Given the cooler weather and that Mira is now a bit older and easier to bring along, we're finally going out of the house and exploring Riyadh more. The challenge is to find interesting places where we can also bring the kids, aside from malls. So far, here are a few we have visited:
Wadi Hanifah The Wadi Hanifa (Hanifa Valley) in the Nejd Region, runs for a length of 120 kilometers, cutting through the city of Riyadh from northwest and southeast. From what I gathered, it used to be a wasteland until the Ar Riyadh Development Authority turned it into a nature reserve. We visited on a weekend and really didn't know where to start our sightseeing or what to do. There were many families plopped down on the ground having a picnic, but since we have not yet grown accustomed to this culture, we just walked around. We saw a park with some inflatable balloons, but there were A LOT of families there, we were not really in the mood to join the crowd. Maybe we can visit next time when there are less people and we can also try crossing the bridge (of the dam?). Red Sand Dunes, Thumama I really enjoyed this one! After the New Year's, we joined some colleagues from the Embassy for a morning trip to the Red Sand Dunes. We decided not to bring Mira anymore since we didn't know if there was anywhere we could leave her with Ate Vangie. We left our meeting place at around 630AM. The sand dunes were only about thirty minutes away from our town of Irqah, but it was still necessary to arrive there early to take advantage of the cool morning air. The trip was a great breather from the city. During the drive, I enjoyed the scenic desert views and rock formations. Again, I was reminded that we were in the Middle East. Upon arriving in the area, I was a bit disappointed there was litter everywhere. Pretty sad that it is not well-maintained. However, once you drive farther out and up, the sand dunes become cleaner and you are left with these magnificent desert views. Pretty surreal. We rented two bikes for 30SAR per hour each, with Elise riding with Von. The drive was fun alright, but I was still very cautious as I didn't wanna end up tumbling down the sand dunes. And yes, in case you haven't noticed, too: no abaya! Yey!
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Oftentimes, I see comments describing Riyadh as a boring city. Yes, I do miss the cinemas and the nightlife... occasionally. But I find that the city has also a lot to offer culture-wise. We have yet to visit the other big parks scattered around the city, the famous Edge of the World, the Saudi National Museum, the modern skyscrapers with amazing views such as the Kingdom Tower, the heritage villages, the horse and camel races... the list goes on. Given that the country remains closed to tourists, I remain grateful we were given the chance to live here, and experience the very unique Saudi culture. * * * Read: My other articles about our diplomatic life here in Riyadh: Pinoy Fiesta in the Kingdom House-Hunting in Riyadh: Fantasies and Realities Welcome to the Kingdom The Start of our Diplomatic Journey Also, do check out pictures from around Riyadh in our Saudi Arabia Gallery. Thanks!
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One cool thing about being parents is having an excuse to throw parties all the time - parties celebrating our children's milestones. I know for a fact that Von and I have thrown more parties in the last four years than during the first thirty years of our lives combined. As for me, I live for the planning. I love choosing a menu, I love picking out a theme, I love doing DIYs. If money were not an issue, I would probably throw Elise a party just because. (Now the stress on the other hand… that's something else.) For Elise's fourth birthday, we weren't initially planning to hold a party for her since she just had a Jollibee party last year. A month before her birthday, we decided to hold one anyway seeing that this was our first year in Riyadh, our first time to gather our friends here. We chose to have a party at home for three reasons: 1) because we thought we had a big enough place (and while we have not that many furniture yet); 2) also as a housewarming party; and 3) frankly, I have no idea what venue to book if we were to hold it outside. Now considering we chose to have the party at home, I didn't think I would get stressed. But I did. In Pinas, I had a set list of trustworthy suppliers I could have easily booked. Booking a caterer, photographer, photo booth supplier, easy. I have a super talented sorority sister who makes amazing custom cakes. I knew where to go to have invites printed, where to buy loot bags and small toys for giveaways, where to look for little pails for the table centerpiece. Here, nada. I had to start from scratch. I had to research A LOT, ask some mommy friends from the Embassy for recommended suppliers, message suppliers who never bothered replying back. It stressed me a bit. Our theme, Super Mario, was also not very popular here and so we had a hard time shopping for decorations - I had to ask my sister living in the US to buy Elise's Princess Peach costume and send it here via postal service. She was super kind enough to also buy wall decals and hangings which I used for the decors. And to think we didn't even throw a full-scale birthday party. (Note: start planning Mira's first birthday party this early!!!) (Sorry, if you haven't noticed by now, I become a momzilla whenever I plan my kids' parties. Hehe.) In the end, everything worked out well. We had the best time entertaining our friends from the Embassy and also the few friends we've made outside. The best part was seeing Elise so happy. When we moved here, it really broke my heart to see her say goodbye to the friends she had made at Gymboree, and to her cousins from Bulacan and Cavite. Seeing her here having a good time with her new friends, really uplifted my spirits. I will try in a few days to come up with a review of our suppliers: Riyadh Marriott Hotel for our caterer, and Bueno Cakes for the custom cake. For now, let me just say that they were simply superb and we couldn't be any happier.
