Two months later...and a month to go?

A reason to celebrate!
Well, I just logged onto my blog last night and discovered a reader comment on my last entry! As a first time blogger, seeing that first comment was pretty exciting! lol In any case, it also reminded me that it's been an entire MONTH since I last wrote, so an update is long overdue (though, admittedly, there is not too much to update you on!)

I love comments! :)

The visa saga continues...
Although I initially applied for my visa on September 19th, because of the paperwork error (my name written in the wrong order) I knew I would either have to add a new, corrected, document to my application, or restart it. I didn't think I'd have to restart the entire thing; however, when DH went to the passport office at his work, the passport guy CANCELLED my original sponsorship paper in order to issue me a new one. No one thought to call or check with me or my visa consultant (who said we should have just left it all is it was...) So I had to wait AGAIN for the new sponsorship paper. It came on October 1st, and I had my visa consultant reapply (she had ordered my original visa application and passport to be returned to her from Ottawa). So, my 30 to 45 days wait are now from October 3rd. 

The long-awaited visa authorization slip! (not mine, but  a sample...)

I just called my consultant yesterday to see if people who applied through her at the start of September had waited closer to 30 or 45 days for their visas (since September 1st was when the long wait time was implemented). Alas, applicants from the start of September began to receive their visas this week...which means I am now counting on having mine a month from now, around November 18th. I was realllyyyy hoping I'd have it in two weeks so that DH and I could spend Eid al Adha together in Jeddah, but I guess we'll have to have a belated celebration together. Maybe I will fly in on our 4 month wedding anniversary, November 22nd. Saturday is our 3 month celebration day, and it will be almost 2 months since he left :(

Happy (early!) Eid al Adha!

Life on the home front...
It seems that I'm being called to write something about life while I wait. My sister's cell phone is ringing / playing music (which I assume means ringing?) and she's apparently forgotten it here while she's at school. Poor thing! She must be going crazy in history class without the ability to bbm and text her bffs haha :p (If you're reading this, it's all jks, sis ;) )

Tutor extraordinaire!

I've been passing the time tutoring my sister in English and History (my majors, which she is studying this semester in grade 10). We just finished World War I, and "life on the home front." That topic struck home for me! I've also picked up two other tutoring jobs with some tutoring companies in town. I'm not getting many hours, and to try to reconcile my situation as being "productive" rather than "laziness" on my part, I decided that these two months of waiting are my belated "summer holidays" that I never had. With finishing my master's degree, wedding planning, starting my medical tests and visa application for Saudi Arabia, I experienced more stress and craziness than I can remember enduring before... So now's my change to take it a bit easier. 


Vacation?
The problem, however, is twofold: (1) I do not, for the LIFE of me, know how to relax!!! Especially after the past academic year and all of its insanity (good insanity for the most part, which pushes me to keep the possibility of a PhD on the back burner!) it is impossible to suddenly STOP! Yet, apparently that's what I'm supposed to do lol (2) The other issue is the oh so necessary MONEY thing... I've spent probably close to $1 000 on things connected to moving to Saudi, visa application, medical tests, document notarization, etc, etc and DH and I decided to rent a new apartment in Jeddah closer to where he works (and I might work). Over there, it's pretty standard to have to pay 6 months of rent upfront at signing time. Our new place is gorgeous and located centrally; however, his university doesn't pay our housing allowance until December. Now both our pockets are completely empty until we're reimbursed. 


Plus, we bought an SUV for safety when I'm there. He'd been driving a Civic for the past two years, but there wasn't an air bag on the passenger's side (of course, since women can't drive in Saudi I won't be driving, so that would be my permanent seat lol). After the flooding this past January (see photos here: http://www.arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article243502.ece; video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAaM7G1wbLI) and DH's near drowning / being stranded in filthy flood water on Jeddah streets because his little car couldn't handle the RIVER or rushing water, we decided to buy something safer. I can just picture me in a flood, trying to swim upstream IN AN ABAYA in streets without sewers... NOT cool! I'm thankful we have a larger vehicle now. Then we won't be stuck like this smaller car (below) in the event of another flood.

Small car in Jeddah flood

Anyways, there's my long-winded explanation for our ongoing expenses in Jeddah. Now that I'm two or three months behind schedule with commencing work, these things that would have been easily affordable are killing us! So...I really can't "enjoy" my downtime knowing that I should be doing something to contribute to our family expenses. 

