Perverts, Beware.

Sometimes I get royally pissed off. Today was one such day.

I was feeling grumpy like the Grumpy cat pictured above.
Let me tell you why.
It started out The Perfect day, lovely weather, clear skies, let's walk to the park. Everything seemed promising.  Until the day was ruined by the World's Most Perverted Perverts.

I normally try to ignore the pervert creep-o's around here and just walk past them. I pretend what they're doing doesn't affect me while in reality inside I'm about to explode from rage. In my head I'm screaming "STOP STARING AT ME YOU FREAKTARDS! You're acting like wild animals and you're in Saudi-Arabia for fugs sake BEHAVE!"
Sometimes, enough is enough. We all have our limits. So this day, my bag of creeper-crap became full. So full the shiz really spilled out and hit a tornado.

Ok so I go to the park a lot here in the Diplomatic Quarters. You can check out why here.
DQ is an abaya free area so I usually take advantage of this and opt for normal clothing because the black abaya does become really hot to walk in direct sunlight. That doesn't mean I'm walking around in a miniskirt and tank top though (although some women here do). I would normally wear loose fitting and over all modest clothing and my hair covered. So in other words, everyone would know this most likely is a Muslim woman coming along. But does this stop the perverts from oggling?

No.

So as I was walking this time to a park further away, we passed by lots of construction workers mostly from Asian countries. They work in the DQ daily and should be accustomed to seeing women. With or without abaya. Does this change their behavior though?

No.

Most of these men are Muslims. They should be aware of the aya in the Quran which addresses FIRST men to lower their gaze and observe hijab, THEN it advises women to dress modestly. Does this have any effect on these men?

No.

Sometimes I walk around in my abaya past these creeps. Does that stop them from staring at me and send a message I don't want to be looked at?

No.

In fact, if I were to walk BUTT NAKED on the streets in Finland, people would stare at me less than these men do here despite the full covering. I have never been stared at like this anywhere in the world. I mean there have been bad places, lots of harassment and other things happening but it's NOTHING compared to the scale it's happening in Saudi Arabia.

These guys are something else. Only a woman who has lived here and experienced this can truly grasp the feeling of being somehow violated by their actions. I would even call it a form of sexual harassment.
Walking past these kind of men is infuriating, stressful and tormenting to say the least. They could really use a pair of:

LOWER YOUR GAZE-GOGGLES

I must point out that by far the most well behaved men I've seen around the Diplomatic Quarter areas are the Saudis. Most will lower their gaze and not look at me or other women at all regardless what they're wearing. But then once in a while you run into an idiot like the one on this particular day.

A friend and I were passing by a bank where a Saudi man was standing in the parking lot. He took one look at us then started waving and asking to come to his car. He obviously thought we were prostitutes. Rumor has it there's a secret brothel somewhere in the D.Q. Maybe he thought we're employees, with two babies in tow? We ignored and he started shouting out offensive suggestions to us. Do these a-holes have ANY brain activity?

No.

So there I am, one baby strapped onto me and the other in the stroller, and all I want to do is go and PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE. Now I'm not a violent person, people, don't get me wrong. But some men just need a good ol' punch in the face to lighten up.

But we moved on. Next we passed by a mosque and it was prayer time. Three workers of some sort (well I didn't see much WORK being done) sat on a bench opposite to it. They noticed us from far and started ogling at us wide-eyed like some sort of owls.

Hoo-hoo, Oggle-Ollies. Is anybody home? Watch out that your eyes don't pop out of their sockets.

I was taking a pic of the mosque and decided to point the phone at them and experiment if that would stop them from ogling. You would think they'd feel ashamed for being exposed and turn away right?

No.

WTH. At this point I was already annoyed BIG TIME. As we walked past them I said in a loud voice "stop staring!" I turned around to see if they had lowered their gaze only to see they had just turned their heads and their eyes were now the size of golf balls.

Watch out you don't break your neck.

 
 You b**tards.

Next we passed by some more workers, all busy doing something really important like moving stones around. Not anymore. See women are coming! Hey lets stop everything and stare at them like mindless idiots.

Check out this dude. He needed to lean on the truck thingy so he can concentrate all of his brain cells onto the two females in his visual field because standing without support while gawking would be too complicated. Again as we had passed I made a surprise attack with my iPhone to check if they were still looking:

Ha! Busted!
So the leaner-creeper is still staring and didn't turn his face around even when noticed me taking the pic but the other guy at least felt some sort of shame. I think. Awww..Or did you think your pic might be posted online and your scumbag-ness be exposed? Too bad you were right. You messed with the wrong lady.

Ugh....I was fuming at this point. But more was to come. To our horror we soon realized we had to pass another construction area in order to reach the park. I felt like screaming to all the pervs on that street and throwing rotten tomatoes at them but of course I couldn't with the kids there. I tried to control myself and only raised my voice every once in a while saying "stop staring" Nobody did. In fact, it seemed to only spark even more interest so I stopped.

Walking along this street made me feel as if I'm completely naked and the men are raping me with their eyes. So blatant and immoral they were.

It was like walking in the gay parade or something. Spectators watching on the sides of the street cheering leering at the parade.
See the pervert guy in the turban? I will call him Mr. Turbert. Funny how the bearded guy (outwardly trying to appear so religious) was the most perverted of them all. Mr. Turbert actually started following us.

Who are you calling? Your wife, while you're gawking at us? Go drink some hot sauce.

I can see you Mr. Turbert. You think you're clever, huh? Why don't you just jump off a cliff.

The only man on this street that didn't leer at us was the old guy pictured here. God bless his soul.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to...
Mr.Pervert Universe.

He surely thinks I snapped the pic because he's ALL THAT. Wrong. It's because you actually took this relaxed position to enjoy staring at the female parade from a long way.
When we came closer I made a surprise pic of him but he didn't get the memo and kept enjoying his time. The look on his face is so smug it's just begging for someone to come and pour glue all over it! Ugh.

Oh hey look it's Mr. Turbert again! I hope you walk into a pole. No a landmine.

Actually it's not a turban, it seems to be some sort of a 'silly hat'. And Mr. Pervert Universe seems to be thinking some perverted ideas in his head which I really don't want to know.

