Arabian Party Time!

Glitz, glamour and gorgeous women blend to make an unbelievable engagement party.  While I thought I was going to a wedding, in actuality, it was the public splashy commitment of both families who endorsed the arranged coming together of two young lovers.

Unlike Cinderella, Arabian parties start rockin’ after midnight. The party started at 11:00 p.m. and went until daybreak. Six women with only their voices and hand drums sang as the women danced a traditional Yemen dance. Their feet took teeny tiny steps while their hands swayed and their necks moved in a different direction than the rest of their body.

What a kaleidoscope of colour, collection of jewels, sensual dark eyes accented with beautiful make-up and sculpted hair! Short dresses, silky, long, trains, lacy, strapless, halter, princess cut, figure fitting, jewelled, velvet and oh the shoes, the shoes that matched!! I was privy to this ballroom blitz because only women descended to the closed basement, no men allowed! Bye bye abaya.



each individual chair  and table was so elegantly decorated



Aside from the dancing, the ongoing gifts and treats were fun and entertaining. Arabian coffee, (unlike no other coffee), steeped black tea, silver boats of multi-coloured wrapped candies and platters of colourful foil wrapped tiny rolled sandwiches seemed to be the first custom. Some of our Arabian staff members knew exactly what to do! Following several sips, (definitely no chance of any shut eye after that), and tasting savoury and sweet, came a very cold foil wrapped chocolate. It was a chocolate with ice-cream inside. More dancing and singing followed by a large glass of cool mango, strawberry or banana smoothy! Yummy, mango is my favourite.



gifts from the groom

 

Following the drinks and eats to cool the vibrant dancers down, came the gifts. Every guest received one diamond ring that weighs in at about 20 carats and a bottle of traditional Arabian fragrance presented in small heart shaped box with potpourri flowers. The bride-to-be had a table full of gifts that arrived before she did. Those were compliments from her soon to be husband. Several bottles of perfume, a jewellery box, money, flower vase, silver Qaran cover and more.



my new Arabian diamond

At 2:00 a.m., the lights dim and drumming and singing cease. The local women know what comes next. They start their high shrilled pitch and prepare for the engagement ceremony. A big screen comes to life and the image of the bride-to-be is illuminated. She stands like a Barbie on the carpeted stairs in her pink lace gown with a train three times as long as she is tall.

She descends one step about every two minutes and stands while the women from afar cheer for her. After about seven steps, her father and mother and two brothers join her. Her finance comes up the stairs to greet her and take her from her family. Enthusiastic cheers erupt when he gives her a peck on each cheek and a kiss on the hand! Together they continue the very slow descend down the other seven steps.

Once into the buffet room, still cordoned off from the other women, they place the rings onto each other’s fingers. When they are engaged, they wear the ring on the right hand. Once married, the ring moves to their left finger. She gets a very glittery bracelet and he receives a fine watch. After the rings and gifts to each other, they cut their engagement cake. Similar to North America, they feed each other a piece of cake. Following feeding each other with different arrangements of forks, they drank fruit juice together from a gigantic glass goblet.

 

Next they separated; she came into the women’s room, he went to get guy congratulations. She walks through the door to an ovation of cheers, clapping and waving. Slowly down she comes three more steps, taking another six minutes! She moves to a decorated landing and stands for more time. Oh no, more steps – what a long time she takes to make her way to the front of the room. She inches her way to the raised walkway which had served as the dancing platform. There is a tremendous sense of joy on her momma’s face as her daughter moves up the walkway. Once she has finished her entrance, friends and family congratulate the newly engaged princess.

At 3:00 the buffet opens!! What am I doing eating prawns, rice, smoked salmon and other delicious things at 3:00 a.m.??

the fruit platter!

Hallas, the Arabian engagement party is over for this working girl. Is crawling into bed for one hour of sleep better than no sleep? What does it matter? I feel very fortunate to have been invited to attend a party which clearly demonstrates Arabian women really know how to put on the glitz and ritz!

