Jeddah: The First 3 Days

Alhamdulillah, I arrived safely in Jeddah. The trip from Brisbane to Jeddah took almost 1 day which includes 6-hour and 2-hour transits in Singapore and Abu Dhabi respectively. Fortunately I met some of my friends who took the same flight as me from Brisbane to Singapore. They are Jo-Ann, Vane, and Nadia. I spent the first 2 hour of transit with them, slept for 1 hour on the couch in front of the big screen , had breakfast, and accessed internet. It was very tiring. I was so tired of sitting soooo long!

When I arrived at the King Abdul Aziz International Airport, there were 3 people who approached me to make sure I wasn’t a stranded TKW who should be at the domestic airport. I told the last person that somebody already checked my passport and he shouldn’t waste his time checking my passport again. Before reaching the immigration booth, I saw my dad waiting at the baggage claim area. If his friend who works at the airport was not busy, he usually would wait for me before the immigration booth so that I could avoid the long queue . When I reached the immigration booth, the officer asked me where I work. I told him that I’m a student. He seemed didn’t believe what I just said, so he asked me the same freakin question again. Then he asked me where I study and whether or not my dad works here. Fortunately, no more questions were asked.

Anyway, we got a new driver! Ever since we live here in Saudi Arabia, we never had a driver. We were so dependent on our dad. Back then, if he was too busy to pick me up at school, my mom would sometimes asked my friends’ dads to pick me up. But he is now much busier compared to the previous years. I’ve only stayed here for 3 days, but he’s gone to Mekkah twice since my arrival to prepare for Hajj! The bad thing about having a driver is that we frequently go on our separate ways and hardly go out together as a family. Hopefully everything would change to normal again after Hajj.

I went to Mekkah yesterday to perform Umrah. My mom and bro only performed Tawaf with me and I did the Sa’i alone. I had the opportunity to perform Maghrib prayer and hear Sudais again . Before I left the Grand Mosque, I took some pictures of Ka’bah from the first and second floor. Honestly it was the first time I did this!! Previously, I had no gut to do it; but the picture of my cousin posing inside the Grand Mosque encouraged me to take the pictures of Ka’bah. I was damn scared. I looked around in case the police, Muttawa, or men with beard (no offence!) were standing nearby. I didn’t want people shouted at me and reported my action to the police, so I tried to hide it from “conservative” people… just for this time! I couldn’t get the best shot coz I wasn’t brave enough to turn on my camera light. The pictures turned out to be blur. I hope that I could go back again during the day to take a better shot!

I haven’t had time to go to the malls coz my sister is busy with her school. So I have to wait til weekend. My family will also attend the barbeque gathering with the Jeddah’s Sulawesi community on Thursday (or is it on Friday?? I forgot). I hope I could meet some of my elementary and junior high friends as well as my teachers. I’ll post the pictures here later on.