We're here!

We made it! Safe and sound and are busy learning about our new home. Man it is such a different place! Many times I just have to laugh because the culture is just so different then ours. So for today I’ll write a top ten random facts that we have picked up so far about the Kingdom:

10. Saudi is pronounced – S ou dee (ou as in ouch)

9. You have to plan your day around prayer times. Why? Every store in the city closes for half an hour during the call to prayer which is five times a day. So that means if you are hungry – all food is closed down. If your shopping – they will lock all the doors of the shop. And if you are in the line at the store – might as well have a seat cause it will be awhile.

8. No carpet in your apartment. Reason: the dust here is super fine and magically gets everywhere even if there is no doors or windows open. Also when inside you have to where sandals of slippers of some kind or else you feet will be super dirty/dusty in minutes.

7. So in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia they have some pretty strict rules and many of the rules are about dress and what is expectable. So for the people in the country is not much problem: just have them cover up. But what about pictures coming into the country where they are showing too much skin? Easy solution. Color woman’s clothes on with a sharpie. No joke. You see it all over. Everywhere from movie covers to packaging on products in the supermarket. I love this country!

6. Riyadh is crazy at nights! As soon as about 8 pm hits the city comes alive and there are people packed everywhere. Just as an example, the last two nights we were still driving around and on the freeways at around 2 in the morning. Hard to believe but at 2 the streets were crowded and there was tons of traffic! It’s not even the weekend for them! Most stores don’t even close till around 1am or 2 am.

5. So we ate at Pizza Hut last night (I know that is random enough) and it was a super nice sit down restaurant (also very random but not best part yet). For woman it can be a very awkward with the headscarf and veil and trying to eat a meal. So how do they work around it? They have either curtains or rolling dividers that they put around your booth so that woman can take off their head pieces. So crazy! And they have this everywhere from Burger King to fine dinning restaurants. Total privacy in the middle of a fast food place.

4. Saudi has some of the longest street names on earth. Just as an example one street name will take up two full lines on the freeway signs. They look something like this:

Prince Amer Bin Saubael Bin Abdia Fahan Rd. Imagine giving out your address to people if you lived on this street. The longest I have seen so far was 9 words long!

3. These next two was all from our trip to Ikea (Yes they do have an Ikea, and yes it is awesome). Random fact about Riyadh’s Ikea – it has a mosque built inside. Now you can shop, park your cart during the call of prayer, pray, then get back to shopping. So random yet very convenient.

2. Oh and this is just amazing, definitely a contender for first but just barely missed it. We saw a sign when walking out of Ikea that was advertising that they were hiring. The sign said this – “Are you tired of getting paid for doing nothing?” Imagine seeing that in America.

1. By far one the most awesome things I have seen in KSA so far was something we learned about gas. As you know the kingdom owns the gas of the world and can set the rules with it as they see fit. So get this: do you now how much gas here? 50 cents a gallon! Oh and they are full service gas stations so you don’t have to get out of the car. Oh and no tax either. We love KSA!