I am way behind on my goal to publish something every month…and since I am leaving my computer for the summer to visit family in the States, I decided I should summarize our last few months. They were quite busy. Janadiryah
In the month of March, we had some fun. I was very busy helping organize the International Festival with the PTSA, so I didn’t do much outside of school. One thing I did do, however, was make it to Janadiryah…the Saudi national festival. Families cannot attend this festival together, so there are women’s days and men’s days. Jacob was not able to come with us because he is in the “man” category now that he’s almost as tall as Jim. However, Emma, Naomi and Joseph came along with me, my friend, Angela, her two girls and her maid, Fiodi, who spoke Arabic (very useful!)
As we came into the festival, the muttawa were right there at the entrance, making sure that everyone was covered (remember, this was women’s day – but we still had to cover…) Emma
had forgotten her scarf, so we all decided to purchase (get this) COWBOY HATS that everyone was selling/buying in the parking lot. It was kind of funny, because you would have these women who were totally covered…face, hair, everything, and then they have a cowboy hat on their heads. I wish I could have taken pictures. We got by the muttawa (barely – they said Emma’s hair wasn’t covered well enough but I just pretended I didn’t hear them) and into the fair grounds. Once we got past the front gates, the atmosphere was very different. There were vendors sitting on the ground, lining the main thoroughfare selling all sorts of things…dresses for little girls, drums (of course Joseph got one of those), little finger cymbals, stuffed animals, fake jewelry…just anything you could think of. (Side note: it was the first time that I ever saw a woman breastfeeding her baby in public here…of course her face and hair were covered and she was wearing her
abaya – her breast was the only thing showing! I have to say that I was happy to see that babies are well fed in Saudi Arabia.) As we passed further into the festival, it seemed that the women became a little more relaxed. Face veils were taken off sometimes, and some rebellious young women even took off the veils covering their hair and opened up their abayas so their clothing was showing. We were surprised, because as soon as we got out of reach of the muttawa, women would stop us and tell us “Welcome to Saudi Arabia.” Some didn’t speak English very well, but everyone was extremely friendly toward us – even though we were unveiled, blonde Westerners.
We watched a camel grinding sesame seeds into sesame oil, and a basket weaver, too. A lot of the women/girls had circlets of flowers in their hair, so we bought the little girls some of those. We came to a tower, and inside the tower were women and girls who were without their abayas in traditional dress. The little girls were colorfully dressed, and sang us a sweet little “welcome” song in Arabic. We asked to take their picture, but were told that we could not. The funny thing was that after we were told we could not take pictures of the girls in traditional dress, the same women asked to take pictures of Angela’s daughter. Angela’s youngest daughter (who is so cute and very blonde) was very sought after for pictures…we had women lining up to take her picture everywhere we went! Poor little girl, we had to protect her from all the hands that tried to pinch her cheeks and get her attention…she was like a celebrity! After the tower, we let the little ones play a little and took some pictures with them.
The tastiest thing we did was go into the tent where they showed how to make some traditional sweets. They would make a little round pita type bread and then cover it in sugar and cinnamon and bake it in this tiny little oven, over hot coals. They were quite yummy! We also went inside the marketplace where they sold honey, traditional clothing, baskets, sweets, coffee and tea, and tobacco (some of it was herbal tobacco for the houka pipes or the “hubbly bubbly.”) Have I ever mentioned that Arabs don’t believe in getting in lines? Everyone just pushes to get where they want to go…this applies to traffic, and marketplaces…we were lucky to get out of there with all the children.
Anyhow, Janadiryah was a really fun afternoon (although it was hot – next year I’ll remember to go in the morning!)
International Festival
Our next activity for March was the International Festival – a very large festival at the children's school where over 40 countries create a country exhibit. This year, yours truly volunteered (never again, by the way) to oversee the exhibit for the U.S. in addition to doing the publicity for the event as the Publicity Chair of the PTSA’s Executive Council. Somehow, even though I said I would not do the International Festival, I ended up being on the Festival committee anyways. (I need to improve my “NO” skills.) We couldn’t’ have done the booth without my good friends, Stephanie and Lolly. (Stephanie has taken on the title of “Joanne’s common sense” because without her, 
I say “yes” too easily.) We did this last year with only two week’s notice and it was hard work but we were told that no one had ever gone to this much effort for America’s booth before and they really appreciated it, so this year we felt kind of obligated. Booz Allen Hamilton sponsored us again (thank goodness!) and we were able to do some fun things. Our theme was “Road Trip Across America” and we purchased these huge pictures of some things you might see if you took a road trip across America…NY Times Square, Mount Rushmore, and Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood that everyone could take their picture in front of. Our kids then made the flags of all 50 states, and we had some posters of sights from all parts of the country. The US Embassy also helped us by providing pins to give out as well as pamphlets from the national park service. One young Saudi couple who were engaged talked about going to Zion’s national park on their honeymoon, they loved the pictures so much. It was fun, but busy and we have all decided we are going to pass this opportunity to someone else next year. :)
Arabian Lights - Girls Camp 2009
