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Published: April 4th 2010April 4th 2010
Marshmallow Peeps
These are popular at Easter-time in the United States. They are made out of marshmallow.
Today is Easter Sunday. As you might imagine, this holiday is not really big here in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In fact, the celebration of Millard Fillmore’s birthday (one of the less significant US Presidents) is more celebrated more than Easter in Saudi Arabia.
Since today was the first day of the first assessment center, I felt like I needed to do something Easter-oriented. So I brought from Minneapolis two packages of marshmallow Peeps. These are quite popular in the US at Easter time and they come shaped as either little birds (hence the name Peeps) or bunnies. They come in bright springtime colors such as yellow, pink, light blue, purple, and green. Peeps are made out of marshmallow and covered with colored sugar. I suppose you could toast them over a campfire and make peep-s'mores, but I've never heard of anyone doing that. S'mores are toasted marshmallows, a piece of chocolate, sandwiched by graham crackers. If anyone needs more details, let me know and I'll send you a recipe!
My colleagues reacted pretty much the way I expected. The Americans thought it was hysterical that I brought these from the US, but they
They are made for eating.
However, I thumb-tacked them to the flip-chart.
I gave one to the person from India who I work with and another to Mohammad who is Lebanese. They both tried them, made awful faces, and were very polite about it. However, it was clear they were not favorites. So all in all, the Peeps did not go over well. They are lucky that I did not bring lutefisk from Minneapolis (which is not an Easter food, but is eaten by Minnesotans and Norwegians - it’s cod dried in lye and is nasty).
Other than the cultural food barriers, today’s session went well and all of the Participants showed up, which is always nice. I found today to be 1000 percent better than the first session we had in February (yes, I know that’s not mathematically possible, but I never claimed to be a math major).
To all my Christian friends, Happy Easter. To all my Jewish friends, Happy Passover. To all my Islamic friends, Happy April 4.
There are more photos below
Photos: 3
Displayed: 3
Displayed: 3
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I traveled to Saudi Arabia in February, April, May, and October 2009 and in February and April 2010. I have now returned in 2012. This blog was written as a journal of my experiences and as a way of keeping in touch with family and friends.
Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and for your interest. I welcome your comments, even if you don’t know me. As salam alaykum - Peace be upon you.
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Saudi Arabia
In 1902, ABD AL-AZIZ bin Abd al-Rahman Al Saud captured Riyadh and set out on a 30-year campaign to unify the Arabian Peninsula. A son of ABD AL-AZIZ rules the country today, and the country's Basic Law stipulates that the throne shall remain in the ...more info
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Trips
Saudi Arabia - February 2009
January 30th 2009 -» February 27th 2009
Saudi Arabia - April 2009
April 14th 2009 -» May 8th 2009
Saudi Arabia - May 2009
May 13th 2009 -» June 4th 2009
Saudi Arabia - October 2009
October 10th 2009 -» October 22nd 2009
Khafji, Saudi Arabia - February 2010
January 30th 2010 -» February 17th 2010
Khafji, Saudi Arabia - March/April 2010
March 27th 2010 -» April 14th 2010
Saudi Arabia - June 2012
June 12th 2012 -» July 5th 2012
January 30th 2009 -» February 27th 2009
Saudi Arabia - April 2009
April 14th 2009 -» May 8th 2009
Saudi Arabia - May 2009
May 13th 2009 -» June 4th 2009
Saudi Arabia - October 2009
October 10th 2009 -» October 22nd 2009
Khafji, Saudi Arabia - February 2010
January 30th 2010 -» February 17th 2010
Khafji, Saudi Arabia - March/April 2010
March 27th 2010 -» April 14th 2010
Saudi Arabia - June 2012
June 12th 2012 -» July 5th 2012
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Comments
Date: 5th April 2010
Holiday Candy
Yes, I think you are right Jess - To Americans, holidays = calories!
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
Holiday Candy
Yes, I think you are right Jess - To Americans, holidays = calories!
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
Date: 5th April 2010
Cultural Icon
Don't they understand that the "peep" is a cultural icon. They could bury the peep in a time capsule and 10,000 years from now, it would still be the same peep...and ready to eat! God give the Peeps to the rest of the Universe I say! Go Ted. e
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
Cultural Icon
Don't they understand that the "peep" is a cultural icon. They could bury the peep in a time capsule and 10,000 years from now, it would still be the same peep...and ready to eat! God give the Peeps to the rest of the Universe I say! Go Ted. e
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
Date: 5th April 2010
Peeps as Office Decor
Ted: I loved this blog so much I printed it out in color and posted it in my office. And I just found out that there was a shortage this year of the yellow and pink peeps. Only green (what is a green peep anyway...it must be pink or yellow?) available. So maybe your purchase impacted the Peep economy????????????????? e
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
Peeps as Office Decor
Ted: I loved this blog so much I printed it out in color and posted it in my office. And I just found out that there was a shortage this year of the yellow and pink peeps. Only green (what is a green peep anyway...it must be pink or yellow?) available. So maybe your purchase impacted the Peep economy????????????????? e
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
Date: 5th April 2010
A colorful way to celebrate Easter...
Just catching up with your posts this time around, Ted, and had a giggle over this one. It seems that push-pinning the Peeps to a flip-chart turned out to be their most entertaining use ;-) Being a furrnerr, I've never heard of them...but their electric neon hue doesn't scream "natural food product", so I can't say that I blame your colleagues for their reactions! (Although I am a bit worried that you may have been taking the Easter re-enactment of the crucifiction a bit far...). Glad to see that your accommodations are improving in leaps and bounds!
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
A colorful way to celebrate Easter...
Just catching up with your posts this time around, Ted, and had a giggle over this one. It seems that push-pinning the Peeps to a flip-chart turned out to be their most entertaining use ;-) Being a furrnerr, I've never heard of them...but their electric neon hue doesn't scream "natural food product", so I can't say that I blame your colleagues for their reactions! (Although I am a bit worried that you may have been taking the Easter re-enactment of the crucifiction a bit far...). Glad to see that your accommodations are improving in leaps and bounds!
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
Date: 5th April 2010
Wow--I am truly surprised that the Peeps weren't a hit! More to microwave then...
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
Wow--I am truly surprised that the Peeps weren't a hit! More to microwave then...
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
Date: 5th April 2010
Peeps
Heather, I could have guessed you would think that Peeps were another shocking example of questionable American culture. Please note that no Peeps were injured in the creation of any blog photos. They were all stunt-peeps.
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
Peeps
Heather, I could have guessed you would think that Peeps were another shocking example of questionable American culture. Please note that no Peeps were injured in the creation of any blog photos. They were all stunt-peeps.
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
Date: 24th March 2013
Peeps are Haram
Hi, Your Muslim colleagues could not eat these because they are made of marshmallows and marshmallows are made with gelatin and gelatin is made from pork which is forbidden to them.
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
Peeps are Haram
Hi, Your Muslim colleagues could not eat these because they are made of marshmallows and marshmallows are made with gelatin and gelatin is made from pork which is forbidden to them.
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia
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Jessica
non-member comment
Hahaha!
I laughed out loud about 15 times while reading this! Though I do hate to think about how it reflects on us as Americans - celebrating our biggest holidays by eating processed sugar wrapped in processed sugar...
From Blog: Easter in Saudi Arabia