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This is what I got when I tried to log in to Facebook today:

The Saudi government has blocked the site. xo And you wonder why so many people here are repressed.

Update: In less than 24 hours, Saudi Arabia lifted the ban. Go figure.

Mood Music: Fight the Power by The Isley Brothers

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shopping highs and lows

Shopping is supposed to be fun especially when I walk into a mall and see all those red banners with the word SALE emblazoned on them. It makes me want to go running like a mad woman into the shops and rummage through the shelves and racks for some great bargains.

Unfortunately, here in Riyadh, my enjoyment is sometimes cut short because of bad customer service and by people who seem to have no idea what a queue is for. Last Saturday, for instance, I fell in line behind one woman to pay for two items I had picked up. She had a bunch of stuff and the cashier was taking forever to scan the tags. When I thought he was almost done, one of the her companions came and plopped down another bunch of clothes onto the table. That annoyed me a little but I kept my cool. While the cashier was sorting through it, another girl came and added more to the already large pile and I began to feel my ears heat up. I started tapping my foot, cleared my throat loudly and when one of them turned her head around, I gave her a scathing glare and she immediately averted her eyes.

So, there I was waiting for the cashier to be done with the Gorgons when this funky-smelling mother-and-daughter tandem brashly squeezed through my left side and placed their items right alongside my own on the counter. I snapped an "excuse me" at her but it fell on deaf ears. By this time, I was really quite infuriated. And when the cashier grabbed one of the clothes she had put down, I couldn't take it any longer and gave the cashier an earful. I told him, in a mix of Arabic and English, that he'd already allowed two other people to cut the line with the pretense that it was only one shopper's stuff but I wasn't about to let another person get ahead of me again. Hadn't he heard of first come, first served? Just because I wasn't a local didn't mean I was exempted from getting good service. He looked surprised then apologized profusely. I was waiting for the woman to protest so I could bite her head off, too, but she kept quiet. The cashier said sorry again as he handed me my shopping bag and I stomped out. :@

And that wasn't the first time that I encountered a situation like that. It happens a lot at fast food counters, too. Some locals seem to believe they have the privilege of skipping and cutting lines while a lot of salespeople and service crew, who are mostly foreigners, let them get away with almost anything at the expense of other expats which is just wrong.  *SIGH*

Thankfully, I ended up taking home a good haul and it was enough to make me get over the aggravation I felt.


Mood Music: Happy Shopper by 60 Ft Dolls

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nothing but rock and sand

Yesterday afternoon, we drove to the outskirts of Riyadh to visit J's niece who works as a nurse in a polyclinic in the area. She arrived about two weeks ago and we thought of bringing her some groceries and kitchen utensils so she wouldn't have to borrow from her colleagues.

It was a 45-minute drive away from our place while running at 120km/h so Jeolo and I sat back to enjoy the unexciting ride. On the way, I remembered I had my trusty point-and-shoot cam in my bag and decided to try and take some snaps of the landscape.

Lots of rock formations like this on the way.

Have no idea what this structure is for.

Road carved into the rock.

Coming out of the hewn rock...

...to still more sand and open space.

And that's a peek into the Riyadh countryside for you. I wish we could have passed through the Red Sand desert but it would have taken us out of our way. Maybe next time.

Tonight, I'll try to capture some images of the city if I can.

Mood Music: Kashmir by Led Zeppelin

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the best kind of marathon

Last Friday, since the husbo was off from work, we decided to get ourselves some DVDs to watch over the weekend. While we were out, I missed the Brazil versus Netherlands match and, as a result, Brazil lost. Yes, it was my fault but I digress. :c

Here are the movies we enjoyed:

Date Night. I loved it! It was so funny and engaging. Tina Fey and Steve Carell were perfect as the suburban couple trying to put some life back into their comfortable marriage and inadvertently get plunged into a night of danger, intrigue and excitement after they assume the identities of two low-level thieves. Aside from the laughs, the sight of Mark Wahlberg's perpetually shirtless body was a great big bonus. ;)

Prince of Persia. I could never bring myself to imagine Jake Gyllenhaal in a swashbuckling hero kind of role and even after his wonderful portrayal of Dastan, I'm still not sold. Except for the new buff body, his face seems more suitable to drama than action. I also found Gemma Arterton's voice a little irritating. Aside from that though, I enjoyed it immensely. The visuals were stunning and the use of parkour was exciting to watch. I'm looking forward to the next installment of this flick.

Toy Story 3. After reading all the raves and waterworks warnings on Plurk, I sat back with tissue in hand to watch. I wasn't disappointed. Toy Story 3 was the perfect end to a perfect trilogy. It tied up all the loose ends in a bittersweet finale. And it had me sniffling as I imagined having to let go of my little boy in the future. This is going to be a classic.

