FLYING A NO-BUSINESS-CLASS

I waited so long to fly back home! My open ticket was with me since mid-September hoping I could get paid and off I go for exit. When the time came that I needed to book a flight, I was told that there's only one seat available on the next direct flight from Dammam to Manila for Saudia Airlines. Saudia Airlines is the offcial airlines for the Ministry of Health. December 10 has only one seat available but on a BUSINESS CLASS! Next flight would be on the 16th and 17th on a waiting status, then the 22nd and 24th onwards. On a very tight budget, adding more than a thousand rials for a flight is a burden, but staying longer is more burdensome so after a minute of thought, I booked the Dec. 10 flight, got all my things packed and within 48 hours, I'm bound to King Fahd International Airport with 3 other nurses from DMC and MCH. 

On arrival, I quequed at the Sky Priority lane with 3 other passengers who came before me. One American family had trouble with their flight that took them almost an hour before they finally checked in their baggages. While waiting, I hurried to a nearby coffee shop for a cup of hot choco and never noticed a drop of it on my tee until I had my selfie picture taken at the airport's business lounge. When it was my turn to show the staff of my business class ticket, I was told that they've changed aircraft and "everything there is the same!" I panicked knowing that my luggages exceeded that of the required 23kg per luggage per flight requirement. I approached the Saudia Airline supervisor and told him my concern. He said there's no problem with my luggages, they're taking them in. It gave me much of a relief but I again argued, I personally paid for the upgrade. He assured me that'll be taken good care of either. The staff issued me a voucher which I can later claim in Manila for refund. That was indeed helpful of them!

Before entering the immigration, I was told that I have too much of a handcarry. A shoulder bag, a battery operated star shaped pillow, a bag of Doritos and Lay's (they're quite expensive in the Philippines) and an official handcarry troley. I contested I'm going for exit and without further question, the guard allowed me to enter. After passing through the immigration officers, I went directly to the First/ Business Class lounge. No, it wasn't because I am a holder of a revoked business class ticket but because of my Riyadbank titanium credit card which allow holders an entry to the First/Business Lounge of Dammam airport. Perk it is!

What I love about staying at the B Lounge is the comfort of waiting for a flight. Free foods and drinks, free wifi, free movie and I get to sit on a sofa with my legs up, things I cannot do on an ordinary flight. A Filipino receptionist named Andres Valdez came to talk to me while I waited to board. Coincidentally, he knew some people I knew in Manila and as a sign of hospitality, gave me a plateful of special dates for pasalubong. A couple of German guys who seated next to my couch were also entertained as we talked for more than half an hour about our funny experiences in Saudi Arabia. 

My stay at the B lounge lasted for 5hours. Flight was delayed for an hour. We were told to vacate the lounge and proceed immediately to Gate21 before midnight of Tuesday, 10/12/13. True to Sir Andres' words, we were brought by an airport bus to the aircraft, smaller than a boeing, in a remote area of the airport, where seats were on a first come first served basis. My seatmate told me it must be a rented aircraft! I was later informed that Saudia airlines indeed rented Asiana Airlines for that flight.

As I sit there, I thought of a warm welcome by cabin crews on a business class, a welcome drink, a Salvatore Ferragamo personal kit, warm towel to freshen up, candies and menu passed along as they waited for our orders for dinner, a 180-degree recliner with a warm blanket and a bouquet of flowers at the center of the area. Nothing of that perk came as I sit at the upper deck of the plane that night. Passengers were squeezed on to seats with very small spaces in between, cabin crews were a bit grumpy attending to annoying passengers, baby on board too noisy because he can't get a good sleep, my feet were tired not knowing how to stretch them out for that 7.5-hour flight, frequent jarrings on my seat by those male passengers at my back, seatmates who seem to be diabetics they can't wait for the next meal to be served as I was awaken by their munchings of that Digestive biscuits they brought along and yes, I finally accepted the fact that I am flying economy class that night and it doesn't matter anymore as long as I arrive safely home! And fast!

At exactly 1:45pm Manila time, Wednesday 11/12/13, the pilot announced we just arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. I immediately roamed off my Philippine sim and called my daughter Kryztl to let them know I landed. While waiting for my luggages, my name was paged by the operator! My handcarry trolley was left inside the plane and 2 security personnel came to me personally to deliver my bag. I told them it wasn't my fault because the Flight Attendant confirmed to me that my handcarry was included in the luggages and that I can claim it at the luggage dispatching area. NAIA personnel checked my passport and gave me my bag. After I passed thru immigration, I visited Saudia Airline office at the 4th floor to have my refund, only to be told that I needed to go to their Makati main office for that. 

