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!

9:46pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyF4uENt
(Notes: 31)
  
Filed under: house mate housemate running tired run walk walking amazing hate love exercise health fitness salad subway 
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…

Read More

11:15pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyEu88Pv
(Notes: 13)
  
Filed under: photography rishta marriage marry muslim islam house mate housemate smart funny love british pakistani law saudi arabia saudi ksa religion smart funny logic boring 
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.

7:21pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyEtHd9f
(Notes: 22)
  
Filed under: house mate housemate running walking walk run impressed impressive intervals workout health 
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!

9:30pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyEq2RN9
(Notes: 23)
  
Filed under: house mate housemate run walk exercise health fitness saudi saudi arabia riyadh isha islam muslim lazy running 
September 3, 2011
It’s kind of surreal being back in this place…

When I came back to Saudi after my month off in July I was going to move in to this one hotel but it was full so I ended up coming back to the same hotel I was staying in before. It was weird being back but it was a different room and a different atmosphere.

I went to Dubai last Friday night and got back to Saudi yesterday, Friday, night. I came back to my same room but one of my house mates from last year arrived back in the country and needed a place to stay and wondered about moving in to the same hotel. We’d made plans last year to live together this year but we haven’t been in touch all summer so I had no idea what was going on with him.

Anyway, he got in touch yesterday morning and he ended up landing in Saudi about an hour after me so I saw him in the hotel but there were no single rooms left so… he negotiated an excellent rate for our old flat (well, two thirds of it) and he moved in last night and I moved in to my old room, the one I staying in last year, this afternoon.

It’s so surreal being back in this room. I thought I’d left it behind. I thought I wasn’t going to be here any more. I thought I was done with this place and the memories attached to it. I guess I’m not, though.

I think a lot in associations. My life is full of prompts with ideas and thoughts linked to each other in a giant spider’s web. The thing is that this room, this flat, is full of associations. It’s full of memories. It’s full of so much that I can do without right now.

I don’t know how I feel about being back in this room.

At the moment it looks like we’ll only be staying for a month and then we’ll move out of hotel living and in to a proper apartment.

The good thing is that I’ll have a nice relaxing bath tonight. It’s nice having my own bathroom and a jacuzzi. It’s nice having a lot more space and a proper living room and a kitchen and everything. The best thing is having a great housemate who understands things about me and who I can talk to without any worries or hesitations. He showed me how great he is to talk to in June when I needed him and he’s already been asking me about things and I really appreciate it all. Good old Panda. I love him!

The new year is starting in earnest now. Part 2 of my Saudi experience kicked off today.

7:00pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONy95KVzt
(Notes: 39)
  
Filed under: associations dubai hotel housemate jacuzzi memories next chapter room saudi saudi arabia spider's web spiders web surreal travel 
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.

Read More

9:16pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONy5GVIeu
(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: house mate housemate saudi arabia riyadh restaurant drive jokes laugh laughter fun tease curious gossip secret story experience explore travel social