Am just saying - not really complaining

When I first got here, the first 3 months, each time I opened my FB account, my friends and family back home would want to chat and their main query was how was I settling in. Sometimes, I will be FB chatting with 2 to 3 friends at one time, re-typing the same responses over and over again. Until at one point, I decided to turn off that chat room because it can be quite distracting as it stopped me from doing other online things like reading the news and checking my emails.

Come this April 22, we would have been here 10 months and honestly speaking, I feel like I have been here way longer than that! Macam dah rasa lebih setahun.

In this entry, I want to briefly describe my life here - in the land where women are forbidden to drive and taxi fares are so damn Mengarut!

Last weekend, I bought some very good looking sweet potatoes. I told myself that sometime this week, I would make kuih keria, one of my favorites local kuih. I did not really know when exactly I will make it but will buy the keledek anyway because in my household, following the rule of the man of the house, barring any unforeseen circumstances, grocery shopping takes place only once a week. So, I kinda have to plan ahead which involved stocking up the fridge, the kitchen for any sudden craving.

Last Thursday, I "planned" that I will crave for kuih keria. Six days later, the craving never made its appearance. So the sweet potatoes are still there, in my rattan-like basket, on the kitchen counter, next to the sink. Each time I stand by my sink, I would glance at them, asking myself : "would I end up throwing them away soon as they slowly rot away?" like most of the veggies I bought a week ahead but never got a chance to cook them. Even if I did cook them, there will always been one or two tomatoes, one cucumber, half a packet of bean sprouts, that ended up all soggy and thrown into the trash bin!

Last Thursday too, I "planned" not to want to eat taugeh or spinach. But by Sunday, I want to eat taugeh. And today, I wished I had some spinach so I can rebus it together with the good looking keledek. But this is not like back home where I can easily grab the car keys and drive to the nearest grocer.

It is frustrating. Really. This lack of spontaneity. The overdependence on the man of the house who even back home hardly liked going to supermarkets and I personally never minded this. I loved doing grocery shopping alone but since Jeddah, that feeling has waned.

So that my dear friends, in a nutshell, describes my life here. My experience may differ from others so please don't assume that life here is a pain for everyone else too.

If only this city has good public transportation system, like public buses or light rail transits (I wish!), no doubt, I would find living here more bearable. When I was working my butt off in England, I did not drive. I cycled or took buses. Money was tight but heck, I was happier because I can go to the market or shops anytime I wanted.

(Some of you may say now, buatlah keledek goreng ke, mee rebus ke (but mee kuning tak de??)etc but, if I am not in the mood to do it, what to do? But I promise myself, that sweet potatoes will be consumed one way or another!)

There is a quote by Charles M Schulz "I think I've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it."

And I think I am going to do just that. He... he...

Naked in the Abaya

The title above says IN and not UNDER. So.... I was not wearing nothing underneath my abaya, ya?. But yesterday, I went out alone. No mahram, no girlfriends with me. And I felt like I was walking around naked pulak, despite the oversized abaya, no thanks to me being perasan that every other men was looking at me!

Back home, I never felt uncomfortable being alone in public places. I can have my meals all by myself in warung, kedai mamak, fast food outlets or even good restaurants. I have no qualms of being judged by strangers of my decision to dine alone. As long as I have a good book to keep me company, I am fine. Unlike my two close friends, who pergi canteen office pun will rasa like they are being scrutinized by others. Not me. Never me.

But last week, I felt what they felt and it really is not a great feeling.

This is what happened. I had a dentist appointment and to avoid taking a cab, I took the shopping bus which was going to the same district where the clinic was located. So I had to do a bit of walking. It was only 9am and it was already HOT! I was not so familiar with the place and got a little bit lost. It did not help that the roads here are not very pedestrian friendly. What I thought was a shortcut had a dead end. What I thought was the clinic building was not. So I had a few u-turns before I finally found the place but I was way too early. The clinic was still closed and next to it was like boys' college of some sort and yes, I became a bit conscious. Nasib baik I had a book with me.

Walking all by myself, no other females in sight, was a bit awkward. No wonder the women here cover themselves head to toe. It's better to be unrecognisable. Maybe I was being perasan, but I could feel being looked at by men who probably was thinking why is this girl/woman out alone? (But I must say, the sight of female beggars is common along road junctions in this city.)

Then I went to a mall. One man, I think followed me at the supermarket. I was sure he did because I was looking at pots and pans, cookery utensils, baking dishes and he was at the same section too? Seriously?? Then I moved to the ladies' clothing section and he was there too! I gave him a look and he got the hint.

Then at the food court, one young man kept looking at me and gave me THAT how-u-doing smile!!! I rolled my eyes in disbelief and he got the hint too. Soon after, I saw him changing what I believed was his hp number with two well-covered young girls. Then another young man smiled at me and when I went to get my food at the counter, he left his no on my table!! I took the paper and crumpled it. Seriously lah... macam tak pernah tengok pompuan! Dia ingat pompuan sorang2 is easy..... What amazed me is I am bukan anak dara. Surely I look old? Maybe I don't look THAT old, eh?? But honestly, I did not like the attention.

So yep, one might be wearing loose clothing here but if you are out alone, it's like you are wearing one skimpy clothing!