It took me an hour before I finally met my family at the arrival area. Nothing really compares to the joy of seeing a family. As we travelled back to the province, we were excited to tell our stories. We laughed and teased each other, dropped off at a resto to get a good meal along the highway and simply savored those moments we were together. As I look at my mom, my kids, my brother, my sister, my cousins, my niece and nephew, I knew that I am home! I knew that what lies ahead shouldn't be my concern at the moment but to make that moment my happiest and my break from all those mishaps I went through the past 4 months. A blog to follow!

500,000 RIALS

Chickki and I are both ICU nurses. She came to Dammam when I was about to leave the place in few months. I thought I'd like her the first time. She is funny, well learned and updated. Her unique name was easy to memorize. I always had flaws memorizing names but hers is instantly engraven in my mind.

For few months that I get to work with her, I knew we would "click" but it's a sad thing that I have to leave ICU on mid-3rd quarter of 2013. But this didn't stop us from seeing each other. Another common friend, Precious would invite us over for trips at the malls and so we were able to get to know each other better. Sometimes, we go together for breakfast at McDonald's near the hospital or would meet up at the admin office to process documents, etc. Yet, what really made us closer were times when she has to spend a day or two in my room on her days off. There were 2 beds in my room and lucky enough that I go solo while the rest have roommates. Therein we talk of politics, showbusinesses, current events, her adventures and misadventures at ICU and my not-so-exciting adventures at home. We would watch movies until 4am and sleep like a log after. 

Chickki was my first partner in baking. Well, at least we baked a dozen of chocolate cupcakes and the next day, few rice cakes and we never had any after that! Yet, we both love to eat- that is, when we have money to buy out foods and indulge on our cravings. Food tripping became our bonding moments, too, although most of the time, we feel so guilty indulging in! Well, there's one more thing that keeps our friendship- we both love to imagine- A LOT!

There was never a day when we go out and not talk of our foolish, ridiculous, even hilarious and never ending imagination- that of finding a fortune of 500,000 rials along the way. We would imagine ourselves buying gadgets we wanted so much, bringing home a trolley of groceries and send them home via air cargo, of going to a jewelry store and buy sets of jewelries for our mothers and to ourselves, of dining at the finest restaurants in the city, of sending home millions of pesos to our bank accounts, and immediately resigning from our post and flying back home on business class to the Philippines. We would end up joking the whole day about our money and before going to sleep, we tell ourselves to never lose hope and stay positive! Upon waking up, we would remind ourselves of our 500,000 rials and where we should spend it that day! 

One afternoon, during a walk from the housing to the hospital gate where we flag for a taxi, we dreamed of robbing a bank, too. You know, ala-Italian Job, the movie! We would laugh at our imaginations of digging a hole from the housing to the 3 banks infront of the hospital and come home with sacks of gold bars and cash! 

Oh well, the bottomline of it all is because we are mothers. We have kids at home who need us. We have this imaginations because we wanted to create a world where we can no longer find ourselves stuck in a place where we have to work and leave our kids behind. Through our imaginations, we are empowered! We make our own world! We become like children with a world without limit! Each day and night, we would joke on counting 20 or 50 rial bills infront of a cashier while paying maybe for a Longines watch, a pair of Ninewest sandals, a McBook air or simply a bagful of groceries. Well, who knows? Maybe one day, we would find ourselves actually counting money! Lots of money! Not just 500,000 rials but millions of it! Maybe.........one day!

QUOTES:

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere." ― Carl Sagan

A TUESDAY 16/4/2013

CALL IT HILARIOUS, STUPID, NONSENSE, RIDICULOUS, but this is what happened on my Tuesday 16th April 2013

11:00pm (Monday night) - received 2 patients for my night shift but was told to take only bed 8 and wait for another staff to come take bed 7. Lucky enough, she came 30minutes after endorsement time.

11:45pm - asked a Filipino nurse (one that I trusted) to extract blood for my CBC to check on my hemoglobin. Previous Hgb was 6.3g/dl. Normal value is 12-14.

12:40 am (Tuesday) - got my CBC result at the laboratory and 2 lab technicians assisted me to take my result and was stunned to see my hemoglobin at a WARNING LEVEL of 5.78!

1250 am - shown the result to the charge nurse and with the supervisor around, immediately provided me with sick leave paper. Endorsed my patient to the nurse at bed 7.

