Nice to hear from you again @Anna6!
The hardest time I had was during an extended stay in rural China–a very different culture from Saudi Arabia of course, but maybe somewhat similar when it comes to this stuff. Where I was, the diet was VERY carb-intensive, everything with big portions of rice, sugary sauces, all kinds of things to knock your BG through the roof. I was there for my brother’s wedding as well, which meant tons of food, and it’s a very strong hospitality culture with elaborate rituals around accepting offers of food and so on. So trying to explain that there were certain things (a LOT of things) that it was difficult for me to eat was a huge challenge because I didn’t want to offend them, yet they didn’t really understand what I was talking about.T1 just wasn’t a thing to them. I basically had to accept that my control was going out the window for a while, and just try to manage the best I could. Sometimes that’s all you can do, but be careful not to put yourself in danger–even if keeping your numbers down where you want them is impossible, do keep an eye on things so you at least know where you are and don’t end up in a DKA situation.
But above all I hope you’re reconnecting with family and friends and enjoying a blessed time!