Safari, Swimming and Sipping in Sri Lanka

Egypt will have to wait as the Arabian Canadians are experiencing a new adventure in Sri Lanka (SL). Boarding the plane in Jeddah in the early evening, Cheryl shed her abaya and it will reappear upon our return on the 11^th of February.  Our night flight touched down just outside Colombo (SL’s capital) at Bandaranaike International airport, at 4:30 am.

Given we had less than 18 hours to book a holiday; we didn’t have all the details worked out at departure time. One of those details was how we were going to get to Nuwara Eliya in the wee hours of the morning. Ahh, God is so good! We negotiated a price for a driver and car for our four day tour through the SL Mountains and then back to the beach. Nana (our driver) was promptly hailed and we were on our way.

Through the rain drizzle, we experienced ‘rush hour’ travel as the local folks and children were preparing for their day (Wednesday February 2). Children were in starched white uniforms, some with ties, white socks and white sneakers; a British tradition. The scenery was new to us and very beautiful – so green and lush; unlike Saudi. Because of traffic volume and road conditions, it took us a full six hours to drive the 150 kms. To Newara Eliya. We really appreciate Vancouver Island’s new

Inland Hwy.

where we cover this distance in a much shorter time. There is no way to describe how people drive here. The roads are very narrow and filled with busses, cars, motorcycles, tuk tuks, people, and stray dogs. Nana was outstanding in getting us to all our destinations with only a few near misses!

Nuwara Eliya offered us an old English hotel, Saint Andrew, located in the high country. This mountainous area with acres and acres of tea plants, tea factories and little villages along the way was fascinating to view.  The tea factory tour gave us more insight into the making of tea. Watching the workers on the steep hillsides with baskets harvesting tea leaves, gives us a greater appreciation for our afternoon cup of tea.

acres and acres of well cultivated tea plants

As our trip carried on towards Kandy, we saw the SL entrepreneurial spirit is alive and flourishing. Small stands along the side of the road sell everything from local fruits and vegetables, to rice and colossal yellow coconuts, and even the kitchen sink if one should need one! All the vendors stand at the front of their shop and beckon you towards their wares with a friendly smile and a welcome wave. 

Once in Kandy, we visited the gem museum. The mining techniques are staggering and still very primitive. Everything is done manually, using the natural resources such as bamboo to support the shaft and ferns to stop the seepage in the mine shaft. They mine many gems; sapphires of three different kinds, rubies, and garnets to name a few. Their prize gem is the star sapphire, which is only found in SL. Although Cheryl was excited about all the sparkling gems, one of her best purchases of the day was a bottle of Yellow Tail Chardonnay and a wine glass to boot! She also found her first pair of shoes in the same mall as the wine store.

Winding up the collapsing mountain side because of all the rain, Nana skilfully found us our second hotel. The Tourmaline was a beautiful hotel which overlooked the city of Kandy. Our room was modern, large and comfortable with a spectacular view of the mountainside.

Walking in Mother Earth’s bountiful nature is always pleasant. The botanical garden in Kandy was a wonderful respite from our two days of driving. Not only did we enjoy the beautiful vegetation from all over SL and Asia, we also witnessed some amazing bats. These bats were huge! Their wingspan was just under a metre and they were flying, resting and eating during daylight hours. It was fun to capture a photo!

After the botanical gardens, we had a traditional massage. VERY INTERESTING! Note to self; look at premises and ask more questions prior to payment! We are sure it was a traditional massage, just not our tradition.

Our evening afforded us a chance to witness a time-honoured cultural dance show. This included the welcome dance, dance of the cobra (yuck), the mask dance and the finale being the fire dance. Next, we joined the very large crowd and walked to the Temple of the Tooth where we all respectfully entered barefoot, even though it was still raining! This is a Buddhist temple where we saw kilograms and kilograms of sculpted gold and a library with books as old as 1600 years. All was well guarded by monks in their orange attire and a host of security personnel.

