First Impressions of KSA

My first impressions of KSA so far its only been 2 days since I have been here so there will be plenty of time to be impressed, I have seen a lot of interesting things and tried some new foods... my first day went to the Mall of Arabia it was very nice masha'allah very big and the restaurants inside seemed so very relaxed  each area has its family section and then section for the males which apparently they are allowed to smoke that is something we are not allowed to do at all is smoke in the malls or the restaurants or even within 100 feet of the restaurant, or mall...I finally was able to try Al Baik, which is a place kind of like KFC (Kentucky fried chicken) but Al Baik should I say 10000000x's better then KFC the skin has this flavoring to it and the chicken it's self is so juicy and delicious and the garlic sauce let's just say I could eat that and the chicken by it's self, I'm getting hungry as I'm talking about this so time to change topic lol....

let me not forget to mention the difference of the American Airports and Saudi Arabia Airports in America we are so used to the little tunnel thing connected to the airplane to get onto and to get off our flight, well "haha" not in Saudi Arabia we had to walk down a long flight of stairs to get off our plane and then on to a shuttle bus to the actual airport and went through the security screening where I had to put my fingerprints and take a picture the poor guy had to explain to me 100 times probably on what to do lol and lets not talk about the picture my hijab was a bad hijab day and I couldn't fix it right away so they got a good shot of hijabi gone bad lol...

I was expecting for Jeddah to be a little bit more crowded when I arrived but I arrived on a Thursday, which is considered a weekend here in Saudi Arabia Thursdays and Fridays are there weekends, and some of the areas in Jeddah are still in a development some buildings are torn down and some are very nice and some are little well I guess in America terms would be the a little rough looking but the area was considered a pretty safe neighborhood. overall the apartment I stayed at was very nice the different sections the "Male section" and "female sections" and the female servant is something that I found interesting even though I know its very common here to have one I just never had seen one lol I sound like a true "foreigner"...

The first days in Abha I was blown away with the weather on how different it was in Jeddah, Jeddah was in the 80's which is considered there "winter" and here in Abha which is a mountain area it was nice and breezy and cool like around the 60's...

 meeting my husband's family at the airport it was only his Father, and his older brother and uncle his father masha'allah such a sweet person, and his brother seemed very kind too was very nice of him to tell me "welcome to the family" was a very comforting I guess is the word to use it was such a sweet moment honestly meeting his family they are some of the most sweetest most kind people I have ever met his sisters have already literally put the "niqab" on me to see how I look and gave it to me saying insha'allah you will wear it lol, hopefully within time I will but at this point I'm not ready to. when it came to the meal time I really wanted to help but I was in-forced to go sit and relax since I had such a long flight meal time when it came to the time to eat It reminded me of lions in a way because the female lion kills the meal and the males eat first then after the males the women eat second I'm not sure if this is how it is in all the families but I found it very fascinating.

I think one of the best things so far being in Saudi Arabia is being able to live Islam on how it's supposed to be lived, by the men and the women respecting each other and not mingling, to praying our daily prayers on time hearing the ecama (call of prayer) is so beautiful my father in law is one of those that does the call of prayer very beautiful masha'allah,I still have a lot to get used to, from learning the Saudi currency...I know some of you are probably thinking why couldn't you apply Islam in America, well it's just really not the same it really isn't I have a lot of adjusting to do but honestly I do not regret my coming here I really look forward to growing and learning and being among the Saudi people and learning there lifestyle some people think that it was an a phase I was going through or just a need for attention from Saudis but really its not that at all I really love the Saudi people they have impacted me to the point to want to live with them and that is very big for me and really a dream come true Alhumdullilah 100 times Alhumdullilah!!! <3