Saudi Spring (Season, not Strike) in My Step

Premise: A year ago I shared my demotivation with the world.
✻ denotes a Twitter link

Spring Began on March 20

A little before that I received a message on Twitter letting me know I got two passes to the third Gulf Environment Forum. I went out of obligation more than anything, having attended since the first one. So I went, tweeted profusely in hopes of encouraging efforts, and left.

Bonus Info

The Gulf Environment Forum (GEF or #GulfEF ✻) is hosted by the Saudi Environmental Society (SENS). SENS is run by Majdah Aburass, an insanely active member of Saudi's environmental efforts. Get this, she's also a professor at King Abdulaziz University (and had a pretty cool impact) and is working with NASA.

FUN FACT: She and I were featured in the same article. That article in Majalla was brutally butchered here by someone who didn't really get the point of quotes or paraphrasing.

Busy Bee Gets a Buzz

Geeklings and Other Innovations

I had the pleasure of bringing an idea of mine to life on April 19. Why I keep insisting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, stumps me. After Faseelah, the Islamic environmental organization I founded, I went on to volunteer in many projects that took more work than anticipated. The latest of these was GeekFest Jeddah. GeekFest Jeddah β, to be precise.

The Twilight Zone (aka Jeddah)

Before delving into the geekdom of the past two months, I need to clarify one thing. This city is a parallel universe begging for a GeekFest unlike those in Dubai, Cairo, and Beirut. Intriguing aspects of life in the city include mall culture, single men not being allowed in said malls and the lewed ad campaigns of these malls being ignored by the ignorant.

GeekFest Jeddah's beta-tester (β)

A "beta tester" is a version of software/website rolled out to an invited part of the public with the intention of gaining feedback and founded suggestions. GeekFest Jeddah β was such an event to test the waters about the following:

Gender Segregation

There were two venues, one for ladies and the other for gents with a live feed connecting guest speakers to audiences (kind of).

Unconventional meetups

There were neither delegate badges nor photo-ops. Complete floor/bean bag seating was enjoyed and unique activities were used to break the ice. This isn't the norm, to say the least.

Collecting geeks (and geeklings) of Jeddah

There were geeky photos and geeky interests (below graph) collected beforehand to help those at the event define "geek".

Around the world, geeks have been analyzed using Venn diagrams, evolution infographs, and categorization.
"Geeklings" is a term created during a podcast episode referring to volunteers of GeekFest. Anywhere else, there would be no volunteers, but there is no adequate space like business hubs or culture centers here, so we needed the help.

Online professionals

Geekfest is an offline event for professionals with an online presence. In Jeddah, professionals are anywhere but online for the most part. With Saudization, lack of competition, and everyone playing hard-to-get, the need to sell yourself as a brand to employers is restricted to Jeddah's fashion scene.
Technically, only fashion bloggers fit in the culture on the female side of GeekFest, but they don't know enough about tech and geekdom to enjoy the event.

This brings me to female geeks

Ladies with the combination of IT interest, Internet savvy, proactivity, and professional networking are few and far between.

• Is it because the majority here get wed and pregnant sooner than job hunting?
• Is it that companies are so desperate for female employees that women don't need to network professionally?
• Is it that female geeks up and leave the country ASAP because they can?

Do let me know, it'll make my life easier.

GeekFest Jeddah Gamma (γ)

Taking feedback from the geeks about the next tester before GeekFest Jeddah 1.0, we have these results:


We've had such positive results in people wanting to volunteer to improve GeekFest Jeddah, that we're making the whole process transparent on Trello (link to come).

γ will be in September/October and will define a whole new way of J-town geekdom. A way that, in a long twisted complex manner, resembles the universe outside Jeddah.

GeekFest Jeddah β Is Coming

It seems fitting that my blogging hiatus started and ended with the postponement of GeekFest Jeddah. When we UNorganizers found out it had to be postponed because of the venue's technical issues, we let a lot of geeks know that we were still meeting up. This mini-tweetup-thing was a great catalyst in starting the GeekFest community and an actual development team. We then had a real alpha tester to visualize GeekFest in the context of Jeddah. It paid off!

The who, what, and why can be found on the site, Facebook Page, and Twitter.

Keep in touch

The when and where will be unfolding on across all the GeekFest Jeddah news dispensers.

