I have final exams and assignments in the next few weeks, but I just can’t resist writing about this ad campaign. The campaign is called Rahma which means mercy in Arabic. The main purpose of this campaign is to raise public awareness of mistreatments of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia. The campaign itself has been going on since the mid of November 2008 on Saudi-owned satellite TV — MBC channel (watched by millions across the Middle East), but I honestlyRead more
I actually don’t really know this country that much. After all, I’ve only lived here for less than 4 months. And I haven’t been able to travel around the Netherlands (yes, I still haven’t been to Amsterdam. Who cares, seriously. LOL). I’ve only seen fake windmills not inside the country, but in Belgium. I haven’t seen any tulips around — either because I was too ignorant and didn’t pay attention to detail or because it’s just not here! But allRead more
Can’t believe that it’s November already! November reminds me of exam weeks that we used to have at UQ. The month of farewells, where all my graduating friends were leaving for good. The month when I used to welcome summer season with not-so-wide arms. The month when I used to be so impatient to start my long 3 months break away from Australia. The month of family reunion. And finally, the Hajj! My dad starts to get crazily busy. NoRead more
Travelling around Belgium was my first trip out of the Netherlands ever since I arrived in this flat country 2 months ago. It felt weird to do this trip because I myself have not even visited Amsterdam! Hahaha. I actually planned to travel around the Netherlands during my one week break, but when my friends asked me to join the trip, I could not resist but to say YES!
Exactly 23 years ago I was brought into this world and I still can’t believe that I can get into the stage I am at! All I can say is Alhamdulillah! I am so grateful! Sometimes I wonder, what did I do to deserve all of these?? I don’t think I have done something significant. I don’t think I have changed somebody else’s life. And I definitely don’t think that I have changed this world. Sometimes I ask myself, whyRead more
It feels weird to live alone. It does. If I have a choice between living alone and living with somebody else, I would have chosen to live with somebody else. But I don’t have any choices, unfortunately. Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful that I got this place. I live in a so-called Spacebox, located on campus and within few minutes reach to the city centre and train station. What more do I want? Some of my friendsRead more
For the past few weeks, I’ve been looking very closely at the news regarding the plan to abolish the infamous Saudi Arabia’s sponsorship (kafalah) system. The system, which has also been implemented in the Gulf countries for years, defines a number of laws for the employers and their employees (in this case migrant workers). It was made in such a way so that the person who recruits the worker takes full responsibility for them, including paying a salary, obtaining aRead more
I left Jeddah for Amsterdam in the morning of 21 Aug, transited at Jordan’s Queen Alia International Airport for 3 hours, and finally arrived at Schiphol Airport at 4 pm. Alhamdulillah, the trip went so smoothly, apart from the fact that I didn’t have enough sleep. I only had 2 hours of sleep before I departed and not to mention that sleeping on the plane was much worst than sleeping on the floor… But other than that, it was ok.Read more
So I went to Riyadh for the first time in almost 20 years living in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh is the capital city, but it does not seem to be an interesting place to go for most Jeddah residents, as Jeddah is a fun place to hang out where you will find many sources of entertainment here… (compared to other cities in the Kingdom) and it’s indeed the Bride of the Red Sea. Even the Saudis living in other cities seeRead more
Wow! This must have been my longest hiatus ever! In the past 4 months, I barely checked my blog, comments, and even my RSS feeds at Google Reader. I don’t know why writing in a blog seems unexciting anymore. Let’s make it clear: I’m too lazy. Too lazy to get my hand open the damn Notepad++ and start typing. Too lazy to get my brain working :P. Too lazy to construct and put together the words into a sentence. EveryRead more
Two months ago, I got a job in an event management company. I was offered an interesting temporary position whereby I had a chance to develop a good connection with important people in Saudi Arabia and abroad. I actually had been dreaming about working in an IT company, so this major step was surprising for me. I was bored and had nothing to do at home. I had been searching for an IT job, but perhaps I was not luckyRead more
I got a tag from Mulia about wearing a headscarf. It’s interesting that she brought this issue up because people have been asking me about it a lot, especially when I was in Australia. And I never thought about writing this issue on my blog. I would like all my friends who wear a headscarf to continue this tag: teh Senaz, mbak Ina, Mika, and for those whose names are not mentioned (sorry if I missed out some ppl).
When I travelled back to Brisbane with my mom at the end of November to attend my graduation ceremony, we flew with Emirates (EK) for the first time. One exciting thing about travelling to Brisbane with EK was that I got a chance to stopover in Dubai! Unlike Singapore Airlines (SQ) who didn’t provide me with an accommodation for my one-night stopover in Singapore, EK did give us a complementary accommodation for a 8 hours transit. Though I had heardRead more
So I left the Land Down Under for Saudi Arabia about a week ago. I did not expect that I was going to leave early. I planned to leave this country on 20 December, but after hundreds attempt calling Emirates Airline for flying on earlier dates, I managed to get empty seats on the 14th. It was really hard to book a flight due to Hajj and Christmas. And my mom has been impatience about it.
Two weeks ago I completed my last exam ever at UQ. What an awesome day, I thought. I visited IT building (GP South building 78) for the last time. This is the place where I spent most of my frustrating days to finish assignments and projects. The only place besides home where I could spend sleepless nights to meet the project deadlines. This building and its computer labs were surrounded by a lot of memories. My favourite lab was 109;Read more
