Why would the average person move to Saudi Arabia? For many it is all about the luxuries, such as cheap gasoline, luxurious houses and a good salary. But unfortunately, many of those people don’t think about the differences between this country and the country of their origin. In the end, they realize that in order to have a bearable life here, one must adapt to the local customs and rules. However, by…
middle east
Learn to Dance in the Rain Before You Get on Your Jet Ski
Even though it is only the beginning of March right now, it gets very warm here, especially at midday. I see girls come to school in dresses and skirts and whenever I go outside covered up, I already start feeling uncomfortable temperature wise. Before coming here I, as many other globetrotters, had the issue of what to take with me to Riyadh and what to leave behind. Knowing about how hot it…
The Case of the Saudi Matryoshkas
Riyadh, the city that never sleeps. Somehow I feel like this statement would suit the capital pretty well. There is not much going on here during the day, but once the sun sets, everyone gets out of their fancy or not fancy houses, gets into their fancy or not so fancy cars and turns the streets of Riyadh into a real challenge and hell for most European drivers. But once the highway…
No Woman, No Cab (Unless You’re Lucky)
When I wanted to get from A to B while I lived in the Balkans, I had the choice between walking, taking the bus, hitchhiking (which a lot of peope in Kosovo do, even female KFOR soldiers) and taking a cab. Here in Saudi, there is no such thing as public transportation yet, hitchhiking in this society is probably as unthinkable as the possible invention of a time machine any time soon…
My Attempt On Learning “Survival” Arabic
After learning five languages during my lifetime, at some point I thought that, that should be enough. As I am spending more and more time in Saudi Arabia though, which is the place where I live now, I have realized that staying here for a year without knowing a single word of Arabic would be not only a stupid thing to do but also kind of inpolite towards all the Arabic speaking…
A Visit to the Souq
For those who get bored by the large and modern malls that are all over Riyadh, I recommend to pay a visit to the Suq (pronounced souk). It’s a mostly open market place with either several market stands or small shops that stand right next to each other. These little shops make me think of the ones I saw in Kosovo. At least just a little bit. There are even local women,…
Beautiful Places in Riyadh: A Trip to the Edge of the World
Recently, somebody stumbled upon my blog through the search term “beautiful places in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia”. As I have been on another quite amazing trip today, I thought of writing about THE most fascinating place in Riyadh in case there are any other people looking for things to do in the kingdom. Today I have visited a place that is called “the edge of the world”. It is not the edge of…
Desert Landscapes, Camel Farms
Even though I planned on staying home over the Hajj break, so I could study the material that I have missed, I could not resist and go on a short trip to the desert, about two hours away from Riyadh. It was more of a stony desert, so I couldn’t find any “desert diamonds”, which are small pieces that look like glass and look like diamonds once polished properly. These can only…
Taste Test Saudi Style
One of the great things about moving countries is that every culture you come across over there, has its own way of doing things. This also seems to apply to my classes at the high school I am attending here. This week, we were doing a so called “Taste Test” in my IB Business and Management Course. This basically means that once the class has split into groups, each group brought in…
Why Did I Move to the Kingdom?
Tonight I started with the first chapter of the book that I may eventually write about my stay in Saudi Arabia. It may not be entirely structured like a blog post but it answers a question that some of the readers of this blog may have as well, so I thought of sharing the following with you: Most of the Western people that will pick up this book and open to this…