Taking a chance, we asked Nana to take us to one of his favourite restaurants in Kandy. Indeed a local favourite, as we had the best fried rice we have eaten in years!

We named heading to the beach, Plants, Mammals and Reptiles. Our first stop was a herb garden where Sumeervi was passionate about how plants can heal our aches and pains. He was pleasantly surprised when we agreed with him! We learned much about herbal medicines. Sumeervi was so sweet and told Glenn he couldn’t help him grown his hair back because he was past the golden age of 40! This was one of our favourite stops to date.

Living large always challenges us and often reaps rewards. Enormous elephants were our next adventure! Believing we were getting a tour of the museum and able to photograph some of the elephants, we were surprised not only at how close we were to the elephants, but to find ourselves riding an elephant!  Have you ever ridden an elephant? Oh my, it’s a long way to the ground!  We found these huge creatures to be very intelligent and extremely gentle when we were feeding them by hand a short time later. An experience we will always remember!

Our last stop before the beach was a turtle hatchery and hospital. Here we met another passionate young man on a mission to save these magnificent creatures. Our timing was excellent as we were able to dig new hatchlings from the sand, and transfer them into the water tank. With our guide’s encouragement, we each held a yearly turtle. First reptile Cheryl has ever held and she still lives!

Albino turtle with black markings; simply stunning! This turtle will never be released because the sharks would have her eaten in a moment.



don't panic and drop the turtle Mrs.!



Reaching our destination at Neela’s Beach and Guesthouse, we said a fond farewell to our friendly driver of four days, Nana. We have reached the beach . . . . . . . SL Canadian adventure to be continued another day.

Lloyds and the Little One

The fifth rainy day in Jeddah brings yet other new experiences. Heavy rains on Tuesday, January 25 followed by more serious rains on Wednesday brought various problems for Jeddah residents. Getting home, flooded homes and water-logged cars were a few of the trials.

After numerous conversations with Head Office, and another government warning about another storm coming, our school was officially closed at about 12:30. Prior to closing, the morning provided many opportunities for interesting adjustments.  Students were shuffled to different classes because of rain coming into their classrooms. Adults pitched in to help wherever they deemed necessary.

The pool of water that remained from our last rain (about 10 days ago) was named by one of our students who aptly called it ‘a lake’.  With the heavy rains yesterday, the lake grew to a small sea. Unfortunately, the indented canvas rested on a metal rod and hallas, the weight of the water punctured a hole in the rooftop. The rain poured right onto our beautiful stage and morning assembly area.

A team of seven women pushed squeegees for about 1 ½ hours. Hundreds of trips back and forth across the floor pushed most of the water out the front entrance doors. Three men then came to support our efforts. One man went up on the middle roof with a hose to siphon the water out of the ‘lake’. The three men stayed on to keep the area reasonable dry and rigged up a ‘rain catcher’ to fill the numerous buckets.

We all enjoyed an International lunch as it was our potluck lunch day. Spring rolls, fried noodles, Crispy Crème donuts, brownies, Caesar salad, humus, empanadas, all made our troubles seem a little lighter! Because traffic was at a snail’s pace, the delivery of lunch was delayed. Our students enjoyed some of these dishes too.

Most students were picked up by 2:30 and staff carpooled (no pun intended), to find rides home. Our regular bus driver (Adroos) was stuck in traffic in a mini van and couldn't get back to the office. Once they found an additional set of keys for the teachers' bus, Ali came to pick up the staff that was still at school. I stayed at school as two students had yet to be picked up.

What do you do with youngsters that can’t play outside and are tired of colouring? Bring out the tricycles! Boy they had fun and I loved watching them have fun. Yussuff even gave me a lift on the two seater! Taffa’s parents were finally able to reach the school just before 5:00. Now Omar the gatekeeper, Yusseff and I were left.