I will also try to post some of my Super Mario DIYs for some ideas when throwing your own Super Mario-themed birthday party. 'Til the next party! Photos by our talented photographer Norman Cunanan of Nhorms 143. Having breastfed my eldest for two years, I was also determined to breastfeed Mira for as long as I can. Of course, since we now reside in Saudi, the expectations are quite different. For one, I'm not aware if Saudi has laws similar to the Philippines' Milk Code and various DOH regulations, which provide for the essentials in newborn care, two of which are skin-to-skin contact and non-separation of mother and baby to initiate breastfeeding. The Milk Code also prohibits the introduction of formula to newborns while still inside the hospital. Thus, mothers are forced if not encouraged to breastfeed their newborns. In the Philippines, the "Unang Yakap" protocol is observed to allow the baby to latch to the mother as soon as the baby is born, as what happened when I gave birth to Elise (although she didn't learn to latch right away). Here, the minute I gave birth to Mira, I told the nurse I would like to breastfeed her, but she told me, "No", followed by some explanation which I didn't quite get. I didn't want to argue anymore due to the language barrier and I was also exhausted. After a minute or so, they gave me Mira already cleaned and swaddled in a blanket so we didn't get to experience that first skin-to-skin contact, which saddened me a bit. After that, she was whisked away to the nursery, and I never got to see her again until 12 hours later. Which led me to believe she was given formula while she was at the nursery. Four years ago, I might have stressed to the max over this thought, but this time, I just let it go. While I believe in the benefits of breastfeeding and still plan to breastfeed her exclusively for the first 6 months, I've also opened up to the "Fed is Best" advocacy. Honestly, I also had no strength left to question the hospital policies of a different country. I just waited for the pedia nurse to bring Mira to the room and began breastfeeding her until we left the hospital. We've been exclusively breastfeeding since. At the hospital, I also got a lot of promotional freebies and goodies from different companies including a newborn kit from the hospital, which includes tadaan... two bottles of pre-mixed Similac formula. This is a big no-no in the Philippines. Another challenge for us is that we haven't found a Filipino pedia here yet who is also a breastfeeding advocate. I got amazing support from Elise's pedia in Capitol Med, Dra. Pia Mendiola, who taught me patiently how to properly make Elise latch and encouraged me all throughout my breastfeeding journey. Ah, now comes the fun part, breastfeeding in public... in the Middle East! I guess it's safe to say that breastfeeding in public here does not exist. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)
I'm also not aware whether there are dedicated breastfeeding stations here in malls and establishments. To be fair to the big malls in Pinas like SM and Ayala malls, they have nice, clean breastfeeding stations. Here, I guess I can breastfeed inside toilets, which I don't really wanna do. I guess I can also breastfeed inside the enclosed family booths inside restaurants, one of the perks of segregation.
