In Riyadh drivers are a fact of life.
Domestics, Ubers, taxi men—they steer
the expat hordes and every mother, wife,
and daughter to their destinations here.
They come in droves from countries down the scale,
from Pakistan, and Bangladesh, Nepal,
and India—impoverished men who trail
the highways at another’s beck and call.
Each time I walk, I hear the taxi horns,
each plaintive beep, “Please white man, share your wealth
with me.” For fourteen hours, from early morns
and through each night they spend their life—and health.
I sit in back, while they the front are given.
My conscience knows who drives and who is driven.
Tag Archives: Saudi Arabia
American Diplomacy
Capturing funny conversations for people who weren’t there is hard. But this one is worth trying. It is relevant that Pakistani Friend 2 in the dialog below is a big Pakistani nationalist, and we’ve spent a lot of time talking about international politics and the negative perceptions towards American policies.
Me to Pakistani Friend 1: “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
Continue readingAlways Open a Tickets
Note: The two years we spent in Saudi Arabia were by general consensus the best two years of our family life. The kids were all three still at home but all old enough to have independent experiences and remember stuff. And Saudi itself was fantastic. Still, there were some moments. Boy were there. Dealing with customer service in any form was always liable to be memorable. Putting stories like this on Facebook was a fun way to stay connected with the folks back home. (DL, June 10, 2023).
Saudi customer service strikes again:
Step 1) Send a wire transfer to the US
Step 2) Ten days pass.
Step 3) Wire transfer never arrives
Step 4) Call US bank:
“Wire transfer much?”
“Nope. Sorry.”
Step 5) Take a half day off work to shuttle around town and stand in line at Saudi bank.
Continue readingOne of the Best Nights Ever
Note: I wrote this Facebook post just over a month after Holly and the kids had moved out to join me in Saudi Arabia. Those neighbors (sadly now divorced) and those Thursday nights on the patio are some of our dearest memories from that time. We carry on the tradition still. Just last night we had our own South Carolina Friday night on the patio, complete with shisha, home-made charcuterie, and music. (DL, June 10, 2023).
How do you memorialize one of those nights, one of those special moments that shines as one of the best of your life?
Tonight as I was finishing a late-night call with a vendor in California, Holly stuck her head in and said to come next door. Our neighbors (whom I had not met) wanted to share their secret stash of vodka and wine with us.
What followed was two exquisite hours of drink, and cheese, and forbidden Corsican salami with a generous and delightful Lebanese couple, sitting in the night under the leafy green of their back patio, soaking in Adele and Jaques Brel and talking of life, and parenting, and politics, and life in America, and Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia.
It was one of the best nights ever.