The Acne Prone Wife

Ini ceritanya Juni 2012. Tahun lalu, saat kami masih terdampar di Dubai. Hari itu kami ke daerah Al Karama dekat Bur Dubai, dan suami mengajak saya jalan-jalan ke salah satu tempat paling keramat untuk warga perantau dari Indonesia: Toko Abeng! Selama berbulan-bulan tinggal di Dubai, saya hanya mendengar gosip-gosip tentang Toko Abeng dari percakapan seperti ini: Ibu 1: Eh gula merah datang loh di Toko Abeng! Ibu 2: Oh yaaaa, ayo buruan kita ke sana sebelum kehabisan. Dan memang, jika tidak cepat-cepat, kami harus menunggu lama sebelum gula merah datang lagi di toko keramat ini. Sebelum benar-benar datang ke Toko Abeng, saya membayangkan toko tersebut besar seperti supermarket. Bayangan saya salah. Ternyata tokonya seuprit Bisa dilihat barang-barang dagangan utama ada berdus-dus adalah Indomie (mie favorit di Dubai. Di supermarket saya sering lihat Indomie diborong orang-orang Emirati, Arab, India, dll), sambal botol (how can we Indonesians live without sambal botol, rig...

I don't know if this rule is worldwide or only in Indonesia, but to travel abroad you have to have return ticket. I believe it is to avoid people to work illegally abroad and not coming back to their home country. No country would want this to happen. Image is from here . Anyway, when I wanted to leave for Dubai, UAE to be with the husband who's working there, I called several travel agents to purchase a one-way ticket because I needed not a return ticket (and of course to save some money :D). But those travel agents insisted that they could not sell a one-way ticket. It's against the rule, they said, although I had tried to explain that I would have some kind of a visa. So the husband decided to make a residence visa sponsored by the husband (not by the company) and here is the process: Prepare a copy of the marriage certificate (translated into English by a certified and sworn translator, legalized by Kementerian Hukum dan HAM RI, Kementerian Luar Negeri RI, and Embassy o...