Security Guards Day

I decided to make yesterday Security Guards day.  Yep. Yesterday I decided to bake our security guys a cake and was going to present it to them for afternoon tea.  Why? No reason. Well, actually lots of reasons

Who else sits 24/7 outside our compound checking on all those coming and going?  Who else walks the entire perimeter of this establishment in the wee small hours checking on anything that looks suss. Who else recognizes me as I approach the entrance and has the gate unlocked with a cherry ‘Good evening mam’ letting me know that all is well in my compound world after I’ve been for a bit of a shop. Who else says, ‘Mam, come and wait inside’, when my taxi is late and the sun is beating down.

Yep, our ever vigilant security, I decided, deserved some recognition for the fantastic job they do. I wonder if there is a nationally or globally recognized Security Guards day, like Secretary Day or Fathers Day? There should be.

I know their task is sometimes hampered by those who forget why there is security and whine and complain about the rules that are in place. I am not one of those people. In fact, ’Those Kind’ of people remind me of air travelers who bitch and moan about the plane being held up while engineers check whether or not it is safe to fly. Gees Dodo’s, do you want to get to your destination in one unharmed piece or not?

Stop bitching. Start appreciating.
So I baked Security a cake.

A chocolate cake is not a cake without icing.  This is where things went a little pear shaped in my baking day.

Why is this cocoa looking funny and not mixing properly?

I checked the pack. The cocoa, I discovered, wasn’t cocoa.  It looked like cocoa – packaging and color was exactly the same as back home (clear plastic bag, brown colored contents). But the tiny tag on the top said Sweet Pepper.

Crap! I don’t ever remember buying ground sweet pepper. Obviously I did purchase some because here it is. And equally obviously I’ve used it at some point - the twist tie wound around the top keeping it closed as I took it from the cupboard to make the icing (because, I swear, it looks like cocoa) is evidence of that.

What to do Pounamu?

Never mind, I’ll give this ‘Meant to Be Chocolate But Actually Sweet Pepper' cake to The Husband.  He eats anything with a cuppa when he gets home ravenous from a hard day at the office.  And I'll go buy some cocoa. You can bet before I put it in my trolley I will check the label for sure. I’d also better buy some containers and stickers and sort the stuff in my kitchen cupboard.

Security Guards Day, and associated cake, will have to wait till I'm back.







Ka Kite,
Kiwi

M - Magic Maid

Our unit looks lovely today because M, our Magic Maid, was here yesterday. She comes once a fortnight and spends 3 hours making the place shine.  M is a housekeeper (a.k.a. maid) for one of the villas here on our compound. She has a bit of time on her hands during the day when her employer is out, so she provides her cleaning services to a number of other homes in the complex.

S, her employer, is perfectly happy with this arrangement because having a few other homes to clean keeps M busy, otherwise she’d just be hanging around his place. He certainly doesn’t mind her making a few extra Riyals to send home for the kids and she has never been negligent with her chores at his place, so he sees no reason to curb her little enterprise.

We like her because she does a wonderful job.

My own efforts at getting this place to shine have failed miserably.  I’m obviously using the wrong elbow grease.  As my father says, ‘I have the right idea, but the execution lets me down’. Dust gets onto everything in this desert city (no kidding!), especially if you leave the windows open, which we do because we’re country folk who like fresh air.

I tried living with the windows shut for a few weeks. Never again – it was a very claustrophobic, cloying feeling. Yuk! It made me tired and ill. Seriously! I wasn't just making excuses to lie around - I can do that with the windows open.  Regardless of the hint of dust that may be in it, I prefer the open air.

M came with good references (we know her employer) and she lives on site, so we know where to find her should there be ‘issues’. There never have been.  That's because M is not stupid. She knows she’s on a good wicket – much better than a lot of maids here. She’s not about to do anything that might jeopardize her employment and affect her kids and mum back home.

It’s a win-win situation for everybody.

When she comes to clean our apartment, I go out – literally. I organize to be someplace else for 3 hours.

Lots of other expats I know who employ part-time maids stay home to oversee the cleaning operation - that is, they keep an eye on the maid so she doesn't disappear with the silverware (they've obviously heard a few Bad Maid stories), and to make sure she, or he (there are a number of guys who do house cleaning), does the job properly. (What do you call a male maid?)