Ali the bus driver came back to pick me up to take me to the compound. Yussuff’s father was still stuck on the bridge and could not go forward or backward. What to do, what to do? In collaboration with Yussuff’s mom, we agreed it was best for him to come home with me. He was thrilled to be going on the big bus! Thankfully he is a very outgoing lad (reminds me of one of our own), and he was very comfortable coming with me. It did help that our relationship had been established prior to yesterday. We have met several times in my office to discuss important matters such as ‘hands to self, listening to my teacher, and sitting nicely at the carpet’.

Our ‘boat’ ride home provided more sights to see. Grocery carts under water, people wading through deep water, cars driving on curbs to lift their cars, cars finding holes in the road and stranded water logged cars.

'driveway' to our house - all sidewalks are down under!

We got home about 6:30 and when we walked in, Glenn knew I was going to be late, however, was very surprised to see I had adopted another little lad (where are the little girls in our lives?). He and Yussuff enjoyed our photos of winters in Campbell River, our puppies, the Beaumont, family photos, the animals at the San Diego zoo among other things. They analyzed the good guys and bad guys on the cartoon channel, learned about the animals on the National Geographic channel, and watched a snowboarding competition. Glenn thought Yussuff should try that sport and Yussuff said, “That is terrifying!” His English language is very advanced for a five year old with English as his second language. Following watching TV, Glenn and Yussuf determined what should be served for breakfast. Finally at about 9:30 Yussuff said, “I’m going to go to sleep now.” He closed his eyes and slept.

What a good boy in the morning. I was trying to be really quiet as I thought he was still sleeping. What a surprise when I saw he had his shoes and socks on and was playing with his papers from his school bag. Eggs, the agreed upon breakfast, were served up.

After breakie, the three of us scouted out if we could get to the gate to meet Yussuff’s mom and dad. Around the maze of puddles and flooded roads, we were able to navigate our way there. Good news for his worried mommy! Off we went back home and waited for them to give us a call when they arrived.

One more trip to the gate and the family was reunited. Unfortunatley, Yussuff’s dad spent the night in his car. He told us he was about 1 km from home and tried to walk. When he saw that folks were up to their chests in water, he returned to his car. One does NOT want to walk in the brown water. It is not just water - sewer too! YUCK! Yussuff's dad arrived home at about 8:30 in the morning.

Another new adventure in Jeddah is recorded. The Lloyds are again empty-nesters but had a fun time and lots of laughs with outgoing lovely Yussuff.

Hospital Hiatus

Once upon a time there was a woman who in her mind, thought she was younger than her actual age. While her mind was willing, her body was not!

She thought the container full of Canadian educational materials was even better than Christmas morning. She saw sand coloured boxes of every size and shape, every weight and dimension; just sitting waiting to be opened to discover the contents. The woman knew this would be a mammoth task and invited her supportive strong husband to help her.

1/2 of the order

Three younger men were also summoned to help sort and move the boxes to the woman’s Kindergarten school. After four solid hours with only a sip of water for all, the woman’s wise husband said, “Hallas, enough, I’m done. Tomorrow we will come and finish the sorting.”

The next day the couple arrived at the scheduled time and began, with less enthusiasm, to complete the task. Like an artist’s palette, they sorting 70 packages of each colour of construction paper. Multiple sets of play trucks, dolls, doll’s cribs and highchairs, complete kitchen play centers, pompoms, many coloured rolls of paper, poster board, jungle, seashore, farm animals, dinosaurs, wiggly eyes, pipe cleaners, puppets, puppet stages, water and sand tables and the list went on for 8 more pages.

Finished they were; in more ways than one! Unfortunately for the couple, it was the holy day and no taxis were in sight. They hiked 2 km in the mid-day sun to hail a cab. They treated themselves to lovely lunch at Chili’s.

The very next morning, the mature lady went off to work. About 15 minutes after arriving, she bent over to pick up a piece of paper and her back went snap! Oh how she wished that piece of paper wasn’t so heavy!

