Signing off

Hi everyone!

We are all back in Berkeley now, safe and sound. To all of our friends and family, thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed the blog and were able to get a sense for a day in the life of four Berkeley gals in Saudi Arabia!

Signing off,
Andrea, Eve, Hind, and Zeynep

Salamun Alaikum from Saudi Arabia!

Here's a post by Zeynep written a few days ago...

It has been almost three weeks since we arrived in Jeddah and we are quite accustomed to the daily life by now. For example, we left the US like this:
 And that’s how you can see us outdoors (and mixed gender indoors) nowadays:

Happy faces after we have successfully delivered our workshop last week.

As a gesture to celebrate our end of project here, Dania and Kholoud, two amazing members of the Institutional Advancement Division staff took us to Al-Balad this evening. Al-Balad is the historical area of Jeddah, and could be translated as “the City”. Our tour guide Sami told us that Al-Balad was founded in the 7th century and historically served as the centre of Jeddah. The area was full of historical buildings and mosques built by various different civilizations. We had the opportunity to see from inside a couple of very significant historic buildings (including a former King’s mansion which was used 150 years ago) and wandered around among the traditional street vendors.

Al-Balad view

An interior view of the King’s mansion

A view of the street vendors

Saudi Arabia has definitely been an outstanding and horizon broadening experience for me. The most important aspect of this experience is the variety of people I have met here. From faculty members to students, from college staff to even the drivers, every single person whom I interacted with has impressed me one way or another. Some with their brilliant minds and communication skills, some with their joy and great sense of humor. And maybe most importantly, I am more than inspired by the determinism, courage and broad mindedness of women in their efforts to make Saudi Arabia a better country to live for women. In addition to that, the level of hospitality people have displayed to us is incredible! Whomever we have an interaction with at the college does not pass by us without asking questions to make sure that everything is going fine with us, that we are comfortable at our hotel, that we are doing activities enjoyable in Jeddah other than working on the project and that we have access to everything we need. After getting used to this endearing and almost “motherly” approach, it will be very difficult for us to say farewell in a couple of days!

Abayas and MBAs

Here's a post from Hind written a few days ago...

Our last day at Dar Al-Hekma College was very exciting. First, we had the opportunity to present our work and our recommendations about the Women’s Center of Excellence to the Dean and Vice Deans. Then, after an enjoyable lunch with some amazing ladies from the College, we conducted our MBA information session. Later in the afternoon we went for a “balad” tour in the old city of Jeddah and that was a great way to end our last day.

But let me tell you more about the MBA info session. Dar Al-Hekma College asked us to prepare and deliver an MBA information session because they are planning to launch their own MBA program this fall. Their MBA curriculum was developed in collaboration with Haas. It’s going to be offered to both men and women and is going to be on evenings and weekends to accommodate people who are working. The two year MBA program will offer two different tracks: one on General Management and another with a specialization in Islamic Finance. Compared to our four day extensive workshop and our pitch presentation about the Women’s Center of Excellence, this was definitely the fun part of our work. It was great to talk about our backgrounds, experiences and goals and more importantly talk about our school- so proudly- and reflect about the amazing things we’ve learned and experienced this past year. Finally, it was also our once in a life opportunity to conduct an MBA info session in Abayas, which we had to wear because men were expected to attend. And here below you can see us in our Abayas for the MBA info session.

At last the Red Sea

It's hard to believe that our three weeks in Saudi Arabia are coming to a close. Although it is our last day here, we went out with a bang by enjoying an awesome day of snorkeling in the Red Sea. During our stay in Jeddah, we kept hearing that the Red Sea was home to a fantastic and vibrant collection of sea creatures. We were not disappointed. I was quite amazed by the number, variety, and colorfulness of the fish we saw. We swam along a fairly shallow coral reef so we were able to see the fish quite close up. Unfortunately, we didn't have a waterproof camera to take pictures, but here are a few images that are fairly representative of what we saw:

This gives you an idea of the coral reef and how many fish there were. There were even more brightly colored ones than shown here, but we did see a lot of these black striped ones called sergeant major fish.

One of my favorite types of fish was the bluecheek butterfly fish. They were bright yellow (with blue cheeks) and always swam in pairs. The other fish in this photo are bannerfish, which we also saw.

