Author: bryannavstheworld

Hey fellow adventurers! It’s the end of September! Which means this is the last post about Saudi Arabia. However, there’s a lot about Saudi Arabia that I couldn’t cover in this triweekly blog. If any of the subjects I mentioned intrigued you and you want to learn more, I highly recommend checking out some other blogs.

If you’re interested in reading more blogs, you can check out one or several of the blogs below:

http://www.blueabaya.com/2016/03/best-saudi-arabia-blogs.html

http://www.expat.com/en/directory/middle-east/saudi-arabia/

Or if Instagram is more you’re thing:

http://www.thesocialclinic.com/7-saudi-fashionistas-you-must-follow-on-instagram/

https://destinationksa.com/12-saudi-travel-instagrammers-that-will-make-you-swoon-over/

https://stepfeed.com/5-instagrams-all-foodies-in-the-middle-east-need-to-follow-2755

If I didn’t mention a blog that you feel deserves to be on this list, please comment below! I hope you enjoyed this month’s blog posts! It’s time to move on to a different country now. Wadaeaan Saudi Arabia! Marhabaan Mexico! Until our next adventure!

Hey fellow adventurers! I’m sorry this was posted late. I’ve made some popular Saudi food for today’s post. First, I’ll talk about dining etiquette and then I’ll share the recipes I tried.

There’s not going to be any pork or alcohol in a Saudi dish because Muslims don’t consume those foods. Men and women normally dine in separate rooms. If men and women are dining together, women shouldn’t directly touch food that is being served to a Muslim male (unless they’re immediate relatives). Before meals, you should wash your hands (especially if you’re going to eat with your hands). Before you eat, you say either “Sahtain” (“bon appetit”) or “Bismillah” (In the name of Allah) and when the meal is over you say “Daimah” (“may there always be plenty at your table”). Also, you shouldn’t start eating until the after the oldest male has begun eating. When eating, make sure to try a little bit of everything offered. And like in India, NEVER use your left hand to eat! It’s considered unclean and rude to do so. You shouldn’t even pass food with your left hand. Your left hand should be by your side for the entire meal. At the end of the meal, it is appropriate to thank the host or hostess for a wonderful meal.

Sahtain! I made a vegetarian version of kabsa which is a national rice dish that originates in Saudi Arabia. It was AMAZING! Definitely making this again! Definitely recommend this!

I wasn’t sure what to pair it with because it looks like they eat a lot of bread and meat in Saudi Arabia which are two things that I don’t want to make. Eventually I decided on balila which is a street vendor food item. If you like lemon and garlic, I highly recommend this! It has a strong flavor but I loved it.

Since we couldn’t drink alcohol, we bought non-alcoholic beer, and I didn’t hate it. I could see myself buying it again.

As for dessert, if you’re going to have just one Arabian dessert, I highly suggest it be kanafa. However, I already had that so I made cake. It tastes like a mix between pound cake and cornbread. It’s interesting. Not bad but I won’t make it again.

Here are the recipes if you want to try making any of these dishes yourself:

Kabsa: https://www.google.com/amp/www.geniuskitchen.com/amp/recipe/al-kabsa-traditional-saudi-rice-chicken-dish-289878

Balila: https://cookpad.com/us/recipes/801579-balila

Arabian Cake: http://www.munatycooking.com/2014/05/eggless-arabian-cake.html

Daimah! Thank you so much for reading my blog! Please let me know what your favorite Saudi or Arabian dish to make is in the comment section below. Until our next adventure!

Hey fellow adventurers! For these next couple of blogs, I’ll be talking about Arabian food! I love these food posts because they give me an excuse to eat good food and they introduce to food I’ve never heard of before. Especially this month. I almost never go to Mediterranean restaurants but I’ll definitely start going more often now.

With few exceptions (such as inviting someone of much higher rank) when dining out, it’s customary for whoever extended the invitation to pay the bill. When paying the bill, it’s expected to leave a 10% tip. Apart from that, it looks like eating at a restaurant and eating at home have the same rules of etiquette so I’ll cover dining etiquette in Wednesday’s post.

