Adapting to Life as a Single, Non Muslim Female in Saudi Arabia

77

That’s the exact number of days it’s been since I stepped foot off U.S soil. It’s also the exact number of days I’ve gone without any of my comforting vices. It’s the number of times I’ve covered with a hijab and the number of mornings I’ve woken up early to hear the call of Fajr.

I’m pretty stumped on how to feel about my experience here so far. Writing about life in Thailand meant that my fingers rapidly brushed the keys and, ta-daaa, 2,000 words have magically appeared on the screen in front of me within minutes. It’s safe to say that life over there called for limitless crazy experiences. This post is taking my blog into a much different turn from the barefoot, waterfall chasing, pot smoking girl I was just 78 days ago.

The first part of my experience here in the kingdom was not easy by any means. I landed in Riyadh at about 2 am, naively believing that my company would be there to pick me up, holding a place card with my name on it just like they said they would. 6 VERY frantic hours later, by happen-stance, I stumbled upon a man standing in line for coffee with a rolled up piece of paper underneath his arm. I took a quick glance and noticed my teaching company’s logo on that paper and immediately felt relieved. Despite the fact that I found HIM, instead of the other way around, 10 hours after landing, I was sleeping off my jet-lag and excitement in my own room.

Little did I know that this bizarre situation at the airport would be my first tiny insight into how Saudi Arabia really operates. “Hurry up and wait” became the mantra of my time here in KSA. 77 days later, I think some of my biggest frustrations as of yet are the silly things that most people take for granted. I remember my first experience with getting into a taxi, a few friends and I jumped in the car and I instinctively opened the passenger door to get in. “La, la, la, la!” the dude kept yelling at me and shooing me to the back of the car with a motion of his hands. That’s when my friend broke the news to me that women weren’t allowed to sit in the passenger seat of any kind of service car.
For some reason, that situation really turned me off to the whole culture of Saudi Arabia and how they treat women. There are so many different viewpoints of how many are oppressed or NOT oppressed here in the kingdom, but as a non-Muslim, American woman, I definitely view the treatment of us as more of a male-driven power trip than “protecting our welfare.”

Aside from the whole passenger seat instance, here are a few things women are “discouraged from doing”:
-driving
-entering a restaurant through the main entrance
-visiting a bank that is not an all-female operated branch
-going into or out of any government building with uncovered hair
-sharing an elevator with an unknown man
-walking around without an abaya
-walking around without a hijab on hand in case of run-in with muttawa (religious police)
-exercising in public
-sitting in public with non-related males

Yeah, these are just a few. But not to harp like a true feminist on what women CAN’T do here, it hasn’t been all bad. I thought that being a non-Muslim in a culture full of Islamic believers would make me feel like an outcast but I’ve found more often than not that my religious beliefs, or lack thereof, have never come into play as far as how I’ve been treated. I’ve been very lucky to have made a core group of friends from all over: Egypt, Somalia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Morocco, just to name a few and they’ve become my peace of mind in a place where social occurrences can become too much to handle.

When my friends and I are out in public and the prayer times commence, I look forward to walking into the prayer hall surrounded by a community of women. Although I can’t participate in the prayer aspect of it all, I take the opportunity to sit in silence and meditate. It’s a very unnerving and exciting feeling to be the only woman meditating, knowing full well with eyes closed that you’re receiving dubious looks right and left.

All in all, my days are filled with teaching at Princess Nourah University and attending a YTT (Yoga Teacher Training) course more days than not. For now, my mentality is to enjoy the company I keep, work my ass off, and live in the moment while still looking forward to the moment I step back onto American soil and into the life I’ve put on pause for the moment.

To be continued…