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| *Travel Tips>>>Saudi Arabia Travel Tips |
How are Saudi Arabia and America different culturally? |
Travel Info I mean in daily life, like raising children and doing things for fun? And can they go to compounds with the expats to visit or live? I hear that families are closer there, is that true? I'm not going there anytime soon, I'm just curious to know more about the culture. Travel Tips I am a Saudi-American. I haved lived both places. There is good and bad points to both countries.. AND-Saudi's dont go killing their housemaids.. duh!!!(ignore that first poster). Just like in any country, yes even USA there are those that treat hired domestic help badly. But those are rare cases, the media likes to hit upon all the bad news. It would boring to hear a housemaid on the CNN just say "I loved my job in Saudi, they treated me fairly, etc etc". No one would tune into that news report.. Anyways.. as the 2nd poster states.... I agree whole heartedly.. One cultural difference that stands out dramatically is the emphasis on family ties.. There is no separation of family members. Children, even adult children remain home till they are stable enough financially to move away and even then, its usually somewhere close by. Everyone in the family, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents all stay close. There is no such thing as "lock-key" kids. We also dont throw our elderly into old folks homes/retirement centers. ..If someone in the family has a financial crisis, everyone in the family network comes together to house and help that person and his imediate family members. Children etc. Its very nice and a great feeling of community. Even neighbors get involved. .. Also the moral fiber of Saudi's are way better. Due to the Islamic influence and religion being lived out in daily lives, you dont have to be a fanatic to be a good moral person. The average person here lives by good morals. No drinking, partying, sex before marriage, etc.. Women can safely walk down a street at night, feeling secure that she wont be harrassed or subject to rape etc. Children in school arent subject to the types of peer pressure as in USA. .. Now having said this.. I do love the beauty of nature of USA. The countries vast differences from state to state.. I like the fast paced way of America, hoping into a car, going here, getting it fast and getting back to where I want.. In the middle east, time is of no means.. You have to wait, wait, wait.. THats one downfall.. I like the opportunities of Universities and job abilities in USA.. Yes women work in Saudi, but since so many women now want jobs, its harder to find them lately. .. For fun in SAudi, we go to beaches, have picnics, have family or friends over for informal parties, backyard BBQ's. Go to parks.. We have many outside amusement parks. Inside amusement parks in shopping malls. Some tourist activities, like old ruins, castles, sight seeing.. Scuba diving in the red sea, desert trips, etc.. There is plenty to do. Others Like day and night! ~ They'll treat their foreign maids like slaves and even kill them. ignore that first answer. in Saudi Arabia family is a very big deal. families are very close. the mom stays home and raises her kids(even though she has a choice between working and staying at home) and the dad provides for the family "brings home the bacon" as they say! women are respected and treated like queens. they don't have to do anything. yes they cant drive(which is the only thing they cant do), but who needs to drive if you have a driver. right? also, they never have to wait for anything. so, say you went to the bank and there were 50 men waiting in line for an hour and you came in, they would all wait and let you go and finish first. how cool is that? women cover their selves to follow our religion, Islam and to also have modesty. so you don't see a women walking down main st. dressed like a (excuse my language) b****. the son/daughter doesn't move out when he/she is in college. they stay at home with their parents until they get married. which is good! also reputation is a very big deal. you always have to have a good reputation and to me that's a good thing. we do have fun. we go to resorts amusement parks, the mall and all of that stuff. there are people who live in condos houses/mansions. there are poor and rich Saudis. we are not all rich! i'm a saudi As you can see ignore the first creature and look at our great women answers...Thanks girls I really like your answers ... no more comment. The following is an excerp from a blog written by a liberal Saudi. But however Saudi is a home for Saudi people and a home is a home. Even a home sweet home, no matter what kind of sad stories in it. Here's the excerp from the blog: "Men beating women is not, sadly, an unusual story. However in Saudi Arabia it is an untold story, hidden behind the high walls and barred windows of our houses. Nobody knows the scale because public indifference and the victim's fear prevent these stories coming out. Our towns and cities are home to thousands, tens of thousands, who knows, of unheard screams. Then we have the treatment of the maids. Usually the perpetrators of this routine violence are Saudi women themselves, possibly venting their frustrations and suppressed anger, and demonstrating to the next generation of little Saudis how to treat women, how to treat our guest workers. Violence apart, consider the lot of the average Saudi woman. As a young girl, she can play out in the street with the young boys. When puberty comes, she must retire inside, only appearing in public in abaya and veil. She has no opportunity to seek her own marriage partner. She is dependent upon her family to find one, and one who can afford the dowry. She can say "no", but not too often, otherwise the introductions will stop. Her husband can divorce her with relative ease. Her husband can marry up to 3 other wives. Yes, in material terms, he must treat them equally. But his affection will obviously not be split 4 ways. If she is caught herself in adultery, she will be stoned to death. Yes, it happens, it's just not reported these days. She has equality of education. Like men, she can go to university. However her career choice is limited. She can work in the Ladies' branch of a bank. She can teach female pupils. That's about it. She can't even, at the moment, be a flight attendant on Saudi Aiirlines. If she's very lucky, she can work in the "ladies only" floor of the Kingdom Shopping Center in Riyadh. But she can't work on the perfume counter of a regular shop, or in a lingerie shop; you'll find Lebanese men doing that. She may well be wealthy in her own right, and own a business. However she can't manage it, if that would bring her into contact with men. She can't drive. She can of course walk to the shops. Try that wearing black artificial fiber head-to-toe, in temperatures up to 50 celsius. (We men, of course, wear cool white cotton). Drivers are within the reach of many family incomes; but leave them at the door of the shopping center, otherwise you'll both be arrested. She'll find it difficult to go out "with the girls". Many restaurants will not allow a group of unaccompanied women in. Same problem by herself. The safest way to get into the "Family" section of a restaurant, is with husband and / or children. She can of course entertain her lady friends at home. That assumes her husband allows it. Many Saudi homes have bars on the windows, and the women are locked in during the day. At home, she can do whatever she wants to amuse herself. However, there are clearly few opportunities to fulfil herself. Typically, therefore, she will start a family early. We have one of the highest birth-rates in the world. If she has domestic problems, there is no network of support groups. Her family may help, it depends. Having got her married with some difficulty, they may be unwilling to take her back again. The story of women in Saudi Arabia is one of unending tragedy. They are our mothers, our wives, our daughters, yet on the whole we treat them like our cattle. It's a story that needs to change. " The above excerp, of course, will not answer your question and it is quite unbelievable. But at least, you're equipped with both sides of story. The good and the bad. http://muttawa.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_a... |
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