foods and places…
I alreadys write the places weve visited during our travels and vacations so today im gonna wanna write about Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.The first time i stepped on Saudis soil was 2006 a year after i became an RN. 2006 i accepted an 1st nursing job abroad bound to KSA i have some ideas about KSA ive read online and learned more during the pre departure seminar but its still different in actual situation… upon arrival at Jeddah airport i was kind of confused and shocked beacuase the authorities were collecting every bodies pass port and i dont see any men onboard .. wth…. so okey maybe its the the rule,they the put us in a room sorted by proffessions..and because i was so tired and sleepy my very first time to travel that long 10hours flight i fall asleep While waiting and i was awaken by the female staff calling my name so i gathered my bags and went out and i meet our driver and 1 filipina who came to pick me up its kind of culture shock really because im seing men wering thobe a long white dress the national clothes for men and women wears abaya a black dress to cover up the body and most women wears something black in their face and we Filipinos called it “ninjas.
KSA is a muslim country all locals have the same religion they worship Allah and Prophet Mohhamad… they prayed 5 times a day and they really practiced it from children to elderly, and they fast for 1 month during ramadan,malls,offices,restaurants & some clinics are closed at day time and open at night, they call breakfast ” fotor” around 5 pm,they partied, worked, awake all night and sleeps all day after the feast its always hard to go back to the old schedule…but were always excited for ramadan because its sweets season ive never seen so many sweets until i worked in jeddah ( dates fruits,cakes, pastries and a lot more) i love “eid” because its vacation time on my first n job in jeddah were off the whole week and we received gifts from our employer and other family members as one of the Saudi Custom they give gifts to the employees ,Muslims have 2 major holidays the ramadan ang hajj. Where in they need to go to Meccah.. every prayer time like (5am,7am,12noon,3pm & 6pm) all establishments are close for prayer.
they dont do embalming to the dead body when a family member died they will clean it in medical term its post mortem care covers the body with white sheets and bury it where ever they wants.Saudi is very strict no alcohol, drugs and prostitution how ever ive heared there are some ive seen some alcohol but not drugs and prostitution so i cannot attest to that.. drugs is death penalty , alcohol is imprisonment and deportation for foreigners, prostitution imprisonment too and sometimes women gets raped inside the prison. Ive heared a lot of stories about that.
Saudi women are not allowed to drive,but all saudi drivers are wreck less. I saw numerous of vehicular accidents from my room window cars on fire, upside down cars, and the likes..
In saudi i saw a lot of very nice houses like palace specially in Jeddah i work in a private pedia clinic for the rich people of Saudi ( princess & socialites)houses with an elevator whewwwww i was amazed at first and my friend told me that its very common for the rich people to have elevator in the house, rich Saudi women are beautiful people but sometimes they can be so mean and act like princess ohh well if you have money and 5 or more nanny’s you can do what ever you want, Ive seen the good and the bad.. when i was in jeddah i saw beautiful and educated people and they treated people well, they can be so demanding and maybe bad to their nannys but they show respect to nurses.The people who lives in the far provinces are “badu” conservative,and they can be so mean,most of them cant speak english and treated people so bad
I had lots of bad experience with men when i was there and I blamed it to their custom but its their custom and we cant do nothing about it every country has its own culture & custom it can be taboo to other countries but theres nothing we can do about it. they hide their women and so when they saw women theyre like maniacs and acts like crazy i been stalked when we are on the malls, a man intentionally bumped me, grabbed my behind and every time i hit them with my bag or what ever in my hands and its disgusting and crazy because They will act like theres nothing happened,that they did nothing…
I had a very bad experience during my last flight to saudi My flight was Manila_ riyadh_abha..when we arrived in riyadh airport we went thru. Custom and because they work very slow and i mean slow and i been bugging them that i have connecting flight i always got the same answer ” mafe moskela kale henak” in english no problem just stay there.. so ok fine i waited and waited.. and i finally i went thru,with the trolley man were running towards my connecting flight check in and the gate was already close grrrr And i was advised to go to the office to have my flight rebook and so i did and i came to know that its not just me because theres 7 men missed the flight too So this saudi man ask us to put our old boarding pass in the table and he called me to come in so i did
just watching him showing off doing his job making our new boarding pass after he finished it I waited for him to give my new boarding pass and expected to get my boarding pass first but i was dead wrong,he called the men and give them their boarding pass and,Im thinking where is mine and he asked me” do you want to stay in Riyadh for a while, the airline will shoulder your accommodation” and im thinking while listening to him ” what is he talking about is he crazy” and then i finally answered him that i need the soonest flight because my husband is waiting for me but he didnt stop,he told me to go to family area upstairs he will give my boarding pass there and he asked a trolley man to take care of my bags. So i went up and waited,finally he came he told me to follow him so i did at first i thought were going to the office and then i realized hes heading to mens comfort room and then i paused ” what the heck is he thinking” so i waited outside and praying god help me i dont want trouble specially in saudi if im in other country maybe i already slapped him, scream at him but being in saudi for 4 years i know how it is men can rape women and said shes a prostitute and youre done, so i remain calm and composed its a good thing somehow im familiar with saudi in general,usually in any bath room you will see “men” women” ladies”gentlemen” but in saudi its diffrent its mens image and womens image and sometimes the image and saudi text together and saudi text are hard to learn i only learned the letters but the alphabet nope too hard. Maybe he realized im not coming inside he went out and still persuading me to stay in riyadh grrrrr i know what he is thinking and answered him firmly and angry tone” no my husband is waiting for me give me my boarding pass now” and finally he gave it to me haiizzzz i really wanted to slap him but im thankful that nothing bad happen to me and god is with me and of course my husband was so mad when i told him about it.
KSA is tax free country its very rich country,foods and basic commodities are cheap, almost everything except gadgets i guess.
men & women are not allowed to mingle with each other only husband and wife and siblings are allowed to be together in public or the “motawa” will get you. even in the house men & womens room for siblings are always in opposite ends.
ive seend the best & worst personal hygiene while i was there. rich & educated people are cleaner than the badus.
In hawaii you will see women with skirt & flower in the ears in KSA you will see a man riding in a donkey wearing a skirt (sarong) with a flower in the head with a knife on the waist i still laugh until now every time i remember th first time i saw a man approaching the clinic in a donkey with the custome i thought at first hes crazy or something until i told one of the doctor ive learned that hes normal and wearing the national costume OMG ..
im not trying to be racial or to make them looks like weird or crazy im only writing what i saw, based on my personal observation..
being in KSA for more than 4 years i can speak and fight in Arabic too, i can read and write nos.,ive learned a lot about Arabs & Muslim culture.
1st photo, the saudis native knife they usually put it in their waste remember about the men in donkey with flowers in the head
2nd photo one of the car accident we witness outside my room.. i still remember that particular indecent its about 3am when me and my friend heard a very loud noise outside so i opened the window and were shock to see that burning car.
3rd photo the desserts i love dates fruits..i cant eat them the whole day.
4th photo the men on thobe, the clinic secretary in abaya and me in my uniform minus the shoes lol.. i usually took off my shoes and leave it in the clinic everyday.
5th& 7th photo us wearing abaya & head dress outside and some work pictures (abha) because in jeddah we didnt wear a head dress and we can wear short sleeve uniforms
8th photo our luxurious accommodation in jeddah (bedroom & living room)
9th photo in the mall during shopping days
10th photo during Ramadan we been invited to eat “fotor” (break) fast with some of our friends and yes we ate in the floor.
6th photo some nice places in KSA gonna post some for Saturday (foods & places series)