So we arrived at the park after this walk of horror. I felt a sigh of relief. All too soon, since the perverts had populated the park that day. They actually came to pray there, Mr. Turbert and his buddies. On the way they all took a looooooong look at us in the playground. How pious of them. One guy even gawked at us WHILE praying.

You know that weird feeling you get that someone is staring at you?

Noticed this chap leering from the parking lot. Snapped his pic too to include in this photo-collage. So he noticed I was taking the pic and I started yelling at him to stop staring. Did that help?

Of course not.

 He just changed his position and kept staring. No shame, no respect, no decency. I was outraged. I wanted to go and kick him in the groin.

After five minutes, Mr. Hand In Your Pocket Putter is still staring. Leaning on the car and chewing on miswak just enjoying his sweet ol' time. I swear if looks could kill he would be a corpse by now. Didn't your mother teach you ANY manners? I can think of a name to call you which begins with MOTHER.

What a day. I hate perverts.
Freakin freaks!
Just leave us women alone!
Next time I'm going to be armed with water balloons. Filled with vinegar! HA!

DISCLAIMER: This post is not intended to make fun of any specific race or nationality. This post is about MEN behaving badly, and I'm calling them out for it. If you found this post racist in some way, you are very wrong and perhaps should do some self reflecting. About 90% of this post is written with HUMOR and as a rant without much planning. If you don't get my sense of humor (which I admit sometimes might be very sarcastic and black) then that's fine. We're all good.
That's it folks. Nothing more to this, so please don't make anything else of it. Thank you!

P.S. The camera or iPhone in this case was pointed at the men AFTER they began staring. They are not looking because I'm shooting them. I was there, I know what happened, you weren't, so please spare us your expert comments on what was going on and who was leering at who.

SAMSUNG Godfathers And Washing Machine Eating Mice

You've probably heard about the crappy customer service in Saudi-Arabia before. Disservice, un-service, no service..WHAT service? Sometimes I'm lost for words when describing these things. It makes my head hurt and I can feel how my brain cells are slowly dying from trying to handle the ultimate stupidity. I try not to think about it too much in fear of permanent brain damage.

Let me tell you that writing this post literally made me sweat in agony. Experiencing this in real life however was something else altogether. The customer service here can only really be understood by someone who has had the "privilege" to experience it.
Like those moments when you called the plumber to come "plumb" something, he comes and pours water on it and says "ma'm it's plumbed". 
To give you a better idea of how things work (or don't work) in the Magic Kingdom, read this encounter with SAMSUNG Riyadh customer services. 

28th October
Our a little bit over a year old Samsung washing machine breaks. An error message appears on the computer screen when the machine tries to start rinsing cycle. I inform husband. We suspect a problem with the drain or filter. Husband calls plumber and cleans filter.

29th October
Plumber arrives, checks drains. Pours water in them. "Kulu kweis. Mafi mushkila."
Husband calls Samsung maintenance service telling them our machine is broken. They promise to send "someone".

1st November
The first Samsung maintenance dude arrives. Cannot diagnose problem, finds no issues, machine appears to be working when he checks. Note he checks the machine with no laundry in it. DUH!
An hour after his "check-up" I run a cycle of laundry, it happens again, husband calls him to come back. Dude says he will come back Saturday and order the spare parts to fix the computer board. As if the problem is in the computer screen itself and not the actual machine. Silly me for thinking that when an error message appears, it means there's a problem somewhere else. The maintenance dude naturally knows what he is doing right. RIGHT?

8th November
After about 192 calls to Samsung that week the same dude finally comes and changes the computer board. They test it, now with laundry inside (which my husband insisted to put in) and it seems to work. Charged 700 SAR for all this.

9th November
I start doing laundry. The same freakin problem comes up and I scream a little bit inside. I am starting to have a huge pile of laundry by now. The laundry room has started to stink.
Husband calls Samsung and says the machine is broken again. "We will send someone" they say.

11th November
The someone comes after about 36 phone calls to Samsung asking when is mr. Someone coming.
He tries to check the machine, opens up the backdoor and takes some wire out. Diagnosis: The lock and the computer board has to be changed. 
Excuse me? Samsung dude #1 already fixed it and we paid for it.
Dude #2 says when dude #1 changed the computer board he should have also changed the lock because if he doesn't they're both going to break. 
OK so you're telling me he kind of un-fixed it? Like, as in BROKE it more?
Dude #2 leaves saying he has to now order the spare parts from somewhere (maybe somebody will hand carry them on foot from China?)

12th-13th November
Husband calls Samsung, nobody knows anything.
Laundry room has now started to seriously stink. Stink as in MOLD stink.  Plumber comes. Says the nasty smell is coming because we're not using the washing machine which normally would flush the drains. Pours water on drain, leaves.
Thank you Samsung for the lovely TOXIC home odors.

14th November
The same dude comes back again after a few days with a co-dude. They change the computer and the lock. Next he cannot locate the wire which he had removed the first time for reasons not understandable to people with logic. (try looking in your arse perhaps? ) After an hour searching an area of about 3 square meters they finally relocate the mysterious wire. Dude #2 puts the thing back in.

Machine does not work.

Another two hours goes by and either dude #2 or #3 can figure out what's actually wrong with the machine.
"Too much work, can't be done here" he says. "we need to take it to the workshop".
Husband says sure, take it. "Oh but we don't have a car big enough to transport things in."

Wait a second, WHAT? You're telling me you're a maintenance dude for SAMSUNG which mostly makes large home appliances such as washing machines and refrigerators, and you drive around in what? A Morris Mini or a Toyota Corolla? Somebody tell me this is a joke right?
Nope.
They leave and say someone will call you tomorrow.

15th November
Big surprise! No news from Samsung! Husband gets upset and refers to Samsung customer service as "piece of crap". He calls them to schedule a pick up. Samsung Riyadh say next available appointment is following Monday. This is totally unacceptable after waiting two weeks already and especially after the unprofessional maintenance disservice. Husband demands to talk to manager. "No manager here sir". Husband asks to leave a message for the manager to call him on Saturday.
The smell of mold in the laundry room is getting stronger and stronger. Plumber arrives. Pours water in drains and also on the floors. Smell of mold the spreads to entire apartment.
Toddler is now down with a bad flu and vomiting all over the place.

