Jeddah: 1 week
Posted by: amellie
1 year, 12 months ago
It’s been quite long since I posted my junk posting :P. I had no desire to write, coz seriously, there were no ’significant’ and interesting stories to tell. I also didn’t have time to sit for so long in front of the computer. I went out every single day; visited some friends, had window shopping, etc. I also helped my dad with his work… typing lots of Hajj’s health reports from paper drafts that had unreadable handwritings 
(so frustrating!) and 300-something lists of medicine that were used during last year’s Hajj. Anyway, I wrote in my previous posting that I was going to leave Jeddah for Brisbane on 30 Nov. But then my visa process had not finished until today. So I had to change my flight date to 1 Dec 3 Dec and cancel my volunteer work on 2 Dec :(.
A few days ago my mom, sister, brother, and I had a photo shoot in a studio located in Ice Land Mall, Jeddah. Tante Maya and her daughter, Sarah joined us too. Mom’s friend, tante Diana told us about it and introduced us to the photographer, Mr. Musa. He’s very nice and friendly… not like a typical “kegatelan” man hahahaha. I love the studio setting, it has so many Bedouin’s traditional furnitures and accessories. FYI, Bedouin is a nomadic indigenous Arab tribe. In the studio, Mr. Musa provided us with a few collection of Bedouin clothes, necklaces, and other accessories. At first, my brother didn’t want to join us for the photo shoot! I had to convince and even force him for so many times! He looked so handsome on that pic hehehe. I have to say that I don’t like my make up… it’s too much :D. My sister put on too much eye shadow… hff it’s just a mistake.. LOL. It’s so sad that our dad could not be with us. He was in Mekkah at that time.
Yes, I finally went to Mekkah again, this time during the day just to take some pictures hahaha. Hmm, I noticed that a “DO NOT TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS” sign in Masjidil Haram was already taken! I didn’t see any sign similar to that anymore. I remember last year, the lady who guarded one of the Grand Mosque’s gates, prevented me from entering the Mosque coz I brought a mobilephone that had a camera in it. But this time, the guard didn’t say anything and allowed me to enter the Mosque. Does it mean we can take pictures inside the Mosque?? But still, I wasn’t brave enough to “test” my hypothesis, so I put my camera inside my jeans pocket (the guard ONLY checked on our bags -not pockets). If you want to take a picture inside the Mosque, make sure you go there during the day (well… to go there during Hajj and Ramadhan for taking pictures is NOT a good idea). Go to the 2nd floor, and watched for these people: muttawa, police, men with looong beard (they COULD also be a muttawa although they don’t wear a uniform), and veiled women who had IDs (they’re the Mosque’s staffs).
After careful consideration and discussing the matters with my parents, I decided not to apply for Australian permanent residency (PR) visa after I graduate. The reason is simple, I still want to keep my Saudi PR visa. Applying for Australian PR means having to give up my Saudi PR, because of the requirement from the Aussie government that I have to stay there for at least 2 years after my PR is accepted. I know that I’ve written bad things about this country, but if I had a choice between living in Australia or Saudi Arabia, I’d most probably choose Saudi Arabia! I want to work in an Islamic or Islamic majority country so that no one would argue about my religion and whether or not I should wear hijab… just like in France, Turkey, and Britain. Although people in Australia have been debating about Islamic hijab, no law has so far passed to prevent us from wearing it. This is just part of my precaution. It’s okay if you want to argue about my nationality aka Third World country origin… but not my religion (coz I never want to argue about somebody else’s religion!). Well, this is just my plan to find a better working place after I graduate from my Master degree. Currently there are many jobs for women available here in Saudi Arabia — and it’s increasing. So I want to take that opportunity… since my family would still live here in the future. I also would look for jobs in other Gulf countries like Abu Dhabi (Dubai), Qatar, and Oman. Oh yeah, for Master degree, I’d probably go to Europe… like Germany or Sweden (MUCH MUCH cheaper than in Australia!). I’ll graduate from my Bachelor degree in December 2007 Insya Allah. Wish me luck :).
If you want to see other pictures, click here.
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wahhhh keren hasil fotonya Mel…
so you decided not to take the australian PR? It means that you’re not going to take your master in Aussie?
Btw, enak banget sih jalan-jalan terus hehehehe
Staying in Saudi Arabia? So, looks like you’re not going to go here very often then..
Anyway, I’m also looking forward to get Master Degree in IT Management. Any suggestion?
hihihihi..fotonya lucu juga
kalo foto baris kedua, paling kiri itu dimana ya?
good luck for your bachelor degree
musim haji, pak sanusi berarti kudu kerja keras lagi ya :D, mudah - mudahan selalu sehat dan sabar.. amiin
akhirnya ga jadi ambil PR Australia? jadi kaum minoritas memang ga enak mel, butuh effort yang lebih dibanding kalo kita tinggal di lingkungan sendiri =), ok good luck for your plans
I’ll graduate from my bachelor degree in… er… um… whenever I finished my final paper
Belutz: no, I won’t.
mbu: nope, I still go back to indo… whether it’s going to be every 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years :D.