The solution: take chilled pumped milk with me wherever I go and warm them when necessary. You gotta do what you gotta do. Despite the challenges, the upside of it all is that breastfeeding the second time around has been so much more pleasant! With Elise, I cried almost everyday due to cracked and bleeding nipples, plugged ducts, that feeling as if my breasts were on fire, etc. I endured that for almost 8 weeks! This time around, I got to enjoy breastfeeding Mira. There's still the occasional plugged ducts, and my nipples still cracked during the first two weeks, but thankfully, I learned how to better handle the pain. Maybe I have also matured for the last four years and have accepted that all this inconvenience is temporary but the benefits will last her a lifetime. * * * Read: My other articles about mommyhood and our diplomatic life here in Riyadh: My Birthing Story Ala-Fear Factor What to Expect When Expecting in Saudi House-Hunting in Riyadh: Fantasies and Realities The Start of our Diplomatic Journey Someone had mentioned to me before that for every subsequent pregnancy, expect the hours of labor to be reduced by half. No kidding! It took me six hours to give birth to our eldest Elise, and so it was no surprise to me when at 38 weeks, I gave birth to our secondborn Elmira in only three hours. The hubby and I had planned to watch back-to-back episodes of Suits that Saturday night and we had barely gotten started when I felt as if the baby literally kicked my V from the inside. Before I could make a comment about it, I felt a gush of water and knew it had broken. The good thing about Riyadh is the lack of Manila-like traffic. We were in Sanad Hospital in just around 30 minutes even though the hospital is located about 15 kilometers away from our house. Even though I have done this before, I feel like nothing could really prepare me for the curveballs thrown at me during delivery. First, I expected that my regular OB, a Filipina, would be the one to deliver our baby. As it turns out, things work differently around here. You don't text your regular OB and tell her you're on your way to the hospital where you two would simply meet. In our case, we went straight to the hospital ER where I was prepped for delivery and when it was time, the on-call OB delivered the baby. I learned later on that you can make a private arrangement with your regular OB, but it required shelling out an additional SAR2,000 (Around PHP20K+++)---which we found too steep. It can be a bit disconcerting to have an OB whom you've never met before and have no rapport with deliver your baby. During my first pregnancy, we consulted with many OB's until we found someone we really liked. But what's one got to do but to make it work? My OB was Syrian, looked a bit young, and likable enough although she gave me tough love. When I wasn't pushing right, she taunted me that she would just send me home since "I didn't want to give birth to the baby". I knew she was just encouraging me to push better, but I wanted to tell her, "Hey! Cant' you see I'm in pain here???". Thankfully, the patient records of Sanad are centralized so that gave me some bit of comfort, that my Syrian OB can just pull up my records and check my consultation history, lab results, etc., to get acquainted with my case should there be any complications. I was also thrown off by the fact that although there are plenty of FIlipina nurses in Sanad, the main nurses who assisted me were not kababayans. Although they were friendly, I had some difficulty in both conveying my messages and understanding their instructions because of their foreign accents. It was also kind of awkward to relay my pains in English, like: "Please help me!" "I can't do it anymore!" "Ouch! It's so painful!" I felt so conyo, hahaha! The biggest curveball and definitely not part of my birth plan was giving birth without any medication - as in I gave birth naturally! Given my generally positive experience when I gave birth to Elise, I was set on also asking for epidural this time around. I know some women choose to forego the epidural for an organic labor experience, but I already knew my intolerance to pain and know myself well enough to ask for an epidural. Just an hour after admission, my OB told me my dilation had already progressed from 5 to 8cm very quickly that she could no longer administer epidural. When she told me I have to give birth naturally, I felt like I was a contestant in Fear Factor. I started to panic and told my OB, "NO! NO! I CAN'T DO IT!!!". To which my OB replied, "Yes, yes, you have to!". I felt so defeated, but at the same time, I felt so grown up, too, like I was confronted with fear, and I have no choice but to take it head-on. (I realize that for someone in labor, I was doing a lot of overthinking, haha.) In between the most painful contractions, I thought about all the movies I've seen where the pregnant women deliver their babies in the most unusual places like the car, or even in their house, and wonder how they can do it without the benefit of epidural or anesthesia to help ease the pain. Well, I was about to find out! To cut the long story short, I gave birth to our secondborn, in exactly three hours, without the assistance of medication, and without my husband by my side who was not allowed inside. I know it might not sound like a big deal to some, but I consider this experience a kind of a personal achievement. Read: My other articles about mommyhood and our diplomatic life here in Riyadh: What to Expect When Expecting in Saudi House-Hunting in Riyadh: Fantasies and Realities The Start of our Diplomatic Journey Hello, everyone! Sorry we've been MIA for almost a month. We've been extremely busy and for good reason: During the last week of July, we welcomed our secondborn: Elmira. Her name, Elmira, is of Arabic origin, which means "princess". We wanted to give her an Arabic-sounding name to commemorate the fact that she was born while Von was posted in Riyadh, K.S.A.
