We arrived back in Boston safely very early this morning -- slept a bit and headed to class!
Thanks to everyone who tracked our adventures by reading the blog. We are collecting photos and reflecting upon the week. It really was an experience like no other.
Back to the realities of rainy Boston and classroom learning.
Thanks again to everyone who prepared us beforehand, hosted us in country, and is now asking questions about our time in Saudi.
Shukran!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Jiddah Call to Prayer
Today we woke in the seaside port of Jiddah (Jeddah). It is the second largest city in Saudi Arabia (4 million) and is the entry point to Mecca for non-Saudi pilgrims making the hajj. This evening we toured the old town, visiting the open air markets, buying incense and dates stuffed with almonds. Just before sunset, our hosts guided us to the top floor of a five-story building where the king at one point held court. He wanted us to hear the Muslim call to prayer from there. Five times a day, the mosques make the call to prayer. All the businesses close. You cannot get a haircut or a cup of coffee anywhere in the city for the 20-30 minutes of the prayer time. This video is the sound of thirty-six mosques from around the city calling Muslims to pray.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Saudi Arabian clothing
Many of you have asked us about the local dress code and what we've been wearing, so here are some quick thoughts on it. The Saudi men and women both wear full length gowns (white gowns called thobes for the men, solid black abayas for the women) and head coverings (white or red/white checkered for the men, black for the women). What makes it feel more oppressing for us women however is that for foreigners, its totally acceptable for the men to wear business casual with no head covering. But for women, everyone regardless of whether you're a local or not, is expected to wear an abaya and have her head covered at all times in public. So its been quite an adjustment. Here are some thoughts/reactions to the abayas from the past few days:
Day 1: Shopping for abayas was fun - we each got to pick what kind of "bling" we wanted on the sleeves/hems - although most of us went for conservative black embroidery. Props to EB for picking an amazing disco abaya though! General consensus: these are actually quite comfy - the material is so light weight, its actually not too hot. Besides, wearing these things all week means we can eat care free at the hotel buffet - nice!
Day 2: Its kind of nice not having to worry about what to wear each morning - the choices are wear the abaya or stay inside our hotel rooms all day. So come on abaya! Although why is it that walking around sometimes, I have to fight the urge to rip off the abaya and run down the mall corrider yelling 'Freedom!!!'?
Day 3: Getting dressed this morning the reality of really having no choice but to wear the abaya hit me full on, and I must admit I couldn't help but feel sad and oppressed putting it on
Day 4: Am getting more and more used to it, although this morning i did think: does it really only come in black? Maybe I need to get one with more bling on the sleeves, would that cheer me up?
Day 5: Proud to report that we've become pretty good at managing the head scarf. Meaning it comes off immediately once we're in the hotel or on our bus, and goes on almost instantly right before we hit a checkpoint on the road or arrive at a meeting site. We gotta get in a bit of freedom here and there :)
On a semi-related note: one of the highlights of the trip has been visiting the women's college in Riyadh, where it was only girls, so we got to tear off our abayas once inside and walk around freely. Plus we had time for girl chat with the students and giggled over yummy cupcakes with them - it was pretty awesome knowing that some aspects of being a girl are the same, no matter where you are. :)
Day 1: Shopping for abayas was fun - we each got to pick what kind of "bling" we wanted on the sleeves/hems - although most of us went for conservative black embroidery. Props to EB for picking an amazing disco abaya though! General consensus: these are actually quite comfy - the material is so light weight, its actually not too hot. Besides, wearing these things all week means we can eat care free at the hotel buffet - nice!
Day 2: Its kind of nice not having to worry about what to wear each morning - the choices are wear the abaya or stay inside our hotel rooms all day. So come on abaya! Although why is it that walking around sometimes, I have to fight the urge to rip off the abaya and run down the mall corrider yelling 'Freedom!!!'?
Day 3: Getting dressed this morning the reality of really having no choice but to wear the abaya hit me full on, and I must admit I couldn't help but feel sad and oppressed putting it on
Day 4: Am getting more and more used to it, although this morning i did think: does it really only come in black? Maybe I need to get one with more bling on the sleeves, would that cheer me up?