Hmm.. IT is a very important field… most employers need IT related skills.. so go for it!
ruanee: Qur’an raksasa itu menunjukkan perbatasan antara tanah suci (Mekkah) dan Jeddah. Itu letaknya di jalan utama Jeddah-Mekkah.
bintangjatuh: Iya, emang kadang bikin ’stress’ juga hahaha.. Well, it’d be a different story if I’m married…
Oskar Syahbana: Well, good luck for that!
if you’re married to whom? hahaha.
indonesia ga termasuk salah satu pilihan tempat amel netap ya? kenapa?
mulai lahir sampe sekarang pernah ngerasain ‘nginjak’ indonesia berapa kali, berapa lama mel?
Ur bedouin pics look lovely Mel! hmm emang klo mo dapetin PR di aussie sama sekali gk boleh keluar dr aussie selama 2 tahun ya? soalnya klo mo dpt PR NZ sih kyknya bisa.. kyk misalkan mo holiday ke mana gt selama sebulan gt..
Fotonya lucu dan keren, kayaknya asyik kalo foto bareng temen2 seperti itu..
ikram: none of your business lol
bebek: Untuk kerja, nggak. Aku pengen cari pengalaman kerja di luar dulu, since aku masih punya opportunity untuk kerja di luar. Aku liat temen2ku yang udah capek2 kuliah di aussie, sampe skrg belom juga dapet kerjaan (di indo). I don’t want that kind of thing happen to me, u know. Aku liat lapangan kerja di timur tengah lebih banyak drpd di indo… Sooner or later, aku yakin aku bakal balik ke indo for good (dgn bekal banyak pengalaman kerja dari luar negeri). Dan pastinya ortu ku emang rencana pensiunannya di indo. I’ll do everything I want in other countries before aku terikat ama org lain. I have so many opportunities. And I don’t want to let those opportunities dissapear :).
Nginjak indonesia udah bbrp kali.. paling lama 3 tahun (2000-2003) pas masa2 SMA. Lain dari itu, aku ke indo cuma liburan, paling lama 2 bulan-an.
Dessy: Hmm, sepertinya ga bisa…
mel..mudah2an lulus tepat waktu ya!..btw, kl jd ambil master di german, maen2 ke belanda yah(tepatnya ke Groningen..hehehe)..wah, tnyata ga sempet tuk ikut haji ya?..duh, padahal mo minta doa supaya persalinan lancar& si baby sehat..hehehe(ada maunya bgt deh)..oia, kl kerja di Qatar,dubai,arab dan sejenisnya musti bisa faseh bhs arab ato int.language mel??..btw, fotonya seru bgt..aku plg suka foto2 baju khas gituh, kl ke suatu negara..kyk di belanda, turis2 pasti ke volendam khusus utk foto baju tradisional blanda ituh..
Well you said “it’d be a different story if I’m married”. I said it depends on who you married, that’s all…
(Now that you said it’s none of my business, I’m getting more curious than before)
Thanks for stopping by.
Eh mel, kan gua lg pgn pindah2in posting dr blog gua yg lama ke blog yg sekarang.. (2-2nya di blogger kok). Is there an easy way to transfer the postings n sekaligus transfer commentsnya juga? cos the only way i can think of doing it is by copying and pasteing.. but then the comments wont be there..
Amel, thanks for visiting my blog some time ago.
Good luck for anything you do there.
Best regards. Nana.
Wah kepingin…
itu mukanya diapain Mel? hihihi… make up tradisional Arab emang gitu ya, ada garis membelah muka di kening dan di dagu? lucu ya…?
hehehe .. aku juga males tinggal di indo. kalo bisa sih kaboorr dari siniii …
oleh2nya jangan lupa ya…
senaz: makasih yah teh.. iya nih gak ikutan haji, karena 2 tahun berturut2 dah ikutan.. skrg waktunya istirahat hehehe. Aku doain supaya bayinya sehat walafiat :). Tentang kerja di negara Arab, itu tergantung sih… Ada yang mengharuskan bhs arab inggris, ada yg cuma inggris doank.. Tapi bisa ber bahasa inggris itu wajib :). Doain aja aku bisa ke jerman nih, biar bisa mampir hehehe. Amiin.
ikram: haha. I thought you asked me to whom I’m going to marry??
Sorry for making you curious hehehe.
Dessy: sorry des, gw ga tau…
Nana: you’re welcome. hidup feminist! hehe
Agusset: hehe yup, itu khasnya arab: makeup menor, aksesoris yang banyak banget, baju rame, etc
Saya malah suka ngeliat bbrp wanita badui masih memakai “tanda” di dagunya itu hehehe..
Meda: meda, sorry… selama disini daku gak bisa akses blog kmu nih… gak ngerti kenapa..
curiosity kills the cat, not me.
it makes me alive, indeed.
eh tp boleh juga deh pertanyaan yg itu dijawab hahaha.
bisa gak cariin kerjaan buat adiku ahli mekanik usia 25 tahun
assalamu’alikum wr wb
hi salam kenal yah, bisa informasiin tentang cara kerja di dubai ga? aku pingin banget nih, tapi ga tau link nya ke mana? btw. aku lulusan sarjana S1 jurusan Hub.international. klo ada info, tlng di informasikan ke e-mail aku yah
makasih.
Salaam
I was looking for info on Jeddah because I am taking my wife and two sons there for umrah soon - Looking at the photos you took, I like your perspective as a muslim girl and I know you’ll be successful in life.
May Allah bless you