Website:www.GeekFestJeddah.com
Twitter: @GeekFestJeddah   or   #GeekFestJED
Facebook: facebook.com/GeekFestJeddah
Instagram: @GeekFestJeddah   or   #geekfestjed
Google+: GeekFest Jeddah

Instagram Photos of #geekfestjed

Instagram does seem a bit elitist since it's an app for iPhone only, but the links above are web based and all photos can be found on Twitter.

GeekFest Jeddah α: What to Expect

(Pronounced GeekFest Jeddah Alpha)

--=-=-= GEEKFEST ALPHA HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE =-=-=--

There's been a lot of questions, here are the answers. These are pretty easy to understand, it paints the picture of what people are to expect when coming into #GeekFestJED.

Remember

• Ladies only. Gents can join the GeekTalks live online by going to http://www.geekfestjeddah.com/
• It's casual! Wear your sneakers and geeky garb.
• Speak English! Click here to find out why.
• This is a test. It's nothing fancy, expect everything to go wrong and for no one to care. It's about meeting the geeks of Jeddah this time.

With that, you can expect....

Click here for directions to Bridges.

Twitter handle tags will be stickers given to you so you can writer your Twitter/Facebook/DeviantArt/etc. username. You'll be surprised as to how many people will recognize it! Bring a printed picture of your avatar and we'll stick that on as well ;)

Announcements will be made by you! We don't want any part in authority, so when there's an announcement, you'll see the signal and have the chance to make it yourself.

GeekFest Jeddah α Overview

(Pronounced GeekFest Jeddah Alpha)


This is it, the page with all the info you could possibly want for GeekFest Jeddah α!
Also, www.GeekFestJeddah.com.

--=-=-= GEEKFEST ALPHA HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE =-=-=--

Must Read! (Remember, geeks love reading manuals!)

For Gents and Those Far Away

GeekFest α is a ladies only event! The cashier and front of Bridges Bookstore will be open to all, but the seating area downstairs and all of upstairs is reserved for ladies.
This is because we're testing it and we promise to bring you GeekFest β (for gents) after the rainy season!
However, you can listen to live audio stream and contribute on Twitter and the Facebook Page using the official website (www.GeekFestJeddah.com)!
We'll set up the audio part about 6:00pm on Wednesday.

GeekFest Culture

Casual Dress

1. Even though it's just ladies, you'll still require your abayas.
2. Take the term "casual dress" literally. If you're new to geekdom, know that a lot of people will come in sneakers/flats and t-shirts/jeans.
3. Take the term "casual dress" as an open invitation. It means no one is meant to judge, so go crazy with a geeky outfit that you'd find at a comics convention (for example)!

Friendliness

Geeks tend to be so passionate about what they're obsessed with, they're willing to discuss it with ANYONE. Here are some tips to keep GeekFest a friendly atmosphere: 

1. Speak English. A lot of great conversations start when someone heard what you said and came up to introduce themselves. How will they come up if they didn't understand it?
2. Socialize! It's why you're coming! There'll be so many opportunities to go up to a random stranger and tell them you've seen them on Twitter, or you like their geeky outfit, or ask what they thought about the GeekTalks.

When You Get There (click here)

We're trying to keep it as UNorganized as possible, but some things just make life easier.

1. Twitter handle tags will be stickers given to you so you can writer your Twitter/Facebook/DeviantArt/etc. username. You'll be surprised as to how many people will recognize it! Bring a printed picture of your avatar and we'll stick that on as well ;)
2. Announcements will be made by you! We don't want any part in authority, so when there's an announcement, you'll see the signal and have the chance to make it yourself.

GeekTalks by...

Dima Ikhwan (@dikhwan)
Economy, improv, and books. Because why wouldn't your average person geek-out to those things? 3al6ayer comedy writer comes to share experiences of being in the first batch of the YouTube channel's creators and what's come of it overall.

Diana (@diana_tweets)
Nessreen Diana Tamano comes to speak as her online alias, Diana (who isn't any different than her, actually). She shares her knowledge of blogging and podcasting along with her experience with That Jeddah Podcast.
Geekspertise: Grammar, memes, and hipster wannabe-ism

Jawaher Abbar (@Jewelsabbar)
An avid animal activist, among many other things, comes to explain why opening a much needed dog shelter in the kingdom is near impossible and to share her own experiences with Darwin and Gaia.
Geekspertise: Love for animals and filmmaking

ArtStuff by...

Soraya Darwish (@sorayadarwish)
Soraya Darwish is an experimental artist and graphic designer. Born and raised in Saudi Arabia since 1988, it has become her home. A sense of responsibility constantly compels her to tackle social issues and raise awareness about causes through art and design. Take a peek at her love affair with art and design through her blog.

