Paradise Found

My son had the last week off from school. During this time, we had the pleasure of meeting two American women, MM and KY, who are both married to Saudis and have lived here in Arabia for well over 20 years.

How did I get to meet these two lovely women, you ask? We were “virtually” introduced by a fellow blogger, American Bedu (Thank You, AB!), who lives in Riyadh. Even though MM and KY do not blog themselves, they regularly read Middle Eastern blogs and leave comments on them. There is an immense blogging community over here in the Middle East, as well as all over the world, that I hadn’t paid any attention to until we made the decision to move here last year. Blogging has opened up a whole new world to me that I never even realized existed! I am so pleased at the number of cyber friendships I have forged with these fantastic people who all have their own stories to tell. We read each others’ blogs, leave comments on them, share in joys, tragedies, problems, link to each others’ blogs on our blogs, and lend support and share knowledge with one another. It is a welcoming warm community of which I am proud to be a part. This is indeed what the “World Wide Web” is all about!

Anyway, back to the story at hand. We agreed to meet at a local café for breakfast. I was so excited to meet these two ladies that I could hardly sleep the night before! Up to this point, I had only met one other American woman in the entire six months I have been here. MM is a tall statuesque blonde with a quick wit and a no-nonsense approach. She met her husband back in 1975 when she was 19. As I listened to her talk about how she and her husband met and fell in love, I drew many similarities between her story and my own. MM and her husband raised their two children, who are now grown, back and forth between the US and Arabia. KY is a beautiful woman who has a gentle nature and an easy going personality. She met her Saudi husband when she was only 17 in 1979. KY and her husband have three sons, two of whom are now in college in the US. She has a part-time job that affords her a lot of flexibility with her schedule.

MM and KY have been here long enough to know the ropes. They are both comfortable speaking Arabic (Yay! There is hope for me yet!). From them I learned that there are several women’s groups and various local institutions like the Historical Society that women are allowed to join, which was really exciting news for me. There are groups for Saudi wives and British wives that meet monthly, as well as religious study groups, book clubs and cultural groups. Many of the women transplants obviously lead very rewarding and fulfilling lives over here. KY had to leave then to go to work and MM had a salon appointment to get her hair and nails done – she was attending a fashion show later on that evening!

A few days later, MM invited me to go to the beach – actually a private beach club just outside of town. There are several exclusive private beach clubs where foreigners can join and have the freedom to enjoy the outdoors without being bogged down with the strict rules of the culture outside its walls. Since it was Spring Break, I asked if it would be all right if my son tagged along and she said of course but that he would not be able to sit with us at the beach. As we drove out to the place, I recognized the route. It was the same road we take to get my SIL’s country home. The beach club turned out to be in the very same vicinity. It has an unmarked entrance with a guard gate. MM and her husband have been members of this club for several years. When her kids were younger, they had a two bedroom unit, but they downsized to a shower unit, like an efficiency apartment, once her kids were grown. The units are leased on an annual basis. Women can chuck their abayas here and wear modest bathing suits and shorts and relax under the glorious sun without fear of being harassed by the religious police.

This place is gorgeous. The grounds are lush, beautifully landscaped and well maintained. The private beach is secluded with privacy walls standing on peninsulas built up on either side, jutting out into the immense Red Sea. When we arrived in the late morning of this mid-week day, we were the only ones there. We had the entire beach to ourselves. MM told me that if this were a weekend, the place would be packed to the gills. There were hundreds of lounge chairs lined up facing the sea, bright teal blue, green and white beach umbrellas, and wooden slatted walkways over the perfectly combed golden sand. Crabs swiftly jaunted along the beach and the blue sea was a spectacular backdrop for our day of fun. Abundant flowers in shades of lavender, yellow, orange and pink were everywhere along with palm trees, banana trees, bushes and cascading greenery. On one end of the beach was an area where one could obtain small boats, surf boards, boogie boards, life vests and other equipment.

It was literally paradise. My son and I were in awe. We put our beach gear down and while MM and KY settled in to grab a little sun, Adam and I went off to explore the lovely grounds. We proceeded along the slatted path away from the beach, up some wide stairs toward the tucked away villas surrounding the attractive pool area. As we approached, I entered a huge round neatly trimmed hedge area which housed and hid four open air showers. The brilliant turquoise blue pool bottom was speckled with patterns of vivid tiles, which appeared like swimming schools of little brightly multicolored fish. In the center of the enormous curvy shaped pool was a massive rock island with a swim up bar area complete with built in tiled stools for guests to sit on. A rock bridge linked the pool deck to the island and curved above the pool allowing swimmers to swim under it. The sparkling pool was empty and inviting, so my son jumped right in and joyously had the whole pool all to himself, as I happily snapped pictures. After a while we returned to the beach to join our new friends. After another hour or so, a couple showed up and parked themselves at a spot a comfortable distance away from us.

Shortly thereafter, the four of us decided to take a dip in the azure sea. The clear water was a tad chilly and took a bit of gentle persistence in the easy bouncing waves to get used to it. We then heard voices and giggles and looked up. My son was incredulous as a group of young teenage girls with two adult chaperons made their way to the beach. Startled, he whirled around to face me, red faced, and whispered under his breath excitedly, “I don’t believe it! Those girls are from my school!” Unbelievably this gaggle of giggling girls was all from his school and was in his class no less! Adam was shy and embarrassed and kept his back to the girls. Two girls entered the water and we eventually found ourselves within earshot. I finally broke the ice and said hello, and with that Adam turned around to face the girls.

They were surprised and seemed genuinely pleased when they realized who he was. “Adam!” they happily exclaimed, “What are you doing here?” From that point on, they all chatted from a safe distance and laughed. When some of the girls went over and got into an inflatable boat with oars, Adam followed suit and got his own boat. The adults all watched as the kids enjoyed themselves trying to paddle the boats back and forth across the water – they weren’t very good at it!

For Adam, this place was indeed paradise and the day was heaven. He had a fantastic time relishing the boat, the waves, the sun and the sand, and being able to see some friends away from the confines of school. Needless to say, this day was the highlight of his Spring Break!