With the excruciating pain increasing, she relented and went to the hospital. After filling out the paperwork and paying the required SR14. she dragged her hunched body over the elevator and rode to the fourth floor where she was to see a physiotherapist. Unfortunately, only optimologists occupied the fourth floor. Down to reception she shuffled. Again she repeated, “Physiotherapist” to the gentleman who had ‘helped’ her. He informed her physiotherapy service was in another building. She asked her helper to carry her bag and off they went on their trek.

In the other building her translator and helper took her to the front reception. After greeting all his mates (shaking hands, hugging, chatting), he pointed to the desk down the corridor. She was told that was physiotherapy. Whew she thought, almost there! Holding her breath and gritting her teeth, the woman hobbled to the next section. While there, the head doctor explained in very good English, that unlike Canada, one had to see a doctor before being given service in his department. Back to the front reception the woman shuffled.

Paying her SR14 again, her helper took her to another section in the hospital. At that reception desk she recognized a few words. Her helper told the ladies at the desk, “Urgent, Canadian, and Doctor.” Once the paper work was done at that desk, her helper showed her the next waiting room.  The dilapidated woman sat on a metal chair and rested her head on the wall. She closed her eyes and that squeezed out the pain tears that were so close to the surface.

Gathering her emotions, her brain started to have a very interesting conversation! Calm and patient ½ was debating with fight and flight ½.

“Get me out of here!”

“Just be patient, you have finally made it to the right section, let’s just wait to see the doctor.”

“The doc could be hours, you’ve heard how you can get grey hair waiting for doctors here. Maybe the doc is doing surgery and we could be here when the sun goes down!”

“OK, let’s just set a time. Can we agree on waiting ½ hour more?”

“I just want to be home in bed, off this hard metal chair, lying on my soft coil spring mattress. That’s the medicine I need!”

The woman did wait for the doctor for the ‘agreed upon time’. Shuffling back to the main reception, she informed them she would need to leave and would not need to have an appointment today. They insisted upon giving her the SR14 back. Dragging her feet she found a pharmacy in another section of the hospital, bought some Advil, called the bus driver and headed home.

Indeed fight or flight was right! Bed rest on the coil spring mattress with lots of Advil allowed her to slide out of bed six hours later.

The boxes sat perfectly still the following day. A true doctor’s visit will have to wait, and the woman will need to act her age!

Naughty Times Two

There’s the bad naughty and the lighter cheeky naught. I witnessed both last night.

Walking home alone from the Souke, came the first naughty. Bad! Given there is little touching in public with the opposite gender (holding hands, hugging), and the firm grip the man had on the woman in the abaya, I knew something was askew. As the plain clothed officer was putting the lady into the van with flashing lights, my heart started beating faster. I know getting arrested here is not a good thing!  I really need to work on a more neutral facial expression because the Pilipino man who was walking by asked me, “You are scared huh?” I asked what happened. He told me two women went running by before Maghrib (4^th prayer time).  He then told me the obvious; “Maybe they do something bad.” While I see armed guards daily, this was my first experience with serious lawful misbehaviour. It was disturbing.

The second naughty happened a few minutes later. Coming onto the compound, the armed guard was jabbering at me. I think they really like Glenn and I partially because we wave, always offer a salutation, and most probably because of the Crispy Crème Donuts we bought for them the other night. Regardless, they smile and practice their broken English repeating the words, “Welcome, welcome!” While the guard was talking Arabic to me, I asked the security man what he was saying. The young security fellow smiled and said, “He wants you to kiss me.” Very naughty! I was laughing inside however; in my most dignified manner I spoke a firm “No” and walked away.

Is there a simple lesson here? Two times naughty doesn’t add up!

