Day 55 of my captivity

We spend several days in Muscat Oman for our Eid holiday, at the Shangri-La Hotel. It was one of the nicest resorts I have ever seen, and the most amazing location. The resort is tucked back in the Oman Mountains, along the Gulf of Oman. We went snorkeling and saw the same fish that we used to have in our fish tank. Eric swam with a turtle and we saw some huge coral. It was so beautiful. Then we went on a sunset cruise and the tour guide told us about several of the villages along the sea. There are several British villages still there. We saw goats on a rock, an old castle that is now the jail. There were two cemeteries, one the guide told us was from a British shipwreck, the other was Hindu, it had black sand and the guide told us that it was black from the ghosts that haunt it. The last day we went on a catamaran and watches dolphins. We spent the rest of the day off road. I would have been just fine missing that part of the trip, but John and Eric enjoyed it. The only good part about that trip was I picked up a few beautiful pieces of rough marble.
I also picked up some really pretty shells on the beach, to find out later that some were still alive. So when we got back, we set them free at our beach. I don’t think their immigration papers are in order, but hope they make good friends anyway. So sorry little crabs, won’t make that mistake again.

Day 54 of my captivity

Day 50 of my captivity

This weekend marks the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Eid. For muslims it is is a time to give to charity and a time of gift giving (especially to children) and a time to get together with relatives. In most muslim countries, this is a three day official holiday. Can you say p-a-r-t-y. For us it is a week vacation from school. We are going to Oman for a couple of days to scuba dive, and snorkel and Tyler is coming to visit. Yeah!!!

Day 49 of my captivity

I have seen a few UPS and DSL vans. But there is not much of a postal service in Abu Dhabi. The way to get mail is by post office boxes through the company that you work for. So to have mail delivered to you, you have to have a job in the country. And in order to work and live in the UAE, you have to have a job from a company in the country. That company becomes your sponsor. If you lose your job then you have to leave. Your sponsor verifies your employment so you can get your residency visa, a lease for a place to live, a drivers license, to lease a car, and get a liquor license (yes you have to have a license to buy liquor, and your letter from your sponsor has to say you are not Muslim).
We don’t really have an address at the apartment either. We have an apartment number (301) and the name of the building. But the building has a different name on the front than on the back. Then there is an area of town. You don’t give someone an address to find your home, instead you give directions. You would tell them the area of town, and the building name. Most people don’t go by street names, they give directions by landmarks.
You won’t see any homeless people around either. They will be sent back to wherever they came from. Also there isn’t a lot of trash on the streets or graffiti. There is always someone around to pick it up or clean it. One of those government workers in a brightly colored jump suit (that I wrote about earlier) is always close by to pick it up or clean it. Every morning on the same corner is the same little guy with his red (sort of pink) jumpsuit with a broom and trash can cleaning the street.

Day 46 of my captivity

Our earth is like a child who has grown up without parents, having no one to guide and direct her. Some have attempted to help her, but most have simply tried to use her. Humans who have been given the task to lovingly steer the world, instead plunder her, with no consideration other than their immediate needs. And they give little thoughts to their own children, who will inherit their lack of love. So they use her and abuse her with little consideration, and then when she shudders or blows her breath, they are offended and raise their fist at God. –from the shack

Day 44 of my captivity

We had the best day yesterday at the fruit and vegetable and meat market. We filled up the back of the car with fruit and vegetables and 2 kg. of filets fresh from Australia. It was awesome. I spent the next two hours cleaning and cutting it all. The fish market is next.

Day 42 of my captivity

It is still hot and I am so over Ramadan. I am so tired of not being able to go to the store until 8:00pm, and not being able to drink a bottle of water in the afternoon walking down the street. I saw a poor Emirate lady today, all dressed in black from head to toe. She was really hot, trying to get a taxi and I thought she was going to faint. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon, and she probably hadn't had anything to eat or drink since dawn because of Ramadan. I tried to talk to her to see if she wanted some water, but she wouldn't look at me.

