I received a query by email asking me if I would simply describe a typical day for myself in KSA. I hope this post will not disappoint many for it is probably kind of boring and very routine!
Due to the working hours in the Kingdom I start my day relatively early, before 0600 hours. I am normally awakened by the natural alarm clock of the call for the morning prayer. Right now since the weather has been mild and not too hot I will have a window open at night and when the call to prayer starts, I can easily hear the addan from at least 20 – 30 mosques. It sounds like quite a cacophony with the different tones and rhythms. This call prompts me to get up and start my own day.
I’ve never been a big breakfast person if it is very early in the morning so it’s usually get up and get ready for work. Of course I will feed the cats and make sure they are attended to. Then, an important part of my morning, before leaving for the office, I’ll post my daily blog posting. If time permits, I’ll also check and respond to emails. Once the transport service has called me indicating the car has arrived and waiting outside, I don the dreaded abaya and head out the door.
Depending on traffic it can take me anywhere from 30-40 minutes to arrive at my office. During this time I’m usually in a semi-vegetative state in the back seat of the car. Sometimes I doze off!
I am typically the first to arrive at my office and enjoy this quiet time to meditate before starting the work day. I’ll fix a cup of coffee and view my emails during the quietness of the morning before everyone else arrives. I will also review my calendar and agenda for the day. I enjoy the solitude for once others start arriving the phone does not stop ringing and there are few chances for a quiet break. The day is a long day, especially when factoring in commuting time as well, but as long as it is a busy day, the time passes quickly.
Once work has concluded, it’s back in the car for the ride home. Due to the traffic patterns at the time, the road home usually takes twice as long as the ride in to work. So this is when I either take a cat nap, read the newspaper or a book or talk with a friend on my mobile. On arriving home, I make the transformation from working woman to wife. My spouse and I will catch up with each other but then it is usually to the kitchen to prepare a dinner for us. By this time it is almost 8pm. This is not my preferred time to start a dinner but just the way the time works with our schedule.
My spouse and I will use our dinner time to have in-depth conversations with one another. We’ve always believed it is important to maintain the connection and have a time set aside when we know we will share views and thoughts.
Weeknight evenings are usually pretty quiet because of our work schedules. And also with prayer times, one would not usually go out until after 8pm. But if it is a weekend evening we will either have someone over, go out ourselves to see friends or in some cases, choose to leave Riyadh for a weekend break away.
So as you can see, my days are pretty routine. And of course, I try to find about 20 minutes each day to type a blog posting and check out what’s going on with the blog!
Filed under: America, culture, relationships, Saudi Arabia, Saudi blogs, Saudi culture, Saudi customs, travel, Uncategorized
That sounds like a pretty typical “day in KSA” for a working wife. I admire and respect you for your diligence to keep this blog busy with your stimulating posts. The work hours are very long there; I was on the job ten hours each day (counting the lunch hour).
After I married, I gratefully resigned the job, and stayed home. My day proceded exactly as yours, only instead of going to work, I cooked, cleaned, studied Arabic, chatted on the phone, and wrote letters to family (no email in those days).
We’d have our main meal when my husband came home after the noon prayer, and then we’d nap til Asr. Lovely days!
Our evenings lasted well into the night, because we had napped and because the sun was down at night.
While some women would find the life boring, I found it liberating, and I didn’t even have a housekeeper!
Earlier today, I was nostaligically reminiscing on my days as a clerk in KFSHRC. What I missed the most is exactly what you mentioned here, the early hours in the day, when no one has arrived at work yet. Putting on Yanni’s music. Checking emails. Sipping the coffee slowly, wondering…well, wondering if sex (that I had not experienced at the time) can be better than coffee!
I think my high point of the day was that morning hour. The lights in the offices rising slowly. The sense of yawning, stretching, that shadows the place. Recongizing every employee’s mood through the change in their entrance. Listening in on some hushed gossip. Feeling that right there and then I was me. Free from everything and everyone. Parents. Work. Men. That eye of society. I was me, watching the entire world while it least expects it.