Getting Closer

Today I went to get Glenn’s exit/entrance visa so we can travel to Egypt in February. Although we had been to the passport office before, today brought new sights and experiences. Checking my list included;

ü  Glenn’s passport

ü  Glenn’s iqama

ü  photos of Glenn

ü  payment of SR 200

ü  my iquama

ü  patience

ü  more patience

Omar picked me up at 8:00 and off we went with the other 3.5 million people in Jeddah. The traffic was heavier than the 401 in Vancouver at rush hour, with no overflow lane and some traffic lights not working. At one point in the traffic jam, an ambulance was trying to negotiate through the maze of vehicles. The siren was wailing but no one was pulling over; few were even slowing down. I asked Omar if drivers were not required to pull to the right and stop. He responded with, “Crazy drivers, they no stop. Sometimes the person dead, it takes too long.” I couldn’t help but think if that was a driver’s loved one, wouldn’t they want all the drivers to pull over to let the ambulance through?

Omar’s navigation skills were challenged today. Parking was practically non-existent. While circling the perimeter and all the alleys, I did discover that the ‘downtown core’ where the passport building is, seems to be the hub of all business in Jeddah. I saw the labour office and other buildings related to government business. There were masses of people all scurrying with their papers and documents. After searching for about 20 minutes, we followed a man to his car and parked in his vacated spot.

No place to park, no problem. The sidewalk works.

Next came the typewriter service.  A gentleman typed the paper which was to release us on our upcoming holiday. Omar walked me to the office and told me to call him when I was finished. He told me he needed to come and get me.  I didn’t ask questions at that point; thinking maybe women weren’t allowed to be alone in this area.

I entered the same building as I went in the other day and walked up to the wicket. I waited and waited some more. There were probably 50 – 60 women in the center today. One older lady was chatting to me pointing to my papers and although I didn’t understand her, I knew she was trying to be helpful because of her toothless grin.  I finally talk to the officer and she sends me to get a service ticket. Although the wall clock read 00 the whole time I was there, today they did have a numbered system. After I received my number, I went back to the officer. Waiting patiently, I finally get to the window again. Now I am told I need copies. Off I go outside to get copies. Thankfully, I had to get copies the other day so knew where to go. The lady that helped me the other day was most obliging again today.

Back to the wicket I go for a third time. While waiting to get to the front, the friendly older lady was getting her documents processed. She was pointing to my papers and chatting to me again. Another lady understood some English and interpreted for the elderly lady. She wanted to know if my documents were correctly filled out. I thought that was an interesting question to be asking me. A few minutes later, I found out why she was so curious. The officer was methodically doing the old lady’s paper work, undisturbed by the ladies who jump to the front of the line and ask her questions. When it came time for the old lady to sign her paper, she reached into her purse and pulled out a cloth change purse. From the change purse came a stamp that was attached to a key chain. The officer took the stamp, dabbed it in ink and stamped where the lady’s signature went. This kind old woman was worried I might not have filled in my paper work properly, possibly because she was illiterate. So sweet, I believe in her way, she was encouraging me.

Finally it is my turn. Again the officer systematically goes through the paper work and then tells me, “Hallas.” It means finished. I asked her how long it would be. She didn’t understand and I couldn’t understand her answer. I wait again.

After 40 minutes of waiting, I notice the officer who helped me the other day is now on duty. I go to her window and she recognizes me and puts her hand out to say hello. Women are very friendly and a handshake is a respectful way to say hello to someone you don’t know that well. Hugs and cheek kisses on both sides of your face, is a greeting for those that know you better. I tell her what I am waiting for and ask her how long it might be. I get the standard answer, “Maybe about 5 or 10 minutes.” Inside I chuckle as it has already been 40! Sitting back down, I practice more patience. More time lapses and I return to the English speaking officer. I ask her to check for me. Hallas, it has arrived and I am handed Glenn’s visa ‘ticket’ out. Omar comes to get me and off we go.

While I was learning how to get an exit/entrance visa for my ‘sponsored husband’, Omar went to have breakfast. I asked him to pick something up for me too. Below is a picture of a typical breakfast. It is called ‘foul’ and is a warm bean dip. With it comes this pizza sized warm bread. While Omar navigated me back to work, I enjoyed some of the bread and dip.

