Drifting

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog, and it is not because there have been a lack of things to say. I suppose the longer I'm here, the more "normal" daily occurrences become and the less pressed I am to write about them.

I've gotten used to tires screeching outside of my home, undoubtedly young men "drifting" with their cars. Rubber on cement and surplus testosterone is the sound of "tafheet" (drifting, in Arabic). The first time I saw a car drifting I literally thought the driver had lost control of his car. I could not fathom that this was done intentionally on a busy highway on a Friday evening. I suppose in some cases it is the "cool" thing to do, especially outside of an all girls high school. It is a dangerous recreational activity that is brought upon by sheer boredom, a lack of alternative options and an abundance of money. Riyadh is a closed society with a large group of affluent teenage boys that are too old to enter the mall with their mothers and too young to have a wife to shop with. If malls--the main weekend activity here--is off limits, guys take to the streets in their expensive cars handed to them by their wealthy fathers. I am talking about a particular group of young men in this Saudi society who use Hummers and dangerous tricks to impress girls who may be watching or listening. Unfortunately, I feel that very few of those people have a real understanding of human connections beyond materialistic things. I think part of their shortcomings have to do with young age, but it mostly has to do with living in a numb society that uses money to drift along in life.