Hassa Marwan Alsudairy 92 | Researcher in Archaeology and Tourism

an interesting thing that I was reading and I I was really Blown Away there's one of the oldest churches in the world is in dubel it belong it's around the 4th Century still there today yes how much of Saudi would you say is unexcavated 80 if not more because we also need to keep you have we have the empty quarter for example five thousand years ago seven thousand years ago it wasn't a desert there was a lake and there were civilizations that lived there and also most importantly what we shouldn't forget is ancient inscriptions anywhere you would go in the desert you would find ancient inscriptions today when I get to see you know now you know you have female archaeologists and they're working every in every part in Saudi and attempted that something amazing for me to see because what's normal to them was impossible for me amazing coffee the best like you had one on your week yeah good morning God they're gonna love hearing that well that's to be like the end credits you know the people welcome to a new episode of the Mojo podcast uh I have a very unique person you can call it Niche by virtue of what it is she does she is uh Saudis one of saudi's first if not first can we can we claim that's how these first female archaeologists ah I have no idea so I'm not gonna take full credit for it so let's say one of the few so one of the few comes out smart yeah because I get asked that a lot are you salary but's first English podcast I'm like no one has challenged me but in case someone was there before me I don't want to claim it I don't care if I'm the first I don't think you care if you're the first but not at all honestly as long as I get the most important thing is I got the message through message record this so if there's someone before me or inshallah I hope after me there's hundreds of a future female archaeologists inside the European nothing makes him more happy than to see them yeah wow me and you have a lot to talk about because I couldn't have said it better myself it's it's not about being first second or last it's about spreading the message uh spreading the word and and my God is there a lot of content for Amy to spread about Saudi and in your field to spread about archeology archeology is is a rich subject in Saudi that is probably unbeknownst to many people right exactly you know I always say as they say onion I say it as well as you know you always try to be who you needed when you were younger even if you're young at your kitty or regardless at an age so for me when I start started studying archeology I had no one to go to to ask who had similar experiences inside because when someone is in your country you can go for tips and advices and I did not have that so for me to be able to be that person for the younger generation or the new aspiring archaeologist nothing makes me more happy than to provide tips and tricks that's pretty cool that really is cool a nice open-ended question to kick off here has some um why is it that you do what you do ever since I can remember everything you know since my childhood I would I was always outdoors and I always had a stick can I know whenever I would go in Winter to the desert I would try to find something and my mother at the time she paused from studying after she had me and my brother and then she continued so I was probably eight or nine years old and she was studying uh she was studying interior design at New Haven's University in New York but she was taking her classes in in real to be around me and my brother and whenever I would come back from school I would throw my bag I would knock on her study room and I'd ask if I could join and she would tell me yeah but you have to be quiet and if you have any questions just raise your hand I remember once I was drawing and then and then I looked at this beautiful building and I said remember these old projectors where you had to put the oh the slide oh yeah yeah so each side they go around Circle yeah and when you press it the whole entire world knows you're doing for you know you're using it so I remember I just looked at the slide and then it was This Magnificent building and I just looked at my mother said oh well where is it I assumed it's nearly any because that's a child if something is old it's broken you throw it and she told me it was like hundreds or thousands of years ago I forgot which building it was but I remember it was in Italy and it was amazed and I asked again I was like but it's but it's uh it looks new I don't see it anymore and nowadays you don't see it and then she said if you have any questions just ask the professor and I asked her and she answered and I was always welcome to join the class so my mother was the person honestly who noticed my interest in that field and I do it right now honestly and I speak a lot about it and my social media to spread more awareness about what we have inside and how rich our kingdom is in that field and the history we have and it goes to as simple as our current history of Saudi Arabia you know Saudi is not a new country as people might assume eight years of History we have the first Saudi State we have the second and we have the current and the 300 years of History it was established in 1727. so even our current history is not known to the world let's say and it goes to as simple as this to 1 million years ago I would speak I mean the first touchdown on Arabia back then or the first time there was civilization on what is modern-day Saudi Arabia was about a million years ago okay so I was looking I had this book forever and just recently I started to open it really read into it and then they had this picture that they redid how Saudi used to look like and it was around 1 million years ago and white and around Riyadh catastrophically you know three of the largest rivers compared to the rivers we have today used to cross Saudi Arabia and