So I know it’s been a while.
Things have been kind of crazy.
Remember how I used to write to you from Bahrain? Well now I’ve moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. And I have a five-month-old son mashallah.
I’ve been thinking of starting writing again for a while. And although those little-instances-that-make-up-life-and-are-fun-to-write-about have been piling up, I needed a push. That one thing that makes you go: “Oh my God, I need to write about this.’
I got my push.
So, info: I live in a building in Riyadh. Not in a compound, in a building. We moved in too much of a rush and were too inexperienced to know any better. So it’s an apartment building.
My son likes to go out – he likes to go out a lot. But where do I take him, a woman alone with a baby, for a walk in this concrete jungle smack bang in the middle of a Saudi desert? I just take him outside the apartment, around the building and on to the rooftop for some sunlight.
But lately, my husband has been a bit less enthusiastic about us going around the building. Why?
Is it because of that time I got locked out onto the rooftop, when the zuhur prayers were going on so there was no one to hear me shouting and banging and my husband had to drive back from his office for half an hour to open the door?
Nope.
Is it because of those young men who go around ringing doorbells for no reason other than that they are frustrated and want to see a real woman? Like for real?
Nope. (That was a bit of an issue, but I pooh-poohed that so my husband forgot about it)
The real reason? It’s because there’s a leopard in our building.
Do you believe me? Please do. Because it’s the truth.
There’s a leopard in our building.
And don’t think this is me exaggerating, or that my brain’s gotten sun-addled or something and I don’t
know what I’m talking about. Because you would be wrong.
My father-in-law (FIL) was visiting, and my husband (let’s just call him Umar from now on) and I were taking him out somewhere. My FIL, myself, and baby got off the lift – just in time to see a young Arab guy with a leopard on a leash opening his apartment door.
My FIL and I just stood there, flabbergasted. The Arab turned around and saw us, yanked the leopard in, gave us a sheepish grin, and shut the door.
So now I watch out when I take my baby out in a pram. We may be in a desert, people – but we still have to watch out for leopards on the loose.
Welcome to Saudi Arabia.
