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!)