the first thing a human needs for for them to settle is you need food shelter and water this is what Saudi did provide and what's interesting is so it was a warm environment and what's interesting about it and this is why I love what I do because you know you read these these artifacts when you see it and they give you a lot also about the environment information so they found suddenly a sudden increase in using lithic tools to cut leather which indicates that the weather started to get colder and this is where the weather started to change and it became less and less brain and then it became more of a deserted area but it took obviously a long time for this to reach so this is some things when I read it as a you know artifacts can give you so much information totally so much information but it's it's definitely common knowledge with the ice ages and the changing climates of regions the southern hemisphere becomes like what's Antarctica and the North Pole today was probably one day tropical everything depends you know when you it and it starts from millions and hundreds of millions of years ago and for each environment there's a certain time that it looked like in how the environment aged but every change takes millions of years to for it to happen and in that in that phase this is why humans migrate if the this part becomes dry and it becomes cold and there's no food or shelter so they start to migrate to different uh locations and this is when humans started to uh to plant and they they discovered that this is when they started to set it to build and this is also interesting because you know one simple one person you know when they discovered how to plant and to have their own food this is what the settlements start because they were always looking for it so you just stumbled upon this career it wasn't like something that you took a keen interest on when you were younger uh I honestly to be completely honest I didn't even know it existed I didn't know until the age of what did you know of its existence so there's actually one turning point in my life that I had this feeling that I just loved archaeologist but because I obviously at that time I didn't know it was archeology we were visiting Greece and we were in Athens and we were at the Acropolis mountain and we were saying it was staring at the Temple of Athena and the only logical explanation that came to me told my mother oh so the Giants built this she said no she just looked at me and what I love about my mother she never spoke to me as a child regardless of uh my mother never spoke to me as a child regardless of any question that I would ask and she told me I know it's people like me and you and I said that doesn't make sense how can they move this and then she told if you have any question just ask the tour guide and then he when he told me the information about ancient Greek history and I was simply blown away so I said okay so these people were Advanced much much more than we think and at the same day or the day after we went to a Rooftop Cinema and the movie was Tomb Raider and I was blown away so you see her protecting the artifacts not to go to the bad people and I said and then you look at the movie and then you look at the temper and said I want to be Laura come on yeah yeah but the thing is she wasn't in our culture I believe her dad was I haven't seen it in Forever so then when I finished high school I was talking to my mother I said Halal you know I'm just going to do business or I don't know and then she said don't you know whatever you choose right now defines your future and I told Ria if I don't like it I'll change I'm I take things very easily you know I never stress if it happens it happens if it doesn't it doesn't and I remember she looked at me and she said Hessa why don't you study archeology and I said does that exist and I thought it was my hobby and she said yeah and in the same week she booked me a flight to Amman and I went to Jordan and the rest is history and that's where you studied it on a college or yeah College book yeah I went to University of Jordan This Is Where I took my bachelor wow interesting well I guess I mean for people who aren't aware of what archeology is they're probably getting the gist of it now with what you're talking about um in in a few sentences how do you scrub how do you describe the the field so basically with archeology what you do what we do is we study humans based on the artifacts they leave behind and what's beautiful about archeology it's like an umbrella and you study architecture you study art you study the environment anything that involves the human and you don't study one famous leader or a king who studied the entire society and this is what's beautiful about it um it's uh it's way more than than meets the eye you know because first of all it covers the whole globe it's not something that is confined to one region how rich is the Middle East or let's say where is the richest place to discover artifacts and archaea archaeological findings I would say on the Middle East most of it is discovered and they've excavated enough on it but to me what I find interesting is Saudi Arabia because you know when you look at the Saudi map it was very interesting because it connected the East to the West we had the incense roads and many others Saudi had different civilizations different kingdoms you have the the Dan Kingdom the heian kingdom you know you have Babylon settlements the Syrian settlements Roman settlements Kingdom uh and them and also most importantly what we shouldn't forget is ancient inscriptions anywhere you would go in the desert you would find ancient inscriptions such as hide you have this open library of an inscriptions that dates to thousand ten thousand years and it has three periods of history and whenever you walk through jupa mountains it's fascinating so even in outside of real actually there's this education called graffiti