Oh, Saudi...
DH is so apologetic about me being left behind, but neither of us can do anything and it's obviously not his fault. I just remember our last embrace at Toronto Pearson Airport...and seeing him whiz off in the subway to the next terminal, promising "see you in two weeks!" and how I said "yes!" but was already a bit doubtful that it would be that soon... Anyways, it is what it is, and I know the wait is more than half over. I'm two thirds there: September, October are past. I just need to wait out a couple weeks of November. 

Canadian fall
For now, I'll watch the Canadian summer fade into fall, watch the leaves fall to the ground, sit by the fireplace in the living room, watch evening TV (hmm...maybe I should get into soap operas and daytime tv, too?), tutor here and there, and try to remain gracefully patient before my adventure begins!

The colours of a beautiful Canadian fall...

PS Shout out to all my international readers / viewers!! I love seeing the "feedjit Live Traffic Feed" and seeing where you're all coming from :) I'd love to hear your thoughts, too!

"Time is very slow for those who wait..."

I am definitely enduring a test of patience. My first instinct, as a lover of literature, and an English grad, is to turn to Shakespeare for sympathy. He says that:


"Time is very slow for those who wait
Very fast for those who are scared
Very long for those who lament
Very short for those who celebrate
But for those who love time is eternal"

Indeed, it is true. Time cannot seem to move any more slowly than it is while I am waiting for my visa. But the good news is I'm in love with my husband, and am trying to focus on the "eternal" nature of time and love! Our time together, whenever that finally arrives, will be lasting!


I have a couple of updates on my visa application process--finally! Good and bad at the same time... DH sent me my paperwork this weekend (Saturday) and I was finally able to actually go to Toronto and apply for my visa on Monday!!! YAY!!! My retired father was kind enough to drive me downtown and joined me in my frantic running around back and forth across the city.


So there is the good news. Bad news? Well, as of September 1, 2011 (and DH and I knew this in advance and were trying to expedite everything to beat the deadline...) visa processing times are between 30 to 45 days. This is a change from the former 5 day timeline! In any case, DH and I were hoping the embassy in Ottawa was just saying this, and not really putting the long wait into effect, but alas, my visa consultant said that I indeed should anticipate at least a month's wait for my passport to be returned with the visa. 

When DH sent my sponsorship papers from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all seemed okay, except that my name was listed with my surname first and given name second. I figured this must be an Arabic thing, since the language reads from right to left. The only things in English on the document were my name and my husband's, so I figured I wasn't an authority to complain about the name thing looking off. Anyways, yesterday, my visa consultant, a Jordanian woman who reads Arabic, pointed out the "error" to me...and it turns out I'm right! *sigh* She said I can try to submit the visa application as it is and see what happens, but if something is wrong, the embassy will likely have me reapply from scratch and wait ANOTHER 30 to 45 days. So, poor DH got up at 5am today to have time before work to go to his workplace's passport office and rectify the papers. He waited 2 hours and the official never showed up in his office! I feel terrible, but neither of us wants to risk having to restart everything (not to mention all the expenses of beginning all my paperwork again!)


All this said, my visa application was submitted yesterday and should arrive in Ottawa today. So the countdown is now on, and I'm waiting for word that my visa has been approved. We're going to send the corrected sponsorship document along once I receive it from Saudi Arabia and try to just add it to my current application. *fingers crossed* it will all work out on the first try!

Of course there were other issues. First, the "travel itinerary" I submitted with my visa application (really, a formality; I'm not supposed to actually book a flight yet) was apparently unreasonable. I'd been instructed to submit an itinerary for a date earlier than 45 days in order to kind of hurry the embassy up...but my consultant said the embassy's been sending back applications requesting more realistic travel dates. So I rushed home from downtown Toronto to send my consultant an updated itinerary for November 6th. 45 days. For a visa. For real.  


Secondly, apparently some of my medical tests need explanation (to me--and my doctor--everything seems straightforward, but you can't reason with the embassy's craziness!) So, I rushed from sending in the new itinerary to the doctor's office where I'd been squeezed in. The doctor said he also saw no issue with my medical test results, but obliged me by writing a note to "clarify" the obvious. 


