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Name: Sabra
Location: Saudi Arabia

Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, there was a Woman who thought she was living the American Dream. Her childhood, although now not particularly memorable, was fairly normal. She went to school. She got a job. She met a tall, blonde and handsome pilot and married him. It was all good. They were the perfect “Ken and Barbie” couple. The handsome pilot built her the house of her dreams in North Carolina, where she thought they would live for the remainder of their many, many days to come. Circumstances, totally out of the control of this lovely Ken and Barbie couple, changed everything. Shortly afterward, they came to find themselves living a whole new life in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Oh, sure, they are still the perfect “Ken and Barbie” couple, but Barbie now wears an abeyah over her designer outfits when she leaves her house, she has given up her pink convertible because she is not allowed to drive, and she no longer has an office that she visits five days a week, instead choosing to spend her time as a stay-at-home wife and an over-protective, doting Mommy to their two absolutely adorable, much loved and very, very pampered four-legged “Kids.”

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Ban on Sale of Dogs and Cats

I saw this last night at one of my favorite sites. Then I caught a quick blurb about it on Fox News. Today there are two articles in the Arab News on the issue of cats and dogs being a threat to morality in the Sandbox.

I'm not even going to weigh-in on this one. I'm just gonna shake my head and mutter to myself that I live in a "LFZ." [Logic Free Zone.]

I saw something rather sweet two days ago when The Kids and I were out for our morning walk. As we rounded the corner to walk down one of the alleys there was a young boy - a Saudi boy - and a cat. The young boy - maybe six or eight years old - saw me coming with my small Great Dane and bouncing black fur-ball of energy Standard Poodle and quickly bent down and scooped up the cat - as if protecting the cat from being used as a live squeak-toy and walked between two houses out of sight. I never, ever would let my Kids get close enough to a cat to harm it - and I had tight control of both leashes - a reflex whenever I spot a cat. It was just really touching - heart-warming even - the way the young boy thought to and made such an effort to ensure the cat's safety. [And, for the record, some of the "wild and stray" cats here - of which there ARE many - would be like buzz-saws on the muzzles of my two Kids if I ever allowed the Kids to get close enough.]

4 Comments:

Blogger Nzingha said...

So a friend who used to live here had this nice golden lab. Her husband would take it to the beach every morning for a walk. Out of no where a stray cat came and attacked the dog. Beat his bumm and the poor dog had to see a vet for injuries. I kept asking if he was really hurt or was his ego damaged. Poor dog, I gave him a bit stuffed animal of a cat for revenge and he carried that thing around every day.

7/31/2008 10:42:00 AM  
Blogger Sabra said...

Guessing the ego was hurt - as well as the poor Golden's muzzle, NZ. My two wouldn't know what hit 'em if they tried to tangle with some of the cats around here. We'd be at the vet for sure, and I can assure you that there would be damaged egos!

7/31/2008 11:53:00 AM  
Anonymous knotty said...

What a fascinating blog this is. I just read about the pet ban this morning... It boggles my mind! What a strange place Saudi Arabia is.

8/01/2008 12:16:00 PM  
Blogger Sabra said...

Why thank you, Knotty! Yeah - the pet ban - it actually isn't new - it has just never been enforced [much like traffic laws, here, but go out without an abeya and you are sooo in trouble!]. There is some truth to your statement, "What a strange place..." Let me tell you it was quite alienating when we arrived almost six years ago!

8/01/2008 03:13:00 PM  

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