· I took Mitchell to the beach after church on Friday (still trying to get used to saying that). It was HOT (DUH) and sunny (double DUH). We were hanging out by the water and two guys walked by and they had a MONKEY!! Yes, I said MONKEY. They had brought their pet monkey to the beach. Enough said!
· I know how everyone LOVES my stories about the bathrooms here. It just hit me this weekend that most of the public bathrooms in malls and at movie theatres all have at least one, if not more, attendants working in them. When someone leaves the stall, the attendant goes in, mops up the floor if the vegetable sprayer was used, dries off the seat and then lets the next person in the stall. They also make sure there are no paper towels on the floor or sink. Very nice and clean!!!
· I LOVE the fact that there are assigned seats in movie theatres! Last Thursday Chad was at the mall early in the day and bought us tickets to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie on opening day. I would NEVER see a movie on opening day at home because I don't like waiting in lines and I DEFINITELY don't like the idea of being stuck in the front row! I met Chad & Mitchell at the theatre about 10 minutes before the movie started. We bought snacks (popcorn for Mitchell, ice cream for Chad and a cup of corn seasoned with butter, salt and chili powder for me...I'm hooked!) We finally made it into the theatre right about the time the previews were starting and went straight to OUR pre-assigned seats, sat down and enjoyed the movie! AAAHHHH!!! THIS IS THE LIFE!
· Another "I'm in awe of the cars here" story. I was driving home from work yesterday and I passed a bright orange Lamborghini followed by a bright red Ferrari! (Mind you, I was only going about 5 KM over the posted speed of 100 km/hr.) After gawking a bit and checking out their plate numbers, which only had 3 digits each (here the lower the number on the license plate, the more important/prestigious you are, mine is a 5 digit number...shows you my ranking in Dubai society), I went along my way. A couple minutes later, both cars zoomed past me in the fast lane. I think some people are exempt from the speed cameras...maybe if you zoom by them fast enough they can't get a good picture of your plate! Maybe I'll try that! On second thought, I don't think my car is capable of going that fast...guess I'll stick to the speed limit.
· I subscribe to an Emirates e-news letter that comes twice/day. There are articles about world news, business, sports, etc. Today there was an article in the "news" section about a 63 year old man who has 90 kids. TWO of his wives are currently expecting children and he's getting married AGAIN in two weeks. He's shooting for 100 children and thinks that's definitely "within reach"! The article stated that it was only legal to have 4 wives but this man thinks he could "manage 20 wives if allowed." I guess he must divorce them when they're past child bearing age. They said he currently maintains 17 houses with 17 separate families. The article referred to him as "super dad"...SERIOUSLY!?!?!? THIS is news in these parts! YUCK!!!
· When you thank waiters or other workers here, they don't say "You're Welcome". They only say "Welcome." Short and sweet! Kind of interesting.
· There's a British DJ on the radio station I listen to and I realized that when she pronounces words ending in "A" she speaks them as if they end in "R". So, "America" becomes "Americ-er"; Asia is "Asier". Even one of the singers at our church who I believe is from Australia (or Austrailier) was singing a song with Hallelujah and it was "Hallelujer". Interesting...and a little funny!
· On my way into work this morning I noticed a worker sweeping the side of the road just by the curb. Mind you, this is a very busy exit with about 4 lanes and he's sweeping up dirt and debris, with no mind to the traffic, using a ratty looking broom and a cardboard box wrapped in plastic as his dustpan. They like to keep this city clean! The day prior at the same area, another man was using hedge trimmers to clip back some purple looking ground cover so it was no longer growing over the sidewalk (I've never seen anyone but these workers walking on the sidewalk in the 4 months I've been making my drive to work - it's under an overpass next to a busy street). I was surprised to see him wearing work gloves - worker safety is so lax over here it's sad.
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