Freedom...and Things

SOCK WARS IV

I wish I could get another kill in lol, but I think things are so slow out here that I'll only get one in and then get my death socks before the sip's ! Still its a great way to go out.

CULTURE SHOCK
Holiday time is almost here... UK first then onto South Africa ...
Yep its a real culture shock when I go back to the UK... I generally disappear for hours on end just because I can. Hubby just lets me get on with it and doesn't moan about it. I just love being able to go out on my own, wherever I want, wearing what I want, doing what I want, riding my bike !

I can even talk to strange men if I feel like it...that is real weird cos you can't talk to a man out here, its just not the done thing. I forgot about this once at the beginning of my arrival and out shopping one day a saudi guy paid with a 100sr note instead of a 50sr and I said I'd have it if he didn't want it...he looked at me along with the others in the queue as if I was a real 'hussy'. I could almost hear the muttering of 'haram' on all their lips. I havn't forgotten that one in a hurry and don't speak or even look a man in the eyes out here now.

Actually I quite like the feeling of security you get out here where men are concerned. No man is allowed to talk to you or touch you and it really is quite a great sense of security not felt in the UK,(or elsewhere) where men can lear, shout or even grope at you without a lot of interception. If you shout at them people will usually look at you as if you're causing a scene, but here someone would definitely step in. I do think that a lot can be said of the Saudi customs which take into account a womans safety above all else.

I really pushed the limit yesterday tho, my hubby is in Milan at the moment and I took my driver with me and the kids to Pizza Hut (I was really pushing it as women aren't really allowed out with a man who is not either her son, husband, or has written permission from her husband to be with the man she's with !) Oh living life dangerously. To boot, my driver is Indian so even more 'shame on the old hussy' that I am.

Its a fantastic place though and I really love it here but just also love the freedom of being back in the 'so called' free world. But then there's the 'street crime', violence, fights, drunkeness, unfriendly shop assistants, oh I could go on but its having to make the best of whatever you have at the time I suppose.

FAVOURITE WORD OF THE MOMENT
Alhamdulillah! Meaning: "Praise to God"
It just rolls off the tongue and sounds wonderful.