Day 5: Proud to report that we've become pretty good at managing the head scarf. Meaning it comes off immediately once we're in the hotel or on our bus, and goes on almost instantly right before we hit a checkpoint on the road or arrive at a meeting site. We gotta get in a bit of freedom here and there :)
On a semi-related note: one of the highlights of the trip has been visiting the women's college in Riyadh, where it was only girls, so we got to tear off our abayas once inside and walk around freely. Plus we had time for girl chat with the students and giggled over yummy cupcakes with them - it was pretty awesome knowing that some aspects of being a girl are the same, no matter where you are. :)
Day 5 - Dammam and Jeddah
Visited the Saudi Aramco Exhibition this morning to learn how oil extraction really works! Then we visited our new friend Abdulmanem Al-fadhul's Thobe store, called Lomar Thome (www.Lomarthobe.com). He's creating cutting edge Thobe's for Saudi Arabia.
Followed up that visit with a trip to see the chairman of The Olayan Group. The Olayan group is the exclusive distributor of coke products in the Kingdom, as well as a distributer of ritz, xerox, burger king, kit kat, and industrial batteries/equipment in the Middle East. It seems like these guys own the rights to nearly all the popular American consumer brands! One story... they bought the franchise for Texas based Church's Chicken, but changed the name to Texas Chicken because the name Church's was too controversial.
Followed up that visit with a trip to see the chairman of The Olayan Group. The Olayan group is the exclusive distributor of coke products in the Kingdom, as well as a distributer of ritz, xerox, burger king, kit kat, and industrial batteries/equipment in the Middle East. It seems like these guys own the rights to nearly all the popular American consumer brands! One story... they bought the franchise for Texas based Church's Chicken, but changed the name to Texas Chicken because the name Church's was too controversial.
On our way to Jeddah!
We had a great time in Damman & Jubail. Both are very impressive, and our hosts continue to treat us like we are members of the Royal Family.
We depart Damman this afternoon on a flight for Jeddah. One of our group members will actually depart for Mecca tomorrow, while the rest of us will explore the city.
Most of us will probably sleep on the plane as we played a very long game of Mafia last night. It went until around 2 in the morning. Rumor is that a rematch is up tonight!
We depart Damman this afternoon on a flight for Jeddah. One of our group members will actually depart for Mecca tomorrow, while the rest of us will explore the city.
Most of us will probably sleep on the plane as we played a very long game of Mafia last night. It went until around 2 in the morning. Rumor is that a rematch is up tonight!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Day 4 - Dhahran and Jubail
Just found out we've had a secret service security detail that trails our minivan every day. We're celebrities! Also found out the King himself knows about our trip to the Kingdom and wants to make sure it's a success. Perhaps that's why everyone is so nice to us?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Day 3 – our second full day!
It took two days to write this post because we’ve been so busy. Downtime consists of 45 minute breaks where you sleep sitting up to recover from jet lag. There is so much to see in this great country that you never want to sleep anyhow!
Our hosts finally started opening up and their thoughts have been extraordinarily valuable. After each meeting, they help us differentiate truth from fiction. Here are some of the highlights from those conversations and from our meetings on day 2.
#1) the students felt the average Saudi has not experienced the King’s recent reforms. This surprised me because the U.S. press has written extensively about the recent reforms. See http://www.newsweek.com/id/190350.
#2) The youth bulge is making the job market for young Saudi’s extremely challenging. For perspective, 70% of the Saudi population is under 30 years old, and more than 50% is under 20 years old.
#3) Young people find ways around the male-female restrictions. One person said he goes to coffee shops and will “Bluetooth” a girl (i.e. connect to her phone and text back and forth without the religious police or discerning elders noticing). Young people also tend to spend more time with their families and relatives than American teens.
#4) Many of the students openly griped about the lack of equality between males and females.
Some highlights from our Monday meetings:
1) Visited King Saud University to meet with students and faculty
a. Largest university in the Kingdom. 55k male students and 25k female students. It’s ranked #1 in Saudi Arabia, #1 in all of Islam, #27 in the Asian region and #368 in the World.
b. Not only does everyone attend FOR FREE, but if a student maintains a 2.50 GPA, the government gives him/her a $250 USD stipend each month. Boy are we getting a raw deal at Harvard!
c. We spent our time learning about their new entrepreneurship and investments units. This was amazing because Saudi Arabia lacks a culture of entrepreneurship. The program partnered with Kent State University in the U.S. to share faculty and resources. They also secured roughly $35 MM USD in funding from a local Saudi Bank to offer seed financing to new businesses.
d. The program is ranked #1 in the Kingdom and one of the top programs in the entire region.
e. The largest challenges they face are creating a culture of entrepreneurship and making a person ready for the challenges of running a company/commercializing their idea.
f. There was talk about starting a few insurance companies to meet the needs of the Saudi population. The King only recently started permitting the sale of insurance.
g. There were prayer areas scattered throughout the university and classes stop several times a day so both teachers and students can pray.
