May 20, 2012
I quit my job in Saudi for a reason.

For you guys who have been following me for a while, you all know that I didn’t have the best time in the history of the world out there. You know that I found certain parts of my life out there hard. I wasn’t happy even though I had so much going for me - things other people would want. I decided to quit because I feel there was an emptiness in my life. I felt like I was going round and around and around. It was stifling. It was mundane. It was my life. I realised how to change that, though.

I stayed out in Saudi for as long as I could to save up as much cash as possible. When I knew my target was within reach I quit my job and came home. Coming home at this time was very deliberate. I came home so I could work towards getting in to medical school.

It’s something I’ve thought about for a long but never thought it would be a path I’d be able to take. I didn’t know if I have the dedication or motivation for it. I had the passion and the interest but I doubted myself. It’s one of the reasons why I studied law and then worked in politics. I felt that I could do those jobs far more easily. I got my undergraduage degree and then my masters degree but I was never challenged. I was never pushed. I was always dissatisfied with the path I was taking.

Being in Saudi helped me realise that I was capable of doing so much more. There are people in my life who have helped me realise that I’m capable of so much more and I’m forever grateful for them helping me realise that. There are people who have encouraged me every step of the way and asked me all the right questions. These people, especially one in particular, showed me that I could do great things, that I had it in me to reach so incredibly high. I can’t thank them enough. The way they never gave up on me and always believed in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself, is something I will never forget.

Anyway… right now I’m studying towards taking entrance exams in September and applying for universities in October - 4 out of Newcastle, King’s, Nottingham, Keele, St. George’s, and Swansea but almost certainly the first two. Then (insha Alllah) I’ll have interviews for medical school between December and February for school to start again in September 2013. The reason why I said I might be going back to Saudi in 2013 was to spend those months between interviews and starting school saving up money out there.

I didn’t want to write about this plan for the longest time. I didn’t want to share my thoughts and ideas with the world because sharing something can impact things in negative and positive ways and I just wasn’t ready to have that negative influence on my plans. It was a quote that Christine posted (she’s amazing, follow her!) that really made me think about sharing this plan. The quote hit me pretty hard. I actually even reblogged it - which is so rare for me.

Right now I feel like my plans are more solid than they ever have been before. Right now I feel like I’m on a firm path. I know what I want to do and how it has to be done and I’m doing it.

One of the reasons I haven’t been blogging all that much in the last few months was because this is one of the biggest things going on in my life and I just didn’t want to share it with the world yet. That it was impacting everything else for me on here. I feel like the time is now. I feel like this is what I’m going to do.

There’s a high chance of failure. The odds are against me in the steepest way but I’m determined to make this happen. I have to make this happen. With Allah’s help it will happen.

10:40pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyLr6uof
(Notes: 17)
  
Filed under: saudi saudi arabia some of you already knew this but I haven't told many people at all I only told my parents a few weeks ago medicine medical school alreadyam plans life decisions 
March 20, 2012

alessandraalmannie asked: I just came across your blog and I just wanted to say thank you for making me smile and laugh especially at your responses to these anon comments. I don't see anything wrong with the way you look btw, I don't get it. Anyway any advice you can give to a woman who is going to be moving to Riyadh in the near future would be greatly appreciated! Shukran!

Thank you for your message. It was so great to hear from you! Thank you. Anons just have a problem with my bobble-shaped head.

What are you going to be doing in Riyadh? I wish you the best of luck for when you’re out there. If you have any specific questions, please don’t hesitate to ask! I guess my standard advice is that you should go out there with really low expectations - think the worst of everything - and you can only be pleasantly surprised! It sounds like you’re already progressing in Arabic which is a good start.

6:15pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyIIFTg0
Filed under: alessandraalmannie ask me anything saudi saudi arabia ksa arabic advice 
March 14, 2012

Anonymous asked: how's a typical day of yours? be detailed and exhaustive :)

I answered the question but tumblr ate it :(

Sorry it’s taken me a few days to answer this, Anon, I just wasn’t sure how to go about replying. You see, there’s what should be my typical day and then there’s what actually is my typical day and they’re two different things.

My ideal day should go along the lines of… waking up at around 9am, running for an hour, showering/breakfast/getting ready for an hour, studying for the rest of the morning and the afternoon, and then going to the gym/meeting friends/going to the cinema/hanging out with family in the evening.

What happens in reality is that I wake up at around 11pm, catch up on my tumblr dahsboard (I read every post) and the internet for an hour or so, go for a half hour run, getting ready, procrastinating a whole lot, texting pretty much all day on most days, surfing the internet pretty much all day on most days, chilling with the family/friends in the evening, and then going to sleep too late and not sleeping through the night.

