Day 2

Day 2: The Desert

The second day of the trip also provided a new experience for both me and Lubna's family. We traveled about an hour outside Khobar, Lubna's hometown, to the Al-Dahana desert. Lubna's mother and father kept telling us to bundle up, as the desert would be "cold" and windy. I kept laughing because I flew to Saudi Arabia from Kentucky, where a blizzard was looming. And here it was in the high 60s. 

On the ride there Lubna's father pointed out large pipelines on both sides of the highway. Some pipes, as shown below, were carrying fresh water all the way from the coastal city of Jubail to the capital of Riyadh, which lies in the middle of the peninsula. Other pipelines contained oil. It was explained to me that filling a car with gas in Saudi Arabia costs about 1/3 of what it does in America. My dentist previously told me to bring back a barrel of oil. I can't say I wasn't tempted  to try when I heard about the prices.

When viewing the city limits from the highway, the prevalence of construction was even more obvious. The sky is forever a line of cranes and cinder blocks, and the ground can sometimes seem like a never ending parade of the garbage that unfortunately comes along with rapid expansion. It gives me an interesting picture of what the US might have looked like during the turn of the 20th century. 

Once arriving in the desert area, I was reminded somewhat of Nevada. However, here the desert was hills of sand as far as the eyes could see, and no mountains loomed on the horizon. It was nothingness in every sense of the word. 

Until we saw the camels.

Lubna's brother tried his hand at off-roading in the sand, which was both hilarious and terrifying. We came upon a heard of camels that came right up to the car!! They were really interested in us until they realized we didn't have any food.

After the camels we went to an area where a farmer had a heard of goats and some cows. We even got to hold a couple of the baby goats! They were so cute! 

Later, we came upon a camel fit for riding. Aziz, Lubna's brother, tried his hand. But I decided to stick with just petting it.

Afterwards we went back to where Lubna's parents had rented or requested a tent. We sat and ate lunch and played some cards before heading back to Khobar. We smelled like fire and felt disgusting and we had never had more fun. This was Lubna's sister, Deema's, last day in the country before heading back to where she lives in the US. She laughed that this was a very Saudi experience for her last day. 

Day 1

My first day in Saudi Arabia was amazing. Battling jet lag, I went with Lubna's family to the Thursday Market in the city of Qateef. Lubna's father explained to me that Qateef used to be full of palm tree farms, but like much of the country, the land given way to the rapid construction one would expect to see in a developing country. Qateef was also once the capital of the eastern region of the country. It is now primarily Shia'a.

As a woman, I was required to wear an abiya, or black robe, and I made the decision to wear hijab, or head covering. Apparently with it on, I look Palestinian. Cool.

The market was like nothing I have ever seen. Much like Saudi Arabia as a whole, the market was a blend of old and new. Spongebob shirts sat next to stands with traditional fans and baby cribs. Nisan pickup trucks drove down aisles filled with nuts and spices. The Shia'a women were completely covered from head to toe, and a few of them still became upset when I took a picture of them. The funniest thing was that Lubna's family had also never been to the market, and so we all looked like tourists taking pictures and telling each other to stay together. One lady trying to sell us a basket said in Arabic, "Buy this basket. You only take pictures and you don't buy."

Following Qateef we went to Dareen, a city along the coast, where there were a ton of fishing boats and nets. There was also an ancient fort that was in ruins across the street from the water.

Lastly, we found ourselves in the city of Taroot. Here there was an area call Old Town, where 50 or so houses and buildings were from the original city. The remains of another old castle stood here,  as well as a beautiful mosque.

On the ride there and back I was introduced to Saudi driving. It was crazy, completely unlike American driving. Everyone was in a hurry, horns were used more than breaks, and the lines on the road separating lanes were more like suggestions. If you ever find yourself behind the wheel in Saudi Arabia (not talking to the ladies here, because that's illegal), good luck.

Eating lunch at Lubna's house afterwards also brought a surprise: camel. Yeah, they eat camel here. Although I found the taste to be decent, almost like beef, the meat was tough. Lubna's family, however, told me not to count that as my first camel meat experience because their cook had never made it before that day. So... maybe I'll have something different to say about it later?

Finally, I met a ton of Lubna's friends that tonight. We drank some tea and smoked some hookah, and they giggled (in a nice way!) about my attempts to learn Arabic. As we were sitting in the basement Bring It On came on TV and we all laughed about how old the movie was and how we loved it as kids. What I wasn't expecting, however, was the Saudi censorship. At the end of the movie, when Kristen Dunst is supposed to kiss whatever guy, the scene was edited out! Completely gone! Ahhhh!! It threw me for a loop. No kissing in Saudi Arabia, folks. Just not at all.

All in all, I was completely overwhelmed and I loved every second of it. More to come later!