17th November
Saturday rolls along.
Husband receives SMS from Samsung Saudi call center saying your appointment has been CANCELLED. Husband goes nuts. Is now referring to Samsung as "piece of s**t".
Calls Samsung, asking for maintenance manager. The employees at call center are all Saudi females with the same default replies:
"we don't have a maintenance manager, only a call center manager"
 "we can only reach the manager by email" 
"I will send the manager an email and he will get back to you"
So to reach these managers (all Saudis of course) who seem to enjoy the status similar to some sort of untouchable, unreachable mafia Godfathers, the call center ladies have to send emails. The Samsung Godfather then either gets back to you, or doesn't, depending on his mood or how busy he is with his other ahem, "businesses".

Later that day, the phone rings. Lo and behold, it's the SAMSUNG Godfather. He listens to my husbands complaints and promises to call back. The Godfather named Raed Al-Something NEVER calls back. He probably got busy smoking cigars or just didn't bother.
The toddler is very sick now, vomit and diarrhea is everywhere, no washing machine. Funtimes!

18th-21st November
Husband calls Samsung customer service call center everyday, over and over. Same monotonous replies from the call girls. No signs from Godfather.
Child is still sick.
Plumber arrives to "flush the drains". This time is met by crazy Finnish woman who tells him some facts about plumbing, drains, mold, moisture and health. After the Plumbing-101 quick course the plumber laughs in disbelief but does what the woman instructs him and opens the drain up. He tries to remove the mold and then pours Chlorox in the drains. The smell is gone.

21st November
Fed up and furious, husband goes to the Riyadh Samsung store maintenance manager Godfather in person on Wednesday morning. He is now referring to Samsung customer service as "piece of *#%#  s**t".
The Godfather, Mr. Raed Al-Hamaad is smoking in his office when husband enters. It is hard to see the Godfather from all the smoke in the room. He doesn't look up the entire time from the computer screen. I guess he was busy reading emails.

The same day around 2 pm someone calls saying he's on the way to pick the machine up. Really? Could this be it finally? Did the Godfather push some buttons?

The Samsung dude #4 asks for directions and husband explains the way to Diplomatic Quarters. The dude does not know where it is. The sucker gets lost and calls husband. They try to figure out where the dude #4 is but dude doesn't have a clue where he is. Husband spends the next hour on and off the phone trying to locate the hopeless case. He is Yemeni so his understanding of Arabic is not the problem.

It's 4 pm now and we do not know where he is nor does he know where he is. Husband asks the dude to stop somewhere and give the phone to someone around him. Dude does and then husband tells them this clueless dimwit needs to be sent into the DQ. Turns out he was right next to it.

A stubborn camel would've made it from the SAMSUNG store into DQ by this time.

Husband specifically instructs the sucker what to say at the gate and IF the security doesn't let him in, to STAY at the gate so husband can fetch him. It's now nearing 5pm and there's no sign of the dude, husband calls 15 times in a row before the dude picks up. He left. Went back to the store. AFTER 3 HOURS OF DRIVING AROUND YOU FINALLY FOUND IT AND THEN YOU LEFT? O-M-G.

Turns out the Godfather had not sent one of his official men but an Iqama-less random Yemeni dude to us. Husband is now referring to Samsung customer service as "%$#@ piece of *#%# s**t".

22nd November
Husband leaves to Samsung store to kill people but on the way there Mr Someone calls him says we are on the way. They actually come, make it inside the gate and have a big enough car to take the machine. "A few days", they say.
Newborn baby is now sick. Smell of mold still lingering in the house. Smelly laundry in the baskets and on the floors. Plumber says "you need a washing machine". You don't say??

24th November
Saturday rolls around again, husband calls and Samsung says tomorrow, inshallah. We've all heard that before. The next day it's still being fixed. Same thing the next day.

27th November
Without asking if anybody is actually home, the Samsung dude calls in the middle of the day and informs they're on their way to bring the machine back. 
Machine arrives and the dude starts checking if it works. I tell him we need to put laundry in it and wait the entire cycle to see if it works because the problem arises when it's full of water and clothes.
He doesn't get it and keeps pressing on the buttons. I try to explain again, this time speaking veeryy sloooowly. Now he thinks I don't understand how a washing machine works and starts explaining the process in full detail. I give up trying to explain and hope for the best.

Out of interest I ask him what caused the problem in the machine. He tells me it was.....wait for it...a MOUSE that had chewed up the wires in the machine. EXCUSE ME? A mouse ate my washing machine?

You're telling me a mouse entered my house? A house that's full of cats? Wouldn't they kill the mouse before it passed by all the delicious foods awaiting in the kitchen cupboards and made its way to the irresistible wire it was craving to chew on? Would it not leave droppings and some signs of itself?

Has anyone ever heard of a washing machine eating MOUSE before? I thought so. Do mice even live in Saudi-Arabia?

I felt so sorry for him for not coming up with a better excuse. It might have been more convincing had he blamed at least a gerbil because I had gerbils as pets when I was a kid and boy do they know how to chew things up. But a mouse? Get real dude. So DUMB. It's like when a seven year old comes to his parents saying "a mouse chewed up my homework".

I have a pretty good idea who "chewed up" that wire, Shamsung!

Well at least the machine seems to be working now and I don't know what we would've done without our amazing friends and neighbors who helped us do the laundry during this whole anguishing ordeal.

What words would you use to describe this service?

P.S.  If you like this post and think Blue Abaya should win the best Saudi expat blog title, then PLEASE vote for me here: http://www.expatsblog.com/blogs/566/blue-abaya
Thank you!

Saudi IKEA's Misogynistic Madness

I might have gotten out of bed with the wrong foot as we say in Finland, but I noticed something so disturbing today that I just HAD to rant a little bit about it. I mean this is complete and utter madness. So Dumb. Disturbs me what kind of sickos and women haters are out there.

This is the source of my headache, an article in the Swedish Metro magazine this morning: http://www.metro.se/nyheter/kvinnor-gar-inte-att-retuschera-bort/EVHlja!2mPseJ6LPTrK2/
So the new IKEA catalogs are out and can be viewed online at their site www.ikea.com.
All the countries have pretty much the same stuff on offer and the catalogs look the same. Except for of course Saudi-Arabia, the so called model country of Islam.

What's different in the Saudi IKEA catalog then? Can anyone take a wild guess?
They censored it. ALL THE IMAGES OF WOMEN have magically disappeared from the Saudi version. A misogynistic airbrusher has vandalized the entire catalog.

