What does a house in Saudi Arabia look like? What is their culture like? What do they eat? How do they receive guests? We are actually on our way to the house of our new friend, Rakan's mother, and we will be able to observe all the differences that we will find in this country. Here we go, and that is what you are about to see, don't go away because I'm sure you're going to like this. We are very excited because this is the type of videos that we love to make, and how nice it has been to meet Rakan because he has allowed us to go further than we surely would have been able to do on our own. Look at this area, this neighborhood we are passing through now, where he lives, it's called Ishbiliya, which is the original word for Sevilla. From this Arabic word comes the name Sevilla and this is the neighborhood we are passing through. They are building several things around here. Before entering the house, note that there are two doors: one is the men's entrance and the other is the women's entrance. Inside it is divided by this curtain, so when a woman is going to enter, they move the curtain all the way over there, close this part and the woman enters through this area. -Look, we have arrived at his mother's house.
-Welcome to "the house"! -Thank you.
-He is my older brother. Hello, nice to meet you! For men, this is the entrance. I'm going to accompany Angie because she has another place to enter. It's crazy; it's three floors. All this, from there where we entered... He is going to tell his mom to cover her face and this is the women's entrance. This is our living room. -Here we have a little vanity with perfumes.
-It's a type of hospitality. They have perfumes here for visitors who, for example, have been under the sun for a long time, sweating, whatever. Here they put this so they can freshen up. As you saw, I took off my shoes, Angie also took off her shoes. -This is my mom, Gabriel and Angie.
-Tell her her food was delicious. -What did you like the most?
-The sweets. The banana sweets are very delicious. They have several rooms because normally when the family gathers there are many people, so there is enough space for everyone to be comfortable, but the one they usually use is the one at the back, which we are going to go to right now. This is a form of hospitality, the eldest man in the house he is the one who will take care of it, and I will support him. -Ok
-First we'll sit here, have a cup of coffee -And we'll have a small conversation.
-Ok... Then, after that, we'll go to dinner. Look, this is the room where we are going to take a little break. The place is beautiful, this is the room where people usually come, where the guests come, and notice that here we have some snacks, let's say, we have, look, dates, coffee, especially, they have a workshop here, like in any house. Look, this armchair and that armchair are for the owners of the house, father and mother, mom and dad, each has their place. This one is darker than the one we were trying last night, but because his mom makes it a bit darker. I love the little cups. Here we are going to become addicted to coffee, whether we like it or not, because he drinks a lot of coffee... -Delicious.
-Thank you! they don't add sugar at all, some are stronger, others softer, -But that's what the date is for, that's what the desserts and everything are for.
-Exactly, right For example, here there are already dates, you can't miss dates, but look, there is everything. All those little things, all those pots, those jars, have stuff, all this is made by his mom. Look, he's the nephew... Hello! And after sharing a while here, a little coffee and that, now comes the eating part, and we are going to move to the next area, but notice that the rooms are quite spacious. I think one of the things I wanted to see the most from a house here in Saudi Arabia was the kitchen. Look at this, that looks delicious, but look at all the things there are... Apple pie, look at that. Wow! Hello! Ah, but she has quite a few helpers here in the kitchen. Wow! look, she's been here for 18 years in this house. This is for putting, for example, nuts, little things like that, for snacking. This we were looking at yesterday, where they burn agar wood. Ah, look, they have everything, this is the southern one, for the same purpose, and there can be these ones like made of stainless steel, but this cannot be missing in any house here in Saudi Arabia. Ah, see the coal they light and then this coal, when lit, they place the agar wood on it and then it all burns. -Here they prepare the coffee.
-This is another coffee. This one is the darkest and this one is the lightest of the coffee, but look at the huge kitchen, it's too big. Look, this one is used only by women and also for the house. And it makes sense because it feels feminine, the smell is more feminine, that's why men don't use it. The kitchen is incredible, it's huge, it has many things... and here is the large dining room, Angie is already there, for 12 people is the dining room, it's huge too. Here they have another coffee maker, they have to weigh it, to grind it, to make it right here in this part of the house. Look, his particular favorite is the coffee from Honduras, -It can't be missing here...
-And what's amazing is that the love for coffee is such that from that particular business, there is only one 25 minutes from his house, and he says he happily drives 25 minutes just to have a coffee, knowing that he then has to return 25 minutes home, but he does it happily because for him that is the best coffee in Riyadh. Look at the amount of food here, there's everything and this, apparently, is unplanned. Ok, they sat me at the head of the table, I'm the guest of honor. Oh God, I feel a lot of pressure. Imagine everything that is already available and was totally improvised, that's because his mom usually prepares a lot of food, even when we met them, all that food that you saw in that first video, the mom made him take it forcibly, because he didn't ask for it and basically thought that meeting was only for one person, and there we ate like six. But well, let's see what we're going to eat, I'll be telling you what I can identify and what they can tell us, but everything you are seeing here, all made by hand by his mom. Look, besides me having the most important seat here, the older brother sat right to my right. Checkar soup, this soup is made from oats. -Sambusak
-Sambusak, is it the most important? -Yes...
