Illegal truck driving and more!

I DO have pictures of this lovely family. They are the first 'local' women that have let me photograph them, although much of them is covered. My PC died last week and I'm on Peter's MAC. (don't get all, 'see, Mac's ARE better than PC's, because while that is true - this Mac is half a breath behind the PC with one foot in the grave.) So as SOON as I can get them to upload, I will post them. And I may have a little video for you to boot. This is a long post, BTW. Sorry - I've got lots to tell about.

After we were seated and photographed with all of these lovely ladies, they started serving us food and drink. Have you ever tried to explain that you don’t drink tea or coffee, or caffeine for that matter, to people who think their religion is TOTALLY correct? And cannot understand why you wouldn’t drink these things. You’d think they would be more sympathetic to someone else’s religious beliefs. They aren’t rude, but they always laugh. Like I’m nuts. Uh? I beg your pardon, but have you noticed the rest of the world, ladies? Like the fact that most people don’t walk around in big black garbage bags with their faces covered like ninjas? See. They can’t understand no tea or coffee, yet I’m supposed to think their ways are totally normal. I guess this is what comes from a country that only allows one religion – no tolerance for others. Anyway, they giggle and laugh and I say, “I’m sure you can understand.” But they can’t.

The next drink option is always hot milk with nutmeg, which is SO good. I mean delightful. But you always have to wait like 10 minutes to have a drink of it. It is so hot. Maybe if I drank hot drinks on a regular basis it wouldn’t seem so hot, but they serve is just steaming. It’s worth the wait though. Would you believe that I’ve come to almost like dates? Not just tolerate them. Some are better than others, and I wish I knew how to tell the difference. But for now it’s just trial and error. These people are very western, and because of this I would later find out, that they have tastes that match mine much more than other local people.

“Would you like to see our tents?” Mona asked. (said like moo-na) Well, you betcha, I ‘d like to see their tents! So she, well they (because they all followed with us), took me around their camp sight. There was a sleeping tent for the women, the grandparents tent, a tent they had made into a store for the children. The children’s tent had candy, chips, drinks and other goodies that they played store with. There was the women’s sitting tent with a fire pit extending out the front. The pit is surrounded by arabic carpets, pushed right up to the fire area. Then there were big padded cushions in a ring, propped up on a metal frame, so you could sit back and relax with a little back support. Attached to the ladies sitting tent was the kitchen tent. A full working kitchen operated from this location. Across from the kitchen tent was the maids tent. Then there was the bathroom trailer, which I told you about already. It had two sinks with three toilets, another side had a private door with a toilet and sink. And the boys told me the men’s was two toilets and a sink. They really got the bathroom situation down. And for me, that is numero uno when camping. There was a men’s sleeping tent and a really big tent for the men to lounge in. Their tent had one side totally open with a beautiful view of the desert, a huge fire area, and it had a ton of cushions lining the walls. Men were lounging, sleeping and talking all afternoon in that comfy location. There may have been a few other tents or buildings as well. They have a man they hire from a nearby town to care for the place when they’re not there, so he had some kind of tent/shack type thing. Over all, this place was very impressive. My kind of camping. Especially, and I mean ESPECIALLY with six housemaids. No offense, but wouldn’t it be awesome to camp like this AND to not have to take care of any food prep or kids that need a nap? Sounds like dream to me.

“We keep the same schedule every day. Before lunch we walk to the camels. Would you like to join us?” Do you think at this point I would say no to anything?! Well, besides tea and coffee.
So every woman in the camp wrapped up their headscarves, got out their sunglasses and off we went. It was just a short walk across the dusty sand to another tent and corral. With this broken down old yellow school bus out front. Sounding more like the Idaho desert as we speak, isn’t it? The desert is covered in small mounds that were once some kind of plant, just the dry wood of the base and roots sticks up now. The ladies told me that more than ten years ago, this place would be green this time of year, with wild flowers all around. But now, the earth is dry and there is very little rain. The camels eat these things that appear to be sticks. I’ve wondered what they eat out here, and I can see, they are very hearty animals to be living off of this.
The girls raced with one another and goofed around. The older women chatted with me and made small talk. “Out here in the desert – we drive. I will take you later, if you like.” It being illegal to drive in this country, I was more than happy to experience this. On our visit to Kuwait last week I got to drive, and on the way home, late at night after we crossed the border home, Peter tried to convince me to drive. I was just too nervous. These jails aren’t the kind of jails you want to be in. (I’m pretty sure none are) Anyway, I said that of course I’d love to go on a drive.