rock you have Neolithic or calculusic time uh you have your inscriptions of it which dates to five thousand to four thousand years of history and have also Islamic history so as you walk through the desert so it's very rich and I'm very excited when Charles let's say more excavations happen on a larger scale I do believe Saudi would discover new civilizations and we would unlock hopefully and this is something that I'm very interested in interested in is human migration from Africa to Arabia in Saudi so this is something I think for sure we will find some new evidence how much of Saudi would you say is unexcavated eighty percent if not more because we also need to keep you have we have the empty quarter for example five thousand years ago seven thousand years ago it wasn't a desert there was a lake and there were civilizations that lived there and also again all of the deserted areas do not look like what we know of today as well as for example you have in Tema you have in Illinois and hired you know every part in Saudi Arabia you have a new job the amount of History we have is unbelievable and with so you know the thing is any excavation they do they do find something any activation they do they do uncover secrets and history and things that would unlock and it's like a puzzle just between they've done this aerial survey and ground survey and they've they've found 130 000 archaeological sites in that area it's an area known for battles as well yeah many of even the in the Islamic period the very famous battles happened here and many of us was yeah the the top and here and when you would ask people in certain areas about it they would tell you it happened in this location it happened in this location and also in each area the people who live there mashallah neither full of knowledge the history of the region eighty percent you say talk to me about Al Joff because I feel that aljov's identity or a big part of its identity is what it is you study is it one of the Richer areas in our country I I believe every part is very rich because we can I cannot say because again a lot of uh locations have not been excavated yet but what what I would say about Joe is that is very interesting is be dark kingdom not enough studies or excavations have been done there and to me personally you know radar Kingdom had one of the the dark Kingdom at Arab Queens such as queen queen chumsy queen zabiba and what's interesting about it is around 850 53 BC when they lost the battle of Clark III in the Syrian King when he documented his victory he said uh that he defeated King jendibo Of Arabia this is the oldest word until today of Arabs that has been ever been documented and it's referred to radar Kingdom foreign [Music] or a plan to start Excavating more of Saudi I do I think I'm not sure because it's in the 2030 Vision the focus is on tourism and for in order to to have more tourists you also need to expose what you have more I think it is part of it to do more excavations but honestly I'm not I have no idea I don't work with them with them with I believe it belongs to the commission of the Heritage commission right yeah um under Ministry of culture for sure yeah the reason why I asked that is because with history or artifacts or proof of things that were here from a long long time ago if you think about it that's what tourists leave their home country to go see they wanted there is such a big interest and a huge pull in what was life like back in the day well before our time yeah why do people go to Italy why do people go to Athens why do people from all over the world go to the Great Pyramids of Giza you know something very interesting I find in Saudi is you know for example most countries are being visited because they have one famous civilization we have many yeah you know we have done only that exists here we have the hand we have the dark kingdom yeah the capital is here we ditch it it did expand to other countries but the capital was here and Saudi so imagine the experience a tourists gets to have in one place and see I'm not seeing speaking about settlements that they expanded this is only here so imagine you know any experience how and so this is something you will never see anywhere and only in Saudi it's interesting because yeah you are getting kind of like a a three three or four or five civilizations in one kind of deal yeah um and that makes it unique in its own right it's a pocket it's a package deal yeah it's a package deal um wow that really no no I mean there's again like I just can't help but think how rich the archaeological world is over here and we barely scratched the surface yeah and imagine even just a few days ago what's interesting now in archeology there is this thing called space archeology where they get to see and try to discover more locations in deserted locations through satellite images which is I believe Laura Croft would do something like this you know Tomb Raider so they found here in Oxford University found uh where the where the military come for the Romans were so that they believed this until now it's not been excavated but they believe this is when the Romans took over the Napoleon Kingdoms in 107 A.D and this is something recently this year they've they've discovered it so imagine the rest of the deserts the thing is if something in archeology something is recent sometimes you do have obvious uh things that would tell you such as collapsed buildings or sometimes you would see it on the surface but what's hard is mostly prehistoric ages that go to the Stone Age and interesting thing that I was reading and I I was really Blown Away there is one of the oldest churches in the world is in jubail it belong it's around the 4th Century still there today yes it's it it's it I believe it was restored I'm not sure but I think it because when they found it it was only the roof that collapsed which is obvious because it's usually made from wit and