Since there was no Saudi restaurant, we went to a Mediterranean restaurant called Aladdin Cafe. Since we’re vegetarians, we got the vegetarian platter that came with hummus, baba ganoush, tabbouleh, fattoush, dolma, falafel, pickles, tahini sauce and pita bread. Apart from the pickled radish, it was all delicious! 12/10 rating!

I preferred the hummus over the baba ganoush but they were both delicious.

The meal began with the fattoush which reminded me a lot of a western style salad served with baked pita bread instead of croutons.

And then everything else came out at once. At first, I was eating the tabbouleh by itself and it was good but sour. Finally, my husband and I realized there was salad dressing which left me regretting eating any of it without the salad dressing. It made a world of difference!

The dolma was a rice stuffed grape leaf dish. I normally heat mine up but it was good cold as well.

We also got a little bowl of pickles, pickled radish and olives. However, I’m not a big radish fan so that’s the only part of dinner I disliked. The pickles and olives were amazing!

Before this, I wasn’t a falafel fan. I had it a few years ago and hated how dry it was but at this place, paired with the hummus, it was superb! I might be a falafel fan now as long as it has the right kind of hummus paired with it.

And finally, since Ethan and I split our dinner, we decided to splurge on dessert. And I’m so glad we did! We ordered kunafa and it was heavenly! A serious contender for favorite dessert ever! No lie! It’s AMAZING! It’s creamy, sweet and crunchy! I cannot praise this dish enough!

If you want to make any of these dishes at home, here are some recipes:

Hummus: http://www.inspiredtaste.net/15938/easy-and-smooth-hummus-recipe/

Baba ganoush: https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/classic-baba-ghanoush/

Tabbouleh: http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/tabbouleh-91403

Fattoush: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/fattoush-salad/

Dolma: http://globaltableadventure.com/recipe/recipe-stuffed-grape-leaves-warak-enab/

Falafel: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015257-falafel?login=email

Tahini sauce: https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/tahini-sauce/

Pita bread: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016071-homemade-pita-bread

Kunafa: http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/kunafa-the-traditionally-desert-421973

I’m definitely going to this restaurant again. They have some flatbread pizza that I want to try next time. I’m not even upset about the fact they don’t serve alcohol because even though I don’t like tea, their mango tea was actually really good. Anyhow, if you have a favorite item you like to buy at Mediterranean restaurants, please let me know in the comment section below! I’m very interested! And thank you so much for reading my blog! Until our next adventure!

Hey fellow adventurers! In France, I focused on social media too but as of last year, only a little over 30% of people in Saudi Arabia used social media, and what they use is the same as what Americans use so I’ll skip that. Instead we’ll be talking about the four most popular TV shows (according to Google) in Saudi Arabia.

Tash ma Tash (No Big Deal)

Tash ma Tash is a satirical comedy that ran for 18 seasons from 1992-2011. It sounds like it’s similar to Saturday Night Live (SNL). It mostly pokes fun at society, with the episodes often dealing with sensitive topics such as social aspects, culture, terrorism, marital relations, and religion.

Omar

Omar is a historical drama miniseries based on the life of Omar ibn Al-Khattab, the second Caliph of Islam. The series faced a lot of controversy over the depictions of Omar, Abu Bakr, Uthman and Ali, as well as the four Rashidun Caliphs. They also received criticism from Muslims who believed that the prophet Muhammad shouldn’t be depicted. I’ll post the first episode below. If nothing else, Game of Thrones fans might be interested in the opening credits. I see some Game of Thrones influence there. I don’t know about you guys.

https://youtu.be/R1olpEnyN4w

Khawater

I couldn’t find much about this show online but luckily I found some episodes on YouTube that were translated into English. It looks like it is a documentary style show that talks about important topics. The episode I watched talked about how the standards of beauty have been skewed to something that is unrealistic.

Takki

Takki is a drama web series about everyday Saudi life that was uploaded exclusively to YouTube since no cable show would run this series. Director Mohammad Maki said “We want to bring our culture to life and narrow the gap between our different backgrounds in Saudi Arabia and, at the same time, show our Saudi society to the world. To show women wearing hijab, praying, Saudi youth problems and issues and narrow the gap between different mindsets as well as give an image about our culture in a jovial way.” If you would like to watch it, I have posted the first video below.

