My bad few days ended with me being asked to provide photos and copies of my qualifications for the company so that they could start the Iqama proceedings (the residency card) but to be honest, as I have said before I am not sure that I want one. The company deducts 3000 riyals (£520) from your salary for this. This is their assurance that you will not just get it and then go and work for someone else or not come back after the holiday in August. The only main benefit for me having one is the health insurance you get with it. As you can gather from my bad week number 2 I have all on thinking I will make it to August let alone return till March 2014. So I have decided I am going to see the boss on Saturday (Saudi Monday) to explain that I would like her to wait till I return in September to proceed but preferably I would like her to just keep extending my visit visa as this can be done 3 times which would cover my whole year here and only cost 400 riyals (£70) This makes much more sense to me. However the Iqama gives the employer a tighter grip on you because they are your sponsor whilst you are in the country, which means you can't work for anyone else while you are under their sponsorship and when your contract ends they can just cut it up so that you are no longer allowed to be a resident unless of course someone else sponsors you. Anyway, I will keep you posted on how the meeting goes.
Friday morning......May Anne texts me at 8am to say she is going to get us coffee and croissants and to meet her by the pool so we can talk over the things that had happened this week. I love this girl, she keeps me on track and makes me see reason when I feel like giving in. Three hours later and I am back on track and ready to finish this one year even if it kills me.
Today we have also been invited out by one of the clients who comes to the gym. We have all bee given a piece of paper with the name and address of the restaurant on where we are to meet her at 2pm. The restaurant is Armenian and the food is very similar to Lebanese.... stuffed eggplant, tabboulah, hummus, kebab, lamb, chicken, pitta bread, bread stuffed with cheese and meat. Fortunately for us she orders conservatively, she said even though she is Saudi she doesn't like to see food go to waste!!!! which is good as we struggle to eat what she has ordered. She told us that the waiter suggested she order two of everything but thank goodness she didn't take his advice.
The kindness of the ladies from the gym has been overwhelming to be honest. They hate the thought that people who come to their country leave with a bad impression of them. They know they are given bad press but they tell us that people think all Muslims are terrorists and bad people and this is not true. Saudi Arabia is a very rich country as I have said before. Rookia tells us that almost half of Saudi Arabia are royals and royalty are paid salaries from the government. She tells us how they keep on re-marrying in order to keep on reproducing and so the royal family just keeps on growing and growing. Rookia herself is not a royal but her family has a good family name and so of course are wealthy due to the hand outs of money from the King over 40 years ago. Apparently he gave heads of tribes money and they were to invest it wisely and this is what helps to keep the rest of the tribe in a lifestyle only some of us could dream of. She tells us about how she had an arranged marriage when she was 16 to her brother in laws brother (they are mostly inter-bred in this country) They have to marry within the tribe or to a certain family name as I have mentioned before. She explains how her husband was 10 years older than her....OMG!!! 16 and 26 just doesn't seem right. She goes on to tell us that there was 15 years between her mother and her father and when they married her mother hadn't even had a period. Women here are big on their menstrual cycle. I know I am side tracking a little but it fits in nicely here. When a girl reaches puberty this is when she starts to wear the abaya (so obviously now friends and family will know that she has started her periods) When women are having a period they have to paint their nails to let everyone know they are not to be touched with a barge pole. To be honest the ladies at the gym can't wait to tell you they are having a period!!!! Its usually in their introduction...."Hi, my name is...I'm on my period", or "Hey, we've not seen you for a while" Answer, "No, I was on my period"......halas!!!
Anyway, back to Rookia. She only stayed married for one year. She decided it wasn't for her so she spoke to her father and he told her to come home and then he told Rookia's husband that he needed to give his daughter a divorce. This country has a high divorce rate. It is much easier for a man to divorce his wife than the other way around. She never remarried. I am guessing that she is in her late 60s. Rookia decided to throw herself into study after her divorce and has qualifications in hairdressing, beauty, secretarial and pretty much anything else she could enrol on. Her father said he was sure she was just trying to collect as many certificates as possible. She then decided to go to London to take a degree in English, after 2 years she moved to America where she studied for a further 2 years and then did her Masters. Her stories are truly wonderful, we are mesmerised by her journey. Working 23 years in a leading Saudi hospital managing Administration. She explains how her team were all women (mainly foreign) as Saudi men will not work for a manager that is a woman!!!! I could write so much about this lady. She is the one who should be writing the blog, I could have listened to her all night.
One final thing she told us was that she lived with her brother and in their home they had 2 maids, one Filipino aged 37 and very quiet and a Sri Lankan girl aged 23 and very cocky. She paid them......wait for it.....1500 riyals (£260) per month to the Filipino and 700 riyals (£121) per month to the Sri Lankan girl. They live in the house and so get accommodation and food but still they work long hours and have to be on call all the time. There are lots of stories about how badly these people are treated....locked in their rooms, only allowed to eat the food that was cooked the day before. If they are that cheap though maybe I could take a few home with me. It is the government of their own countries however that set the wages they are to be paid to ensure they are not paid any less..... a bit like minimum wage I guess.
