well greetings from saudi arabia
been here so many times and it changes not as fast as dubai mind you but changes none the less life is even slower since its ramadan people go to bed at around sun dawn wake up around depends on the work really but 10ish its hot as helll and yes desert hot is worse when you have a body of water near by even in the winter time during day hours it takes minutes for a person to sweat without physically exerting onesself \
these were the unchangables the bad well depends on the point of view for me the weather slow internet no cinemas and substance abuse is considered a big no no (thank god for airconditioners )
the good the kitchen (oh yes gluttony to the max) strange as it may sound desert at night (yeah no to little light pollution and this place is relatively less populated and populated areas tend to stick together ) it really is magnificent what else another culture to observe directly this time and it is always an experience everybody feels the need to belong and justify according to metric barley rules and do you mind if I share an observation of mine the defining force in this country even its name in its original tongue is land of the sauds a kingdom to be exact however that is changing quite rapidly resource management if you will well climate defines diet which in turn defines those exist and claim dominion over said lands well to put it bluntly causality is simple good bad truth religion ideology well here its religion in some places its race some knowledge (polarisation agents I mean between US and Europe I am stronger comes in terms of knowledge from Europe and I rule the world from america to which europe says I have been around longer I have seen many fall and I will see you fall as well to which America says I got bigger well...) here (geopgraphic vicinity being the key principle being thermodynamic laws) this is the place where islam was founded to other muslims to I dont give a bleeps well one does not need much to be jingoistic the thing is current zeitgeist is shaped by consumption and nothing is not marketable and the flesh desires dont know much happens behind closed doors but I have seen this medium (tv still a reliable benchmark at least for generation gaps ) some western shows are frowned upon for the skin yet they swallow the stuff we produce (I will admit production values are better than theirs but nowhere near as good as well you get the idea) not all of it mind you one of the popular historical series is frowned upon(not in the vein of a model show mind you) because of well historical power changes but that is changing and I hope for the better and children talk about football(my one beef with you americans the damn sport involves kicking a ball with your foot in a field I dont understand why you call it something else) local marketed and organic heroes families convene and disconvene in short life goes on in this part of the world and still it is hot as hell and one can not smoke out in the open even if he is not fasting the are very civil about that sorta thing
anyhow gentleman all the best and if you do need advice about coming here well do at least to the desert during the night my experiences have always been extremely positive