We went to the mall today. We don't do family mall trips. Hisham hates the mall, so that was probably our first and last trip to the mall as a family. :)
I believe i've mentioned before that women can not drive off camp. This is a Saudi law but even expats have to abide by it. But, Aramco (the company Hisham is working for) tries to make it as easy as possible for people to get off camp and do the things they need to do, which is great. They have tons of nice "shoppers buses", the same kind of charter bus that Adam rides to school. We took the bus to the mall today. We left a little after 9 and got dropped of right in front of the Mall of Dhahran. This is not a mall, it's a little city. Probably nothing like Mall of America (which I never want to visit, by the way), but it can hold its own. It felt like we walked for miles and miles. The stores all close and shut their doors for all prayer times for about 20 minutes or so. You have to leave the store and go pray, or walk around the mall. If you are in a coffee shop or restaraunt, you can stay in, they just close the doors half way. I took the kids to a little cafe and got Adam a milkshake and a muffin while Hisham went to pray, then I went. There are mosques in the mall and the Athan (call to prayer) is called over the
speaker system. :)
I did go to the mall with just the kids last weekend, but I only went into two stores because I was short on time. Today I saw most all of the stores. I felt like I was back home, except there are no fitting rooms here, althoughI did see a fitting room area in the women's mosque. I bought a pair of jeans from Gap. The guy told me I could return sale items for a refund within 1 day, regular merchandise within 3 days or an exchange within 7 days (or something like that). I'm thinking women try the clothes on in the fitting rooms in the mosques so they don't have to go all the way home, try something on, then bring it all the way back within 3 days, and worry about stores closing for prayer, getting out in the heat, etc.
We walked around until we got to the food court, and the amusement park!!! Sometimes I hope Adam doesn't see something or is not paying attention to it, like the HUGE candy store we walked right by. But there was no missing this. There was a massive hamster maze for humans, of course he wanted to go inside. I was taking pictures in the mall with my phone (so pardon the quality), and I was aggravating Hisham. He said I looked like a tourist. :)
I asked the shop manager/worker most of the time if I could take a picture, other times I was trying to get it quickly so I wouldn't upset/offend anyone. Here are a few:
I believe i've mentioned before that women can not drive off camp. This is a Saudi law but even expats have to abide by it. But, Aramco (the company Hisham is working for) tries to make it as easy as possible for people to get off camp and do the things they need to do, which is great. They have tons of nice "shoppers buses", the same kind of charter bus that Adam rides to school. We took the bus to the mall today. We left a little after 9 and got dropped of right in front of the Mall of Dhahran. This is not a mall, it's a little city. Probably nothing like Mall of America (which I never want to visit, by the way), but it can hold its own. It felt like we walked for miles and miles. The stores all close and shut their doors for all prayer times for about 20 minutes or so. You have to leave the store and go pray, or walk around the mall. If you are in a coffee shop or restaraunt, you can stay in, they just close the doors half way. I took the kids to a little cafe and got Adam a milkshake and a muffin while Hisham went to pray, then I went. There are mosques in the mall and the Athan (call to prayer) is called over the
speaker system. :)
I did go to the mall with just the kids last weekend, but I only went into two stores because I was short on time. Today I saw most all of the stores. I felt like I was back home, except there are no fitting rooms here, althoughI did see a fitting room area in the women's mosque. I bought a pair of jeans from Gap. The guy told me I could return sale items for a refund within 1 day, regular merchandise within 3 days or an exchange within 7 days (or something like that). I'm thinking women try the clothes on in the fitting rooms in the mosques so they don't have to go all the way home, try something on, then bring it all the way back within 3 days, and worry about stores closing for prayer, getting out in the heat, etc.
We walked around until we got to the food court, and the amusement park!!! Sometimes I hope Adam doesn't see something or is not paying attention to it, like the HUGE candy store we walked right by. But there was no missing this. There was a massive hamster maze for humans, of course he wanted to go inside. I was taking pictures in the mall with my phone (so pardon the quality), and I was aggravating Hisham. He said I looked like a tourist. :)
I asked the shop manager/worker most of the time if I could take a picture, other times I was trying to get it quickly so I wouldn't upset/offend anyone. Here are a few:
There is no shortage of fashion or high-heels here. Don't let the black abayas fool you, women here are very much girly girls :)
Pottery Barn Kids, complete with monogramming station
Pottery Barn
Tons of gummy candies (Adam's favorite). The best part is that I don't have to worry about them having pork in them! Yay!
Yumm!
A Dolce & Gabbana child's plain white t-shirt. About $150 dollars. No big deal.
Sign for the women's fitting room in the mosque
The hamster maze!
This made me feel like I was at the fair, but here they have steamed chestnuts instead of grilled corn on the cob
Ice skating. No, we probably won't be trying this unless Adam magically learns to ice skate on his own. I need wheels on my skates!
Chocolate bunnies in the candy store
I don't care where you are in the world, people like cheap shoes......
fried chicken.....
and little girls love their daddies.
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