Soon we will be making a trip to St Lucia for a family wedding. It will be the 30th country I've visited, each one with it's own beauty and each with it's own struggles. I am amazed at how differently people from varying backgrounds and cultures see things. We all want good things for our families and our children, but we often have differing ideas about what is good and/or how best to achieve our desired goals. Living in any foreign culture, especially one with such a different world view can be rewarding, but also a humbling experience. The following are 2 such examples from here in KSA:
We American gals are not used to some of the restrictions here that greatly effect our daily lives. The inability for women to drive is an big example with many implications. How to get what I need from the grocery store, from the garden center, from the pharmacy, etc., takes some planning. There are several errands I could run this afternoon, but the grocery store run on today's compound bus/van schedule is not for the store where I like to shop and the compound bus/van does not go to a pharmacy or to a garden center. Even if it did, I would have to choose one place to go, not all three even though they are not very far from each other. With 24 hours advance notice I can book a ride for one drop off and pick-up to a location not on the schedule, but needless to say, I didn't schedule anything yesterday. In the end, I will get the things I want or need, just not in the time or with the ease to which I am accustom.
Another example was an eye opener for me. It was my belief that every restaurant had a family entrance and seating area for families and for single women dining together, as well as a separate entrance and seating area for single men without their families. The purpose is to prevent inappropriate fraternizing. The other day, Roberto and I were out and about and looking for a place to stop for dinner when he saw a restaurant he had been to with some of his co-workers. It took a while to find parking and we had to walk a distance to get there, but Roberto said the food was good so I was game. Once we got to the restaurant we couldn't find the family door. Roberto started to open the one door to go in and ask when he realized he saw no women inside at all. He went to the window, got the attention of a waiter, and pointed to me. The waiter quickly responded with a strong shake of his head and a wave of his finger indicating that I would not be allowed to enter. The restaurant was for men only.
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