There are not a lot of recreational activities in Saudi Arabia. Gender segregation is enforced very strictly not only by the government but by the people that reside here as well. One fun weekend activity would be to have an Istaraha party. An Istaraha is a small house with a giant walled in yard. Most…
Tag: buraidah
Bella Roma, Qassim
Qassim, Saudi Arabia isn’t the most exciting place on Earth… In fact, many people would argue that it’s quite boring. I’m not disagreeing with that, but in my time living there I did discover a few nice things. My coworkers and I would sometimes head away from the compound and treat ourselves to a nice…
Foreignsick
Today my students asked me “which do you like more, teacher? Riyadh or Qassim.” I had to hesitate for a moment because, as much as I like Riyadh, I actually kind of miss living in Qassim. (I know, I never thought I would say that…) As difficult as it was living there sometimes I actually…
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…
Sheeple
Eid prayer starts around 6am, so I decided it best to stay with my Saudi friend the night before Eid so that I wouldn’t have to worry about finding transportation early the next morning to celebrate with her. I arrived to her home as soon as her brother, mother, and daughter were leaving to go…
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…
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…
Cost of living/shopping haul
Okay so before I moved to Saudi Arabia I had heard people talk about how cheap it was, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so cheap. I am originally from West Virginia, and always felt like the cost of living there was pretty cheap. Then I paid $1.82 for a bottle of water, bottle…
Kendra in KSA 