Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in Saudi Arabia? Em, from Ice Cream Cone Life, is doing it! She answered 10 Questions for me (+you) about her life as an expat living in a place that very few travelers get to see.
Here’s Em’s 10 Questions:
1. Current address:
Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
2. Previous address(es):
St. George’s, Bermuda; Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, Costa Rica; Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee; Carmel and Syracuse, Indiana
3. I landed here because…
I love science and I can’t sit still! I left the beautiful but unforgiving job of a farmer when offered a position at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. I knew I was being given a very rare opportunity to not only experience life in the world’s most guarded country, but also, I was being given the opportunity to pursue scientific research in the mostly untouched Red Sea.
4. The best part of living abroad is…
Viewing life through the eyes of others. Learning how other people live, learning what is important to them and what isn’t. Trying their foods, speaking their words, exploring their nature. This constant stimulation and education makes it easier to see every day, every person, and every thing as special.
5. The most difficult part of living abroad is…
Saying goodbye to the people you love. Over and over again. That last look you get from your dad when he drops you off at the airport, those friends that you know you might never see again, not being around for your little sister’s graduation, or your big sister’s break- up. Missing mother’s day, and father’s day, and always Thanksgiving Day.
This photo was actually taken on a vacation in Oman at the Sultan Qaboos grand mosque. The abaya (scandalously short!) and hijab are required dress in all mosques and abayas are mandatory dress for all women in Saudi Arabia.6. Before living here (abroad), I never realized…
How truly skewed our (United Statesians… or at least those I have met) vision of the Middle East is. We know hardly anything about this region and we fear it. When we see women covered head to toe in black with only their eyes showing, we immediately think negative thoughts. Repression, Terrorism, religious extremism. We, thanks a lot to our media, think Arabs or Muslims, or the guys in robes are the bad guys. And maybe some of them are, 9/11 did happen and was an atrocity, but when you group an entire people into one box you do an injustice to humanity. While living in Saudi Arabia, I have realized love and friendship for my abaya- wearing sisters, I have realized that the Quran mostly advocates love and compassion for your brother, and I have realized that most importantly, education should be gained before judgments are made.
7. An addition to my day to day vocabulary is…
شكراً جزيلاً (shokran jazeelan)- thank you very much; يلا نحش دحين (yalla n’hosh dheen)- let’s gossip now
8. Three words to describe my host country are…
unique, traditional, sandy
9. If I could live anywhere (hometown excluded) I’d choose…
Pandora (the planet of James Cameron’s Avatar 2009)
10. A traveler or expat (famous or not) I admire is…
First, my friends Maiken and Brenda. These two ladies amaze me in their ability to make friends wherever they go and to stay connected with them long after they’ve moved on to the next adventure. Also, people like Greg Mortenson and Paul Farmer who go out and see the world and do something to make it better. And lastly, the true exploratory scientists, Jacques Cousteau, E. O. Wilson, and Jane Goodall.
And now we all know a teeny tiny bit what life inside the kingdom is like! Thanks for sharing, Em.
xo, jill
