More First Impressions

After 15 years of school and 3 months of orientation and training in Washington DC at the Foreign Service Institute, I am finally entering the working world in Riyadh. Here are some of my first impressions about the Kingdom:

Colors:

Everywhere I visit retains a color in my memory. I imagined Riyadh would be like the Saudi Embassies in Damascus and Washington, or like the Saudi thobes, a gleaming marble white set against the blue and the desert. That’s not the case, the city of Riyadh is camouflaged against the desert; all the buildings are a sand tan including my house, government buildings, businesses, and the embassy.

This is about the greenest I've seen Riyadh.

Roads:

Due to a lack of rain, the centers of the streets are slick with oil and sand. It fills in the crevices in the asphalt and becomes as slick, if not more so than a rainy road.  Even my 5-10’s slip on the asphalt here, and screeching tires are the norm when passing roundabouts. Also, Saudi drivers are crazy. Supposedly Saudi is the most dangerous place in the world to drive.

The Western Bubble:

Living in the embassy community, it is incredibly easy and tempting to eschew contact with the host country. Even the design of the Diplomatic Quarter seems to be to keep us separate from the locals. This is not to say it is impossible, or to say that it’s even hard to get out, but unlike many other places I’ve lived, it’s not necessary or seemingly encouraged to integrate with the local culture.