I’ve avoided this topic as long as I possibly could. I guess it was just naive of me to expect I could avoid it forever. But today was the day it finally happened. My students at Qassim university, located in one of the most conservative cities in the world, asked me the difference between “cook”…
Category: Saudi Arabia
Silence
“Prayer time. Everything’s closed. It should be reopened soon, if you want to wait here.” There was an eerily calm about the place, the entire place was nearly vacated except for a few people sitting quietly on benches, waiting for the stores to reopen. “Over there is a supermarket, so you can get any food…
Whale status
There was a lot of jokes made before I moved here about how fat I would become. So far I haven’t gained any weight, but I’m sure between the abayas and the fatty food here, that will change. Yesterday one of my coworkers made maqluba, one of the national dishes in Jordan, and invited me…
Counting
Alhamdulillah, I can’t even begin to explain how blessed I am. I am so happy in my life and I have been given so many amazing opportunities and I’ve lived so many amazing experiences. But I have to say, whenever I count my blessings, I really have to count my students twice. They really are…
Al Khaleej Training and Education
DEAR READER: PLEASE NOTE THAT I DO NOT WORK FOR ALKHALEEJ TRAINING AND EDUCATION ANYMORE. Please read the following as a reference, but do not expect me to answer any questions about the company. Whenever I got the job offer from Al Khaleej Training and Education back in June, I almost didn’t believe it…
The neat thing about Saudia Arabia is that I have a lot of down time to explore new interests. As many of you know, in USA I was fortunate enough to have many very kind Indian neighbors who always made the most amazing foods, and I miss spicy food so much! The supermarkets have a…
Supermarket haul
As you know I am super in love with how cheap things are here in KSA. Lately I have had to do a lot of shopping hauls since I’m missing a lot of things as I just moved here. Yesterday I was able to take a company bus to town, and went to both a…
Yesterday I gave my class a writing prompt. I asked “If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you want to live? Why?” One of my students answered “For me I want to live in USA. It has Hollywood and Justin Beiber is there.” What?
I really want to take a minute to tell you guys how much I appreciate my company driver. Masha’allah he is such a sweet guy. He drives us girls from the compound everywhere, and he always makes sure we are on time for work, and he is always there waiting for us when we are finished. When…
My first day of classes
When I arrived at the compound around 9pm Tuesday, they said “we’ll see you at 7AM in the morning for your first day.” I was a little worried I would have difficulties waking up that early considering I was so tired from all the traveling and moving, however I ended up waking up at 3 am…
Bus ride to Qassim
My first day in Saudi Arabia was spent in Riyadh. I was supposed to be at Al Khaleej headquarters at 9 am, so I decided to go for a walk and explore the city for a while. Honestly, I fell in love it, so you can imagine my disappointment when the head of the company decided…
Kendra in KSA 