Now if you excuse me, I’m going to binge watch Takki. No joke. I watched the first episode for this post and now I’m addicted. Thank you so much for reading my blog! Until our next adventure!

Hey fellow adventurers! I’m talking about music today! This is probably my favorite post to do every month because I don’t listen to music often so when I do for this post, it’s special. Plus, this has expanded my YouTube music playlist to artists and songs that I would have never heard had I not been doing these posts. Once again, I’ll post the top 20 songs on this page.

I’m translating some of these titles from Arabic to English with Google Translate so I don’t know how accurate they are. Sorry about that.

#1

Mi Gna by Super Sako ft. Hayko

#2

Bum Bum Tam Tam by MC Fioti

#3

Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber

#4

خالد الحنين تعال اتنفسك (Come and Breathe) by Khalid Al-Hanen

#5

مسكين غلطان (A Poor Man) by Ibrahim the Sultan

#6

Mi Gente by J Balvin and Willy William

#7

Sorry by Halsey

#8

Without You by Avicii ft. Sandro Cavazza

#9

تبيني لك (Tebini You) by Rashed Al Majid and Abdul Majid Abdullah

#10

اريدك (I Want You) by Louay Adnan

#11

Havanna by Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug

#12

Shape of You by Ed Sheeran

#13

ولا ناسيك (Nor Nasik) by Yasser Abdel Wahab

#14

The next one wouldn’t translate. Sorry.

عيدية حرب by Badr Al Shaifani

#15

Dusk Till Dawn by Zayn ft. Sia

#16

New Rules by Dua Lipa

#17

Chandelier by Sia

#18

طير انت (You are a Bird) by Evan Naji

#19

رادار الوفا (Wafa Radar) by Mohammed Al Shehhi

#20 The Riddle (Alternative Radio Edit) by Prezioso and Marvin

Though khaleeji folk songs are also popular in Saudi Arabia.

Well that’s it for music in Saudi Arabia! Thank you so much for reading my blog! Maybe you found a song you enjoyed! Maybe not, but hopefully you still enjoyed learning a little bit more about Saudi Arabia like I did! Anyhow, until our next adventure!

Hey fellow adventurers! Once again, we’re talking about stories! This was probably the post I was most excited for this month because I loved reading One Thousand and One Nights growing up (a kid’s version obviously). And there are so many more versions that I want to read now that I’m an adult!

For those of you who don’t know, One Thousand and One Nights is about a king who discovers the wives of both him and his brother have been cheating on them with other men. Deciding that all women are unfaithful traitors, the king decides to marry and eventually kill every innocent virgin girl in his village until the only one left is the vizier’s daughter. Rather than back away, the daughter begs her dad to let her marry the king to which the vizier reluctantly agrees. On the night of their marriage, the vizier’s daughter begins to tell the king a story but stops midway. The king agrees to let her live another day if she finishes her story the following day. She does but then she starts another story and once again, doesn’t finish the story unless he lets her live another day. This goes on for one thousand and one nights until (spoiler alert) he pardons her so she’s no longer in danger of being executed. Some of the stories she tells him are pretty well known:

Aladdin (http://www.thenagain.info/Classes/Sources/Aladdin.html)

Aladdin finds a magic lamp that grants him riches, the hand of the sultan’s daughter and an extravagant palace but is tricked by an evil sorcerer.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/burt1k1/tale31.htm)

Ali Baba, a poor woodcutter, stumbles upon a cave full of treasure while gathering firewood and takes a small bag of coins home with him. However, when his greedy brother finds out about the cave, he gets caught and murdered by the forty thieves who frequent the cave. It doesn’t take the thieves long to figure out Ali Baba knows their secret and attempt to eliminate him multiple times but fail every time.

Sinbad the Sailor (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lang1k1/tale15.htm)

A rich merchant tells a poor porter the story of how he became rich through seven wondrous journeys. During his voyages throughout the seas east of Africa and south of Asia, he has fantastic adventures going to magical places, meeting monsters, and encountering supernatural phenomena.

And then there’s stories you might have heard of but didn’t realize where Arabian Night stories:

The Three Princes (http://www.fairytales24.ru/catalog/saudi-arabia-folktales/skazka-the-three-princes-675/)

To win the hand of a beautiful princess, three princes embark on a journey to find the most a trinket so amazing that it will move the princess to want to marry them.

