The DQ

Since I had an appointment at the Embassy for Wednesday afternoon, I figured why not visit Caroline in the Diplomatic Quarter afterwards?  The diplomatic quarter or DQ, for short (this always makes me want ice-cream) is a huge tract of land where all the embassies for all the countries who have embassies in Saudi are.  Surrounding the embassies are residential areas where lucky expats live.  The security is extremely tight, but the environment is incredible.  There are fountains and palm trees and green things everywhere.  There are recreational facilities and even a small shopping area.  The place is huge and getting in isn't easy.  There are only two gates, and so there is always a line of cars waiting to get in.  Guards walked around our cars with mirrors to check the underside and trunk, and we had to drive past two giant tanks, with guys carrying machine guns at the ready, and that was just to get through the first check point.

At the next point I had to show my passport and a printout of my appointment.  My taxi driver had been to the DQ before, but never to the US embassy.  Neither had I.  We both kept our eyes out for signs and directions.  We passed the Iranian embassy, the Nigerian embassy, the Swiss embassy and the "equestrian training park".  We saw signs for the Egyptian embassy, the Irish Embassy, and the United Nations office, but still no sign of the US embassy.  We stopped and asked at the United Nations building, and a guard pointed to a deserted looking corner of the parking lot.  My driver took me over and stopped another man gathering trash.  He told the driver that this was as close as he could get by car, and offered to walk me in the right direction.  There still hadn't been any signs.  I was beginning to wonder if perhaps there was no signs on purpose, as a sort of security measure.

I paid the driver and got out and followed the garbage man across a few concrete barriers.  Eventually we rounded a corner and there is was, a covered walkway with misters going leading to the entrance of the consular section of the United States Embassy.  I went through the gates and metal detectors and left my cell phone at the front in a little box and got a number in exchange to reclaim it when I came out.  I went through another metal detector and then out a door into a really nice outdoor area with a fountain and some chairs and cafe tables.  It struck me as odd to have a little cafe inside of such a restricted area, but I guess even the consulate officers need a place to take a break from work.

The consulate area was guarded by another set of guards who led me to the american citizen services section.  It wasn't that crowded and It only took about 10 minutes to see a consular.  He said basically the same thing the other guy said.  He would call them and ask them what was taking so long.  He said that was about all they could do.  He told me about another case with the same company where a woman had waited over a year for her exit visa and had camped out in front of the embassy for weeks and still there was nothing they could do.  I suppose he was saying this to assure me that they were doing all they could do, but it just made everything seem more hopeless than ever.  I asked him if he thought I should submit the case to the ministry of labour.  He advised against it.  He explained that it would probably make the whole process take even longer.  Anytime the ministry is involved, it adds a month or two to the whole process he told me.  I thanked him, discouraged, and headed back outside.

The whole meeting had taken less than 15 minutes and I now had about 2 hours to kill before I met Caroline.  I was pretty hungry, and I had forgotten to eat lunch.  I didn't want to eat too much because Caroline was going to make dinner, but I figured I would need something to hold me over.  So I set off in search of two things, Caroline's place, and the little shop for groceries she told me was near her house.  It was a hot day so I decided to take off my hijab.  After all, this was the DQ, I could have even taken off my abaya if I wanted to!  I was nervous to go that far because there were a lot of men in thobes around, but man was it nice to feel the wind in my hair.  It's funny how you forget about small joys like this so easily.

I meandered past a number of buildings including one for the ministry of tourism and culture in Saudi, which supposedly had a museum.  I thought about trying to go in, but my growling stomach urged me on.  I walked past a sign that said British Embassy and pointed, and I remembered that she lived very near the British Embassy because she had talked about a recent party with an Indian theme she had attended there and walked home from. So I turned and walked into a little covered walkway.  There were a lot of business offices in this strip mall sort of area, there was a sign for IBM, Tyson, and The British Council.  I realized I must have seen the sign for the British Council and not the British Embassy, but it was a good detour because I found a little shop like a 7-11.  I bought some interesting looking vegetable chips, and almost bought some other candy and nuts, but I didn't want to spoil my appetite, so I stuck with the vegetable chips.  While I was waiting to pay I overheard a little scuffle between the cashier and a customer, He was claiming discrimination.  It wasn't clear what it was he wanted, but it was clear that he felt if he wasn't Saudi, the shop owner would have let him have it.  He stormed out of the store, and I looked around at the faces of some of the other customers for some clue as to what had just happened, but they were all extremely busy avoiding looking anyone in the eyes.  I paid and left to ponder the mysteries of the situation outdoors in the garden area.

