"Walking the distance"

My youngest son needed 20 pieces of popsicle sticks for one of his subjects in school. And since it was a couple of days before month end, we had to hold on to every single halala until my husband gets paid his salary. God is really good! He knew beforehand that something like this would happen so he made sure that I have a couple of orders to deliver which meant extra income that would allow us to stretch our budget. Bunso (a term of endearment for my youngest son) called his dad in the office and told him about his assignment. Hence, as soon as hubby arrived from work he asked me to go with him to buy them stuff.

Although we knew we can buy a pack of popsicle sticks in Al Samil bookstore (which is a one stop haven for arts and craft enthusiasts among other things), we put the thought of going there at the back of our mind. First because it was a bit far and we needed (tough not necessarily) a cab to get there which would displace our budget. So, off we went in search for the said sticks around the area. We went to this baqala (mini mart) near our place unfortunately, they didn't have what we were looking for. Hubby even suggested we buy 20 popsicles and just clean the sticks hahaha but I argued that they were too short. So, hubby and I weighed our options and I told him that I can walk it off from Thuqba to Ramaniya just to avoid spending 30 riyals for a back and forth ride. Al Khobar is such a small place and everything is both "walking distance" or a trip via cab. ("walking distance" meant it was "do-able" one way only lol) 

And walk we did, my husband and I joked our way to Ramaniya; was able to cross the streets and byways and arrived at Everything 10 in one piece! But we found no popsicle sticks there either,  we had to walk some more to Al Samil (our last resort) where we were able to find one (as I knew they would). And walked again to buy a couple of grocery items from Al Ramah. By the time we were done purchasing our week-long supply, our feet were really really tired and all we wanted was to reach home, take a warm bath and sleep.

Am actually used to walking long stretches of roads but it does help to have the right walking shoes. I was wearing ordinary sneakers which was a bit hard on my sole after one of the longest "strolls" I've ever managed to accomplish.

I came across this photo on the net and I can just imagine how our feet felt like yesterday after that long and tiring traipse down to the heart of Al Khobar.

The Eight of the Eight

Photo borrowed

"We fought all day about whether the pyramids were majestic or 'magnificent. It was magic. Twenty-eight years. I woke up every day smiling." this was Richard Dreyfuss' dialogue as he played Irv in the movie "My Life in Ruins". I am quoting this because it reminded me of my own marriage. My husband and I would debate most times about a lot of stuff but it has always been done in jest. And everyday since the day I married him, I have always woke up smiling. (<= Click here for a review of my previous Anniversary blog)

Today we celebrate our Wedding anniversary and as we celebrate we recall the first time we became friends, fell in love, and eventually got married. As husband and wife, we celebrate everything, our triumph and failures, our imperfections, our dreams... while we continue to build our family as partners, friends, lovers, and parents. We celebrate this day and look forward to more years of togetherness. 

We had dinner at Applebee's Restaurant (similar to TGIF which my husband says jokingly, is the big brother of Jollibee) by the Corniche in Al Khobar. Had the weather been cooler and the place conducive to strolling, I would have insisted that we walk around Corniche ala HHWW (Holding Hands While Walking). But the weather is so humid that after dinner we just went home with a bag of donuts for our children. 

Unlike back home it's difficult to find a good Anniversary card here that I had to improvise and make one and send my husband an e-card as well for good measure :) We received interactive homemade cards from our children too!

Happy Anniversary to us my dearest husband! You were the only one who taught me about courage, about unconditional love,...while I sold myself short you saw my imperfections as trivial. Thank you! May God in His infinite kindness bless this day and our marriage as He has done this very same day so many years ago and always....

Eid Mubarak!

Hajj is yearly celebrated by Muslims all over the world, it is a pilgrimage to Mecca (most holy place in Islam) and is said to be one of the five pillars of Islam. For us Catholics, we celebrate Holy Week by purifying ourselves and follow certain practices until Easter.  They also do their own share of purification and it is a must that they should be in the state of Ihram before they trudge their way to the Holy City of Mecca. Ihram is the state of sacred purity that a follower must be in before performing the Hajj. 

On the other hand, i think it is also their way of celebrating new year or new life, correct me if am wrong. My husband and I went to the city to buy a couple of stuff at the Kadiwa. This is a small grocery store that most Filipinos frequent in Khobar as there are a lot of items from the Philippines that are sold here. And as we walked the streets I noticed that a lot of firecrackers were lined up and being sold, including stone-like scents. I don't know what these "stone-like scents" are called but will definitely ask my husband about it tomorrow :)

It's already 3:21 in the morning in this part of the world but before I doze off, I would like to greet all our Muslim brothers out there Eid Mubarak! 

