The Pink Tarha For You 1/2

I was tearing up on the third response (and the first one was the test response I did which just said "test")... that's the effect of your replies to The Pink Tarha's Fifth Anniversary Ultimate Giveaway survey to me. I honestly have to refrain from reading further because I was still at work. That's a problem not only because crying out of nowhere will elicit weird stares in my direction but also... what am I doing reading non-work stuff during working hours?! Haha! Anyway, I settled not to read the responses sheet until the contest time expires (12 midnight of January 24). But then again, I don't exactly have the EQ to stop myself (I swear I have EQ most of the time, please don't judge). And what do I read next? 

I didn't see the name of the commenter immediately so this weird comment baffled me at first: 

"OMG! G R R R... I lurveee this blog! Nyahaha! Anyway, this blog is so madaya. Bakit di ako pwedeng sumali sa contest na ito eh reader din naman ako?! At Riyadhizen din naman ako?! Paki-explain? Love you. Wahahaha! :)"
[Translation: Oh my god! Grrr! I love this blog! Nyahaha! Anyway, this blog is so unfair. Why can't I join in this contest?! I'm a reader and I'm also a Riyadhizen! Please explain. Love you.] 

I swear I blinked a couple of times before it dawned on me to look at the name of the sender. It said "brother/driver/bodyguard of Sundrenched." I laughed out loud! Okay, so this is my younger brother commenting about The Pink Tarha (because the older one is on vacation)... finally! I knew he was such a fan. Haha! He definitely serves as my driver and bodyguard sometimes when I had to go to an obscure store or restaurant looking for whatever. 

I posted The Pink Tarha Ultimate Giveaway in my personal Facebook page and mentioned there that my brothers can't join because well, they're family and most contests don't let their first degree family members join so I had to prohibit them. Not that I think they would actually join but oh well. It's so funny. By the way, the brother wants to read all about the lugaw (congee) in Batha and the suman (rice cake) in Batha and Suleimania. He wants me to do a review! Hahaha! Thanks, bro! I can always share with you my Entertainer coupons because you won the sweetest comment, hahahaha!

So the questions in the survey were: What do you think of The Pink Tarha and our social media sites? What do you want to read next in The Pink Tarha? What can you suggest to make The Pink Tarha better?

I simply asked you, our readers, to write them in creative, unique, and substantial manners. I obviously made the judging difficult for me because what am I basing my decision with? I didn't have a criteria on the selection of winners. Well, you all know that The Pink Tarha is personal for me. The other ladies are always saying that The Pink Tarha is Sundrenched's baby. It's true. So I decided to go with gut feel. I decided to read the answers and the ones that struck me most will be the winners. 

I had to give the second runner-up award to Hygeia Abellanosa because she did not only give the longest answer, she gave one of the most substantial one. 

“I remembered back then, during the very first time I bumped into your blog, I was searching into how and where I can send money back home. I found myself reading the article from this eye-catching blog. I didn’t even notice that I spent so much time reading your other articles. I became one of your avid fans, to the point of stalking Eyecandy when I saw her in Panda before. LOL! My search for Enjaz and Telemoney had somehow led me to a great and inspiring blog which made my stay in Riyadh a whole lot different.” 

You think that’s long enough? There was more!!! Well, I couldn’t put everything in here but Hygeia went on describing who the The Pink Tarha is for her (statements in clauses are mine, because I couldn't help making side comments, really, haha!): a. Living GPS (that’s my mad direction skillzzz!), b. Crafty Cultivators (I knew many people love Sharpies!), c. Shopping Mamarazzis (I thought she was referring to us as “mama” [mothers] already, good thing she cleared it up or else… haha!), d. Pig-Out Hunters (did she just say pig this time?! LOL), and e. Ready Jet Set Go!!! (She likes our vacation entries, I like them too.)

