Saudi Sexpat Stories: Tales from the Kingdom

That’s me! Roughly translated in Tagalog, it means “ang babaeng taya” - hehehe

Inspired by Meeya who created a separate blog for all her tags and memes, I decided to do it too on a smaller scale - to create a separate category for all the tags and memes I receive - thus, “The It Girl”! (Nice name, if I may say so myself… ).

Anyway, moving on to business, here are two fun tags I received from Nell which will hopefully let you have a greater peek at who I am.  Claire, Meann, Leweiss and Ann - consider yourselves tagged! Again, no worries if you simply can’t - it’s all in the name of fun naman

Here goes… read ‘em and weep! Nell dear, this one’s for you

TAG 1: The rule’s quite simple, just copy the following entire list of questions and change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then tag and pass it along to other blogging friends.

1. What is your occupation?  Full-time “domestic dive” aka SAHMMY (stay-at-home mommy) aka Super Inday

2. What color are your socks right now? Since am just usually homebound, my feet are  “al fresco” most of the time J

3. What are you listening to right now? Lauds 4 by Arnel dC Aquino, SJ

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Chicken Alfredo with Corn on the Cob (Did I just hear my gall bladder yell “ENOUGH!!”?)

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yup, but as with the automatic, I still need tons of practice

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Pink

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Hubby, as always…

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you?  Of course – or else I wouldn’t have spent time doing this tag

9. Favorite drink?  Green tea with honey (very good for digestion, they say)

10. What is your favorite sport to watch? Badminton

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes, have to camouflage my prematurely-greying top L

12. Pets? I am not exactly a pet person – sorry…

13. Favorite food?  Desserts – mostly cakes, pastries and ice cream!

14. Last movie you watched?  “Enchanted” – it was very entertaining J

15. Favorite day of the year?  Any day that hubby and I can have some alone time together to just talk and unwind

16. What do you do to vent anger?  Rant, rave and cry1

7. What was your favorite toy as a child?  The Yamaha Portasound mini-keyboard I got from my parents for my 11^th birthday

18. What is your favorite, fall or spring?  Fall – sweater weather is just perfect! Can’t really stand spring as I am prone to allergies with all the pollen flying around…

19. Hugs or kisses?  Hugs

20. What kind of pie?  Pecan – a la mode!

21. Do you want your friends to email you back?  Yes, like Nell, was raised to reply to correspondence and phone calls

22. Who is most likely to respond?  Don’t have a clue…

23. Who is least likely to respond?  Pass again – it’s rude to finger-point (hahaha!)

24. Living arrangements?  In hubby’s company-paid flat (though we got to choose which and where).  We are having our house in Manila rented out as we continue living our “desert adventures”.

25. When was the last time you cried?  A week ago – had a “Mommy Meltdown” episode

26. What is on the floor of your closet?  We actually have drawers at the bottom of our closets for “intimate apparel”

27. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to?  Claire

28. The friend you have known the shortest amount of time that you are sending this to?  Ann 

29. Favorite smell? Baby Powder

30. What inspires you?  “Senti” music, a good book, a thought-provoking film

31. What are you afraid of? Death or sickness in the family

32. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Cheese Burgers (and make it double, please!)

33. Favorite car? I like the look of a red, shiny BMW sedan – am not too familiar with the exact models…

34. Favorite cat breed? Don’t know much about cats…sorry

35. Number of keys on your key ring? Three

36. How many years at your current job?  Two. Previous to this, I worked in a bank for 12 years (oops, gave away my age again!).

37. Favorite day of the week? Thursday – it’s the start of the weekend here and I don’t have to cook!

38. How many provinces have you lived in?  None back home.  On second thought, they do call where we’re currently staying in as the “Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia”… so I guess my answer should be one. J

39. How many countries have you been to?  Eighteen.

TAG 2: Here are the rules: Remove one (1) question from below, and add in your personal question (mine’s in blue below), make it a total of 20 questions, then tag people in your list.

1. At what age do you wish to marry?  When I was younger, I wanted to marry at 21 or 22 but ended up actually doing it a day after my 25^th birthday.

