First – Rain
We both loved the rain in Portland and were not part of the crowd that complain about it, so moving to a sunny desert is a big adjustment for us. We will be celebrating every rain storm and every cloud.
Second – Birds
The common birds on campus, that I could not find in my bird book, are common mynas, which explains why they are so noisy in the afternoons. There seem to be even more of them these days, so perhaps some are migrating through.
We were at the bus stop at 8 am to begin our journey to get our driver’s licenses. We had our licenses in our hands by 9:14 am and I was to work by 9:40 am. I wish everything was this easy.
After we got our licenses, we were standing at a bus stop waiting for either a bus that would take me close to the college or a taxi. Traffic was quite thick. A taxi driver in the far lane saw us and signaled, so I signaled back. He crossed four lanes of traffic to come over and pick us up. Typical Dubai taxi driving. Needless to say that we had to run a little way to get to where he had pulled over (blocking the right lane) and the driver behind him was honking madly.
Now that we are licensed, the search for a car to lease begins in earnest. Hopefully, we will have wheels soon! Then watch out. We will be making the best of our weekends.
It rained. It rained. It rained. Yipee! And we missed it. Well, we slept through it. There was thunder and lightning, but we are so used to the construction noise during the night, that we didn’t realize it was thundering. I did see some flashes of light, but I thought “what are those construction guys doing?” rolled over and went back to sleep.
Above you can see the glistening streets.
Above are beautiful afternoon clouds (taken in the college car park – “parking lot” for you Americans). Below are more clouds and some of the ever present construction cranes.
Clouds.
More clouds.
Winter has officially arrived. We look forward to more rain. It is not unusual for there to be flooding due to rain (storm drains are plugged with sand, so water doesn’t drain) and work to be cancelled until the waters recede.
Here we are at the Magrudy’s Bookstore warehouse sale. “Everything must go!” This is the line of people waiting. Yes, that is a man holding a Siamese cat (on a halter and lease, no less). He put it down later and took it for a drag.
Below, we have a Christmas tree. Yes, the Christmas shopping season has begun in Dubai.
A display of Christmas books.
The line continues…
And continues… Mostly expats, so they knew how to line up, at least.
Finally, the golden gates, the emerald city, the holy grail, the river Jordan, the end of the rainbow…
The madhouse — where butts collide. Just rows of boxes full of books of various kinds.
They had a very efficient system and once we got into the checkout line (which I thought would be long and slow) it moved too quickly. I wanted to checkout the books as I stood in line, but it moved fast. They counted them up, you paid your money and you got out. Simple as that. Dhs 5 for paperbacks ($1.37) and Dhs 10 for hardbacks ($2.74).
Above is the cafe where we sat afterward and watched the line which was still strong when we left an hour or so later. (Really bad service at this cafe. Felt bad about leaving a Dhs 7 tip, but had already waited a ridiculously long time for our food and didn’t want to wait for the change.)
Below are our treasures. Mostly travel and language books. 41 books for $60.00. Now we need a book case!
This is a Hoopoe bird. I’ve seen a few in motion from a distance, but this one was very accommodating and stood still to pose for me. Unfortunately, his crest was not unfurled. They are very impressive when in full plumage array. (http://www.birdsoman.com/Birds/091-Hoopoe/Hoopoe/Hoopoe.htm) He was happily hunting for bugs in the area around the base of a tree.
I really enjoy the variety of birds here. The campus has a lot of trees, bushes and fountains, so birds are drawn to it like an oasis. In the afternoon, it can be quite noisy as they are bathing in the fountains and chattering to each other in the trees.
We also have yellow or red vented bulbuls (their butts are vibrant yellow or red, but you have to be under them looking up to see it – dangerous position.) There is another very common bird on campus, but it is not listed in the bird book I bought, so I am still wondering what it is. It is about the size of a robin and acts very similar, but is colored very differently. They are amusing, because they will get up on the windowsills and peck at the window as if they want to be let in. They’ve provided comic relief for many a long meeting, I suspect.
We also have many doves. They are a rosy brown color. They make lovely cooing sounds and toddle all over campus.
Yes, we’ve had our first medical care experience. I have been sick all week. It started with sore throat and swollen glands. Then I got a little better and went back to work, but then the runny nose began. The last two days I have been bed and miserable. There is even a swollen gland on the roof of my mouth (which is what weirds me out). When the pain meds wear off, the whole right side of my face aches and even my teeth hurt.
We are fortunate that there is a medical clinic just two buildings down from our apartment building. So, I asked Paul to call and see if he could get me an appointment. When I woke up later, all sweaty and feverish, he said that they had said to come in anytime and that they are open 24 hours a day. So, clearly they do not know how to do medical care the American way.
So, we went. The only problem was that we went to the wrong office. Once we got to the right office the whole experience took 15 minutes. The best part was that when I said I had been sick for a week, the doctor’s eyes got wide. An American doctor would not be impressed by that. We then took the paperwork to the pharmacy downstairs and were given 5 medications – nasal spray, cough syrup, antihistimines, analgesic with pseudoepinephrine and antibiotics. The only thing that actually required a written prescription was the cough syrup. (Yes, they give out antibiotics and pseudoepinephrine without blinking here.) The charge for the exam was Dhs 75 (less than $20) and the medications were covered by the insurance (Dhs 206 / $71.50).
Apparently, laxatives are easy to come by here, but anti-diarheals are not. Paul went to a pharmacy a week or so ago and asked for Pepto Bismal and was told “Pepto Bismal is not coming to Dubai.” The doctor asked if I was allergic to any medication. I told her Codeine (which makes me throw up and is to be avoided). She told me there are no medications with Codeine here. I told Paul “Codeine is not coming to Dubai.” Anti-depressants and muscle relaxants are big no nos here. It doesn’t make a lot of sense regarding what common meds are forbidden and what you can buy over the counter with no prescription.
Any way, the doctor gave me a sick leave certificate indicating that I should not work tomorrow, so I will continue laying around one more day.
First – cats. Daddybird met up with our little friend (pictured in previous entry) again. He offered him some cat food, but Nipper (as he has now been dubbed because loves to give “love bites”) was more interested in being petted and playing with Daddybird than with eating. Very odd for a cat living by his wits on the streets. I told Daddybird this cat seems to have Maslow’s hierarchy of needs all upside down. (Maslow says we have to have our basic needs of food and shelter met before we can deal with social interaction and self-actualization.)
Second – civil servants. The government has declared that everyone has to get a national identity card. Apparently, this has been in the works for some time and the plan was that citizens would get theirs first and expatriates would get them by the end of next year. However, in true UAE fashion, it was recently announced that professional expatriates would have to get them by Dec 31 of this year and government employees would have to get them by the end of October. This resulted in a big rush to comply. However, the online application form is inadequate to handle the load and it is near impossible to get the form filled out successfully. You also have to make an appointment to go to one of the offices handling this procedure in order to complete the process. IF you didn’t fill out the form online successfully, you can go to the office an hour before your appointment time and pay them to type it up for you. The online form is the only form that is acceptable, so don’t try showing up with a printed out form. Also, if you are even a little late for your appointment, too bad. You are turned away and will have to make another appointment for some other day. Here is the “Third World” part of this country. The civil servants are neither civil nor servants. The rules are the rules and there will be no deviating from them. No mercy. No accommodation. Just come back when you can do it according to the rules. So, I think it goes without saying that we were late, with the wrong application forms, and do not have our id cards.
Third – Obama. You may be happy or sad according to your political bent, but most everyone here is happy. Daddybird was stopped last night by an Emirati woman who was doing a survey about a new furniture market and when he said he was American, she congratulated him on Obama’s win.
Living the Travel Channel 