Cekik Darah

A week ago I came upon a website on expatriates living in Saudi Arabia. It had interviews with a number of orang putihs and there was one which I found to be quite interesting. She's an American who apparently enjoyed her stay in Jeddah despite the many restrictions. That's fine with me. What shocked me is when she said her family spent between 4k and 5k riyals in grocery shopping monthly! and that amount, she said was "reasonably not bad!" And that was in 2007. Wow!

We spend WAY less than half of that amount and even that, we feel that it is too much compared to our spending back in KL. Here, one hour of grocery shopping can easily cost us SR300, sometimes SR400, double what we usually paid in KL. I have lived here 9 months already and I still cringe whenever I look at the receipts.

While I am on this $$ talk, the kids' schools are also ridiculously Pencekik Darah. One class photograph costs SR50 (for Amir) and SR70 (for Nina) and whylah the photos must be in 8x10 size?? To justify the crazy price tags?? Wouldn't it be easy if they just email us the pics and let the parents do the printing? You'd think this would be a better option in today's world but NO. They'd rather go a step backward so they gain a bit of profit for themselves. I mean seriously, do you really have to hire a professional photographer to take the photos? Surely, the teacher who teaches photography classes in THAT school can do it for free? Back in my school years, I think our photographer was our PE teacher, or was he our Arts teacher? Whatever, but I think we paid only 50 sen for the photos. Or was it free? Back in my kids' school in KL, the photos were FOC.

And then there is the exorbitant taxi fares. It just does not make sense. Their petrol price is lots and lots CHEAPER than a price of 500ml bottled water but a five km ride can easily make me SR20 poorer. That's like the fare for my 17km taxi ride from my house to Jalan Riong, Bangsar.

Handphone madness

Two weeks after we got here, I subscribed to a new local mobile number, and two nights later in the middle of the night, I got a call from an unrecognised local number.
I said: "Hello"
The caller (female) said, whispering: "Assalamualaikum. Who are you?"
Erk... sapa yang call sapa ni?
I said : "Who ARE YOU???" Then I hanged up. She called again five minutes later. I did not answer. And called again and again like 5 times after that!! Crazy or what? Minah desperado hungry for some midnight, kinky chat ke?
Since then, my handphone kept getting these weird calls from Arab-sounding people. Even after I said they got the wrong number, they did not budge. They just kept calling, and one even used the F word, after I hanged up on him when I told him that I have no idea where HIS brother was!!
These happened so frequent that I even saved their numbers and gave them not-so-good names so I can easily identify them when my phone rang. Hubby had to intervene and since then, it has been a month since these crazy people called me. Phew!

But out of all that craziness, the called I got tonight topped them all. I recognised the number because just a week ago, this person texted me in a language I thought was somekind of secret code from a friend or sibling. You see, the number was a Malaysian Celcom number.

His text was : Khlil tumi kemon aso.Ami asa kri allahah rohmte valo aso. Ami valo asi. ami arakti sim no dilam. 2ti sim amar ok. no..0060132231844..?...k hlil tumi amar kase pondiben.ETI..NAZIM (..MALAYSIA..).

I have a nephew called Amil and a sister called 2t and a cousin called Eti. For a while there, I seriously thought the text had something to do with them!! Later, I totally forgot about it.
Until I got his (Nazim's??) call tonight.
He gave me salam and I salammed him back. Then he mentioned some name to which I said, you have a wrong number bro.
He: "Is this Saudi Arabia?"
Me: "Yes."
He: "How are you?"
Me : "Huh?? Who are you looking for?."
He : "I call from Malaysia. I am Bangla and I look for you."
Me : "WHAT???" Then the line got all static and a second later, cut off. I figured his Xpax's credit sudah habis. He thinks it's cheap ke nak call Saudi Arabia?? Calling Bangladesh would be a lot cheaper, bro.
So, does anyone know Bangla or is it Bengali and translate the text for me???

Rain, ice cream and the Budimans

Woke up this morning to the sight and sounds of raindrops, lightning and thunder. For a second there I thought I was in the warmth of my bed in KL. The children got so excited to see the downpour, a rare sight for us since we moved here. Called my aunty who is performing her hajj in Mekah and she said it's overcast there but no rain yet. Should it rains later, it will be a wet experience for the pilgrims in the plains of Arafat.

(the view from our living room of the wet condition outside. It rained so bad, heard some roads were flooded)


And since hubby not around till next week, this mummy has become so lazy. Nasib baik lah last night (am not that lazy when it comes to making sweet stuff) I baked bread pudding and made HOMEMADE vanilla icecream (my first time ever and it turned out really good). So today's breakfast, you guessed it - bread pudding and icecream! Not exactly a healthy one but filling enough to last them till lunchtime.

(vanilla icecream --- made from milk, sugar, whip cream and coffeemate.)

Today, we are saying goodbye to the Budimans, one of the first few Malays we met when we first arrived here. And living in the same compound, the kids got quite attached to their bubbly, chubby and ever so adorable Dani. We will miss them no doubt. Adi and Yani, in my personal opinion, are one of the warmest and kind people I have come to know and I am so glad to have met them. They said this is not goodbye but see you real soon (their open invitation to those coming to Singapore) and yes, we can't wait to see them again. Maybe next summer eh? I am going to miss you Yani. And Dani too, your slobbers and all.. :)

(imran taking a photo of Dani)