minority me . . .

i kind of knew this already, but have confirmed it - i'm a serious minority here. mainly because i'm a woman and secondly because i'm a fair-maiden with red hair (its not blonde for those of you who think it is). truly, there doesn't seem to be many women out on the street at all. and i think for the few days i've been here, i've probably only seen about 30 women total. maybe 3 americans.

met a lovely south african girl on christmas eve at a hotel bar called hemingways. hotel bars are the only places that sell alcohol. needless to say, jeff and i have visited about 6 hotels already. anyway, gerry (geraldine) from south africa. she's far from home and her kids and both of us had had just enough liquor to have a crying breakdown right there in the middle of the bar on christmas eve. boo hoo us. got her number, but i have NO WAY TO CALL ANYONE as my stupid iphone 4 does not work over here. i've been
(im)patiently trying to unlock or jailbreak it for days now, but to no avail. it only works (for data only; not for making calls) where there is wi-fi and there is barely free wi-fi here at all. damn you apple and damn you etsilat (the big dog mobile company here).

yesterday jeff and i went to a rotating restaurant (circa 1981) for christmas dinner (below is a shot from the joint). lovely, but seriously over-priced. it was called "al something" (everything here is called "al something"). maybe "al afar" or "al ayan". who knows. no turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie for us. beef tenderloin and steak frites. wasn't bad, but i am in desperate need of stuffing. preferable with bacon and potatoes in it and maybe a pie of some sort.

ok; here's a weird thing - all the 'toilets' (they are not restrooms here) have spray hoses in every stall. i still haven't figured out if that is some sort of bidet or if everyone who goes to the bathroom makes a complete mess that they have to hose the place down when they're through. one 'toilet' i went into yesterday was simply a hole in the ground. um, no thanks. i'll buy a diaper first.

went grocery shopping today; was an interesting experience. you have to get some guy in the produce department to price your fruit and veg before taking it to the register with everything else. i didn't know this beforehand, so i made about 6 people wait in line behind me while i went back to complete this task. they can all suck it. there should be signs or something.

i get dirty looks everywhere i go. wtf? i have every right to be here. again, suck it.

the pic below is the view abu dhabi from the 'marina mall' (we've been "malled" about 3 times already). they even have 'the gap' here and 'aeropostale' and a whole bunch of other stores i've never heard of. but there's a 'topshop' (yea!!!) and a 'zara'. shopping could become my new hobby.

check out my new arabian princess shoes!!!



ok; i'm done for now. more later about the man maid, the smells and the washer.

love, love, love to all my peeps state-side,

tricia