waiting for life to begin

crazy driver

me — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:44:43 +0000

Dont be surprised if a driver both local and foreign swerve from the outer left side of the street to the extreme right of the street or vice verse when making a right/left turn. A very dangerous move that causes panic and car accidents. Unfortunately, its a common practice here in Riyadh. So, as per my hubby, if you drive in Riyadh…BE A DEFENSIVE DRIVER!

most of shopping centers have hugh parking lots. but drivers are really problematic..they park cars = seenak udelnya! they just stop the car and leave it! 4 lots only filled by 3 or even 2 cars! they dont arrange cars inside the line. or the most irritating is that cars are hell everywhere miring sana miring sini..how they park they cars is really amazingly extraordinary! happened 2x that arif couldnt go home coz one car parked behind his car and di rem lagi!!! dah rapih2 diparkirin maksudnya supaya ga ada mobil yg bisa nyelip2..eee bisa aja ternyata! kalo di jakarta dah gw kempesin bannya tuh! sometimes we argued about this, coz arif still got his style.. parkir maju mundur lurusin kanan kiri… he said give a good example .. com’on! oya, mobil2 yg parkir mundur n rapih, pasti org indonesia, melayu ato pinoy.. bet it is!

during ramadhan

me — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:43:55 +0000

during ramadhan, we went to friends’ houses for fasting break, every weekend, thur n frid, never missed those days.. as a matter of course we were so busy dari makan ke makan. no mall no shopping, yet it was so fun. we brought foods..for early breakfast on the next day. .. obviously, instead of becoming thin during the fasting month, i became big!

with 3 families we held a fasting break in my house, we ordered some foods, sayur asem, ikan goreng..dont know what it is..big fish lah. my downstair neighbour, eni order sayur asem, very big portion in the very big pan. guess how much? 400sar = 800.000 rupiah! waks! so expensive, to think ..that is not like ordinary sayur asam like i used to know. this one with carrot, no corn and other that i dont know what it was. eni said, if only she knew the result of ‘extraordinary’ sayur asam, she would had made her own! Definately the most sayur asam we had ever bought!

our friends brought foods n cakes, n drinks. pada jago masak! not like me! never brought foods some more! hehehe…shame on me! cuek ah! initially i wanted to import sambel terasi from jakarta, mama’s made, pengeen banget ceritanya. tapi..mahal diongkos kali!..so ga jadi de. so, my friend order the foods, not me, coz i didnt know what food and no idea… parah!

the next day, i called a maid for house cleaning. so fast the maid done the kitchen n some parts of the house, but its not me if not clean the floor again! oy ternyata, tired juga being perfectionist..ribet!

sale sale sale

me — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:37:40 +0000

ini pengalaman pertama baru tiba di saudi eee ketemu sale. sale everywhere. before sale seasons we thought 25% 50% discount was already good therefore we bought some cloths mostly for jaydra n naeema for this coming winter, since we brought only few when we moved in. started from june to aug..tapi makin heboh mulai end of july. everywhere we saw SALE ..not 25% anymore but almost all the stores 50% n 70%. even some are 75% and 80% .. you named it, zara, mango, dkny, next, mark spencer, mansoon, mothercare etc..ikea pun ada sale utk selected items. branded sunglasses, watch, elc (spt toys r us) bisa tuh salenya 75%. misalnya niy yg kita pikir the most craziest is next, from june to aug, sale di next niy..no sale for two weeks then the 3rd week sale lagi, lagi lagi lagi… kita sampe ketipu ..udah borong n we thought waaa dah 50% niy.. tapi next thing we found out they gave 50% discount from the discount price! jadi udah kita beli minggu lalu 50% ee dateng lagi harganya discount lagi 50%! sebbeel juga dee. semua toko pengen kita masukin. bener2 kayak orang norak darimana gitu. setiap weekend asik2 aja ke mall ngecek sale. janji2 palsu ga mau beli2 lagi..tetep satu dua tiga kebeli dee. setelah summer sale selesai, baru kita sadar..bangkrut bo!

tapi yg nyebelin niy.. ngantri di kasir .. alamak.. perempuan arab niy ga tua ga muda, amit2 ga tau antri… udah heboh salenya, heboh pula bayarnya. walaupun ada line antrian, tetep ga ada tu yg baris!..kalo ada pun barisannya ga bisa ada jarak, tau2 nyelip aja. lama2 kalo mood jelek, biar malu hati sendiri, bisa deh ikutan ga antri..enak aja!

kalo diluar musim sale..ya sepiii banget..mahal kalee! n kita juga ga beli2..janji, sepanjang tahun sekali ini aja belanja.. ga tau de kalo winter sale gini lagi..?

