Riyadh: Six years on
[It's been six whole years since we left Riyadh. The first time we went for a visit, it felt like we never left. The third time we went for a visit, it felt like my lifetime in Riyadh was surreal. This visit, the fifth, I looked at the streets and the people with detachedness. I looked at them with the new fresh look of a visitor, rather than that of a person who made most of her childhood and teenage memories under that sky. Six years on, that sense of childhood love and belonging is gone.]
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The air smells different there- there’s a very distinct, rather overpowering sweetness to it no matter where you are. And with the dry heat, Riyadh feels like you’re living inside an oven busy with baking a cake.
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There’s no sound pollution in Riyadh. There are no honking horns, wailing cars, or screaming kids. The air vibes are constantly streaming a very gentle buzz, from the cars, the airconditioning, the movement of trollies. It reminds me of when we first moved to Amman, and I couldn’t sleep properly because I was too used to going to sleep with the buzz as my lullaby.
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Saudis are extremely civilized people, regardless of what the people who have never been to Saudi Arabia and who only see Saudi tourists know and believe. I will happily admit that they are a lot more civilized than us Jordanians.
You bang into someone, they smile, and say “excuse me”. They never cut lines. When your eye meets someone’s eye there’s always a nice smile waiting for you rather than a “what are you staring at” look. They patiently wait for you to pass when walking in a tiny aisle. The Saudis who work as cashier men or who help around in the shops are very nice and willing to help. Most importantly, even though I surely looked odd as I was one of the very few people walking around without a scarf, no one, and I mean, NO ONE, ever stared at me. No one even ever looked. And that’s really very comfortable.
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My father is an amazing man.
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I cannot stand the smell of bakhour, oud, or any other form of preferred perfume used by the people there. It is suffocating.
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American cars are absolutely hideous.
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You see a lot more scantily dressed people in Riyadh in two days than you see in a year in Amman. Although we grew up in that environment, I was still mildly surprised by what the people in the compound were wearing.
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Ikea damn rocks.
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For the first time since Zain came to life, I was happy being a Zain user. Moose could call me from Amman for the same exact tariff for local calls for Zain-Zain Amman calls. Five piasters. That was really awesome.
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Saudi’s are in love with humongous structures. Everything in Riyadh is oversized- the malls are fricking huge, Toys R’Us is fricking huge, the museums with nothing in them are fricking huge, the compounds are fricking huge, the supermarkets are fricking huge, electronic stores are fricking huge, schools are fricking huge. Everything is fricking huge.
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The trend of glass architecture is pretty funny, both in Amman and in Riyadh. Greenhouse effect, anyone?
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