Alcohol Prohibition in the Kingdom

I wanted to write about this mainly because I never knew alcohol was banned in the kingdom. I was surprised when we were flying off to the kingdom, our luggages were checked  at the Philippine airport for anything with alcohol content and these were confiscated from us.

Bye bye to my rubbing alcohol and to my cologne. Asked why? The airport staff (which I now know didn't have any idea too) simply told us that it might affect certain contents of the cargo luggage. Even if I did not understand...huh??!!!....I was one to always follow so I surrendered.

Upon arrival, I discovered that Islam prohibits Alcohol intake. Oh so that's why....but I kept wondering why rubbing alcohol, colognes and hand sanitizers were also prohibited. So they don't use alcohol, colognes and eau de toillettes here? We need 70% ispropyl alcohol for hygiene in the clinic. I will miss having a cologne. What could substitute for alcohol?

I was wrong. We had alcohol. It was packaged this way:

\

That was how small the swab was

We had colognes but packaged this way:

All colognes were with a spritzer

Why the packaging? Go figure...

Only in the Kingdom. 

Being a Single Lady in the Kingdom ...What's there to do?

Being a single lady in the kingdom has its pros and cons.

I liked it that anywhere I go, I would have to be driven and accompanied by a male guardian. Some would not have liked this, but I did. I felt safer from the prying eyes of men (that's another topic altogether).

But I did not like it that every move I took would have to be approved by my boss, our manager, our company guard. But there were ways to go around this.

First, be a lady and behave as you should. In the kingdom this would mean going out with women only or with their family, staying in the places designated for family only, and limiting interaction with men. That would be appropriate for me as I was attached and had a very faithful fiance back home.

Secondly, doing the things I said earlier would eventually win the trust of your male guardians. At any cost, win the trust of your guardians.

But what was a single lady to do for fun in the kingdom?

Mine was to go to their super duper malls and supermarkets. They were huge and expansive, so much land. You would even see huge and tall palm trees inside these malls. Food in the kingdom was as varied as the nationalities. There were even Filipino sections in the supermarkets. I loved their cheese and dairy section. Not only were there varied cheeses to choose from, but they were affordable. Arabs were basically milk drinkers so they had the best Danish Dairy and cheeses. Juice was fresh, and abundant. Their supermarkets were mostly European franchises so their food wares were such a joy of discovery from what we have here of mostly American brands. Equally joyful was the fact that most servers were Pinoys who would gladly help you with queries and even add a little serving of cheese and meat in your order. Good to know that Pinoys are known for being hygienic and clean so they get to serve the cheeses, meat, poultry and seafood section. Oh, I was surprised at Chinese restaurants. Most had Pinoy chefs :-)

Other than the supermarket, my favorite hang out was still IKEA in Riyadh.
Maybe because we did not have one back home. Or perhaps it was just too good a place to be in. Seeing those practical designs in a huge warehouse full of showrooms...you just had to visit it as often as you could.

Arab women have small get togethers and parties among themselves and here we danced and immensely enjoyed learnin from each other. The Pinoy singing talent (even if you didn't have one ) was shown off and their culture and dances tried and absorbed...the very sensual belly dancing. Lovely arab women they really were. They were / are such "fashionistas" underneath the abaya...think New York fashion week.

Families love going to picnics. You could actually mingle and talk with men provided they were with family. Join them and enjoy their food...mostly barbecue grilled meats called Kebabs and a lot of vegetable salads like Teboulleh, Spring rolls they call Sambosas.

One could also go to Batha, the Quiapo of Riyadh. This is where all Filipinos meet, and mingle. So much like Quiapo where you actually bargain and get to feel a sense of home with the taste of Pinoy treats like puto, pancit, dinuguang baka or manok, bibingka etc etc. You get to see the brands Pinoy oh so love...Nike, adidas, Sony...where you buy cameras, video cameras, TVs, DVD players, cell phones, SMART sim and load etc etc. Funny but they usually know if you are a first timer in Batha. You actually hear the loud whispers saying, "Bagong mukha".

