{"id":359021,"date":"2023-11-14T13:37:25","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T16:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/a-brazilian-amazes-as-an-athlete-in-saudi-arabia\/"},"modified":"2024-03-22T17:06:18","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T20:06:18","slug":"a-brazilian-amazes-as-an-athlete-in-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/a-brazilian-amazes-as-an-athlete-in-saudi-arabia\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brazilian amazes as an athlete in Saudi Arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 The life of Brazil\u2019s Gabriela Lirio (pictured above<\/em>) changed completely when she moved to Saudi Arabia<\/strong>. Lirio has a Foreign Trade degree but wasn\u2019t working in the field in the Arab country when she was invited to play professional volleyball<\/strong>. The invitation, which is really rare in sports, was celebrated by the 30-plus-years-old Brazilian.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Playing volleyball in Saudi Arabia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhile searching for a work opportunity in the country, I got a personal trainer certification to give classes to female students in a gym. On a certain workday last year, I received the invitation. I trained for some months and then I started playing in a local team. If I was still in Brazil, I\u2019d never been called to play at my age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together with her teammates, she helped Al-Ettifaq win a silver medal at Saudi Games<\/strong> 2022, the kingdom\u2019s largest sporting event. Now at 34, Lirio changed team and is now playing at AlQadsiah. In December she will participate again in the Saudi Games, now in beach volleyball matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always liked playing volleyball. When I was a teenager, I played for four years for a local team in my city of Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul. But the sports took a back seat when I started studying and working in foreign trade,\u201d Lirio recalls.<\/p>\n

Besides feeling accomplished in her new profession, Lirio says the country where she has lived since 2015 gave her many achievements. \u201cI feel very safe in Saudi Arabia. In my nearly nine years living here, I only heard of two theft incidents. When I go on holidays in Brazil, I have to remember myself to keep an eye out on the streets. People here walk on the street with their cellphones in their hands and leave the car with the keys in the ignition whey they go to the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Living in Saudi Arabia has also allowed her new cultural experiences. Due to its proximity to Europe and other Middle East states, she has visited destinations like Malta, Albania, Italy, Bahrain<\/strong> and Qatar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Living in Saudi Arabia<\/strong><\/p>\n

After two student exchange programs during college, one in the United States and the other in Spain, living abroad stayed at the forefront of her mind. So, when her then boyfriend and current husband received a job offer in the oil industry, she didn\u2019t think twice before moving there with him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lirio: Adapted to local customs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the high temperatures in Al Khobar<\/strong>, the Saudi city where she lives, she says she has acclimated herself to the weather and that she changed her habits when she\u2019s in Brazil. \u201cAs I go to air-conditioned places, the heat doesn\u2019t bother me anymore, and I don\u2019t do outdoor activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lirio says she really likes to drive and that she has gotten used to the local cuisine. The experience of living overseas has helped her improve her English and brought her closer to her husband.<\/p>\n

Now she is well adapted to the Saudi customs, but when she first arrived to the Arab Muslim country, some habits surprised her like the call to prayers in mosques, some hygiene habits that are different from Brazil, and the increased rigidity with bad habits like cutting in line, picking your nose, talk loudly in public, and spitting on the streets.<\/p>\n

For those who consider living in Saudi Arabia, Gabriela Lirio highlights some pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • There\u2019s no income tax here. So it\u2019s a good place to make your nest egg.<\/li>\n
  • Wages are usually very good.<\/li>\n
  • Super strict laws make for a low crime rate.<\/li>\n
  • The country is the birthplace of one of the world’s largest religions and has many historical landmarks to visit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Special report by Rebecca Vettore for ANBA<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Thirty-plus-years-old Gabriela Lirio became a volleyball player in the Arab country and helped a local team win a silver medal at the Saudi Games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2342,"featured_media":357259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3066],"tags":[46574,46575,46576,12363,11910,516,34545,1824,46577,393,46590,46591],"class_list":{"0":"post-359021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-society","8":"tag-al-ettifaq","9":"tag-al-ettifaq-volei","10":"tag-al-qadsiah","11":"tag-arabes-en","12":"tag-arabia-saudita-en","13":"tag-arabs","14":"tag-brasileira-en","15":"tag-brazilian","16":"tag-gabriela-lirio","17":"tag-saudi-arabia","18":"tag-saudi-arabia-volleyball","19":"tag-saudi-volleyball"},"wps_subtitle":"Thirty-plus-years-old Gabriela Lirio became a volleyball player in the Arab country and helped a local team win a silver medal at the Saudi Games.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}