#2) Visit to the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority
a) wow. what a place with huge ambitions. They are developing 4 major green-field cities from scratch. the largest will be the King Abdullah Economic City.
b) trying to achieve a 10 by 10 goal -- become ranked as a top 10 country by the World Bank and World Economic Forum by 2010 through shifting Saudi Arabia's economy away from oil export dependency toward a knowledge based market system based on it's proximity to join the east and the west together. They are building out downstream oil refining capabilities and constructing one of the world's most complex logistics platforms to transfer shipping containers across land by rail instead of by sea. Went from being #93 in 2004 to #38 in 2006 and #16 in 2008 already!
d) They have an American women running all education reform efforts for SAGIA. She led a healthy discussion on the implication of the youth buldge and Saudi's per capita spending efforts on education.
e) King Abdullah Economic City - will create 1 MM jobs and Saudi Arabia's third port. It will have industrial, business, resort, education, and residential zones.
#3) Visit to King Faisal Research Center and Islamic Studies
#4) Visit to the King Abdulaziz library and meeting with Secretary General H.E. Faisal bin Muammar
Will finish post later.
- AC
It took two days to write this post because we’ve been so busy. Downtime consists of 45 minute breaks where you sleep sitting up to recover from jet lag. There is so much to see in this great country that you never want to sleep anyhow!
Our hosts finally started opening up and their thoughts have been extraordinarily valuable. After each meeting, they help us differentiate truth from fiction. Here are some of the highlights from those conversations and from our meetings on day 2.
#1) the students felt the average Saudi has not experienced the King’s recent reforms. This surprised me because the U.S. press has written extensively about the recent reforms. See http://www.newsweek.com/id/190350.
#2) The youth bulge is making the job market for young Saudi’s extremely challenging. For perspective, 70% of the Saudi population is under 30 years old, and more than 50% is under 20 years old.
#3) Young people find ways around the male-female restrictions. One person said he goes to coffee shops and will “Bluetooth” a girl (i.e. connect to her phone and text back and forth without the religious police or discerning elders noticing). Young people also tend to spend more time with their families and relatives than American teens.
#4) Many of the students openly griped about the lack of equality between males and females.
Some highlights from our Monday meetings:
1) Visited King Saud University to meet with students and faculty
a. Largest university in the Kingdom. 55k male students and 25k female students. It’s ranked #1 in Saudi Arabia, #1 in all of Islam, #27 in the Asian region and #368 in the World.
b. Not only does everyone attend FOR FREE, but if a student maintains a 2.50 GPA, the government gives him/her a $250 USD stipend each month. Boy are we getting a raw deal at Harvard!
c. We spent our time learning about their new entrepreneurship and investments units. This was amazing because Saudi Arabia lacks a culture of entrepreneurship. The program partnered with Kent State University in the U.S. to share faculty and resources. They also secured roughly $35 MM USD in funding from a local Saudi Bank to offer seed financing to new businesses.
d. The program is ranked #1 in the Kingdom and one of the top programs in the entire region.
e. The largest challenges they face are creating a culture of entrepreneurship and making a person ready for the challenges of running a company/commercializing their idea.
f. There was talk about starting a few insurance companies to meet the needs of the Saudi population. The King only recently started permitting the sale of insurance.
g. There were prayer areas scattered throughout the university and classes stop several times a day so both teachers and students can pray.
#2) Visit to the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority
a) wow. what a place with huge ambitions. They are developing 4 major green-field cities from scratch. the largest will be the King Abdullah Economic City.
b) trying to achieve a 10 by 10 goal -- become ranked as a top 10 country by the World Bank and World Economic Forum by 2010 through shifting Saudi Arabia's economy away from oil export dependency toward a knowledge based market system based on it's proximity to join the east and the west together. They are building out downstream oil refining capabilities and constructing one of the world's most complex logistics platforms to transfer shipping containers across land by rail instead of by sea. Went from being #93 in 2004 to #38 in 2006 and #16 in 2008 already!
d) They have an American women running all education reform efforts for SAGIA. She led a healthy discussion on the implication of the youth buldge and Saudi's per capita spending efforts on education.
e) King Abdullah Economic City - will create 1 MM jobs and Saudi Arabia's third port. It will have industrial, business, resort, education, and residential zones.
