I've been living like I'm in a lockdown for years.

Disclaimer:

Experience, opinions, varies from one person to another. Everything posted here reflected on how I lived my life and it doesn’t mean it would also be the same to anyone else.

I was an OFW in the Middle East for quite some time. Personally, my life living in the Middle East as a woman helped me to survive the Corona Virus lockdown.

Living in the Middle East specifically in Saudi Arabia comes with a lot of limitations. It would depend on your lifestyle and where you are in your life.

I realized that being in a lockdown has it’'s similarity of my life in Saudi Arabia. You need to be someone who loves being at home and being alone more.

Here's why:

1. Going out in public areas alone as a woman is too risky. Saudi Arabia's environment is conservative unlike in the Philippines. So for some people, when they see you alone, they will try to cat-call, stare at you or even try to disturb you. It's not easy going somewhere all by yourself. Some strangers, taxi drivers grab the opportunity when they see you alone. Some nationalities stare at you like it's their first time seeing a woman. So it's better to be with someone when you want to go somewhere. You need to find a friend that has the same shift as you so you could bring her with you.

2. The only public transportation is taxi - ubers or public taxis. I rarely see public buses and public taxis and I don't usually use them because I get dizzy of their strong scent.

In my experience and based on the people I knew, especially women, whenever I'm alone in a public taxi, drivers usually ask if I'm married. It happened alot of times that sometimes they ask alot of questions.

So once they found out that you are not yet married, they try to ask about marriage that easily-like it's for free.They have a different way of viewing this, unlike in our culture, wherein there's a get-to-know stage, courting stage, getting to know the family and so on. I KNOW RIGHT? So sometimes it's better to tell them you are married even if you're not, just for them to stop bothering you.

3. You even don’t have time to be at home because you’re busy working. Especially if your company offers overtime. Overtime means more income. And I prefer the latter.

4. Unlike any other countries, for a normal expat especially for women, there are no outdoor activities in Saudi Arabia since the weather is so humid. Imagine the weather in the Philippines but without the wind, the nature - just the heat. Plus, you have to wear your Abaya if you decide to have an outdoor walk or a quick run. It means no revealing of skin or else people will stare at you. Unless you live in a compound or village where in you can where anything while being outside, or should I say not wearing abaya is normal.

5. On your day offs, you’ll be busy doing chores.

No one’s going to do it for you. Doing the laundry, cookng your meals for the next day, cleaning, decluttering, organizing your room, your house / flat. Especially if you’re not living alone. You need to help in cleaning and organizing your place because that’s the right thing to do. You can’t depend on other people when it comes to cleaning your dishes and the table right every after you eat, or organizing your shoes / slippers once you get home from work. You're going to live with other people - you might be living with some who are very particular with cleanliness at home. Don't wait for someone to tell you to fix your things.

Unless you’re someone who loves to procrastinate, who can function with having a cluttered environment, then go ahead.

6. You eat home-cooked meals!

Internet connection and food delivery applications are widely known in the Middle East compared in the Philippines. If you’re someone who doesn’t want to keep ordering fast food, who values money and who values their health, you need to find time to prepare your meals the day before. It means meal prepping or batch cooking for your meals for the next 3 - 5 days. It means learning how to cook healthy meals and finding healthy recipes.

7. On your day offs, you can sleep as much hours as you want.

Personally, day off means having the luxury to sleep without having an alarm. That means I get to have 8-12 hours of sleep.

8. On day offs, it's your time to do personal care.

It means catching up on my favorite tv show or watching a movie alone or with friends. It means being able to do skin care, or exercise atlast!

It means being able to do whatever project you've been setting aside for the past weeks / months. It may be painting, baking, experimenting a new recipe, doing a new set of routines on your workout, watching youtube videos. Anything that brings out the creativity inside you.

And it could also mean just laying in bed because you’re too tired from last week’s work. Anything that helps you relax.

9. Because going somewhere means spending.

When you want to go somewhere, you will be spending money on taxi or gas. Say for example taxi rides going to and from to the mall would cost 50 SAUDI RIYALS (x13 = 650 PH ) Imagine how much you can save in a month. Are you really willing to spend that much?

10. Because going somewhere means tedious.

Being in a Muslim Country, you get used to having establishments or stores close during prayer times. Muslims pray 5x a day that would last 15 minutes to an hour so imagine always checking the time if you’ll make it to the grocery store, or going to your favorite coffee shop before it closes.

11. Because most accommodations have curfews.

Most accommodations that are company owned have curfews especially if there are more women working in that company. It means going home on time because if not, you’ll be stuck outside and you have a lot of explaining to do with your boss as to why you were not able to come home. Which is very tedious.

12. You spend most of your days being alone.

Because your colleagues have different working hours and day offs too. So you get used to of having time on your thoughts and sometimes being alone at home.

13. Quality time virtually.

It means spending time with your loved ones virtually for a very long time. This may happen for 6 months to 2 years depending on the country you’re at or the what your company offers. Some company offers yearly paid plane ticket, some after 2 years. Unless, it’s fine with you buying your own ticket which would range to 1200 sar to 3000 sar - pang gala mo na yun ah!

It was not easy during my first few months living in the country. But as time goes by, I matured and realized that I prefer saving my energy, my money to the things that matter while I still have this opportunity in working abroad. I would rather save up for my future so I won't get hungry. 😅