Doctor Doctor I am sick...

Due to the change in weather, my children and I woke up coughing and sniffling on Friday morning. I noticed that morning how the air was a bite chilly already. After lunch, out of concern, my husband decided to take us all to the doctor. It is a good thing that we don't have to pay for doctor consults and medicine as everything is provided for free via my husband's company. As I mentioned earlier, SAAD Specialist hospital is one of the biggest here so we are pretty much covered. It felt good knowing that the company my husband works for has this kind of privilege and covers all dependents as well. From the hospital we went straight to the city of Al Khobar to buy our daughter another abaya. She requested for an abaya that has buttons in front so that when she reaches school she would be able to take it off and just wear it again when she goes home. We also had our first taste of Shawarma and later ate dinner at the Al Ramaniyah mall and shared 2 orders of Broasted chicken with khubus. The Shawarma here tastes different my children loved it! And aside from the  chicken meat and veggies, was a handful of french fries! :) it only costs 5 riyals.

The price of Broasted chicken on the other hand, is around 10 to 13 riyals per order, which would include 3 big pieces of chicken, 3 pcs of khubus, fries with garlic sauce and chili sauce. Don't they just love fries??? My husband says that Al Ramaniyah is the mall in Khobar that most Pinoys frequently go to and indeed it is. Everywhere my head turned there was a Pinoy walking around. And you'd notice that our "kababayans" are the only ones sporting happy faces.

We went to Everything for 20, 30, 50 and 100 where they sell stuff for not more that 100 riyals. It was there where we were able to buy a 40 riyal abaya for our daughter. There were so many people that my husband offered to take the children with him outside while I pay for our stuff. When I got to the end of the line, I noticed that everyone was trying to catch the attention of the cashier that they call "Sadiq." I don't know if it's his name or what but when I felt everyone pushing I called him Sadiq too! I wanted to pay and leave immediately as my face was just about an inch away from the wet armpits of a local shouting "Sadiq, my friend! here's my money no more change!" And just about a few seconds from collapsing I started waving  exactly 42 riyals right in front of the cashier's face and shouted "this is exact change! this is exact change!"  As soon as "Sadiq" put my stuff inside the plastic bag, I hurriedly grabbed it and ran outside to get a breath of fresh air before I could faint. :)

My children's first day at their new school

I felt I only slept a couple of hours when I heard my alarm... As soon as as I turned off the alarm I fixed myself and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the family and my children's packed lunch for school. It is just so convenient to have a rice cooker and an electric kettle that slashes off time from the other things that I needed to accomplish. As soon as I was done with my chores I went back to our room to wake the kids up...I happened to look at our clock and realised that it was only 12:30 in the morning! I felt like kicking my own behind hahaha! I guess I was so excited to be busy with my family this particular morning. Back home there was always the nanny to take care of everything. All I needed to do was wake up, supervise and see the kids off.

Needless to say, of course I went back to bed and was muttering to my husband that he should have told me it was only 12:00 when we were in the bathroom. I even told him earlier that I was going to cook breakfast already as it was the children's first day of school. I guess he was so sleepy to answer so when we woke up this time at 5:30am I recounted to him what happened early on and he kept on laughing. I checked the alarm and only noticed that I set it on the wrong cellphone as I had not set the time correctly (it was still set on Manila time) which is 5 hours ahead :)  Oh well! the best thing about what happened was that I had more time to spend primping myself :)

For their first day, my husband and I decided to join them in the bus and bring them to school, we also needed to talk to their teachers and find out what section they would be in. I was concerned about how the driver drove though and the fact that he would leave the riders should they not be at their designated post on time. I made a mental note of going down earlier than usual from tomorrow so as not to keep the driver waiting. We arrived in school quite early as we had to wait for several hours before we learned that our eldest daughter has been included in Grade 6-Loyal while my edest son in Grade 1-Obedient. My husband took care of my daughter's schedule and talked to her class adviser while he assigned me to talk to my son's adviser. When we were about to leave, my son would not let go of my hands. Tearfully, he hugged me and would not let go. I was surprised because he has always been so excited to go back to school. I had to bribe him with 5 riyals just go back inside the classroom. It's a good thing he took the bribe...now it got me thinking was he the one doing the bribing with his tearful act, just so he can get 5 riyals from me? lol  At the end of the day the important thing is he went back inside his classroom.

Below are pictures on the way to my children's new school I was not able to take pictures inside as my phone's memory could no longer handle the bulk. :)