The only thing that I want to happen in my ideal day and actually happens properly in my real typical day is that I pray five times in both.

I really need to get on my routine and fix it because it just isn’t good enough right now. I’m still in post-Saudi hangover mode.

5:51pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyH_Ad3e
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: Anonymous ask me anything anon routine running praying saudi ksa saudi arabia 
March 12, 2012

yallahguys-deactivated20120430 asked: Why did you quit your job?

This is a really great question and one that I haven’t really answered in great detail on the blog. I’m going to skirt around a lot of it here but, hopefully, you’ll get some info.

So… Saudi was hard for me in a lot of ways and I had a pretty tough time of it over the last few months. That, in itself, was reason enough to leave but it wasn’t the only one. The main reason was because the plan I have for the next step in my life and me needing time to work towards that. I’m not really comfortable sharing that with tumblr yet but will do in due course - whether it works out or not.

I left the job on really good terms and hope to go back in Jan/Feb of 2013. How long I go back for will be dependent on how things work out elsewhere. Maybe 8 months but it could also be up to a year.

9:42pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyHuHZqZ
Filed under: yallahguys ask me anything saudi saudi arabia ksa work job quit plan future 
March 10, 2012

Anonymous asked: What spurred on the decision to go abroad? and why ksa of all the places on earth?

Well… I’ve always wanted to travel. It’s been a bug I’ve had my whole life. After my masters finished I was finding it hard to find a job so I looked in to working abroad.

I was looking at the Far East or South America but, alhamdulilah, I’m really blessed in that Allah made my path towards Saudi. What attracted me was the fact that I could visit Mecca and Medina and the money there was the best in the world. Going there changed my life in numerous ways and many of them were for the better.

8:18pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyHmvvp3
Filed under: Anonymous ask me anything anon saudi saudi arabia ksa mecca medina travel far east south america 
March 10, 2012

flufflogic asked: Well if nobody else is playing... What was the craziest, most culture shock thing you saw whilst there?

I’ve been thinking about this question since last night and I’m struggling to come up with an answer. In truth, it’s just loads of small things that add up together to make it really different. Seeing most women wear abayas, hijabs, and niqabs is strange to get used to but once you do it doesn’t stand out at all.

I think the thing that got me the most were the roads. Driving is so shockingly reckless and outrageous that it boggles the mind. It honestly is horrendously bad. You see drivers making moves on the road that would make you scream and, simultaneously, gasp in horror on roads in the UK. It’s a surreal thing to witness in the beginning. I guess that’s what stood out the most for me.

Not interacting with women at all isn’t too far behind.

7:10pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyHmi3pM
Filed under: flufflogic ask me anything saudi saudi arabia ksa driving women muslim islam 
March 10, 2012

Anonymous asked: Full democracy: important, or not so much as we in the West think?

This is a really unpopular opinion…

Politics is a messed up thing. It’s often the case that things happen that people don’t care about or don’t want to happen but they happen regardless. There are examples from all over the world where this is the case. There is no political system that is totally perfect.

With that said… I don’t mind benevolent dictators - if such a thing exists in reality. If a person is in touch with the needs of the people and works in accordance to that then whether they’re democratically elected or not doesn’t make the most difference. Of course, it is rarely the case that it works out like this in reality.

For Saudi… The King is in strange position. There are things that he - and his advisers - are really on the ball with. There is excellent health care for Saudis, the roads are good, education systems are fantastic and students get paid to go to college. In day-to-day life politics really makes no difference.

Of course, there are issues where people feel there are problems. Womens’ rights is one such area. The thing is, the Saudi women I have spoken to don’t seem to mind too much. I guess it might be because they know nothing different. I’m not in a position to comment on that.

From my own experiences, as a political science graduate student, I really didn’t care about politics whilst out there. You just don’t pay attention to it. Things just happen. It’s a really strange mindset. I know people have big problems with the political system in Saudi but it, mostly, works. The country has so much money that taxes are none-existent and money really isn’t a problem. The government routinely wipes the debts of citizens and people, mostly, have it okay.

There are Shia Muslims there who struggle for representation and egalitarianism and the way they are treated isn’t something I agree with it all. Democracy would help them the most. Their concerns can mostly be dealt with by the government having some tact but it’s hard for them.

