Top 10 things you don't see everyday in America

Hello all! For this post we are doing a top ten things you just don't see everyday in America. There are lots of things in Saudi we could put down, but here are a few that caught our eye. Enjoy!

#10 Little Rain = Big Problem

Yes, it does rain here in Saudi. Here are few pictures from one of the newspapers after a big rain a few months ago

Here in the desert, when it rains the ground does not absorb water very fast. Add that to a few sewage system back ups and it can be quite a mess.

All of this and it rained less than an hour.

#9 Class (hand) Pictures

Girls here never ever show their face in pictures, so class pictures can be difficult.

So how do they do it? The picture below says it all. I'd love to see the school's yearbook.

#8 Burqa Barbie

Not even Barbie can get break the law on this one.

#7 Anti-Woman Drivers Bumper Stickers

Yup that's right. That's a picture of a woman in an abaya with a steering wheel underneath.

#6 Cell Phone Mania

Sure you might be thinking that people are crazy about cell phones in the States too. Trust me, Saudi's are way more. How you might ask? Every Saudi I know has at least 2 on them at all times. It makes it great for teachers when you take away their cell phone for texting only to find out that they are now texting on their second phone. They aren't your run of the mill cheap phone either. About 80% of the students have Blackberries and another 15% have iPhones.

This was the lost and found at the school after one semester.

Just kidding

#5 Animals is the mall

I know this sounds crazy but in one the malls here they have all of these animals throughout the mall! Before you get too excited, they are all stuffed. But the malls here are immaculate. Not only are there tons of stuffed animals but there are also huge water falls and fountains. Oh and did I mention roller coasters? That's a whole different post in itself.

Where else have you seen a crocodile staring you down as you buy your Starbucks?

#4 Mosques in the malls

Hang a right after the food court.

#3 Full body bathing suits

That's right girls. Don't get a lot of sun in one of these.

#2 Sharpie time

We have mentioned this before, but here in Saudi, they blackout everything that shows women's skin. It can make for some really funny pictures. I think in this one that death is about to attack those children.

I'm guessing they were going for the black smoke from Lost look.

This one is my favorite. I like the teeth for effect.

And finally, the one you have all been waiting for...

#1 The Hunts are going all Saudi

Hope you enjoyed the list! See you all in 2 weeks!

Finally... The Food

Well it's been a long time coming, here it is:

The Food of Saudi Arabia

I'll post a little later about the details of how the meals go here, which can be pretty exciting, but today we will leave you with this thought. This was a little flier from a restaurant here and is super random. Don't know about you but "Fresh whenever feasible" sure makes me hungry.

Oh and by the way, brain is awesome. I had it with curry and loved it. There is really no taste to it and it has the consistency of tofu or scrambled eggs. MMMmmmm!

4 x 4 no spread ketchup and mustard instead with fries and 7up

Every time it's always the same: 4x4, no spread, ketchup and mustard instead, with fries and a 7up. It's been 4 long months since those beautiful words left my mouth. Sure we do have lots of amazing food here, but lets face it: no one knows how to make hamburgers like In n Out does. For those of you who have never heard of In n Out (and most likely have been locked inside your whole life), it is a burger place in California that has the most delicious hamburgers know to man.

The menu is simple:

double double - cheeseburger - hamburger - fries - drink

But the glory of In n Out is the beloved secret menu. I'm sure most of you have heard of the main ones (4x4 = four patties/four cheese, protein style = lettuce wrap instead of bun, animal style = extra sauce/onions + mustard grilled patty) but here are a few new ones that I have recently found during one of my In n Out cravings. Enjoy the delicious list you lucky Californias:

- Chopped Chilis Burger - adds some jalapeños to the bottom of the burger

- The Flying Dutchman = double double with no bun

- 4x6 = four meat - six cheese - this is actually the biggest hamburger they will sell now because of people trying to order 25x25

- Veggie Burger = everything except the meat and cheese --- not sure why would you go to a burger place and not get meat and cheese

- Extra toasted bun/lightly toasted bun/untoasted bun - note* this must be asked for first based on how they enter it into the register

- Fries well done/fries light well = fries are cooked more than normal for guaranteed added crispiness and heart attack

- Lemon fries = add a lemon slice to your fries

- Cheesy fries = Cheese + fries = beauty

- Rootbeer float

- Combine shakes - your choose what combo all the way up to Neapolitan shakes

- Extra syrup for your shake

This last one wins the prize for the best secret item:

- 4x6 Animal style w/ fries inside - that's a lot of artery clogging deliciousness

So did we miss any other good ones? I'm definitely going for a 4x6 w/ fries inside when I get back - followed by a long nap.

While not much comes close to that delicious burger, I think I might have found something that could make a pretty good attempt. This website is completely dedicated to cheeseburger goodness: http://www.cheeseandburger.com/. I think I found my new favorite website. I love the commentary on each burger. I'm definitely going for The Highwayman.

Later this week I will try and post about Saudi food. The food here can be very different but also really good. It's been a long time coming for the food review but there were a few things we wanted to try first before we wrote the final draft. One of them being brain. Stay posted!

GOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!

Hello all! It seems that everyday we have a new crazy story or interesting fact we learned about Saudi culture. A few weeks back Charlie and I finally got to experience one thing that we have been waiting for a long time to see: a professional football match here in Saudi. It was not just any game either; this was the semifinal match between the two biggest rivals in Saudi. Above is a picture of King Fahd Staium, where the match was held. Here are some of the highlights:

It was an amazing stadium and a great night for a football game.

We walked into the stadium and we immediately were hit with Al Hilal madness. We got about half way through the crowd above and got mobbed because everyone figured out that there were two American guys at the stadium. We then had about 20 pictures taken with us with different Saudi guys and were shuffled around the crowd. These two guys finally helped us out and let us have a few open seats by them.

The reason for the five everyone is holding up is because this season Al Hilal has scored 5 goals against Nasser and Nasser has only scored 3. It's random but when a game can end in 1-0, that 5 goals is a big deal.

This shows just a small degree of how loud it was in the stadium. In addition to just the crowd noise we also had a few guys that were about 4 rows behind us with giant bullhorns and drums singing and starting chants the entire game.

It was an amazing night and the game ended in a tie 1 -1. This was probably better for us though because our taxi driver said that fans have a tendency to flip a few cars if their team loses.

Below is the more of an official recap of the game. It's kind of funny watching a highlight on only two goals.

It was an incredible cultural experience and by far one of the biggest things we learned was the amazing generosity of Saudis. During the game we were given -

- Al Hilal scarfs from some guys in front of us

- a couple of bags of pumpkin seeds from the guys behind us

- noise makers/thunder stick things from some guys around us

- bunch of people who offered to give us a ride when we were walking to get a taxi

It blew our minds how open and friendly the people were with complete strangers. Think about it: When was the last time you were given anything at a sporting event in America from a stanger? It's an amazing culture here and we are loving learning from this side of the world. Love you all and we'll see you in 4 weeks!