Olden Days in Saudi Arabia (Part 7)

Here are the memories of my first morning in Saudi Arabia.
When I woke up the morning after my arrival, I decided I could not wear any of my short dresses any more. The only long clothes I had were my dressing gown and a blue dress with pretty, colorful embroidery along the hem. I had never worn a long dress before, so I had had this made specially for the occasion of my coming to Saudi Arabia.
In spite of the heat, the dress had a high neck and long sleeves, that I reckoned to be appropriate for my new environment. I put it on and felt immediately more at ease. I ventured outside the bedroom, shy and excited at the same time.
My husband went out with his brother Abdullah right away. I was left with my sister-in-law Hossa and her children.
They were all staring at me and I could do nothing but stare back! They were dark with kinky hair. Hossa had her hair arranged in two long braids, which I could hardly detect under her veil. The children’s hair stood up like pieces of wire around their little heads.
They kept staring at my white skin and my long, blond, straight hair. As I learned later, the main attributes that made a woman beautiful were fair skin, long hair, a good height and … yes! she had to be fat.
This last requirement has been dropped and, nowadays, slim women are admired, as they are in the West. All my in-laws have always appreciated my hair because of its length and texture. I think it was one of the reasons they accepted me so warmly from the very beginning. When I eventually decided to cut it years later, they never forgave me. In order to appease them, I had to say that Saud had wanted me to cut it. After that, no one dared to complain any more. A man’s will was as powerful as a law.
Hossa served breakfast on a huge aluminum tray that she put on the floor. The tray was loaded with saucers and tiny bowls full of olives, cream, jam, cheese and scrambled eggs. There was round, flat Arabic bread which tasted delicious. I ate a little of everything and drank the sweet, mint flavored tea. After breakfast, I went out onto the balcony, which had a high wall all around the three sides.
The wall was made of latticed bricks, through which it was possible to see outside, but no one from the street could see onto the balcony. I pressed my face against a brick and looked out. My first glimpse of Saudi Arabia in the light of day was a dazzling sun and a piece of dry, stony land where a few goats were rummaging around, eating crumpled pieces of paper!
I looked at the outside world for a little while, then I went back inside and had a “conversation” with the children. We sat cross-legged on the floor and they started showing me pictures of household items in an old half torn catalogue.
Pointing to a picture, they would tell me the name in Arabic and I would repeat it after them. I learned quite a few words that first day. When Saud came back home later and asked me what I had done, I proudly told him, “We have had a conversation!”