0145am- I was brought to the emergency room ambulatory by Precious Medina and Mary Gallentes.

0200am- The same doctor who checked on me 5 days ago remembered me and was smiling when she said, "you escaped the last time! And today we will put you in restraint!" Again, she advised blood transfusion! But later told to me to wait for a second opinion from the medical resident doctor. While we waited for the MROD, blood extraction was taken for my chemistry, and chest x-ray and urinalysis were done to complete my laboratory investigations. Precious was with me the whole time. I stayed at the ER sitting at the female waiting section til almost 4 am when the MROD came and finally decided to have me go back to ICU and advised to take my iron supplement and improve my diet. She didn't give me sick leave "because it's already Tuesday!", instead was told to go to the Employee's Clinic at 8am "so you can get more than 1 day sick leave!" ER doctors aren't allowed to give employees more than 1 day sick leave.

Vehemently, I refused blood transfusion because I am not comfortable with the thought that the blood to be transfused isn't safe or that I might encounter fatal mistakes usually committed in the ward for simple procedures like blood transfusion.

0415- ER pharmacy gave me only 10 pieces of 190mg of Iron tablets and 10 1mg Folic Acid tab good for 3 days!

0430am- I was back at ICU but didn't continue on with my duty. Had my first Iron tab taken per orem. The iron tab tasted so bad, I was nauseated the whole time. Stayed at the Respiratory Therapists Room til endorsement time.

0700am- Aizza and I had breakfast at McDonald's. Apparently, I don't have much appetite to devour my pancake meal. I had the hash brown and sipped on my orange juice and brought home my 3-piece pancake. Dropped by the nearest pharmacy to purchase iron tabs, ironically, same brand as that from our hospital!

0815am- At the Employee's clinic and was seen by a doctor who questioned the ER doctors decision on me going to the employees clinic for a sick leave. She made a referral back to the ER, talked to the ER doctor in charge over the phone and instructed me to go directly to this doctor for an IV infusion of iron.

0830am- ER doctor saw me and referred me to another ER doctor for assessment. The Pakistani doctor who attended to me said to take another blood sample for her to check on my hemoglobin. Again? I refused another extraction! I told her I completed lab investigations earlier. She asked me bunch of questions that seem to prolong my agony of waiting whether or not they will infuse IV iron NOW instead of a blood transfusion later. Aizza was so pissed off, she tried to convince the doctor that the "patient has the right to refuse" and if there'll be alternative, then we'll go for it! The doctor was undecided, she took her phone and referred me to a medical resident doctor. I was struck by what I heard: "MAYBE IT'S LEUKEMIA!" But I didn't panic knowing that this is just but a severe iron deficiency anemia. She then told me to wait for the MROD.

0900am-Aizza and I sat down at one of the ER beds and while waiting for the MROD, she can't help but to take a nap and me, chatting on my iPad. In between, this Pakistani ER doctor will come see me and have asked: "You want your anemia to be treated, right?" And me answering with a bit of sarcasm, "but of course !", and she would tell me: "If the medical doctor will tell you to go blood transfusion, you will say yes?" And I'd say, "no! I want a sick leave!" Now this is what I call MANIPULATION!

0945am- No MROD came! We decided to go back to the Employees Clinic to get a sick leave for tonight's duty. At the clinic, the doctor refused to give me sick leave, I was again told to go back to ER so that "an Internal Medicine will see you!" The distance between the Employees Clinic and the Emergency Room is more than a hundred meter and walking to and from each department with a hemoglobin of less than 6 made me realize I will die of fainting due to shortness of breath before I could get the necessary treatment.

1015am- Back to ER. A female MROD was at the nurse's station waiting for us. I was, honestly disappointed to see a very young resident doctor, maybe at 26, inexperienced as I thought, to have her assess me. She let us sit down and asked few questions before she said: DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH STAFF AT ICU? What does she mean by that? Then made mention of a blood transfusion! Aizza, having lack of sleep and tried to keep calm butted in and clearly explained of the patient's right to refuse treatment besides the safety of bloods being transfused to patients, and if she would advice for a one time infusion of Iron intravenously as per the Employee's clinic doctor's instruction, then we'll go for it! The doctor was nodding her head, then took my papers, reviewed it a bit, had me auscultated and wrote 1 DAY SICK LEAVE! I contested her decision. But she said, per protocol, ER doctors can't give more than 1 day sick leave for employees! Disgusted, we returned to the employees clinic.

