The Expat Wife Life: Faith Strengthened in the Desert

Photo Credit: World Top Top - Bahrain "Tree of Life"

Now this may sound strange, but living in a country where I am in the religious minority has strengthened my faith. When you are constantly faced with someone else's religion in a way that completely disrupts your daily life (aka Prayer Time), it makes you really take a hard look at what you believe and why.

Moving to a Muslim country with Muslim law is not easy. There are many things I can tell you about that would just flabbergast anyone who has not experienced this type of culture before (and I've described some of that in my other posts). But the one thing it has done that I was not expecting, the one thing I actually least expected to happen, is a strengthening and growing in my own personal walk with God.

The Expat Wife Life: The Doctor Experience

And.... we're back! Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. I wanted to have some photos to go along with my descriptions, and it took me a little while to get it all together!

One of the scariest parts of moving abroad is that frightening question, "What if I (or my kids) need medical attention?" This one possible scenario spurs a plethora of questions - Where do I go? How will I be treated? Will they speak English? How does insurance work? How do I make an appointment? How long will I have to wait?

If you've been in Saudi any length of time you will also ask these questions - Can I go without my husband? Are they open during prayer time? Can my husband be in the room with me during a procedure?

Equipping yourself with some knowledge of the process can help calm your nerves and give you an idea of what to expect when you find yourself dealing with something that your OTC medicine kit at home just isn't good enough for.

The Expat Wife Life: The Saudi Blues

Living abroad is mostly about attitude. I've talked about this in many of my posts. I'm a generally happy person, so I don't have a terribly hard time looking on the bright side of the experiences here and finding a way to learn and grow from them.

Today was not one of those days.

The Expat Wife Life: The Moving Monster

So your husband accepted a job in Saudi. Woo hoo! If you're like me, your excitement quickly gives way to endless questions, worries and to-do lists that seem to be longer than there are hours in the day. Now if you are with the same company as my husband and I, they have a great team of relocation folks that help you through the big steps. For most of us, the biggest stresser is the packing process. From the first survey to the last taped up box, its a roller coaster of emotions. And you get to do it all over again when you move back to the US! Okay, okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Many women have the same questions, and these questions usually prompt them to finally surface from the sea of craziness and reach out to us more "experienced" wives for opinions and tips. Well, I'm going to attempt to consolidate that advice into one post. Not all the advice is my own - this will be a collective post with information, tips, and suggestions that I have seen shared over Facebook and in group conversations. Are you ready? Here we go!

The Expat Wife Life: What do you DO?

One of the first questions I'm usually asked by new expat wives in Saudi is, "So what do you do here?" It's a simple question, with an interesting answer.