Sunday, July 31, 2011

Impressions #15 - a couple of videos around my neighborhood



I took 2 bits of video along the 25 minute walk from my apartment to the supermarket. Part of the walk is through this quiet neighborhood of mostly middle class homes. Typically they have a high wall right up against the sidewalk with a fancy door. This does not open directly into the house. This opens into a front garden and the house is 15-25' back. So, mostly you can only see the very upper portions of the houses from the street. Basically, they are little fortresses, intensely private. Saudis rarely invite non-family members into their homes. When they socialize it is usually at restaurants.

The next big of video is the busy shopping street where the supermarket is located. I am walking along the median strip. This is a common place to walk as the sidewalks are often torn up or obstructed. You can see a Pizza Hut, a Starbucks, a Pain d'Or. The place called Jarir Bookstore is where I got my painting supplies. They have all kinds of arts and crafts supplies as well as office products, computers, video games. I don't recall seeing any books there.

I know they're not very interesting videos but they give a bit of a feel of the streets. It was about 8:30pm and it gets dark about 7:30pm right now. The temperature was around 115-120 during the middle of the day. At this time of evening it drops down to about 100 and if there's a bit of a breeze you can almost trick yourself into thinking it has "cooled off".

3 comments:

  1. It looks like you are (wisely and discreetly) holding the camera at waist height :-)

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  2. We should find a water mist bottle for you to attach to your hat.

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  3. Thank you for posting these videos. It's nice to be able to see what you see and to imagine you in real places.

    I'm glad you were able to buy art supplies. I'm looking forward to hearing about your paintings.

    Will you be starting the triptych of green grass and trees to put up on the big white wall in your apartment?

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