11:15am- The doctor at the Employees clinic didn't say anything but have written 1 day sick leave on my SL paper. Again, with much disappointment and a simple rage, I said, "one day sick leave only doctor? And i am still here at the hospital? I waited for less than 12 hours and I got only one day sick leave?" She took her whitener and erased the one she've written and put on 2 instead. So I get 2 days sick leave, 10 Iron tabs and 10 folic acid with no return appointment, no medical advice except to "improve on my diet" and dizzy spells!

1130am- Aizza and I decided to go home. Her and Precious advice: go to the dispensary to have an IV infusion!

11:45 am- Back to my room purely exhausted, hungry and sleepy. Had a lil chat with Rico before I finally hit the sack, him having contacts with his former colleagues at the Dammam Medical Dispensary and hoping to get me at least 2 vials of Iron IV this day.

0800pm- Two good looking guys personally delivered my adobong liver with 2 vials of Ferrosac complete with paraphernalia on hand, ready for intravenous iron infusion. Well, dinner today was something "real" even if I had it alone as usual!

11:50pm- Donna, my roommate arrived and immediately inserted gauge 22 IV cannula at my left basilic vein and started with 0.9% NaCl 500 ml plus 1 vial Ferrosac.

0315 am Wednesday- above IVF consumed and discontinued. Me feeling better, without the usual dizziness and headache! After 3 days, another vial!

As the saying goes, “To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness - though if stupidity is lacking, the others are useless.”
― Julian Barnes

Thank you, Precious, Mikmik, Aizza, Bing, Rico, Dennis, Donna, Nema and Shine!

SAYUP

While I was on my 18 months of full time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Philippines Cagayan de Oro Mission and served as a Sister with Additional Assignment at the mission office for 10 months, my co-missionaries who worked with me in the mission office, called the Assistants to the Mission President and 2 other office elders often used the word SAYUP, which is a Cebuano word for mistake or wrongly identifying someone or something. When a newly arrived missionary looked different from their picture previously submitted for their mission application to their personal appearance when arriving at the airport, they would joked around and say "Sayup!", when expectations were not met or "sayup lang gihapon" when the same mistake was made for the 2nd or 3rd time around.

I suddenly remembered the word "sayup" when at 4:00 o'clock pm, a couple of days ago, I hurriedly dressed up, put on my red lipstick, fixed my hair and even charged my iPad so I could bring it along with me and use my 4g during prayertime while stores are closed. It's my only day off for the week and I just wanted to get out from the four corners of my room, dine out, and relax.

Sundays and Tuesdays are souq time or free shopping time for nurses living in the hostel. Tuesdays are scheduled for shopping at Dahran mall, the biggest in the region. But yesterday was an exemption. There was an announcement posted at the matron's office which says: "All nurses are invited to a trip at the farm on Tuesday 7/5/1434 (19 March 2013). Trip starts 4:30pm. Please list your name if interested." I wasn't interested so I just shrugged it off and went on my daily sign in and out without bothering to read the many other notices posted on that table. At exactly 4:20pm, I sprayed on my favorite perfume, put my newly ironed abaya on and hanged my red headdress on my neck, iPad tucked in my black Steve Madden handbag and lo! I am so ready for this free trip to the mall. When I reached the female residence entrance, saw 2 buses waiting. For the first time, there's 2 buses going to the mall today, I said to myself. Then came out nurses from the Maternity and Children's Hospital and also from the Dammam Medical Complex, all on a hurry to get a seat. The matron came to me with a paper in her hand. She was telling me something in Arabic. She showed me the paper with almost 70 names listed there. Mine wasn't included so I wrote my name under DMC, which is the hospital I worked for, still wondering why today, there are a lot of nurses interested to go to the mall! It isn't salary day yet! I then climbed up to the newer bus and sat down at the 3rd row, took my iPhone out, posed and took pictures of myself then put on my headset and listened to music downloaded from iTunes. While I sit there, 2 Filipina nurses asked me, "where is this bus going?" I confidently said: Dahran mall. The other nurse who was sitting behind me overheard what I had just said, tapped my shoulder and said, "No, this bus is going to the farm!" FARM? I never heard of any farm? Which farm? Little did I know that the trip to that farm was postponed to 14/5/1434 which was a week after, on the 26th of March which was that Tuesday, my long awaited Tuesday off for this week! I leaned on my seat, looked at those who were seated, found no friend, think for a minute then quickly got up and off from the bus. I immediately went back to the lobby of the matron's office and beheld the notice that was posted there! How frustrating! How that I didn't know! How stupid I am for not reading those notices! Then I remembered the word SAYUP! I was shaking my head and smiling alone as the word suddenly came across my mind! Yes, it was a mistake! I was simply a bonehead at that time of the day! Good enough, when the bus that carries the morning shift arrived, Aizza, my best friend saw me sitting by myself on the couch, still at the height of my emotion, invited me over to her room for a chitchat. At 6pm, with another friend, we decided to spend the night walking through the supermarket and a had fries and sandwiches and donuts for dinner.