Our place is too small for me to be here while M’s cleaning, and besides, for reasons already mentioned, I see no need to stick around and hinder her cleaning magic (and ironing – she does The Husbands’s shirts, he loves it) .

My friend Mrs K has loads of stories about maids. She went through a few when in Singapore.  She’s had a maid that stole things – FIRED.  One maid used to smack her kids – definitely FIRED.  One lied about her age by using her cousins ID (she was only 16) – DILEMMA resulted in sorry we can’t keep you.  She’s had a maid who supposedly had training but obviously hadn't – BACK to the agency you go.  And she’s had a lazy maid – definitely NOT a keeper.

There are maids that try to take advantage of you with emotional stories of a hard life back home, stories that usually end in ‘Can I have an advance on my pay? Mrs K got sucked in felt sorry once and gave the advance.  She never saw the maid again.

Finding a good maid in this country is undoubtedly a trial and error process and when you get one, sing Hallelujah! (Quietly though, in case someone hears).

Of course the reverse applies too.
Maids finding good sponsor families is a hit and miss affair.

I spoke to a couple of live-in maids the other day who have been with their respective families for a few years. They say it’s hard work from dawn to dusk and beyond with few breaks, but their employers are good people who speak to them nicely, who pay on time, every time and always fulfill their contract obligations for holiday time off.

These ladies appreciate they could be some place worse – because just as there are ’Bad Maid’ stories, there are horrible, decidedly worse, ‘Bad Employer of Maids’ stories. Google the internet for treatment of maids in KSA and you’ll find:

Maids are being beaten – the standard attitude here is they obviously deserved it.   

Maids get raped – perpetrators if Saudi go free and the maids probably deserved it.

Maids get locked up – it’s for their own good and what an employer does with his/her property (maid) is no-one’s business.  

Maids can work for months and not get paid – And the problem with that is.....??

In Riyadh, Embassies are the point of contact where maids can take any grievances they may haveabout their conditions of employment (if they're brave enough and can escape) but, being government bodies, the Embassy’s play this delicate balancing act between holding the Saudi 's to account and being expelled from the country for pissing them off over something trivial, like maids.

These political games result in ‘turning a blind eye’ which only contributes to the fact that maid abuse in this country is fairly common.

We went looking at villas outside the compound recently with a view to moving out.  Every home had maid’s quarters up on the roof. I was shocked. I’d heard stories of employers locking their maids at home when they go out. I had visions of chillin’ out in the house – eat some food, read a mag, watch TV.... I hadn’t realized they lock them onto the roof!  These are 3 storey buildings.  Unless you're Rapunzel with the long hair to make a ladder or have a stash of sheets under your mattress to tie together, you're stuck.

The rooms up there are tiny, many were lockable, a couple were windowless and some had no air con.  As far as I’m concerned, anyone who expects a maid to live in those conditions is already guilty of abuse.  And stories of abuse are plenty.  Here's one just recently about a maid from Sri Lanka who had nails hammered into her body by her employers.  How can people treat another human like that?

A couple of things do concern me about this article

• Saudi Arabian authorities could not be reached for immediate verification (that the perpetrators were apprehended)....
• No further details were available (about said apprehension, investigation or possible punishment) and...
• The two suspects have not been named.

It smells of deceit and cover up to me!

Editor's Note Update:

I’ve heard via the grapevine (The Husband and the Gulf News) that Saudi will no longer employ people from Sri Lanka and urge ‘all private recruitment offices in the country to refrain from signing further contracts for the employment of Sri Lankans’. Guess that particular balancing act went pear shaped!

The Husband heard this action was due to an inability of Saudi and Sri Lankan officials to reach agreement on some issue....Gee, I wonder what that could be?  The maimed, and not by magic, maid perhaps?





Ka Kite,
Kiwi

Compound Living in Riyadh

'What's it like living in a compound in Riyadh?' I often get asked.

It's quite weird saying "I live in a compound".  It has this confinement quality to it.....which in a sense is exactly what it is, but anyway.....

