Saudi Arabia in the past was a very common place to see women dressed in all black everything, from head to toe, revealing only their eyes. Some places of Saudi Arabia still have strict cultural norms requiring women to wear the niqab (think piece of fabric covering the face) to feel comfortable. However, now that…
Tag: expat
Home spicy Home
Eating habits really are a weird thing sometimes. When I am home all I want is to try something new and interesting. Give me any ethnic food! I would love to eat Indian cuisine one day, Lebanese the next, followed by Chinese. Now that I live in Riyadh it is totally different and my friend…
Snow City, Riyadh
I’m pretty sure every expat I know has checked google at least once to see “what to do in Riyadh.” Myself and all of my expat friends here are guilty of it. Every time we want to do something here rely on google to tell us stuff to do. That is exactly how we found…
All that glitters
A common trend among women in Saudi Arabia is to have a solid gold necklace with your name written on it. As a huge Sex in the City fan, it immediately reminded me of Carrie Bradshaw’s signature necklace. I personally never bought into the trend, but I have a Saudi mother-in-law who bought me a personalized…
Culture sharing
One of my favorite things about being an expat worker is that you often work with other expats from all around the world. The diversity is quite incredible! It isn’t uncommon to see people from 10 or more nationalities working together. When we come together, we are able to share experiences and culture. On the…
Vlog: Staycation in Riyadh
Last week was the students break at university. My friend didn’t have classes, so she came to Riyadh to visit me. I still had some work to do so I couldn’t spend my vacation abroad; however, I did manage to have a great time here in Riyadh. Check part one to see how we spent…
Saudi Arabia has giant malls housing designer stores all over the country. Giant towers are full of beautiful designer items, luxury restaurants, businesses, salons, and more. Shopping here really is a unique experience but I cant help but ask myself, “Is designer really better?” Not saying I don’t love designer items from time to time,…
Party in the KSA
“I don’t think I could survive in Saudi. It’s just so boring.” Yeah, I hear that ALL. THE. TIME. And they’re right, it is boring. Not dreadfully boring, but obviously not as great as back home is. What people forget to mention is that Saudi Arabia, like anywhere, can be an absolute blast if you know…
Vlogging
Hey guys! I am so excited to finally announce that my vlog channel is officially up! I am still learning how to create and edit videos, so please have patience with me until my skills improve. I am still learning 🙂 I hope to bring you more interesting and better quality videos in the future,…
Arabian hospitality
There are so many negative stereotypes regarding the Arab culture, one nasty one being “they’ll kill you over there.” In my experience, it’s actually quite the opposite. People are very excited to find out I am American, and often want to get to know me better. I honestly believe that Americans here get treated with…
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…
It’s the weekend
It seems every weekend Mamdouh and I find ourselves at his family’s house. Not complaining, because I’m one of the few people on earth that actually likes her in-laws it seems… but I am still a newlywed and still relatively new in the family (although not the newest as my brother-in-law got married in July…
Kendra in KSA 