Longboarding Arabia: First Impressions

Now that I’m in Saudi Arabia, I don’t board to the embassy every day. I live too close to make it practical. For comparison, my house is a folf par 4 from the embassy gate. But my cafe addiction is alive and well, so yesterday I finally worked up the awakeness to wake up early and make a Starbucks run before work.

Longboarding down the main road, I was passed by two Saudi shabaab in uniform but off duty. They waved at me, I waved back. After they passed, the passenger half jokingly held his hand out the car window for me to grasp. At first I didn’t think they were serious: who would grasp the hand of a stranger in a moving car in a strange country? Then they pulled over and I wondered if they were legit. Recent counter surveillance and counter-terrorism courses have bred other paranoid instincts.

But I’m not going to let a cultural opportunity pass me by! As I passed by their parked car I held out my left arm- a signal saying “Sure… I’ll try.” They slowly passed me again this time I grasped his arm, and began skitching, about as fast as I’ve ever gone, definitely over 25. We made it to the cafe, where we chatted for a while and then we all had to go to work.

How awesome is it that the Saudi officers are the ones giving me a lift for skitching, rather than the ones trying to fine me for it?

Later, I learned from the Polish Ambassador’s daughter that there is a skatepark in the DQ. Maybe it’s time to get a shortboard too.