🇸🇦🤍Saudi National Day wishes are already beginning to appear in my feed, so I would like to join them too. I really hope that next year I’ll be able to celebrate this day in the Kingdom.
Yesterday I came across the post I’m quoting here, and I read it with tears in my eyes.
It is a very personal story, and of course I cannot compare my own experience with everything behind these words. I have spent much less time in Saudi Arabia and still have so much to learn about the country. But while I was reading, I kept recognising things that I had felt myself.
Over the past year I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful people in Saudi Arabia. And one of the things I found hardest to get used to was how naturally people offered help and cared about things that, to me, seemed very small.
I’m the kind of person who immediately starts worrying that I’m causing inconvenience or creating extra work for someone. So when people offered help before I even asked, I often didn’t quite know what to do with it.
I remember getting messages when heavy rain was expected in Riyadh: “Did you get home? Are you safe?”
At the time, I was still learning that rain in Riyadh could be rather different from the rain I was used to back home. But I never quite got used to people checking on me like that. Every time, it touched me.
And there were many small things like this.
Someone offering help. Someone asking whether everything was okay. Someone taking the time to explain something to me. Someone making sure I felt comfortable.
This is probably what changed my understanding of hospitality most. I used to think of hospitality mainly as a tradition - welcoming a guest, offering food, coffee, making someone feel at home. In Saudi Arabia I began to notice how much of it is simply part of the way people treat each other.
That stayed with me.
I loved the politeness and delicacy I encountered there. And after some time I realised that this was one of the reasons the country had become so important to me.
Of course, I still know only a small part of Saudi Arabia. There is so much of its culture and history that I haven’t even begun to understand properly. Arabic poetry alone is an entire world that I would love to be able to enter one day, and for that I still have a lot of Arabic to learn.
But what I have already experienced was enough for me to become deeply attached to this place.
Maybe that is also why I write about Saudi Arabia so much.
Under some of my recent posts I’ve seen comments asking how much I was paid to write them. I usually smile when I read that. Because sometimes a place simply becomes dear to you. You miss it, you want to return, you want to understand it better, and you want to talk to people who love it too.
I don’t really know how to put a price on that.
So today I simply want to wish Saudi Arabia and its people peace, safety and prosperity.
I hope the coming year brings good things to people and their families. I hope there are more reasons to feel hopeful about the future, more things to build and create, and more peaceful days ahead for the whole region.
This has not been an easy year for the region, and I very much hope Saudi Arabia will continue to use its voice and its influence in support of peace.
And to everyone who has welcomed me, helped me, checked whether I was safe, explained something to me, or simply made me feel comfortable in a country that was not yet my home - thank you.
I remember these things.
Happy Saudi National Day. 🇸🇦💚
#SaudiNationalDay #اليوم_الوطني_السعودي
And to the author of the post I’m quoting: I hope you won’t mind me sharing it today. I understand how personal these words are. I don’t think I have ever read anything that described so accurately and so deeply the Saudi Arabia I came to love. Thank you for sharing this story.
يحتفل وطني الغالي غداً بيومه الوطني الذي أتقدم فيه بخالص التبريكات لمقام مولاي خادم الحرمين الشريفين الملك سلمان بن عبدالعزيز حفظه الله ولسمو سيدي قائدنا الملهم وعراب الرؤيه ولي العهد الأمير محمد بن سلمان حفظه الله ولاهلي واخوتي أبناء هذا البلد الغالي والمقيمين … واشكر كل من تواصل معي بهذه المناسبه الغاليه من كل أنحاء العالم وفي كل المجالات … بلدي بلد اطهر تراب وبلد الخير والأمن والأمان … عاشت بلادي وعاش قادتها الكرام واهلها الطيبين🇸🇦❤️ سعووودي وراسي فوق💪🏻
🇸🇦 Saudis unveiled its first homegrown flagship EVs... and they went STRAIGHT for absurd numbers.
CEER’s new EXOBOT sedan and SUV are being built in Saudi Arabia, with the top-spec version pushing 1,111 hp and 1,500 Nm of torque.
The sedan does 0–100 km/h in 2.1 seconds, while the SUV takes 2.4 🤯
Writer: Sol
#CEER, #aPIFcompany, has launched #EXOBOT, its flagship electric vehicles that embody Saudi innovation and national ambition. This national milestone reflects Saudi Arabia's strategic direction toward an advanced automotive industry.
.@ceer, #aPIFcompany, launched #EXOBOT, its flagship electric vehicles designed, engineered, and manufactured in Saudi Arabia according to the highest global standards, further strengthening Saudi Arabia's position as a rising force in the global automotive industry.
سمو #ولي_العهد:
تمكين قطاع صناعة السيارات رافد أساسي للنمو الاقتصادي عبر جذب الاستثمارات وتمكين الكفاءات الوطنية والقطاع الخاص.
#ولي_العهد_يطلق_سيارات_سير
A major milestone for Saudi Arabia. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled the first Saudi EVs, designed, engineered & manufactured in the Kingdom.
It brings to mind Japan's first domestically manufactured car in 1904, during the Meiji era.
A great day for Saudi industry🇸🇦🚘
أطلقت #سير، #إحدى_شركات_الصندوق، سياراتها الكهربائية #إكزوبوت التي تجسد الابتكار والطموح الوطنيين، في خطوة تعزز مكانة المملكة عالميًا في صناعة السيارات.
Saudi Arabia's first homegrown cars are these wild-looking Ceer Exobot EVs, with 800V platforms, three motors, and absolutely wild-looking designs.
https://t.co/x6SYvhxtMN