-What is that? This is a special recipe from mom. -It's chicken with some spices, a bit spicy.
-Believe me this will be the best you have tasted. -Ok...
-We say "bismillah". Ok, bismillah... There's a lot of food here, what you're going to need is stomach to be able to fit all this food inside. -Look, this is a traditional drink during Ramadan
-It tastes like non-alcoholic wine. Exactly, it smells delicious, it's brutal. This drink is what you're seeing here. This is beef, but the bread outside is so soft... -All this looks like it was made by a restaurant...
-Definitely it's very good. -Hello, Rana!
-Hello -Is she your sister?
-Yes. Mubarak and Rana. In a while, she will become a different person. These are potato balls, a kind of mashed potatoes with chicken, with mushrooms. I don't know which is better, everything is very good. Look, they already served me some rice, the chicken that comes seasoned like this with a bit of spice. Here they are explaining something interesting that happens inside the houses. You know that here in Saudi Arabia they have a way of dressing, when women are in a family environment inside their homes, among them, among the women, they can be without both the abaya and the burka. They can see each other, there is no problem, without makeup or whatever, they can even wear shorts inside the house and there is no problem. But, for example, brothers cannot see their brothers' wives, -unless they are covered.
-And the conversation they can have with them is basically about health -exactly
-Something very, very basic. and normally when brothers come to visit with their wives they are like separated, like in separate spaces. The only one who can stay or see everyone is the dad. -The dad can see everyone
-But he explained that he can see his sisters, even in shorts, that is, without makeup, with makeup, no problem, -Because they are his sisters.
-Because they are his sisters, exactly. Now we're going to go to another part of the house... Well, notice that here are other washbasins because there is a bathroom and the washbasins, as you can see, are outside the bathroom. Look at this other living room, this one already looks more like an Arabic living room, because this part of this position of the furniture like this is very, very Middle Eastern. You can't miss the coffee and notice that there are small tables so that each of the guests has at their disposal both water and these different types of containers where they are placing the small appetizers. I can't imagine the expense that can represent receiving people at home. Exactly, that impressed us a lot to know. They allocate part of their income, their budget, their salary to give it. That is, imagine, if they have a qualified job and earn $18,000, they know that from those $18,000 they have to reserve about $3,000 or $4,000 a month for unexpected expenses of this type, that a relative comes, that a very good friend comes and they pay for everything. They don't let them pay anything and that's what has happened with us. Since we met them, we haven't been able to pay absolutely anything, Good thing we fast, because imagine... Last night we were trying the chickpeas and it was because he said "I want you to try this" and he bought us chickpeas. -And they also bought us agar wood as a gift,
-And the two days we ate with him, the first day on the street with the food his mom made -And today with them too
-Here in his house And in a way, no matter how much we try to pay, even with the excuse that we need to know if the cards go through the posnet -Because we need to transmit it to you...
-They'll find out later -He says well, but try to pay for that water. It's like an offense if we try to pay for the coffee, for example. He has to wash himself, he washes his feet, he washes a bit of his head, his hands before going back that's why you sometimes see outside the mosques places to wash and that's precisely for that. And they suggested that we wash our hands after eating to sit down, we follow the steps and the traditions of what is done after eating. What I do see is that they have to have agility to wash their feet, because mounting the feet in the washbasin is difficult. What I do tell you is that if we had to do this at my house, my mom would live bitter because everything would be full of water all the time. And this was the part where we entered at first or I entered, but then I turned around to enter where the girls entered but this is indeed the main entrance of the house. This is the first thing male guests see when they enter. We have another small sitting area here and then you enter like the dining area, that is, the guests never really see the kitchen only the girls who enter from that side get to enter the kitchen part. Look at the door that is huge, it's giant. That is the door and this is the game area. Look, here he is, very excited showing us his PlayStation. This part is for the brothers, the cousins, that is, the people like closer if they don't want to make noise in the part where the guests go or so, they come to this part and here they play PlayStation they can do anything like make a bit more noise and it's like a more relaxed. It's like a saber that is typical here in Saudi Arabia. This part normally when it is winter they light it to warm the area and they take this part out, place the coal, light it and they can put it back in there and thus keep it warm and when they light the fire to revive it, they have this device to put more oxygen there. That part is for washing they also have this part to wash hands, feet, whatever they need This is for Saudi coffee, but the traditional shape of the coffee makers 100 years ago is that they used that particular one. -Another brother? Ok, nice to meet you, Gabriel.
