By Barie Fez-Barringten
www.bariefez-barringten.com
I was first called to Saudi Arabia through a gallery owner in Jackson, Tennessee when she asked if she could exhibit and sell my collection of European pen and ink drawings. Without her realizing, her request was prophetic and supernatural. She simply wanted to exhibit my European collection of pen and ink sketches. However, I always hoped that the sketches of Europe would be kept together and sold as a collection to someone, so I offered to make her a new collection, to which she agreed. At the time the song: “Midnight in the Oasis” was played often on the radio and it intrigued me. It was the first in a line of events that would ultimately lead us to live and work in Saudi Arabia. God had a purpose and was preparing us. As it turned out my part of my European Collection was sold eventually to Missy in Sanibel who in turn sold and placed them with various people including the Catholic Church and a big decorating company called John David in Lee and Collier Counties.
I considered converting the music of Midnight in the Oasis to pictures; and, not only to reify the words describing the oasis, but the entire context of Arabia and its environs. Being in Jackson, and, without a good library, I had to rely upon my imagination and memory of old movies and photographs. And, I prayed that God would reveal the place to me; and, he did. I set up the table and work area in our living room and for weeks, after work, and, on the weekends I’d ideate imagines and create wonderful places right before my very eyes.
I loved it!
I’d imagine and sketch places, buildings, incidents, events, and contexts. Playing with scale, light, and shadow, form, building types, costumes, and architectural drawing techniques. The results were awesome. Every one would ask if I’d been there and I said that unlike the European collection these were all from my imagination. It was amazing those years later when we actually were in Saudi, how many of these drawings were to bear a resemblance to actual places.
I almost wound up in Saudi in 1979 from job interviews I had with Northrop aircraft in Hawthorne, California to build military housing and airstrips, FE Basil to build sports parks all over the kingdom, and with Rashid al-Rashid and his family to manage his architectural office in Riyadh. I did not accept any of these offers but instead went to work for Texas A&M University and after two years accepted one of two offers to leave the USA and go to Saudi Arabia. The first offer was from King Faisel University and the second from ARAMCO. After several interviews and orientation with Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) we rejected the offer from king Faisel and accepted the offer from ARAMCO. The pay was substantially higher and the offer was from an American company offering the reliability and trustworthiness of an American company having offices and incorporated in Houston, Texas.
Within two weeks Christina and I got married again in order to get a marriage certificate (since the one from new haven would not be available for several months), packed all of personal effects including a carton which would arrive first from which we would live aside form our suitcases and two cats, and attended a five day orientation at a very nice hotel with many other new hires. During this time we met a couple and their son with whom we would remain friends for many years (Ed and Mina Pleasance with son Ted). We boarded a Pan Am charter and fifteen hours later we arrived at 2:00 am at the Dhahran airport. Before landing I can remember the plane diving quickly and then turning sharply followed by a silence and then the typical landing in the hot desert, bump, bump, lift up, then down, bump, bump, up again, then down hard and then hard wind breaking with the flaps.
It was august 11, 1981 and it was very hot and very humid. We were over one hundred people which exited the plane, each to be greeted by some one who would give us papers, sign for us, etc. In our case the very man who came to college station, Jim Young was there and he made sure we got all our stuff and boarded the bus and of we went north to a labor compound in Rahima near Ras Tanura just about 80 kil north of Dammam. The Jubail/Ras Tanura highway had not yet been built so we drove for hours on a sometime dirt and some time paved road past black desert and then as we reached our destination we saw 2 fiery flames like giant candles on the desert spewing fire and black smoke. These were the GOSPS burning off gas from the many oil wells in the oil fields we were passing. Finally, we arrived at our compound after having passed through two checkpoints where our passports and our persons were spot-checked by Bedouin officers with machine guns. We disembarked and were escorted in the dark to our various bungalows and urged to keep the air conditioners going and get to sleep immediately because we would be awoken by some one to go to work the next morning. And, indeed that is what happened. An Arab Shiites guard had been assigned to care for us. So after dressing quickly and leaving the bungalow I was to see what place we were in and just simply walked though a hole in the fence to the entrance of the compound where I would board one of three buses to take me on my ride to Dhahran.
