Kedai 1001 Mimpi

It's been such a long time I have never read any memoir that could burst me into laughter. This book is an exception. I guess the author, Valiant Budi, also a unique person. Since early age he already dreamed to live overseas, but if most people choose USA or European countries, he prefer Middle East countries or African Countries. Therefore he was so excited when finally got a job in an international coffee shop and stationed in Saudi Arabian.

As a barista there, he experienced a lot of things, from culture shock, crazy boss, crazy customers, and many unbelievable moments. Actually he tells about sad stories here, but since he tells them in a very witty way, therefore instead of crying, I was laughing even more.

It seems that working in Saudi Arabian is not an easy thing to do. I can't imagine even the author, a guy with a law degree and having job experience as a broadcaster, editor and writer still got bad experience there, such as: boss and customers who underestimate him, sexual harassement, etc. No wonder that we heard many sad stories about many Indonesian women workers there.

Yes, different country has different culture. Saudi Arabian is a very rich country. Most of the coffee shop customers are rich people and they tend to look down people from other countries. The author experienced many bad stories about this attitude issue. What I learn here is the importance of education. Although you are rich but if you don't have proper education, it will be nothing. Just like the author said, 'you can have a lot of money, but you can't buy good attitude'.