Yesterday, Monday April 1st, was our last day at the Aramco compound in Dammam. Some of the highlights of the last day included visiting a limestone cave park. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of it. It's a bit tricky translating some things from Arabic to English, and there weren't any signs to speak of. It was really impressive to walk through. As you can see from some of the photos, graffiti is found in Saudi Arabia. Nora, who lived in Egypt for 9 years, was interpreting the graffiti for us. One particular example was almost poetry...someone professing their love for another.
We went shopping at a Saudi Book Store Chain, similar to Barnes and Noble. I took a picture of the "American" section, as it had some interesting looking books. (Even if I have no idea what they were about!) On a political note, I had an interesting conversation with Mohammed Ali (not the boxer) on our flight yesterday. This college educated 24 year old was heading to Jeddah, "the salad-bowl, cosmopolitan, port city," to visit his family. We talked about many things, particularly government schools, roles of women, and government. When talking about the US government, he said that many Saudis disapprove of our current government and the war in Iraq. He said that Bill Clinton was more liked. (I only throw in that information as there is a book with Clinton's picture on it. I did not see any with George W. Bush for some reason.) On a side note, students will be happy to know that I stocked up on stickers at the book store! Lots of cool English/Arabic stickers for 1 Riyal a sheet (that's a quarter!) :-)
The most fun part of the last day for me was visiting a camel farm. Now, many people in the US have probably seen camels in a zoo. But, let me tell you, seeing them, HEARING them, touching them, and smelling them is a totally different experience. One of our Aramco guides is friends with a camel herder. The Bedouin people were the original nomadic people of the region, and they are most commonly known for herding camels. (However, I met a Bedouin woman whose family has been settled for a long time. She now works for Aramco. It is important to realize that being ethnically Bedouin does not mean that you are nomadic! This is a common misconception, and one that I had until my conversation with this woman...I am learning so much!) It was so fun to pet them and let them nibble on my fingers! That's right, I had a camel practically eat my hand...It felt kinda funny, but it was really cute. We were instructed on how to make certain sounds to get them to feel comfortable with us. I'd be happy to replicate the sound I was making! (A bunch of people in our group were calling me the Camel Whisperer :-) It really made me miss Scout and Sasha (my dog-mates ;-))
8 comments:
Did you notice the english words and letters in the grafitti you posted?
It looks like the camel market was fun, what cheerful camels. I've heard that camels were introduced fairly recently to Arabia. Do you know when camels were introduced and from where?
How were you able to take a picture of a Saudi Arabian woman?
When I was doing research I found that camel milk was very common in Saudi Arabia. Did you drink any?Peter
ha...these pictures look fun! have you had to drink camel milk yet? when i was doing the culture project, i found out that camel milk is very common. further research said that it tastes pretty good! i dont know about all that, but it would be interesting to try.
-Amy
LOL.. wow i see you enjoyed visiting the camels.. haha.. i cant wait to hear what they sounded like....
-Nikki O
Do people treat you differently because your an american? What was your favorite place to go?
Hey Senrick! I was just wondering...if camels can have camel milk did you ever have a chance to milk it?...i can see you doing that...hehe! i was also wondering...did you ride a camel too?? and if you did...do you ride on the humps or inbetween them?? i've always wanted to know....
~*Nicole S.*~
did they let you ride the camels?
Post a Comment