You might have seen how they censor stuff in Saudi-Arabia before, like blacking out half clad women from the swimming pool packages or placing white tape on celebrity decolletages, drawing imaginary black leggings and T-shirts on women in the women's magazines or spray painting the bare skin parts black. Heck they even black out the word PORK from food items.

I can understand why some of the censoring is done in Saudi-Arabia if I really really try hard to block most of my brain activity while at the same placing my head in a very narrow tunnel. But people, this is a furniture catalog, OK? Who the hell needs to censor a furniture catalog anyways?

Take a tour of the Saudisized IKEA here: http://imagesofsaudi.blogspot.com/2012/02/saudi-ikea-experience.html
The censorship at the actual Riyadh IKEA store has always creeped me out. Check this out:

 What on earth was going on in their minds when they decided to do that? It's just the babies mother for God's sake!

How about this? The woman is fully covered! Looks like someone has some serious issues with women.

As a woman I find this highly offensive and insulting. This must also be the height of hypocrisy. I wonder how many of the men responsible for this stupidity have maids (as in unrelated females) living in their houses? I would guess 99%.

What is the point to remove all the women from the Saudi catalog? Women do exist. What are these misogynist men trying to accomplish by this, trying to imagine women don't exist? Do they not watch the news or TV at all? Do they not go to malls or grocery stores? Images of women are everywhere in Saudi-Arabia! Heck there is even REAL uncovered women out there on the streets of the conservative capital Riyadh. Should they be blocked from public view too? Even the women's magazines that are allowed in the Magic Kingdom are not censored like this. So why IKEA?

I wonder how IKEA as a Scandinavian company is even agreeing to this. Sweden is one of the most gender equal countries in the world. What a mockery this is to equality of women. This is oppression of women. What an absolute shame and disgrace that is going on with Saudi IKEA. I feel insulted as a Scandinavian. As if the women are indecent or shameful and thus needed to be removed. These are normal everyday images of women, of mothers with children in their homes, not of women posing in sexy positions in bikinis or miniskirts.

What do these people think, that Saudi men can't handle a few images of mostly fully clad women? Are Saudi men expected to be so sex deprived they would go crazy to see these tempting Swedish women? Do these perverted minds assume all men think like them and would take the magazine into the bathroom for some "private viewing"? How disgusting. Is someone out there really this sick? For the life of me I can't understand what is wrong with this picture of a family brushing their teeth together:

And in the Saudi version the mother has disappeared. I find this very sad that someone thought she needed to be removed. What kind sick minds are these?

This is the scene from the normal catalog kitchen section, the screen shot taken from the UAE catalog. How are the UAE men able to handle the images of women btw?

You would think that women naturally appear in the kitchens right? Not in Saudi! They also removed the man though. But hey, by taking a closer look we can see the woman looks Asian. Wouldn't this be a scene from a typical Saudi home then? An unrelated, uncovered Asian woman working in the kitchen, mixing with the Saudi males of the family. Why is it totally fine in the home but not in the catalog? Can anyone say double standards?
Maybe they removed the guy too so that Saudi women don't get any ideas of hiring male maids! God forbid an unrelated male mixing with Saudi women. What would the world turn into.

Another image from the real world. A family cooking happily together, father, grandfather, mother, children all joyfully together. What is so wrong with this image that Saudi-Arabia can't handle it?

First of all scenes like this just don't exist in Saudi homes. Better to remove the grandpa (although he looks culturally acceptable with his muttawa-look) and the father so that Saudi women won't get any ideas in their heads that men do actually cook in countries like Sweden and thus become too demanding on the Saudi men. The woman is dressed so indecently that she needs to be removed straight away. The kids are helping to set up the table. What! Helping?? Where is the maid? Totally unacceptable to make children to do housework. This is what it should look like:

Except that the magic deleting wand forgot the wine bottle on the table. What a horrific mistake! Someone might some bad ideas from that!
How about this image. Honestly I can't even tell which one is the woman immediately. She seems to be dressed just like the male counterparts. But because she's a woman..DELETE.

How ridiculous can this get really? The entire catalog is full of examples like this. Why does the IKEA censor hate women so much they need to be completely deleted from the catalog? Above all how could IKEA, which is a company based on family values and comes from a country once chosen as the best country for women to live in, accept this misogynistic madness? Are women not welcome into the Saudi-Arabian IKEA stores?


Edit: IKEA has issued a statement saying it regrets its decision saying "We should have reacted and realized that excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalog is in conflict with the IKEA Group values." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444592404578030274200387136.html?mod=WSJUK_hps_LEFTTopWhatNews

The Return Of The Saudi Post Chocolate Monster

There is no wrath like the one of a pregnant Finnish woman whose long awaited Finnish mega chocolate bar has been stolen by the Saudi postal guy. AGAIN. 
Don't attempt to steal chocolate from a pregnant woman. Ever.

Speaking of theft, stealing, dishonesty and greed..Check out American Bedu's post about the plagiarism scandal Sumayah Mehtar has created in the blogosphere: http://americanbedu.com/2012/09/07/american-bedu-plagiarized/

So my long awaited package from the online Finnish food store called Suomikauppa arrived today. Husband picked it up from the P.O BOX, since Saudi-Arabia hasn't arranged actual addresses for its citizens yet. Oh well it's only 2012 and such an advancement can't be anticipated for another 20+ years. I mean they don't even let women drive yet so why would they be so advanced to have physical addresses? That's just pure vanity! Is it a coincidence that the Saudi Postal services are responsible for both driving licenses and addresses? Hmm..

Now let me tell you how many times I have ordered from this online store. About like 100 times. Ok. How many times do you think I received the entire order? 0. Don't get me wrong, the customer service in the Suomikauppa is excellent. They know what the word service means. Unlike in Saudi-Arabia where people think service means "sit on your ass all day tapping on your iPhone ignoring anyone who speaks to you and only answer back in a rude tone showing as little interest as possible while maintaining eye contact with the mobile device only." oh and "never, under any circumstances answer the land-line phone".

My package was very much anticipated this time because:
A) it contained a large Finnish chocolate bar which I have been craving for a long time now. This is like the best chocolate in the word, no joke people.
B) it contained my favorite Finnish coffee. I tend to get very grumpy sometimes if I haven't had my caffeine fix. Also I'm pretty darn bored of drinking instant coffee which to me tastes more like boiled old dish water and should rather be called instant diuretic.
C) It was supposed to contain a surprise on behalf of the store rewarding my returning customer-ship.
D) I'm pregnant and craving this specific chocolate.

