Pregnant Saturdays: Pregnant and Alone???

Living in foreign country with not many friends and no family is really hard. Add a pregnancy into it becomes much much HARDER. When i was pregnant with my first baby i was back home. It still is hard with all the emotions, hormones and my weight going haphazard, but with all my people around it was much easier to handle.
I am still very lucky to have my mom and sis here with me the second time i am going through this journey which makes me think what would i have done if they couldn't be here with me. Most of the expats cant have there families with them. The reasons can be endless. Visa problems, money issues, family members not being available for this much time etc etc.
So I thought of writing a post about how you can cope or try to cope with this situation. I am no expert and these are only my suggestions so please before following any of them consider your situation.


1. Try to find Friends:

This is really funny cause i have been here in Khobar for the past 3 years and havent made any friends yet. But i do encourage other people to do that. Try knocking doors in your building or compound. You are bound to find someone you will love to spend time with. Having somebody to talk to at a time like this is really important. 


2. If Not the building try the Internet:

I did this the first time i was pregnant and again before my mom came to me. Its really easy to find online groups of Pregnant ladies you can be friends with and share your experiences and concerns. iVillage is one such website. You can learn alot from this website. From knowing how your baby is looking inside you to what changes in yourself you can expect. 
Facebook is another very interesting place you can find friends nowadays. There are many specific groups for ladies according to cities, nationalities that you can join. The ladies in these groups meet up many times. so you get plenty of opportunities to find people you have stuff in common.


3. Learn And Research:


The best tool to handle any situation is knowledge. Get yourself informed about being pregnant as much as you can. There is so much available on the internet, buy books and ACTUALLY read them. Information is your best weapon. Be ready.
I have been refering to two websites for all my problems relating babies and pregnancy. You can get a subscriotion for free and weekly mails could be sent to your inbox. The first one is that I mentioned above iVillage and the second one is Baby Center. But before trying anything out do consult your doctor.


4. Learn Something New:


A friend of mine did that while she was pregnant with her first. She started to learn how to knit. I know its a bit cliche but it was something that kept her mind occupied with something useful. Learning something new is always a good thing. Living here we dont always have the resources or information to a place where we can go and learn. For that purposes I think YouTube is the perfect place. I learnt the basics of knitting and crochet form Youtube. Because of pregnancy induced insomnia i have the nights to myself so I am trying to learn Excell from there and I plan to start Learning Photoshop from Youtube as well. I am an avid watcher of Makeup tutorials on Youtube which have taught me alot. In short when I am alone Youtube is my friend. A friend that is teaching me alot.


Stay tuned next Saturday for more on How to get prepared for a new born when alone.


Take care.

Monday Rendezvous: A step back in time

Even though i have spent more than half of my life in this beautiful city of Jeddah, it is only that recently i have truly started to explore it. This city holds so many hidden gems that once you are introduced to it, the search of finding more begins.
    My introduction to the city started through a tour of the old city organized by the very good people of IEF.. (an islamic centre).. that centre needs a post of its own which hopefully i'll be able to write soon..
   So we assembled outside the centre and made our way to the old city called Balad (downtown).  Our main attraction to see was "Naseef house".. where we were welcomed by Mr. Sami Nawar. We were given a short but very informative pictorial presentation about this lovely city. The amount of development the city has made in such a short span of time is amazing and it has no plans of slowing down either :P......

Al-Balad means "city, place"

"The Naseef house", home of a wealthy merchant and mayor of Jeddah  Mr, Omar Naseef .This house is famous because King Abdaziz oftentimes stayed here . At one point this house held the only tree in Jeddah.

 An old drawing of the city. The city was enclosed inside the wall to be safe from the intruders. It had doors on different sides that would open at Fajr time and would get closed at Maghrib time.

After the presentation we were took around the city to see the old buildings and the architect of the city. As i said even though we had lived in this city for a long time but this time i was looking at all the building with a new insight. How the walls were made out of clay and coral of red sea. The wood used outside the house to make the balconies was either ruins of ship wrecks or special red wood imported from Africa. 

 One of he most oldest mosque of Jeddah, Dating back to Hazrat Omar Bin Khatab (AS) period.

Mosque in today's time!!

Oldest wall in town!!

Spice shop!!

Along with the remarkable information about the city, we also got the chance to see the old homes from inside.  

Art work on the ceilings of the homes.

And Finally for the grand finale, we were invited to go on the roof top of Naseef house to enjoy the lovely breeze accompanied by the traditional tea. Another reason to come to this place at the end of our tour was to hear the calling of Azan from the surrounding 36 mosques. Its a feeling that is indescribable. In a matter of few seconds you whole surrounding is filled with the name of your Lord.

I would say it was a lovely morning spent with lovely ladies. I look forward to exploring this city more.

Keep watching this space, more good stuff on its way :)!!

Fashion Wednesday: We are Back!!

A fresh start of the blog, hopefully with more dedication, more information and  with wide range of topics to be discussed!!!

Like today i share a new interest i have acquired over the past few years i.e. Nail Art.... Its history dates back to 3000 BC and it has been popular in the Chinese, Egyptian and Indian history. At one point the nail color would show the status one has socially. In the 19th century it started to get mainstreamed and a brand called "Revlon" was among the pioneers to shape up this industry!! Now you see all kinds of amazing nail tutorials on YouTube teaching you how to apply a basic nail color to making all kind of different themed nails.

Keeping in mind about our fresh start of the blog and the season we are in i.e. Spring, I thought i share my simple springy nails.       

Product used: Grey color from Golden Rose and hot pink color from Bourjois (no. 15) & Black color (black queen) from Sweet Touch.

You are more than welcome to join and try doing a simple spring nails and share with us!!

Keep watching the space...Good stuff on its way :)