We are looking forward to a short vacation in Muscat Oman for the Eid holiday coming up at the end of Ramadan, (Eric and I get a week of school off). The scuba diving and snorkeling are suppose to be amazing.

We are finally in the apartment, the last delivery was Eric's bedroom set a few days ago. It was the first thing we bought and the last to be delivered. Ikea is a very popular place. I've already tried to burn the building down, and we broke in the new hand stitched living room carpet from Turkey with a glass of orange juice. The fire was not totally my fault; someone told me it was ok to put pizza on cardboard into a gas stove. Not a good idea. Then I threw the smoking cardboard in the trash and that started on fire. We found out then that there is no smoke or fire alarms in the building. I think that will be our next purchase. There is a gas alarm in the kitchen though.

Eric is recovering from his concussion and is working very hard to get ready for soccer tryouts next week. He has been reunited with his skateboard that was confiscated at security in London, 5 weeks and $100.00 later. No worse for the wear though.

The school has two confirmed cases of swine flu. There is also a very contagious case of sore throat and fever going around. One of my second grade classes only had four kids today, and another has only had 10 kids this whole week. The high school has also got the throat crud thing going around.

Day 40 of my captivity

The grocery stores are all in the basement of apartment buildings or in the mall basement. So far we have found most of the groceries things that we have looked for. We like ketchup from Nebraska better than ketchup from Egypt. The packages look different, printed in Arabic with enough English to figure out what it is. Most things we can identify by the color/design of the packages anyway.
We haven’t seen ranch salad dressing at the restaurants, and a salad is just a salad. It may be called a greek salad or oriental salad, but it really should be called a green salad. I have tried several and they all are basically the same. Lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, green olives, onion, carrots, and cucumber, with mustard dressing or italian.
Most of the nicer restaurants are in hotels and that is the only place that serves alcohol. There are some good restaurants in the furniture stores and grocery stores too. It is very odd to eat at Ikea, but they make good food.

Day 33 of my captivity

From the Abu Dhabi Weekly newspaper:

“You know you’ve become acclimatised to Abu Dhabi when…”
· It’s acceptable, even desirable, to own a hummer.
· The need to go anywhere near Salam Street breaks you out in a cold sweat. I don’t know
· Making your own cup of tea seems like a massive hardship.
· The screech of breaks doesn’t alarm you anymore. They’re probably yours, after all.
· Zebra crossings are only worth observing if there’s an actual zebra on them.

· You can’t buy a bottle of milk without asking for the price with discount.
· You make left turns from the far right lane. Yes, very true
· You own eight cats, three dogs, and possibly a donkey too, all because you felt sorry for the numerous strays outside your apartment block.
· You plan a meeting for 10am and leave the office at 10:05.
· You will cheerfully take a cab to get to the other side of the street.
· You think scampering across a four-lane highway full of high-speed traffic is a perfectly normal way to get to the other side. Done that, reminds me of the game froger
· Going to the cinema requires a separate wardrobe of winter clothing to cope with the AC.
· You keep yourself sane when looking for a parking spot by pretending it’s a game of hide and seek, with the parking space looking for you.
· The sound of pumping music while driving along the Corniche has the same effect of a loud blast on the horn: move over, the boy racers are coming fast!
· Jet skis are as unremarkable as delivery mopeds. And indeed their absence is something worth commenting on when you go to the beach.
· Valet parking at the mall, the dental clinic or the hairdresser is so much easier than going to the bother of putting the thing into a parking space yourself. This is true
· You are seriously prepared to consider a rental consisting of a makeshift back-to-back villa conversion in a sea of rubble somewhere beyond the last street name you recognize. And you’re happy with a price approximating to 90 percent of your monthly salary.
· Lane discipline is something you associate only with esoteric goings on in English country byways.
· Seeing a camel no longer amuses you.