I had also ordered baby foods (yes I have to order some baby food all the way from Finland because it's healthy and organic and babies love the taste and nothing like it is available here because healthy baby food in Saudi equals chips and nuggets). I also had some special rice and rye oatmeal in there.

I bet Mr. Saudi Post Office Guy aka Mr. Ruthless Thief already recognizes this package when it comes to the office. He probably has his fingers itching to take it into the back room for "inspection". One time he was so thorough doing his inspection that he had sacrificed his safety and taken a bite or two out of the chocolate bar. He dutifully placed it back into the package though.

And what about that time when Mr. Chocolate Monster Maniac had to finish off the entire Fazer Blue chocolate bar, just to make sure no part of it contains liquor or, God forbid a hidden machine gun? His heartfelt dedication is admirable. I am still touched that he left the empty wrappers behind, like as a sign of his hard work and devotion.

This time some pretty committed guy had opened my package and as usual rummaged through it. As I went through the contents it became evident that both my chocolate AND coffee were missing. Un-friggin-believable. Worse yet, it looked like the "surprise" has been taken too since there is nothing extra in the parcel. I am guessing they sent candy of some sort but it wasn't mentioned in the list of contents.
I. Was. Fuming.
Why does he always go for the largest chocolate bar? Can't he for once take the salmiakki, you know the ammonium chloride??
And the healthy foods are all there again. Of course. Why would he consume anything healthy?

WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?

Does Saudi postal services employ starving people off the street who are forced to eat whatever edible they can find in the parcels? Are the employees told to actually taste stuff? Are employees indulging in expensive goods sent from around the world, perhaps taking small bits home to share with the wife? Do some of these employees have huge stashes of stolen goods at home? Is there anyone supervising this zoo? Are there surveillance cameras? Do they employ ex-convicts only? What is this place anyways?
Where is that machine gun!?

I wanted to storm into the post office right there and then to find the guilty parties. I would find him even if he was hiding under all the boxes munching on my delicious chocolate. Does he even know how to make filter coffee, huh? I bet not!! This was the last time I was going to just rant about it. Something needed to be done. My husband was not too keen on my idea, knowing that I might need to cool down a "bit" before entering the office. I insisted he take me there but it was already closed (lucky for them) so we have to wait until the next day.

In the meanwhile I went to their website in hopes of finding a way to make a complaint. Not a huge surprise this was not possible. I saw a customer service number, but ignored it, being so accustomed to government offices or any other businesses here who predominantly employ Saudis not picking up the phone. Then something must have clicked in my head (I'll blame it on the pregnancy brain which is lacking intelligent activity and possibly operating on two brain cells at the moment) because I changed my mind and called.

Lo and behold someone picked up after all the press this or that button stuff was over. They spoke English. That's not all folks. He actually tried to find out what happened.
He tracked the parcel and asked me did we sign when picking it up. I told him of course, isn't that the only way to receive it. Turns out if you already signed it, there's nothing they can do for you. Even if they go to the dude that mishandled your parcel, he can always say they took it, not me!

Ok this makes sense in a way. HOWEVER why is the customer not informed of this policy when he picks up the parcel? I have heard stories of everything under the sun (including Victoria's Secret panties) being stolen by Saudi Post officers. So why not have a system in place to try stop these violations? They should warn the customers to open it up at the office before signing just in case something has "disappeared into thin air". And then there should be a system where you can file a complaint of missing goods. And someone should actually follow that up. On top of that there should be consequences for the violators. But this is veeeeryyyyyy complicated and advanced. Can this kind of development be expected to happen in Saudi-Arabia any time soon?

This is what the chairman of the Saudi Post has to say:
"Over the ages of human civilization and history, civilization experts confirm that post has been an important component in attempting to identify the progress and prosperity of nations, as it is one of the engines of sustainable development of human societies in its different stages, and in the moral values of society, the postman is always one that we desire to come to our doors."

What does the Saudi Post tell us about the progress and prosperity of this nation? I don't need a civilization expert to figure that one out.

I would love to have the Saudi postman come to my door with my parcel next time. Oh ya I forgot we have no addresses. Until next time then when I personally open the parcel at the office..Watch out Mr. Chocolate Monster!

Copycat Blogger Exposed

Many of us bloggers put a lot of time and dedication into our blogs. I would go so far as to say we sometimes pour our hearts out online. I sometimes work on a particular post for many days, if not weeks at a time. I do research, I re-write stuff, check for spelling mistakes, I edit and upload pics. Maybe I'm a perfectionist and I could spend less time on here. But my motto is, if you're going to do something, then do it 100%.

I would say blogs are like gardens. Us bloggers need to start from scratch, we build the foundations, plant the seeds and wait for our work to grow. It takes time and effort. "verta, hikea ja kyyneleita" (blood, sweat and tears) as the Finnish saying goes. Like flowers need regular watering to strive, the blog needs constant up-keeping to flourish.

Taking material from another blog without permission is like sneaking into someone's garden and ripping the plants and flowers out, then giving them to someone or planting them in your own garden. Simply put, it's stealing of someone else's property.
When a blogger steals material from another blog, this naturally feels very upsetting, maddening and frustrating and like all our hard work is being exploited. It seems like some people just have no shame these days and this happens despite us having copyright notices on our blogs.

The reason I'm writing this entry is my random discovery today of a so called "copycat blogger" who I am going to expose because of the outragous plagiarism on her site. I randomly found her site by doing a google search. This is not just a case of a single copied post but the entire blog seems to be based on taking material from others. How can someone think they can get away with this in the first place? I'm upset on behalf of everyone she stole from.

According to her site and FB fan page she is a Muslim of South African origin who works as pharmacist at a large reputable hospital in Riyadh. She calls herself the "Desert Pill Pusher" but her name is Sumayya Mehtar, a self proclaimed philanthropist and public figure. Strange then that she needs to take most of her material from others.

Blue Abaya is not the only site that she has plagiarized from. American Bedu, Susie of Arabia, Rasheeds World, A Canadian in Riyadh, Saudi Jeans, from who she either directly copy pasted the articles off, or used material and altered the text a little. I don't get how this site has been running for over a year and nobody noticed this before. All those subscribers and fans on FB must not have a clue.

