Shopping at Ikea

August 10, 2011


Every day I add a few more items to my shopping list. Finally the day arrived and we took a bus into the city of Khobar about an hour away, to shop at Ikea. There are 5 new female faculty at the school I am working in. Once we reached Ikea we all slipped on our black borrowed abayas. Ladies, I have to admit it takes the fuss out deciding what you want to wear. I have worn sleeveless cotton dresses, and shorts and tops underneath. While navigating the aisles, the only difficulty I had was pushing the Ikea cart. The front flaps of my abaya kept getting caught in the cart wheels. I would take about 10 steps forward, come to an abrupt halt, and then take a few steps backwards to unwind the fabric from the hungry wheels. I tried to tie the two front flaps together, but when I did I could only walk about 8 inches at time, waddling like a penguin. Ikea is stocked with the same items you see in most other Ikeas. I saw my daughter Renee’s duvet and was reminded of how much I miss her. Every woman in Ikea was wearing a black abaya and full facial cover-up. I cannot fathom this concept. My western principles balk at this archaic code. We were at Ikea during two prayer times. The first was 20 minutes. We are allowed to continue shopping, but they close the doors so people cannot come in or go out. The Muslims that choose to answer the call, go to an in-store mosque. The rest of the employees must abandon their work stations; therefore you cannot check out during call to prayer or get food from the café. The second call to prayer lasted about 40 minutes. There are no female clerks. Most of the help are immigrants from around the world, but predominantly from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

Phil and I were able to get some much needed household goods. We looked at furniture and the cost seems to be about 50% higher than US prices. My Ikea gift certificate, so creatively crafted by Maggi and the Federal Programs group from Bellingham, was put to good use. Thank-you to all my work colleagues! I will be reminded of how special each of you are to me when I sit on our new loveseat.

Jonathan & Stacey Dupont

Phil & Liane and sales staff