104 thoughts on “Life in Saudi”

  8. Oh my all those black robes hanging up remind me of a scene from ‘Harry Potter’ with all the black wizards capes.
    I could say that I would find all that black depressing, but the truth is almost everyone wears black here through choice and you wouldn’t have to say ‘does my bum look big in this!!!’
    I would be craving something girlie and lacy though – could you dress how you wanted behind closed doors?
    Fascinating insight as always – and I am not behind for once …….xx

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  11. Were those uncomfortable to wear in the hot climate? It’s definitely the opposite of our own culture where women walk around in bikinis during warm weather….mostly on the west coast though lol

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  14. Interesting – I would hate to wear one, especially if I had to, the full body coverage is one thing but the face – with almost no vision through the little slit, I’d hate that. Even more so the full face coverage ones with the beak nose – I saw a lady in Paris she had to lift her veil to eat in a restaurant, tricky. While on a trip in Dubai our group tried them on, and some women loved the idea, because of the freedom to leave the house without makeup, even if you had a rough day before etc. as you say, by choice, ok, by force, not ok. Topic goes way beyond the dress code though doesn’t it. I am amazed you managed to do it for 26 years. That said, we have terrible peer pressure in our society – if you look at the womens mags, the voluntary uniforms etc. A friend of mine went to school in the US, she was told she wasn’t dressed well enough by the kids, and they flushed her jacket down the loo.

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  22. Hi Lynn, I only just recently started following you, but I see a Rav4 in the Western grocery store photo that looks just like mine. When did you come back to the states and separate yourself from your situation? Sorry if that is too personal, but I was curious. 🙂

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    • I didn’t have to but the first place we lived, the villa, was out in the saudi streets. The owner of the house was a saudi family that lived downstairs. So she told me I needed to, being different would attract unwanted attention. So I did for about 2 years off and on. It was hard!!!people stared at me anyway! Many Saudi women wear black gloves so people still knew I was different seeing my hands and my eyes and they saw my kids! So it didn’t help really

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  29. I caught a little of one of your comments above about not having to worry about what to wear when wearing an abaya. It sounds a little like the reason why many schools in the UK insist on uniforms for students. No fussing at home over what to wear for school, and everyone looks the same, wealthy or poor. I know that’s not why women wear abayas in Islamic countries, but it just made me think. Was it good to get back to western clothes, once you got home, or did you find it strange going out without an abaya on after all those years?

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    • I wore something like an abaya a longer coat still. I then wore long shirts etc. But always covered until about 5 years ago. And yes the first time I had a hair cut in 28 years(in a salon, he always chopped my hair off)it was very strange and weird!

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          • Oh Lynn. You have come to mean so much y to us all, and you are very dear to me. I do worry that you’re fretting over what he’s going to do next and just hope you’ve told your lawyer exactly what he’s threatening. He can’t get away with that in America. I hope you never have to see him again. He really took all your self confidence away I can understand how you find it difficult to stand up to him. I’m sure your lawyer will help you now. Lots of hugs to you.

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