Culture Shock

Although I am getting to be something of a veteran  traveler, foreign cultures still surprise me on occasion. Sometimes they make me confused or amused. Sometimes they get me frustrated. But good or bad a bit of culture shock is the price that you pay for moving to a country like Saudi Arabia.

 

One of the most immediately obvious differences between Saudi culture and my own are people's driving habits. Saudis (and expats in KSA), tend to think they are the best drivers in the world. They are not. Drivers here speed. If the sign says seventy, don't be surprised if you see someone driving one hundred forty or over. In big cities like Riyadh, there are cameras that will register your license and automatically send you a speeding ticket. Unfortunately, here in Rabigh, on the fringes of civilization, no such futuristic technology is employed.  Besides the excessive speeding, motorists tend to pay little or no attention to pedestrians--a disconcerting reality in a city without any sidewalks. I was nearly run over a couple of weeks ago by a man in an SUV, going to quickly around a corner, into the wrong lane of traffic. The worst part: I believe he saw me and just expected me to jump out of the way.

My home country is largely atheist, whereas KSA is completely Muslim. As I am beginning to see ever the more clearly, Saudi culture is so infused with Islam that is impossible to imagine what it might be like without Islam. Wahhabism is the style of Islam practiced in KSA. It is very strict. Muslims are expected to pray five times a day. Dating is not allowed. Drinking and taking drugs are not allowed; and women must be covered when out in public. When all of these factors combine, they culminate a totally different social experience.

People don't go out to socialize the way we do in the west. I don't know about elsewhere in KSA, but in Rabigh, there are no cafes (although well paid expats like myself will hang out in hotels). There are no cinemas anywhere in Saudi Arabia, and there are obviously no bars. There are many specialty stores, and there are restaurants, so most of socialization in city centers tends to focus around shopping and eating. There are a few parks here and there, and the beach is very popular. The common social experience here seems to be more of a long, protracted event, relaxing on the beach, camping, with close friends or family, rather than going downtown for a night out with friends.


One of the most difficult things for me to adjust to thus far has been dealing with the shop closures during the four o' clock prayer (asr), the six-thirty prayer (maghrib) and the eight 'o clock prayer (isha). Work finishes at three-forty, and by the time I get downtown it's four. Most of the banks close at four thirty or four forty-five, but the prayer lasts until four-thirty, so the few banks that are left open, attract massive queues. So, there is a window between four-thrity and six thirty, when I can eat or do shopping, and after that, there is a window between six forty-five and eight. After maghrib, shops stay open quite late, but that's little help when you have to get up at six in the morning. Despite the insistence of one of my colleagues, shops have to close during prayer time, or they will get a visit from the police.

Saudis pray hard, but do they work hard? The consensus seems to be resounding "no". KSA is a welfare state and most Saudis seem to do quite well, despite the fact that it's (relatively) rare to actually see a Saudi working. So who runs the shops, sweeps the sidewalks, and builds the buildings? A massive contingent of foreign workers from places like the Philippines, India and Bangladesh. Engineers and skilled tradesmen come in from places like Japan, Korea, Spain and Germany; and educators come from all over. From what I've noticed, Saudis predominantly occupy administrative positions...although its also common to see them working as freelance taxi drivers in Rabigh, at least. 

Because the ratio of foreign workers to native Saudis is so high, the government has implemented legislation requiring employers to have a baseline of  Saudis on the payroll. I've heard stories that some companies will put a Saudi on the payroll, expect no work from him, and just allow him to come by every month and pick up his cheque. I'm a little skeptical, but if I take my students as a clue, I can see it happening. My students (trainees), get hired by companies, then are sent to school to learn English and technical skills to prepare them for their future positions. Their room and board is paid for, and they are given a monthly stipend. Some of them are hard-working, keen to learn, honest and intelligent. The majority, however, possess only one or two of  those qualities. They are for the most part smart guys, but laziness is the rule instead of the exception. This, I'm told, is the legacy of a lack-luster education system. Contrary to my own education, the one Saudis get doesn't seem to teach them about environmental stewardship, either.

Having come directly from Vancouver, where there is a garbage can on every block, recycling is commonplace, and litter is met with contempt, I'm astounded at the low quality of waste management here. If you buy even a bottle of water at the store, they will put it in a bag, which you are expected just to throw on the ground, along with the bottle, when your are done with that. Foreign workers clean the streets and haul the waste off to some central location, but outside the city the garbage never gets cleaned up. People treat county like one big garbage dump. Perhaps it is needless to say, there is no recycling program in Rabigh.Unlike some of my colleagues, I do see a lot of beauty in the environment here--but too often, that beauty gets glossed over, by garbage.

So, there are the challenges, but I don't want to get too caught up in the bad. It's not my purpose to dwell on the negative, only to point out some of the differences because it's interesting. And actually, there are a lot of positives here as well, which I will write about in a future post.