Probably Saudi Arabia is the only place on Earth that the world stops 5 times a day. When I first came here, it didn’t bother me. Not even a little bit. All I could think is ‘oh how relaxing it is to take a break 5 times a day’ or ‘mashaallah, how great is it…
Tag: ksa
Cinnabae
Part of why I wanted to move to KSA was so that I could have many new experiences. New culture, new people, new language, new food: so, it makes it that much more ironic that the best food I have found here is actually available back home. I finally am forced to face the realization…
$$$
So, I have been afforded an amazing opportunity. My company needed people to teach night school, so I volunteered myself. So, I work Sunday-Thursday at one branch of Qassim University, from 7 AM till 2:20 pm, then twice a week I will go to a different branch and teach from 4 PM until 9 PM…
YAS.
I am going to get so fat here it is ridiculous. I ate the most delicious food yesterday, although I’m not even sure what I ate! It had different types of rice and pasta, plus fish. It was super colorful and super delicious!
Mosque sick
Homesickness. It’s peoples number one excuse for why they don’t want to work in a new country. And to be honest when I first moved here I thought it would plague me. After moving to Qassim I was so upset I wasn’t in Riyadh I woke up from a dead sleep at 4am and cried…
can u not?
I guess you could say I found my “signature scent” when I was only 21years old. Think Arabic oud meets the sweet yet crisp scents that don’t overwhelm the American pallet. That’s Faedatik, by Swiss Arabian aka my favorite perfume in the world. Don’t get me wrong- it isn’t my only perfume. I really love…
Kentucky?
Usually I love love love cooking and doing kitchen things, but here I have been too lazy and disorganized to make food. And usually in my own country I never ever eat KFC, but here I seem to eat it on a semi-regular basis. Clearly I am a changed woman. I kind of dreaded ordering…
Mashaallah
Before I came to Saudi, I guess you can say I had some preconceived notions and stereotypes about what to expect. Well, let me just say that my students have really shattered them. They are all so amazing, kind, smart, and unique. Really, each girl has something so special about her. All of them are…
Kitchen Loving
So, everyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with my kitchen. It’s my favorite room in my home. I love to cook and bake, so it’s only fitting that I have a nice kitchen. Well, I went to a home goods store and I nearly had a heart attack. It’s going to hard…
Fashion sense
Saudi Arabia is considered as one of the most conservative countries in the world. There is a dress code, and women wear black abayas, hijabs, and niqabs. The only thing visible on most Saudi Women when they are in public is their eyes. When they are with other women, however, they are able to wear…
Cooking roosters
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”…
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…