After waiting for 20 minutes where I was able to get breakfast at the Ras Tanura commissary cafeteria building. It was a one-story building with a second story at its far end housing a special executive dining room and a few rooms for traveling guests. It was directly on the beachfront and had swimming pool and locker facilities. Later a dance floor, out side seating, benches, and terraces were added. Over the years to come this place would be a source of rest and relaxation.
But on this and proceeding mornings for nearly three months I routinely had a breakfast before the long journey to my work place at Dhahran.
Bin Jumah bldg in Al-KhobarAfter visiting the ARAMCO housing office and being assured that there FIFO (first in first out) list and the availability of our of camp housing close to where I was working was being given lots of effort, we were notified that we had a choice to either accept in-camp (Dhahran) old hosing with no hardship allowance and a high rental price, or a hardship allowance and a low rental price to live rather in Al-Khobar. Christina’s choice was instant. So we joined many others who had come with us from Houston, and others who were there just a few weeks before to fill up this ten stories plus penthouse building with ARAMCONS. We were assigned apartment 10 a facing King Abdul Aziz Blvd. We had three bedrooms and two beautiful bathrooms; a dining room and kitchen with a beautiful built in cabinet and two balconies (one facing the main boulevard off our dining room and the other off one bedroom which Christina made her studio. Each room came equipped with a water-cooled Canadian manufactured a/c/heater. These were at that time ten years old and required weekly maintenance. By the time we returned to the building in 1991 they were even in worse condition and were the source of daily and weekly encounters with the building uninterested maintenance staff. Now the Philippine maintenance staff was 100% assigned to our building and very happy to be requested to fill our requests.
We had a European electric stove with oven whose temperatures got mush hotter that US comparable; and a very tiny refrigerator, which we eventually became quit used to stocking. I’d go and come to work daily and so many friends and neighbors in the building and the neighborhood kept Christina well accompanied. She gave classes in painting in the apartment and at villas in the neighborhood. My many ARAMCO Saudi Arab trainees visited us and friends form other compounds. Except on holidays when they would all disappear to return to their homes and families in the USA. We needed to save every dollar so we made no trip except for the first new years to Dubai for a splendid few days and great secular Christmas dinner at the Hilton.
I remember the Indian female hostess lighting my cigar and dipping it in orange liquor.
Al-Khobar was just a delight of discovery and mystery. We went out often to shop and explore the Dammam souks and the Khobar, Thugba markets and restaurants. There were Arab, Thai, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, etc. restaurants and shops. The Arabs taught us how to see what they had, how to bargain (negotiate, haggle), and how to pay quickly in Saudi Riyals. I still think about prices of every thing is 3.75 Sr to the dollar for everything. I still price things in Rivals and dollars. I still remember the prices I paid for each item and commodity. We also spent weekends with the Plaissance family for the beach at Ras Tanura and the accompanying great Persian meals at their house. We also visited our other friends. The beach was very warm and then the pool, with its cool sweet water was very refreshing. There were outdoor dances with Philippino playing copy music sounds of disco, ballroom, etc. It was like being on an old fashioned military camp listening and dancing to the big band sound. Everyone except us was making sadeeki (in Arabic this means friend, but it’s the expats and Arabs name for white lightning {distilled alcohol).
We bought many audio cassettes and watched lots of taped movies. We brought hundreds with us along with a Sony beta and RCA /vhs/VCR (lots of connection wires, and learning the different speeds, e.g. 4.1, etc.). We had them interconnected so we could play and copy. At the time Saudi and ARAMCO TV was close to non-existent. I listened to the short wave radio at night for the current news and entertaining programs, mostly from USSR, Britain, and some from the USA. WE attended Arabic language classes and on weekends I’d make videos of our art and Christina. I did some writing and generally tried to keep cool and live simple. My Saudi Arab trainees took us on trips to historic landmarks in Abquiq, Turkish fortress, Tarout Island, etc. They visited and filled our lives with a strong sense of Arab presence.
Christina made a couple of trips to Kitzbuhel to explore the area for a potential second home venue. To do this we got to know several really good travel agents. At the time, Austrian air just opened it office and gave us special price help to schedule her flights. It only took her less than eight hours to go to Vienna and then six hours to get by choo choo to Kitzbuhel. Even Austrian Air made parties and there was a new Austrian restaurant, which opened. We go to know the Famous Saudi lady who owned an art gallery in Khobar. There were specialty dress shops and tailors and even barbers who came to our apartment to give us hair styling and haircut.