Four hours later, we are ½ way there. Next, I will wait for my employer to prepare my exit/entrance visa. When it is ready, I will trade my iqama for my passport and God willing, we will be off to Egypt.

Iqama – Priceless!

Today was another unique Arabia adventure for us. Two weeks ago Glenn went to get his medical report done in order to obtain his iqama. Today we actually have his ‘Residency Iqama Card’ in hand! Another successful outing! The process was worthy of sharing a story.

Omar, one of our trusty AGS drivers took us to the hospital to pick up the medical papers. When he returned to the vehicle, Glenn asked him, “Am I alright Omar?” He is so sweet; he giggles and says, “Yes!”  We then called him Doctor Omar. He loved that!

With medical papers, 2 small photos and Glenn’s passport in hand off we went to the ‘Passport Office’. Oh my goodness! As Omar slowed down and we rounded the corner, we saw what resembled an open air market. There were eateries with several customers, men conducting business in portable offices, colourful beach umbrellas and a huge traffic jam. Obviously it was a popular place. We saw many men sitting with typewriters on tables, some under the shade of their umbrella, some with customers, some without. When I inquired if this was the passport place, Omar said, “Yes.” Our eyes bugged out of our heads. When was the last time you saw a typewriter let alone someone conducting business on it?

Finding a parking spot was Omar’s first challenge. After that, we found a gentleman who was not serving a customer. Thankfully Omar was with us as he was our translator. Whew! After the typewriter paper work was done, off we went to get a photocopy of Glenn’s passport. Under the makeshift open-air office, two women were scurrying around filling customer orders.

Driver Omar far left, gentleman who did Glenn's paperwork under the festive umbrella.

Next, Omar tells me to go into the building alone; only women allowed. I must have had confusion, terror, resistance or some other emotion showing on my face.  One of the dear ladies left her photocopy post and ushered me inside the building. She quickly set me up with a passport officer. Thankfully, the passport officer spoke a few words of English.  Another whew! After more paperwork, the officer took my iqama, Glenn’s passport and medical papers and put them into a little white box attached to the wall.  It reminded me of back home where the commercial tellers are behind a secure area. It didn’t appear there was any way to see into the ‘backroom’. My guess is there were men working in there and because they are not allowed to see the women working in the ‘women’s’ section, the white box system ensured segregation.

Next came the waiting along with about 30 other women. I forgot to ask how long the process might be so I took my seat and waited patiently. (One must have heaps of patience to survive here.) At one point I called Omar to ask if they were supposed to give me back Glenn’s passport. Personally, I don’t have my passport so I did not know what the process was. When I started to speak to Omar, several ladies turned to look at me. I expect it was because I was speaking English.  Who is that lady without the head scarf, with blue eyes and speaking a foreign language? It is very interesting to be in the minority.

About 40 minutes later, I thought maybe I should find out how long it might take. As I was waiting at the passport window, I heard “Canadianie”. I thought that might be a good sign given all other women looked to be from other parts of the world. Sure enough, as soon as I asked, the officer smiled and handed me Glenn’s brand new iqama and his passport. Third whew! As I left the office, I was smiling and thinking, where is that red Staples ‘Easy’ button?

 Glenn’s Iqama

ü  Visa from Canada $300.

ü  Visa in Saudi Arabia SR 2000

ü  Translated documents SR 200

ü  Application for Iqama SR 1000

ü  Medical tests in SA SR 250

ü  Typewriter Service SR 10

ü  Photocopy Service SR 3

ü  Tip for Photocopy Woman SR 10

ü  Cappuccino for Omar SR 18

ü  Glenn’s Residency Igama – Priceless!  LOL

As we were leaving the Passport Office area, Omar told me I need to go back to the same place to obtain Glenn’s exit/entry visa prior to going to Egypt in the beginning of February. Apparently there are forms I will need to fill out . . . . . . . . that may be worthy of another story!