Hello one and all.
Life continues here in KSA and things are finally in normal mode. Work is pretty much routine by now and my day-to-day life is pretty much what you'd expect it to be: work, eat, sleep, and the occassional cultural experience.
This weekend (my Thursday and Friday), I went to a local flea market with a few teachers from the compound. The market consisted of mostly farmers selling their wide variety of fruits and vegetables. The big thing over here for fall is the variety of apples that are being imported from the US and Egypt. According to my friend, Chris B., a crate of apples was selling for 20 riyals (about 5 USD). I plan on going back to it to buy some vegetebles in bulk (lettuce, tomatoes, etc...)
While at the market, I went to the butchers section that was there. To my bewilderment, there was before me many camel and cow heads at the various butcher shop stalls. One of the butchers encouraged us to hold one the heads and take a picture. While my stomach was twirling itself in knots, I subjected myself to an everday occurence to them and truly got to know where my meat comes from. The picture below, while gruesome, was quite an experience and a positive one at that.
After I was done holding decapitated camel heads and the like, I went over to the old women who were selling some handmade baskets and eating mats made out of dried palm branches. I decided that I wanted to buy a big four foot eating mat to hang on a big white wall in my place. My apartment, while nice and big, really lacks decor and does not feel like home. So, I bought this lovely piece (see picture below) for 45 riyals (13 USD) and hung it up. It makes all the difference to the place and I absolutely love looking at the dark red/green pattern in the middle.
In other news, I'm still trying to plan something for the eid break that I have in November. Ten days off and I'm not sure what to do, if anything, or where to go. There is talk about a trip to Mada'in Saleh, the sister city of Petra, in Jordan. That would be great to see, but it's a tad pricy. Time will tell. 'Inshallah'
Back to work.....
- Jesse
Life continues here in KSA and things are finally in normal mode. Work is pretty much routine by now and my day-to-day life is pretty much what you'd expect it to be: work, eat, sleep, and the occassional cultural experience.
This weekend (my Thursday and Friday), I went to a local flea market with a few teachers from the compound. The market consisted of mostly farmers selling their wide variety of fruits and vegetables. The big thing over here for fall is the variety of apples that are being imported from the US and Egypt. According to my friend, Chris B., a crate of apples was selling for 20 riyals (about 5 USD). I plan on going back to it to buy some vegetebles in bulk (lettuce, tomatoes, etc...)
While at the market, I went to the butchers section that was there. To my bewilderment, there was before me many camel and cow heads at the various butcher shop stalls. One of the butchers encouraged us to hold one the heads and take a picture. While my stomach was twirling itself in knots, I subjected myself to an everday occurence to them and truly got to know where my meat comes from. The picture below, while gruesome, was quite an experience and a positive one at that.
After I was done holding decapitated camel heads and the like, I went over to the old women who were selling some handmade baskets and eating mats made out of dried palm branches. I decided that I wanted to buy a big four foot eating mat to hang on a big white wall in my place. My apartment, while nice and big, really lacks decor and does not feel like home. So, I bought this lovely piece (see picture below) for 45 riyals (13 USD) and hung it up. It makes all the difference to the place and I absolutely love looking at the dark red/green pattern in the middle.
In other news, I'm still trying to plan something for the eid break that I have in November. Ten days off and I'm not sure what to do, if anything, or where to go. There is talk about a trip to Mada'in Saleh, the sister city of Petra, in Jordan. That would be great to see, but it's a tad pricy. Time will tell. 'Inshallah'
Back to work.....
- Jesse
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