You could also go to the Philippine Embassy and take part in their activities. The embassy is in a very nice compound where embassies of other countries are also located. The embassy usually sponsors Financial Literacy programs and medical missions. Here, you're definitely in Filipino soil so enjoy the freedom.

Now that I look at it, there were so much things to enjoy there. Good thing I took advantage :-)

The Saudi Woman at Home

Their ways are sometimes unreasonable, like why hide that beautiful fashion under a black dress, but it works for them. They are still able to take care of their children and work at the same time. And still enjoy being dressy among lady friends.

To each his own.

Love in the Kingdom

See and learn 2 young Saudis take on falling in Love the "Saudi Way".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmJ2jyAIlCU

The American Compound

This is one of the places we enjoyed staying in the kingdom. Here, one can enjoy the american culture, no clothes restriction, no gender segregation, the joys of compound-Country Club living. We called this the American Compound.

Yes Pinoys live here as well.

Men and Women segregated

I remember when I had to do a very simple task of paying through an ATM machine. The machine had all men and no woman around it. My male colleague had to excuse my presence and shield me from the prying eyes of the men talking to me through their eyes asking, "Why is she here?".

In all establishments, there is the female side and the men side.

Like in restaurants, the open areas (the usual table set up we see here at home) is reserved only for men. Women only eat in FAMILY SECTIONS and if a restaurant doesn't have a family section then that's no place for women.

A family section is made of dividers or curtains that segregate the family and women from men who can sit on open areas.

In the bank, the female section is made of women or if men have to face women, they can only talk through cubicle windows with a wall still separating them.

I would like to look at this as a cultural difference which must be respected. Pretty soon, changes will happen and if the barriers between men and women do come down and saudi women eventually are allowed to drive, or if they don't, either way, I'm sure it is a realization that the kingdom is better off this or that way.

By the way, if you're wondering how it is in the Supermarkets, there's no more separation when buying food or medicine is concerned.

Also if you are wondering how is it in malls when buying female needs, that's quite a story. Only men are allowed to be salespersons so...don't worry they're knowledgeable and understanding enough....you just have to be a little more open and a bit more patient in explaining what you really want (they're usually not saudi men, either pakistanis or Sri lankans) :-)

Life in Saudi Arabia

I wish I met this young girl when I was in the kingdom (click the videos on the right / on the video bar).



She has braces and that's what I did there, I was an orthodontist.

The earlier you start on braces, the better. But in the kingdom I seem to have more adult patients who would want their teeth straightened either before getting married or after marriage.

But to all of them, I always asked about their dreams and adviced them to get the education and not just stay home and bear children.

Empowerment of women is starting in the kingdom and I do pray it continues with the efforts of Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal.

The Tarha

Every woman in the kingdom would have to master how to wear the head dress or the TARHA.

Would you believe that the first few times trying to wear it, it took me longer than taking a shower?!!!!
I would have to take a shower, dry my hair and then ...the daunting task of putting it in place....whew! It made it harder because Filipino hair is straight and smooth (unlike theirs curly and wavy) that you had to put lots of pins to finally put it in place.

But that became our fashion statement in the kingdom. All of us had to go out of the house in ABAYA (that long black dress) but we had the freedom to wear the head dress in different colors and styles with the condition that no part of the neck will be seen.

Eventually got used to it and found it very useful in the winter months of October to March. BRRRRR!

     

The People in My Neighborhood

Dr. Sameer (Syrian tall guy) is my buddy dentist in the clinic. He is our medical director, very nice and helpful. He would advice me on all the Muslim ways I should follow. All others would be too shy to tell me upfront (what are these, coming up on my next blog).

Dr. Sabry is our Egyptian dermatologist. A very gentle, kind-hearted man, soft spoken. His looks doesn't match his character right? He's the father of the boy I was cuddling a blog before this.