with time it does collapse and they found Islamic pottery and they did not turn it into a mosque or anything they lived in peace I think it was during the Abbasi period or but I was either a bus or Ammon but I think it's a busy period so and it still exists until today no one has tampered with it no one has done anything to it or or proof of all of what you just said available for people to see today I honestly don't know because my grandmother is from that area and my cousin so and there's a lot of beautiful mythological stories in that area even there's the there's the rock you know that it's cut in the middle it has a story but I forgot it viral on Instagram recently really yeah it has a gap in between like almost done by laser and yeah I was just the comment section of that and everyone was like there is no way on Earth that that just has happened by chance over time it's it really looks like some alien ship you know shot it with a laser that just gave a perfect symmetrical slice through a huge 50 meter or 50 foot Rockets it's it's insane that that's something I'm definitely going to put up right now on the episode you can see the yeah but but I believe it's cut through natural reasons it's not like uh I mean I was reading actually about it recently I was there was I believe there was a Saudi geologist who posts about these kind of things inside you know the the natural wonders of Saudi and he was speaking about this that it was natural I don't honestly have much information but I do remember my my great uncle was speaking to us that he was telling us a story about it that involved I believe the Moon and the Sun but it was a mythological story but in general is very famous and you know and I hope one day you know child I get to share it with the world and I'll do something inshallah with it but it's a you know it's filled with history whether it's with the Heritage side of it or the ancient side of it and at some point there's a woman they used to tell me that she lived in the tombs come on I swear to God my grandmothers are I think it was through my grandmother's generation and she had her sheep with her she's lived in there rent free yeah I mean who wouldn't what a story so it's called The al-nasala Rock it's made up of two sandstones supported by naturally formed pedestal with a perfect slice down the middle or slit down the middle with the exact cause of the split has yet to be determined wind blown in sand and periodic rain could have created the unusual shape it's it really is uh it's just it's it's unbelievable I mean it's crazy you look at that uh we'll put off on the screen again now if we haven't already it's it looks like an artistic masterpiece exactly I mean nothing should be cut like that it just doesn't make sense I I think it was it was laser from an alien show but I'll tell you because if you look at the edges you know it looks to me you know I can honestly I would believe it's it's natural because you would see it around the world I mean I don't have much uh knowledge about geology and how rocks are from formated okay but you've seen enough rocks to to give your opinion on it I do believe it's natural you know don't think about the edges the middle the middle is it's almost like it's sanded down to perfection uh I still believe but you know if I mean if someone would voluntarily go excavate there to tell us you know the the truth if they find any artifacts we might you know and see the debate if it was humans or natural but so far I you know they say it's natural this is part of the area that is now obviously preserved you can see the the bottom if it was not natural by humans they would have started you know they would have done done something for the bottom so they would move it or you would have seen signs because when humans uh car they would tie themselves so you would see some holes around the uh like it would be around the left and the right until the the top also in Petra for example if you would uh sorry in Laurel if you would see and on the tombs on the right side you would see hold and this is where when they used to build it they would tie themselves because they started from top to bottom and until today you would still see it where they used to tie themselves the second one you know when they yeah that's crazy that they knew of such a solution to do their work uh via app sailing down like it's pretty crazy that back in those times they they had the level of intellect to say that this is the way to do it but keep in mind uh Laurel is around you know it started it ended around 106 the in the Battalion Empire didn't last with lasted for a couple of years but what's mind-blowing blowing I find is a little job the common carving if you've ever heard about it no tell me it was recently discovered a few years ago and what they found it it's what's important about it is that then it's the largest actual size carving of an of a common known until today in the world and it's the oldest what's amazing about it is it's carved on a mountain and it's from the I believe the Neolithic period which is it's dated around 5700 to 5400 BC and what wait that gives us an idea of that there were people you know and that this is the no no look at the the food now yeah I saw it actually in the let me just do this yes this one here's one and actually get a better picture of it clearly the camel yeah on the on the rock and and that's definitely man-made yeah and because what's interesting is they found the tools they used to carpet oh no way yeah they found it on the side and this is the uh the oldest actual size carving in the world dated to that period they never knew humans could put something as magnificent as this we can only imagine when they first finished it how it looked like I mean today we're blown away so imagine when it was yeah when it was just done and now it's weathered you know God knows how many thousands and thousands of years later