kinda means...go with peace.
This past weekend I attended a party...it was fabulous. Food....DJ....Dancing...the whole nine. That was the up side...the down side, was that it was a Masalama party. These are parties in which the person who the party is for is leaving The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I will go to another such party in February. Even though...as I've stated that most people are here for the money (not saying there aren't other benefits, but this is the main one). But, what makes your stay fun, and doable are the great people you meet along the way, and develop friendships with. This is one of my favorite things about living here. I'm meeting people who come here from all over the world. It makes for meeting a variety of interesting characters. However, at some point, you're going to be saying goodbye to some of your best friends, whom you've met here, hoping that one day your paths will cross again.
See...the thing is, we all have an expiration date. Once we've hit our date, either by their choosing or our own choosing, either way, eventually, you will be leaving the Magic Kingdom. It makes for mixed feelings when you're attending a Masalama.
4 comments:
Like you said, people are there for the money. But, with that said, you make some wonderful friends along the way. My mom's cousin was there for many years, he was a nurse in Saudi, for the money.. :) for now.. masalama ;)
Hi Teri
I just finished a 4 yrs commitment in Toledo, OH by attending the University of Toledo and i tell u i can understand some of the culture shock a person can go through. I just wanted to say that i loved ur videos and i'm about to read ur blog and i hop we could be friends although i'm a little bit sad that u left Saudi soo soon we could've been friends cuz u look like a good person and a funny on too :)
Best luck in ur life
Naif (as in knife) :)
Thanks for stopping by. I'm still in the Kingdom. This post wasn't about me leaving...it was about a friend leaving.
I have yet to go to one of these, but my friend in Qatar has; it sounds very bittersweet.
So true about the expiration date- in the cases of non-Gulf Arabs (please correct me if this is wrong, but from what I always heard this was the case) in KSA, you MUST retire at 65 (I think it's 65, it might be 60) and you have 6 months to sell/pack everything and leave the country. I know my father-in-law got a bit of an extension, but after living in KSA for 30 years, it was kinda' hard to just leave and go back home (especially considering 'home' wasn't even his country of birth, which he CAN'T go to any more)... It's really interesting to look at the pros and cons of being an outsider working and living in KSA...
(to be positives- almost every person I have met who was not a Gulf citizen, but grew up in Saudi, has been VERY adaptable to living in any location and VERY nice!)
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