2. What color do you like most? It’s actually a toss-up between yellow and pink.

3. Have you ever shoplifted?  Never (and I don’t intend to do it ever – lalo na dito – baka putulan pa ako ng kamay – scary!!!).

4. Where is the place that you want to go the most?  There’s admittedly still a lot in my “travel wish list” – Greece, Spain, Morocco and Israel, to name a few…

5. Which part of you that you hate the most?  My tummy downwards – never really shed off all the excess pounds from my 3 pregnancies and numerous foodie binges!

6. When you encounter a sad moment, what would you do?  Crying usually gets the sadness out of my system pretty quickly.

7. What are you afraid to lose the most?  Family

8. If you win $1 million, what would you do?  Travel, diversify our investment portfolio and set aside nest eggs for retirement and for each of our children (kasya kaya for all these?).

9. What did you love the most last year (2007)?  Getting the chance to visit Australia with the whole family and with the kids’ lolo and lolas and spending our 10^th year anniversary in El Nido.

10. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you:  Very forgiving, great with words and pictures, and a joy to interact with J

11. What is your new year’s resolution for your better half? That he commits to an exercise program, healthy eating and weight loss soon.

12. Which type of person do you hate the most?  Those who are lazy and who rely on other people to provide for their basic needs

13. What is your ambition? To be able to raise our children in a more open, Christian and “balanced” environment

14. If you had one wish what would you wish for?  Good health always.

15. How did you celebrate new year? Shuttled between the two sides of our family – eve at hubby’s side and day at my side.

16. Name one of your body part your hubby or boyfriend tells you he adores: Keith says he loves my soft tummy (I honestly don’t know why! Or he’s just saying it so that I won’t think pricey “tummy tuck” thoughts – hahaha!). 

17. It is already 2008, do you have a new year’s resolution?  To try and stick to my exercise and diet regimen and to also grow more spiritually.

18. What do you look forward to in 2008? Our trip to Egypt and hopefully, favorable news on better opportunities for the family.

19. What were your accomplishments last year?  Hmmm…I think I’m getting into the groove of my “DD-ness” quite well J

20. Are you in favor of surgery to enhance your appearance?  I honestly was averse to any form of cosmetic surgery earlier on yet now that the flabs and wrinkles are becoming more evident (even with all the creams and exercise!), I’m beginning to wonder how far a little nip-tuck would go…

It’s the lenten season again.  For those of us who are Catholics, this generally means a return to “meatless Fridays” (or Wednesdays, for Kingdom-bound people like us).

For stay-at-home moms like myself, this also means haplessly searching for new no-meat recipes in my imported from the Philippines cookbooks , over the internet or, as a last resort, relying on a bit of kitchen creativity to come up with food that the family will enjoy apart from the usual lenten staples (i.e., fried fish, ginisang munggo or sinigang na hipon or bangus).

It becomes especially tricky when one of my sons is not particularly fond of seafood.  Hmmm…mukhang masusubok na naman ang powers ni Super Inday!

Given this lenten dilemma, I was delighted to be able to come up with this seafood dish from odds and ends in my little kitchen.  I just pan fried a kilo of prawns (lightly dredged in cornstarch and seasoned with salt) in olive oil, set them aside and then later tossed them into my garlic-onion-carrots-celery saute.  I finished off with a dash of oyster sauce and a sprinkle of a handful of whole cashews.

Whaddyaknow? No-Meat Treat #1 is born! After the taste test, I am pleased to “report” that this dish has been “approved for serving” by my discriminating panel of gourmands (i.e., Keith, Luigi and Rafa) and moving forward, will  thus be included in our family’s “lenten staples”. Mission accomplished.

Super Inday now signing off… 

…was the thought that popped into my head while I was – of all times and places – warming up on my second treadmill session for the week with the soothing music of Lauds 4 playing in the background. 

What gives, you say? Well, it was just that our good friend, JP, happened to send me a forward from Our Daily Bread earlier in the day about “The Wounds of a Friend”.  Coincidentally, I also just got my medical results which pointed to a lone gall stone and a “slightly” fatty liver as being the culprits for the dull pain on the upper right portion of my tummy that has been bothering me lately. 

