Now, if he could only teach his babba!
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Saudi gender roles and everyday life are being redefined as you read this. I feel like talking about it, in English, so it can be read in the furthest reaches of the planet.There is more to me than what exists within the domestic sphere and that’s what I’m trying to maintain through this dialogue with the world. This is about MY life and MY experiences within this small town
What's going on in my life?
May 11- Uh oh...school's out soon!
Just airing dirty laundry
- Saudi Stepford Wife-Daisy
- Al-Hassa/ Hofuf, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
- American/Saudi with a dash of religiosity, a pinch of realistic feminism, and usually with humorous overtones.
The Players and terms in this blog
- Me- Daisy
- DD- "The Dork of the Desert", my husband and yes, he reads my blog
- MaryJo- my oldest daughter age 9
- EttaMae- my middle child age 7
- Buddy- my baby boy
- abaya
- burga
- Al-Hassa- the city I live in, it's people are called Hasawis
- EP- the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia
Why I made this blog
For any woman, no matter her origins, there are elements of Stepford in every town in every country. I'm in Stepford Saudi Arabia. I'm constantly struggling to maintain my identity and individuality and not to have 'me' swallowed up by the family unit or by what’s expected of me. Hence, the name "Saudi Stepford Wife" seemed applicable. I'm referring to the first movie, made in '75, in which the gender politics of the '70's is exaggerated. Much of the discourse taking place at that point in time is similar to issues where I am today. The movie includes perfect robotic housewives who do nothing but bake, get their floors to shine, and ponder the wonders of Easy-Off spray. They look stunning and live only to please their husbands while the protagonist tries desperately not to be assimilated by them.
This is about MY life and MY experiences within this town which will differ from everyone else's so please, hold the emails defending Al-Hassa. ِِِِI'm an educated mother of three and I want to tell you about my life and my observations.
coexistence
blogs I like so far
Future Post Titles (tentative)
- Beauty's Only Skin Deep: Saudi Standards of Beauty
- The woman I can never be like
- The Najdi export of "Aayb"
- Things I have done while wearing an abaya
- Did you just insult me?
- a snail could download faster!
- Foreign Brides
- Weddings or fashion shows: brides or clowns?
- The Shabaab: Looking At Their World From The Outside
- A Saudi Broad Abroad: Saudi Women Outside of the Kingdom
- Crime?? What Crime??
- The Ayjooza News Network: Faster and more detailed than Al-Jazeera
- What are the gender roles: who's responsible for what?
- What To Do in a Town With No Activities in It
- Women Driving: You May Be Surprised What Some of Us Think!
- Saudi Trash
- My Fair Lady??: Rudeness in the Public Sphere
- Flirting- PLEASE LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE
- Hasawi Women: Past and Present
- Saudi Slums
- Al-Hassa's Plural Identities
- A Day in my life
U can"t hide.
f
17 comments:
Assalaamu alaikum,
Cute! Masha'Allah. How old is he?
As for his baba... I don't think men 'do' laundry hampers! My dh can get his stuff near the laundry basket, next to the basket or on the basket but not quite in! LOL
ROFL... If you manage that, get him to come teach my little one's baba! Not that I can really complain.. I may get stuck with the laundry but he does dishes & kitty litter.. fair trade I think!
If the laundry basket were as big as a football (soccer) goal, I'd manage to get the laundry in it.
Mr. Man decided to get the upper hand "I hired a maid to do that".
MashaAllah,
He is to adorable. Now domesticating your husband.will not be as easy.......lol
Umm Ibrahim- Buddy's 16 months old now. It's absent from their DNA, the "leg" that's missing off of the "Y" chromosome, which women do have, contains the "laundrybasket" gene as well as the "toilet-seat-down" gene and the "flatulence-in-private" gene.
Mama Kalila- DD just reminded me that he did the kitty litter when I was pregnant with EttaMae...what he doesn't include is how I had to beg, plead, and scare him with harming the health of his baby if he didn't:-D
DD- Doubtful, I've seen you attempting to play sports...I didn't name you DD for no reason.
nzingha- how Saudi of him:-)
theangrymuslimah- I've given up on him, it's been 11 years with no discernible progress! I've decided to cut my losses and concentrate on the untainted generation.
Umm Ibrahim--Same here, maybe the hamper should have a basket ball hoop over it or something for better aim!
Salaam Daisy,
Mosh'Allah he's getting big! Alhumdulillah I don't have problems with my husband helping with any of the household cleaning! My problem is he does not know how to tell time! I find this in alot of the Middle Eastern people I know. Just this weekend my husband left the house to say he was going to pick up a receipt for a recent car rental and to get a gallon of milk. Okay,the car rental place is about 2 miles away and Wal-Mart is in our back yard! I'm figuring 30-60 minutes tops! He comes strollin' in 3 hours later! With no courteous phone call,of course,even though his cell phone is strapped to his head and mouth 24/7! I have a friend,who is from the Middle East, who doesn't think twice when she has a Drs.appt. at 2:00,to leave her house at 2:00 and then finds it "unbelievable" that the Dr. either won't see her or has to "fit" her in at another time. Whats up with that! If anyone can please fill me in!!!
tinaahmat
He's precious!
Good for you,daisy!Start em off early!
I think it is sooo important for parents to teach thier sons how to do household work.The idea that doing dishes and doing the laundry is just for "girls" makes me wanna puke!
LOL! Even if we put *directions* in neon signs, I still got the same problems,though,alhamdullilah,he does the dishes. I have to tell him what to do like so many times now my daughter *reminds* him so he has to do it, LOL! sf
Daisy,
You're making good progress. Don't give up too soon. You may easily progress into cleaning up his room, etc. with a little luck.
Laundry basket? What's that, I thought the bathroom floor was the laundry basket or at least my son thinks it is. Then again, he thinks he's some sort of Middle Eastern Potentate with a retinue of servants to meet his every need of whom I am the star member.
Keep up the good work!!!
MASHALLAH!!! he's so cute!!!!!
omgoodness MashAllah.
You go girl! Those boys need some serious work in this area of the world. I think it is our duty to raise a man who can pitch in and help out. I will never understand an Arab woman who can't stand what her husband is doing, but ends up raising her sons to be the same way! Wake up ladies! I know it is an uphill battle, but we owe it to our future daughters in law to give them the best we can and the Ummah as well.
mona- like I said, DNA
Tina- it's called Arab Standard Time, Gulf Arabs do it the worst I think.
littlemissmuslim- trust me, as soon as he can reach into the sink, he'll be washin them dishes too:-)
sf- that's a good little girl, guilting babba into doing it.
Sarah ouadghiri- "Middle Eastern Potentate", LOL!!!
Molly- We're completely smitten with him these days...all of us, including his babba, dotes on him to no end.
Nicole- unfortunately, many of the girls need a crash course in domesticity too...too many have maids doing everything.
Too cute!
Nzingha - are our hubs related!?! HA
It's got to be in the chromosomes.Southern red-neck males suffer from the same condition.
l_oman- LOL
Always in the kitchen- to quote Larry the Cable Guy, tell'em to just put the stuff in the basket and "Git-R-Dun".
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