it's uh this it's a it's a Marvel this it's incredible this is a is it protected by UNESCO this point and it's recently discovered and uh I mean the ministry of culture are doing amazing work to be friends because of them you know that they that this has been recently published and it and the whole world you know was writing about it because no one expected humans 5 000 you know years ago 5700 years ago could build something such as this and it was with you know the tools that they found were some pit which makes it more interesting and this gift too what did they use I believe it was some of them bone there were bones and I believe uh something with the think lithic but I'm not a hundred percent sure but I do remember bones because like that's interesting so how many thousands of years ago did they predict that the camel carving was done five thousand 700 to 5400 BC and you know when the pyramids apparently according to National Geographic when they were built this is older than the pyramid and stone head and Stonehenge and so on the pyramid's 4500 years ago this was a thousand years before this is the oldest in the world got me one I'm just gonna start naggling as you talk I mean it's an actual size animal so you know when I saw the where the government was heading and I remember I came up with this concept I was uh I was just you know reading about you know I was interested at that time and I was reading about I believe it was an Asia treatment and then I saw how the story of it by itself is very beautiful and it's usually one woman when someone gets married and they all the women gather to decorate her place so they start to help her and painting in the house so it was a woman kind of art and then I said to you know what what if we do an exhibition around the world you know you don't have to wait for people to come to you because we were recently open and you want to make the name of Saudi familiar and the num one of the main factors why people travel is Word of Mouth you've never went I believe you know I mean that this applies on me but usually you go to places when you know someone has been and this is the because you trust their opinion it's a person and experience and if you get that name trending and then if you do an interactive experience where people get to experience your culture just to give them a sense of comfort that everything everything's fine and it's and this is when I did my masters and and turn out it was the international tourism event house event management and hospitality International tourism no it's it's uh it's it's it's such a rich field yeah it's like there say three times yes so basically what I did my thesis on it's how to promote touristic destination through through local Heritage through also for a person to have an interactive experience because if you just go and you listen five minutes we're gonna get bored but if you get to enter to when you get to interact and you get to be a part of it and get to learn without actually knowing that you're you're learning this is where you will actually a person will have when you give a person an experience they will never forget that and this is what I try to do and you know and when you see it here you know you can also apply that on archaeological sites that we have and especially that we have open air museums Saudi is very rich in open air museums and when you get to have an interactive experience at an open air museum this is also a different kind of experience and in Saudi I got to have a lot of experience and you know whether it was in a and uh you know when you get to be a part of the culture or you want to go travel back in time and you want to you know visit ancient inscriptions to have a trip around the desert also Saudi provides that if you want to go to actual locations and see buildings we also do provide that Society is a very interesting place to be even to me today I still get fascinated diverse and very diverse I've also went last year to or a few years two years ago to fresh desert and what's interesting about it it was called the shark teeth tree and I millions of years ago or probably more than 20 million years ago it used to be an ocean so you find on the surface all of these shark teeth fossils and this is why it's called shark teeth trade and we found it on the surface and it was one of the best experiences I've ever had that's really really cool I need pictures of all of this fresh promoting Sadi 101 yeah [Music] have you checked out benali it was amazing I was actually I went yesterday to visit to yeah I went yesterday with my friend first time yes first time it's incredible I I really love the part of the Islamic part when they helped them uh and and I loved how they do the the drawings of karba and to give you more of a visual understanding the favorite part and the column the wooden column yeah but wait just the the the the the line of or the penciling or the circumference the circumference is circular the line that illustrates how wide the Kaaba was and its growth over time I didn't know that I thought the cabin was one size me too I didn't know that so that was very very eye-opening and informative even when I saw the column the wooden one I I was telling my friend I said I think it's this for the Cabo was it inside because I I kind of heard the man say it and then she said no this is too tall and then I said yeah because I never thought of it Kaaba being that tall and he said yes it was inside and it was wow because when you see it when it's large automatically assume it starts but when you see one corner room it gives you an actual size yeah totally a reference yeah it's amazing you know that's something we needed for the longest time we needed a place where we can uh show off our Rich Heritage and and artifacts and pieces and because there is so much that there was never a place to go to to see it and benali really came at a very timely time it was