Could someone please turn the heat back on?

I didn't think that I would experience this ever in the Middle East: Some 20 hours of non-stop rain & < 10 °C the whole day in R.I.Y.A.D.H. today. Incredible. Luckily the weather forecast for the remaining of the week looks a bit more promising:

(The thunderstorms and rains were so heavy that The Ministry of Education ordered all schools in Riyadh to stay closed on Tuesday & Wednesday. Some nice examples of how Riyadh turns into an artificial lake on days like can be found e.g. from here: http://www.alsharq.net.sa/2011/11/29/25998)

Lingerie

An interesting piece of news about underwear:

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/saudi-pursues-crackdown-on-male-lingerie-clerks-430955.html

Magical Moments II

Ok, so life in KSA can be less than glamorous some times despite the colorful fake diamonds on our abayas. Yes, you read that right, it’s not all beach parties and cheap beer over here. But then there are the moments. Oh those moments.
One of them that I (K) personally like a lot could be described as follows:

It’s a warm spring night. Why not go for a swim you think. In the land of abayas and white dishdashas, you jump into your bikins and walk down to the compound pool. The compound is quiet around you. You’re the only person in the pool area. The water has been heated by the sun the entire day so it is warm. The sky above you is black, broken only by the shining stars staring down at you. The last prayer call of the day starts. From all around you, (remember there are quite a few mosques in this country) you hear the calls. Soft in the spring night, the calls echo around the pool area over and over again coming from all directions at once. That’s a piece of Saudi magic for you.

Oh and by the way, the magic doesn’t work in the winter when the water in the pool is freezing cold.

Magical Moments

Most of the time life in Riyadh is not that glamorous. A lot of it centers around sitting in a car and trying to get from place A to place B while trying to avoid some of what must be the worst traffic on the planet. I mean honestly, driving against the traffic on a street where the speed limit is 100km/h, in the dark without your lights on? Where else than Riyadh do you see that every single day? I honestly don’t know.

There are some magical moments here too though. A fellow expat of ours who has lived in Riyadh for more than 15 years describes one of them like this: sitting by an unnamed country's embassy pool waiting for the party to start with a cold beer on the table in front of you, you bite into your bacon hamburger when the last prayer call of the day starts. That’s the moment when you feel like you’ve outsmarted the system in so many ways, and it feels equally good every time. (Remember, there’s no alcohol, no parties and no bacon in this country.)

More about magical moments in the next post.