I’m sorry my answer is so long winded. In summation, the system works for most of the people as it is - or that’s the impression I got. There is a lot of love for the Royal family especially in regards to the way they’ve given respect to Mecca and Medina but there has been recent protests about development in both cities as going too far.

7:05pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyHmgzmQ
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: Anonymous ask me anything saudi anon saudi arabia ksa royal family democracy politics human rights unpopular opinion 
March 10, 2012

wittywords88-deactivated2012051 asked: Salaams bro,came across your blog browsing through the saudi arabia section and i just wanted to say thanks for blogging about your experience in saudi, i've recently completed a CELTA course and i'm considering appliying for teaching jobs in riyadh in the near future, and your posts are insightfull to say the least so yeah Jaza'kallah khayre and hope you don't mind me following you!

W/salaam. Thank you for following my little blog and for getting in touch. My experience in Saudi is fairly well detailed here. I was there for 18 months and wrote about it a whole lot. Feel free to delve in to my archive or my ‘Saudi’ tag.

The CELTA is definitely the standard of tefl teaching. With that qualification you won’t go far wrong. The best sites to have a look at for jobs is Dave’s ESL Cafe, TEFL.com, and Teach Saudi. There are a whole lot of jobs in Riyadh and if you have any questions about it please don’t hesitate to ask.

6:49pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyHmdklU
Filed under: wittywords88 ask me anything tefl saudi saudi arabia ksa riyadh celta tefl 
March 9, 2012
So, I’ve been back in England for a week now…

If any of you want to ask any questions about my time in Saudi feel free to ask. I feel I can answer the questions without holding back in any way now.

You all know how.

8:00pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyHjHTK0
Filed under: ask ask me anything england home saudi saudi arabia ksa 
March 8, 2012
I feel like I don’t have as much to blog about now that I’ve left Saudi

I know me being in Saudi was a big part of this blog and a lot of you came along on the journey with me.

Now, it’s almost as though I have a lot less to say. I’m just another guy in a small English city.

This blog isn’t anything remarkable or has anything interesting to say any more.

9:04pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyHgDWJP
(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: saudi saudi arabia ksa home england boring hmmm... 
March 5, 2012
Today was day one of my ‘plan’…

except that it didn’t really go to plan very well.

I was going to go running first thing in the morning which didn’t work out because I realised I’d left my running shoes in Saudi Arabia, with my Nike+ sensor still in there. Idiot Waq.

The second thing was that I was going to start studying at 9am and carry on until mid-afternoon. Instead… I didn’t start studying until the mid-afternoon but did get more studying done today than I have in any other single day in the last two years. Good times. It’s a start and I took baby steps.

The third thing was that I was going to control my diet and try to be more healthy… it lasted until 4pm and then I started eating and didn’t really finish until I came to bed at around 9pm.

Still, it was a good day. It wasn’t a total waste and I’m going to start again from scratch in the morning. Here’s to take 2.

11:44pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyHXTaIs
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: plan home saudi saudi arabia ksa running diet nike+ studying healthy 
March 5, 2012
Can I pretend to be Saudi?

Can I pretend to be Saudi?

9:45pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyHX0l30
(Notes: 7)
  
Filed under: gpoy saudi saudi arabia ksa style fashion middle east 
March 4, 2012
I miss hearing the adhan at fajr from six different mosques.

I miss hearing it throughout the day.

5:12am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyHRD3f5
(Notes: 7)
  
Filed under: fajr prayer islam muslim saudi saudi arabia england mosque 
March 3, 2012

je-suis-fou asked: This time you're coming to Jeddah?

Actually… I’ve thought about that a lot and it’s something I wouldn’t mind at all… I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about Jeddah and being that close to Mecca would be a dream come true. The thing is that I left on really good terms with my employers in Riyadh and it’ll be really easy to get my old job back (maybe even with a pay rise) so it might just work out better to go back there. Also, my sister and brother-in-law will be in Riyadh with my nephews so it’ll be incredible to be with my family. We’ll see…

7:07pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyHP9c9E
Filed under: saudi saudi arabia ask ask me anything je-suis-fou ksa jeddah riyadh work 
March 3, 2012

Anonymous asked: Youre going back in 10/11 months?

In sha Allah, that’s the plan. I have an idea of what I want to do and it’s something I’m going to, hopefully, spend the next 10/11 months on. Regardless of whether that plan works or not I should have between 8 months and about a year and there’s no where like Saudi in order to save money. It’s not 100% that I’ll be going back but it really looks likely that I will.

6:55pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyHP7ASj
Filed under: saudi saudi arabia ksa ask ask me anything anonymous anon work money