Monday, May 16, 2011

The "Wow, I live in Saudi Arabia" Moment of the Day


I love Mythbusters. It's a fantastic show and they get to do lots of ridiculous stuff on there...like make cheese cannons or turn cargo containers and a forklift into a catapult. I heard an interview with them once where they were asked about what it's like to be able to do all that cool stuff and Adam Savage always says that they have what he calls "what the hell are we doing" moments. It's kind of like..."so we get to try and shoot a dude off a pier with compressed air and soda bottles...what the hell are we doing?!"

In a similar fashion I get stopped by the ridiculousness of things going on in around me in the Kingdom pretty frequently. These are my version of the "what the hell am I doing" moments...but to be more tame, I call them "wow, I live in Saudi Arabia" moments.

Today, I was sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store we go to (you know, the one that looks like a casino?) and listening to the end of a BBC newscast when a promo for a piece on the anniversary of Marvin Gaye's What's Goin On album came on. In the background of the promo was of course "What's Goin On". I love that song, and so I had an impromptu car dance behind the wheel singing the chorus to myself, when I looked up and saw a family of Saudis walking into the grocery store...all thobed and abaya'd out. I stopped dancing immediately. It was my "wow., I live in Saudi Arabia" moment. I was in the parking lot of the Indian grocery store, listening to Marvin Gaye on a British news radio station...in Saudi Arabia. It was strange...but I couldn't help chuckling to myself. We live a very unique kind of life here in the Kingdom...

Vicariously yours,

1 comment:

  1. I am Saudi , Saudi Arabia is like a hell , No theater no Cinema no alcohol . just religion and religion and religion , I hate a religion , I hate a Islam .

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