Shiny on the outside, Rotten on the inside

I often feel that living here is like going backwards in time 30 years. There's a strange mix of old and new ideas constantly butting heads. On the one hand, it's common to see Arabs in traditional clothes driving around in glossy BMW 750s. On the other, you go into the airport and there's an entire wall of squat toilets.

The shopping malls carry the latest fashions but you go into the grocery to buy a tube of toothpaste and you find out that in this area they only manufacture tubes with the old screw caps, there's no flip-up cap to be found anywhere.

Water is still suspect around these parts. Sweetwater, which is desalinated seawater, is said to be safe for drinking, and is used as a selling point in compounds. We still don't drink it though.

I bought some plastic cling food wrap (ya know, Saran wrap) and there's not even an included cutting edge on the box. I got home and opened the box and to my dismay, had to find scissors to even cut off a stupid piece.

When Elena was born, I used the Pampers & Huggies that were sold here, thinking they were the same as in the States. Plastic diapers with plastic tape fasteners. Whoa, when I went back to Seattle a couple months later, was I surprised to find the REAL Pampers and Huggies with Velcro fasteners, elastic waists, and breathable materials. Same brands, but different standards for manufacturing. One is made for the American consumer, with the so-called advanced technology; the other made in Saudi Arabia for the laggards living in the Middle East.

They are building sleek, modern-style office towers here. Tall, futuristic shapes; shiny green glass windows, skyscrapers of the 21st century. But then down on the ground, many roads are unpaved so the shiny, fancy cars driving along get covered in layers of dust blown up by the wind and traffic.

In my opinion, the quality-of-life here just cannot live up to what I am used to. On the surface, you see many nice things, but then you realize that everything is just for show-- there is no substance. Fancy cars, designer handbags... everything nice is pretty much limited to retail consumerism. There are no recycling programs, trash is EVERYWHERE, people just throw bags of trash out the window while they are driving. Many people are uneducated. Many people don't have the opportunity to travel. The internet is censored. In Saudi, tampons are freakin' banned-- there's such limitation on unknowing people who don't read broadly and aren't aware of what it is like around the world.

I feel like there are many resources available to this area, for the number one reason that oil $$$ can buy a lot. There should be no reason why I feel like I'm living in the past. I don't want the nice cars and designer shades if I can't even tear off a piece of Saran wrap.