Ladies' bus trip to Dammam

Today, for the first time in over a year, I went out my front door to catch the compound bus to the city of Dammam for a morning of shopping with the ladies. I did wear my abaya, but I left my hair uncovered. Dammam is much more reserved than Al Khobar as many women get approached to "COVER YOUR HEAD" by the Religious Police (Matawas). At the bus stop in front of our apartment area, there were about 8 ladies waiting when I arrived, all totally covered in the black, all with head scarfs and/or veils. Once the bus arrived, however, I was pleased to see that I was NOT the only one going off to Dammam with a naked head. The buses make a lot of stops to pick up all the women here at KFUPM as we have a very big faculty housing section.

I met up with several of my KFUPM women friends and enjoyed talking with them all so much that the 25 minute ride to Dammam went by very quickly. There were so many woman going shopping from our compound today, that it was necessary to take two large buses. Most of the women had their little babies and toddlers with them and strollers. On the return trip, the buses were absolutely stuffed with not only the women, children and strollers but also hundreds of plastic bags of purchases.

The bus stops at a huge mall in Dammam that houses very inexpensive housewares and clothing of all kinds for women and children. Right next to this mall is a huge 10 Riyals shop...similar to the $2 stores in the USA.

Mornings are when women go shopping here and in the evenings the families go out shopping. So, since the weather here is still cool, this is a good time of year to get out and about and look around at the stores. Very, very cheap stuff, but even so, I hampered the shopping of my friends because I am an American. When these shop keepers see an American, or any Westerner, or anyone they may perceive to be a Westerner, they hike their prices WAY up. Nasty but true. As a result, I felt terrible that I was spoiling the shopping day. To compensate I didn't go into all the shops with my friends. They were all covered in black with black scarfs on their heads. They are from India, Sri Lanka, Cuba and Greece. Their skin tone is darker than mine and that is the main key to getting a better deal. So, I would just stroll around outside some of the shops and wait so they could get their discounted prices. In the 10 Riyal shop, however, everything is marked cheap and no bargaining goes on there.

We then went to a MacDonald's for tea and coffee and visiting until the bus returned to haul us back to KFUPM.

When I got home I cooked up a turkey breast and packed some other food for me and Jim to take to the beach for dinner. KFUPM has a private beach, Half Moon Bay, about a 20 min. drive from the campus. It was pretty chilly at the beach this evening. I had to actually put on a sweater!! We stayed to watch the sunset, but the cloud bank was too thick, so we didn't have a sunset...BUT, we did see a couple of dolphins!!

Right now Jim is giving a test tonight and I will be returning to my book, "JARHEAD". Just finished reading "Buffalo For The Broken Heart", and recommend it VERY much. Author is Dan O'Brien.