I kinda put these two together to come up with this “epiphany” of sorts.  I realized that God has been trying to tell me something all along (which I had chosen to ignore for the longest time) that He had no choice but to “whack” me to my senses with these physical maladies.   

Truth be told, I hate illness and dread anything remotely associated with it.  It scares me out of my wits and causes me unbelievable anxiety.  The funny thing is, though, is that the Lord chose what I am scared of the most to heal me and to teach me a lesson. 

Without knowing about my stone and my fatty liver, I wouldn’t have treated my body any kindly.  I would’ve continued with my foodie binges without a care in the world and I would’ve procrastinated even more in finally committing myself to an exercise regimen.   

With the threat of a laparoscopy and more serious liver ailments hanging above my head, I am now more careful with what I eat (low-carb and low-fat are mostly my options – promise!) and am determined more than ever to lose weight and to stick to my exercise programme.   

The article says that “correction is kindness”.  If sickness is correction, then the Lord has definitely shown me great kindness in making me realize the “folly of my ways” and for also still allowing me to change for the better (I was thankfully told that my fatty liver is still “reversible” and that, God willing, I wouldn’t need a laparoscopy lest the stone gets lodged in any of my ducts).

With this, I wish all of you an advanced happy heart’s (and liver and gall bladder too – heeheehee!) day!  Spread the love, y’all!

Want a delicious, kid-friendly meal but don’t have enough time to prepare it? Why don’t you try this…

It’s Roasted Garlic Parmesan Pasta with Chicken and Broccoli!

With a lot of help from Ragu (their bottled sauces are absolutely delish!), I was able to whip this up in less than an hour.  What’s more, the combination of carbs (pasta), protein (chicken) and veggies (tomatoes and broccoli) all in one meal is truly a plus for any hurried mom like me.

When Marga finished her little bowl without any fuss and when the boys practically mopped it off their plates (even asking for more broccoli!), I just knew I hit the bulls’ eye!

(Now, if only Ragu had more variants to this sauce… hahaha!)

Bon appetit!

Sure, they may look like super heroes here…

…but I can assure you that our two boys are just like any ordinary kids their age.  Well, let me rephrase that a bit: our boys are two ordinary kids capable of extraordinary stuff. Pretty cool, huh?

It’s not just the mom in me talking here - I have certificates and letters to back me up! Yabang ko ‘no?

Kindly indulge me some bragging rights here.  I’m sure it’s just not ordinary that I get to receive four awards and citations for Luigi and Rafa in two days’ time (which is why I’m obviously thrilled!) Allow me to enumerate:

For the second straight year since we moved here, our boys have been chosen to participate in the “Model Behavior March” in school (*nope, it’s not a fashion and beauty event, dummies!*). This means that they are among the best-behaved students in class and are thus recognized by the school in line with their discipline program which “aims to develop, improve and maintain good student behavior“.  They will be rewarded with badges and small snacks (nice touch, if you ask me!) to celebrate this citation.

As an aside, Luigi and Rafa have always been recognized for being well-behaved in class - even while they were still in La Salle back home, they were always included as Exemplary Conduct awardees every year…

On to my second proud moment - Luigi’s coming out as first place in the recent Math contest held in school.  (I concede - he got the “math genes” from Keith ). He was awarded with a Certificate of Excellence for this achievement.

Lastly, as an added bonus, Luigi was awarded third place yet again in the book cover design contest held by their school’s library.  He did the cover for “The Busy Spider”.  For his efforts, he was given two activity books which he so excitedly showed me yesterday.

What can I say? I definitely live for moments like these…:) They may be naughty at times but what the heck - it’s still comforting to know that, with the Lord’s help, Keith and I must be doing something right in raising such two “super” boys!

Here’s to more “extraordinary moments” to come!

When I got this tag from Meeya, my first reaction was: “Galit ba siya sa akin at pinahihirapan ako?” It’s a good thing reason took over that initial gut response and made me realize how interesting this tag really is (o, bawi na ako, Meeya ha?).