GeekFest Jeddah α: TechnoCases

(Pronounced GeekFest Jeddah Alpha)

--=-=-= GEEKFEST ALPHA HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE =-=-=--

I'm loving how ownership of GeekFest is being adopted by all involved. I was expecting companies interested in showcasing their products to give money and expect sponsorship rights, but I've been blown away with the enthusiasm of contributing. According to GeekFest lore, we give helpful companies TechnoCases for technology showcasing for their products and getting personal dialogues with online thought-leaders of Jeddah.

Pixel Munch

As mentioned, the app and website developing company was the first to come on board the geeky train. They've risen above and beyond expectations by paying monetarily and setting up the onsite twitterfeed and online audio steaming so gents can participate in #GeekFestJED. Not to mention Ghaida lending top gaming expertise (I've only ever been a wannabe gamer... And failed).
Expertise: App and website development and user experience
Website: http://pixelmunch.com/
Twitter: @PixelMunch

 

Interested?

Now that you get the idea of funky companies coming to get quality time with the local online thought-leaders, you can get in touch to work with GeekFest in a variety of ways:
Twitter: @GeekFestJeddah
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/GeekFest-Jeddah/137855732978402
Email: Me (Khayra Bundakji)

GeekFest Jeddah α: Firsts

--=-=-= GEEKFEST ALPHA HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE =-=-=--

NOTE: Links to Facebook aren't working in the blog. That's what I get for depending on a closed site,  but do stay in the loop by finding GeekFest Jeddah Alpha or GeekFest Jeddah on Facebook.com!

I've been a fan of GeekFest Dubai since I first heard about it. Time passed and then, in the most serendipitous of ways, a friend of mine ended up working with Alexander McNabb, one of the two people behind it. Long story of procrastination and geek deficiency made short, GeekFest Jeddah is ON.
This teaser post lists the firsts of the journey, namely, the first details of the first GeekFest in Jeddah.

GeekFest Jeddah α

(pronounced GeekFest Jeddah Alpha)
When I was younger, I would make very intricate patterns as doodles. It would incorporate elements I learned from maths and physics, and it showed that insanity-laced potential of genius. But shortly after it started, I got addicted to Harry Potter fanfics, thus it didn't last. However, I had a little bit of it left over to bring up complicated solutions to things, such as GeekFest Jeddah.

In this instance, to deter two Jeddah event trends from happening*, I came up with having tester GeekFest events which would eventually lead to GeekFest Jeddah 1.0**.

First tester is α, one of the ladies (or geekas) to take place November 30, 2011 at 5:30pm at Bridges Bookstore. The second will be β, one for the gents (or geeks), and so on will the pattern go until 1.0.

First GeekTalk

Diana of That Jeddah Podcast will speak of blogging and podcasting as she is a veteran who is ignoring such obligations to instead give me her attention and time. Also, I'm the only one still standing by her alias.
Diana on Twitter

First TechnoCase

Even before I got to know the folks behind it in real life, I thought having a company like Pixel Munch come straight out of Jeddah from the ground up was the bee's knees. They're all about user experience in app development and websites.
Pixel Munch on Twitter

We're leaking out facts on a daily basis over the next 10 days to keep the guesses and suggestions coming.

Give us one of either by contacting me at Khayra(at)Bundakji(dot)com, saying something on the Facebook Page, Event, or replying to us on Twitter.



* Gender mixing and showing up at events not of interest because there isn't much else to do
** Exactly like the GeekFests everywhere else

Open Mic: Change Is Useless

The other night I had the pleasure of attending my first open mic session in Jeddah (and ever). Mellie asked from the start if I would contribute, and me being the cheerleader of anything good happening around here had to say yes.

I needed to express myself with whichever means I'm comfortable, so I decided to metaphorically blog on stage (I use the term "on stage" loosely because it was actually at the bottom of a pool. We get creative around here). I shared the following:

I'm no stranger to change. It's all I really ever knew. Growth was a concept that took too long in thought. I was already grown up, I could just change myself to be more adult.

When I was 15 and looking for an identity, I happened to be at a video store where I found an Iron Maiden shirt. I liked the concept and became a metalhead. Kind of. I hated the music, but the look was cute.
I came to terms that I didn't really care about it and I couldn't keep up with the conversations since I didn't listen to the music, so I changed.

