It is finally here, in port, Our furniture!!! By the end of the week we could be almost moved into our permanent villa. HUZZAH!!!!

Learning in Dubai, Part II

Things I have recently learned:

1-4) Have been addressed in the previous email.

5) Men are very needy. I love being needed by my handsome husband.

6) Truly, nobody is in a hurry to do anything around here.

7) I do use my huge dictionary a great deal and really miss it.

8) No matter where you go, there are very poor people.

9) Uzbekistan is a Russian speaking country and they love their vodka with pickle chasers.

10) Taxis are a great way to get around.

11) Tiger Balm is amazing for what ails you.

12) Every belly-dancing class needs someone like me in it. I make everybody else

look good. Somebody must be the morale buster, and I am just the person for the job.

13) It is possible to move the diaphragm muscle in and out, very fast, without rolling the abdominal muscles.

14) Jim and I love Lebanese food.

I have a lot of explaining to do.

5) We have a routine: We wake up around 5:15 in the morning and sit on the back patio, watching the last of the bats fly, drinking coffee, waiting for the first bird song, watching the world go from darkness to light. We ponder what God has for us each day and just enjoy each other. In the Evening we sit on the back patio and watch night fall. My wonderful husband likes me to sit with him and leave all house work until he is gone to work for the day. Well, when he is sick, he does not go to work so early, or at all. He was home for 4 days in a row last week. So, I did not get much work done as he likes me to spend time with him, and being a bit ill just makes him want me around more. Then, when he starts to feel a little better, he wants me to run errands with him. This is no quick job. This is just an observation. I am very grateful that he likes to spend time with me. Jim arrived home on the 10 of November; he had been in Uzbekistan for five days. When he arrived home he was suffering from the typical travelling ailments. Therefore; he did not go to work the following day. He needed my attention and I love to stroke his feverish alabaster brow: I did not get much done in the villa. Then the weekend started and so another two days of doing just the minimum of house work. Then he went to work for two days and the Feast of Sacrifice had started and Jim was home again for a number of days. We did great with the morning routine and the evening routine, I just did not accomplish much as far as housework.

6) People really seem to take their time about getting things done. Getting utilities hooked up, medical care, served once seated in a restaurant, visa paper work or help with work seems to take a long time. I went to the medical clinic for a needed physical in order to complete my residency paper work. We have been working on paper work for six weeks and it still is not all done. The clinic was packed due to the upcoming Hajj. Eid is a holiday when the offices are all closed for two or three days. So, everyone going on the Hajj had to have their medical papers processed before Eid started. In the clinic men and women have separate waiting areas. Husbands were trying to help their wives and daughters’ get the requirements for travel to Mecca in order. When these men came into the women’s area the guards would escort them out. The gentleman helping me with my paperwork would stand in the doorway and tell me what to do. At one point he had to come into the area because I had no idea where to go with one of the forms and how to get it handed in to the correct people. I know this sounds absurd, but if you would have been there, you would have understood my plight. As he was instructing me, a guard escorted him from the area. I know that the workers were busy, but we sat for two hours waiting for me to just hand in my paperwork, and mine was all filled out and in order. Deadlines are set but then nobody seems to be in a hurry to help you meet your deadline. Jim and I will get use to the slower pace. It was at this clinic when a very friendly young man from the Philippines asked about getting to America. So, if a young man shows up on your doorstep, saying I sent him. It was me. Just kidding. .

7) I am reading two books, The History of the Arab People and God’s Secret Agents. These books are history books and I am really enjoying them. Problem is, they contain words that I have never seen or heard before. Sometimes I am unable to even guess the meaning based upon context, because the word in question defines the context. I have started a list of these words, but I need to know them now. I guess I will have to read the books again. When I have a dictionary at hand.

8) Jim and I have been to various areas of Dubai. And, just like in the States, there are some areas that are very run down and poor. Welfare is not a way of life here- Charity is. And there is a difference. The poor areas are not talked about, but they are real. Jim said that Uzbekistan is very poor also. We must be careful though, in using the term poor. As Americans, even the less fortunate, live very prosperous lives compared to so many other places of the world. Kind of made me sad to walk through some of the neighborhoods and see the crowded rundown conditions. Yet, these people are here because they are not trapped by social, caste systems that keep them from succeeding.

9) While in Uzbekistan, Jim had to have an interpreter as the people speak Russian and Jim does not. Very little is available (spoken or written) in English. Jim said that at meal time, Vodka and toasting around the table is the norm. In order to help with the taste, they eat pickles after a drink. I have been told it works. I think that it may work a little to well. One of the safety rules that Jim and his crew were told, “No vodka on the job!” What do you say after that?

10) Taxis are wonderful. They are inexpensive compared to the states. The driver knows where to go, how to get there and is not intimidated by the traffic, the construction, roads that do not exist or roads that just show up. No hunting for a parking spot, paying tolls (Salik) or stopping to get fuel. I just love it and plan to use it in the future. Mostly to get to belly-dancing class. Jim and a co-worker took a taxi to dinner one night. The fare was not doubled for two people, and the men could have a dinner cocktail, not having to worry about driving.

11) While shopping in a store that is closing, Jim found Tiger Balm. It is a reddish-orange cream that cures bug bites and stings, cramps, muscle aches, head aches, gas. The smell, while soft, makes the eyes water and permanently stains white tee shirts. Jim uses it on his neck and back it helps take some of the ache away. Bug bite itch is gone immediately. When I am in the states next, everyone in the family is going to receive a jar.

12-13) I have begun taking belly dancing class with Marie. She takes it for exercise purposes and so do I. I soon discovered that I am not only there for the exercise but as a good bad example of dancing. I do not move that gracefully or have that many body parts that can move in opposite directions at the same time. I try hard and I make everybody else in the class look real good. I am proud of this job. Many of the movements remind me of the hula. My daughters, Julia and Hanna would love this class and excel. I was reminded of the time they were trying to teach Uncle Gene the hula by bumping grapefruit with one hip, bumping oranges with the other hip and grinding fruit salad with both hips. The three of them doing the hula was a smile invoker. Good times. Of course this memory made me laugh in class. I think that Tehra would love the colorful outfits with the shiny little bells. I know that a number of muscles can move independent of one another. I did not know that the diaphragm was one of them. I was told to move that muscle without rolling the abdominal muscle. I am thinking, ”Is this a trick question?” No, it is not. I saw a number of women perform this. The body is an amazing thing. Will I go back? I hope to as I love the time with Marie, I love the exercise, and these women need me for moral support.

15) Jim and I have been to a variety of dining establishments, and have tried a number of different food styles. We have discovered that we just love Lebanese food. The shish kabobs are not served on a stick, the spices used on the meats are amazing, the vegetables, the dips and spices have been very palatable. I am sure that some if it may be very spicy, but we love what we have had. The flat bread is baked in a large brick oven, when it puffs up the loaf is thrown against the wall, when the loaf falls off of the wall it is folded, wrapped in paper and served hot. This is no exaggeration; I heard of it in one place and saw them do it in another.

I know that this has been a lot of information. It is all new to me and I love learning. I am trying to take in as much as possible, with a good attitude.

That is all for now.

Lisa