Anyways, that was my adventure yesterday. I've been reading another blog about the adventures of trying to get into KSA. An Australian woman who went to Riyadh as a scientist at a hospital. It took her 8 months from the time she signed her contract in March 2009 to get her papers, sponsorship and visa in order and actually arrive that November. I guess things are moving along "fast" for me in relative comparison. But really, how absurd is that?! Let me use this as a cautionary tale for any readers out there who would consider a move to KSA: count on the process taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r! If you have one, do not quit your job until you have your visa in hand. Otherwise, anticipate being like me, sitting around your parents' house playing oh so lovely the waiting game.

Inshallah...

The waiting game...

I thought I'd be in Jeddah by now. Or at least have my flight booked. But those of you who have been following the whole convoluted process of my attempt to organize my papers to go know that as soon as the Saudis are involved, no matter how prepared and organized I am, it doesn't matter.

Inshallah, inshallah... (God-willing, God-willing...) My sponsorship papers still aren't ready, and my husband's university (my sponsor) doesn't seem to be in a rush to get them in order. So until they get with it, I can't apply for my visa.

The VISA process so far

So far, I've completed everything I need from my end to process the visa:

* Visa application form

* Taken extra passport photos

* Copy of my husband's residency card (called an "Iqama")

* Marriage documents showing my relationship to sponsor (getting these notarized, translated, legalized and stamped by the Saudi embassy in Ottawa was an adventure in itself!)

* Medical report / medical tests (and had these stamped by the Ontario College of Physicians, legalized and stamped by the Saudi embassy)

* Police clearance report (no, everyone, I do not have a criminal record; no scandals lurking here!)

* Copy of passport validity

* Copy of travel itinerary (expected date of departure: September 22...yah right!)

Paperwork ready to go...

All this work...and nothing! I haven't been blogging as much as I'd hoped I would be...but short of complaining about bureaucratic inefficiencies and crying about how much I miss my husband (again), I haven't much to say.

Oh, Oreo

One piece of bad news that worked to my advantage (kind of): my cat, Oreo, has all his paperwork prepared to come with me; however, his international health certificate is valid for only 30 days after it was prepared and stamped by the embassy. That gives me until September 19th...and there's no way I'll be taking off that soon considering all of the above. So...when my parents realized how much MORE money I'd be spending on having his documents redone, they finally caved in and offered to take him in for the year I'm abroad. I'll miss him, but this sure saves a LOT of stress, money and hassle!

(Slightly severe) Academic withdrawal

On another note, I'm in intense withdrawal from academia. I commented on facebook that this is my first time in 22 years not starting school in September. Yikes! This morning, I really began lamenting this, and started going through readings of courses that I'd be in IF I'd decided to accept admission into a PhD program rather than move abroad. *Sigh* Oh, to be in "Early Modern Households and the Professional Stage" right now. Among other pieces for tomorrow's class, I'd be reading

John Dod and Robert Cleaver, A godlie forme of householde gouernment (1612),

Henry Smith, A preparative to marriage,

William Whately, A bride bush,

and all my other lovely favourite early modern pieces in preparation for plays including Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, and Thomas Heywood's A Woman Killed With Kindness. I so want to be back in school!!! Inshallah (see? It's in my own vocabulary now...) I'll soon be teaching English. Inshallah, inshallah...

Off to the airport...but not in the air

Airport Sorrows
Tonight I drove my husband to the airport. My visa is not ready because his employer's passport office has been closed over Ramadan. It reopens on September 4th. All this means is that I had to drive him to the airport...and then come back home again alone. And "home" is now back with my parents *sigh* while I wait a couple weeks (hopefully not much longer than that :s) for my paperwork. Then I'll be off to Jeddah...finally!!! For now, I'm without a cell phone (another sigh!) or a car.

On the road again...but not quite yet
It's weird being married and living with my parents again! Eek! Things seem more than a bit backwards and I'm anxious to get going, move to KSA, and start working. (Teaching was probably my favourite part of my master's degree--I was a teaching assistant for an undergrad English course and had the BEST students!). Anyways, all these things (moving, working...) will happen quickly, inshallah, but that's not the Saudi way. The "Saudi way" is slow, slower, and completely stagnant. Visas--until September 1st of this year--have been processed within 5 business days through the embassy in Ottawa, but my visa adviser said they're now warning that visas can take 30 to 45 days to come through. WHAT?!!!? So, needless to say, I'm getting agitated. My husband says the visa office usually exaggerates; after all, Oreo's paperwork was ready in 3 days...and we were told at least 9. So we'll see! Ironic how my cat is ready to go but I'm not.