annoying

me — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:37:11 +0000

once upon a time… we went to the hospital, jaydra was sick n naeema for vaccinated. happened that they didnt find naeema’s file. the doctor wondered why, but his filipino nurse also didnt know. until we finished with the doctor, the administration/cashier woman in cadar who handled computer still couldnt find the data. the cashier woman made hubby back n forth between admission on the other area of the hospital n there where we all wait. the most irritating was that, she talked rude, she talked to arif in a high tone. and she made things so complicated, we off course didnt hv any idea at that time why until later we found out that hubby’s company changed the insurance policy and must pay 50riyal. fine, that is not a matter i would rather pay 100 n leave her now! but instead of helping, at least she could explain what was wrong, she gave commands! crap! the 3rd time she told arif to go back to the admission saying ‘ask them!’ one the filipino nurse asked her ‘ask what?’ she also confused! i was so annoyed already with her but tried to be calm saying ‘why we have to go back and forth while you hv computer there, cant you see from there? this hospital must have an integrated system, isnt it? you tell us what is wrong, you hv to coordinate with the admission …’ but she talked back and raised her voice.. ‘this is our system, i am just doing my job. i only receive money. ask them what is the number, they must give you the number ..blablabla..’ alamak! if only that she could talk properly!! fine! so we do what she said. males ribut! but you know what..3-5 minutes while waiting for hubby, the cashier woman, maybe she got amnesia, asked me, i was still standing by the reception desk in front of her facing all the nurses there: ‘do you want to pay?’ half confused i said yes. then she asked again n raised her hand ‘where is the money?’ alamak!! i could feel my blood went up to my head. i looked straight into her eyes and said ‘wait, my husband will pay!’ i wanted to slap her slap! slap! big slap! i was really pissed off. i noticed all the Filipino nurses looked at us knew that i was very angry. however i managed to stay cool. kalau di jakarta dah lapor ke manager! uuuuggghhh i wanted to say cant you be polite? dont you know that you are very annoying! you are here for money but your acting like the owner of the hospital.. because we are melayu hah? indonesian haaahhh!!! ugh, sometimes when we need to go back to that hospital i will definitely be ’ill-feeling’!

pediatricians

me — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:35:02 +0000

disini, dokter2 sangar2..serem2..jutek2! we arrived riyadh sometimes on march 2007. that time the weather was not good, changing seasons – winter to summer. jaydra n naeema ganti2an sakit, batuk pilek panas itu2 aja gantian.. naeema got eczema coz humidity is very low during the cold winter seasons..ga deng, padahal summer jg kering.. well ..emang kering banget di saudi. we bought humidifiers, 2, sampe yg satu rusak gara2 ditinggal pergi masih nyala sampe airnya habis bis! untung ga kebakaran alhamdulillah. 2-3 bulan pertama di riyadh kita terpaksa rutin ke dokter, n mdadak koleksi obat… would you believe, kita dah kayak warung obat gitu, ada kali tu kalo diplastik kresek mungkin 5 plastik penuh.. ampyuun..doyan apa?!

so, back to the doctor..ada gitu ya..dokter tuh juteeeek amat, laki2 orang arab tapi ga tau apa egyptian, lebanese, iranian or else.. kita kan kalo ke dokter musti appointment days bfore, so we can only visit the emergency for children..ga tau dee itu dokter anak beneran atau dokter jaga..lom sampe situ ilmunya niy.. masuk di ke ruang dokter..silence, quiet, the doctor didnt look at 4 of us, instead he looked at a note on his desk..then we sat down n waited. i said on my mind ..what should i do? greet assalamualaikum? good evening? or hell-low? off course in jakarta i know what to do, here, knowing the culture is different ..can i talk?! my hubby ..apalagi dia, diem juga.. cant wait any longer, i said: hi doctor, this is naeema, she is the one who got sick.. alamak..macam mana pake kalimat pembukaan segala.. lah biasanya di jakarta masuk kamar dokter dokternya bisa tuh hi-hi-an, gimana nii..sakit apa nii sambil nyapa anaknya..lah ini! some more..ngomongnya kumur2! my hubby n i didnt get what he said until we gave up n hubby n i talked in bahasa: ngomong apa sih dia? giling banget ga ngerti, kamu ngerti ga? hahaha.. we ended up with yes yes oke oke only. halah! ribet! naah… onething which so obvious is that ..jaydra cried, histeris lagi soon as he touched her..ampyuun pasti dia takut banget tu ma dokternya, ga pernah dia nangis begitu. 3x dia diambil darah ga nangis sekalipun malah ngaliatin jarum suntik n cuma meringis tuh!

