Fourth Week = Way Better

It's amazing what a cell phone connection and a driver's license can do to better one's personal freedom and make the whole world seem way better!  Monday was that awesome day!

If you've gotten a whatsapp message saying that I've switched numbers, that's good.  It's okay to use the new number.  *If you want my new number for some reason, send me an PM on Facebook or email me and I'll pass it along.  It will cost money to send normal text messages, but whatsapp messages are free. 

There are a lot of places that prohibit photography in Abu Dhabi.  I didn't want to get into trouble so I looked all over to see if there were any photog prohibition signs and I couldn't find any, so I snapped a quick photo of the "Customer Happiness Center" before heading out with a digital copy of my driver's license.  Seriously...this building was a true source of happiness on Tuesday for me!  It also houses the police department and is a place to pay fines and other fees.  For some it may not bring so much happiness, but I was able to talk with some very helpful ladies and after finally getting all the paperwork in order and paying the dirham, I'm all set to hit the road.  YAY!!  I will need to be super careful about my lead-foot, however.  There is no speed buffer in Abu Dhabi and there are speed cameras EVERYWHERE.  If you go even 1km over the speed limit and a camera catches you, you--actually the person to whom the car is registered so in my case, Ethan-- are digitally sent a AED 600 speeding fine (about $163).  **Ethan read in the paper a story about a tourist who flew to the UAE, rented a Lamborghini--because, of course!-- and drove from Dubai to Abu Dhabi and back going super crazy fast.  It's a couple hour drive at legal speeds with traffic.  He was tagged at every speed trap and by the time he parked the car in a hotel parking garage, he had racked up a fine of AED 120,000 (about $32,000)!  The tourist then skipped town.  The last we heard, the car rental company didn't want to pick up the car because they didn't want to be saddled with the fine so it was just left in the parking garage until someone could figure out what to do with it.  Geesh!

On Wednesday, my good friend and neighbor, Mandy, invited me to go to Dubai with her and her daughters for an afternoon out.  I don't really know how to describe Dubai since I barely got a taste of it as we drove through a little bit of the city, but I can honestly say, it's a bigger city than any I have ever visited before.  The buildings are super tall, there are people everywhere, and it seems like there is a lot going on.  We went to a couple of malls while we were there.  At one of the malls, they were selling shoes that, based on the signage, were pretty miraculous. ;)

At another mall, we found the American Girl Doll store for Mandy's 4 daughters.  Mandy's kids are veterans of the this particular store so they knew exactly where to go, which displays to peruse and which items they wanted to beg their mom to buy, but watching their excitement reminded me so much of my girls when they were in this stage of life.  Since Mandy had them pay with their own money, watching the girls try to figure out the best deal for the least amount of money was also pretty funny. 

We went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch.  The Cheesecake factory shares a wall with the indoor ski resort.  This was probably the most bizarre thing I've ever seen as an Alaskan.  It totally blew my mind to see the ski lift trudge on up the slope and watch the workers all bundled up in their snow gear shovel paths and help visitors with their gloves and scarves.  Hats off to the UAE for creating a pretty neat snowy environment in the middle of this crazy hot desert.  I'm not sure how the actual slope compares to mountains at home, but I can guarantee that the mountains at home don't have penguins waddling around while your sledding, so there is that.

It was a fun day out with a lot of new and different things to see.  I'm pretty sure when we return to Dubai for more visits, there will be plenty more interesting things to see and do.  Reuben keeps talking about indoor sky-diving....!

This week also brought me a little bit of company and help at home.  This is Marfe.  She comes twice a week to help me maintain the space that we have.  I've been picking her brain about the best cleaning supplies to use (there are very few familiar brands here) and what kinds of plants to buy for my postage stamp yard (we are in a totally different gardening zone from home).  She worked for 7 years for the family that lived here before us and so she is very comfortable with The Villa and all of its little quirks.  (She has also been able to show me what all of the light/electrical/water heater/fan switches are for!)  I love the days that she comes because it's an extra person in the house and she is always so nice.

It's still pretty hot and the humidity makes being outside miserable.  Still, we live directly behind the school so I make the kids walk to and from everyday.  By the end of their 5 min walk, everyone is dripping sweat and dying for a popsicle.  The second they walk in the door, those that can, shed their shirts.  Since our sea shipment still hasn't arrived, and we don't have any electronics to play, Reuben is often found laying on his bed with a book.  Luckily, the school library has a lot of good books for the kids to check out and they aren't limited to just 1 or 2.  I've yet to find a public library here.  

On Friday after church we invited a bunch of people over for dinner.  I think in the end, we had 23 people (from 5 countries) in our home.  With the help of our neighbors (the Rowberrys), we made 6 homemade pizzas, 2 pans of lemon bars, a pan of brownies, a big green salad, a couple plates of cut fruit, and a pile of chicken strips.  It was good food and even better company.  We did NOT eat that fish you seen in the picture below...that showed up on Saturday.

Saturday morning, Ethan went spear fishing early in the morning with the Rowberrys.  He said that as long as he was under the water, he wasn't too hot.  Since he was wearing a snorkel, he could only dive down so far.  The visibility wasn't super awesome and it was his first time so no surprise that he didn't catch anything, but he had a great time.  Brandon, a much more experienced spear fisher, caught a few fish and shared a Gold Spotted Travalley with us.  (They dropped off the fish while we were at Ikea looking for more things to fill our house, and Chloe sent me a message that said: "We have a fish.  It's on top of the pizza.  It has been stabbed.")  Lovely.  When we got home, I googled recipes, Ethan googled how to filet a fish without a filet knife, and we pan fried our first freshly caught Gulf Sea gift.  It was delicious and even Reuben who doesn't like pretty much anything we make for dinner ever said, "This is the best chicken I've ever eaten." Hahahaha!

It's been a good week...a way better week.  The kids are settling into classes and figuring out schedules way better, Chloe got into the school play which gives her a nice drama outlet and improves her social time way better, Ethan got his computer set up and is finally getting into the technical side of work, which is way better, and I am doing way better figuring out how to keep busy in an empty Villa, how to manage the craziness of the beginning of the school year, and how to find ways that help us keep our focus as a family.  I also got asked to be an early morning seminary teacher for the youth at church (which is essentially a 6am scripture study class for kids in high school).  This, I am sure, will help make life "way better" too! We are keepin' on keepin' on.