January 20, 2012
Oh my God, I’m so tired

My housemate ran his first mile! He was amazing tonight.

Instead of covering the normal 12km/7.5miles we actually ended up covering 14.5km/9miles.

He hated me at the time but he thanked me when he got home. We’re really loving this running/walking thing. He’s improving every single time we go out and he’s pushing himself so hard to get fantastic results.

A week ago he wouldn’t run a step. Today he ran a mile. I aim to have him running all 12km within a month! Let’s see if we manage…

We ended the session by getting a delicious salad at Subway!

January 17, 2012
Today was memorable…

I’ve hardly slept in the last 24 hours. Work was deathly boring and I couldn’t come home because I actually had work stuff to do.

My house mate was loving the attention from yesterday’s post about him.

After I got home from work my day certainly picked up. Now I know why tumblr meet-ups are all the rage. I had dinner on the terrace of one of Riyadh’s tallest buildings and watched the sun set over the city. Beautiful. It’s a good job I didn’t get arrested!

Time to go walk/run now. 2 and a half hours away from technology and time to try to make sense of the feelings of today.

January 16, 2012
Another post about my house mate… (with pictures!)

So… I’ve been talking about my house mate a lot on this blog for the last few months. I’ve used all sorts of adjectives and superlatives to describe how great a guy he is and how much I love him. He’s a 24 years old British-Pakistani, has a law degree, and currently has a great job in Saudi Arabia. He’s very religiously knowledgeable, he’s super-smart, sensible, and on the ball with all sorts of issues. He’s a thinking man and prides himself on his logic and ability to think through a situation but he’s not boring at all. He’s quick to laugh and is fast when it comes to telling jokes. He’s the complete package.

Last week he asked me if I was willing to take some pictures of him because his mum wanted to show some girls for potential rishtas. He’s looking to get married but there’s no one for him to get married to at the moment. This is where you fine Tumblr people come in…

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January 16, 2012
My house mate is amazing…

I’m so impressed with him today. I’m actually shocked too.

I wrote yesterday that we’ve started walking/running a few days ago and today he ran even more than yesterday in the walk cycle. He actually managed 1km of running non-stop. If I told him he’d manage that a week ago he would have hit me and never believed me. I told him that I’ll have him running the whole of our 12km/7.5m route in six weeks time.

He hasn’t run a kilometre without stopping in 8 years! Tomorrow I’m going to get him to run sprint intervals. Wednesday is a day off. On Thursday he’s going to run his first mile!

Another post about him coming up later!

He was thanking me at the end of it but he has nothing to thank me for. He’s doing it all himself and it’s pretty awesome.

January 15, 2012
My house mate and I have started an exercise program

It’s pretty simple really. Everyday, after isha, we go to this place, not too far from where we live, at Prince Sultan University and walk laps of the university. Each lap is measured at 4km so we knows exactly what it is we’re getting.

We started walking on Friday evening and since then we’ve kind of got the buzz for it. It takes us around 2 hours to walk 12km/7.5m and it’s really good fun. Neither of us take our phones or any form of electronic equipment with us and we just use the time to talk and ponder things. Today we were discussing the point at which societal evolution becomes mandatory for survival when facing catastrophic disaster. 

After walking yesterday, my house mate turned to me and said “I think this is the first time I’ve talked to someone for two and a half hours straight and not gotten bored for even a minute”. I took it as a great compliment.

Today one of our friends came along and we also changed the walking routine. For each 800m we walked we ran 200m. My house mate, if any of you remember, is one of the ‘laziest’ people I know. He’s… extremely adverse to any kind of physical activity but he managed the run periods very well. I was really impressed. At the end he actually ran 700/800m none stop. I told him that I’ll have him running all 12km by the time I head back home in 6 weeks time and I stick with that belief firmly after watching him today. We’re going to walk 6 days a week.

It should be fun!

October 8, 2011
I’m an alarm clock

I’ve been waking my house mate up for work every morning for the last few weeks. Last night he asked me to start waking him up for Fajr too…

He’s worse than a Snorlax so it’s a bit of a task to get him up for both.

It’s a good deed, though, so I don’t mind all that much. I only wrote this post so I could call him a Pokemon.

October 7, 2011
I treated my house mate to dinner

as a way of saying thank you for being so awesome recently.

We went to a steak place and we ordered way too much food. It was delicious. What was even better than the food was the company. We spent three hours talking about future plans and the paths our lives might or might not take.

