a couple of days ago, jeff and i went to barclay's to add me to his account. the application form was 12 pages long and included such info as occupation - 'housewife' (ugh) and dollar allowance that jeff expects to give me monthly - 10,000aed (this is also bullsh*t). i get an allowance now; like a 9 year old. not sure how much longer i can continue to be a dependent. anyway, i had to sign the form in 4 different sections. the next day, the bank called and said my signatures didn't EXACTLY match, so we had to go back and fill out the whole thing out again. my signatures never match exactly. the whole thing made me grumpy (and that's never a good thing). can anyone sign exactly the same every single time? so, i still don't have a bank card and jeff still doesn't want me using the boa card. jeff can suck it. i'm using it.
there's a supermarket here (light on the 'super' part) called "spinney's" which is THE store frequented by ex-pats. spinney's also has random liquor-only stores scattered about the city. its the only market i've found so far that sells pork products (filthy swine). the pig portion of the store is a hermetically sealed area way in the back. curiously, this is where the pop tarts and marshmallows can be found. do pigs have something to do with these items? do they use pork fat to make marshmallows? this is a mystery to me. i'm not a big bacon eater, but something about the fact that its forbidden here makes me want to consume it in mass quantities (oink).
i went to another women's network coffee yesterday at a lovely restaurant called 'cafe arabia' (i'll take pics next time). one of the women there told me that packages sent here from the states probably won't make it. i've heard conflicting stories about mail delivery here. some have told me that only envelopes will be delivered; not packages. i neglected to find out what actually happens to the packages (hopefully they're returned to sender). so to those of you have so graciously sent me kool-aid or twizzlers, it might not make it. apparently kool-aid is evil here (like pigs and pop tarts). i've also tried to order products from amazon.com cause they deliver to the uae. but only certain items (NOT unisom or bodyglide). my list of stuff to bring back here (if i even come back) from texas is ever-expanding.
the sand storms subsided and i took the double-decker bus tour a couple of days ago. it was fairly entertaining and killed a few hours. i learned some stuff about abu dhabi; most of which i've forgotten already. except that literally, abu dhabi means 'Father of Gazelle' (fascinating - isn't she a sports illustrated model?). see pics from the bus trip below.
sorry for the boring read today. i think i'm way more entertaining when i've had a glass of wine (or 6). and its only 11AM here (but mimosas are acceptable at this hour, right?).
jeff is sick (which is kind of a problem cause he's annoying me). now not only does he kick in his sleep, he sniffs, coughs and snorts too. NOT helping with my insomnia issues, so i've been sleeping on the couch.
today we're going to the sheraton to check out their beach club. apparently 15,000 dirhams/year is not so much. jeff's co-worker retta said we need to stop converting to usd in our heads and just accept it.
something else they don't have here - the superbowl! i'm currently trying to find a bar that's open at 3:30AM that's showing it.
i took a bunch more pics; see them all on fb (eventually).
love you all and think you all suck cause you're huddled around your fireplaces drinking cocoa and hot toddies, homebound with law & order reruns.
more rambling later.
tricia
there's a supermarket here (light on the 'super' part) called "spinney's" which is THE store frequented by ex-pats. spinney's also has random liquor-only stores scattered about the city. its the only market i've found so far that sells pork products (filthy swine). the pig portion of the store is a hermetically sealed area way in the back. curiously, this is where the pop tarts and marshmallows can be found. do pigs have something to do with these items? do they use pork fat to make marshmallows? this is a mystery to me. i'm not a big bacon eater, but something about the fact that its forbidden here makes me want to consume it in mass quantities (oink).
i went to another women's network coffee yesterday at a lovely restaurant called 'cafe arabia' (i'll take pics next time). one of the women there told me that packages sent here from the states probably won't make it. i've heard conflicting stories about mail delivery here. some have told me that only envelopes will be delivered; not packages. i neglected to find out what actually happens to the packages (hopefully they're returned to sender). so to those of you have so graciously sent me kool-aid or twizzlers, it might not make it. apparently kool-aid is evil here (like pigs and pop tarts). i've also tried to order products from amazon.com cause they deliver to the uae. but only certain items (NOT unisom or bodyglide). my list of stuff to bring back here (if i even come back) from texas is ever-expanding.
the sand storms subsided and i took the double-decker bus tour a couple of days ago. it was fairly entertaining and killed a few hours. i learned some stuff about abu dhabi; most of which i've forgotten already. except that literally, abu dhabi means 'Father of Gazelle' (fascinating - isn't she a sports illustrated model?). see pics from the bus trip below.
sorry for the boring read today. i think i'm way more entertaining when i've had a glass of wine (or 6). and its only 11AM here (but mimosas are acceptable at this hour, right?).
jeff is sick (which is kind of a problem cause he's annoying me). now not only does he kick in his sleep, he sniffs, coughs and snorts too. NOT helping with my insomnia issues, so i've been sleeping on the couch.
today we're going to the sheraton to check out their beach club. apparently 15,000 dirhams/year is not so much. jeff's co-worker retta said we need to stop converting to usd in our heads and just accept it.
something else they don't have here - the superbowl! i'm currently trying to find a bar that's open at 3:30AM that's showing it.
pic of the carpet souk (which just looked like a really dirty strip shopping center):
remind you of anything? i have no idea what this is.
boats at the mina port:
another boat (supposedly these come in from iran & many other countries delivering stuff (but not kool-aid):
cannon sculpture (don't know the significance of this either - i have a.d.d. and can't pay complete attention):
this building was totally NOT discussed during the tour - really, it wasn't. i was paying attention:
a boat in the marina (doesn't that look peaceful?):
the grand mosque:
i took a bunch more pics; see them all on fb (eventually).
love you all and think you all suck cause you're huddled around your fireplaces drinking cocoa and hot toddies, homebound with law & order reruns.
more rambling later.
tricia
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