I found a nice shady spot and sat down to read my book and finish my veggie chips in the great outdoors.  It felt wonderful.  The chips weren't terrible, but they also weren't great, kind of like eating those packing chips from the 80s that dissolved a little when you got them wet, seasoned with the packets from Raman noodles.  It was enough to hold me over.   I continued walking hoping I would eventually spot something familiar, or that Caroline would call.  I walked past half a dozen more Embassies and the little shopping mall type area, but that seemed closed so I kept walking.  I was just getting ready to ask someone for directions to the British Embassy when Caroline called.  She was finished with work and was just waiting on the driver.  She told me to head for roundabout 11 and told me the name of the neighbourhood she lived in.  I told her I would start walking in that direction and we would probably both arrive around the same time.

Luckily, I could see round about 10 to my right, so I took a chance and figured roundabout 11 would be the next one on the left.  I was right.  Sure enough, in front of Roundabout 11 was a sign for the neighbourhood she lived in.  I was a lot closer than I thought.  So when I saw a path on the other side of roundabout 11 leading to the top of a hill, I figured I had time for a small detour.  It was a steep climb, but it had been paved with little stone steps so it was pretty easy climbing.  There were some bushes overgrown on the path and I thought about what a shame it was that this cool path clearly went unused.  If I lived in the DQ, I would run this trail every morning and when I got to the top I would jump up and down like Rocky.  Since I was walking and not running, I decided to forgo the celebration When I got to the top.  On one side I could see the financial district of Riyadh in the distance.  All of those skyscrapers had been built within the last 3 years.  It was kind of amazing to think about really.  Construction happened around the clock and 60 story buildings were finished in 6 months or less.  On the other side, I could look out over the greenery of the DQ.  It was like looking at two completely different geographies.  On the one side, brown flat and concrete, on the other, hills and palm trees everywhere.  I kept going on the path past the overlook and on the other side of the hill was a really cute little hidden picnic area.  There was a spot for a camp fire and a stone picnic table that looked like something they would slay Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia on.   It was great.  There were dead leaves and overgrown plants everywhere, but it would make a great spot to hang out in the evening and roast marshmallows and tell ghost stories.  I was really mad that the Embassy had such strict rules about bringing things in.  I didn't have my camera or my tablet or anything to take pictures with.

I would have stayed longer, but I figured I had better find Caroline's place.  I went back down the hill and followed the sign to her neighbourhood.  I walked past the Swiss Embassy and a small elementary school that had already let out for the day.  I remembered Caroline saying that her place was next to a garden so I went into the garden next to the school.  There was a nice small fountain in the middle of the garden and there were these little secluded bench areas like mini gazebos all around the fountain.  there were climbing plants growing around all of the structures and the whole thing was lovely and shaded and beautiful.   If you kept walking to the right, there was a small playground, and after that a fenced in tennis court.  The path kept going, but it didn't look like there were any houses that way so I turned back.  On the way out I saw a map and quickly realized why the garden wasn't helping me find the place.  There were over 50 gardens in the DQ of various sizes.  I had obviously not found the one near her house.

Caroline called again and let me know that she was home.  I told her I was still on the way.  Unlike the rest of Saudi, the DQ actually has street names, so I was able to tell her where I was.  Unfortunately, that didn't really help her much since she didn't recognize the street name.  I told her I would keep walking following the signs for her neighbourhood and I would arrive soon.  I did keep going, and about 45 minutes and three wrong turns later, I finally found her place.  Maybe I was secretly getting lost on purpose, just to keep enjoying the sunlight and being outside near green things.

