Life from Cabrini Green to Life in Saudi Arabia

By Tina M. Abulhassan

This book was written for the purpose of the author sharing her story of living abroad in Saudi Arabia. The author wishes to capture an audience who is curious about Saudi Arabia and what it is like for an American to marry into a Saudi tradition.

Saudi Arabia, Saudi weddings, American's living in Saudi, Cabrini Green, teaching in an inter

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harper Partners
• Release date: Feb 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781087926346

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Copyright © 2022 by Tina M. Abulhassan

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Cabrini Green

Chapter 2 - The Move to Indiana

Chapter 3 - Starting School and Finding Jobs

Chapter 4 - Vincennes University

Chapter 5 - Meeting my Husband

Chapter 6 - The Making of Our Family

Chapter 7 - The Move to Saudi Arabia

Chapter 8 - Life in Saudi Arabia

Chapter 9 - Saudi Weddings and Shopping

Chapter 10 - The Arts Center and Orbit Academy

Chapter 11 - Returning to the United States

Introduction

Have you ever wondered what it is like to live in another country? Have you ever wanted to talk to someone who has lived in another country that was not their homeland? In this book you will learn from an American, the experience of marrying a Middle Easterner and her experience of living in the Middle East. The journey began from Cabrini Green in Chicago Illinois, to journeying to Saudi Arabia back to life in the United States. Many people have heard different stories about other countries, but do not get a real sense of living there themselves. In this book, you will get a feel of life in Saudi in the early 90’s to the early 2000’s from an American who lived that journey for thirteen years.

Many friends, family members, and people in the community ask about my journey to Saudi Arabia. I love sharing my experience in the Middle East. Naturally it’s impossible to tell everything in 5 to 10 minutes. In this small book, you will learn some of the Saudi Arabian culture from someone who lived their life in Saudi. Many people ask, Is it true that women walk 10 steps behind their husband. The answer is, Not that I have seen. Others ask, Is it true that Saudis behead crooks? Yes, absolutely. Yet others ask, Weren’t you afraid to live there? Answer is, No, I enjoyed the experience, with no regrets. This book does not talk about Saudi politics, it simply tells my story of real-life events of my personal life.

Each chapter will take you on my journey through my childhood from Cabrini Green to life in Saudi Arabia, and how I met my husband and our journey together. Sit back and relax, and read on……

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to my family

My mother, Gladys C. Allen for teaching me Christian values My children, Rami, Sumer, and

Tamim Abulhassan

Who have walked life’s journey with me in

Saudi Arabia

My husband, Yasser Abulhassan who encourages me to be the best person I can be.

Chapter 1

Cabrini Green

I was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1962, lived in Cabrini Green Housing Project. I resided in Cabrini Green until the age of seven before moving to Valparaiso Indiana. As a child living in Cabrini Green, I was not aware of the awful reputation Cabrini Green had. I learned of its reputation later in life, listening to negative discussions about Cabrini Green from older adults who had lived long lives there. My mother, Gladys Allen raised seven children as a single parent most of her life. My father was absent from my life since the age of two. Most of what I remember about Cabrini Green was associating with kids my age, playing on the lengthy balcony, walking to church, attending elementary school, attending summer camps, having my lunch token stolen, and getting beat up for not attending a certain elementary school in the area.

Remembering back to the age of seven, I recall our apartment was on the third floor of 1159 N. Cleveland St, Apt 304. Before that, we lived on the seventh floor, which I have no recollection of because I was too young. I will never forget that address. My mother made sure we knew our address, and so did the teachers at Jenner School. The building we stayed in was called the tenth-story building. There was a shorter project building located in front of our building and a taller project building in the back of our building. There was only one elevator and a flight of stairs (that always carried a cigarette and alcohol stench), a large laundry room in the basement, and a fenced-in portion of the balcony on each floor to secure safety. Many children climbed over the fence that housed the apartments on the balcony. The kids that ventured to climb over the fence either fell to their death or climbed the fence down to the next floor with skill and made it to the bottom. Many children used the elevator as entertainment and would stop the elevator between floors and jump to the lower-level floor. Many kids were crushed to death trying to jump between floors. Hearing these stories of the elevator’s games, and the elevators getting stuck, I feared the large green elevator as the doors opened. The doors never stayed open very long, the doors shut quickly. The elevator door never closed completely. You could see the elevator traveling upward as the door stayed slightly ajar. I would usually take the stairs to the third floor, and not the elevator in fear of the big heavy green doors crushing me if I didn’t get in quickly.

There were many families on our floor that had children. The families on our floor became like family. We often knocked on one another’s door to visit. We stayed in each other’s homes and just sat around watching television. Usually, at dinner time, we were excused and asked to return home. Each home had several kids. At dinner time, parents would usually shoo kids out and ask us to play outside on the porch during their supper time. We played on the porch for long hours with games such as double dutch, footsie, paddleball, jacks, hula hooping, and roller skating or riding a small bike. We loved our porch neighbors. We played on the porch more often than going downstairs and running around, playing in the playground, or hanging out in front of our building. There was always a measure of safety by staying on the porch. We had to ask permission to go downstairs to play because we were too young to go alone. Other children played downstairs alone at a young age, but the rule my mother set was, we could not go downstairs alone. My mother, older siblings, or a trusted neighbor would accompany us downstairs to play outside and around the building.

My mother allowed us to go downstairs to the playground for small amounts of time with supervision. We were not allowed to stay downstairs after dark. Most families watched out for one another’s kids. Most of the residents in the building both young and old hung around the building socializing. Most kids were not familiar with other families in the other nearby project buildings. Most residents in the buildings stayed in their area. We knew to watch for strangers that entered our building and stayed clear of a stranger’s path. Not that strangers were ruthless people, we were taught to move out of the path of someone that did not live in our building. As a child, you became familiar with neighbors, anyone different was a stranger. My mother forbid us to speak to anyone we did not know. We often ran away quickly from unfamiliar faces. That was the best way to stay safe.

Sunday morning, my mother would make sure all seven children attended church. She gave us a few coins to make up a quarter for the offering basket. On the way to church, there was a store that