Saudi: My heaven and hell

Question: Would you live in a place where it’s either extremely good in terms of quality of life, security, career, money etc. Yet extremely bad in terms of well.. being Saudi Arabia?
Yes you can make your own life and have your own lifestyle but your family remains the same, the culture remains the . You can’t –not socialize with the people you don’t want to because well.. they are part of this world and they are unfortunately the majority.

Or,

would you rather live in a place where you don’t get all you want? You struggle, you work, you miss the people who are dear to you and you miss out on all the career and money opportunities that surround you.

Please don’t talk religion. I have been better in that department everywhere else but here.

What can you live with? What can you live without?

I come and go like the wind. I retreat and lick my wounds to come back and try again. I learn something good but I learn something bad . One day I love it and the next just makes me want to give up on this place. I still can’t see where I’ll be settling down.

Only the Sith deals in extremes. Then again, extreme is in the eye of the beholder

Awake workers are productive workers

Saudi people by nature are nocturnal.
People stay up till the wee hours of the morning and it’s normal.
Official working hours start at 8:00 AM
School starts 7:30 AM
Morning prayers are at 5:00 AM
Workers, students, teachers, Government and Private eyes.
At 12 prayer time. Break from 1-4. At 4 prayer time. At 6 prayer time at 8 prayer time.
No wonder Saudization is a nightmare.
No wonder no one is around when you need them.
No one ever sleeps.
When they're half awake they are praying or preparing for prayer.
No one can focus on anything.
I wonder if that has something to do with the mortality rate around here.

I should write to the King.

Some things are just painfully obvious.

Badawiya theory 1: Segregation breeds contempt among women

I’m sitting in the waiting area of a hospital. I am so disturbed about the story I was told yesterday about a man “doing” a chicken. I look around me; everyone is wearing abaya min fog al ras Kaman, baragee3 and niqabs. I am observing the way things are happening. I never liked crowded places. I think now I remember why. It’s just that I don’t like to see or hear what disturbs me. A form of self preservation. Don’t get me wrong, I am very flexible, I can be with anyone , anywhere at anytime and in any situation and shine like a star. The “darling of the crowd” , a master . of diplomacy and disguise. Yes I can be anyone. A blessing yet a curse. I am still waiting for the doctor, I hear the women shouting at each other, ordering each other around, feminism is lost in a jungle of women. Venus does not exist. Segregation brings out the worst in sexes. Maybe coz there is no one to impress? There is no one’s affection to win and even if there were, no one would know who the hell is being nice anyway ( coz of the cover) and so it’s pointless. Sighhh
As I type in my laptop, like some kind of alien from another planet. I can almost feel the piercing, ambivalent yet cautious eyes of the curious around me. But you know what? I also still feel the motherly aura and innate goodness of these women. I sigh. Something I’ve been doing a lot lately.