Every title was explained well. She also wants to read a lot of future topics. Her suggestions include monthly meet-ups with The Pink Tarha ladies, an event in the Philippine Embassy, trainings and tie-ups with sponsors, and a blog magazine. Wooow, we’d love to but you all know that The Pink Tarha is not our day job right? Hahaha! Some of you share her suggestions. More events, more workshops, more contests… We want them all too! We will try our best to do some of your suggested happenings this year. *cross fingers* 

First runner up Mohammed Ameenuddin won me with his poem. I mean, it’s a stanza but it’s a stanza written by a man so it’s a winner in my books already. Effort! Here are his four lines for us: 

"Pink Tarha, you girls are really best in the desert land
With your blog, I barely feel the boring heated sand
Knowledgeable, interesting you bring a lot of smiles
I am sure you guys will move ahead a million miles" 

See, it's so simple but I asked for a unique feedback right? This one is the most unique. ;) I just wished he used "girls" instead of "guys" but oh well, we're cool. We're good. LOL. He wants the Pink Tarha to organize women meetings because he believes that our amount of experience would help women, especially the new ones. Again, why not? We will try our best, promise! ;) 

And the ULTIMATE WINNER’s answer really got to me. It shed some light on what The Pink Tarha is now to others, how some people are really taking our suggestions at heart and living it. It’s interesting when people just say we’ve inspired and influenced them in their shopping and traveling choices. It’s much more amazing when it comes to life choices. 

Ammarah Zafar shared this: 

“I accidentally stumbled upon The Pink Tarha blog while researching online about Riyadh, the day I found out about my husband being offered a job in Riyadh. My first reaction to the offer was “no thank you!” I did not want to move to a veiled society where I had no information about anything. When I started reading your blog, it helped me calm down and I realized maybe it wasn’t such a bad place. I remember that was in 2012, I immediately emailed the link to my husband who was at work in Lahore, Pakistan. I think we read your entire blog that night. It’s one of the deciding factors for me to finally say yes to the move.  

And even now that I’ve been here for 7 months, The Pink Tarha is my comfort zone. I know it sounds funny but every time I’m down or depressed (which happens way too often in Riyadh), I read your blog and your Facebook page. It cheers me up and helps me plan things. It reminds me that this place has a life too and it’s not too bad. I’ve written to you a few times for advice and information. Thank you so much for just being you. And thank you for helping people like me who feel a bond with you in a faraway land.” 

Wooow, just wow. When we wrote our first blog post back in January 2009, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. And now here we are… influencing and inspiring others huh? It’s amazing and interesting to know that we’ve become a part of someone's deciding factor in going to Saudi Arabia. It shows me how far the blog has come in the five years that we’ve been online. It’s also scary, of course. To influence people on their decisions, especially ones that involve moving to Saudi Arabia. I remember one time when we received an email from a Moroccan lady asking us if we think marrying her Saudi boyfriend is a good decision, I got anxious. What will our reply be? It’s like holding one’s life, one’s future in our hands. And the funny thing? We don’t even know her personally and she’s a thousand miles away from us. 

The aim of The Pink Tarha is to inspire others with our writings.We want to provide as much value as we can. And also, to bring to light the good things in living in Saudi Arabia. Like what I wrote in our anniversary post, Riyadh is not exactly the best place to be in but we're already here so let's make the most out of it. 

We’re being surprised at how much our words are lifting and helping them. Truly, sharing our stories and experiences with each other helps us feel less alone in this land faraway from home. 

The rest of the comments were very enlightening too (and I'll write part 2, promise!). I must admit, sometimes, writing for the blog gets repetitive and tiring but getting your comments boosts my confidence and motivates me to write again, and again, and again. Our readers are awesome!!! YOU ARE AWESOME!!! This blog is no longer just our diary. It’s yours too. You’ll always find an online home with us. Cheers to more years of sharing and inspiring each other! :) ~ Sundrenched

PS. Our anniversary cake is from Nadia Tariq of Bakefresh, the first homebaker in Riyadh we featured in the blog in 2009. I sent her the idea that I had and she created this beautiful, beautiful cake! Look at the amazing details here:

The first one are real flowers, the inspiration of the anniversary cake.