Compounds vary in size, quality and obviously cost.  The smallest I've visited has 25 residences and the largest has around 400 residences.  Compounds, the ones that white collar westerners like, have a reputation of being notoriously hard to get into.  Some have waiting lists of 1 year or more.  To jump the queue (which happens a lot) it's who you know, not what you know.

Compounds are deemed to be safer for westerners than living in 'mainstream' accommodation   (Given the 'incident' of 2003, that's a questionable statement).  They all have security of varying levels, so you need clearance to enter.  If you invite guests to visit, their names must be put at the gate.  This does tend to curb the 'I thought I'd just drop by your compound to see you on a whim' activity, but that's a small price for peace of mind.  Forgetting to put someones name at the gate when you've organised for them to visit does cause a few problems -  mostly for the visitor left waiting in the heat.  Not that I've ever made such a blue, I'm just saying.....

Saudi's are not permitted within most expat compounds, a situation that causes a fair amount of debate for some people and I might write a blog on it one day.  Abaya wearing is also not required (and in most cases, as on our compound, not permitted) either.  One family moved out of our compound because the husband insisted that his wife was to wear an abaya when outside the house.  Management insisted he find other accommodation because this is a Western compound, live it or leave.

Compound dwelling allows you to live free from the restrictions of life 'outside'.   I guess the biggest benefits for me are there's no gender segregation so you can interact freely with your neighbors and you can wear normal clothes.  Normal from a western perspective that is - shorts, T-shirts - that kind of stuff.  About the only thing you can't do is enjoy a glass of red at the end of the day :(

Prior to moving here, The Husband brought me to have a look at Riyadh to see what I thought.  We did a tiki tour of other compounds because he was certain (I don't know why) that I wouldn't like where he's been living for the last 18 months.  He had even handed in his notice.  So much for "I'll wait till you've looked around before I do anything". 

My criteria for a place to stay was:

- a pool I can do laps in,

- a gym

- and my absolute can't live without, a coffee shop. 

Not hard criteria to fill as most compounds have all of these.  As a bonus we have a tennis court, a squash court and an out door badminton/volley ball court.  There's also a games room upstairs with a pool table that is rarely used.

What I really like about this compound is its location.  It's right in the middle of the city.  During the day I can just walk out the gate and head to the shops.  And it's only a 15 minute walk to The Husbands work place.  Women from compounds further out have to wait for compound buses or organize drivers or catch taxis in to town because women are not permitted to drive in Saudi.

Our compound is considered small by western standards but it has a really nice set up and is nicely maintained.  There are only about 60 residences here - a combination of 1 and 2 bedroom apartments and 3 bedroom villas (the villas are huge).   Some come partially furnished (if you ask) or you buy your own.  IKEA is big business in Riyadh.

Our apartment is part of the 'bachelor pad' block - only 1 beddies.  Since arriving I've bought a couch - Mr Batchin-It didn't have one (have you tried relaxing watching a DVD on dining chairs?) - and more recently a water cooler and an oven:

Where's your oven?

Don't have one.

Why not?

Flat didn't come with one.  The hotplates and microwave are all I need.
And the microwave's got convection cooking.

Have you used it?

No. 

The Husbands Pantry prior my arrival.  Note the baked beans.  They were on special.

During my reconnaissance mission last August I was informed that the larger compounds tend to have 'clicky' groups that stick together, usually based on nationality, which is fine if you like that sort of thing but if you came for a cultural experience living with 'your own' isn't really the way to get it - my opinion only.  This compound is too small to have that problem (Is that a problem??).  Anyway, there's a nice mix of ethnicity's and age groups living here that I really enjoy and it's a great way to build a network for free holiday accommodation around the world.  Lined up already is an apartment in Paris, a house in the Philippines and a home in Spain.

Sure there are some things we don't have being a smaller place - like free child care (not that I need that), a hair salon (there are plenty just down the road) or a bowling alley, and sure it's not perfect - what place is - but compared to other compounds I reckon it's pretty good.

So, The Husband withdrew his notice - fortunately they hadn't processed it - and we are still living in the same compound in Riyadh.

If you're in the market for a compound in Riyadh then you may want to peruse the list of compounds on this website.