Get to know me - What is life in Saudi like for an expat? (Part 1)

What is it like living in Saudi Arabia, or rather what is it like living in Saudi Arabia as a British Muslim expat? Well I moved to the capital city, Riyadh back in 2011, when they had already established a well built city and still a lot of construction for taller buildings, businesses and housing still under way. And let me tell you there is a lot of construction everywhere every side road is full of rubble or construction vehicles parked up on the street ready to work and dig up some roads.

So a little bit of background before we came to Saudi.
Before I got married, I used to pray to live close to the scholars, to learn more about my religion and strengthen my faith, but never knew how I could live in another country without one of my brothers or father to take me there. Two years later, I got married to a dear friend's nephew. We were barely married for a couple of months, until he had gotten a job offer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But he was to travel first and get the paperwork sorted for me to come after, which is quite the common procedure here. Waiting in limbo until your husband returns with legal paperwork to bring their family over. Which for me took less than a year, however we did manage to secure a short stay visit visa after five months. These first 3 months were amazing, Allah had put love into my heart for this country and its lifestyle. It isn't for everyone but I was happy with it, as it suited my personality. For example, back in 2011 in it was uncommon for women to go out of their homes unaccompanied by their husband or male relative, you wouldn't see a woman walk into a local shop for milk, eggs or bread or walk on the streets to see to get from A to B. This was done by the men and most businesses were ran by male workers. So the woman's place was usually in the home which I didn't mind as I got to do what I loved which was study about our religion, memorize Quran and study Arabic for many hours of the day whilst my husband was at work and I would remain at my desk. When we did get to go out and explore Riyadh, I was easily in awe of this desert city, it was fast paced, alive and progressing and expanding to bigger and better things, whilst honoring their heritage, customs and religion. Even

though Riyadh is a fast developing city and its appearance is better than most developed western countries, with its high-rise buildings and fancy architecture I loved the fact they still maintained Islamic values in their day to day business. It was very noticeable that men and women segregated not just in the mosques but in the workplaces, in the schools and even in the shopping malls and streets, if you were to be walking on the same side as a man, he would walk to the other side and give way to the woman. And women would cover their modesty with loose black abayas and niqabs and men would wear the white thowbes and the red and white checked shimaagh. My husband had a hard time trying to spot me in a crowd of women as we all wore the same attire. And the most beautiful thing about Saudi is that the call to prayer is announced, shops and businesses close their doors to business five times a day everyday to allow us that time to pray to our Lord.The adhaan is called through loud speakers from several mosques in your area, which then permeates into your home and you have the luxury of having a mosque walking distance from you home unlike UK where the local mosque would be a drive away.

Read part 2 here