We had a houseboy who was one of the Moslem Indian doormen. He was very nice and helpful. He drove a green scooter, which he bought with the money he earned from working extra. Bakeries surrounded the neighbor hood and the esplanade was so convenient for walking and playing with Spatzel on the weekends. She loved to accompany me on my shoulder to the bakery and then play on the grass and climb up trees. I’d buy zata and other just baked bread and cakes. Otherwise we went up to the rooftop to play and see the city.
After one year living in the bin Jumah bldg ARAMCO decided not to renew their contract with Mr. Bin Jumah and offered us to come into the Dhahran camp or go to Seaview. We found out that it was to be the very same unit at SEAVIEW that Jim Young had lived in and shown us in pictures in College Station so we decided in favor of SEAVIEW. An Austin built Seaview; Texas Company called Zachary Const 1n the Seventies. It was pre engineered and prefabricated and furnished modular two story shells. Later I was to learn that my friend Shahid Sohail came to Saudi with Zachary to build these and the one he lived in Riyadh. He later rejoined Zachary and managed their compound in Riyadh. Our unit was one of about 200 in a compound directly on the gulf. Our unit backed up to a wall, which faced the gulf, and we could hear the water at night. I had two bedrooms and two baths up and a half bath kitchen and long living dinning room down. You entered by a big sliding glass door, which faced the auto driveway. It had a big wooden media center. We delayed our move in because the company had failed to clear out a big palmetto roach nest. We stayed in the Al-Ghosibi hotel while they did that. We enjoyed the use of the pool and some neighbors we met such as the young couple who order a Japanese tea house shipped in which they built into their living room. I remember recording balalaika music off of late night classic radio. ARAMCO broadcast several specialty stations, as: Classic; country; and pop.
One evening we could hear noises and when we looked out our rear window toward the Gulf we saw a ship pumping sand into another ship. This went on every night and eventually Christina put a ladder over our fence and was able to attract one of the workers. He came to our house over the wall and every night for weeks had coffee with us. He spoke only Dutch, so only Christina could understand him. Years later we were able to see the results of his labor as the entire Corniche land mass was extended into the gulf with enough space for a grand Corniche highway and development to either side of it. These efforts also created a park which Christian later used daily. After a few months living here ARAMCO informed me that many others and I were terminated. My division was being abolished and there was a hiring freeze. I could not be transferred into another division with in ARAMCO. So the living room desk became my office and I began to make so many calls seeking offers. I got many, but the special combination, which attracted us, was with Al-Suhaimi for six months and a permanent contract with UPM as associate professor.
We were exuberant to leave the strife and angst of ARAMCO. We decided to celebrate the lifting of this ARAMCO burden by stopping off in Paris on the way to Washington DC to get our new visa, etc. Christina and I had a wonderful time in Paris, then Washington staying at Tyson’s corner and Alexandria. I returned alone to Saudi while she and I went to Kitzbuhel to find us a place to live. I went with her and we found a lovely two-story condo. This was a major turning point in our lives. Deciding to have ARAMCO move all our household possessions to Kitzbuhel having a vision for remaining Saudi for a long time and having a nearby place to spend the many-needed holiday and vacations that were offered. When I returned to work for Al-Suhaimi my villa wasn’t ready and it was Ramadan, so Aziz moved me into the Al-Hamra Hotel just a few blocks from the office and in heart of downtown Dammam. Here is where we began to learn about the single product economy of the kingdom. And it’s practical consequences.
So with two cats and some of our personal effects I lived for several months in the one room. Khalid, Suhaimi's Syrian translator, became my nightly guide and companion. We ate in every good man- only snack and dinner places in Dammam. I met his best friends and we saw all kinds of Arab videos. I learned to do my jogging in the Hotel’s corridors, with cats. And to eat in the super Chinese restaurant that was in the building. On some evenings I would go to the Meridian Hotel and one evening I met a very nice maintenance superintendent for the Post Office. He worked for IDEA center and It was he that later referred me to my position in Riyadh.
