It's been a minute since I wrote any country blogs. Asa had his birthday and Allison was visiting, so I just put it off. But, today is the last day of March- and I've said I want to keep a pace of 17 countries per month (to have less to do in December, and or to make up for July when we're on vacation). But in January we only did 15, and in February we only did 16 (although it is a short month). I'm pleased to say though, we completed 20 countries in March, making our average a quarter of the way through the project at the 17 I had hoped for.
Speaking of being a third of the way complete, that happened last Friday when we were on our 48th country: Saudi Arabia
(Ok, so a quarter of the way is 48.25, but you get the point).
Way back last Friday we were still working on our Government Week, and Saudi Arabia was our country for Theocracy.
Theocracy is just what it sounds like: a religious based type of governing. In a Theocracy, the country has a state religion, and the head of the government is chosen through some form of religious hierarchy.
But there are only two countries that are a True Theocracy:
And Iran with the Ayatollah (Maybe it's just me and the fact that in college I learned all the world to 'We Didn't Start the Fire', but whenever I say 'Ayatollah in Iran,' I hear it in cadence with the song (and subsequently 'Russians in Afghanistan).
But anyway, we had already done those countries.
But there are some other countries commonly considered theocracies, but aren't officially recognized as such:
These countries are all Islamic states, but are not officially led by religious rules, instead they've adopted some form of Democracy or Republic, but are strongly influenced by religious leaders or groups.
The US Department of State warns US citizens 'to carefully consider the risks of travel to Saudi Arabia' due to terrorist activity.
But even without the warning, it's very difficult, nearly impossible to get tourists visas. They have one of the most restrictive travel policies in the whole world. (Well, maybe not North Korea bad, but still).
Somehow though, millions of Muslim pilgrims flood into the country known as the birthplace of Islam, to visit our landmark: the Ka'ba (which the boys learned about during religion week, so that was helpful). 'The cube' is a building at the center of the most sacred mosque in Mecca. The holiest place in all of Islam, Muslims believe Abraham and his son Ismail constructed it.
Everything in Saudi Arabia centers around the Islam religion. Life is centered around the five daily prayers, and all shops and offices close during each prayer for 20-30 minutes. The religious police patrol the streets and take loiterers off to the mosque.
With alcohol, night clubs, theaters,playing music in public, and even mingling with unrelated people of the opposite sex outlawed, night life is almost non existent.
But Saudi's still find a way to entertain themselves. You won't find movie theaters, but you will find plenty of DVD stores and video game shops. Fast food is also a huge business in Saudi Arabia. They love their McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut and Subway. (The boys tried to argue that we should have one of those places of dinner to no avail.)
But, not all citizens in Saudi Arabia are created equal. Woman need to be accompanied by a male relative in public. They cannot drive, swim, or compete freely in sports. They cannot wear anything that 'shows off their beauty', and they aren't allowed to try on clothes in stores. Some hardliners still think woman should not show their face. Saudi Arabia was also the last country to not allow woman to vote. True Story: Woman first cast their votes there in 2015.
Despite being behind on gender equality, Saudi Arabia is a pretty modern country in other aspects, with it's indoor amusement parks and super shiny skyscrapers. Thanks to an estimated 268 billion barrels worth of oil buried under the deserts of Saudi Arabia, the country is worth trillions. (They actually own an estimated 18% of the world's oil)
We also discussed the Bedouin people who lived in Saudi Arabia hundreds of years ago. The Najran, specifically, built mud homes that still stand today.
The boys took all they had learned and made their postcards.
Calib featured the Ka'ba and the King Fahd's Fountain. It's the tallest fountain in the world, and sprays salt water from the Red Sea 1,024 feet into the air at 233 mph.
Peyton noted how much money they had, but also drew what we liked to call the 'Saudi Turducken'. The Bedouin people have a dish where they roast camel, stuff it with a whole roasted sheep, then stuff it with chicken, and then stuff it with an egg. It's the main dish at weddings.
Hayden noted the oil buried under the deserts.
For Saudi Arabia dinner we had Al Kabasa as our main dish, along with Arabian Spinach, pita bread, and a fresh mixed cucumber, tomato, carrot and lettuce salad topped with a little lime vinaigrette.
Saudi Arabia has plenty of citrus, so we had some clementines I had picked up at Sprouts, and for our drink we had Saudi Champagne (which is just apple juice mixed with Sprite.)
Honestly, we're so far out from this, I can't remember exactly, but I think it earned 6 spoons up. It feels like the boys liked this one.
I do remember the spinach with the chickpeas was awesome. I did wish it was a little more spinach and a little less chickpea, but others disagreed. Either way, I would have that again. The main dish was fine for me, and I'm always happy with a simple salad and some fruit.
We picked yellow for Saudi Arabia, it seemed fitting with all the desert.
48 Countries Down, 145 to go!
Next Up: Jamaica
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