How To Train Your Dragon. Another heartwarming animated film that I've fallen in love with. I found it witty, funny and action-packed. The characters were lovable and I appreciated the message the story sent about looking beyond our preconceived notions and instead try to learn and understand first about that which we fear. 

Clash of the Titans. Since I remember watching the original Clash of the Titans on Betamax when I was a child and that I've read the story of Perseus countless times, this film disappointed me. The characters were hollow and the storyline was disjointed. Only the great big, nonstop action sequences kept if from becoming a bore.

Letters to Juliet. I knew it was going to be predictable but I didn't expect it to be so charming and easygoing with characters that were extremely likable. The scenes of the Italian countryside reminded me of Only You and Under the Tuscan Sun... beautiful. It left me inspired and lighthearted like any good romantic film should.

Remember Me. I was intrigued to see how Robert Pattinson would fare beyond being the perpetually constipated-looking Edward Cullen in Twilight and I was pleasantly surprised. He did a great job playing the role of Tyler. The movie dragged a bit but the characters managed to draw me in and I found the story to be thought-provoking. I'm glad I didn't read the critics' reviews before I watched it or else I probably wouldn't have appreciated it as much.

And that was our weekend. Oh, plus dinner at TGIFriday's last Friday and Assaraya Turkish Restaurant on Saturday. I conveniently forgot that I was trying to eat less on those two evenings. :D 

Mood Music: Hooray for Hollywood by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra with Gene Krupa

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intarwebs break

Our internet connection went AWOL on us last Wednesday night and since it chose to disappear on a weekend, we had to wait until today to get it back. Thankfully, my mobile network's 3G came to my rescue. I was able to monitor my Twitter, Facebook and Plurk accounts every now and then although I didn't linger. I even streamed the England vs. Algeria match yesterday evening but it turned out to be a waste of money after the game ended in a scoreless draw. I should've watched the USA vs Slovenia match instead because even though it also ended in a 2-2 draw, it was at least way more exciting. 

I ended up playing a lot with Jeolo during my internet hiatus and strained my back in the process because he weighs a ton now and then watched The Princess and The Frog a couple of times over with him. He insisted that J and I were the two frogs (but he called me a princess after my transformation) and that he was the trumpet-playing crocodile Louis. I also managed to finish reading two books, played Text Twist and Angry Birds on my phone like mad and napped during the afternoons.

And because I was bored silly, I dragged my men to Pizza Hut again last night. I kind of regretted it afterwards but my tummy was pretty happy.

All's well that ends well and I'm back to wasting my extra time online. It's good to be back.

Mood Music: Long View by Green Day

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long weekend

Note: My husband, who reads this blog once in a while, pointed out to me that my timeline was a little skewed. Blame it on my terribly faulty short-term memory and the fact that it was 2am already when I was typing out this post. Anyway, I obliged him and edited it accordingly.

J was off from work from Saturday till Monday hence the blog silence the last few days. We were busy with household chores and spending quality time as a family. We also went out for three consecutive evenings despite the suffocating 45-degree heat outside.

Saturday morning. Ikea has always been one of our favorite places to go to here in Riyadh not only for the furniture but also for the food. Evenings have always been the time we visit but since I've long been intrigued with their breakfast offering, J decided to humor me. There wasn't anything extra special about their breakfast but it was nice to go out and have a morning date as a family. And browsing through the store after has always been a delight.

Sunday evening. Our first stop was the bookstore. After quickly browsing through the shelves, I got myself three books: Mr. Shivers, The Postmistress, and a nursing handbook. Jeolo also chose two for himself and couldn't wait to have us read it to him. 

J asked me to try and take it slow in going through the two novels and I've been trying very hard. Thank goodness a Plurk friend sent me a PDF copy of Changes, book twelve of The Dresden Files, that's why I'm able to put off devouring the ones I acquired. As for the medical-surgical nursing one, I need it to refresh my knowledge which has lain pretty dormant for the last 3 years or so. Now, if I could only find a way not to fall asleep five minutes into it. Any suggestions?

From the bookstore, we headed over to the grocery across the street then had dinner at Steakhouse before heading home.

Monday evening. We were off to Jeolo's favorite mall. He loves going there because of the big "oasis" in the mall's center. There are fountains, fake trees, plants and animals. We didn't do any shopping because we're waiting for the big midyear sale this coming July which is the absolute best. After walking around and a quick dinner, we were homeward bound.

Tuesday evening. We hadn't really planned on going anywhere but J remembered that I'd been craving for pizza this past week and that I wanted to try out Papa John's Pizza and decided that we go out for it. Unfortunately, the one nearest to our place was already closed. We drove off to find the next branch but the rush hour traffic was pretty bad and we ended up ditching Papa John's for another day in favor of Pizza Hut, which was more accessible. It's going to be another several weeks before we indulge again so the trip was worth it.