-And we have an older brother -who hasn't come yet...
-Ok, ok... -Welcome to my home!
-Thank you, thank you! -Was everything alright?
-Yes, everything was perfect. -Here you feel more comfortable...
-I like this style more than the normal chair, -you're more relaxed.
-Yes, here it's super relaxed. -FIFA.
-Look, here the boys are playing FIFA and they tell us they thought he was from Al-Ula, but when Cristiano Ronaldo came to Saudi Arabia, he switched right away now he's a fan of Al-Nassr, which is the team where Cristiano Ronaldo is currently playing. And well, as if it's not enough that when you arrive they serve you dates, have some little things, then you go to eat you would have all that food you saw, then you pass this last area and you eat again here what there is to eat, eat, eat and eat... And it's true what the boys tell us "my mom is worried because you eat", even, she told me eat meat so you can get strong. but they have been very attentive, very pleasant, nice You are seeing the lady's face covered she asked us to cover her face so that's why you see that her face is censored If you think about it if she goes out on the street with her niqab it's because in theory no outsider can see her... And if she appears on the channel.. Millions of people might see her... It's not for anything bad, but out of respect but if she's going to appear a lot because she has been very present all the time in the house very attentive. And she herself was like this: "take, film it" Wow! Thank you! They gave us sweets to take as if it's not enough and they brought us this chocolate pudding, this I was also very excited to try we left it for the end -Look how this looks...
-And again they brought us coffee, I'm not sleeping tonight... The smell is incredible... I had never smelled anything like it, very good, very tasty I know I'm going to like something tells me very tasty, -Fantastic
-It looks like a cheesecake, but of better quality After this I don't eat until tomorrow. Something you have to learn here and it's very important if you don't want to be overwhelmed with coffee, for example, you have to learn how to say that you no longer want more obviously you don't have to have anything inside and they do this gesture, and you don't have to talk because if you don't do it, the host will always serve you. They will keep serving you and serving and they will not stop will not stop. And they are the three siblings here the older sister arrived they are three siblings, two girls and a boy. look, with the coal they light it and then they place the agar wood there and see how it's going to give off, wow! Smells incredible! look how it's giving off the little smoke, that's what gives the smell and this impregnates the clothes, you do this, you keep doing this and this impregnates the clothes and you end up with the smell and the women do it in the hair so that their hair stays smelling of the agar wood. And they say this can last your body smelling up to three days If you take these clothes and smell them, apparently it's going to keep smelling. They place it inside the clothes, when it starts coming out from the top, you know it's ready, that you're going to end up smelling completely with the thawb, they place it there inside and it rises look, it comes out through the hands, it comes out through the hands how cool and up here it opens a little and finishes coming out from there up and ready if only, if it's a special guest, they do this for the special guest -If not, no.
-Normally they do it themselves at home like for the rich. Someone we still don't know from the family is the father, the boss but because he was in the mosque, he's a former military and he's with former military generals and a very high thing, but they are all retired surely we will be able to meet Rakan's dad, but if we can show them to you we still don't know because this is something very new for them remember that Saudi Arabs, if you haven't seen the first episodes, we were explaining that it was closed for decades... Here no one else could enter if it wasn't for something very special, if they were politicians or businessmen who had some agreement with special visas but here tourism was totally banned and we're going to end this video here. I think we were able to show you a bit closer what a Saudi home is like. I couldn't say that maybe it's middle class, but a Saudi home, anyway, How are you going to be treated? What do they eat? How they do their rituals, the different customs they have incredible, I think one of the best series I am appreciating lately is when I have the opportunity to show you what a house is like, because that allows us to delve further into Saudi culture and we really learn too much from their customs because we can see everyday things that for them is everyday, -but for one very different.
-And I think what impressed me the most among the things you mention is the fact that it guides the person, the guest in this case, the host, is the older brother, the fact of entering door to door is also very interesting. How were the people who maybe have a small home and the walls are stuck to each other and there is only one entrance... -In that case everyone enters through there, but this one has two entrances
-Exactly -and it's a huge house...
-It's a building, we could say, right? Yes, it's practically a building, it's three floors each floor is inhabited by the siblings many Saudi homes are like this way, they are large, but because the whole family lives, but for example, it may happen that a brother does not live in the family house, as is the case with Rakan, who lives on the same block, that yes, 300 meters further down, but he does not live here. I would like to know in the comments what was the most interesting thing to you, different, what caught your attention the most leaving them here and if you don't want to miss future videos like this anywhere in the world, don't forget to subscribe to this YouTube channel, turn on notifications and thus you will always be informed and the best of all is that it's completely free. Remember that you can follow us on our Instagram accounts mine is @gabrielherrera_ And mine is @angelianak. So friends, from here, from a Saudi home, we say goodbye see you in the next video, Bye bye, we love you!
