Day 35 - Umrah and More

Finally, I made Umrah today. I would say that this has been a good week. I got my health card after two days ago, so now I am covered for all my health with no co-pay and no premium and no percentages; I am totally covered. Yeah, after about six years of zero coverage in the US. Shame on You Ess. Just yesterday I got my Iqama, so now I can bring the wifee over and get a drivers licence and a car (when I can afford one) and bring the wifee over and get a bank account and bring the wifee over.

 

Oh, I can bring the wifee over, too.

 

And now, after all this time, I have finally made my Umrah.

 

For those of you who don't know what Umrah is... Google it!!!

 

For those of you who DO know what it is, but haven't gone yet, lemme tell ya about it.

 

Putting on the ihraam is crucial. By the time I was halfway through I have no idea how I was still clothed. Man, having a belt of some sort is detrimental to you privacy. I think Makkah was like, two twists and a turn from a major wardrobe failure, whew! I mean, ten more steps in those clothes and I'd a been flashing my ju-ju's at a lot of pilgrams. Yeah, so really practice your ihraam wearing skills before you use it for real.

 

I made the mistake of going on a weekend (Thursday and Friday are the weekends here) so there were a lot of people here. Man, just try to ignore the pushing and shoving. I was told that the second time you make Umrah you just get used to it, but this time, whoa Nelly! There where a few people who were pushing me. Yeah, like I can't see the crowd going tis way moron. I stopped dead in my tracks a few times just to mess with the guy. A lot of women pushing their way through, but this one dude took the cake. This was a guy mind you, who had his hand right above my butt. Oh no you don't!! My WIFE can touch me there, but dude, I have a towel wrapped around my waist with two safety pins, and I drove here with a guy doing the same thing... I feel gay enough as it is without this FRUITLOOP resting his hand on my lower back (read BUTT) giving me gentle shoves. Yeah, I grabbed his hand quite firmly and lowered it off me and turned to look dead in his face and said in plain English, "Sir, please stop molesting me. Thank you."

 

I don't know if he spoke English, but he understood that.

 

Safaa and Marwa (the two mountains) were the part that I was the most intimidated by going in. Granted, I was told that they were not really mountains but more like hills. Let me instead tell you that a better description of Safaa and Marwa is that they are like two glorified speed-bumps. I'm pretty sure I've made snow forts bigger than these two camel humps. More than that, they (and the area between them) are only feet away from the Ka'baa, covered in marble that have cold water pipes pumped underneeth to cool the floor from the heat, and they are indoors and air conditioned. There are two sets of green lights for about twenty steps (thirty for you shorter people) where you are supposed to jog across, and there are nice tiles so your toes can grab when you go up the slight inclines that they call mountains (I'm serious I had to have ridden my bicycle over ramps bigger than those mountains).

 

After that, there was a dude with a garbage can and a pair of scissors who trimmed my hair a bit and I was done in between the Asr and Magrib prayers. After that we went to a Desi resturaunt (see, Indo=Pakastani) and had some awesome spicy chicken and Daal and Naan.

 

Okay, that was my Umrah. Peace.

-- Bill,

Jumping through the hoops

Getting into Saudi is an OMG-oh-Lord-have-mercy-on-my-soul situation. A few months back, when we started this whole thing, I came across this dude`s blog who said `getting into heaven is easier than getting into Saudi`. Okay, I thought this was funny but, umm, heretic borderline maybe! LOL. So I was a bit conscious of laughing at this joke. Now that Bill is done with his part (he got his Iqama today. YAY), I can`t get that line out of my head. I feel like there are so many hoops you`ve got to jump through and some of those hoops are all tangled or broken and you don`t get to see them until you are right there facing them. Well, what do I mean? Poor Bill has been racing against time, getting everything done. I have everything I could`ve done on my end. I thought I did all the research I needed. There is a medical report I need to do for me and the cats, and both are time sensitive. Sounds odd putting it like that doesn`t it? Medical report for me and the cats… Anywho, I couldn`t do these reports till Bill was settled. Well today, I`m trying to forward everything within this week, I call the embassy, of course no answer. So I decided to call a travel agency. Umm, the visa process takes 30-45 days. Why??????? And more importantly, why is it not on the website? Back in August, Bill got his visa within the day. Now, as of September, 2011 it takes 30-45 days. Why?!!!!! It`s not like I could’ve done anything about it. I think we just would not have gotten our hopes up for nothing. I was expeting to be there by next week, maybe week after that… Ya try a month now!

So what do I need?
1. Visa application form (Typed out or block letter written).
2. Two (2) recent passport size photographs (4 cm x 6 cm) taken against a plain white background attached to the application form (must write name on back) and the medical form.

3. A valid passport for at least six months from the application date and must have the place of birth and two blank pages side by side (Original Only). If family accompanying on the same passport, pictures and names of all members must be added on the passport by the proper legal authorities.
4. Proof of relationship to the sponsor (a marriage certificate for a wife and a birth certificate for a child indicating name of both parents (Copy Only))
5. Non-Canadian applicants must submit a valid residency permit (permanent resident card). (Send only copy of front and back of the Permanent Residency (PR) card)
6. Copy of POLIO immunization record for children under the age of 15.
7. Copy of Residency permit of the sponsor (IQAMA) and a Letter from the sponsor indicating the authorization number , the date and the names of applicants.
8. For residency visa applicants over 16 years old, must provide:

a) Completed medical report form and all test results. NOTE: YOUR PHYSICIAN MUST USE A CHECK MARK FOR POSITIVE RESULTS OR A CHECK MARK FOR NEGATIVE RESULTS. The report MUST be certified by college of physicians (see our legalization section #5) of the issuing province (Original Only). You MUST confirm with your doctor that you have all required test results INCLUDING (HIV, Syphilis, Hepatitis B and C - please attach these result pages to the back of the medical report). If any of the 4 results are positive+, your doctor must provide a typed explanation of why they are positive. (If medical report is done outside of Canada, it must be authenticated by the Saudi Arabian Embassy in that country. If the medical report is issued in Saudi Arabia it must be authenticated by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Saudi Arabia).

b) Police clearance report (Original Only) 9 A copy of airline reservation must be submitted along with the application (proof of purchase not necessary).
10. If applicant is female and 18 years of age or older, and going under her father's Iqama - she must submit a letter stating that she is single.

http://www.visaenterprise.com/requirementsNew.php?destination=Saudi-Arabia

-- Warda

Day 31 - 1 October 2011

I walked about six miles today, more than half of that in the heat (figure about 10 kilometers). I walked past lots of cars left outside of stores, still running but no one inside. I thought, "That's bad for the environment, but wow, the amount of saftey that everyone here feels, the fact that women can walk alone at 2AM without being harassed, the fact that cars can be left unattended and not a penny will be stolen, what a great place...

... Then some jackass pops his SUV on the curb of the sidewalk and drives right towards me to get around a little bit of traffic.

FML.
-- Bill,