for the first 3 months we met around 3-4 doctors, but none of them OK= ngomong ga jelas n not nice at all. satu yg paling lumayan baiknya tapi tetep kita ga ngerti ngomongnya. emang dokter disini problematic banget.. n sepertinya dokter2 anak ini ga suka anak2 de!

now we hv 2 good doctors, one is a female doctor,dr abeer, pretty n modern. although she is not friendly but she is just fine. the other one is dr mua’fak, dokter ini yg baiiiiik sekale, orang arab tapi ga tau de asal mana..tapi di board i know dia UK educated, english=excellent, very nice n friendly, big smile, pay attention to questions, eyes contact, detailed n communicative, he talks to my daughters n gives presents!

first step

me — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:33:09 +0000

in the airport-riyadh..i carried naeema on my front facing out,kangaroo style. i didnt know she fell asleep until some of arabian men talked to me loudly..haseabemtta buhamwadahida bababa (sounds like that lah)… i couldnt get even a single word. mereka tunjuk2 gw n naeema tapi gw cuma bengong aja hoh kayak orang o’on..kenapa seh? masalah apa seh? trus, salah satu dr mrk came to me n touched naeema’s head yg agak2 mendongak…oy..rupanya tangan gw itu melingkar dilehernya so naeema kayak kecekek (=tercekik) gito..maksudnya kasih tau gw..itu anaknya nanti kecekek kalo pegangnya begitu..

then.. di children playground.. jaydra naik apa itu namanya tinggi banget .. gw tanya to the indian man the guard..so ok for 5yrs old child ya? bla bla.. ee dia tanya: are you filipino or malaysian? ..no am indonesian-i said..and that child?-he pointed at jaydra… and i said-yes she is indonesian… but then i got confused by his question, lah kok dia tanya anak gw orang apa?

more.. in th waiting room at th hospital. suddenly a woman in cadar asked me .. i couldnt see her face but instantly i recognized her indonesian by her languange…mbak sudah lama disini? darimana asalnya? disini tinggal dimana? blabla …sakit atau imunisasi? … gw bingung dong..kanapa ini orang cerewet begini? gw jawab..my baby is sick and her sister needs to get vaccinated… eee dia kaget..katanya: ooh anaknya? sama siapa disini? suami??? ooohhh.. mendadak dia malu..dikirainya gw temen senasib tuu

gw pikir2 terus tuh brapa hari, kenapa sih orang2 itu begitu? n i finally came out w/ bitter conclusion ..kayaknya emang gw dikira maid, pembantu, tkw bo! orang di airport pikir gw gendong anak majikan kali ya sampe segitunya orang2 sebarisan marah2 semua gitu! rasanya pengen balik lagi tu bilang ke orang2 itu heeee ini anak gw giling! sebel,BT! ga keren apa gw yeee ??? gimana coba mo keren, orang pake baju seragam saudi gini kok?! so the moral of the story: dandan ygmenor n get some bling bling

our concern

me — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:31:23 +0000

it is about providing jaydra good education. jaydra attended an international arab school for 3 months and passed every subject. she wasnt supposed to be in kg3, but whatever lah. her ayah dropped her off in the morning and went home by the school bus. day 1, she told me what happened in the class by giving body movement coz she didnt know how to explain, she said ‘teachernya begini, terus begini, terus ada yang digini’in… i was really in between shocking and laughing (so funny how she told me what her teahcer did to her friends, she was laughing). you know, what the teacher did: push child’s head, twisting child’s ear, hit child’s head with papers, scream n some more. that was our nightmare for months .. i got tired thinkin’ of this, its really consuming my energy. no use of being angry.. that is how they treat children! my daughter has to survive. so i said never mind lah, anggap aja ini sekolah cuma ngisi waktu aja, its just playing, she wasnt supposed to be in the kg3 anyway! keeping myself calm.. as long as the teacher doesnt treat jaydra the way she did to others. she is a sweet child, since the first time she attended play group until kg in indonesia, she was well-known as a good girl in the class. but here, the 3rd day, she was punished ..stood by the corner, just bcause her friend asked her something during the class while the teacher was talking. she was asked by her friend?? com’on! uuughh i said if she dares … i will go to the school and ngamuk! ….so, after graduation pindah!

now she attends www.multinationalschoolriyadh.com, preparatory class/kg3. far away from home. as usual, her ayah drops her off in the morning bfore office then our indonesian driver picks her up after school, we hired him only for jaydra. in her class, there are 5 indonesian students, n some more indonesian students in higher grade.

we all always remember jaydra’s school in jakarta, a very good school, http://www.diandidaktika.sch.id/default.asp teachers are friendly, hv good manner n competent. until now and always, dian didaktika will be in our hearts!