Children's TV for Ex-Pats in Saudi Arabia
After two weeks of living in Saudi Arabia, we're glad that our compound supplies us with cable TV that has all sorts of content from the regional channels to popular international content from the US, UK, and India. In addition to the Cartoon Network, there's also a dedicated British children's channel called Boomerang that plays re-runs and re-treads of the cartoons I grew up with: Tom & Jerry, Looney Toons, Scooby Doo, Inspector Gadget, etc. There's also one particularly entertaining show that happens to be on during the majority of my "at home" time in the morning: Lazy Town.
Here's the IMDB link to Lazy Town, an English-language Icelandic children's show that has more Euro-dance pop than a can of Fanta...but they'd never drink it in Lazy Town because "the citizens of Lazytown learn the importance of things like eating right and exercising from the ultra-athletic superhero, Sportucus, who must stop the evil plots of Robbie Rotten, who hates physical activity, among other things." Here's a sample of the music:
Before we left the US, our kids got used to using the iPad to watch all sorts of content from PBSkids.com but those videos aren't licensed to play outside the country. Same deal with Netflix. The solution?
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We use a VPN connection back to the US with a domestic address so that the website thinks that we are viewing from within the US. You can do the same thing for the UK for that content. Pretty clever, right? The added bonus is that the grown-ups also get to watch the current season of Downton Abbey. Also, it gives a certain peace of mind for online transactions, as it appears our internet service occasionally routes through Romania when we don't use the VPN.
It turns out that there is now also a PBS Kids Youtube Channel, but you might also need a VPN for that too.
Of course, maybe you want your kids to get out and do stuff. In that case, check out all the activities on the Jeddah For Kids blog.
Related Posts:
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Here's the IMDB link to Lazy Town, an English-language Icelandic children's show that has more Euro-dance pop than a can of Fanta...but they'd never drink it in Lazy Town because "the citizens of Lazytown learn the importance of things like eating right and exercising from the ultra-athletic superhero, Sportucus, who must stop the evil plots of Robbie Rotten, who hates physical activity, among other things." Here's a sample of the music:
Before we left the US, our kids got used to using the iPad to watch all sorts of content from PBSkids.com but those videos aren't licensed to play outside the country. Same deal with Netflix. The solution?
Advertisement
We use a VPN connection back to the US with a domestic address so that the website thinks that we are viewing from within the US. You can do the same thing for the UK for that content. Pretty clever, right? The added bonus is that the grown-ups also get to watch the current season of Downton Abbey. Also, it gives a certain peace of mind for online transactions, as it appears our internet service occasionally routes through Romania when we don't use the VPN.
It turns out that there is now also a PBS Kids Youtube Channel, but you might also need a VPN for that too.
Of course, maybe you want your kids to get out and do stuff. In that case, check out all the activities on the Jeddah For Kids blog.
Related Posts:
- More posts from: Saudi Arabia
- Our Foreign Service Experience
Yeah pretty clever thing you did using vpn for saudi arabia for watching the season of Downton Abbey and yes, it gives a certain peace of mind for online transactions as well. I m using purevpn too for my data safety and security while i m on travel or at home.
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