Here I am surfing in B@hrain and it feels like I am in a different world almost! On the night we arrived I was excited to see two women wearing jeans and T-shirts walking on the pavement. There I was crying out loud, "Look! Those women are walking! And they are wearing jeans!" How jakun was I?!
But really its a different tune altogether over here. Women are not harassed. Women are allowed to drive. They smile. There are sales girls. And non one was honking when I was walking alone! And no one was staring when I ate alone in the foodcourt. And there are changing rooms where I can try my clothes and decide if I want to buy them or not. There is no mad rush to make my selection before the shops are closed for prayers. And music is played in the Malls and restaurants. And no sales man tried to pick me up or ask where I come from or where I worked. The magazines I bought are not tainted by black markers on women's clevage. And the package boxes with women on them are not mutilated.
I know for most of you out there, you find my fascination above weird. And most of you ladies took those liberties for granted. But I have been deprived from these liberties!
The air of freedom is keeping me in a state of sustained elation! Its not drugs or alcohol. Just people smilling, and me feeling what normal life is like. Where I can sit anywhere I like in a restaurant. Wear red lipstick if I feel inclined and walk and talk with my husband's colleagues without fear that we may be ambushed by the religious police.
And we get to go movie marathons! The ticket price is actually somewhat steep. At RM25 a shot, the cinema is actually rather pricey. But we haven't watched a movie in a cinema since we were last in London, so here we are, running movie marathons. Yesterday, we managed to watch three movies; Ray, Final Cut and The Blade 3. Today we managed to squeeze 2 more; Lemony Snickett's A series of Unfortunate events and Meet the Fockers. And tomorrow we will be watching at least one more. Two if time permits.
Even surfing the internet is a different experience. For whatever reason, the local ISP back home disallowed images from photobucket, so I was unable to see KakTeh's bouquet of flowers. But I am able to see it today.
But alas, my time both in the internet cafe and in this lovely island is numbered. Will try to blog more when I get home.
Have a good weekend everyone.
3 comments:
yes, SF, my friend AQ and I have been talking a lot abt the Saudis' superiority complex. There is a sister here who thinks that a hijab is not good enough, we should not even be in the same room with males, i teach for goodness sake, does that make me a slut? used to be very open abt the diversity in Islam but am now very tired of the conservatives (oh how i hate labelling, but what else to do)
sf - a very beautiful picture you have painted here but when and if i ever go, it wont be the cinemas that I go to. But i can understands your reasons. But, I agree with tenah...I teach too, and sometimes i do filming and editing. These jobs require me wo spend time with the opposite sex, not my husband, sometimes till wee hours of the morning...what to do? But all comes back to niat, kan? anyway, nice piece...have always liked your writing.
Thanks! You have fun in Bahrain OK? I know you will! *HUGS*
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