Some of the articles she stole from my blog just last month, like this post I wrote about Ramadan and the Hardees fungus burger incident: http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2012/08/ramadan-junk-food-and-fungus-burgers.html
She divided this into two posts on her site, basically copy pasting the entire article, but "cleverly" changing the last part where I explain about emailing McDonald's, she writes "my friend emailed". How ingenious. And sorry but I am not your friend.
http://desertpillpusher.blogspot.com/2012/08/ardees-ramadaan-special-fungus-burger.html
http://desertpillpusher.blogspot.com/2012/08/ramadhaan-junk-food-and-obesity.html

Can you believe the audacity? The more I looked the more I found plagiarized content, it seemed endless. This really PISSED ME OFF. I posted comments on her blog and Facebook "fan page" exposing her plagiarism but she has deleted the comments and afterwards changed the title to "by Layla" like that makes any difference. Get real. No links, no mention of source and most importantly no asking permission, apologies or withdrawing the stolen content.

I also informed a few bloggers of the plagiarism and they and some friends posted on her Facebook page but all those comments were deleted as well. The plagiarized material still remains there though.

Browsing through this fraud site I found more material taken from my posts, for example from Bedouins as patients, Eternal Veil, Saudi Dating scene and Saudi culture and Visiting the sick
which I recommend you read and compare to the below post. I'm not going to post multiple links to her blog and just in case she takes it down here is her version of my article:

"The culture of visiting the sick in Saudi Arabia is very much the same to what I have experienced in South Africa especially amongst the South African muslim community. Muslim families in South Africa are usually very close knit and hence when one family member is admitted in hospital it is not unusual to see the whole family gathering at the hospital including, uncle and aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews and oh yes let us not forget the 45th cousins, neighbours and the extended family as well. Many a times family members will bring food for the patient and sometimes there would be extra food for all the family members visiting the sick. There were times when I noticed families ordering pizzas or machachos chicken that was delivered to the hospital.

Now in Saudi Arabia visiting the sick is a very important part of the culture simply because it stems from the Islamic religion. A patient in a Saudi hospital is rarely left alone. The patient will almost always have a "miraafiq" or a "sitter" staying in the room with them. These sitters are usually family members. They might be a son, a daughter, a mother or father, grand daughter or grand son, aunt or uncle, brother or sister. The most important thing is that the patient is never neglected or left alone. The patient must always be look after by the family.The family may also provide a paid sitter in addition to a family member.

For many western nurses, this usually comes as a huge surprise, a positive one of course!! In many western orientated countries, sadly patients rarely have visitors. They may visit over the weekend only or may come by during a holiday if the patient resides within an old age home. Many a times the old and elderly are forgotten in these old age homes with absolutely no relatives visiting them at all.

In the Kingdom, it would be considered a great shame and a disgrace to place one's parents in an old age home.Old age homes are non existent here.There is no need for them as it is considered an honour to take care of one's parents and have them reside within your own home.

The sitters take care of all the basic needs of the patients. They will help them eat, even feed them if they can not feed themselves. They will assist in taking the patient to the toilet, bathing the patient and very simply carrying out any task that the patient requires in order to make the patient feel as comfortable as possible.I think this just fantastic!!The families here are just so close knit and its amazing to see just how dedicated they are to towards the wellbeing of the patient.For example, I would bet you that no average western man would "babysit" their very ill, possibly demented, bedridden mother.Would a western man change her diapers, feed her, turn her in bed, rub her feet, read her books or recite the Bible to her? The Saudi man on the other hand would never say a bad word or get irritated if the mother is demanding, forgetful or confused.

In the Quraan, there are several verses stressing kindness towards parents. Here is one of them..."be dutiful to your parents,if one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them in terms of honour. (Quran17.23). Do a google search on "kindness to parents" and you will be amazed to find that the top 10 results are all from Islamic websites.

And how about a husbands dedication to his ill wife? They will go through anything to please their wives.This also comes from Islam where the prophet Muhammed (saw) mentioned "the best among you (men) are the ones who are best in treatment towards their wives." The elderly patients will be the most respected and they may have great great grand children visit them.Children are much valued in Saudi culture and I've come across parents with 17 children. Mind you in South Africa there are a few families within our suburb that do have 12 and 15 children and a my friend's dad came from a family of 21 kids...Yes folks.. 21 kids from one mother.

A patient might have many visitors all at once. Sometimes they would fill up the whole room.They will bring tea or Qahwa (arabic coffee), chocolates, flowers, cakes and pastries to offer the patient. Sometimes trolleys of cooked food is wheeled into the patients room and the whole family will partake of the food with the patient. Saudis are the most hospitable nation I've ever met.They will always invite the medical staff to join the family for a cup of qahwa or tea or to taste the food. They are noted for giving generously even if they are poor they always want to give you something. Often the visitiors will come in groups of either men and women and they will visit the patient separately, although if they are closely related they will go in together. Many a times the family members will burn 3oud inside the room as a welcoming gesture to the guests."

I am simply too shocked and disgusted to say anything to this. Actually in a way I also find this really pathetic and sad.

The most outrageous thing I noticed was a recent post by her called "My article in the newspaper" and a link to a South African newspaper which published her article titled: "The magical month in the Kingdom". This article has a part of it DIRECTLY copied from my post two years earlier titled, surprise surprise "The Magic Month In The Kingdom". "Her" article was published in Lenasia times: http://www.lenasia-times.co.za/editions/july2012/travel/1.html.
I have contacted this newspaper and informed them about the plagiarism.

So if you are a Saudi blogger I would suggest you check this pill pusher site out. Maybe she popped some of your work on there too. She says on her site "NO I'm not a terrorist." Well you certainly are a thief, and this is not the way to go about blogging. Respect other bloggers and their material, ask permission, link back, mention the source, don't take someone's hard work and use it as your own and expect to get away with it.

I remember as a kid complaining to my mother once about some girls who would copy everything I did. She said "don't mind them, they are just envious of you and want to be more like you. The more they copy you the more awesome you are in their eyes."

EDIT/UPDATE

Sumayya Mehtar has removed some posts from her site which were directly copy-pasted from Blue Abaya. She however re-posted her plagiarized version of my "Visiting the Sick" article on her site, without asking permission. She only posted a link on the bottom. The audacity is mind-boggling to me.