#3) Visit to King Faisal Research Center and Islamic Studies
#4) Visit to the King Abdulaziz library and meeting with Secretary General H.E. Faisal bin Muammar
Will finish post later.
- AC
Monday, March 23, 2009
Dinner at the Alkhudairi's
A classmate at HBS, Teeba Alkhudairi's, convinced her very hospitable parents to invite the entire group into their Riyadh home. The food was amazing! I think the vote was the best so far....and the most.
Check out their house....
Check out their house....
Sunday, March 22, 2009
First impressions (Adam C)
As our 747 landed in Riyadh, I knew this trip was going to be a unique experience. The endless sand outside and flat, sandstone low-rise buildings as far as the eye could see indicated as much. Riyadh is the capital of Saudi Arabia and home to 4.7 MM people, roughly the size of Houston.
At the airport, our hosts welcomed us and promptly collected our passports (I was nervous, but don’t worry, they returned them later in the day). The group escorting us around is extremely friendly and eager to teach us about Saudi Arabia’s rich history and way of life. However I already feel this trip is being defined as much by the things that aren’t said, as it is for the things we see. We spent several hours touring the King Abdulaziz Historical Centre (Saudi’s National Museum) this afternoon yet behind the ancient pottery and exhibits on Saudi Unification was little discussion of religion’s impact on the region and even less about the impact of oil Saudi’s recent history. This surprised me because Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and home to Islam's two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina.
I have been equally unsuccessful in my attempts to extract the magnetism of personalities from our gracious guides. One of the students from King Saud University joining us for the week did mention he has 7 sisters, 2 brother, and more than 20 cousins!
- AC
At the airport, our hosts welcomed us and promptly collected our passports (I was nervous, but don’t worry, they returned them later in the day). The group escorting us around is extremely friendly and eager to teach us about Saudi Arabia’s rich history and way of life. However I already feel this trip is being defined as much by the things that aren’t said, as it is for the things we see. We spent several hours touring the King Abdulaziz Historical Centre (Saudi’s National Museum) this afternoon yet behind the ancient pottery and exhibits on Saudi Unification was little discussion of religion’s impact on the region and even less about the impact of oil Saudi’s recent history. This surprised me because Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and home to Islam's two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina.
I have been equally unsuccessful in my attempts to extract the magnetism of personalities from our gracious guides. One of the students from King Saud University joining us for the week did mention he has 7 sisters, 2 brother, and more than 20 cousins!
- AC
Running list of surprises
- Saudi Arabian air: no images of women in in-flight magazines and women blurred out below the shoulders in all movies, regardless of dress
- McDonald's: separate ordering lines (and of course dining areas) for men and families
- Mini-skirts and other less-than-conservative clothing sold and on display in malls
- Traditional red/white houndstooth-patterned men's scarves all imported from the United Kingdom.
- Women's restrooms are difficult (if at all possible) to locate in most buildings.
- Headscarves = very challenging to keep in place.
- Polygamy is legal; marriages are nearly all arranged.
- Abayas do not have pockets --> major garment enhancement opportunity
Western Brands, Eastern Style
During our free time today, we hit the local mall. It features many western chains - Gap, Zara, Aldo, Pizza Hut, Dunkin' Donuts. But they are run differently than in the U.S. For instance, the McDonalds had separate lines for men and women. And none of the stores was open while we were there, because it was one of the five daily prayer times.
Mission: Abayas. Outcome: Success.
6 ladies + 2 men (for moral support/style judgment) + our very helpful hosts = looking the part!
A Visit to the King (Abdulaziz Historical Centre)
Our group visited one of Riyadh's most popular museums - The King Abdulaziz Historical Centre.
We learned about the history of the world, of Islam, and of Saudi Arabia. Our guides are English majors from a local university.
Some of the sites are really impressive. You don't see many castles like this.
We learned about the history of the world, of Islam, and of Saudi Arabia. Our guides are English majors from a local university.
Some of the sites are really impressive. You don't see many castles like this.