I guess I also forgot to mention that sometimes the daily routine would vary when I would be called and asked to come in for assignment at Saudi Television as well!
In the Kingdom I think it is very important to stay busy and productive and not let the “ole mind” go to mush!
I think it’s very interesting to ”see” your day now. How can you do all this in 20 minutes?
How wise of you to make sure you keep time to spend together. I think may people forget that after they are married.
We need a second post on the working-day when you are called to the Saudi Television. The human mind is a learning machine, once you stop using it, it starts to deteriorate!
Aysha: What a beautiful, poetic description of the beginning of a working day!
And, eh, is it? Better than coffee?
I find no matter the country this sounds liek typical work day for every working woman/housewife. The most relaxing time for all seems to be early morning, (in arabia nap time at 3pm), and evening having dinner. I love the early morning too when i get the family out the door and the baby back to sleep and I have a few blissful moments to myself to have a tea/coffee and read/write blogs/e-mails. Thanks for sharing Bedu. I enjoyed even this simple yet touching post.
Aysha, please write us a post on your blog about sex and coffee darling, I bet all will flock there….
I think the answer to Aysha’s question is, “It depends on the time of day.”
Yes, early morning in KSA is special, maybe because the sun will approach so close as to fry an egg on the hood of a car, maybe because of the color of the sky between fajr and sunrise— pink, salmon, dusty rose, beige, and all combinations thereof.
Here in the USA, at least where I live, we have intensely colorful sunrises and sunsets, but they are too short, and easy to miss.
So, Carol, you worked at Saudi TV? I used to live directly across the street from the TV tower, in the white marble buildings on the northwest side, I think it was. For everyone’s information, there is a women’s community college down the street and around the corner. It offered wonderful Arabic classes; I attended for two years. Maybe it still does. That might make a good focus for one of your posts.
Woooo Hoooooo, American Bedu, you are #1 on the WordPress Dashboard today!
Carol,
Please do tell how you get a meal on the table that late in the day. Alot of the meals I make,especially the ones with lamb in them,take about 3 hours to cook. Do you cook meals like that through the week or just keep it simple? Thanks for sharing!
Everyone,
Thanks so much for your comments, contributions and questions!
I laughed when I read Aysha’s post about coffee and sex for it reminded me of an old colleague who had this habit of drinking gourmet coffee with a dark chocolate wafer in his mouth and always announcing “you gotta try it; it’s better than sex.” (lol)
Okay; I can do a future post on a typical (hah) day at Saudi tv. And Marahm, I actually still do work there. Stay tuned for if a documentary in the English language airs soon on the autobiography of the Crown Prince, that’ll be my voice!
And in regards to your location, did you live in Nasiriyah? If so, I have friends who live there. It’s a nice location.
Wow, intlxpatr, I did not notice that!
Well….I must humbly give thanks to all of you for following and contributing!
You know, I never knew the name of the neighborhood. I think it was Nasiriyah. We lived directly across the street from the TV tower, whatever that neighborhood is called. It was a beautiful sight to look out our window and see the tower so close.
I did a screen test for working there as a reader of the Channel 2 English news. They wanted to hire me, but when I pressed for a contract or some firm assurance of actually getting the salary they were offering, they claimed that the women who read the news were more interested in TV work than money, and that if I would be patient, I would get paid sooner or later.
I refused to work there.
Tina,
I just realized I had not responded to your query. In regards to cooking, it varies! During the week I’ll make either ‘typical’ American cuisine or some simple “Eastern/Saudi” favorites but I will save anything time-intensive for a weekend. I’m a stickler though for wanting to present healthy food and try to stay away from fast foods.
Marahm,
It is true that Saudi 2 will have a tendency to try out many individuals for reading the news which is an art unto itself. I’ve stayed away from that aspect and focused more on special programs which require creativity, patience and in my view, are more challenging as one is not reading from a piece of paper and has to be adaptable and flexible.
In my own personal view, I think because Saudi 2 will take on individuals without prior experience there is less likelihood that they may be paid because as you pointed out – they wanted to be on tv. But if someone has skills and expertise which they require and unable to find, they are willing to pay.