Oud

This stringed musical instrument is popular in the Middle East and in Middle Eastern music. I wrote a more detailed post with more photos of the oud on my other blog, Susie's Big Adventure. If you are interested in reading more about the oud and hearing its sound, please click here.

Restaurant Segregation

One thing that's hard for me to get used to here in Saudi Arabia is the gender segregation.

I don't quite understand the logic myself. Men and women shop together in grocery stores, malls, and souks, but for some reason, gender segregation is applied strictly in places like restaurants and doctors' offices.

Restaurants here are required to have a separate entrance and dining area for "Single Men" who are not accompanied by female family members.

Men who accompany their female family members to restaurants are allowed to enter and dine in the "Family Section."

The Family Sections of restaurants often have dividers or curtains or even separate rooms for privacy for each party.

City Daily Photo & Our World: Bakeries

Saudis love their sweets. There are many more bakeries and sweets shops here in Jeddah than I am used to seeing in the states. Whenever Saudis receive guests in their homes, the guests are always offered drinks and sweets.

Today is the first of the month and that means it's City Daily Photo's Theme Day. This month's theme is "Bakeries." City Daily Photo features photo blogs of cities all around the world. If you like to do armchair traveling, please check out the City Daily Photo blogs – you will see some amazing sights.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Be sure to visit OUR WORLD TUESDAY, where family-friendly bloggers share a unique glimpse into what life is like all around our ever-amazing planet.

Typical School in Jeddah

It's taken me a while to be able to spot schools here in Jeddah. Most look nothing at all like the schools I am used to seeing in the states. Many of the schools in KSA seem to be old residential villas that have been converted into schools. I have read many complaints about the school system here in Saudi Arabia, especially when it comes to girls' education. There are many who would like to see more a focus on academics instead of religious education.

Sasquatch of Arabia?

I was recently sitting in a waiting area of a local hospital here in Jeddah and the African woman seated next to me was wearing these furry thongs and the tips of her toes were hennaed in black. I had never seen anything like it before. It looked pretty grisly to me...

IMC - Lovely Hospital in Jeddah

This is an exterior shot of the beautiful International Medical Center (IMC) in Jeddah. It was designed by famed Saudi architect Sami Angawi. The interior is as lovely as the exterior.

SkyWatch: Yellow Mosque

I’ve never seen a mosque such a bright color as this one! This is a brand new mosque near downtown Jeddah. I’m guessing that it was built by a businessman who also built the matching colored apartment building behind and to the left of the mosque. It’s likely that he and his family will live in the new apartment building and the man will be able to easily attend prayers there. Many businessmen pay for new mosques to be built around the country as a way of giving back to the community.


To  visit MORE friendly skies around the world, fly on over to SKYWATCH  where you’ll find beautiful skies posted by bloggers all over the world.