Finally, I also started working for UPM while working for Al-Suhaimi. I designed our villa’s media center on a scrap piece of paper and soon Christina was approved to reenter the Kingdom on my Igama and we moved into the villa. The villa was furnished with beds that had a plywood base and a mattress; no box spring. When I got the offer from “IA” I insisted upon a box spring and mattress on a Harvard frame.
My former Thai student, Pon, kept our personal effects in a metal container and we moved it all to the villa. The villa was in a part of Dammam, which was near Kaki cola and the Railroad station. It was near the Al-Muhaidib villa/office in which I’d work some fifteen years later. We shopped in several groceries. One of which was the Farmers Market, which later became a big modern chain of supermarkets. It was in this villa complex where we met this very interesting Lebanese journalist who told us the woes and tribulations of the war she had just fled from and where I had got to know the Post off engineer very well. Our cats played on a basket swing and we watched videos in our new media center. Other than our neighbors we did little entertaining. We did go out to eat at some very good Korean restaurants, which I discovered which are no longer there.
At this time there were many Korean companies and Korean army contract workers under contracting to build the infrastructure: roads, sewers, etc. We had a Philippino houseboy, whose name was Kimche (like the Korean delicacy) In the midst of all this UPM encouraged us to select our villa and meet our neighbors. I even moved all my books into my new UPM office.
Suddenly, UPM had a hiring freeze, and Al-Suhaimi decided to end my contract sooner than he agreed. Again, I began my search for a new contract. I did not have to search very hard for my Post Office engineer put me in touch with his Jeddah office who gleefully offered me the position as Deputy Operations manger for International Associates (IA) in Riyadh. Whoopee, we were off and running once again. This time we did not have to leave the kingdom, because Aziz gave me my Igama. This was the beginning of my independent free wheeling career in KSA.
It was very attractive for potential employers to hire me because they did not have to wait the many months and red tape involved to get an allowance and permission to hire. My Igama was enough. I kept this Igama until I left the kingdom and handed it over to Emad Al-Muhaidib in Dammam.
Before beginning work with IA, Idea Center flew us to Jeddah where we stayed in a modest but clean Hotel. I did get a stomach virus and discovered Imodium. It was Friday and there was only one 24-hour pharmacy open. Our taxi driver took us there and we were able to again function.
After, returning to Dammam and coordination with the packers and movers we decided to drive our Delta 88 Olds to Riyadh. It was a decision based on money. IA gave us the cash as though we were flying so we had a lot left over for expenses. The trip was our first across the desert and a romantic adventure. We had already seen the red desert of the "rube kali" (the empty quarter) but this desert was different. It had so many dunes and beautiful wadis and giant rock formations, similar to those in New Mexico, Arizona, etc. Toilet facilities were few and far between, so by the time we got to Riyadh, nearly 5 hours (450+- Kilometers) later, dear Christina need for a clean bathroom was urgent. The hotel we found on Riyadh’s Airport Road was to always be a landmark for both of us. The first nights were spent in the Marriott hotel. Its windows did not open and we felt the change of climate (from hot and humid to hot and dry).
It is here I met Rahima Ellis, the net work newscaster. She was then merely the wife of a fellow employee. They had a little child.
I had stayed at the Marriott Hotel with Dhash of ARAMCO when we went to interview our service providers located in Riyadh. I was to spend many hundreds of hours in this hotel as it was the venue for most of the American Business men’s meetings, and we went here on Fridays for the Best brunch in town. The apartment in Riyadh was in the Sateen area of Riyadh. It had two large bedrooms, living room, dinning room, and kitchen organized around a central large atrium entry foyer. The furniture was all Danish warm mahogany. The dinning room had a balcony and was always sunny. I often bought Christina bouquets of flowers, which she kept in this room on the buffet. Our cat Putzi loved to sit herein the sun and look very pretty, matching the color of the furniture and glowing in the sunlight. This place was to be her final dwelling as her failing liver ended her life. She died in our hands looking at us and we at her. Her eyes were always so wide open and expressive. This is the way she died with our eyes meeting.
In this building lived many people from IA including and English couple, a black American couple and a young newly married American couple. We used the rooftop for sun bathing and often had house barbecue parties on the roof. There was a room on the roof, which had a library, and in the library a copy of George Orwell’s, 1984. I glanced at it every weekend thinking that it was here and looks where I was. I remembered when I first heard of the book and the idea of a describable future. It was always there when I looked.