Looking back, I just smiled! Because behind the word SAYUP were wonderful memories! And today, I'll add up another unforgettable time of my life as I made that mistake, a seemingly innocent mistake, and kept me remembering that some mistakes are meant to keep us SMILING!

PREDATORS

While a friend and I were doing our grocery at Panda-Dahran Mall (grocery store closed for prayertime), 2 Filipino men, one in black suit in his late 30's and another in plain, white polo shirt in his mid-40's, just popped up at my back and and started initiating conversations with me. They both seem nice and harmless, started out the discussion with their observation on the content of my grocery cart, which was almost full because I started buying goods to box up to send to the Philippines. They seemed "amazed" why I filled in a whole cart with big stuffs like laundry soap, cooking oils, shampoos, etc.

As friendly and accommodating as I always been, I conversed civilly with them. They introduced themselves, whose names never registered in my mind, as contractors from ARAMCO. Very typical of Filipino men who want to "impress" women is the necessary mentioning of the company they work for, to incite interest of HOW MUCH they're getting!

As expected, after few exchanges of our point of views, they started asking my name and my friend's name (she was few feet away from us and never join the conversation), where we came from, from what company we work for, how long we've been in Saudi Arabia, and of course, my number. They said that they're barely new at the Eastern Region, knew very few Filipinos here and would love to have us during their parties. Yes, parties in plural form, and yes, parties in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia! I wasn't interested in their "partying" so I politely informed them that we have curfews to give them a clue that hey, we don't party with strangers!

The other guy said, "Can you introduce me to your friend?" I told him straight that my friend is taken and has a boyfriend. He didn't insist on! Then they asked if we have a ride back home, which we don't! They offered a ride but we declined. It was then that the store opened and we went straight to the cashier to pay. The guy in black suit helped me unload my groceries to the cashier table while the other guy was trying to convince us on a free ride. My girl-friend was firm on saying no so after I'm done paying, we walked towards the luggage area to redeem our other stuffs and proceeded on to Gate 3 to get a taxi. While inside the taxi, my phone rang! It was the man in black suit on the line. I didn't answer. Then he texted: "If you're still in the mall's vicinity and having a hard time taking a ride, we could come pick you up and bring you both home. Or if you're hungry, we could take you out for dinner first!" He didn't get any reply from me. But he seemed a bit insistent. When I woke up from a deep slumber from a tiring Monday shopping and walking through a 76,000-square meter mall twice, another text message was left in my inbox. And another 2 since the last 48hours. Well, since he's not getting any reply at all, I hope he would end up bugging me from this time.

The many untold stories of my experiences meeting with men here in the kingdom have given me knowledge and ideas how "things" work in a country where freedom from mingling with the opposite sex is "highly restricted". Men here use different ways to get a woman's attention- provocative conversations, seemingly kind gestures, acting normal and civil and talking professional when in public but a true bastard with text messages, frequent mentioning of their accomplishments and positions and salaries in the company, constant invitations to lunches and dinners (and yes, partying!), untimely phone calls, showing off a well cleaned Toyota Yaris or Hyundai sonata cars, offering of free services (be it computer or cellphone repair, MP3 downloads, download of iPhone apps, rides back home or to anywhere, etc), talking religion and showing off how "religious" they were, freely offering their money and cellphone loads and many more tactics just to get a real head start! Any vulnerable woman who live in a lonely world of being "imprisoned" from the 4 walls of their apartment and their working place, a woman neglected from the attention of a loving family back home, a woman who never really experienced being showered with extra TLC, a woman who only get to see and mingle with men in the "real world" once a year, and sad to say, a woman who only get meager income in Saudi Arabia tend to become a prey to a waiting hungry predators who mask themselves as angels sent from heaven and may fall from this trap.

Since I arrived in Saudi Arabia, I have met, mingled with, talked to and shunned away many of these predators. It's not everyday that I get to see them 'tho, but they're everywhere-out there, nearby, on a taxi, at the mall, on restaurants, on a workplace and anywhere where MEN EXIST! So to all the women out there, BEWARE! (Or I might just have to say that to myself!)