The Fisherman and the Genie (http://www.uexpress.com/tell-me-a-story/2008/5/4/the-fisherman-and-the-genie-a)

A fisherman stumbles upon a genie’s bottle and accidentally awakens the vengeful genie who has planned on killing whoever releases him from his bottle.

In the post on Indian folktales I mentioned that this was my favorite story growing up:

The Prince and the Tortoise (http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1488524.html)

A king intent on marrying off his sons tells his sons that Allah will decide their future wives by leading the arrow they shoot into the territory of their future wives’ homes. The first two sons land their arrows in the territory of nearby kingdoms but the third and youngest son shoots his arrow into a tortoise’s garden. Certain it’s a mistake the king has his son shoot several more arrows, all of which land in the tortoise’s garden. The son, believing it is Allah’s will, marries the tortoise. However, the tortoise has some surprising secrets up her sleeve (shell?).

That’s it for this post! I highly recommend you read the stories I mentioned. They’re all amazing! Do have a favorite Arabian Nights story? If so, please comment which one below! I would love to check it out if I haven’t read it already! Thank you so much for reading my blog! Until our next adventure!

Hey fellow adventurers! Today we’ll be talking about something unique to Saudi Arabia, the Hajj. This year it took place from August 30^th to September 4^th. I’ve mentioned it in passing before but to be honest, I don’t know much about it myself. For that reason, I’m really excited to be able to learn about it with all of you. 😊

The Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca (the holiest city of Islam) that every adult Muslim must partake in at least once in their lifetime. It is the largest annual gathering of people in the world. This journey is meant to demonstrate the solidarity of the Muslim people as well as their commitment to Allah. Every year, between two to three million people participate in the Hajj. I was going to summarize the 6-day ritual that Muslims follow during the Hajj but I ran across an article that explained it much better than I could:

http://www.aljazeera.com/focus/hajj/2009/11/2009111895127111168.html

Recently, there has been concern for the safety of the pilgrims since the number of pilgrims has been increasing since the 1990’s. They are using crowd control techniques to attempt to ensure the safety of those participating in the Hajj, but you still get events like the stampede in 2015 that resulted in 769 deaths and 934 injuries. Because of this, Iran stated in 2016 that they were no longer letting their citizens go to Saudi Arabia to participate in the Hajj since the safety of their citizens couldn’t be guaranteed.

Well that’s all for today. I know some of you might be opposed to opening links but I seriously suggest at least skimming through the one I provided to see what they do on each day of the Hajj. I thought it was interesting. Anyhow, thank you so much for reading my blog! Until our next adventure!

Hey fellow adventurers! Today I’ll be talking about Saudi news outlets. News outlets can have a huge impact on society while at the same time reflecting their views. For that reason, I think it’s important to look at popular news outlets in other countries. Though I’m sure I’m heavily biased because of my journalism major.

In broadcasting, there are five major tv companies: Dubai TV, the Middle East Broadcasting Center, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International, Rotana Group and the Saudi Broadcasting Corporation. These companies make up 80% of the broadcasting market. However, due to the rise of the internet, there’s been a drop in the amount of people who watch tv on a regular basis. In 2014, approximately 65% of the population watched tv programs on a daily basis but that dropped to 49% in 2016.

Newspapers are another good source of information. These are some of the more popular newspapers in Saudi Arabia:

• Al Jazirah (http://www.al-jazirah.com/)
• Al Eqtisadiah (http://www.aleqt.com/)
• Arab News (http://www.arabnews.com/)
• Saudi Gazette (http://saudigazette.com.sa/)
• Okaz (http://www.okaz.com.sa/)

Like most places, the newspapers vary in focus along the lines of politics, religion, editorializing, consumer information, local/national/international news emphases, and economics. Newspapers have becoming more popular in Saudi Arabia due to the increase in literacy rates. Statistics suggest about 88% of males and 74% percent of females are literate compared with an early 1980s estimate of 15%. They’re even starting to circulate outside of Saudi Arabia now as well.

That’s all for today’s blog. Sorry it’s a bit short! But thank you so much for reading my blog! Until our next adventure!

