CAL'S IN SAUDI ARABIA: Archive

Chickens Selling Chickens

My first impression of Riyadh was that it smelled a lot like fried chicken. The gate where my plane arrived was located across from the food court’s exhaust fan, and they had apparently just thrown a fresh batch in the deep fryer. Since fried chicken is one of my favorite things in the world, I thought this was an auspicious sign. Indeed, Saudis love chicken more than almost anyone: USDA...

May 4th

Chinese Pickup Trucks

I’m not sure why, but the population of cars in Riyadh is not very diverse. You will only see a dozen or so distinct models when you drive, but you will see a lot of each of them: 2005–11 Toyota Yarises, 1990s Ford Crown Victorias, and, for some reason, late-1980s Chevrolet Caprices together must make up ten to fifteen percent of all cars on the road. But all these models are vastly...

Apr 24th

For Sale in Saudi, Part 3

Every modern culture feels torn between progress and tradition, but I think it would be difficult to find a place where they are in stronger conflict than Saudi Arabia. On the one hand, Saudi is for many people the archetype of a traditional society. Americans are horrified and Saudis are proud when they imagine that people live their lives here in the same way that they did fourteen hundred years...

Feb 28th

Happy New Year

New Year’s Eve is a concept without much currency in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia mostly follows the Islamic calendar, so their new year came about a month and a half ago. Everyone knows that the Gregorian calendar exists, and I’m sure that most people read in the newspaper that its 2011th year came to an end a few days ago. But if anyone was excited about it, they did a good job of keeping...

Jan 6th

For Sale in Saudi, Part 2

This box of rat poison is fascinating on many levels. First of all, it is a good example of a cartoon of an animal being used to sell the death of that animal. In this sense, it is in the same category as the barbecue joints in America that have signs featuring cartoon pigs wearing aprons, busily cooking other pigs for supper. In a weird twist, though, the mouse is laughing. At what, I...

Dec 26th

For Sale in Saudi, Part 1

I should admit at this point that it has been a month since my last post. My excuse is that I have been applying to graduate school and have therefore been devoting my free time to summarizing my life in 500 words or less. But I am determined that this will not be one of those blogs that people set up, make four posts on, and then abandon. So without further ado, I bring you For Sale in Saudi,...

Dec 12th

Hyperpandas

The term hypermarket is, I think, not used very much in the States. The type of store that it describes—a single big-box retailer combining the services of a supermarket and a department store—is of course very popular, and the term seems to be used by American academics and industry specialists. But for the most part the Wal-Marts, SuperTargets, and so on that fit this description use other...

Nov 12th

Gum

I went downtown yesterday to run a couple of errands and two things happened. The most romantic and least interesting one was that while crossing Olaya Street to get to Jarir Bookstore, I stepped across a median that had been covered in sod. Since Riyadh is in the middle of one of the largest deserts on earth, it doesn’t have much natural vegetation. The Saudi government, though, puts a lot...

Nov 6th

Prayer Time

After one month in Riyadh, all of the non-Muslim teachers I worked with knew the timing of each of the five daily prayers, and many even knew the names. Most of these guys hadn’t set foot in an Arab country before coming here, hadn’t studied Islam in school, and weren’t particularly interested in religious issues. But in Saudi, businesses have to shut their doors during all...

Oct 27th

First Post

First of all, I would like to say hello and thanks to anyone reading this blog! I’m very much looking forward to writing a bit about Riyadh and Saudi Arabia in general. This being the first post, I thought I should give some context for my being here and maybe talk about my first impressions of the city. I moved to Riyadh in late August to teach English at King Saud University. When I...

Oct 17th