Recently my husband and I were returning to Riyadh driving back from Damman. The highway takes us through miles and miles (hours and hours) of desert. It was a windy day and we saw the shifting sands in its full glory as it danced across the highway. On either side of the highway we also saw where the sand was building up in new dunes which in some places were extending onto the highway itself. Shortly thereafter we passed a large bulldozer which was shoveling the sand and pushing it off the highway and back up to the desert perimeter. My spouse and I instantly made the connection whereas in the desert sand is shoveled to keep the roadways clear just as snow back in the states is shoveled to keep roadways clear.
This experience also reminded me of the first time it snowed when my husband and I were in the States together. We had a Jeep at that time. My spouse was so excited by the fluffy snowflakes falling to the ground that he grabbed the keys and said “come on, we’re going for a ride.” I was nervous because I did not know his experience (if any) in driving in snow and this snow while beautiful was coming down steadily. By the time we left our house to get into the car there was already two inches of snow on the ground.
My husband started the car slowly and carefully. As we traveled on the newly covered road he turned to me, smiled and remarked “this is just like driving on the soft sands in the desert.”
The moral here? Even while the areas may look so different at first glance, when you look a little deeper you’ll find that there are even similarities between sand covered highways and snow covered roadways.
Filed under: America, culture, Saudi Arabia, Saudi culture, Saudi customs, travel, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