Here we are before getting in the water.

Eve is ready to tackle the Red Sea waves.

Hind and I are studying up on the array of colorful fish that we may encounter in the water.



I am so glad we were able to snorkel in the Red Sea before leaving! It is definitely a must see/do in Jeddah!

Juice medley

In honor of one of my favorite things here in Saudi Arabia, I present to you my juice medley!

Mango juice: My all time favorite juice. It's so good that we bought some mango juice from the grocery store to keep in our hotel room. This was the first time I tried fresh mango juice in Saudi and I haven't looked back since.

Raisin juice: Originally mistaken for grape juice (we thought the waiter translated it wrong), the white and red raisin juice turned out to taste like, well, raisins in juice form. I don't love raisins all that much but it was an interesting flavor to try.

Strawberry juice: This one is quite sweet, and definitely the most dessert-like in my opinion. It also has a very nice color. This particular strawberry juice is from one of our favorite hangout spots, Cafe Aroma. Hind absolutely loves this juice.

Guava juice: This juice is surprisingly creamy. It has a pretty distinct taste, so it seems to be hit or miss with people. We tried this juice when we went with our friend Mariam from the workshop to get dinner at a place overlooking the Red Sea. I thought it was pretty tasty, but Zeynep didn't seem to like it all that much.

Mocafe cool: Ok, I am bending the rules a bit since this is not juice, but it is worthy of my post. It's an extremely delicious frozen coffee drink from one of our favorite brunch places, Casper & Gambini's. After we have walked in the hot 100 degree sun in a black abaya for 10-15 minutes to get there, this little frozen drink hits the spot.

Lemon mint: I haven't seen this drink before coming to Saudi Arabia, but it is pretty much on every menu and quite popular (you can see the bright green color from a mile away). It's Eve's favorite. It is basically lemonade with finely chopped fresh mint leaves and tastes a lot like a non-alcoholic mojito.

Pineapple juice: I've only been able to find this juice at one place near us called Lost City. I really like it because it's much more like a pina colada than plain pineapple juice. I especially love the way they stick brown sugar along the outside rim. Eve's lemon mint drink is also present in this photo.

Thanks everyone for indulging me by allowing me to share my fond juice memories over the last three weeks!

Car shenanigans

As I've already discussed in a previous post, women can't drive here in Saudi Arabia. That means we end up spending a fair amount of time in the back seat of cars (get your minds out of the gutter!). I thought I would share a few photos and stories from our car adventures.

Our driver: Here we are with our driver Illias. He has driven us to and from the college every day during our time here and we will miss him! He wore that same outfit pretty much every day, so when he switched to tan one day, we got really excited.

Getting dropped off at the college: Here's my view from the back seat of the car as we wait to get dropped off in the morning at the college gate. It's quite a scene, since every woman entering the college has to be dropped off by a male relative or driver.

Traffic: Here's us sitting in traffic on the freeway. Keep in mind, this is at 10pm on a "Saturday" night. In Jeddah, the traffic gets much much worse on the weekends, particularly weekend nights.

King photo contest: Early in our trip, Eve started to notice that there were a lot of billboards and posters of the King all around Jeddah (we will explain why later). To spice things up a bit, we decided to hold a King photo contest to see who could take the best picture of the King. We will be dedicating an entire blog post to this, but here are a few of my attempts at taking pictures of the King in a moving vehicle. It's really hard!

The beach: Here we are coming back from the Fal Beach Resort in the car with our Egyptian driver, Hisham. He loved to practice his English with us and we had some hilarious conversations. We also marveled at how surprisingly tan Hind looks in this photo.

Self-portrait: Foiled by Eve!
 

Al-Balad Tour: Here we are on our way to a tour of the old city of Jeddah (another post will be coming on this). I think this is the only photo we have of all four of us in the car. Luckily, our friend Dania from DAH was able to capture this shot!

Lebanese with the Ladies

Normally on Memorial Day in the US, it's all about barbeques. Today on Memorial Day in Saudi Arabia, it was all about Lebanese food! Instead of a typical Monday (aka Wednesday) night, we had the opportunity to spend dinner at the Lebanese restaurant Byblos with our Dar Al-Hekma hosts.

