During my short stay in Riyadh, I consumed a minimum of 2340 Saudi Riyals of ‘Mobily’ credit. I have no way of quantifying the exact amount, for the deck of cards I have (3 of SAR90 denomination, 27 of SAR60 denomination, and 15 of SAR30 denomination), this deck only includes cards I bought at the grocer by our office. It excludes machine recharges at the airport, the all-in-one supermarket cum laundry cum I don’t know what in my compound, and the miscellaneous cards I bought from miscellaneous grocers and non-grocers here and there. Several essential facts can be drawn out of this simple maths.
Essential fact #1: I spent too much time at grocers in this city. For someone who doesn’t have a grocery store fetish, that’s a lot of emotional connection with stacks of everyday consumables. Usually I swing for other consumables: some concrete like music and movies, others intangible like memory for example. I also spend enough time exploring other people’s fetishes on Web2.0 to be certain, so damn certain, that ‘grocery store fetishism’ is not a observable global phenomenon (unlike teen underwear, warm piss, latex, chicks with dicks, gore or gun fetishes). I can thus assume, with a reasonable margin of confidence, that I spent so much time at grocery stores because I have nowhere else to go, to take my legs to, to mobilize my blood circulation, or my need for changing scenes, in its direction.
Essential fact #2: I did not spend that much on ‘communication costs’. Not as much as I’d presumed at least, given the fact that ‘calling’ was one of my most tried-and-tested forms of escapism. So I’d call my mom, or I’d call Moody or Raed, or a combination of the three, to complain and whine. I should be grateful to the universe (by default of gratefulness to God), that my mom and my two best friends exist in my life. I’d also call Boudi, my flatmate, to talk ‘everyday business'. And hey, everyday business like ‘what Labneh brand to get’, or ‘whether the occasional maid dusted the place properly’, is the most universally practiced, yet the most often overlooked form of escapism. I would also call my boss and co-workers to apologize for running late, or to thank them for a meeting where a lot was discussed and nothing was resolved, of course. I would finally call other Riyadh sufferers to organize exciting events like the ‘Great Friday Sunbathing Bash’. And Oh My, Arabian Homes (my compound) has 16 outdoor swimming pools, perfectly clean, with controlled temperature. In other words, we have access to 16 venues for Bashes like these.
Essential fact #3: not sure whether this is a fact or a conclusion really, but I will not increase my Mobily credit score and right for rewards much further. Same applies to Aljawal or even Zain (MTC’s new brand name in response to increased competition in the Telecom market). In short, I will not return to Saudi Arabia as a resident. Assalamu Alaykom.
