Picture courtesy of BBC
There I was walking down a street. And I realized that I was not wearing and abaya. Oh no, I thought. I hope I won’t bump into any mutt@w@s before I arrived at my destination I thought. And then I saw a woman walking towards me, and she too was not wearing an abaya. And I got really excited! Hooray! Women are not wearing abayas or covering their faces on the street! I was getting very, very excited. And the men were not staring either!
And I woke up. I realized how silly I was in my dream not to consider that perhaps I wasn’t in this country in my dream. I was in the normal world! Where women could wear any coloured clothes that they wanted on the streets. And the men didn’t stare at them!
Have I been here for too long that I forgot about normal life outside the context of this country? Its only been a year. Almost.
Picture courtesy of BBC
NB The pictures above were taken from a BBC website. Sorry guys I wouldn't dare take pictures out in public here. There have been cases where men and women were beaten up simply because they used their camera phones to take pictures. Doesn't matter if the women were covered or uncovered. I just don't want to risk it.
10 comments:
I don't think I dare to risk it. Actually you sound oppressed. I hope not. I hope you find other pleasure there. I don't know what. I just hope.
Lollies, a PC answer would be ... well the society here just have different cultures and values, and as someone who comes here because of the attractive income offered, I respect their culture and their values.
Pleasures... well there are some... I think this topic is a potential blog entry :)
SF, forbidden pleasures?
I really am looking forward to that post. :-)Just in case I get to go there too. You'd never know..
aiyooo the previous comment was me - Lollies
sunflora,
how much longer will you be there?
Sampai termimpi-mimpi!! :P
sunflora, seriouslah kalau tangkap gambar pun tak boleh! Hmmm walk along Edgeware Road now...and they gaga at you tak kira tua muda..(hmmm another topic to blog abt!) hehe...wish me luck ..its today!!!! and after this hope life (blog life) returns to normal.
do you think you lead a normal life out there (outside of your comfort zone aka home)?
somehow i remembered this pantun..
hujan emas di negeri orang..
hujan batu di negeri sendiri..
lebih baik di negeri sendiri..(or something like that)
Atenah, hahahaha forbidden in what sense tu? ;)
Lollie, Insyallah, working on it.
Anasalwa, not sure, depends on how much we can take it and/or if new job offers materialize. We're mercenaries in that aspect.
NurElsa, haha tu la then bangun leh ingat lagi tu mimpinya.
KakTeh, Ahhh tuu laaa kat sini pun sama orang tua pun kalau boleh dia molest sama.
Good luck for yoru exams!!
Atiza, within the compound, it is somewhat normal. Outside the gates of the conmpound, there are lots of cultural difference, in terms of how things are done here. For example driving, they drive on the left side (like US). To turn left however, it is not uncommon to see a car from the rightmost lane do a U turn on the left side. Just to give you an idea ;)
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