for the past three years that i have been in and out of riyadh, ksa i have nothing but good experiences to tell-from the people, the culture, the weather and other expats living and working here .. but just recently, i indirectly encountered some sort of discrimination (not from a saudi local but from an egyptian-i think-).

my husband and i took the kids to jarir bookstore, the kingdom's number one chain of bookstore (in the Philippines it's counterpart is National Bookstore), to shop for school supplies. we always go to jarir to buy office stuffs and we even bought our laptops there .. so i can say i'm well at ease with the place. as we stepped foot at the second floor, the kids and i headed towards the children's section while my husband split from us yet he still had his eye on us. little did i know that we were being followed by this male sales associate and really gawking at us meticulously (as what my husband observed) .. i didn't notice it 'cause i was too busy with the kids. when my husband approached me he told me what he saw .. i tried to keep my cool since we really need to get some supplies. then again, this SA was there, observing us. my husband wasn't able to control himself and approached the guy. he spoke to him in english but it seems like the SA doesn't know how to converse in english so he called a fellow SA who is a filipino .. my husband told him what happend and the filipino SA tried to explain that maybe the egyptian SA was training the newbie.my husband told him the discriminating gestures of the egyptian SA and later apologised. now why did my husband and i (later on) feel so bad and diminished? because SAs in jarir are there to assist customers but they would never be near them unless asked .. that's the SOP there .. so why in the world would this guy follow us and look at us as if we're going to shoplift? i really felt like crying that night .. sigh .. i just keep telling myself that these things really do happen, not just to us-to some, even worse .. oh well .. when will we ever have equality? = (

pic: me inside jarir bookstore (malaz) way back 2008

we're all in this together...

back in riyadh, ksa..but this time i brought all kids with me unlike before when i only tag along our youngest..imagine me at the airport with three kids in tow..thank heavens i was assisted by an airline personnel right from paying the travel tax up to the time we got to the terminal..at our flight transfer in Hong Kong i was fetched by another airline personnel so that we wouldn't have to go through the usual long lines..the kids and i were led to another immigration booth where only us were inspected then off we went to the terminal to wait for our flight..i always make sure i'm prepared when travelling with the kids so i brought pens and paper for them to while away time while waiting for our flight.. good thing my kids cooperated quite well..we were met by my husband at King Khaled airport =)

our house is always noisy now, hehe..but i'm not complaining..atleast this time no one was left behind...

first pic: wearing the abaya..
second pic: my two older kids running at IKEA parking lot

of thinking too much...

why is it that happiness is superficial? why do i oftentimes see my life as sad when everything is in its right place? why is it easy for me to be so affected? can't i just live my life without thinking of other people? can i just don't mind them?

come to think of it, you cannot please everybody..even the kindest of the kindest will always have people against them or those who are being friendly friends with them but say bad things once they turn their backs.

oh well, life is too short to worry and to defend yourself from a battle which hasn't started yet..

ok, i'll let it slide and not dwell on negativity anymore...besides, it's time for me to think about what hassles might happen in our flight next week..TOINK!!!

IN THE PHOTO: my youngest 4 years ago..i wish i'm like that now..he seems so carefree and happy!!! =)

coffee sunday

thank heavens for girl friends..met with my best friend lui and went coffeeshop-hopping the whole sunday afternoon..i love going out with my husband and 3kids but there are just some things that you enjoy only when you're with your girl friends..non-stop talk about food, clothes, shoes, family life and all things girly =)

overnight stay...

it's not everyday that dear husband brings home something for the family but when he does it's sure to surprise us all. And today, it sure is a not-so-ordinary surprise. He brought home a pigeon!

he said it was in the middle of the road and he's afraid it might get hit by other cars so he took it home..it's still a baby and cannot fly so something must be wrong. He fed it with Porky the hamster's food and gave it water. He wants to keep it but we noticed that it's too sick to eat on it's own and feared that it might have some kind of disease or something so we decided to just let it stay for the night since it's cold outside.

He's really an animal lover..back home he has 2 dogs, both labrador retrievers and a number of cockatiels =) He used to take care of roaming pigeons, too...

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

it's the time of the year again when almst everyone starts thinking of gift ideas for christmas..well, to turn the table a little, i decided to think of whta i want to get this christmas instead of what i would be giving, haha..

here they are:

1. book - the diary of a young girl by anne frank
2. book - the devil wears prada by lauren weisberger
3. book - confessions of a shopaholic by sophie kinsela
4. shoes - schu's black pumps with detachable spats
5. phone - blackberry or nokia e63 =)
6. food - blueberry cheesecake or chocolate mousse (un buo ha, hindi isang slice, hehe)
7. gift certificate to a spa treatment (pwede din cash ibigay, haha)
8. damet pampasko (new clothes) for my 3 kids (top and bottom ha)
9. vintage notebook/laptop bag (brown)
10. trip and treat to an ukay-ukay store, weeehh

(emotera) women: because we care about so many, we have to take care of ourselves!

i truly and honestly believe that women are the stronger sex than men. yes, physically we do have our limitations but other than that, we can totally stand on our own unlike them.

two years ago, i remember waking up in the middle of the night with so much pain. i tapped my husband and told him about what i was feeling. eyes half-closed, he immediately told me "magpray ka" (say a prayer) then he went back to sleep. i cried that night..because i felt like no one cares for me =(. The next morning, I told him about what happend and we just laughed about it. It became a running joke between us eversince - telling each other "magpray ka" everytime one gets sick..

there was this tv commercial with a line saying "Pag nanay ka, bawal magkasakit" (if you're a mom, you have no right to get sick) - and that's true, atleast for me. When I don't feel well, i still manage to do things inside the house, even if we have someone to help us out. Just last week, i had a terrible case of colds..but after taking 2 tablets of bioflu, i got better after 2 days - take note: i didnt really have ample rest during that time. I still wake up early in the morning to prepare breakfast, etc..i even managed to do the laundry.

now, my husband's down with a flu ( for 2 days now). He's in bed right now, sleeping like a baby.. i haven't had enough sleep for 2 nights now because i'm constantly monitoring him. i'm just like that when one of our children or my husband is sick..i stay up all night to check on them. Plus, my husband acts like a child whenever he's sick, haha..so imagine how hurt i was when he just told me to pray when i was sick, lol...he doesn't fail to show his appreciation for my taking care of him though..As tired as i am, i'm not complaining..because it feels good that someone needs me, someone relies on me - kaya bawal magkasakit!!! =)