These 2 gentlemen became my comfort buddies mainly because they spoke English. Our resident Lady dentist  and OB GYNE were both very helpful and kind but I'm just so sorry I wasn't fast enough to learn Arabic.

The pretty lady is Dr. Sameer's wife. I appreciate the time the whole family spent with me. The 3 kids so loveable and nice to their Auntie Mary.

      

This is Mirvat, our Egyptian receptionist. My translator, my savior. How in the world could she explain "tongue thrusting causing a class 2 malocclusion" is beyond me, but she did. 5 years married but still trying to have a child. Happy to share with you that finally, he has a son, Mohammed. We still keep in touch, broken english and all... but as they say, words don't matter. All we know is we still care what happens to each other in both our new worlds thousands of miles apart.

Our Sri Lankan driver, Nizmi (in white). My confidante in the clinic. I will forever be grateful for him for taking care of me in my queendom. The rule in the clinic was wherever I go, Nizmi should be following me...truly a queen....but between us, trust is the rule. I don't do anything to put him in trouble, or vice versa,

we're both happy.

Here is our joy in the clinic. Baby Masha. Her neame is Maria, daughter of my Syrian lady dentist. She calls me Auntie Mary and a day doesn't pass that I don't get a kiss from her. Pretty little girl, I miss her. She must be around 4 or 5 years old now.

I wish I could show you pictures of the very beautiful arab ladies close to me. But as Islam forbids pictures of women, I must just say that Arab women are "Miss Universe" material. They are very fashionable beneath those black dresses (I forget now what they're called) and head dress (tarha).

My boss is A very nice gentleman of Syrian descent- but now a Saudi National by virtue of his father being the dentist of the King. I heard he is only 1 of 2 transplant (liver and kidney) surgeons in the kingdom. Atleast  that's what I heard. He is also the only person able to convince me to have my father undergo Kidney transplant at 74 (http://chickensoupforthekidney.blogspot.com/ ). Thank God I listened to him, heaven-sent.

They say working in the Kingdom is scary. As I see it, just as how they see our own country as scary. But you have to experience it yourself  to find out.

I did.

It's not.

 

 

My look

I arrived at my Queendom looking like this.

October 8, 2005

Left 2 years after looking like this.

November 23, 2008

Seems like nothing has changed, but deep inside soooo much happened, soooo much to share,

sooooo much learned.

Our Look in the Clinic

Here are the Beautiful Pinay nurses in our clinic. That's Twinkle, Beefy, downgrade, of course, Witch is not in the picture. You may be wondering if the one at the left most is Pinay? No she's egyptian and yes, they also have black arabs in the kingdom.

  

There they are again now in their official clinic attire.

I learned to love all of them and miss them as well and their weird ways. Most of the nurses are Musims form Mindanao - only Beefy and Cat are catholics.

Would you like to see me at work?

Yes that's me smiling at work even if all covered up :-)

 

Yes that's me at play with our dermatologist's son.

And yes that's me sleeping at work....huli ako!

There is No Color in the Kingdom

In the clinic where I worked, we were 4 Syrian dentists, 1 Syrian OB-GYNE, and a "makulit" Pinoy dentist  with 5 "ultra makulit" Pinay nurses and 1 Egyptian black nurse. 6 Nurses for 6 doctors.

All of us Pinoys had the whole building to ourselves after office hours because our living quarters was just above the ground floor. We would have a lot of 'chikka' moments over dominos pizza and coke after work.

One thing I did notice was this. When a charcoal black arab would come in the clinic, you would see all the Pinoys staring at him. I am guilty of that as well. I just couldn't take my eyes off them. Whereas if I look at how my co doctors would see this "ebonies", not even a glance.

I realized then that we truly are a race of WHITE LOVERS. Deep inside all of us, we would all like to look as fair and as white as snow. Aminin mo!