So #theFerrerasabroad is now a party of four. Can't wait to tell you more about my birthing adventures here in the Kingdom, as well as the challenges of raising a newborn here. :) We're now well into our 36th week with Baby #2. The homestretch! Just a few more sleepless nights to go! Yey! They say that every pregnancy is different, but with the added factor of adjusting to the way of life in this country, I can definitely say that being pregnant in Saudi has been a most interesting experience: 1. Goodbye, baby belly! For a pregnant woman, the abaya is both a blessing and a curse. As a blessing, you only need to buy a few maternity dresses since they will all be under the abaya anyway. I brought with me all my maternity dresses from my first pregnancy, and I think I just bought one new dress this time around. Under the abaya, I can dress however I want. When going to the supermarket or during my hospital visits, I can dress up in comfortable pj's and a tight-fitting top, exposing my belly, and nobody would even know. But this is also the part where I miss dressing up in cute maternity clothes and showing off my baby belly. There's also a dearth of maternity dresses sold in malls and department stores. I was aghast when I was looking for a formal maternity dress to wear to an embassy event, and all I found in one department store under the Maternity Section was denim overalls! That's why whenever I get the chance, I do dress up in cute maternity clothes and take pictures of my pregnant self. Otherwise, Baby #2 will someday look back at my pictures and won't be able to see my pregnant belly underneath all the black robes.
3. Access to incredible food and fruits. I do appreciate the access here to some really great pregnancy foods like salmon, walnuts, cheap fresh milk, and exotic fruits, stuff which I once considered luxuries back in Pinas. I munch on walnuts here on a daily basis, something I've never done back in Pinas because imported nuts in Pinas are expensive. There's plenty of access as well to the folate-rich fresh strawberries, whereas back home, I only get to eat strawberries when someone goes to Baguio, (hehe) or when I buy the expensive ones in the supermarket. (The one thing I miss though from Pinas are the ripe mangoes. Indian mangoes are just not the same.) Since there is no pork here, my pregnancy diet is also healthier (no bagnet, no lechon kawali, no oily stuff). Well, it's a good thing I have no craving for these unlike during my first pregnancy! 4. No random people touching your belly. Because touching other people, especially women, is a no-no! Unlike in Pinas, when acquaintances (and sometimes, even complete strangers) assume they can just rub your belly anytime without asking for permission. 5. No pregnancy massages and hilot. One thing I really miss from Pinas are the really cheap massages. There are pregnancy massages here, but way too pricey at around SAR1,000---that's around P13,000! Crazy! Whereas I was able to get a pregnancy massage in Blue Water Day Spa in Makati during our vacation for only P700! For those really stressful days, we hire the services of a kabayan who offers home therapy and massage services as a sideline. It's still expensive at SAR100 (around P1,300), but way cheaper than going to a spa. Definitely missing the cheap weekly massages Von and I used to get in Nuat Thai, Ton-Ton, or Montalbo, one of our few indulgences. I'm also sad about the fact that I could not avail of any hilot services here after childbirth. While living in Bulacan, I got a daily hilot massage for 10 days after giving birth to Elise. Although many doctors and moms would say that it's not necessary, I loved the relief it gave me from my aching muscles. My therapist also gave me a lactation massage since I was initially having difficulties breastfeeding Elise. Good thing the husband always indulges me whenever I ask for a massage at night (hey, my body is making another human here, YOUR CHILD, haha). 5. Adjusting to the healthcare system. I'm a creature of comfort. I had a great experience during my first pregnancy and the birth of Elise with my OB, Dra. Aurora Quiambao, and with my hospital Capitol Medical Centre in QC. I already know the procedure for check-up and ultrasound, my OB's consultation schedule, I even had my OB's secretary's phone number saved in my phone book. Thats' why one of my apprehensions going here was the thought of dealing with a completely new system. I had no clue as to the set-up of consultations, appointments, etc. I also preferred a Filipina OB, given the language barrier, and was concerned we won't be able to find one. We almost considered going back to Pinas during the third trimester to give birth there. Thanks to my new mommy-friends from the Embassy, I got a good recommendation for a Filipina OB with office at Sanad Hospital, in Al-Hamra District. The hospital is quite far from our place, about twenty minutes away, but the mostly Filipina OBs and nurses made us decide to go here. Now, I don't have to deal with the added stress of language barrier. The OBs and staff are, of course, mostly English-speaking, but when I'm writhing in pain, I'm more at ease knowing I can express myself in Tagalog and someone will understand me, hehe.