The food was so delicious that I didn't even have time to take any pictures before it was gone (well done Dania on the ordering!). We feasted on hummus, tabbouleh, baba ghanoush, pita bread, grape leaves, fried cheese rolls, falafel, fava beans, fattoush, and a delicious platter of kebab-style meat. The chicken was SO amazing. And don't forget the best mango juice I have had in Saudi Arabia!

Although I don't have pictures of the food (just trust me it was good), I did manage to snag a few photos of our group. The waiter didn't do such a great job warning us, so I have posted two so you can see everyone.

Starting on the right and going around the table: Dr. Amal (whom we have worked with on the soon-to-be launched MBA program), Dr. Amani (who spoke at our workshop and we are working with on the MBA information session), Ms. Fatma (who we worked with to develop the workshop), Hind, Eve, Dania (who works with Dr. Saleha and has helped arrange so much of our work and leisure activities), Zeynep, me, Lubna (an attendee of our workshop and Dr. Amal's daughter), Kholoud (who works with Dr. Saleha and has helped organize activities during our trip), and last but certainly not least, Dr. Saleha (our project sponsor and welcoming host who runs the Institutional Advancement division).

All in all, it was a delicious and fun outing!

A celebration of my poor hijab-wrapping skills

I must have tried half a dozen approaches to wrapping my headscarf since I've been here. When I first arrived, my hijab style was all about survival; even though we aren’t required to wear hijabs in Saudi Arabia, I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself. I thus present to you “the survivor”. This twice-trademarked approach consists of putting the long rectangular scarf on your head, safety pinning it under your chin and wrapping the excess around your shoulders till there’s nothing left to wrap. It’s okay if you stab yourself with a safety pin a few times or almost choke yourself with overzealous wrapping; it’s part of the patented process. Our early days, if you'll recall...

Next, I tried out the “extreme double-wrap”, so called because I didn’t center the scarf on my head, but rather left only a few inches on one side and several feet on the other (see below). Then I wrapped it over my head twice and subsequently around my neck.

I was pretty happy with this style until I started to do that in front of a few of the women in our workshop, who very sweetly teased me. Happily, one attendee took me under her wing and introduced me to the “hang loose”, which is apparently the stylish way to do it. All I have is this blurry photo because there’s no hope for my figuring out how to replicate it.

And actually, I shouldn’t say the hang loose is “the” stylish way. Turns out wrapping a hijab offers women the opportunity to express their style, so there are a bunch of ways to tie it (and tons of websites dedicated to sharing new methods). In addition to expressing style, the way women tie their hijabs can also reflect the country or region from which they come. But we’ll leave that interpretation to the experts and continue on with the rest of my attempts at hijab-tying.

One of my go-to’s is the “quick 'n easy hijab”, known by some as the “it’s 105 degrees out and we have to walk fifteen minutes on an asphalt road without sidewalks or shade”. I’m a pro at this one. Put the scarf on your head. Wrap one side very loosely around your neck, and then the other. Proceed. And trust me, you’ll have to proceed a bunch of times because it falls as soon as you take a few steps.

After playing around with a few more techniques, I have actually found one that I like. Now, I put the scarf on my head, off-centered so that the left side a bit longer than the right. I then fold under about an inch of the scarf around my cheeks and neck and then bring the left side of the scarf around my head again, tucking it into the first layer a little bit at my left cheek. I still haven’t figured out how to drape the parts that hang down, but I take solace in the fact that there are women who have been here for years who still haven’t mastered their style.

Andrea, Zeynep and Hind, on the other hand seem to be pretty consistent—and confident—in their hijab styles. Hind never even touched a safety pin, making it look easy.

Zeynep somehow figured out how to be completely gorgeous in hers.

And Andrea has been crowned “best hijab” for her tireless commitment to covering every last inch of her hair.

A whole new world

Over the weekend our team had the opportunity to experience a very different side of Saudi Arabia. As a result of last week’s workshop, we were able to meet some fantastic women from the Jeddah community. One of these women, who also happens to work at Dar Al-Hekma, was kind enough to invite us to her beach resort compound north of the city. As we drove up the coast (or more technically as our cheerful and chatty Egyptian driver drove us up the coast), we began to see a series of buildings, each with very high walls and secure doors (like the one below).

