A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...a la Mr. Rogers....

The neighborhood behind our flats is meow...meow...beautiful (That's for you, Steph!)  Henrietta Pussycat says "hello."  I'll try to get a picture of her next time I go out and find her lurking around!   :)

Kim and I took another leisurely walk around the neighborhood this morning, and I took a camera.  First, we have the marigold festival going on....ha-ha....shades of Winterville here!  The entire length of one street is literally lined with marigolds!  This is just one small view.  I feel right at home.

Next, we have the unusual sight of a cornfield in front of the palm trees!

We also have the stark beauty of these leafless trees in front of the Omani  mountains.

Then, the neighborhood itself.  What can I say except that these houses are AMAZING!  You can't see much of them because they are all walled inside giant compounds.  Kim was getting aggravated with me trying to take pictures.  He thought I might get arrested....as if!  This first one is one of the few that does not have a tall wall around it.

This next one is just the entryway.  Through the gate you can see the front door of the house with steps leading up.  I'd LOVE to be able to get a view of the entire house with my camera, but I didn't want to push my luck.

This pink one Kim calls a "fixer-upper" because it is for sale.  I haven't stopped yet to take a brochure to see how much......but I definitely plan to!  This picture is looking down the street from the neighboring compound wall (which is why the wall is yellow and the house is pink).

I will admit I did not take a picture of this next one up close because by then I was getting a little apprehensive that Kim might be right!  One day, though, I plan to take my camera back to take a shot of the inside of this one....it is unimaginable.  These houses are not only magnificent, but the grounds and landscaping are also splendid!

Then, we walked on around to another street and saw a goat farm and a camel farm, side-by-side with these mansions!

Here is a picture of a farm right behind our complex, and a nice mall is going up within walking distance.  The mall looks as if it will be a while before we can shop there.....but I can dream!

A taxi driver just told Kim that there was a new mall already opened on the street behind us.  We haven't ridden down that road yet, just walked.  I guess we haven't walked far enough. 

I had to go to the medical clinic yesterday.....sore throat, and I didn't want it to get any worse before we head on vacation.  On the way there (which is just a few blocks), I saw the Hili Oasis and the Hili Fort.  There is also an archaeological site, which we are anxious to see.  We will explore around that area in January when we finish our holiday.

The clinic was an experience!!  There is a man's side and a woman's side.  I waited to go until 1:30, when most people take a nap.  There was hardly anybody there.  They did the usual:  checked my blood pressure, temp, weight, etc., and then I got to see the doctor.  She explained that the cooler Westerly winds are changing, and southeast and northeast winds are bringing some warmer weather.  This is causing a shift in the sand which irritates the throat, leading to some breathing issues.  She had a name for it, but I can't remember what it was.....

The upshot of all this is that my throat was sore, so I wanted to keep it from getting worse.  The trip to the doctor, my "excuse" note for school, and 4 prescriptions (including an Albuterol inhaler) cost a total of 55 dirhams (about $15).  Each prescription ran about $1.50.  The doctor's visit was the most expensive part, at $8.00.  Gotta love the health care here! 

If you're not up to going into the clinic, there is a drugstore where the pharmacist will "diagnose" your problem and "prescribe" your medication.  I did that a few weeks back before I knew about the clinic.  I picked up some antibiotics and medicine for ANOTHER sore throat.  The problem with this is that you have to pay full price.  My antibiotics cost 100 dhs (about $27).  I could get the same prescription at the clinic for less than $2.  Live and learn.....

Even though I have had several sore throats, none has developed into anything worse.  My throat will be sore for a few days and then it has cleared up.  I'm grateful I haven't faced anything like what I did back home when it would drop into my chest and cause weeks of difficult breathing!!  Part of the sore throat traces back to doing so much talking in the classroom in such a loud voice.  My strategy of talking quietly so the students have to be quiet to listen has NOT worked very well here! 

Today we head to Spain.  I'm up early....can't break that habit!  I plan to pack some things and putter around the house a little and then try to take a nap later before we head to the airport.

Merry Christmas to all those of you I won't talk to before the 25th!  Blessings to all.....

Merry Christmas from the UAE!

I could not find any cute Christmas cards here in the UAE.  They all looked pretty generic, just like I might find in the U.S.  Heather found some cute ones at a store in Abu Dhabi, so I just scanned one of hers for this blog.  She shared 4 of her cards with me, so other than IMMEDIATE family, I won't be sending Christmas cards this year.....

It's hard to get in the spirit with very little Christmas music except what I hear in the flat.  I'm used to hearing the music starting at Thanksgiving, and by week 2 of the songs, I'm typically in the mood for shopping!  Here, it's already the 10th and I haven't even thought about buying Christmas gifts.  Okay, folks back home, Kim and I will hit the internet today to be shipping those gifts home--ha-ha!!!

