As you may have noticed, summer is winding down. In Celsius, that's 44, 44, 44, 44, 45, 44.., and that little nip in the air means it's expat migration season. Time to pack the bags full of all the loot/necessities/contraband you've picked up in the home country, squeeze in a last dinner at your favorite … Continue reading There’s No Place Like Home
The Necessity of Unnecessary Things
When I arrived in my new home in Riyadh, it looked like this: This is the sum total of what I brought with me to the party: Most of which was swallowed by the closets and a single kitchen drawer. So even after I moved in, it looked exactly the same. These are in-progress pictures … Continue reading The Necessity of Unnecessary Things
Where Dude Meets Dude
I love intersections, when things coming from different directions cross each other, and the interesting things that happen to both of them when they meet each other. You know, like those couples where you can't figure out why they're together and you spend a lot of time wondering what their first date was like, or … Continue reading Where Dude Meets Dude
Note to Self: Top Ten Repat Reminders
A woman I knew a few years ago returned from a year of living abroad. Awesome. Great experience. Good for you. But I'm not doing myself any favors if I paper over the fact that she had instantly become INSUFFERABLE. She could say nothing without prefacing it with "Well, in China..." Nothing, I promise. To … Continue reading Note to Self: Top Ten Repat Reminders
5+5 = 10 Things to Do at Historical Diriyah
The clock's ticking here, folks. The window of opportunity to fix the mess that has us leaving the country has closed. We've made our plans for the return trip, the dates are set, the flights booked, the house is packed up. On the plus side, the people moving into our villa are buying all the … Continue reading 5+5 = 10 Things to Do at Historical Diriyah
Last Fling: A Week in Thailand
When you're about to be unemployed, and have an already-mostly-paid-for (nonrefundable) trip to Thailand in your pocket, you go. Or that's what we did, anyway. It's a four-time-zone trip from Riyadh. After we go home, it's an other-side-of-the-world trip. No-brainer. People go to Thailand for a variety of reasons. I'm quite sure the 75% unaccompanied … Continue reading Last Fling: A Week in Thailand
Leaving Oz
At face value, you have to wonder why Dorothy wanted to leave Oz. Kansas was gray and windy and ugly; Oz was technicolor and gorgeous and magical. To top it off, by the time she got to the capitol the witch was dead and she was being treated like royalty. Why on earth did she … Continue reading Leaving Oz
The Nose Knows
Here's something I can't capture in the blog: People around here smell WONDERFUL. Fragrance is a big deal in Arabian culture, and there's a smell about the place that hits you the instant you step off the plane. (Or maybe when you get on the plane, depending on the ethnic makeup of your fellow travelers.) … Continue reading The Nose Knows
To Grandmother’s House We Go: Touring a Traditional Arabian Village
My new favorite painting: I did it myself. Well, if you want to get technical, I took the picture myself: Then ran it through the Waterlogue app. So with a liberal definition of the word "paint," you could say I painted it myself. I didn't get to the place where I took the picture by … Continue reading To Grandmother’s House We Go: Touring a Traditional Arabian Village
Letter from Inside Saudi Arabia: Why I Live Here
I've been away for the last couple of months, helping my daughter in the U.S. welcome a new baby.I know, right? Pretty cute. Or at least the adults all think so. But Weird Overseas Granny moved in two days after Weird Small Baby moved in, and two days after that, Big Brother did this with … Continue reading Letter from Inside Saudi Arabia: Why I Live Here
Margo Catts 