How You Know The Seafood Section Manager Has A Sense Of Humor

S & J

Scenes from...

Coming into the end of September, I think we're finally starting to get accustomed to being here.

We're in the month of Ramadan (Sept 10-October 10, though it moves about 11 days earlier each year because of the lunar calendar...), which is the month in which Muslims believe the Koran was revealed to Mohammed.  It's a very reverent and holy month, when Muslims do not eat, drink, smoke, or do pretty much any kind of pleasurable consumption during daylight hours.  This has some fairly significant impact on life.

First of all, all the restaurants are closed during the day.  The major hotels each have one Ramadan restaurant open, but everything else, from the nicest restaurant to Baskin Robbins, is shut down until around 5:30 p.m.

It is illegal to eat in public.  And yes, people have been arrested.  Oh, a surreptitious sip of water will get overlooked, and they probably just make you sit in the station for a while and then let you go with a stern look, so it's not brutal, but no joke, the cops will arrest you for flagrant eating in public.

Hours change around, mostly to get everyone out of the heat.  Ramadan hours are generally 9 am to noon and 8:30 p.m. to midnight.  It's a little weird going to the market, running errands, buying a bookcase at IKEA, all at 9:30 at night, but everyone else does it and when in Rome...

In theory, one gets up before sunrise, eats and prays, has a full day, then around 6:30 pm, a small break-fast, prayer, and dinner.  Ideally, one should read the Koran in the evening, think about faith and religion, and turn in, in preparation for the next morning.

Reality is pretty ironic.  In reality, dinner turns into the equivalent of an American Thanksgiving dinner, every night, for 30 straight days.  Royalty receives visitors and holds audiences late into the evening.  Other prominent people hold seminars, meetings, gatherings and even lecture and speaking series all night until 2 in the morning.  Or later.  Some folks just stay up until just before sunrise, eat, pray, and go to bed to sleep off the daylight starvation. Stores are bedecked with lights and decorations.  Flyers and ads announce special Ramadan sales, even though everyone knows that prices are through the roof.   Even for food.  Last week's paper screamed "price gouging!" when  survey of stores showed that prices for basic food -- nuts, lettuce, fruits, vegetables, meat, chicken -- we're up 40, 50 100 even 200%.

Thus I had to laugh when I opened this morning's paper to find a two-page spread, including "man on the street interviews", bemoaning the commercialization of a very sacred and religiously-reverent holiday.

Sounds familiar, no?  Some things are universal.

Moving on...

To begin to understand the Emirates, you need to know at least two numbers.

The population of the UAE is about 800,000.  The number of people in the country is about 8 million.

The Emiratis represent the population.  Everyone else is resident labor, including us.  Yes, you did that math right.  Emiratis account for barely 10% of the populace.  Americans and Westerners are maybe another 15%, Arabs from other countries about 25%, and South Asians (Pakistan, India, etc.) about 50%.  This makes for interesting language issues.  I've been asked what is my "good name" (full name), and it took me three days to figure out that a "dickey" is the trunk of a car.

The other impact of this is that Emiratis, it seems to me, feel a bit overwhelmed by all these foreigners and, as a result, are a bit insular and shy.  Flawlessly courteous and, truly, very kind and humble and gentle.  I know that goes against the stereotype, but it's so.  The ones we've met have just been very nice, ordinary, simple people.

And it's a small country, so everyone knows everyone.  I had a very formal meeting with a fellow who's in charge of public health here, and we exchanged some very formal emails to finish our business.  Then I ran into him and his wife in the seafood aisle at Carrefour, all of us in casual market clothing, and the formality just doesn't work anymore.

Some things work even better here than in the U.S.  Seriously.  We bought a car.  Dealer did all the paperwork, the traffic safety, etc., and took the papers to the local DMV to get the plates issued.  Four hours later, not only did I have plates in hand, but a text message on my cell phone informing me that the plates had been issued, and reminding me that the Abu Dhabi Police urge safe driving, seatbelt use and no drinking while driving.

OK, let's get to the good stuff.  Pictures!

Aubrey in her yellow sundress




Aubrey at the Cafe du Roi with Momma




Our new (used) car, a 2006 Honda CR-V. That haze you see is not romantic appeal, it's the camera lens fogging up because it's so danged hot and humid out...



Scenes from an Emirati iftaar...




Scenes from an Emirati mall...

Waterfountain


Family (1 snoozing...)


A new part of the mall that wasn't fully open yet. There will be restaurants on the terrace and gondolas in the canal.


Look familiar? We tried it. Tastes just like home.

S & J

Random Cellphone Shots

Just some random cellphone shots over the past couple of weeks.  Quality's not great, but she's still just as cute. :-)

Playin' in the Kitchen...

Momma & Baby...

Wheeeeeeeee!!!

Zzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Cool baby in shades...

Hi everybody!!

S & J

Our First Outing

We joined a little beach club not far from the house. Beach, four pools, a covered kiddie pool and playground for the little kids, two restaurants and a bar for the big kids, fitness center and spa. Decided since we got Sunday off for Labor Day and every one else in AD had to go to work, what better day to hit the pool?

Some of you may notice that the resolution on these pictures is not as sharp as usual. That's intentional. Our connection is a little less reliable and a little slower than we're used to at home, so we're making the pictures smaller in order to get them on the site.

First, the view from poolside. The club is on the Corniche (the northern end of the island) and faces into the Persian Gulf. There's a large island/peninsula across the harbor that is a commercial center, the Marina Mall. It's huge. But more on that later...




To the right of the pool area picture, you see some tables and chairs. That's the breakfast area near the swim-up bar.



In the background, you can see the end of that island/peninsula. Out there is a theatre and cultural museum (the dome), and the largest flagpole you have ever seen.



The flag is absolutely enormous. And, as you can see, it is not moving. Hazy, hot, humid and not a breeze in sight.

To the right of the breakfast area, there's a beach. You can see the city in the distance. Very hazy. The first large building on the left, just to the left of the radio antenna with the crane growing out of it, is very close to the house. So we're not at all far away from the beach!



The club also has a covered kiddie pool and, in the back, waterslides for the older kids.



Not too far from the Emirates Palace Hotel. We thought about joining their beach club, but it costs $12,000 per year. Too rich for our blood. That hotel, by the way, is enormous. A ballroom that holds 3000, a theatre that is larger than theatres I've been in on Broadway, arcardes and passages that blow the mind, and all of that for -- get this -- 394 rooms. A hotel that size in the U.S. would have minimum 1000 rooms, if not 1200.



Here's another couple of shots of the Marina Mall. 200 stores plus Carrefour (France's WalMart), a cinema, and -- yes, look closely.... closely...

IKEA!!

So getting back to Aubrey...









And that was our first day at the pool in Abu Dhabi!!

S & J