When we arrived at Fal Beach Resort and began to explore the grounds, I finally understood why all of the buildings were surrounded by high walls. Inside, men and women were able to mix and women did not have to wear abayas. There were children swimming, women reading books, men playing cards, and music playing. It was just like a beach resort that you might find in another part of the world. From what I have gathered, these compounds are only open to non-Saudis and allow them to live a lifestyle that is more familiar to what they are used to back home, wherever that may be. There seems to be an abundance of these compounds throughout Saudi Arabia.

For us non-Saudi ladies who had been wearing abayas for the past two weeks, it was quite a nice change. My skin thanked me for being able to see the sun! Here are some pictures of us and the grounds. As part of the compound, there are apartment style rooms, pool and beach facilities, and a poolside cafe.

We had a lovely and leisurely day swimming, tanning, reading, eating, and playing Taboo. I was also finally able to complete the “trifecta” of my favorite things in Saudi Arabia. They are 1) the fresh juice, 2) the shisha, and 3) the beach resort compound. Here’s me and Eve partaking in all three activities at the same time! We were in heaven.

All in all, it was a fabulous day and one of the highlights of our trip! We are so grateful to Dania and Hadeel for making this happen!

Call to prayer

One of the Five Pillars of Islam is that Muslims must perform salah, which are the daily Islamic prayers. Here in Saudi Arabia, the five daily prayers are very well integrated into the daily routine. Every day, we hear the adhan, which is the call to prayer. The first is performed at dawn (4 or 5am), then around noon, then the afternoon (3:30pm), sunset (7pm), and evening (8:30pm). Luckily, I have never heard the dawn prayer, but for the most part, we hear it wherever we go: at Dar Al-Hekma College, our hotel room, and even the mall. Here is one video I took from my hotel room window in which you can hear the call to prayer in the background (sorry it’s not more scenic).

During the day, prayer time doesn’t affect us much – we just keep on working – but in the evening, we have had to shift our dinner schedule until after the last prayer. Typically, restaurants and stores close during prayer time (or at least don’t serve food), so you have to plan your schedule accordingly. Once we were out to dinner and had already sat down before the last prayer. Luckily we got our food in time, but during the last prayer, no waiters came around and the restaurant drew the blinds, turned off the TVs, and dimmed the lights. Here is another video I took at the mall when the evening call to prayer began and you can see the food court stores start to close down (quick cameo from Eve at the end).

After being here for 11 days, the call to prayer is something we’re used to, but I hope it offers our readers a window into Saudi Arabian life!

Our big night out

In a country without movie theaters or pubs and that's too hot to spend much time outdoors (during the day anyway), you might wonder what the locals here do for fun. So did we. Last night we found out when we took a "Friday" evening excursion to the Red Sea Mall to celebrate finishing up our workshop. All of Jeddah seemed to be there: young, old, male, female, families, singles. Even one of our colleagues from Dar Al-Hekma stopped by with her adorable 3-year old son to say hi.

Here we are, excited for our first Jeddah mall experience. By the way, my pitiful Arabic is just good enough to read the sign, which is a transliteration of the English words "Red Sea Mall". There's a lot of that here...so my 4-year old reading ability comes in handy sometimes.

And here, we're hanging out in the "bizarre" themed section.

Turns out the malls here are a lot like the ones at home...

You've got your food courts (which also had a McDonalds, Starbucks and KFC)...

And your shops (including H&M, Sephora, Adidas).

But there are few notable differences. For example, all of the shops must close down at prayer time and the TVs around the mall play live streaming of the prayer in Mecca...

There's also a huge arcade with carnival games (my personal favorite as you can see. Note the concerned child in the background)...

And shops where only ladies can enter...

Not to be confused with the lingerie, make-up or abaya stores, which were staffed entirely by men (a requirement of the country's anti-mixing laws). The Sephora, for example, looked exactly like every other Sephora I've ever seen, except for the men standing around in the store's signature all-black dress code staring back at me. And I must say I'm impressed that anyone here owns a bra, because I felt awkward wandering around the "Women's Secret" store with a salesMAN following me around offering to help find a size.

All in all, it was fun to see how Saudis spend their weekends. Hopefully, we'll soon get to experience another popular activity: hanging out at the beach.