Wednesday, December 22, 2010

CC and R's Would Help A Lot

The covenant condition restriction (CC and R's) establishes the general rules and guidelines that homeowners within a community agree to abide by. These rules may include requirement/restrictions on outbuildings, house color, the general appearance of your home, etc. These rules are designed to help keep up the appearance of the neighbor (thereby protecting home values), and in condominium situations, they're also designed to "keep the peace" amongst neighbors since people are living in close proximity to each other.

Living on a expat compound is not being a homeowner, however that does not mean that CC and R's would not help in building a better living community. In fact, I think it's doubly important when you have people from all over the world trying to reside next door to each other. People born in Third World countries tend to have a different idea about what is appropriate with it comes to being neighborly than those of use who come from the west. So you can imagine the frustration one would feel when you have one neighbor who is let's say for the sake of argument Palestinian and the other is British. The Palestinian believes with all his might that his children have the right to play outside all hours of the day or night, in their neighbors yard, destroying their plants (i.e. personal property), etc. Then you have the British family who comes from a culture in which intruding on someone's space in such a manner is rude, beastly, and inconsiderate. These two are going to have problems. And, such is the case all over camp. I've heard stories of people trying to keep chickens on the compound at their houses. Seriously. And, the person who's rooster is waking up its neighbors at the break of dawn doesn't seem to get that this is a nuisance to everyone around them, but the biggest part is that they don't seem to care. There seems to be an uncanny ability to ignore how one's behavior has an affect on those around them. This makes for a lot of tense situations.

So, on camp, could we benefit from CC and R's? Absolutely. In fact, due to the level of too many different cultures trying to reside in a small space (both in land mass and due to the houses being connected; a lot of homes are duplexes) there is bound to be problems. CC and R's would/could insure that these problems are handle in a fair manner based on the agreed to rules, and not based on a persons nationality, race, or religion.

With my limited experience in living in this type of situation, I understand some of the effects and issues that arise out of so-called multiculturalism. Chancellor Angela Merkel stated in a press conference that it doesn't work. I think I agree. Now, we don't want the Germans rising up against any group. LOL. We all know how that turned out. But, I sympathize.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

New Abaya - I've Come Full Circle

I have finally broken down and started to give a sh*t about what my abaya looks like. OK, so here's the deal. Before I got here, I felt like, if I have to wear it, it has to be fabulous. Why? Because I'm a total fashion clothes horse. I love clothes. My style is classic with a taste of trendy. The bottom line is I care what I look like when I go to work, or out to play. I don't get "dressed" when I'm just hanging around my house, but you know what I'm stating.

Well...when I got here I was rushed to purchase my abaya (you can check that out here: http://blackchickinsaudi.blogspot.com/2008/12/abaya.html). So, I just got one of the first one's that I tried on. Then once I got it, I felt like it was stupid and ridiculous that I would have to wear such a thing that I had a silent protest going. Meaning that I wore it (because I don't want any problems) but I deliberately kept it balled up in the back seat of the car.

Since then, I've gotten over myself and I'm now back to, "if I have to wear it, it has to be fabulous," or at the very least be representative of the stylish person that I am. LOL. So...I went out and purchased a new abaya. I've come full circle in my thinking on this. Well...I haven't changed my mind in thinking that it's stupid, but I have let go of my so-called silent protest.

Also, my friend Amna said something that kinda stuck with me. She said, "Terri. One day you're going to leave here and you want a nice abaya as a souvenir." And you know what? She's right. So, big thanks girl for those little words, giving me the ends and outs of buying an abaya, and for going shopping with me. :)

Also, I want to give a thanks to First Choice Stores for letting me videotape in their store.