Our driver was nicely dressed and drove very safely on the roads. He did not take any chances and dropped us off at the front door of each place we wanted to go.
Our school counselor is from Saudi and she was our tour guide for the night. Our first stop was a huge office supply/book store. We only had 30 minutes since the first prayer time happens at sundown, so we rushed buying lots of different things. I bought picture frames, wall decals, and a few toys for the boys. Stores close during prayer and all the employees leave. They will close you in the store, so you have to time it just right. The evening is the trickiest time for scheduling around prayer.
During prayer time we drove to our next stop, which is similar to a dollar store, but was the size of a grocery store! It was really busy, and I had fun maneuvering my cart down the tiny isles. I was surprised to how many nice items I could find, and how many things were similar to Ikea. We only had thirty minutes in this store because we needed to get into a restaurant before the next prayer time.
The final prayer time is when the moon reaches a certain point in the sky. This is the longest prayer time and everything shuts down. The traffic to our restaurant was terrible! We ran to try and get inside before prayer starts, but we did not succeed. We had to wait for 45 minutes before everything opened back up. This is the final prayer of the day, and the next prayer happens at sunrise. (I will talk about school prayer time later.)
We decided on an Italian Restaurant. It was so good!!!! The menu was hilarious! It was a chapter book with over 40 pages. The drink menu was also entertaining. You could buy white or red grape juice by the glass or bottle. There was a bartender shaking non alcoholic drinks and it was a fun bar scene minus the alcohol!
We left the restaurant and went to an organic store. This place sold honey, tea, coffee, pasta, etc. It reminded me of a small Trader Joes. Next door was a specialty chocolate factory and then next to that was an ice cream place that was similar to Cold Stone. There were about 10 employees and they sang and threw the ice cream as they made your dish. It is funny how there is never any music in playing in any of these places. I thought when I first arrived it was because of Ramadan, but I believe it is always the rule.
Our final stop was a small fruit and vegetable market. They had a great selection! My favorite buy there were two baby pineapples. They are so cute and smell delicious.
We arrived back into our bubble at 12:30. Our driver delivered each of us to our home and then the fun evening was over. It was great to see Jeddah alive at night. Many large groups of women were out, and I noticed many Westerners. I never saw any women employees working in any of the places we visited. I am not sure if that was just by chance they weren't on shift or if these places didn't hire women.
Next weekend is the National Holiday weekend. We have 4 days off, so Bryan and I have already scheduled a driver to take the 4 of us on an adventure. We might visit the snorkeling beach in Jeddah and visit an old Souk. We haven't quite put a plan together, but I am sure you will be able to read about whatever adventure we decided to do.
Here we all are waiting for prayer time to finish so we can eat. We were starving! Our Saudi friend did not pray because there are not any places for women to pray. She had to pray once she arrived home. (I choose to wear my "hip" abaya, which isn't black. Don't you like my gray head covering?)
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