Racing home to make it on time before curfew, hunting down the perfect dress to wear to your cousin’s wedding, procrastinating before Eid, and phone confiscations are just some of the struggles that Arab girls are all too familiar with. Read on to find out what you have in common with your Khaleeji sisters.
1.After living on your own for four years while attending college abroad, once back at home you suddenly have a curfew. You can be a 30-something and still have to be home by 10pm.
2.When you slam the car door on your abaya and it’s just fluttering in the wind.
3.You spend months searching for the perfect gown to wear to your cousin’s wedding, only to see another guest show up in the same couture number.
4.Come wedding season, you have to buy at least 10 dresses because your friends are all invited to the same events.
5.When the woman that threads your eyebrows goes on vacation, you have to deal with her replacement and explain that one eyebrow is naturally higher than the other—but that they still need to look even.
6.Before you share a vacation picture of yourself in that cute cocktail dress on social media, you have to crop out legs, arms, and any excessive glimpses of skin. If cropping fails you, then you have to get really creative by adding cute floral clipart to the picture.
7.Now that your extended family and everyone that you know has an Instagram account (including grandma), private Snapchat stories have become your favorite social media outlet where you can let go and be yourself.
8.While walking down Oxford Street or hanging out in Knightsbridge while vacationing in London, it’s a given that you’ll stop every few steps to say hi to someone that you know.
9.With that in mind, you have to dress to the nines. Heels, fur, and designer duds are all fair game.
10.Your mom makes you attend dinner parties and soirées to show you off in the hopes of landing you a husband.You would rather be at home catching up on your Turkish shows.
11.The dance floor at weddings is actually a catwalk with a front row of future mother-in-laws.
12.When you want hair like The Real Fouz but your hairdresser just can’t get it right.
13.When giving a compliment, you have to remember to always follow up with mashAllah or otherwise get stigmatized for spreading evil eye vibes.
14.When work starts at 8am but you wake up 5am to get ready and do your makeup—and you’re still late.
15.Healthy eating habits get thrown out the window really quick because how can you turn down food while visiting family and friends?
16. Awkward cheek kiss greetings, because you can’t remember if it’s two, three, or four. And there’s that one aunt that just gets stuck hitting the same cheek repetitively until you’re left with a sore face.
17.The family Friday lunch interrogation for all single girls, “When are you getting married?”
18.Eid is tomorrow and you still don’t have shoes to go with your outfit or a manicure appointment because you waited until the last minute. Just like last Eid.
19.You only get one week of fall weather to wear your entire new season wardrobe before it is summer again.
20.When you order from Instagram, it’s always a gamble. But you do it anyway.
21.When you go to a wedding and they confiscate your phone out of fear that you will take pictures.
22.When your relative opens a business, you’re forced to rave about it (a social media post is mandatory, even if your followers don’t exceed 200 and you’re private).
23.When your 16-year-old cousin has a bigger arm candy party of Cartier Love bracelets than you do.
24.If your mother calls you while you’re out and you don’t pick up by the third ring, you have some major explaining to do.
25.Dealing with blunt criticism if you’ve put on weight or changed your hair, but knowing deep (deep) down that they mean well.