Which brings us to the question: Which five values do I want to impart to my children for them to become better persons? (*medyo deep ito ha…  *)

After much thought, these are my top five picks (note that I am listing them in no particular order):

1. INTEGRITY:  We always stress to our kids the value of keeping their word.  We tell them how important it is to “walk their talk” and to always mean what they say.  After all, the measure of a man is not how much he has nor how much he knows but how much he remains true to himself and to others. At the end of the day, I think people will appreciate more how one lived his/her life than how much is stashed away in his/her bank account.
2. HARD WORK:  Apart from a good education and the basic needs of food, shelter and clothing, we do not want to raise our children believing that they are entitled to anything else (in the material sense) from us.  We want them to grow up striving for what they want in life, be it for better opportunities, a car, or what-not.  Of course, if we are able to provide more for them later on, I’d like for them to think of these as mere “bonuses” to help them along the way.  Again, I have to go back to what my own parents have taught me - that children will put more value on what they have if they actually had a hand in achieving it.
3. SENSE OF HUMOR: I have to agree with Meeya on this one.  Humor has always played an integral part in our family life.  Being able to see the lighter side of things and situations certainly does make life more pleasant and our crosses easier to bear.  It puts problems in perspective and gives us that assurance that if we can laugh through a difficulty, then it must be trivial and thus will surely pass. 
4. GIVING BACK:  Contrary to the popular culture of self-gratification and getting as much from life as you can, we’d like to teach our children how giving back is more important than to always be on the receiving end.  Apart from doing wonders on a child’s self-esteem, giving back allows our kids to see their blessings as things to be shared rather than to be kept for themselves. By giving back, we’d like them to experience the happiness derived from making others happy as well.  Moreover, later on, we’d like them to see that giving back is actually a reflection of our God’s own generosity towards us and that it is actually an expression of thanksgiving to Him, the source of all blessings.
5. RESPECT: This is another value I share with Meeya.  I have to say that respect for oneself and for others is probably one of the higher forms of love. I want my children to recognize their own importance and to realize that they have something valuable to contribute for their own good and for society.  I’d like them to be able to balance this realization with the acceptance that other people, too, can have meaningful contributions to make this world a much better place.  I want my kids to assert themselves without being abrasive to others - for them to stake their claim on what is rightfully theirs without denying that others may also make that claim sometime someplace.

OMG! After reading through what I just wrote, I realize that I just paraphrased much of Meeya’s thoughts pala! Just goes to show that great minds do think alike - hehehe!

Meeya girl, mission accomplished.  It’s a wrap!

To my mommy pals, Peachy, Carrie, Claire, Mary Anne and Leweiss - kayo naman ang taya!

Since February has traditionally been associated with ”love”, methinks, why not post about something that I love doing? Hmmm… this should be interesting!

Call it “second childhood” but I recently re-discovered my love for gaming with “Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure”.  I kinda’ stumbled upon the game after Luigi and Rafa let me try it out  in their GameBoy Advance thingies (which jolly old St Nick gave them for Christmas ). 

I honestly had serious reservations about the boys getting these presents - thinking how these could be totally addicting.  The GOOD NEWS: the boys aren’t hooked at all since they still manage to do all the other stuff expected of them (school work, chores, other “more educational” games) with nary a hint of any “addiction”.  The BAD NEWS: I think I am! (OMG! Waahh!). I never thought I could be this involved in a game again after “Game & Watch” (uh-oh, think I just gave my age away!) - hahaha!

Anyway, I am sure this is just a passing phase (or addiction denial?) In the meantime, I think I’ll just enjoy “crash-ing” a bit more. After all, gaming also makes for good bonding time with the two boys.  In fact, we  had such a great time together tonight trying our hands to get to the next level of the game.  What thrilled me even more was that they thought it was totally cool for me to manage to get through one level where they had some difficulty in completing - imagine that! (*major brownie gaming points for me*)  

I am also just amazed at how skilled my two boys have become in working their new gadgets - to the point that they are even the ones who guide me through difficult points in the game.  Whaddyaknow? Parents do learn a lot from their kids! 

Addiction or not, please indulge me in my current “passion” as I am definitely having a “Crash”-ing good time!

PS Pardon the dance moves - that’s just how it is when Crash gets carried away…