It was a crazy trip getting here (12 layover in New York and I had to claim all my baggage, drag it to the hotel with Levi in 30 degree weather, then drag it all back to the airport the next morning, then a 13 hour flight from New York to the UAE). But we are here!
Our little hotel/apartment is really cute - we'll be here til about February when our apartment building should be completed. Levi is doing well except at night when he wakes up and then can't go back to sleep. He'll get used to the time change eventually.
After sleeping for the first day, we walked to the mall the next day to eat (REALLY GOOD FOOD). Levi rode a bunch of dizzying rides, we all got banged up on the bumper cars, and I bought a couple pairs of shoes. On the way to the mall, we saw an Emirati man get hit by a delivery motorcycle. He was fine, probably more embarrassed than anything. Even though it was his fault for crossing at the wrong time, he struck the motorcycle rider with his cane. The rider sped off, his goods unharmed but his back more than likely a little sore.
Rich is off for another week and then goes back to work. After 2 months of separation, it's been really great having so much time off together to just relax and kick it around. He finally just got a car today and we all met one of his friends down at the pool. I ate salmon and drank fresh strawberry juice, poolside. It's definitely very service-oriented here - if you spill something, someone else insists on wiping it, if you try to carry your own bags, someone else insists on taking them. The people are friendly though and just smile.
So far, I haven't had any problems with my tattoos. I was wearing 3/4 length shirts for the first couple days where you could see them a little bit. Today I wore a tank top to the pool and the reactions were no different. I'm still easing into it but so far, no problems at all. I've noticed a lot of western women in the malls dressing like they would in the states and no one seems to care.
We went down to the Corniche last night (the long stretch of walkway by the water) and there were a lot of great parks and a skatepark down there for Levi.
There is a variety of shows on TV, from Seinfeld and Barney, to all of the Hollywood hit movies (all with Arabic subtitles). The commercials are both in Arabic and English and feature mostly brown-skinned beauties. Arabic is a lovely language.
The weather is perfect right now, even at night, always with a salty Arabian Gulf breeze. The light here during the day is bright and soft, both to an extreme, very much like it was in AZ. The sun is big and white. Cars honk down below as if they're auditioning for the symphony. Prayers are broadcast on the loudspeaker 5 times a day and are hauntingly beautiful, like the church bells back home. And like the gideons in the states, all hotel rooms (including ours) are equipped with a prayer rug and arrows on the ceiling gently pointing the way toward Mecca.
