Shopping in Saudi Arabia

Greetings all,

Well, life is settling in a bit since we have moved from the hotel life and into our home here on campus. School has started, homework is kicking in, and students are beginning to settle in as well, though we did receive at least six new students in the secondary school today. Since the large supermarket on campus is not yet ready, people have been offered complimentary food at the campus cafeteria and campus eateries, which are mostly fast-food type places offering pizza, Burger King, subs, Lebanese, Arabic, and Indian dishes. The free food came to an end at the small restaurants this last weekend and will end at the cafeteria at the end of the month. Therefore, I have been making forays to Jeddah to gather food for our return to home cooking. It's just not quite as simple as walking to Ballard Market or driving to Trader Joe's.

Since I am not, as a woman, allowed to drive off campus, I have on two occasions taken a week-night bus leaving campus at 5:30 for a Jeddah mall, which includes a large supermarket similar to Fred Meyer in Seattle. Last week, I went on the bus with a friend to the Red Sea Mall. As we arrived, prayer time was soon to start so we darted into a restaurant to order dinner and eat while waiting

for prayer time to end and shops to open. We were

able to get some of the things we needed that evening, including basic food and items for our kitchens at home. We headed back to the bus at the designated time of 10 pm, struggling across the large parking lot to the bus pushing our heavy shopping carts and clutching frothy cups of coffee. Two other people were late to the bus but called a friend to say they would be only 20 minutes. We agreed to wait. Forty-five minutes later the bus driver simply started to leave when the missing passengers raced up in a taxi! We ultimately arrived back on campus at 12:15 am wondering how we would make it to school the next morning.

On the weekend, the same friend said that her husband had agreed to drive to Jeddah to buy some additional items and to do food shopping. We headed out again, this time in the car, late on Friday morning, which is the most holy day of the week. (Remember that Thursdays and

Fridays are the weekend.) David was more than happy to stay home with Hayden and Logan, as well as with our friends' sons, none of whom wanted any more trips to Jeddah. We had called to ensure that the store we were heading to was open and that the mall would be open too. We arrived just as the gates of the store were being closed for long Friday prayers. We were allowed to dart inside as several customers were paying and leaving. Though the store was closed for an hour and a half of prayer, we were allowed to walk around and shop until it re-opened. It was surreal to be shopping in a closed store with only a handful of employees around, half-heartedly restocking shelves. Once the store reopened, we finished and headed to the now-open cash registers to pay while massive numbers of men flocked into the store, grabbing at the newspaper inserts announcing Friday sales.

We headed into The Mall for some final items only to find nearly every store, except Starbucks, still closed and not due to open for an hour or four. Who knew? Time to go home. Not as productive as we had hoped, but we have been enjoying fresh vegetables, pasta, tacos and burritos, and some brownies at home. After all the meals in hotels, restaurants, and cafeterias, it is such a pleasure to sit down and eat together at home!

The photos in this post are all from our home. The drapes on the

windows are basically the same as the ones Maria used to make play-clothes for the Von Trapp family children in the Sound of Music. There is a kind of bar that separates the kitchen from the dining room, and Logan likes to do his art work there.

Thanks for reading! Jennifer