I was reading a review on Dream Theatre's then latest album Octavarium and knew that description was made to describe my tastes. The world of progressive metal in all it's surreal deep beauty opened itself up to me and I got stuck on Tool. I found myself to be kind of depressing and a headache to be around, so I changed.

For whatever reason, fondness for the notion of one love and surreal settings got me to Bob Marley and the Beatles. After many times stressing over nights out when I had nothing but t-shirts and flip-flops at my service, I realized I wasn't paying much attention to what I want to be in the future. So, in a way, I changed.

There was an initial change and then I realized that I was tired of change. All my time given to environmentalism in Jeddah and attempt at initiating the "right" lifestyle here, I grew exhausted.
I'm ready to close my eyes, feel for the sun, and reach in its direction indefinitely. To stop transforming into different objects and simply work hard to the goal, allowing myself to be shaped however fate sees fit.

My beautiful Jeddah doesn't seem to be on the same boat, so I'm making the decision for her. Her inhabitants are insisting on change, be it as a vision of a new Saudi Arabia or simply Dubai on steroids.

What I keep meaning by Jeddah's change starting with the Kingdom Tower

This is a declartion of my commitment to back up this new look and follow through with its maintenance.

Cancel Iqama

I once had an idea for a book called With Yourself* which would be a compilation of odd bumper stickers/car art in Jeddah.
The only thing I love more than my ideas coming from my hard work is someone else having the same notion and doing it better than I could.

Cancel Iqama!** is such a site that gets people to post the interesting oddities I ended up loving about Saudi Arabia. And it's a tumblelog, so you'll be seeing many entries reblogged on my tumbelog. They also have a Facebook Page.

Here are some gems that made me lol.

At least they're honest.

Saudi Youth: Vacations

NOTE: Jeddah floods' arc can be found with the above tab of "About #JeddahRain"

I thought the recent happenings of Saudi university operation and services were worth a blog post. With the unanticipated damage had by the Jeddah floods in January, it's no wonder no university would want to be put in the same position they were in when it hit. It was a nightmare for everyone to get home when the rain was underway. Thus, no real surprise or qualms came up when schools were cancelled mid-Tuesday and all of Wednesday due to rain warnings.

Now, the king has proclaimed tomorrow to be a vacation. I happen to follow many students that can be dubbed studious and proactive, so I only know what this minority is saying about the situation; They're not too pleased.

Otherwise, apparently a lot are on the streets celebrating. I'll update this post when solid articles come out.

Because I'll have to stay until 6pm some days this week to make up for the lost classes on Tuesday and Wednesday, I'm not too pleased either. No telling what frightening outcome will come of this day off.

#JeddahRain: Areas Affected

2009 Jeddah flood: 90 mm max
2011 Jeddah flood: 111 mm max

The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) set up a website dedicated to the Exhibition Center efforts called forJeddah.org.

The website is completely in Arabic, and I found a map of where and how much rainfall there was on the Western side of Saudi Arabia. I translated it and made it more comprehensive:

The Western region

Jeddah

Friends of Jeddah Parks

I've been meaning to post about the non-profit organization that lobbies for more sustainable parks in Jeddah for a while now. Especially since they've been taking so many environmentally friendly initiatives lately.

Instead, I'm posting about Faisal's Sports Park for volunteers to know where it is.
Friends of Jeddah Parks is asking for volunteers to meet there in order to follow their plan in helping with the floods.

Please standby for more informaiton, because the last update I received was on Friday.

Click the map to enlarge. It's on Al Hamrani Rd. off of Malek Khaled St. and near Television St.

#JeddahRain: Donating USED Clothes

Coming soon: More donation points.

Many who have gone to donate used clothes to Al Harithy Center were rejected and directed to AlBir Society. An inconvenient necessity, the information given since then still holds and clothes can be donated to AlBir Society next to the Saudi German Hospital.

Please click here to find out how to donate items and money.

From the Saudi German Hospital website

#JeddahRain Update: Donating Money

More commonly as Jamˀiyat AlBir*, it is one of the entities legally allowed to accept money for the Jeddah floods.

Here are the bank accounts you can send money to:

NCB: SA30 1000 0013 6139 0000 0100

AlRajhi Bank: SA57 8000 0243 6080 1002 8006

SABB: SA28 4500 0000 0210 0213 4001

Banque Saudi Fransi: SA56 5500 0000 0037 3380 0145

Riyad Bank: SA92 2000 0001 0102 9233 9901


I have personally triple checked for typos :)

----------


*جمعية البر

#JeddahRain Contact Info

Official hotline for the victims and donors: 

92 000 1424

So far, the operators have been directing callers to various charitable organizations that are on-field. Unfortunately, the heads of the organizations don't always speak English.