She did issue a public apology directed to me (but not any other blogger or journalist she stole from) on her FB page, claiming she did not know what she was doing was wrong. That is like saying, I went to the bookstore and took a book home to read without paying, I didn't know this was wrong. Nobody is that clueless or naive. I think she is just trying desperately to save her face. She has now added some links to the posts she stole trying to make it look like she had asked permission.

Her claim that "someone had randomly emailed her the articles" which she then posted and altered (to sound like she wrote them) is equally ludicrous. Why in the world would someone do that, and even if they did (which she has FAILED to provide any proof of) it's still using someone else's material and trying to make it look like your own.

The thing that makes this even more serious is that her site uses Google Adsense, which means she is profiting with the plagiarized content. She even directly informed me about the money coming in from adds, begging me to let her keep the articles so she doesn't loose money (which she claims to donate if someone wants to believe that). 

The Lenosia times have not contacted me back yet regarding the plagiarism. It has come to my attention that the ENTIRE article published on Lenosia times was copied from different bloggers and journalists. The others parts were from these sites:
Susie of Arabia's post: http://susieofarabia.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/ramadan-tv-tash-ma-tash/
Caryle Murphy of The National: http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/ramadan-in-saudi-arabia-is-a-different-experience
Bassma Al Toaimi in Destination Jeddah: http://www.destinationjeddah.com/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1184%3Aramadan-saudi-style-the-month-of-cherished-traditions&catid=99%3Asettling-in&Itemid=485

I suggested to her she contact each and every one of the bloggers and journalists she stole from and apologize. Secondly for her to issue a public apology addressing everyone on the blog and Facebook page explaining what she has done. Then, remove all plagiarized content from the blog (would there be anything left?). Also contact Lenosia times herself and inform about the plagiarism.

She has blocked several people including me from her Facebook page and deletes comments sent to her blog re plagiarism.

And after all this, she still wishes we could be friends and share content and she has asked me to take this post down because it is bringing her shame. That is called KARMA coming right back at you. 


 

Crossing The Line

I've said it before I will say it again. Most Saudis don't know what a queue, also known as a line is.
Other foreign concepts include (but are not limited to):
Standing in a line.
Queuing.
Waiting for your turn.
First come, first served.

Just in case someone might not know what the last phrase means here is what Wikipedia tells us:  "first-come, first-served and first-come, first choice – is a service policy whereby the requests of customers or clients are attended to in the order that they arrived, without other biases or preferences. The policy can be employed when processing sales orders, in determining restaurant seating, on a taxi stand, etc. In Western society, it is the standard policy for the processing of most queues in which people wait for a service or two.

Why doesn't this concept apply to Saudi-Arabia? Why am I constantly being cut in line by a "VIP" who thinks their existence is more important than others? Why are people in such a hurry to be served first? Why are people so indifferent to others in their presence? What causes this rude behavior? Why is it acceptable to act this way?

Just an example from yesterday.
I was shopping at the IKEA food market and had picked a few must-have items (such as Finnish black licorice, rye crackers, gingerbread and frozen crawfish) and had proceeded to the cashier with my basket. There was one woman standing there so I automatically went to stand behind her, to form a line.

So next thing you know another woman comes from the side and shoves her chocolate bars on the counter and the cashier automatically serves her. I was annoyed but thought this is normal here so I didn't bother to say anything. Then another woman comes from the other side of the counter and starts waving her money and candy at the cashier. He sees me, but takes her first.

My annoyance is growing. Next I push my basket in front of the cashier and say, excuse me, I'm next. No use. He takes the chocolate bars from the insisting man next to me. A boy comes from the behind him and pushes a licorice bar almost directly in the cashiers hand. All the while I'm standing there with my basket and telling him I've been waiting for 10 minutes here. He completely ignores me and proceeds to serve the Saudis as if he didn't understand anything I just said.

I have the baby in a stroller behind me and she is getting really fussy and my husband is still busy with something else. By now six people have jumped the queue so now I was determined to get served next. Then what completely topped off my irritation was when a girl and her mother came next to me demanding to be served immediately, of course. The girl was waving a chocolate bar. I told her mother excuse me there's a line here, I was first. She ignored me. Then the girl tried again and I pushed my basket in front of her so that she couldn't even reach the cashier. And guess what the mother does?

She whispers something in the daughter's (age around 7 yrs old) ear and next thing you know the kid shows up next to the cashier with her chocolate bar. I glanced at him with a look that could kill but regardless he took the chocolate bar and the girl and mother started giggling in a juvenile manner. That is parenting at its best for you. What an exemplary woman. I'm sure the girl will grow up to be just as rude, selfish and immature as her.

The cashier then finally took my basket, dumped all the stuff out on the counter and started throwing (no joke) THROWING it around. I asked him what are you doing the cookies are fragile they might break! He looked at me with a blank stare. Then I asked him why didn't you take my things before, I was waiting a long time. He said, because you have so many things.

REALLY? You have got to be freakin kidding me. So the more things I have purchased the longer I have to wait in line for? Everybody with less items is allowed to cut me in line? What if I purchase two items at a time and then make a new purchase every time? If a hundred people come with one item, I will have to wait with my 15 items until you finish them? He obviously had never heard of customer service or first comes first served principle. Just because I chose to buy more doesn't mean I loose my right to be served when it's my turn. Sheesh. Who will teach these people manners?? Who will instill customer service into their brains?

What would you have done in this situation? Had a nervous breakdown, called the manager, grabbed the chocolate bars from the other customers hands and thrown them around or just walked away and not bought anything?

For more pics from the Saudi IKEA experience go here: http://imagesofsaudi.blogspot.com/2012/02/saudi-ikea-experience.html
Saudi VIP's: http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2010/08/excuse-me-excuse-me-excuse-me.html

Stuff That Annoys Me

I've noticed myself pretty annoyed lately. Lots of stuff going on last week. Some things in Saudi just tip off my irritation. I'm going to have to rant to let some steam out. If you're easily offended and don't have a sense of humor, stop reading now PLEASE.