I told him about a crazy idea I’ve been having for the last few years that I’ll be sure to share with you all at some point over the next few days. It’s really insane but it has the potential to be the best thing in the history of the world ever. Something no one has ever done before.

I’m sure some of you will think it’s stupid but I think it’s amazing. We’ll see how it works out.

Anyway, back to work in the morning. Good night, Tumblr.

P.S. he didn’t let me pay for all of dinner which made me :(

September 20, 2011
My house mate just brought me falafels

I think I love him :)

September 17, 2011
Stupid Riyadh

So… I went to the mall to grab dinner with my house mate. We drove there, prayed Isha, got way too much food, and left to bring the food home and eat it when my house mate got a call from one of our friends saying…

You guessed it…

He’d been in a car crash.

He’s okay; the other guy is okay; both cars are totalled.

We got talking to the traffic cop and there’ve been SIX HUNDRED accidents in Riyadh today.

This place is messed up.

September 13, 2011
I’ve started riding to work with my house mate again…

the one who was driving last week when we had the car crash.

Work recently has been insane and they’ve been asking us to come in really early. The thing is that he’s not a morning person in the slightest and we’ve been late to work everyday this week. Not just late but late by half an hour on some occasions. Work is supposed to start in 1 minute and I’m still at home. He’s in his bathroom. He’s not ready.

The thing is that I really don’t care right now. I don’t mind at all. I don’t think he’s going to have an accident again (I hope not, anyway) and the lateness is a problem but one I’m not worrying about.

Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. I’m on autopilot mode right now and am just going through the motions.

I’m planning on meeting up with some of the guys from work today for dinner. I’m really looking forward to talking to those guys. They’re really smart and very funny and I need a laugh. We’re going to a fancy schmancy Italian restaurant. My appetite has been shocking recently but I think it’s just what I need to kick-start my metabolism.

September 8, 2011
I had the best nap today

I haven’t been sleeping much these last few days but I haven’t minded at all. It’s been fine. I knew I’d make up for my lack of sleep on the weekend. Like I said before, though, I had to work on one of the weekend days this week.

Over the last few days I’ve been falling asleep at work everywhere. I’ve fallen asleep during meetings (no one cares), whilst in the teachers’ room, whilst in my office, but not when I have been in the classroom. Whenever I’ve had a few minutes of nothing to do my first thought has been to close my eyes and rest a little bit. It’s funny because some of the most unexpected people have woken me up these last few days. Friends, students, and managers have all woken me up.

The great thing about this job is that the people are so chill. They really don’t care. As long as you do the teaching part of your job right, they don’t mind if you sleep at your desk or just sit around or whatever. It’s the easiest job I’ve ever had.

Anyway, when I got home from work today I was feeling really tired. A week of diminished sleep had caught up with me and, after somehow making it to maghrib, I had a nice three and a bit hour nap. It was sweet. Saying that, I didn’t mind that sleep being fractured and broken either :)

My house mate thinks I have issues and has no idea how I survive. I always have a one word answer for him… Any guesses?

June 23, 2011
Pool!

I went with out house mate and a few friends to play pool tonight at a place just of Dammam Road in Riyadh. It’s a really great place. They have good food, the tables are beautiful, and they even have free wifi. Anyway, five of us got there and we shared two tables at winner stays on.

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June 11, 2011
Talking and connections

I love talking. I really like it when I have a connection with a person because I feel like there’s nothing that can’t be said when you reach that point. There’s a trust that grows between that discourse and, over time, it reaches the point where it’s more than just exchanging words but it becomes almost philosophical or spiritual in some way. This year’s been really strange for me in terms of making connections. It’s happened in the most unlikely ways but there’s one connection that I’ve been thinking about a lot for the last couple of hours.

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June 2, 2011
House hunting

One of my house mates and I are starting a house hunting process so we can find a place for next year before we head home for the summer. This year we’ve been living in a hotel which has been totally fine but it’s been a bit expensive for us. There are other teachers who’ve been living in their own places who have paid around 35% of what we’ve been paying per month. That’s a big difference. Anyway, yesterday we went to look at our first place and tomorrow we’re looking at our second.

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May 19, 2011
My house mate

My house mate is a really special guy. He’s English with a Somali background. He’s smart and funny and fashionable and totally crazy and insane. I really love him. This post is dedicated to him. If you want to read about the weird and wonderful things we get up to with him you should read more.

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