* * * True story: During my last scan for Baby #2, I tried to ask the Sudanese OB-Sonologist if the baby was okay. Me: The baby okay, Doc? Doc: Inshallah. A few seconds later… Von repeated: The baby okay, Doc? Doc: Inshallah, inshallah. Inshallah, I think, is a beautiful phrase to say. It means "God-willing" or "if God wills". But also, I would have wanted to hear a categorical "the baby is fine" or "no problem". Well I guess if this is sufficient for our Doctor, this should suffice for us, too. I just have to get used to using this expression. :) * * * Having found our hospital and OB, there were some other bureaucratic stuff and cultural differences we had to deal with. Like during Ramadan and the Eid holidays, we found it hard to schedule a consultation since the hospital was understaffed and many of the doctors and staff were on holiday vacation. Good thing we were in Manila then for Von's oath-taking, so I was able to schedule a monthly check-up and the congenital anomaly scan in Capitol Med. Another surprising thing we learned: even inside hospitals, segregation is strictly observed. I got to experience this firsthand when during my 32nd week, I asked Von to bring me to the Emergency Room due to the painful contractions I was having. Turned out I was severely dehydrated. For almost 4 hours while I was given IV fluids, I was alone inside my ER cubicle while Von was asked to wait outside since he's a male and there were other female patients inside the ER (although they were all hidden behind their cubicles as well). It was quite inconvenient to have no companion inside the ER whenever I needed to say something to the doctor or nurses, or I when I needed to go to the bathroom. We considered this a dry-run and now we know that once Baby #2 is born, we should get a private, not a semi-private or shared room, so that Von can definitely stay inside the room with me. Lastly, we haven't found a regular pediatrician here for Elise and Baby #2. We were surprised to learn that there is no Filipino pedia here. We loved Elise's pedia in Capitol Med, Dra. Pia Mendiola, and felt extremely sad to leave her. Eventually, we do have to search for someone we will really like. Despite my concerns, I'm still thankful that Saudi has good healthcare facilities (maybe even better than Manila's? I don't know). I can't imagine if we were posted in a country with such unreliable healthcare system that we have to cross borders to avail of basic medical services (true story, as told by the wife of one of the Embassy's officers). * * * When I married Von in 2013, I hadn't the slightest idea that I will one day give birth in another country, moreso in Saudi Arabia. The absence of family members and familiar faces like your friends can be lonely and quite unnerving at times, but I guess it's all part and parcel of living abroad. Anyway, the people at the Embassy have been very supportive, and some of the mommies I've met have turned out to be good friends. They even threw us a sweet Baby Shower at the Embassy. As a form of encouragement, I often tell myself, "Hey, I'm not the first Pinay to give birth in Riyadh, others have done the same, I can do it, too!" Review of the Birthday Party Package at Jollibee Ortigas-Roosevelt Branch * * * Last December 2016, our unica hija turned three. This time, we chose to hold a birthday party at Jollibee because she asked for it. Months before her birthday, she's already telling us that she's excited to see Jollibee. (Yes, she's in that phase now.) Holding a party was also a good way to see some of our friends for the last time before leaving for Saudi. I chose the Jollibee Ortigas-Roosevelt branch because of recommendations from mom blogs and forums that this branch is one of the best. Here is my honest review of the place: Location. The location is ideal. It's close to Quezon City where we used to live, and it's in the middle of EDSA, so it's a good middle ground for our Bulacan and Cavite-based relatives, and our Manila-based friends. However, it's along Ortigas Avenue which can experience heavy traffic at times, especially since it's Christmas season and people flock to the Greenhills area to do their shopping. To avoid potential traffic woes, we chose to hold the event on the Sunday morning closest to her birthday, hoping there would be no traffic. We set it at 10AM, after morning church activities and in time for lunch. Facilities. There is ample parking space in this branch so we need not worry about our friends bringing their own vehicles. We also booked the combined Function Rooms 1 and 2 to accommodate more guests. We just needed to meet the required number of guests per function room. We set our guest list to 