a Ministry of culture honesty they're doing amazing just just reading levels next levels even when and yesterday was a concert a concert yeah yeah there was this group called The so it was beautiful I mean we didn't listen for the for the entire uh uh for uh be what inside because it was too crowded but even the location you really don't feel how crowded it is no no you know when we were outside it's like oh it's so cried and then when you go inside it's number yeah I feel like you're the only ones there yeah it's amazing I loved it I absolutely loved it really is such a good job I think it's it closes this week I think it's the last week yeah no you caught it just in time you know it opened end of January you know I actually didn't know about it and now it's open my friend was the one who told me about it and I said sure my friend yeah no good you call it Justin thank you Father yeah thank you what a friend okay um someone once told you not to stop and that your time will come it's open-ended you mentioned it when we got on a call a week or two ago uh can you just go into a little more a little bit more details on on that advice that you got from someone who told you don't stop keep going your time will come so this story the reason that uh this amazing woman told me this it was after I graduated probably around 2014 or 15. so you know when you I when you finish you feel like you know everything you can do when you have this adrenaline and after you know you finish your University and I came for a meeting it was a work meeting and you know they were asking me about my work and what I do and well what kind of experience I have and and the archaeological field than I did and I remember when I finished and they were oh sorry at that time it was separated men and women so a woman had to come with me so she was sitting in the corner and after we finished I remember you know they said I don't know you know you're a woman and you know you were going to excavate in the desert and I don't know you know and they meet it's still so difficult and I said but it's fine it's my work and they said yeah you know why don't you work in the museum and I said thank you but it's not my field of expertise you know I would intern at a museum I don't mind it but for me to work there's a completely different field because you know you get to study certain artifacts light exposure and so it's a big world and I'm not very familiar with it and I said thank you but that's that's not my field of expertise this is my this is mostly what I do and you know they said yeah and he told me something I never forget he said if you're insisting on Excavating you can do it in Jordan and I said okay thank you for your time and you know it felt like someone took you know my dream and they just shattered it in front of me and as I was leaving the meeting and it was very quiet and then as soon as we left the room the woman told me how so I've been in this room enough times and I've never seen anyone come with you know you're um with the passion you have and and for someone who recently graduated I had a pretty good CV you know my University provided us amazing programs with International universities and she said you know um please don't let their words affect you you know your your time is going to come just please don't don't listen to them this is literally what you told me and after I left uh I just my mother called me and then you know I feel like if you hear your your mom is calm the world is good you know and after I told her he said so what continue you're not gonna let them stop you she said go anywhere in the world you want and I'm also lucky I'm denying a privilege to have such a mother and then after I arrived to the house they called me again and they said if you want a sponsorship you know to study your Masters we can give you which is nice because maybe they didn't want to leave you know living with nothing but they told me you know you can do it on this side and I said yes but the site has not been excavated and I cannot excavate it so what will I write in my thesis and they said um I don't know you know but this is an opportunity you know even if someone did an archaeological survey it's not enough for me to do a thesis on a site and you know they said yeah and said thank you but you know I cannot even do it you know because there's nothing for me to to study and she's watching I honestly forgot her name but I never forgot her words so thank you that's amazing and you know what's interesting is today when I get to see you know now you know you have female archaeologists and they're working every in every part in Saudi and it's Hampden does something amazing for me to see because what's normal to them was impossible for me and this is something that I'll tell you every time I see it I get a little bit emotional because you know yeah it's all free yeah because alhamdulillah to get to see that now and you know at the end of the day you know you want to make it you want everything to be better for the future generation and it looks pretty good now you know in 2013 you know you have everything and even you know I never want to leave here and every time I comes a question I leave you know we have everything yeah I know people who aren't from here are coming here my friend came to visit me this winter actually from Germany and she's one of my best friends and then she said uh she was she came for two weeks and she said why didn't you tell me it's like this I want to live here now how can I how can I how where do I apply and she was serious and until today you know she really won and she told me because every winter I'm gonna be here and she loved it because you know she said it's honestly the people the people are amazing you know when someone goes on a trip to a country you've never been to um they typically first reflect on the food and and then probably the people come in at number two