We made it to the camel pen, where there were only two at the moment. The others were grazing off in the distance. Beautiful dark shapes again the bright blue sky. Most of the sky I see is quite dingy with pollution, even with the sea air blowing it away from me. Here the sky was gorgeous, and the air was clean. (well, clean-er) The kids goofed around some more, I took some photos and we headed back to the camp.

I went to check on my boys and Peter. They were living it up, digging their hearts out, while Peter was discussing everything under the sun with the men. Finally I heard, “You better hurry if you want a ride!” My oldest four grabbed their shoes and we ran to the back area of the property. There, appearing out of nowhere was a big old Chevy truck. It was white and loaded down already with family members. Then the kids, more ladies, and myself all crammed in the back. Mona said, “I am a safe driver. You do not need to worry.” Little does she know, even in the U.S. I’d never hop in the back of a truck and let someone drive me and my kids through the desert.

She actually was a very good driver. Just fast enough for fun, not too fast to scare me. We drove all around the desert. Passing other tents, camels and a whole lot of sand. Suddenly one of the older girls started singing, and then the whole back of the pickup truck started in. Oh, it was delightful. They were singing and clapping in gorgeous Arabic tones, with beautiful guteral solos here and there from the older women. I felt right out of a National Geographic. My kids and I, with out white skin and blond (ish) hair, among a sea of dark hair and dark skin, abays’ blowing in the wind, bumping along through the desert with a family of singing Arabs; with their mother illegally driving us. Could it get any better than this? Now this. THIS. This is what I moved my family to the other side of the world for. This is the kind of thing we will never forget.
We drove all over for near to a half hour, I’d say. They sang off and on the entire time, and I loved it. I tried to get my kids to sing, but really, the only songs we know well are Primary songs – so we sang one. It’s called “One in a Million.” They we’re shy and it was hard to hear them, but they did it, and I hope they always remember doing so. (the older ones, anyway) The last line of that song says, “I’ll be what Heavenly Father has in mind for me.” I truly believe that right now, this is what Heavenly Father has in mind for us, and it’s helping each of us be what he has in mind for us.

What a fun time. The older girls in the back with us said, “This is our Disneyland.” It certainly was fun, I’ll give them that. Although, my legs fell asleep under me, as we bounced around. Riding in the back of a pickup was certainly designed for the lighter and less of age person. Now we were back to the tents for more food. Now it was trays of nuts and dates. Our chairs had been moved to the outside and set in the shade of the tents. The maids served us plates of sunflower seeds, some kind of what looked like flavored melon seeds, and a traditional snack mix from Bahrain. It was a little spicy and had some dried peas and things in it. They were all very good. One of the women said about the seeds, “Do you know how to eat these?” And started showing me how to bite it in my mouth, you know, like a sunflower seed. Mona, with a look of disgust at her sister said, “Of course she knows how to eat a seed!” I laughed.
We sat in the shade and visited for a while. My three youngest came back to sit at out feet and played in the sand. Some of their children got water and sand toys, and they all played as if they were at the beach. The weather was bright and sunny, with a perfect temperature of around 75. You can bet that by the end of the day we were all wind blown and sun burned, and blissfully happy with our magical day.

I wandered back and forth between the men and women’s tents, while the women all stayed behind. Now and then a lady would disappear off the area of the tents, and I would see them in conversation with their spouse for a few minutes. Strangely to me, in this what felt traditional environment, they were all within reach of their cells phones and used them frequently throughout the day. Talking or texting. I can’t help but wonder who and what they were saying. Maybe texting their husbands in the men’s tent? Modern technology; you eat goat that has buried in the ground – and you text? This really is where the old meets the new. Because of the government here, and religious tradition, it’s like they missed the middle steps of progression. Maybe that’s why it’s so hard for them to progress in this country. They haven’t been going at it, little by little, like the rest of the world. As I’ve written before, in 1974 most Arabs (here) were still making their own shoes. Think of 1974 in the states, I mean the Brady Bunch were living large at that point. We have taken baby steps for the last several hundred years, while they have been asked to jump the Grand Canyon, emerging from the 6th century, in a matter of 30 years. It’s no wonder the growing pains are more than they can handle. But they are a wonderful people, I hope in years to come they can keep some of their heritage and learn to embrace the now. A tricky task for any of us.

We still had “lunch” (dinner, by now for American’s like us) and a sunset walk before us. The shadows were beginning to grow long and the day starting to cool. Then the maids motioned from the kitchen tent that the meal would soon be ready, and the older women went to help with the final preperations.