Aside from my relatively occupied weekend, I've also been avidly following the 2010 FIFA World Cup being held in South Africa. I've always been a football fan but, in the last couple of years, I haven't been able to watch and follow the leagues and my favorite teams as obsessively as I used to but I can't stay away from the World Cup matches. Go, Brazil!

That pretty much sums up my weekend. Nothing grand but wonderful nonetheless because I got to spend it with my main men. How'd yours go?

Mood Music: Flight of the Bumblebee by Rafael Lukjanik & Orchestra

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it's raining, it's pouring

While I was enjoying a quiet moment yesterday, I failed to mention that, outside, a really strong wind was blowing. It first blew up inordinate amounts of dust all around, some of which managed to pass through the aircon vents and triggered my first asthma attack of the year. After the dust storm, it started to rain hard by Saudi standards. I say that because we've definitely had worse in the Philippines so rainstorms here don't faze me at all. It actually made me enjoy my afternoon even more.

It continued to shower until early evening coupled by a light hailstorm which lasted for a few minutes. Jeolo was so happy to look out our window to see the water puddle that had formed in the middle of the street. He had fun watching cars splash rain water everywhere as they passed through the puddles.

It was only this morning that I found out that yesterday's rain had caused heavy flooding in many streets, brought the city to a major standstill and had left many stranded in their homes, workplace and in their cars in tunnels. Here's a video I found on YouTube which shows a severely flooded street:

The weather reports show that it will continue to be cloudy with occasional showers for the rest of the week. Me? I'm loving it because it makes me feel that I'm kind of back home. 

Mood Music: Rain by The Beatles

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Turkish delights

Whenever J has a few days off from work, we always set an evening to go out. And since this is Saudi Arabia, going out for us usually means a trip to the mall and eating out. We did both yesterday evening.

After a quick trip to Riyadh Gallery mall, my son's favorite because of the "oasis" located in the middle of the mall's ground floor, we proceeded to Assaraya Turkish Restaurant. It's been in business for 20 years or so and they serve basic, but quite good, Turkish fare. The place is usually packed in the evenings, especially during the weekend, but we were lucky enough to immediately find a booth.

We started out with two free (yes, free) large slabs of Turkish naan bread served with hummus. We ordered some butter to spread over pieces of the warm bread then dipped it in the hummus. Yum!

Our orders then arrived. This is grilled shrimp served over french fries. There's nothing extra special about it except that I love grilled shrimp. Hehe.

I'm not a big fan of lamb but their grilled lamb chop is one of my few exceptions. The meat was cooked just right; well done but still juicy enough with the taste not being too gamy. 

Oven-baked chicken in clay pot with tomato sauce. This was really good, too, although I didn't eat much of it because I concentrated more on the lamb and shrimp. 

And our meal wouldn't have been complete without some delicious yellow rice. J didn't eat any of this though but my sister and I managed to clean up the plate anyway.

It was one hearty, extremely filling dinner and I think I ate enough to last me a week. 

Mood Music: Turkish Delight (Original Mix) by Guy Gerber

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Ramadan Kareem

 Ramadan started almost two weeks ago and there's still another two weeks before Eid ul-Fitr which marks the end of the fasting period. At this time, all healthy Muslim adults abstain from food, drink and sex. They also strive to maintain calmer dispositions and to be nicer and more giving towards others. Work-wise, the locals are required to work a mere maximum of 6 hours per day and work hours are adjusted during the month. It's the month of slowing down and reflecting.

For expats like my family, it also means that we can't be seen eating or drinking out in public from sunset to sundown. If caught by a mutawwa, the person will either be heavily censured or, worse, get hauled off for some jail time. We also avoid being out on the road during sunset because drivers will be rushing to get home for iftar after Maghrib prayer. For men like my husband, who find it very hard to let another car just pass them, it's definitely a bad idea to be in the middle of that traffic rush because Saudi drivers go even crazier than usual.

Most shops and malls are closed the entire day and open at 9 pm until two in the morning. We went to the mall last weekend and when we first arrived, the place looked dead with just a few people walking around. But by the time we headed for home at around 11, the place was packed with families who were enjoying their time together. I guess if you're interested to see the natives in action, that's the time to be out and about. As for us, the late shopping hours have prevented us from going out as much because my son is usually asleep by 8:30 in the evening and it would be cruel to keep him awake just for that. Luckily, the Filipino market is open in the mornings (yes, you can buy food stuff -  you just can't eat them in plain sight) so that's the time we do our grocery-shopping.

Personally, I can't wait for Ramadan to be over so we can go back to our relatively normal lives and, of course, enjoy the sales during Eid.

Mood Music: Slow Down by India Arie

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