yeah uh or or some people would say you know the people were Pricks but the food was good or people were lovely yeah but definitely the people play a role in the representation of the country and and alhamdulillah are people really play such a positive role in in representing our country for the visitors to come and visit again they come you know hospital we come back to hospitality and and that sensation for tourists honestly it's in it's in our genes you know it's not something that we even have to learn or to you know it's just in our jeans you already have it even me you know when I go to any part of Saudi I I feel like coming together I feel like I'm home everyone's nice you know when they know you're visiting they want to give you everything true and it's it's heartwarming and everywhere feels home in Saudi no it's not just yet I swear every part inside you feel tone and I and I before I started speaking I get mistaken for non-saudi and they're very delicate with I think it's you know the green eyes and uh I mean rarely has anyone ever guessed I don't think anyone has ever guessed and I play this game with people whenever I travel all the time uh like where are you from I'm like take a guess and I've never gotten inside um so I feel it like from afar obviously I'm not wearing a top then there's no way they would yeah um and then I and then I I see how nice they are then I start speaking yes yes on a schooling level I I don't think archeology is taught yet in any school level globally not just here but what year do you feel that archeology should be a topic where they're introducing it to students to see who has interest in the subject and who doesn't you know it's not introducing a topic as such as archeology to be specific but just to make people aware of you know the civilizations that has passed through our kingdom and this is something I honestly saw in Jordan as I lived there which Allah you would ask anyone in the street and they would tell you the exact history of the nabalians and they know you know if you go to Jara she would ask them they would tell you you know this history of and I do believe you know in Saudi we should have you know more information about civilizations that that passed through our nation and mashallah again we are very rich in history and we have a lot even the things that are uncovered today you know interestingly because you know I remember one of my cousins said why don't you excavate now I said after what I know now I can never activate until I speak enough about what we have because you know I don't want to excavate and uncover why do we still have a lot of covered history that's not being spoken about and to just speak about what we you know what we have uncovered and what we have and to share it to Nosa to let Saudis know about Saudi and the international world to know about Saudi mashallah we're very rich and I do believe we have a lot we can teach and and can make it fun you know not so boring with numbers and I try as much as I can to simplify the language for archaeologist not make it tool boring with you know scientific terms what is would you say like one of your best failures in life something that has taught you the most I wouldn't say you know failures because I do believe we're supposed to fail to succeed and in order you know to learn in life you're supposed to to fail once twice and it's a way to learn how you know to do it again and to uh not to do the same mistake for me I believe if you have a passion for something not once would you ever get bored every failure would be an experience you will get to learn and life is a journey and you're supposed to fail and the thing is we only see a person when they're successful but we don't see the Blood Sweat and Tears we don't see their failures you know I I failed several times and I've got my fair amount of rejections you know some people will try to be little you some people see that you're young how can you be you know uh you cannot have the knowledge that I have even though if they're Superior and they have the upper hand you know as you move in life you will stumble upon this kind of people but it's fine at the end of the day it's an and a person's opinion does not define you just you know believe in yourself and I do believe you create your own opportunity so you know you have to feel does it feel like work or does it feel like play since the second I started pursuing archeology I never felt like I was studying it felt like I was reading my favorite book work never felt like work it was just again I was reading my favorite book practicing practicing my hobby really never that's when you know that you're doing what you want to do it I would say it's it's where I found my its where I find my inner child yeah you know that it has a appears here and the thing is my mother tell me when when you know we're in an archaeological site and now it's it's other way or I know I'm the one giving her the information and she just says you know whenever I see you in that space I see see the younger version of you I see it in your eyes you know that you still have the passion yeah according to my mother I love it I love it that's when you really know that you're doing what you're supposed to do yeah when you're enjoying it when you look like a child when you're doing it yeah I I love it I can never see myself anywhere but archaeologists beautiful if you can go back and relive a moments from anything you've been through in life what moment would that be opinions the first time my mother took me my mother is very strict so we were not allowed to skip any day in school and I was in third grade and she made me skip school to go with her to a future here in real as or Andrea here we're in Jeddah Andrea already actually some days I don't know and she took me with her so I was so she allowed me to skip school and I went with her to to the museum and what's beautiful about it is