Last week my Lost in Riyadh Facebook page has reached 1000 likes! Since then I have been thinking about ways to celebrate the occasion beyond the usual thank you post. Looking through my old entries that once composed my Lost in Riyadh blog right before GDPR came along in the EU, I found a comment by a reader from back in 2014. Tonight, to celebrate my blog’s wide outreach, I would like to…
saudi arabia
Blogging on Saudi Arabia: Best of Search Engine Terms
I have always been wondering about the people who are reading this blog. More importantly: in the vast dimension of the internet, how on earth did they come across my blog among so many others? Algorithms provide an interesting angle from which one can look at this question. My analytics page shows me some of the search terms which have been used before the link to this blog has been clicked. I…
Guest Post:24hrs in Riyadh- Female Solo Travel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Yes, you read it correctly. I did actually put the words Saudi Arabia, female and solo travel next to each other and I am just as excited about that possibility to occur as some of my readers may be confused. 🙂 For a blogger or a writer of any sorts, there is nothinng better than getting in touch with his or her readers. Since I started this blog, I have received many E- Mails from…
Service Denied
I came across something on my Facebook feed today that sparked in me a new load of thoughts that may keep this blog going. There was a video about how a Starbucks in Saudi Arabia had denied service to women and asked for their drivers to get the coffee instead. Dear haters and critics, I don’t want to proclaim that Saudi Arabia is a paradise for women (not by comparison to other places, in…
The Women Who Did it
Sometimes during my stay in Riyadh I found myself in situations where no matter where I went, I heard moans, complaints and the excited voices of those who could not stop talking about how they would go home for vacation soon, listing all of the (by Saudi standards inappropriate) things they would do once they got there, in great detail. I was not so much surprised to find that the vast majority…
A Thank You Note to YOU!
Dear readers, it has been a while since the last time that I have been active on this blog. In fact, I am surprised that even during the months of my return to Germany, there were still one or two occasions on which I had enough words in order to leave them on here for you to read. Each of my returns to this blog has indeed been a pleasure for me. It’s…
Why Do You Write About the Good Things?
Those of you who have been reading my blog might have noticed that the significant majority of my articles on this blog have a positive tone to them. Considering the fact that I have dedicated this site to live in Saudi Arabia, which is unfortunately not seen in a positive light by many people from the outside, many of my readers probably ask themselves why I am keeping a blog that talks…
Post Saudi Q&A Part I
When I woke up this morning, I noticed some new notifications in my WordPress app. One of them was a comment on one of my posts by a reader from Australia who had some very interesting questions to me, regarding my life in Saudi Arabia which by now is long over. Since I love it when people share their thoughts with me on my work and ask me questions, I thought I…
Ma’a Salama Riyadh: Last Post Maybe
By the time I am writing this I have already left Riyadh and maybe even for good. There were quite a few things happening but not as much that I could have written about up until now. Things like the last exams or prom and in the end, graduation. I must say that despite all of the differences between life in Riyadh and life anywhere else, I miss Saudi Arabia. I miss…
On Social Segregation: Beware of the Sections!
Yesterday my mother and I went outside (outside as in “outside the actual compound” YES, my dear people, that is actually doable here…SURPRISE!!!) to get something for lunch. Luckily for us, there are some small places near us that sell (fast) food. However, since my mother has not been outside very much so far, she had some trouble figuring ut which of the two doors she was supposed to use in order…