The English couple introduced Christian to the English Riyadh social life and International Women’s group. They also took us to the drama plays, musicals (The rocky horror show) and concerts given at the corps of engineer’s compound, desert rose inn. They had parties and were very nice. The young American couple was involved in the theater and his wife a former and so-called reformed chorus girl was very attractive and flirted with every one. One night she danced with me very dramatically at a party held in another compound where Ricky Wilson lived with the Brown and Root employees.
The black couple was very attractive and organized parties on the rooftop. They also had a privacy screen constructed so the women could have there privacy to come up in there bikinis to sun bathe, and they did. Occasionally the wall needed repairs. Aside from all this Jim Burns and Ben Cunningham invited us to their home and other places for dinner, etc. Jim and Ben always took me to the ABG of Riyadh in the Marriott Hotel. They made a spectacular party in the desert Wadi. This was just a mile from where I’d later spend a lot of time at the Tuesday night Christian leadership meetings. From our window facing Sateen Street we could hear the gun shots, racing motors and screams of young sportsman when they won a soccer match. Our bedroom windows also faced the GCC (Gulf Cooperative Council building. We could peer directly into the main conference room, which was on level with ours, and watch the proceedings. The building was built, completed, and opened while wee lived there.
Al-Hasa: Old fort and souks and place where Rashid was born and where he built his big villa. Also, KFU had its medical campus in Al-Hasa.
While we were apart I covered Christina in the Word. I would record every sermon and bible study. I would quote scriptures and guide Christina with the word through the minefields lying before her. However, both in Riyadh and then in Eastern Province the embassy and consulate would hold open bar parties at least once per month and in some cases weekly. It was an occasion for people who did business with consulates to mix. Persons who were not Americans or green card holders mostly attended these. I especially recall the ones at Dhahran, which were sometimes held in a special building they built for this purpose. It was also the building in which we had our warden’s meetings. Of course one had to go through the marine security check-in and then park ones car in the very crowded and unpaved parking area. Also it allowed for some Saudis to cross dress in western cloths and identify with US commerce. Other such parties were held in Riyadh at the various embassies for the same purpose. In Eastern province we’d be invited to the German and French par ties at the International Hotel and home of the French education director respectively.
Majalis
The Majalis is a meeting which and can occur in any home, palace or business. It is often in a designated place which is likewise called the Majalis. It is a tradition to meet with the man of the house, sheik, and royalty away from his family in a separate place and for as long as it might take to candidly face and deal with any situation. The King, royal prince, and many sheiks hold their majalis with regularity listening and discussion the problems of individuals. There is a special place where this takes place, which is called the majalis. Usually the room is lined with low and very comfortable ottomans with backrests and cushions. There are low table for tea and coffee and often a hookah, affectionately referred to as "hubly bubbly" , standing around for the late night vistas. When I visited the royal Prince his majalis was held in a giant room and he even has a secretary and another of r scheduling the appoints and another for expediting the dispositions of the majalis. I have attended open and public majalis in the giant hall in the Dammam royal Palace in Dammam for the end of Ramadan where like a scene out of "The Man who could Work Miracles" we all sat in an oversized ballroom against the walls and reduced in size by the overwhelming scale of the proportion between the room size and our size. We would be about a thousand persons where the men wore their black or brown capes.
There a few that wore a white cape. The military generals wore their usual military uniforms. A few other American dignitaries and, I include the USA ambassador, General consulate, etc. wore western business suits. A huge red carpet was laid diagonally across the floor from the corner entrance to the opposite corner near where we were sitting. When the price entered with his entourage all stood and we were first escorted to him for the formally embrace, kisses to cheek and handshake. Another such event was the wedding of Prince Bandar to a royal princess, which took place in a place in Riyadh. Other majalis is when I visited so many businessmen, sheiks, and Saudi friends. Even the dean and department chairman. The tradition is always the same and in a separated room or tent away from the family.,Barie Fez-Barringten, Dhahran airport, Dhash, GOSPS, GCC, Gulf Cooperative Council, Hospital Corporation of America, King Faisel University, maj
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