she didn't tell me you're gonna she just knew that something that's gonna excite me and she took me with her and I remember every piece in that museum until today it's one of the best honestly experiences I've ever had probably I think I was eight or nine years old wow you remember it I remember every class I attended with my mother wow and you know she would take me remember she loves Michelangelo and she would take her Maria at the Vatican I think and then she took me by my hand and I was in a queue and she said come I want to show you something and she took me the corner to show me Michelangelo's painting and she would speak to me you know as an adult how why his brush Strokes are so magnificent in his statues and and I you know and she would speak to me as if you know I I know my connection and I actually knew because I attended her classes but it was something that was something amazing to have and the way she's and the thing is you know if anyone who's watching who has parents or younger siblings if you see your child or your sibling you know they're they're passionate about something you know invest in it couldn't agree with you more and but don't you know when when you speak to a kid as if he's a kid he knows it but when you speak to a kid as an adult who also knows it and he knows you're being serious with him and you're taking him seriously so what my mother did with me is I think the main reason why I pursued what I love because I never felt like she I was never taken seriously she invested her time she invested you know anything and as simple as you know making me skip you know school to go with her to a museum that was an absolute amazing experience I had can I just take that point a step further where you said that if you see your child interested in something I would say that if you're a parent it's your duty to go above and beyond finding out what it is your child is interested in not if you happen to find out what your child should know exactly you need to know push yourself inquire breathe happier if you don't put it this way if you don't know what your child is interested in or what his areas of interests are you're not close enough to your kid exactly and this is again this is my mother was the one who told me you know I should pursue she knew it I didn't know it you know she was noticing everything ever since I was a chip ever since I was a child I'm very blessed to have her you know such a mother and you know she she always noticed you know that I was eight or nine and she noticed it though yeah well all credits to her she's a I search as the kind that started on this planet is amazing a lot of people that come on the show The majority whenever they talk about their moms anyone who's ever brought up their mom on this show like their eyes just go watery and they you know refer to them in in such a good way really a name moms in our region they they go above and beyond yeah and and I spoke about it actually in the last episode and I said that they don't make them like that anymore the moms of of Our Generation yeah they are they were special they were like a a special breed I agree with you I swear you know to me personally my mother's who I aspire to be like she's my role model you know and her advice is on small things you know she's a person I've never seen her scream not a day in my life I swear to God I've never seen her mad she's always calm and you know her thing is what she says can I change it if I'm monster Mama we have to do something she says is there something in my hands can I change it I say no then she says accept it then move on you know and it's I get to learn from her every day she is my biggest fan and I'm forever a blessed to have her and she's she's my source of motivation honestly if I was to ask you what's your medicine in life what would you say my medicine and diet my mother my mother is my life honestly she's my mother and my brother I would say you know what they are my life they're you know they're my top priority in everything and to always have them you know honestly they're everything to me because you know words cannot describe it apparently not family everyday Family First at 100 thanks uh Essa How uh how did you think all that went was uh was there something that you wanted to add uh did we cover all the topics that you wanted to cover uh what do you think Anna you do you have something you think we should change or is there something that did not uh no I mean we we hit on everything that I have written down here and then some uh you feel like we should wrap up or is there a topic that you want me to formulates into a question for in for the sake of putting in everything this weekend I feel like everything things I didn't expect came up yeah yeah I know how to talk about everything but by the way I think about an hour and 45 minutes really 7 15. yeah and we also had you know to reduce some sentences from my part I mean I think it went amazing but you know yeah did I say something mispronounce something no no no they should write well look thank you has some for introducing us to a world that I know very little about that is all of a sudden an area of interest for me and um kind of like uh an unsung or under celebrated or under excavated area of of our country and region and really like hopefully we have shed light on something that many people didn't know much about so thank you for sharing all your stories thank you honestly this makes me happy to be able to share what I love with the world and and my passion and this is honestly all that I've known ever since I was a kid and I hope you know everyone enjoyed it I hope someone learned then some new information about Saudi and thank you for having me it was an absolute pleasure to be here thank you pleasure's all morning thank you Tim Horton thank you [Music] [Music] thank you [Music]

2023-07-27 16:36

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