Caroline made a nice dinner for us and we chatted about our work.  Both of us were the kind of people who didn't really like sitting around doing nothing, but somehow, that's the situation we were both finding ourselves in at our various jobs.  The owner of FATE's wife had had her baby, and so they had more or less taken the week off.  Caroline was excited for them but was getting anxious sitting in an empty college waiting for students to arrive, and it wasn't much better at home. Her apartment was almost like a cave these days since all but one of the light-bulbs had burnt out.  The ceilings were tall and she couldn't simply replace them herself.  She had been waiting for them to fix it for going on two weeks now.  There was always something.  She told me she was seriously considering quitting if things didn't get moving soon.  I told here that they hadn't (surprise, surprise) gotten me the iqama yet, so I was beginning the process of fighting for a final exit.  She told me she knew the HR guy at the British School in Bahrain and happened to know they were looking for an English/Theater teacher for their lower school.  She said she remembered from my CV I had some theatre experience and she could put me in touch with them if I wanted.  I told her that would be great.

After dinner, we went for a walk, sans abaya.  There is a 40 km long track around the whole perimeter of the DQ and people can bike jog or walk along it.  She told me that strangely, she never really saw anyone else walking around.  Occasionally she saw someone walking a dog or pushing a stroller, but other than that, it was pretty empty.  I thought what a shame it was that so many people tried so hard to get a place here for all the amenities it offered, and then they never even used them.  I'd like to think I would be out walking everyday if I was here, but to be honest, I'm just not sure that I would.  Maybe I would get complacent like everyone else and end up spending my nights binge watching The Wonder Years.  Who knows.  We walked along the path for a while, and there were a lot of places like the one I had found at the top of the hill.  There were out of the way secluded fire pits and picnic tables, and sometimes just little benches built into the side of the path.  Caroline and joked that it seemed ironic that someone had basically built a serious of hidden make-out spots all over this walking path.  I think in reality they were made so families could have barbecues, and the women could uncover and enjoy their time with the family feeling secure that no one would see her out in the open.  Still, if you were a teenager, you couldn't ask for a better make out spot.

When it got dark we turned back, I'm sure we had only seen a fraction of what the DQ had to offer, but I was definitely jealous.   I kept thinking, this could be mine, could have been mine, if only the complicated Saudi labour laws didn't get in the way.  I figured I would get back home so that I could go and not work the next day, but Caroline suggested we watch a movie or a TV show or something, and I realized that despite our very different living situations, Caroline was just as lonely as I was.

We spent the rest of the evening watching the first episode of the Walking Dead and I was really glad to have her company for that.  I wanted to keep watching the series on my own, but doubted I would ever do it alone or at night. e joked about how if you stand in the center of a mall and watch all the abaya clad figures shuffling past, they were pretty much just like the walking dead.

When it started to get late I called a few taxi drivers I knew, but not many of them answered and the ones who did didn't want to come to the DQ.  She called her driver and he wasn't around.  We tried looking up some cab companies on the internet but had very little success.  I was surprised that a system like uber taxi hadn't taken hold here.  I mean, after all, everyone has a cell phone, and half the population pretty much always takes taxis.  Caroline pointed out that it would never work for Saudi's who were very mistrustful of drivers and liked to stick with just one. I teased her because she is the same way.  I told her it was probably because the system already works pretty well.  I've never waited longer than 5 minutes for a taxi by just standing outside on the corner and waiting.  So that is what we finally did.

She walked me to the gate and we stood there, me in my abaya, here without anything, waiting for a taxi to drive by.  I felt uncomfortable this close to the outside world and Caroline without her abaya.  She felt uncomfortable being practically naked compared to me all bundled up.  We had to wait a few minutes, but eventually a driver came by.  He didn't have an official taxi sign on the roof, but he did have a meter, and Caroline very studiously took down his plate number just in case.  I promised to call her as soon as I got home and we parted ways.  Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday night.