Hey fellow adventurers! Most days I want to try to keep my posts as upbeat as possible but today, I feel obliged to talk about September 11^th, 2001 and terrorism, since fifteen of the nineteen terrorists of that day were Saudi nationals, including the mastermind, Osama Bin Laden.

The terrorist attacks of September 11^th, 2001 were the deadliest attacks on United Stated soil in the history of the country. Terrorism has been a severe issue in Saudi Arabia and the Saudis are currently trying to change that. First, I will briefly go over the founding of al-Qaeda, then I will cover some of the problems that Saudi Arabia is facing, and how the country is trying to correct them.

Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda stems from the Soviet war in Afghanistan that took place between 1979 and 1989. A young Bin Laden used his family’s wealth and influence supplemented by funding from Saudi Arabia and the United States to set up a funding network for the Jihad against the Soviets. Many eager volunteers from Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries helped the organization grow, and assist in pushing the Soviets out of Afghanistan. After the war, he used his influence to set up al-Qaeda. It was this terrorist network that planned and executed the attacks of 9/11.

Saudi Arabia is said to be the world’s largest source of funds and promoter of Salafist Jihadism, which forms the ideological basis of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, Taliban and ISIS. Throughout the Sunni Muslim world, Saudi Arabia funds schools and Mosques for both young and old. More than 1500 mosques were built and paid for with Saudi funds over the last 50 years and all these schools and mosques are taught using the very strict and conservative Wahhabism or Salafism teachings. These very strict teachings have led to harsh criticisms from many western and Muslim countries for promoting extremism.

Since 2002 Saudi Arabia has started to change the textbooks and methods of their schooling. Although progress is slow due to the conservative nature of the country, real strides are starting to be made in transforming how children are taught in their country. Billions of dollars are being spent in modernizing the institutions to increase literacy rates, produce graduates who can meet the high demands of the job market and perform the technical jobs that are currently being performed by non-Saudis. Education officials maintain that the aim of these reforms is to create “global citizens”. The reforms are also aimed at reducing intolerance and extremism in the country and education officials are making sure that any teachers that espouses intolerant or extremist views will be held accountable. In addition to this, Saudi Arabia is also sending hundreds of teachers of both genders to western universities to learn about modern teaching methods. They are emphasizing critical thinking so they may gain more well-rounded citizens. Although the country still has a long way to go, they are making promising steps in the right direction.

Thank you so much for supporting my blog! I appreciate every single one of you traveling the world with me. And thank you to lovely husband, Ethan, who helped a great deal with this blog post! Until our next adventure!

Hey fellow adventurers! Today we’re talking about popular landmarks in Saudi Arabia. If I leave out a landmark that you like, please let me know in the comment section below!

Al-Masjid an-Nabawi

Established and built by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Al-Masjid an-Nabawi is the second-holiest site in Islam. It is one of the largest mosques in the world, and is always open no matter the date or time. It was later expanded to include the resting place of the Muhammad and the first two Rashidun caliphs (Abu Bakr and Umar).

Great Mosque of Mecca

The Great Mosque of Mecca, or the Grand Mosque, is the largest mosque in the world and Islam’s most sacred. It surrounds Islam’s holiest place, Kaaba, and Muslims must come here to perform the Hajj (will cover in greater detail later).

Kaaba

The Kaaba is a building in the center of the Grand Mosque, considered to be the bayt Allāh or the “House of God”. It is the holiest site in Islam. No matter where they are in the world, Muslims are expected to face the qibla (direction facing the Kaaba) while they perform salat (prayer).

Quba Mosque

Dating back to the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the Quba Mosque is one of the oldest in the world. Muhammad used to go there every Saturday to pray.

King Fahd’s Fountain

King Fahd donated the fountain to Jeddah and was launched in 1985. Over 500 spotlights illuminate the fountain at night which can shoot up to 853 feet (260 meters) above the Red Sea. Unlike most fountains, the King’s Fountain uses saltwater from the Red Sea.

Kingdom Tower

The Kingdom Tower, a skyscraper currently in construction, is planned to be completed in 2020. If completed, it will be the tallest tower in the world at a little over 3,280 feet (1 kilometer) tall.

Thank you so much for reading my blog! Until our next adventure!