep my head down, do my job to the best of my ability and continue to hope for the best.
We all remember my arrival and pitfalls therein. After which came my abaya shopping adventure (lecherous man included). Then I started work and well, lets be honest, that is pretty much all I've done since, work. Granted, working like a crazy person is normal for admissions at this time of year but you wouldn't think that would be so hard for five people to through 3,000 applications! But IT IS.
First, let's discuss the reading system. I would have thought that considering KAUST has spent all of these billions of dollars getting ready and bringing students and staff from all around the world, they would have invested in a good, solid tested admissions application reading system. Alas, no. They have tried to adapt a business system to fit the needs of admissions. It doesn't. What should only be taking us 10 minutes to do, actually takes closer to 30. I am supposed to have a fairly easy job (at least in the admissions world). All I really have to do is check GRE and TOELF/IELTS score, look at the transcripts and see gpa and coursework and then glance through the Statement of Purpose, the CV, and (if time allows) the Three Letters of Recommendation. Simple enough, no? Well unfortunately, I spend most of my time watching the computer think (a.k.a. the spinning circle of death) while I have to download documents onto my computer so that they can be viewed.
Second, there is no queue, no list on the system that tells me how many files I have to read, have read or are complete. Instead I rely on an excel spreadsheet that is emailed out every week where (hopefully) all the students that have applied to the programs I'm reading are located. I then search for them by application number, determine whether or not the file is complete and then either read the file, and forward it to the faculty committee for decision, or email the student asking them to send me their missing information. Then, naturally, the frantic applicants all send me mountains of application related material that I then have to upload onto their file, so that it can be considered complete and be sent to the faculty for review. Basically there is no real way of knowing how much you've done and how much you still have left to do.
Finally, let's talk about the applications. Now, I realize that reading for Penn made me spoiled. I am used to seeing the absolute best of the best, and have to rethink what a strong application is. However, when you're job consists of "contextualizing" the applications for the faculty, this becomes a little tough. Especially when most of the professors came from places like Stanford and the like and are expecting the same quality of students. So, I have learned the art of "spin" (there are so many people who would be so proud of me) and I hope it's working!
And that in a nutshell has been my life for the last month. I work 10-11 hour work days, six days a week. So, it has been tough to get out and actually see KSA, Jeddah or anything other than my cubicle, my computer, my bed and (on occasion) the gym. I have learned that while it is hard (and expensive) to get an expat here, they are just expendable as the next person. So for now I'll keep my head down, do my job to the best of my ability and continue to hope for the best.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Riyadh
So last week I got to go to Saudi's capital, Riyadh, for a college fair hosted by the KSA Ministry of Higher Education. I basically got to pack my stuff from my hotel in Jeddah, drop it off at my new house on campus (more on the living situation at KAUST later) and head to the airport.
Flying in Kingdom is a little different to flying in other places. Take the security line, for example. We are all used to go through the same security line, taking our shoes off, our belts off, putting everything on the conveyor belt for an x-ray and walking through the metal detector. Well, in KSA, only the men go through all of that. The women are asked to go through a series of rooms (far from the prying eyes of men) where they are basically given the once over by a female airport police guard and then walk out. It takes about half the time then the regular security line! So perk #1 of being a woman in Saudi has been discovered.
Perk #2: After going through security we decided (we being my boss, my co-worker and myself) to go get a cup of coffee while they boarded the plane. Well my boss (who happens to be a guy) and I walked up to the coffee counter. Upon my approach the men who were in line, let me through and place my order before theirs :) Then we get the call to board our flight (which was 45 min before departure) and proceed to the buses. I guess I should take this moment to explain that the Jeddah airport is a little different. The planes don't actually arrive at the gates. The park out by the runways and passengers and shuttled back and forth by bus. When we do get to the bus, again the men get up and move away from the seats so that the women (i.e. me) can sit down.
We get to the plane and I discover that I have been seated in the middle seat in the row behind my boss and co-worker. And to make matters worse, I'm between smelly men. Well, this is just not acceptable in KSA, so thankfully my co-worker tells the man who is seated next to her to switch places with me so that I will not have to sit by men by myself! Perk #3.
We arrive in Riyadh and my co-worker (a Saudi woman) tells me I have to cover my hair, so I oblige. Now I have to admit that covering one's hair is not as simple as you would think. The scarf kept slipping on my head and the ends kept swinging all over the place. And eating with a head scarf is even harder! I kept feeling like it was going to fall in my food! Lesson learned, I need to buy an actual headscarf for the next time I travel in Kingdom.
A little about Riyadh. It is the capital of KSA and as a result is a little more of a city than Jeddah. More skyscrapers and the like. I will definitely have to go back and actually do some touristy stuff, because on this trip I didn't have a moment. The capital is also a little stricter about security. To get into any of the hotels you have to stop at a guard station, open the trunk and hood of the car and then go through a bit of an obstacle course to get to the driveway.