Long distance love

So, the airport today was bittersweet. My husband will have things ready for me when I arrive and that will be nice...but for now we're apart. Again. After 2 years of being in a long distance relationship. Being together again will be all the sweeter when I make it to Jeddah though, right?   

**Feedback alert**
I will leave you all with a question with which I need HELP!! Any advice on packing within baggage limits?? I have WAY too many clothes and shoes...but don't want to encounter an excess baggage fee my husband just told me he got pegged with. Eek!!!

Packing predicament!

Traditional Cathedral Wedding in London Ontario - Real Wedding Pictures

Hello, my lovely readers!


Okay, so first of all, my apologies for being away from the blog for what seems like forever... But with the wedding on July 22nd, things were more than a little hectic!!! That said, I now present a special sneak peak into some of our favourite photos from the big day! I've made a "Real Wedding" profile on theknot.com to give other brides inspiration, ideas and to share in the wedding joy! It was a fabulous day (though a tad hot; ask any of our guests!) and we were surrounded by our family and friends.


Click on the link below  for our "Real Wedding" sneak peak!
Traditional Cathedral Wedding, London Ontario


I promise I'll return soon to the blog with updates on my upcoming journey to the Kingdom. Things are shaping up and Inshallah I will be off on September 1st with my husband (& our cat)! For now, I'm off to join him for Iftar dinner (it's Ramadan and he's been fasting all day; I'm not Muslim and haven't been fasting, but I do try to cook for him and join him when he breaks his fast).
Be back soon! xo


PS Two shout outs: First, to Lindsay, my very FIRST official follower!!! And second, to Stacey, who first got me seriously considering going to Saudi Arabia. Can't wait to meet you over there soon!

Delays and other job offers

I ended my last entry by noting the inefficiencies of Saudi bureaucracy--the HR interviewer of a potential employer who didn't let me know he was rescheduling our Skype interview. Well, I ended up receiving an offer to teach English with that particular company (a private English school in Jeddah), but I think I'm going to wait and see if something more lucrative comes up. (Although I did negotiate the salary he was willing to offer and he bumped up his original offer quite substantially!) I have been a bit annoyed with the university that offered me a job: they won't process my application or make an "official" offer until I actually have my physical degree in hand...and that could be some time, even though I'll be finished my master's degree within a month. I'm trying to be positive about it though, and use this as a learning opportunity that will prepare me for the way Saudis run things. I will undoubtedly run more and more into this kind of bureaucratic red tape before arriving!

This morning, I had a phone call from another university in Riyadh (I'm intentionally leaving out potential employer names right now for anonymity). It was 8am (on a Saturday!), and the director apologized for the early call. Ends up he is from the US, which is really a positive. Westerners have a more familiar way of running things, and I would imagine this would tie into the way (and efficiency with which) my application is processed. I'm consciously trying not to say we have a *better* system because everything I read about effectively adjusting to a new culture emphasizes the importance of being *open* to change and differences. That said, I do think working for an American boss would make the transition to KSA smoother. 

Downtown Riyadh, KSA

The job sounds fantastic, the pay is more than excellent; in fact, we would save nearly twice as much as if we both worked at the university in Jeddah! But there's the catch: the job isn't in Jeddah and that is where my fiancé has settled in. . . and where I've been researching things to do, places to see, cultural traditions. I feel like I already know Jeddah. When my fiancé first moved to KSA and mentioned a possible transfer to Riyadh I was terrified of that possibility. At that point, I knew so little about KSA in general that the thought of him moving to the ultraconservative capital was more than I could handle! The more I learn and read about the country, though--and notably, all this reading is NOT from biased Western sources (more on that in another entry!)--the more open I begin feeling, and comfortable I slowly become with difference. That said, I'm not sure if I'm very informed about Riyadh culture in relation to Jeddah...and I have been looking forward to living in proximity to the Red Sea! 