Kim has settled right in.  We bought a stove and had it delivered last night, got the gas hooked up, and I'm looking forward to my first home-cooked meal since September 1st!  We're going to buy cooking utensils today, I hope.

We had been frantically trying to get Kim's paperwork and passport completed and stamped with his residency visa so he could leave the country for Spain next week.  With the slow pace here, we were cutting it very close to get his passport back the day before we were going to fly out.  So, last night we get a call that his paperwork is back.  We hop in a cab, go pick up his papers and walk them over to the Ministry of the Interior (which stays open until 9:00, thank goodness!) It usually takes about a minimum of 5 working days to get the passport back.  It took mine about 5 weeks.

 I asked the man behind the counter how long it would be until his passport would be returned since we were leaving the country in a few days.  He smiled and said, "I will do it right now.  Wait here."  He returned a short time later with Kim's passport and handed it to us, already complete with his residency visa!!!!  Hooray for helpful government workers in the Interior Ministry!!!!  Now Kim gets to go to Spain with the rest of the family.  (Sorry, Heather, he was going to keep Blue if he was left behind!)  Ha-ha!!

My principal and AQC surprised us yesterday with a birthday cake for those of us who had birthdays in November.  They only found out it was our birthdays when we turned in a copy of our passports.  I think they felt bad that they had not known.  Yummy chocolate cake!  :)

Vanity

With that title on the blog, I'll bet you were thinking it was all about being vain, right?  Sorry to mislead you, but this is all about furniture!  I think we have finally just about finished furnishing our flat.  After sitting on the floor for 3 months to do my hair each morning (ouch!), we bought a vanity.  Now I won't have to sit down on the floor each morning....and slowly try to get up!  It has 7 drawers to hide all my "junk" and I can plug in my dryer and curling iron and stay in one place.  Kim is threatening to re-wire the bathroom so that the light switch is inside the bathroom and we have an electric outlet in there.  He goes into the bathroom and THEN tries to turn on the light......silly boy!

We also finished furnishing the 2nd bedroom and moved the rug that was in there to the office.  This is Heather and Cory's room.....and anyone else who cares to come visit!  :)  The only other thing I think we'll do in here is get some curtains that are easy to open and close.  Currently there are blinds from IKEA that roll up and down, but I'm not sure how well-built they are and how long they will last.  Oh, yes, we may also buy a thick throw so that when we turn the temperature down to 18 C at night, the visitors don't freeze!  For some reason, this bedroom gets a lot colder than the master bedroom. 

In the next picture you can see the rug that is now in the office.  I liked it in the bedroom, but Heather convinced me to get the rugs you see up above.  I did like them better once I got them in the room.

And.......we bought a stove!  Tonight "we" cooked our first meal on it:  4-pepper chicken and rice, served with broccoli and cauliflower.  It was SO GOOD!!!  Okay, I confess, Kim did most of the cooking, but I did wash the wok and vegetable steamer when we brought them home from the store.....doing my small part to help mankind.....

This was my first real home-cooked meal since September 1st!! (I don't think heating up Ragu and pouring it over pasta counts.)  It was certainly worth the long wait.

Heather convinced her daddy to buy a grill....so here it is.  It's a Weber.  We haven't tried cooking on it yet.  When we got it home, we realized there was no regulator for the gas, so Kim had to return it and get another one.  Maybe later this week we can give it a try.  :)  It fits on our balcony, so we're going to try grilling out on the 5th floor....wish us luck!

I am definitely a happy girl now that Kim is here! 

Holidays.....

I have experienced my first National Day in the UAE.  This is the 39th anniversary of the day that the emirates were united under Sheikh Zayed (rather like our Fourth of July).  They definitely go all out!  Our school had a day-long celebration of Emirati song, dance, dress, and food.

Beginning ceremonies......

My class dancing 

Another of my students....isn't she beautiful?!

Three more students....Notice I am in an abaya with a UAE banner.   We all dressed up!

These are my Western co-workers.....one of the reasons I make it through my day.....They are a great group!!!

We also got a 4-day holiday, so Heather and Cory came over for a few days....and brought Kim along!  I finally got to see him after all this time!  We didn't do too much, but just spent good family time together.  We did take Kim to see the camel souk and Jebel Hefeet.  

The man at the souk came and gave Kim his headdress, so of course Kim was thrilled to have this photo op!

These camels were HUNGRY!!  They kept grabbing and munching on the hay!

Looks like Kim's getting a kiss!  :)

Heather and Cory on Jebel Hefeet 

After deciding that I was not going to put money into Christmas decorations (since we won't be here), I broke down and bought a small tree-top version.  It has a UAE flag tree-topper and tree skirt.  The colors fit quite well--ha-ha!!

Our Charlie Brown Christmas tree......

Heather decorates the tree.....with a little help from Blue!