Riyadh and chill

This weekend was fun because I got to get away from my ultra-  conservative city here in Buraidah, and head to the capital city of Riyadh. It’s still conservative, but not so conservative that I can’t ditch the niqab and head to Buffalo Wild Wings with my friends. It’s kind of like replicating the American experience,…

Read More

Other mother

The other day in class I tried explaining the concept of a nuclear family to some of my students. During the lesson it dawned on me that maybe it was a stupid thing to teach despite being in the book, because most of my student’s fathers have more than one wife, so what I was…

Read More

Gold Market

Downtown in the heart of Buraidah there is a bazaar type setup. It’s a bustling area with many different shops, both indoors and outdoors. Some of my co-workers and I heard that there was a gold souk, so we set out to find it, after making a quick stop at the bakery to sample some…

Read More

There are two main types of clothing here- There’s the mainstream western apparel (like HM, Zara, Steve Madden, and so on.) Then there is a more traditional eastern apparel, which mixes fun prints and colors with gorgeous embroidery. Most of the dresses are long and flowy, and they have a bohemian vibe to them. Even…

Read More

I don’t.

I know everything in this country is a giant pain, so you would think I wouldn’t be so surprised to find out that the marriage process is difficult. I didn’t realize that it’s senseless. Seriously. It makes no fricking sense. Dr. Mo went today to talk to someone in one of the courts to see…

Read More

But they hate Americans

Often I am harassed by many people, even my own family, for my decision to move to Saudi Arabia. Everyone tells me how much the people in Saudi Arabia hate Americans. And it’s insane that they tell me these things, because I live here, I should be the ones telling them, right? So, I will…

Read More

Clothing styles

When people think about women’s fashion in Saudi Arabia, the firs thing that comes to mind is all black everything. Yes, in most places women do wear a black abaya, hijab, and frequently a niqab. But under the abaya lies incredible style and fashion. It’s common to see everything from designer clothes to traditional Arabic…

Read More

You’ve stopped blogging

Whenever I talk to someone recently there is always a point in the conversation where they remind me that I haven’t updated in a while. And while this is entirely my fault it also kind of isn’t. NO WIFI Until last night, I did not have wifi in this country. My friend actually brought me…

Read More

Cooking update

A while ago I mentioned that I was going to try to  learn how to cook. I promised I would give you guys an update as to how it went, and so here it is. The food turned out pretty good actually. I mean I made one curry and absolutely ruined it, but otherwise everything…

Read More

The Eid Proposal

Considering I was the only person in the room who didn’t speak Arabic, I didn’t feel so bad about excusing myself into the next room to take a phone call. I was really into a conversation with my friend in English when a stranger I had never seen before rounded the corner and started to…

Read More

Eid feast photos.

Eid is to Saudis as Thanksgiving is to Americans- a day to eat, eat, and eat some more. Then eat again. I spent Eid with a Saudi family, and they slaughtered 3 sheep, so we were able to have a bountiful feast. There was a lot of meat to work with, and they worked it…

Read More

The Sassy Slaughter.

THIS POST IS GOING TO BE A LITTLE BLOODY AND GRAPHIC AND WILL DEPICT PHOTOS OF ANIMALS BEING SLAUGHTERED. PLEASE DO NOT SCROLL DOWN IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO THIS TYPE OF MATERIAL. You have been warned. If you read my previous post, you probably know that I spent Eid with my friend Sara. You…

Read More