Also, if we move to Riyadh, my fiancé would have to find a different job. He's already comfortable working at the university where he currently is, and I guess we'll have to have a lot of discussion about which place is the best for both of us. 

Eastern Saudi Arabia - close to fun gulf counties!

On a more positive note about Riyadh, it is super close to Kuwait, where my fiancé and I enjoyed some time this past February, and where a dear friend of mine and her husband will be (probably a 5 or 6 hour drive). It's also close to Bahrain, where many Westerners go for weekends where there is more freedom (there, women don't have to wear the abaya [the long black cloak we must wear in public in KSA], and there are movie theatres, and men and women can mix more freely). Also, Riyadh is closer to Dubai, where we'd love to visit!

I'm going to end for now with a bit of a Carrie Bradshaw-like musing (I can just hear her say this in Sex and the City lol): what is ultimately more important--money, or familiarity and comfort?

Jeddah on my mind...

Welcome to "Pink Jeddah Sunset!"
I'm writing this evening to give a bit of background on this blog, my reasons for writing, and some quick facts about where I'm moving with my husband-to-be this fall: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (KSA). I've decided to call the blog "Pink Jeddah Sunset" because I love pink (really, I LOVE it!) and, well, Jeddah is self-explanatory! One of the things I'm very much looking forward to about being there is being able to walk along the corniche by the Red Sea at sunset, so there you go! 

Jeddah Corniche

Why Jeddah?
As I mentioned in my previous post, my fiancé is currently working in Jeddah. Jeddah is a the second largest city in KSA and is located on the Red Sea. It's the most liberal cosmopolitan city in Saudi Arabia because of its ports, which seem to have opened it up more to the West than other more conservative cities. It's been called the "Vegas" of Saudi Arabia, but I am well aware that is a VERY relative thing!!! 

Map of Saudi Arabia * Jeddah

My soon to be husband has been in Jeddah since October 2009, and we've been engaged long distance since last February. He'll be back in Canada for the summer and we're getting married on July 22 before moving to Jeddah together at the beginning of September, Inshallah (Arabic for "God willing," as the Arabs say!) We're super excited to finally be together again (we dated in Toronto, Canada for a year and half before he moved abroad). This subject, our move to KSA, is the real subject of my blog and the reason I thought I would start one! Since I'll be on the other side of the world, I figured "Pink Jeddah Sunset" would be a nice way to share my / our experiences in the Middle East with friends and family back home in Canada. 


A bit of background on us and KSA
I am in the process of sorting out a job at a Jeddah university to teach English (and put my master's degree in English to some use). While my husband-to-be works in the men's branch of the same university, I would be teaching in the ladies' branch. You see, if you're not familiar with Saudi Arabia, this may be a surprise: everything is segregated--from high schools, universities, restaurants, coffee shops, etc, etc! There are religious police, called the "muttawa" who enforce the gender segregation. Jeddah, though, from what I hear and have so far learned, is more laid back. I'm not completely sure what to expect, but I'm not too concerned. As a married woman (wow, that feels so cool to say...since we'll be married when we go) my husband and I will be in the family section of restaurants and other places that enforce the gender division. For now, since he's there alone, when he goes out to a restaurant, he has to go into the single men's section. Apparently the mall security even monitors who can enter malls. The amazingly luxurious, spacious, theme-park shopping centres are one of the few places that single woman can roam free from single men. Married men, as long as they're with their wives, generally have no trouble getting into the malls though. So we should be doing lots of shopping! lol

McDonalds: family section; single men's section

At the moment, other than trying to finish my MA before our wedding, I'm working like crazy to make all the wedding plans perfect. I'm also about to start figuring out how to bring my cat, Oreo aka Ophelius, along to Jeddah. I can't bear to leave him here and not see him, and I'm anticipating a wild adjustment when we move. It would be nice to have Oreo with us for the time we're abroad. So, in addition to all the paperwork for my moving to KSA, Oreo will need what I'm sure will be lots of his own documents and health checks. *fingers crossed* that it will all work out... but in KSA, nothing goes smoothly. I even had an interview where the head of HR took a "day off" and didn't bother to let me know we'd have to reschedule the interview. My fiancé took that story as an opportunity to "welcome" me to Saudi Arabia: this is how things are done! 

Ophelius!