how do we get invited to parties in riyadh

tavitza58 wrote:

Dear Amy, you're too nice, I wish I would be as cautious as you see me, but the reality is quite different (if you only really know me)... OK, most of the time I like to spent in front of laptop seeing movies or sniffing around or listening music, but I also like to see people around me, life throbbing, I really love souks, the smells, the colors, the noise, my favorite place in Tripoli was Medina (the Old City, the Citadel around what they built the actual capital), you can walk inside about a full day without seeing it entirely, with a lot of small shops, from jewelry to spices, clothing, furniture, sweets, appliance, ivory, leather stuff, art crafts and pottery, anything you can or cannot imagine... And you can stop for a tea with nana or coffee on a terrace, can take photos and nobody will ask you why you use your camera... Of course I was a little bit wary and deliberate in the beginning, then I avoided only the military compounds, the Ghadaffi areas and places with forbidden photo signs, all remaining became good subject to catch, no matter, more or less discreet.
I think the same situation is here, as far as it is protected the privacy and the traditional habits of Saudi people. As a matter of fact, nobody likes to be annoyed in his own home, even if in ignorance; before doing something, it's normal to take information if it's not against the rule (in Libya, in the building we lived, in the beginning I saluted the ladies I met in the mornings, I considered a matter of decency, it's mandatory, as male, to be the first one who salutes, as a sign of respect, in most of Europe, so I did it until somebody warned me that the rule is totally different... ).
Even here, I was almost to be as polite as I am at home, with the ladies are living in my building, but when I've seen them just creeping up along the walls, I've understood that it's not the best choice . There are, definitely two worlds, like water and oil: them and us, no way of mingle, even if there are people saying that we can have parties together: it will be only a mutual collecting information session, maybe with food, maybe with soft drinks, maybe with different kinds of music and big efforts from each part to understand the other one, maybe with opinions with or without possibility of conciliation, but we will remain exactly who we are: parts of different worlds, necessary here because we were asked, due to our different expertise, but accepted only at surface level, never as family members and forever expats, as the name of the blog .
That's way is soooo goood Dubai...

Yours,
Tavi

Hi Tavi, it seems you have some really good memories to share and you're good at writing too

amy001 wrote:

wow... 2 already?! how do you get connected?

People took me under there wings to introduce me to other people........it snowballs from there.  Im now turning down opportunities to go out.  There are just too many of them!

Fidgety Soul wrote:

OMG!!! I felt I am reading a book. How can someone type so much ?

Oh, there was somebody even more verbose until she got herself banned.

suribhai wrote:

Always better to involve in what you know and what you can help with.

mrthoth wrote:

I'd like to think people will talk to me for more than an invite to a piss up.

BRAVO!  I call those people 'compound whores' because they'll do just about anything for an invite.