So unfortunately our afternoon ended. Rookia also invited us to stay in the house they had in Jeddah as she said it was very big and had rooms for all the instructors to be able to stay. We thank her for this but unfortunately for us it won't happen as we don't get enough time off to travel anywhere. We also remind Rookia and each other not to tell anyone about our lunch out. We are not allowed to socialise with the clients or accept gifts from them. If we are found out our salaries are deducted and the gift is taken from us!!!!! most of the clients bring us food and biscuits and chocolates but no one has to know. Anyway let's not let that spoil a truly memorable afternoon.
Friday morning......May Anne texts me at 8am to say she is going to get us coffee and croissants and to meet her by the pool so we can talk over the things that had happened this week. I love this girl, she keeps me on track and makes me see reason when I feel like giving in. Three hours later and I am back on track and ready to finish this one year even if it kills me.
Today we have also been invited out by one of the clients who comes to the gym. We have all bee given a piece of paper with the name and address of the restaurant on where we are to meet her at 2pm. The restaurant is Armenian and the food is very similar to Lebanese.... stuffed eggplant, tabboulah, hummus, kebab, lamb, chicken, pitta bread, bread stuffed with cheese and meat. Fortunately for us she orders conservatively, she said even though she is Saudi she doesn't like to see food go to waste!!!! which is good as we struggle to eat what she has ordered. She told us that the waiter suggested she order two of everything but thank goodness she didn't take his advice.
The kindness of the ladies from the gym has been overwhelming to be honest. They hate the thought that people who come to their country leave with a bad impression of them. They know they are given bad press but they tell us that people think all Muslims are terrorists and bad people and this is not true. Saudi Arabia is a very rich country as I have said before. Rookia tells us that almost half of Saudi Arabia are royals and royalty are paid salaries from the government. She tells us how they keep on re-marrying in order to keep on reproducing and so the royal family just keeps on growing and growing. Rookia herself is not a royal but her family has a good family name and so of course are wealthy due to the hand outs of money from the King over 40 years ago. Apparently he gave heads of tribes money and they were to invest it wisely and this is what helps to keep the rest of the tribe in a lifestyle only some of us could dream of. She tells us about how she had an arranged marriage when she was 16 to her brother in laws brother (they are mostly inter-bred in this country) They have to marry within the tribe or to a certain family name as I have mentioned before. She explains how her husband was 10 years older than her....OMG!!! 16 and 26 just doesn't seem right. She goes on to tell us that there was 15 years between her mother and her father and when they married her mother hadn't even had a period. Women here are big on their menstrual cycle. I know I am side tracking a little but it fits in nicely here. When a girl reaches puberty this is when she starts to wear the abaya (so obviously now friends and family will know that she has started her periods) When women are having a period they have to paint their nails to let everyone know they are not to be touched with a barge pole. To be honest the ladies at the gym can't wait to tell you they are having a period!!!! Its usually in their introduction...."Hi, my name is...I'm on my period", or "Hey, we've not seen you for a while" Answer, "No, I was on my period"......halas!!!
Anyway, back to Rookia. She only stayed married for one year. She decided it wasn't for her so she spoke to her father and he told her to come home and then he told Rookia's husband that he needed to give his daughter a divorce. This country has a high divorce rate. It is much easier for a man to divorce his wife than the other way around. She never remarried. I am guessing that she is in her late 60s. Rookia decided to throw herself into study after her divorce and has qualifications in hairdressing, beauty, secretarial and pretty much anything else she could enrol on. Her father said he was sure she was just trying to collect as many certificates as possible. She then decided to go to London to take a degree in English, after 2 years she moved to America where she studied for a further 2 years and then did her Masters. Her stories are truly wonderful, we are mesmerised by her journey. Working 23 years in a leading Saudi hospital managing Administration. She explains how her team were all women (mainly foreign) as Saudi men will not work for a manager that is a woman!!!! I could write so much about this lady. She is the one who should be writing the blog, I could have listened to her all night.
One final thing she told us was that she lived with her brother and in their home they had 2 maids, one Filipino aged 37 and very quiet and a Sri Lankan girl aged 23 and very cocky. She paid them......wait for it.....1500 riyals (£260) per month to the Filipino and 700 riyals (£121) per month to the Sri Lankan girl. They live in the house and so get accommodation and food but still they work long hours and have to be on call all the time. There are lots of stories about how badly these people are treated....locked in their rooms, only allowed to eat the food that was cooked the day before. If they are that cheap though maybe I could take a few home with me. It is the government of their own countries however that set the wages they are to be paid to ensure they are not paid any less..... a bit like minimum wage I guess.
So unfortunately our afternoon ended. Rookia also invited us to stay in the house they had in Jeddah as she said it was very big and had rooms for all the instructors to be able to stay. We thank her for this but unfortunately for us it won't happen as we don't get enough time off to travel anywhere. We also remind Rookia and each other not to tell anyone about our lunch out. We are not allowed to socialise with the clients or accept gifts from them. If we are found out our salaries are deducted and the gift is taken from us!!!!! most of the clients bring us food and biscuits and chocolates but no one has to know. Anyway let's not let that spoil a truly memorable afternoon.
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