First encounter with the religious Police and shopping, shopping and more shopping.

My first shopping priorities included food, a zip-up abayya, a SIM card, broadband and a coffee machine. Emma and I caught the compound bus to a local mall where we’d planned to meet up with another newbie. Unfortunately she got on the incorrect bus and ended up feeling quite unsafe at a much rougher part of town than us. Mildly worried about encountering the religious Police in our inadequate attire (Emma’s borrowed abayya was about 10cm too short and mine completely open at the front), we pounded the marble floor looking for a store that sold abayyas. Very odd. Every woman in the entire country wears one but do you think we could find them in a store? We passed one store that looked very expensive that had some but no others. In desperation we returned there 40mins later to discover that the prices were actually quite reasonable. All retail workers here are male and they are extremely accommodating. Unfortunately it is virtually impossible to try on clothes that one wishes to purchase, as change-rooms are non-existent. This store kindly lent us their broom cupboard and we eventually purchased two lovely zip-up abayyas and matching scarves for about A$90 each.

Feeling quite chuffed with ourselves, we found a mobile store and began the process of getting a SIM card. The gentlemen in the store thought it was wonderful that we were from Australasia. One repeated the word ‘Sydney’ approximately 30 times over the next hour while we waited for him to do whatever he was doing (I’m guessing not much). While standing at the counter in frustration, I heard a man yell ‘Cover your head woman!’ and turned to see a member of the religious Police (rP) glowering at us. To my relief, he turned and left immediately. The retail workers thought it was hilarious. Two of them then stood guard by the door and tried to tell us with charades each time they were nearby again with much laughter. The rP reportedly wander all public areas maintaining a sense of order and upholding the law when required. They are distinguished by their beards, wearing a shorter thobe than all other males (above ankle length) and a white headscarf without an egal (ring), as only aroha wears a crown. One of my flatmates mentioned that there is a male nurse on her ward who is also rP. It sounds like a difficult juggling act as it affects his physical interaction with patients and staff and responses to emergency situations.

Shopping here is done on a massive scale. Shops open from 10am-1pm and then 3pm-midnight. There are excessive brands, varieties and sizes of all items you could possibly want to buy, and the more bling, the better. I saw the biggest bobby-pin stand I’ve ever seen. All colours of the rainbow, all shades of sparkle, all thicknesses, weights and materials. I’m writing this a week after arriving and I’ve already visited 5 large malls and a number of standalone stores. There are many stores that are duplicated in all malls, but each mall seems to have it’s own style with a specialist area of merchandise. One has mostly shoe stores (a big deal when you wear black from head to ankle), another bling dresses and jewellery and the most recent we visited (and the Codoolest by far) had abayyas galore.