I'm almost past the point of apologizing for these erratically written posts, because unfortunately my job requires me to be in places where internet is utter crap. The saddest part was my most recent stint also included the Saudi government shutting down Blackberry services (internet, BBM) for 4 days, presumably because of the protests going on in Qatif. Qatif is essentially the only city in Saudi Arabia where the entire populace is Shiite, and it happens to be located about 45 minutes from Al Khobar (where I am currently). The other 90% of the country is Sunni. This might not mean much to Americans, but try to picture it as the Protestants versus the Catholics in Ireland for all those years. There's subtle tension. The Shiites want prisoners released (guys who apparently bombed the US embassy back in '96) and the Saudis don't want to release them. Might have something to do with their relationship with the US. But I guess a couple hundred people protested in the streets Thursday night (March 10) and things got ugly, with a couple people sent to the hospital. On Friday, there was supposed to be a "Day of Rage" all across Saudi, but the police forces stepped up their presence and prevented any massive rallies from happening, although people certainly tried in Qatif. A couple of our equipment operators are from Qatif and said the hospital was closed and thousands of people tried to organize a rally but nothing ever really transpired.
This brought me conflicting emotions of both relief and despair. I'm relieved that there was minimal violence, but I also had subtly hoped that some winds of change touch this desolate land. My few months here have made me far more aware of the interesting ways in which governments (and anybody really) try to control their people. It's strange that I had to come to one of the most extreme countries on earth to learn that, but better late than never.
On a slightly different note, I've also had a lot of interesting conversations about women here in Saudi Arabia. To give you some context, the other day was International Women's Day. I was lucky enough to grab a newspaper and read some of the commentary written about women and by women in Saudi. Saudi women cannot (1) drive, (2) play organized sports, (3) watch organized sports at stadiums, (4) open a bank account without their male guardian, (5) go to court without their male guardian, and a host of other things that I would imagine any Westernized woman would consider birthrights. Young women's fathers make the decisions about what their daughters study in school (some majors involve settings where men and women !GASP! work side by side), whether they can travel at all, and obviously which man can take her hand in marriage. Most of the women who wrote about their dreams wanted the ability to make these simple decisions. They want to drive (although I would imagine the drivers license photo might have something to do with that current limitation. 'Is that really you?' 'Yup those are my eyes'). They want to be able to have the choice in their career. In a nutshell, they want freedom. Understandable right?
What was even more fascinating to me however, was how many of the young women still wanted to be mothers first. Saudi women, in general, only have power over one place: the home. They are still intimately involved in the lives of their children and they make most of the decisions regarding the kids. Many women feared losing that power if they decided to embark on careers. They want to be good Muslims, good wives, and good mothers too. It's like they aspire for the successful careers and opportunities that Western women have, but fear the negative consequences that come with that, which seems fairly understandable to me.
Saudi men still have a little more, dare i say, antiquated viewpoint of women. One of my operators told me that 'women are like diamond, so they must be covered up.' Plenty of the guys I work with are also adamant about not having women in the oilfield. Even some of the management who I've grown to respect have expressed that they wouldn't go to a rig where a woman was. I suppose I assumed that the stereotypes I'd had of people from this region would be shattered during my time over here, but sadly some of them have been reinforced.
I do feel compelled to tell you I still believe the people I work with are absolutely awesome guys. Loyal to the teeth, genuinely kind, and very welcoming to westerners. I certainly couldn't ask for more, so I hope y'all don't think I'm trying to demean Arabs or their culture. But I do feel I should inform everybody simply of some of the real differences between the Western world and the Arab world. Hopefully we can learn something from each other, and I think that's certainly been the case so far with me. Just yesterday, one of my Saudi operators came back from vacation only to find out that I wasn't still out there on location with the guys, but back in Khobar for a couple days. He called me and told me he was bummed I wasn't there when he got back. I was legitimately touched and I told him I'd be back as soon as I could. It was completely unexpected, but I'm glad that camaraderie has found its way into my life out here. It definitely makes the crappier things easier to handle.
Maybe this country isn't so bad after all...
(PS, congrats to Michigan basketball for gettin to the tourney. Clearly going all the way. And Sparty: wow)
(Also, good luck Japan!)
This brought me conflicting emotions of both relief and despair. I'm relieved that there was minimal violence, but I also had subtly hoped that some winds of change touch this desolate land. My few months here have made me far more aware of the interesting ways in which governments (and anybody really) try to control their people. It's strange that I had to come to one of the most extreme countries on earth to learn that, but better late than never.
On a slightly different note, I've also had a lot of interesting conversations about women here in Saudi Arabia. To give you some context, the other day was International Women's Day. I was lucky enough to grab a newspaper and read some of the commentary written about women and by women in Saudi. Saudi women cannot (1) drive, (2) play organized sports, (3) watch organized sports at stadiums, (4) open a bank account without their male guardian, (5) go to court without their male guardian, and a host of other things that I would imagine any Westernized woman would consider birthrights. Young women's fathers make the decisions about what their daughters study in school (some majors involve settings where men and women !GASP! work side by side), whether they can travel at all, and obviously which man can take her hand in marriage. Most of the women who wrote about their dreams wanted the ability to make these simple decisions. They want to drive (although I would imagine the drivers license photo might have something to do with that current limitation. 'Is that really you?' 'Yup those are my eyes'). They want to be able to have the choice in their career. In a nutshell, they want freedom. Understandable right?
What was even more fascinating to me however, was how many of the young women still wanted to be mothers first. Saudi women, in general, only have power over one place: the home. They are still intimately involved in the lives of their children and they make most of the decisions regarding the kids. Many women feared losing that power if they decided to embark on careers. They want to be good Muslims, good wives, and good mothers too. It's like they aspire for the successful careers and opportunities that Western women have, but fear the negative consequences that come with that, which seems fairly understandable to me.
Saudi men still have a little more, dare i say, antiquated viewpoint of women. One of my operators told me that 'women are like diamond, so they must be covered up.' Plenty of the guys I work with are also adamant about not having women in the oilfield. Even some of the management who I've grown to respect have expressed that they wouldn't go to a rig where a woman was. I suppose I assumed that the stereotypes I'd had of people from this region would be shattered during my time over here, but sadly some of them have been reinforced.
I do feel compelled to tell you I still believe the people I work with are absolutely awesome guys. Loyal to the teeth, genuinely kind, and very welcoming to westerners. I certainly couldn't ask for more, so I hope y'all don't think I'm trying to demean Arabs or their culture. But I do feel I should inform everybody simply of some of the real differences between the Western world and the Arab world. Hopefully we can learn something from each other, and I think that's certainly been the case so far with me. Just yesterday, one of my Saudi operators came back from vacation only to find out that I wasn't still out there on location with the guys, but back in Khobar for a couple days. He called me and told me he was bummed I wasn't there when he got back. I was legitimately touched and I told him I'd be back as soon as I could. It was completely unexpected, but I'm glad that camaraderie has found its way into my life out here. It definitely makes the crappier things easier to handle.
Maybe this country isn't so bad after all...
(PS, congrats to Michigan basketball for gettin to the tourney. Clearly going all the way. And Sparty: wow)
(Also, good luck Japan!)