We made it!!!!!
The flight was just under 12 hours. It is about 11:15 right now, or about 4:15AM EST in the States.
The hospitality on the plane was quite nice. We each had an entire row to ourselves, making it easy to stretch out. Aside from the meals, endless Pepsi products, and amazing coffee, they had these screens on the back of the seat in front of us that are ever-so popular on flights these days. This one had something different, however. Along with the assortment of movies, games, and TV shows, there was a "camera" option. In the camera option, one has the choice of watching out of the nose (e.g. what the pilot would see) or the eagle view (e.g. underneath the body of the aircraft). It was in real time, so we could watch the landing as if we were flying the jumbo jet.
Our host, Saad, is with the Ministry of Higher Education. When we got out, they put us through some VIP screening, which amounted to walking outside of the gate and simply grabbing our bags.
We are checked into the hotel, which is gorgeous. Check it out here.
We have dinner and a tour tonight....oh yeah, probably some sleep as well!
The hospitality on the plane was quite nice. We each had an entire row to ourselves, making it easy to stretch out. Aside from the meals, endless Pepsi products, and amazing coffee, they had these screens on the back of the seat in front of us that are ever-so popular on flights these days. This one had something different, however. Along with the assortment of movies, games, and TV shows, there was a "camera" option. In the camera option, one has the choice of watching out of the nose (e.g. what the pilot would see) or the eagle view (e.g. underneath the body of the aircraft). It was in real time, so we could watch the landing as if we were flying the jumbo jet.
Our host, Saad, is with the Ministry of Higher Education. When we got out, they put us through some VIP screening, which amounted to walking outside of the gate and simply grabbing our bags.
We are checked into the hotel, which is gorgeous. Check it out here.
We have dinner and a tour tonight....oh yeah, probably some sleep as well!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Airport up-date again
In case you were wondering, Max is really wearing what was described. He almost had to check his headset - it weighed more than most pieces of luggage.
Stephen and Elana.
Our two-story airplane. Hopefully, there is more than chicken on the Sky Chef.
Everyone is class carding each other. Max left as he is tired of being mocked.
At JFK, The International Terminal
All 16 of us made it to Logan on time this morning! We are camped out at gate 7 at JFK.
Overall, the guys have far larger suitcases than the ladies. However, using the argument that "you guys will likely wear an abaya, we need more clothes" doesn't really hold water.
Also, flight fashion is always a good one. Max Anderson? Track suit with leather loafers. Drew Sloan? A clogs guy. Most girls appear ready for a yoga class at a minute's notice.
JFK's international terminal offers intriguing food before our 2PM departure. "Last US meal for a week" options include a Turkish cafe or Panini Express. Oddly, not even a Starbucks in sight.
Our flight is 1/3 booked, so most of us have our own row! Off we go!
Overall, the guys have far larger suitcases than the ladies. However, using the argument that "you guys will likely wear an abaya, we need more clothes" doesn't really hold water.
Also, flight fashion is always a good one. Max Anderson? Track suit with leather loafers. Drew Sloan? A clogs guy. Most girls appear ready for a yoga class at a minute's notice.
JFK's international terminal offers intriguing food before our 2PM departure. "Last US meal for a week" options include a Turkish cafe or Panini Express. Oddly, not even a Starbucks in sight.
Our flight is 1/3 booked, so most of us have our own row! Off we go!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Less than 48 hours
Many of us finished up classes today, so technically, we are on Spring Break!
This means packing our lives up into a suitcase for the next seven days.See you at the airport.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Welcome
From March 21 - 29, 16 joint degree students at the Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School will be experiencing The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The organizers, Esther Hsu and Katie Laidlaw, have worked incredibly hard to make this all come together. For that, the remaining 14 couldn't be more grateful. The trip is being sponsored by the Kingdom, and the itinerary is packed with visits to Universities, businesses, and government offices.
We created this blog to keep family and friends up to date on what we are doing while there. We fly out on Saturday morning from Boston to New York. In the afternoon, we board a flight from New York to Riyadh.
Check back on Saturday for some updates. Check back at after that for even more updates.
We created this blog to keep family and friends up to date on what we are doing while there. We fly out on Saturday morning from Boston to New York. In the afternoon, we board a flight from New York to Riyadh.
Check back on Saturday for some updates. Check back at after that for even more updates.
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