100. I liked that the function rooms were big, and seemed airy because of the windows so we did not feel cramped. Decorations. Elise adores anything pink so the Hello Kitty theme was perfect for us. Since my goal was minimal planning this time, we no longer hired an additional balloon supplier and just relied on the balloons and decorations provided by Jollibee. No table centerpieces, not even a customized background tarp which is so unlike me. Haha. I thought the decorations provided were pretty. We just brought a framed picture of Elise and displayed it at the entrance. That's it! My only DIYs for this event were the personal Hello Kitty lootbags. The party package already includes 10 (I think) lootbags so we just ordered an additional 20. We ordered the Jollitown lootbags (which includes a lunch box, spoon, notebook, and pencil case) so it's gender-neutral. For our personal Hello Kitty lootbags, we bought customized paper bags from a party supplier along Kamuning, Quezon City and bought candies, M&Ms, biscuits, and additional small toys as fillers. To seal the lootbag, I couldn't resist designing a Thank You sticker. That's the least DIY I did for any family event and I think my husband felt a bit relieved, haha.
After the program, one of the staff asked me for the guest headcount so they can start serving the food. This annoyed me because 1) I was busy entertaining our guests so I could not possibly do the headcount and 2) I thought it was their duty to do the headcount as I saw it done before in Jollibee E. Rodriguez branch where I attended a birthday before. So I asked them if they could just conduct the headcount themselves. When new guests came in and I asked the staff to serve more food, they told me they had already served the 100 meals, which surprised me because I was aware that there were still many people in our guest list who have not arrived. This could have been avoided if they had just given me a headcount when they started serving the food. Anyway, I just placed additional orders because I wanted to avoid bad vibes. Program. I have attended other Jollibee parties before and especially remember the program in the E. Rodriguez branch. The games there were new, challenging, and they gave away good prizes, even for the adults. Here at Roosevelt, I found the games usual like "pass around the balloon". The kids loved it, though. Even the adult game was fun. I just hope they can come up with newer and more exciting games in the future. During the program, we also rented a projector and played AVPs of Elise's pictures. It's an additional cost, but it was great because I got to choose the background music and it provided good entertainment while waiting for the guests to come in, and while the guests ate. The appearance of Jollibee is also included in the basic package, but we also decided to book the other four mascots - a gift from Elise's Lola Tess. It was great to see Jollibee, Hetty, Twirlie, Popo and Mr. Yum all at once. Kids and adults alike absolutely loved them! They did the routine Jollibee dance, stayed for the singing and blowing of the birthday candle, then a bit for some picture-taking. Honestly, I wish they did more, considering we booked the five of them and two function rooms. A friend also told me that she attended a Jollibee party once where the mascots joined the kids' games and gamely posed with the guests per table (I could not remember which branch). Anyway, it was still great seeing the Jollitown friends all in one room. Jollibee gift. Lastly, I also could not pass up mentioning the Jollibee birthday gift. Considering we ordered 100 meals, which is way more than the minimum amount required, they only gave Elise one free gift, the candy claw machine. I, not knowing the standards of other Jollibee branches, gratefully accepted the gift. But when my other mommy friends found out what we received, they were surprised because some of them had spent less and gotten more gifts. Upon further research in other mom blogs, I learned that given our food package, Elise could have gotten a kiddie bicycle. I really didn't mind the free gift, I didn't even expect it, but I didn't like the feeling of being neglected. I asked my husband to call Jollibee (because he is the calm one and I might get confrontational, hehe) to ask if we were supposed to receive a bigger gift given our food package. The party manager did promise to give us a kiddie sofa, which we got a month later. In the spirit of fairness, I hope they can be consistent with their gift policies for all branches. * * *
* * * For more pictures, check out the slideshow below. We hired the photo services of EGM Productions, upon Jollibee's recommendation. |