For a directory of said organizations, click here (under construction).

So far, www.forJeddah.org was the only website dedicated to the Jeddah floods. Since the operation in the exhibition center closed, it seems (to me) the site hasn't been updated.

It is completely in Arabic. It informs viewers that over 7,000 volunteers stood up to the challenge while operations were on. It also has maps with graphical representation of rain, I made English versions.

Embed Updates from Twitter

Twitter: Embed tweets about #JeddahRain in your blog/site

Copy the code below for a 400x450 widget to paste in your site.

 <iframe src="http://twubs.com/ajax360/embed/jeddahrain/?headerBgColor=%231C6485&headerTextColor=%23FFFFFF&" width="400" height="450" frameborder="0"><a href="http://twubs.com/jeddahrain">#jeddahrain</a></iframe>  

Copy the code below for a sidebar 200x450 widget to paste in your site.

 <iframe src="http://twubs.com/ajax360/embed/jeddahrain/?headerBgColor=%231C6485&headerTextColor=%23FFFFFF&" width="400" height="450" frameborder="0"><a href="http://twubs.com/jeddahrain">#jeddahrain</a></iframe>  

#JeddahRain Medical Supplies

Medical supplies that were needed yesterday, and probably today.
You can drop them off to Al-Harithy Center or contact Wā'il Iskandarānī on (059) 429-1240 to get it to King Abdulaziz hospital.

On Friday 28th January 2011, @Azizshalan said:

أسامي الأدوية المطلوبة في مستشفى الجامعة الرجاء الاتصال على وائل اسكندارني ٠٥٩٤٢٩١٢٤٥


First aid kits: alcohol swabs - gauze - bandage - betadine... Etc
Ventolin spray
Antihypertensive
Saline + ringer lactate
IV cannulas 16 -18 -20 - 22
Glucometers
Small oxy tanks and masks
Augmentin tablets
Topical antibiotics
Asthma puffers
Ciprofloxacin eye drops
Insulin: mixer - novo rapid - lantose - insulerated
Syringes
IM Voltarin + tablets #JeddahHelp

from here.

Muwatana Update

After a number of messages asking volunteers to stop pouring into Al-Harithy because there were just too many already there, an update from Muwatana was sent letting everyone know why.

1. There were no cartons to pack with.
2. There were not enough supplies to pack, or what was there was not needed.
3. It was Friday and a lot of the companies, stores, and factories that were to be bought from were closed.

The number of volunteers was estimated to be above 1000 throughout the day, so those interested in helping are urged until the need for more is announced.
Apparently rumors of resentment got back to the organizers, because they apologized for any misinterpretation and reminded all that everyone was working under pressure. Another apparent rumor was people being asked to pay to volunteer, when the registration said there were no supplies, and that the only way they'd have anything to volunteer was to go buy supplies from their own pocket.

After scanning the needs of the victims, the organizers will announce needed supplies daily, and that companies such as Panda, Dallah Albaraka, and others were late because of the closed stores.

Every day a meeting takes place between representatives of the Amanah, the Civil Defense, and Ministry of Social Affairs. All are working together to support volunteers and back up the project.

The hotlines will be announced to report problems, needs, and requested supplies.

They ask for everyone to be patient and understanding. If anyone wants to volunteer, they are requested to keep calm and refrain from hostility. They remind all that group charity work is a trial and its success is evidence of the strong will and personality of the volunteers involved.

Epicness about the turnout, yeah? A shame how restless people can be though. I'm not looking forward to anyone who'd get angry about not having volunteerwork to do going out and protesting -_-

On another note, a commercial street in Jeddah had a protest lead by a woman.
I ask: Where was her meḥram and why could I see her shoulders? Hm?


Get more news at MBN Photography.

Donating supplies for #JeddahRain

NOTE: Muwatana at Al-Harithy Center is NOT taking monetary donations.

These are supplies (in English) that they need at the Harithy Exhibition Center.
Hopefully it will be updated regularly, I'll see what I can do.

English list:


Harithy Center Map:

#missing_Jed

These might be outdated, but the hashtag of #missing_Jed holds information on missing persons during the Jeddah floods. Anyone can edit this to keep it up to date.

Fi a7ad yagdar yitarjimly?

CLICK HERE TO EDIT


And here is a feed of the tweets: