So, I thought this was a knock-off store, playing fast and loose with an American business (kind of like TGI Thursdays or SFC Southern Fried Chicken), until I checked the Wikipedia entry for 7-Eleven. It may very well be the real thing. Now, I’m going to have to go by just to see if I can get a Big Gulp here.
For the most part, I find that people interact with me normally and accord me basic respect. However, I have had two amazing instances of being invisible. The first was at a fast food restaurant in a mall. We were both there. I stated very clearly to the clerk what my order was, but she did nothing. Didn’t punch it in or acknowledge me in any way. Daddybird told her what he wanted and she hopped right on it. He came to my rescue and repeated my order to her. I guess I’m not allowed to eat unless my man says it’s okay. Her attitude changed when it was me who pulled out money and paid for the meal. Suddenly, I came into focus.
Yesterday’s experience was at a bank. We were attempting to open an account with a different bank because we don’t like the poor service we get from our current bank. However, can’t say we care much for the service at this new one either. The customer service person we were dealing with was male. He was not interested in my information in the least. Don’t bother him with information about my salary or employment. Forget about putting my name on the account, too. They have a real hard time understanding the concept of joint account here. Friends of ours who tried to explain that they wanted a joint account actually had the bank employee say “But, sir, she could run away and take all your money!” Is it any wonder the divorce rate is high here?
We’ll have to keep looking. Maybe there’s an American or European based bank that can supply an actual joint account.
The dates are starting to ripen. Apparently, the date season is from mid-May to mid-August. These are the first on campus that I have seen starting to ripen.
At the “tweetup” held by CentimeterCube, Daddybird proudly showed off his laptop to the amazement of all. They find the collection of stickers amusing, weird, unexplainable, and a myriad of other things. There are several layers of stickers on here. An archaeologist’s delight. Some unique and precious stickers have avoided being covered — like Delano & The Beauty. This realestate is in high demand.
Here’s the latest view of the metro construction from our balcony. They are beginning to build the above ground structures for the entrances to the subway. This is going on 24 hours a day.
This looks kinda appetizing, right?
After all the chef thinks it’s great.
Softer, Squeezier, Juicer – that’s how I like my reconstituted soy meat replacement product, don’t you?
After the abra ride across the creek and the sprint through the textile souk, we came to the Dubai Museum in the Al Fahidi Fort. This is the oldest part of the city. The sun had just gone down and there were large numbers of noisy birds swooping around. (No, they are not bats.) I think that they nest in the fort’s tower. There is also a beautiful wooden dhow on display.
The next video is of the courtyard of the fort. There is a hut made of palm branches. There is a raised bed platform outside for sleeping in the summer. You will also see the wind tower on top. This funnels any breeze from any direction down into the house. After we head into the hut, you’ll get a really good shot of the wall because I was trying to get out of the way of people leaving. The first room is too dark to see much, but there is a bed and the bottom of the wind tower (see picture later in this post). The second room is the master bedroom/living room with majlis seating (couch on the floor), master bed and a cradle. (It always seems striking to me that they have western style beds that are up off the floor and couches that consist of cushions on the ground.) There is another small room off this one with a couple of water pots. I assume this was the bathing/wash up area.
This is the view up into the wind tower from the below showing the four chambers that catch any breeze from any direction and funnel it down into the house to cool it.
There was a sign next to this door warning to be careful of the spikes. I read it, pointed it out to Daddybird and then promptly scraped my arm on a spike. Oh well. Some people are beyond help.
The museum had several displays like this representing life in pre-oil Dubai. This is the food store.
I was a little horrified to see cans of Kraft Velveeta on his top shelf.
Small clarification on the last food post. We had slightly more than tomatoes, garlic and asparagus, although it was a meatless dinner. There was pasta and spaghetti sauce involved along with some canned peas. All cooked by my sweetie.
This is tonight’s complimentary salad. It also came with complimentary lentil soup and flat bread. Daddybird’s entree involved a lamb’s ribcage and I had arayes, which is like two tortillas with a thin meat filling between then grilled to perfection.
I’m getting sneakier with my candid camera.
Time to play the Price is Right! Come on down!
The six tomatoes above cost 4.10 AED total ($1.12, that’s $0.19 per tomato). The garlic cost 2.50 AED ($0.68). The asparagus was the expensive part of dinner at 7.95 AED ($2.17). That was last night’s dinner at home.
This is the complimentary veggie appetizer that one gets at most Syrian restaurants. Lettuce, rocket leaves, lemons, cucumber, tomato, radish, carrots, bell peppers, chili peppers, olives, and pickles. It took us a while to learn to order less than we thought we wanted, especially the first time at a restaurant, because you often get complimentary things you didn’t order. Local Arabic restaurant entrees are often meat and rice, period. We prefer Syrian restaurants because you get veggies like this, which makes it easier on the digestive system, plus they taste great.
The last time we ate at this restaurant it was a rather unpleasant experience. I ordered grilled shrimp, not knowing that they would come with their heads and feet still on. I have a very hard time dealing with this. It creeps me out. Also, the shrimp kinda smelled like poo. We were sitting outside and a horde of persistent flies wanted my shrimp. Needless to say we sat inside this time and I did not order the shrimp. Why did we go back at all, you ask? Because everything other than the shrimp was good and they can’t be blamed for flies outdoors.
First, consider this picture taken during the day back in September 2008. Then watch the video to see the same area on a Friday night.
Living the Travel Channel 