Reflecting On Life in Saudi Arabia After 5 Months
It's been 5 months since my family and I left England for Saudi Arabia to travel around the world, have new experiences and hopefully start to save for our future by getting new teaching jobs. It's had its ups and downs but after the spiritual epiphany I had in the sauna in Bahrain, how are we adapting to life being slightly less frugal and enjoying life a bit?
Well, Jeannie got me a membership to a spa and sauna soon after we got back to Riyadh! I think she read the Bahrain article, even though she said she didn't, and is either angling her way to convince me to buy that 1 karat diamond ring she's been after, or she was visited by 3 ghosts over the course of a night... Hey, it's Christmas so it could happen! Either way, the spa's been a gosh-send as after a tired day at the chalk face I go to the compound spa and steam, sauna and jacuzzi... I come out sparkling like a vampire from a popular elevated fan-fiction series.
So how have we changed, apart from sauna membership? Well, I'm eating caviar on toast daily, I'm not but it is available for £25 a small jar at the local mini-mart if I were so inclined.
To treat Jeannie, I splashed out and bought her a foot spa as she's mentioned wanting one for a while. She's loving it and it's become a bit of a ritual for her to plug it in whilst the girls munch a post-school cookie whilst watching a cartoon on Netflix... Psych! She's used it precisely once and it's now sitting in the cupboard gathering dust like all footspas around the world... Next to the Breville Sandwich Toaster, Bread Maker and Jimmy Hoffa's body.
We are eating out a little more, and not at fast food places but actual restaurants with cutlery with weight to it. We've had napkins that aren't disposable or made from course tissue paper and it feels like a revelation! A restaurant even gave us fresh bread and a salad for free and that was before we even ordered anything, so you know it's fancy when they can afford to give food away.
We go to Starbucks a coupla times a week and my drink of choice is a matcha frappe with hazelnut syrup. That beats the greasy spoon 50p cuppa but does make me feel like a complete muppet when I put the order in, but it is sooo tasty. Young Barking Me would knock the high pile of books from my hand aggressively and shout "What!" if he could see me now... But it gets worse…
We brunch. Yup, we go for brunches at cool hipster places; all asymmetric haircuts, distressed unvarnished odd wood furniture, bare brick walls and a shish tonne of plants. With my new freewheeling style, I have had unfettered food options and in one place I had eggs benedict, which is a couple of poached eggs on muffins, with a hollandaise sauce and a little bit of parsley on top. Pretty simple right? Well at £14 I'm guessing these were some elite eggs, maybe dodo... Hey, it's Saudi so it could happen!
Recently, Jeannie and I went to the poshest cinema I've ever been to in my life, £56 for 2 tickets to see that cheesy Brit-com Last Christmas! The Vox Cinema at the Kingdom Tower (the one that looks like a bottle opener- ironic I know) had so much swagger with its modern art deco styling. Our remote controlled reclining seats were of the softest leather and had a night light, foldable food trays and satin blankets and pillows, Also, no lie, the popcorn came in super posh boxes and were carried to you on a freakin' tray by a waiter in a shirt and tie. With the press of a button you could get waiting service to your recliner, so you could order loaded nachos at your pleasure. This opulence even carried across into the toilet where there were golden bum guns. The toilet paper had also been poshified by the fact they made it into a triangle at the end... that's class right there for ya. Different world man, different world.
Recently a group of friends from work and I have taken up bowling. We've been every Wednesday for the past 5 weeks and we've got pretty good. It's not flash or fancy and often we get a Burger King meal but I splash out on a large Whopper meal and I splurge that extra 1 sar (about 20p) for a sachet of spicy sauce... It's the little things yknow... in the Endz it was ordering that burger with an extra hash brown thrown in, but as money was tight that only happened on rare occasions... Now? Sauces as far as the eye can see.
A little while ago, the family and I went to Dubai to catch up with an old work colleague and pal (Heya Gill!) and we went to the Marks and Spencer there and bought a few things for the kids and ourselves. Nothing fancy, just essentials like PJs, underpants and flip-flops and even though it's about a 30% markup on British prices, we didn't wince or complain. It's just a fact of life that imported goods from England cost a lot more here. We'd normally say it was too expensive and go to Blue Inc. instead but this time we said no more! So M&S goods it was for us! Huzzah!
I've recently been to the Super Classico and the Clash on the Dunes, two major sporting events. Not only did I see Messi score a goal but I also saw Anthony Joshua regain the Heavyweight Boxing titles. In England these events would run into the hundreds, maybe even the thousand mark for the boxing but here it's much cheaper so why not go and give it a whirl eh?
I'm not saying I've become snooty but at the boxing I had chips with truffle oil, yup, oil from truffles! Yknow, the expensive stuff that pigs love to root around for and eat. If it's good enough for them... Anyways it was nice but joins the list alongside caviar as food that is proper snooty and posh but I don't get the hype.
Looking forward I'm not sure where our crazy freewheelin' lifestyle is headed but I'm sure it is a place that's wonderful yet decadently restrained... Like our budget. This is a new reinvigorated Anjum, one who brunches weekly, attends sporting events whilst glistening like a vampire. So yeah, adapting to being less frugal is going okay but there are still some hurdles...
When colleagues asked what I was most looking forward to when I got back to Blighty for the Christmas holidays, I said after friends, family and more Brexit talk it was the grade F chicken and chips for £1. I've missed it, strange as it may seem. Also, I’m off to Tonbridge in a couple of days and look forward to getting a personal £2 pizza from Pizza Go Go near Tonbridge Station and going to Oriental Buffet to eat my body weight in chicken wings! See, it’s not all spas and truffle oils, I’m still ‘hood!
LINK- Life in Saudi Arabia 3 Month On