The privileged few May 22, 2009

The privileges of a local in our country and a local in this country are worlds apart. This year, as the financial crisis sweeps the globe, my company has decided to freeze recruitment, promotion and training – for the foreigners that is. As for the locals, they can virtually get anything they demand for, at a click of a finger.

So for the past few months I have had the opportunity to interview lots of locals. Sad to say, I have had to lower my standard of expectations while I struggled to make my selection. More often than not, they hardly come close to my criteria, I end up leaving the big boss to make his selection. Every company here has a target for localization i.e. percentage of local employees. So desperate are we that it is the potential employee that holds the bargaining power rather than the employer. The candidate can cherry pick which employer best suits his/her needs while the employers compete and try to sell themselves in order for the employess to select them! Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it?

The remuneration of a graduate entrant will make us Malaysians gape in horror. A package in the range of 20-25k riyals is typical for an entrant with no experience whatsoever so long as they have a degree and the requisite passport. Imagine that, with a house and car naturally provided for by their rich daddies, this amount is basically for shopping, shopping and more shopping. And yet they complain endlessly that they are underpaid..

Recently we had one such local joined our department. A fresh grad she is, but the way she ordered people around her on her first day at work including her impatient demands of a laptop and a Blackberry quickly became the talk of the department. By the first week, everybody in the office knew about her family connections and surprise, surprise, she’s already going on an overseas business trip within one month of joining.

As a foreigner working in this country, we expats must always know where we stand. We can be here today, and elsewhere another day. Incidents such as the above are their way of life. So closing an eye and moving on is what we do. Janji kita tak menyusahkan sesiapa and do what is expected of us. If tomorrow the lady in the above story suddenly becomes my boss, I have no choice but to accept. This quirky little things add spice to life as an expat.

12 weeks and counting May 19, 2009

I guess the time has finally come for me to share the good news with all my friends – a new addition to my family in 6 months’ time! Today, I enter into my 12th week of pregnancy – estimated due date 30th November 2009.

I found out about my pregnancy 2 days before leaving for my Umrah trip. I first did the home test, followed by a confirmation at the doctor’s. I was 5 weeks preggy then, so the whole road trip to Saudi left me drained out of energy, sprinkled with nausea and fatigue throughout the journey. The experience this time around is rather challenging as I feel tired all the time, with no mood to work, no mood to dress up or put on make-up, no mood to even shop! I have no appetite to eat as everything seemed tasteless or bitter. Perhaps I’ve forgotten how it feels since it’s been too long since my last pregnancy or age is simply catching up with me!

The doctor’s visit here in Doha is another experience worth sharing. Unlike in Malaysia where you visit a dedicated gynae of your choice, who examines you monthly and have all the facilities in her clinic, over here there is no such thing. On the outlook, the Al-Ahli Hospital looks as canggih as Ampang Puteri, but the same cannot be said with the facilities nor the service. The ultrasound is done at the radiology lab - by a sonographer mind you, not a gynae. I had my first ultrasound at about 9 weeks, everything was normal Alhamdulillah, but the male Indian sonographer wasn’t what I expected. Such a rich country Qatar is, and no ultrasound facility in the gynae’s clinic? The ultrasound furthermore, isn’t done at every visit like in Malaysia. I had to be put in queue for 4 weeks to get an appointment. Apart from that, the other routine blood and urine tests are the same though I quietly wished for a Filipino nurse over Indian or Egyptian ones every time, due to the rough way the latter is known when handling patients. Stories of blood splurting out during simple blood test are enough to frighten this scaredy old mummy.

Kids are excited to find out that mummy is having a baby especially Myisha who has been having this secret wish all along. Dina the smart one has started searching over this subject over the web and questions of amniotic fluid has since arose. Gosh, how I dread the time when the ‘birds & the bees’ story will come into play. When I was a child, my parents never touched this subject and left it entirely to the school teachers. But then again, in those days we never had the wonderful world of www nor the science and discovery channel to help educate us.

All business travels are off limits for the next 6 months. First on the list of cancellation is the trip to Washington DC end of the month. But trip back to Malaysia for Raya is still ON. Can’t wait for this trip as it’s been ages since we last went back and lil sis will be having the engagement-of-the-year a week after Raya.

Many have asked me if I have started craving. Truth is, am not sure about this whole craving thingy. In my past pregnancies, I don’t recall having such urge for certain food, or perhaps it wasn’t recognized by me, resulting in baby Dina drooling for most of her first year – kata orang tua2 sebab tak dapat makan apa yang diidamkan! Wallahualam. But one thing for sure, the appetite for mangga muda and the likes of it is definitely there. And ohh, susahnya nak cari kat sini, I even had to make do with green appples cicah kicap & cili.

Boy or girl does not matter to me, as long as the baby is healthy and cukup sifatnya. Hopefully things will get better as I enter into the second trimester. I desperately need to put on weight! Pray for me and my baby’s health, my friends.