The fair: Boring. But we did have an amazing booth! It was 90 square meters, with 4 flat screen tv's, leather seats and hard wood floors. I felt like I was at a car expo and our wasn't even the biggest booth there. The Saudi schools really went all out. I did, however, get to meet both the US Ambassador and the Venezuela Ambassador. Both were very nice and gave me their business cards, stating that any help we might need in recruiting and retaining the citizens of their respective countries, they would be happy to provide.
Speaking of the US Ambassador, we got invited to a dinner at his house. So we of course RSVP'd yes and got in a cab to go. We arrive at the Diplomatic Quarter (the section of Riyadh where all the embassies, consulates and the like are located), go through more obstacle courses and arrive at the guard station. My co-worker starts to talk to the guard and soon it becomes quite the argument in Arabic. Basically he didn't want to let us in because we didn't have a printed invitation, but we had been invited over email, so there was no formal printed invitation to speak of. After 15 min of argument we leave and my co-worker tells me we are going to try the other gate, which she says the guard has told her is more lenient. We arrive and I do the talking, in English. I show them my KSA id which states I am a US citizen, tell them where we are going, and finally we are on our way. We arrive at the ambassador's house (which is it's own bunker) and I get straight for the wine counter. Yes, the US embassy serves wine :)
And that, in a nutshell was my trip. Now, I have to learn to live on campus with a roommate (and co-worker) while I wait for my permanent (and single) apartment...
Flying in Kingdom is a little different to flying in other places. Take the security line, for example. We are all used to go through the same security line, taking our shoes off, our belts off, putting everything on the conveyor belt for an x-ray and walking through the metal detector. Well, in KSA, only the men go through all of that. The women are asked to go through a series of rooms (far from the prying eyes of men) where they are basically given the once over by a female airport police guard and then walk out. It takes about half the time then the regular security line! So perk #1 of being a woman in Saudi has been discovered.
Perk #2: After going through security we decided (we being my boss, my co-worker and myself) to go get a cup of coffee while they boarded the plane. Well my boss (who happens to be a guy) and I walked up to the coffee counter. Upon my approach the men who were in line, let me through and place my order before theirs :) Then we get the call to board our flight (which was 45 min before departure) and proceed to the buses. I guess I should take this moment to explain that the Jeddah airport is a little different. The planes don't actually arrive at the gates. The park out by the runways and passengers and shuttled back and forth by bus. When we do get to the bus, again the men get up and move away from the seats so that the women (i.e. me) can sit down.
We get to the plane and I discover that I have been seated in the middle seat in the row behind my boss and co-worker. And to make matters worse, I'm between smelly men. Well, this is just not acceptable in KSA, so thankfully my co-worker tells the man who is seated next to her to switch places with me so that I will not have to sit by men by myself! Perk #3.
We arrive in Riyadh and my co-worker (a Saudi woman) tells me I have to cover my hair, so I oblige. Now I have to admit that covering one's hair is not as simple as you would think. The scarf kept slipping on my head and the ends kept swinging all over the place. And eating with a head scarf is even harder! I kept feeling like it was going to fall in my food! Lesson learned, I need to buy an actual headscarf for the next time I travel in Kingdom.
A little about Riyadh. It is the capital of KSA and as a result is a little more of a city than Jeddah. More skyscrapers and the like. I will definitely have to go back and actually do some touristy stuff, because on this trip I didn't have a moment. The capital is also a little stricter about security. To get into any of the hotels you have to stop at a guard station, open the trunk and hood of the car and then go through a bit of an obstacle course to get to the driveway.
The fair: Boring. But we did have an amazing booth! It was 90 square meters, with 4 flat screen tv's, leather seats and hard wood floors. I felt like I was at a car expo and our wasn't even the biggest booth there. The Saudi schools really went all out. I did, however, get to meet both the US Ambassador and the Venezuela Ambassador. Both were very nice and gave me their business cards, stating that any help we might need in recruiting and retaining the citizens of their respective countries, they would be happy to provide.
Speaking of the US Ambassador, we got invited to a dinner at his house. So we of course RSVP'd yes and got in a cab to go. We arrive at the Diplomatic Quarter (the section of Riyadh where all the embassies, consulates and the like are located), go through more obstacle courses and arrive at the guard station. My co-worker starts to talk to the guard and soon it becomes quite the argument in Arabic. Basically he didn't want to let us in because we didn't have a printed invitation, but we had been invited over email, so there was no formal printed invitation to speak of. After 15 min of argument we leave and my co-worker tells me we are going to try the other gate, which she says the guard has told her is more lenient. We arrive and I do the talking, in English. I show them my KSA id which states I am a US citizen, tell them where we are going, and finally we are on our way. We arrive at the ambassador's house (which is it's own bunker) and I get straight for the wine counter. Yes, the US embassy serves wine :)
And that, in a nutshell was my trip. Now, I have to learn to live on campus with a roommate (and co-worker) while I wait for my permanent (and single) apartment...
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