The Itinerary

We finally know our itinerary! Yay!!

Christmas Day: I’m getting up at the crack of dawn and driving to Nashville to get on a plane. (My parents are going to Florida afterwards. My family has so much Christmas spirit, y’all.) From Nashville I’m flying to another airport (Keeping this a secret. I don’t want y’all to stalk me. Internet security FOR THE WIN). At the unspecified airport I have a FIVE HOUR MERRY CHRISTMAS LAYOVER and I’ll get on the plane that will eventually take me to Bahrain. I love traveling. This is looking like the best Christmas ever.

 Dec 26: I land in Bahrain, go through customs there, put on an abiya, and Lubna’s family picks me up and takes me across the border into SAUDI ARABIA!!! I made it, y’all!!!

Dec 27-29: I’m gonna hang out, see some camels, eat some camels, roll in some sand, roll in some oil, and speak some really poor Arabic.

Dec 30: FLY TO DUBAI! HECK YES, MOTHAS! DUBAI!

 

Dec 31- Jan 3: Stay at this hotel:

 

Across from this mall:

 (biggest in the world)

An d watch the New Year’s fireworks off of this building:

 (tallest in the world)

Weeeeeeeee!!!!!!

 

Jan 3-8: Do more desert things back in Saudi and Bahrain. Shop some. Eat more. And watch the Alabama Crimson Tide roll over Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship Game at 4:30am.

 ROLL TIDE Y'ALL!

January 8: Fly home. After all, classes start on the 9^th. Uh oh…

Team Lubelley

My first two friends at this University were also, by chance, named Katherine. To avoid confusion I quickly became referred to by my last name: Kelley.

My friends Katherine introduced me to Lubna midway through freshman year. Lubna and I had briefly met before at an International Relations Club meeting, a club I had dropped out of due to the time commitment required by my sorority (I told you I was a white girl, didn’t I?).

But, as we became fast friends, Lubna convinced me to return to the club as a sophomore. A year later, she and I became President and Vice-President, respectively, of that club. Essentially, we formed Team Lubelley.

This is us. I bet you can't guess who is who.

Lubna and I are like Forrest and Jenny: Two peas in pod. We have the same laugh, the same over-commitment to this club and to our school work, and the same bad luck with boys. Today I made her a promise to stop dating boys in said club. Not because it was bad for me, but because it was bad for the club. As you can see, our priorities are RIGHT where they should be.

I have a favorite memory with Lubna that I’d like to share if you are, in fact, still reading this. This happened during an International Relations Club meeting. Lubna was presenting to the club about Saudi Arabian politics and traditions. Naturally the subject of camels came up. And as I used to do pageants (seriously could I get ANY whiter?), Lubna thought it would be great to say, “This is something that reminded me of Kelley… PAGEANT CAMELS!”

This is real life.

We all learned two things that day in IRC. 1-There is such a thing as a camel pageant. 2-It’s easy to tell the difference between a racing camel and a pageant camel: If the camel looks like Kelley, it’s destined for pageants.

Essentially, Lubna and I are just two college girls who sometimes like to make weird faces and take luau-themed road trips to Alabama Away Football Games.

Wait, you mean people DON'T actually do this all the time?

Is any of this knowledge relevant to anything? Probably not. But at least if I have a really excited picture from a camel pageant… you’ll know why.



I'm Going WHERE?!?

Let's face it: I'm a stereotypical white girl. Natalie Portman is my idol and my list of guilty pleasures includes pumpkin spice lattes and watching the Bachelorette. But at some point in my stereotypical white girl life, I decided to become obsessed with the Middle East.

I usually blame it on the art class I took in high school (Middle Eastern art is cool as shiz, btw), but sometimes I think that it goes back way further than that. I remember hearing a lecture on Islam at my church as a middle schooler and since then I can't shake the feeling that there is a huge divide between Americans and the peoples of the Middle East.

Regardless of its origins, my obsession led me to major in International Relations and study Arabic at the University of Alabama, where I was blessed with meeting one of my best friends, Lubna. Lubna is from Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. And one year ago she asked if I would like to come home with her this Christmas. Naturally my answer was "HOLY CRAP YES I WOULD LIKE TO! HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

So I stand before you today with the announcement that my visa has been approved and in a little over a month, I will board a plane headed East. My parents are terrified, but I couldn't be more excited. I can't help but feel like, in a way, my entire life so far has led up to this moment. Not many people ever get the opportunity to do something like this. But God, or Fate, or what-have-you, brought a best friend into my life, and now she will bring me into hers.

I hope this blog is entertaining, enlightening, and completely ridiculous at times. I hope you all will learn and struggle with me as a try to pack everything I own into one suitcase, deal with hellacious jet lag, and face a culture that couldn't be more different from my own. Here's to an interesting next two months! Roll Tide and Ma'a Salama!