What really gets to me is the DUST. Seems like it's been here since January. The last sandstorm started Thursday and only cleared up yesterday. Weather was perfect, headed out to the desert for a nice outing, were supposed to take friends with us that haven't been out for many years and after five hours of preparations and driving all the way there. BOOM. Sandstorm hits. Great. And it wasn't the type of somehow barely tolerable-kind. Nope. It had to be the brain-blasting, bloodstream-invading, eye-quenching, hair-raising type of a hell of a sandstorm.

After two days I got my usual sandstorm headache aka BRAIN BLUR and was not able to think, breathe, sleep let alone write anything intelligent.
The house should be cleaned every hourly if you like to have it clear of this nasty ass stuff. The dust is so fine and sneaky it seeps through the apartment building's downstairs door, then sneaks in through our front door, makes its way through the living room door to reach the kitchen door and finally arrives at the cupboard door only to creep inside the freakin sealed (or so I thought) boxes. Can you believe the nerve of this stuff??
I HATE DUST.

What else.
No one gives a damn about where they live. Seriously sometimes I think people here just live in pink bubbles floating around, oblivious to the world around them. Who cares if the street outside your house is full of trash? Who cares if there's a river of stinky sewage flowing through your neighborhood from a leaking septic tank and it's causing multiple health and environmental risks to inhabitants? Who cares if there's a pile of crap and rocks outside your window? Who cares if I park my car sideways and take up three reserved spaces? Who cares if the roads are not lit properly causing accidents and who gives a damn if they build a power plant next to your neighborhood?
Answer: NO ONE CARES.

How about service.
You know like customer service?
Why is it impossible to find good customer service here? You would think with all this money and having hundreds of employees in one store that there would be at LEAST one person who knows something. But no. That's just too much to ask for. And how about when you want to return something and they give you just a plastic card instead of money back? And then you go all the way to the other shop it works in only to realize they FORGOT to charge it. That is like someone handing you an empty cardboard box when you thought you were in fact purchasing a coffee machine. And then when you go back to show them their mistake you are not allowed to even return the EMPTY BOX.

So you go back to the original store (which btw is H&M in this case) with your empty card and the guy has to do the whole thing over again. Then another customer service killer expert comes in and suddenly tells you in a very rude manner that the items you've just successfully returned, cannot suddenly be accepted anymore. Because of policy he says. The first customer service hero did not know. So now you end up being forced to take the things back as well as your pathetic few riyals on the ridiculous plastic card which at this point you want to shove up the managers pants. Off you go after spending three hours with this disservice. At home you realize the dimwit manager stole your receipt and the rest of the stuff on it cannot therefore be exchanged. EVER. What would H&M headquarters in Sweden for example say to this "service"?
Answer: They would fire these incompetent rude idiots.

That reminds me.
I was trying to bake some Finnish cinnamon rolls also known as pulla the other day for a visit. We didn't have milk. But only in Saudi does this become a huge logistical issue. Obviously I'm not allowed to drive. Not even going to start on that one. Second, there's no supermarkets nearby I could walk to. Third, people don't walk anywhere, not even a 30 meters distance can be done without a car so there's no sidewalks or safe areas to walk on, IF I had somewhere to walk to. Fourth, I don't have a driver so I need to sit at home like a duck waiting for my husband to bring the milk after work. But he forgot and had to go somewhere else.
SO now what? Pulla needs to be ready in few hours. My husband has genius idea, he orders the milk from the small store and the Indian moped dude brings it over to me. Problem #5. I have no cash. Husband says it's not an issue.
Ok so dude arrives at door. I open and see the milk on the ground in front of me. I confirm with him that they agreed husband will stop by later to pay for the milk. He had a sudden change of mind. No ma'm BIG problem! I say no problem! This goes on for a while. I start feeling desperate and decide to snatch the milk from the ground. As I reach for it he tries to take it from my hands which should be a huge no-no here, to touch a woman like that.

I panic and slam the door closed. OOPS. I just sort of stole milk. Meanwhile the dude goes crazy, bangs on the door, shouts and rings the doorbell for at least half an hour. For SIX riyals. He could be a psychopath killer and I have just set him off. Imagine the headlines: Finnish woman killed In Saudi over milk bottle.
I start baking and realize that just because they don't allow women to drive I just had to go through this crap. How utterly ridiculous.
Why are we not allowed to drive again? Why are women forced to be nearly killed rather than drive to the supermarket, HUH???

How about professionalism then? Unheard of mostly. Ever heard of Handy Manny? In Saudi they are called Handless Headless Mannies. No skills, no training, no English OR Arabic language skills, no respect for others stuff, no common sense whatsoever.

Take a look at these pics:

Ladies and gentleman this is professional Saudi service at its finest. Words cannot describe my irritation when I saw this in our new apartment.
Did you blast it with dynamite? 
Can someone pass me the rifle?
Have you not painted a freakin wall before? You're supposed to remove the nails and smooth out the holes, not paint around them! If you're painting in a room full of furniture at least cover it or better yet take it to the nearby empty room! Don't use furniture to climb and stand on and don't scratch it! Don't you have your own freakin ladder or something? And for the love of God don't place the dirty items on the sofa when you're done! Did you think it was placed there for your convenience! I bet you took a nap on it too! When you're done clean up and air the room!

Ugh. And then last but not least. Saudi postal services. What freakin SERVICES? Took you two months to send a couple of freakin postcards by EXPRESS mail to Finland. WAY TO GO. Yeah, I know why. You're too busy sampling all the chocolates and other candies and reading through the women's magazines on your sugar high. I bet you took those ripped off pages from my health magazine home.

Saudi professional thieves and terminators I would say! Every single time I get a package from Finland you must snatch something or destroy something in it. You think you're clever huh? You think I don't notice when you take out something that has an actual packing list to go with it? You bastards. How dare you open my long awaited special 300g Finnish chocolate bar and munch on it and then PUT IT BACK IN half-eaten?
And btw the last item you STOLE was not real gold you chocolate monster. It's kids play money. You thought I wouldn't know my sister sent me three bags instead of two? WRONG.
I hope you almost choked on the Finnish salty licorice when you thought it's chocolate. Next time at least get rid of the evidence and throw away the empty wrappers.
And look what you missed from my latest package!

See that there? WINE gum. You have just allowed something that says "WINE" into Saudi-Arabia! So much for the censorship! As we would say in Finland: "Break yourself into small pieces".

That is all for now folks. Excuse my language. I'm off to bed.