This place is weird- The Dismissal

So the other day Reese and I were in a taxi going over to Shelley's house and this SUV pulls up next to us at a red light. There is a well dressed Arab man sitting in the passenger seat and he has a driver. He smiles over at our cab and then makes gestures for me to roll down the window. Thinking that perhaps he wants directions from the taxi driver(sidenote: people do that ALL the time here!!!!) I roll down my window. He proceeds to wave and coo at Reese, big smile on his face. I'm looking at him, then back to Reese(who was blowing kisses by the way!) then back at him thinking.....what the hell is going on!?!?! Then he gets a call on his cell phone and I LITERALLY got the "you're dismissed" hand gesture which I'm thinking meant....." I'm done with you and your adorable child...you can roll up the window now"


WOW.

Now I know some of you would freak out if some strange man started doing that to your child BUT.......let me explain. Here in the UAE they seem to ADORE children, so the Emirate men are always waving at Reese, its just what they do. To be fair, Italy was exactly the same. People were always patting Reese's head or trying to give her treats. Could be because she's the rare blondie in a sea of dark haired people!! It really did take a while to get used to though.
AND...back home I would be irate about the hand dismissal, but here its par for the course!!! I'm a second class citizen here, actually I might actually be a third class citizen and a woman to boot. So I just smile and bite my tongue, REALLY, REALLY HARD. ( those of you that know me well should know JUST how hard it is for me to do that!!!!!)

So today we found out my Canadian drivers license is "ineligible" to add me as an additional driver to Brandie's car. Now we're not sure if this is because I hold a Canadian license and my visit visa is in my British passport, or whether this is just another step that the UAE government has taken to make it harder for Canadians to do anything here after our stupid government wouldn't give them more landing slots in Toronto.  Canada lost Camp Mirage in the dispute and now Canadians have to pay visa fees in order to come here in advance otherwise they can be stranded in the airport(apparently)!!!!
This is only one of the reasons why I travelled in on a British passport.  I know another Canadian here who drives, but come to think of it I think he was here before this dispute even happened so he would have an emirates license. Seriously Canada, I think you need to pick your battles, it seems like we lost this one!!!!

Life Lessons Learned

Anyone remember this story???
How to evacuate with a toddler and two dogs from the 30th floor

Yeah, well I remember it well and so do my calves so I'm pleased to announce that here in Abu Dhabi I am living on a very low floor!!!!! Henry is two years older now and there is NO way he would manage 5 flights of stairs let alone 30, so at least this way I wouldn't have to abandon him during a fire :)

I think I scare the locals

All the locals in my area gave me a wide berth BEFORE the dogs arrived and now they practically run in the other direction. I realize that compared to them I must look very odd and foreign indeed. I'm 5'10 compared to their 5'0-5'4 and I have fair skin and blue eyes. Add to that the fact that I'm a western woman waltzing around their area of town, and I'm walking and carrying my own things. They look at me like I'm a complete freak of nature!!!!
The dogs add a whole other dimension to it, people literally just stare at them while backing up!!!        I know that in many of these people's home countries, domestic dogs are unheard of, and the only experience they have with dogs are wild ones. So, because of this, I'm quite understanding when they practically throw themselves into holes in the wall to avoid the dogs. I even try to keep the dogs on the opposite side of me so that they don't have to go to such extreme measures!
My mother has been asking me if I'm safe in this area that I live in and after walking over the last few days I can definitely say yes. I think if Cadbury growled or barked at one of the locals they might actually have a heart attack from fright.
Cadbury has been having a field day with the alley cats and her walk is not complete unless she gets to see one. If there is a walk where she doesn't see any cats you can SEE the disappointment as she shuffles back inside, longingly looking back over her shoulder. Its HILARIOUS. Obviously I don't let her NEAR any of the cats because the poor little blights already have a tough enough life without having to worry about my gimpy chocolate labrador being overly nosy.
We're also trying to persuade Henry not to pee RIGHT in front of the door to the lobby, we do this by breaking into a very slow jog as soon as we walk out the door so he at least makes it halfway down the sidewalk. Henry is not at all impressed with this new part of his routine.
And if the locals didn't already think I was off my rocker, the vet has asked me to get a urine sample from Henry, so I will have to put on the good old medical gloves tomorrow morning and try to catch his pee.......charming. I hope to god no one is watching me when I do it!!!! The vet offered to use ultrasound and a needle to get some urine but I figure the least I can do for poor Henry is have him avoid that particularly painful sounding procedure.
Wish me luck!!

There's a first time for everything!- Hospital Visit

Well, for three nights Reese has been telling us that her ear hurts, but she would follow that up with, "a drink of water will make it feel better" so we thought she was just playing it up so she didn't have to go to sleep. APPARENTLY NOT.
Today after MUCH research I took her over to Al Noor Hospital which is about a block away from our house. I was told that they had a dedicated pediatric walk in clinic. So here's how it went.
Stopped at a cash machine on the way because I'd heard horror stories about only being able to pay with cash in the hospitals and took out quite a lot of money just in case. Normally our insurance will direct bill but we haven't got our new SAICO(read PSYCHO) cards yet!!!!
Walked over to the street that the hospital was on, walked into the building that said Al Noor Hospital, except it was a grocery store. The security guard directed me around the side of the building to the back and that is where we found the actual hospital!!!
Went up to the second floor and followed the signs for pediatrics, took a number when we came into the waiting room. Within 2 minutes we were being checked in by admitting, then a few minutes after that a nurse came and got Reese's height, weight and vital signs. After that we were told to go over to the next waiting area to wait and see the doctor. We sat for 5-10 minutes and then we were in to see the pediatrician!!!
She was really nice, Dr. Rimm was her name. She asked me all the questions I would expect and then checked out Reese's ears, nose and throat and diagnosed a severe ear infection along with sinus congestion and cough due to post nasal drip. The diagnosis was exactly what I was expecting and I even got in trouble for not bringing her in sooner!!!!(horrible Mama!!!)
She prescribed a weeks worth of antibiotics, decongestants, nasal flushes and no swimming/beach and we are going back on Thursday for a follow up appointment.
Then we went to the pharmacy where the same routine was repeated, hand in the prescription, take a number. Sit and wait until its ready (5 minutes in our case), get an explanation from the pharmacist about the medications and dosages, take the receipt to the cashier and pay, return to pharmacist with receipt and collect medications. Less than 10 minutes!!!!! Its a highly efficient system they've got going here, or perhaps I just hit it on a good day :)
So far I'm very happy with my first impression of health care in Abu Dhabi!

There's a first time for everything- Fender Bender

Well it was bound to happen here since there are no traffic rules and everyone just drives as they please, yesterday I had my first fender bender in a taxi!!! We weren't going very fast and no one was hurt, I was texting and felt a hard bump on the back of the car with a crunch sound. The taxi drivers got out and yelled at each other for a few seconds and then drove on to a pullout area so they could yell some more without blocking the traffic that had already started laying on their horns in the 10 seconds after the accident!
Apparently they worked it out because they both jumped back in their cars and off we went. Less than 5 minutes. Thankfully Reese wasn't in the car with me at the time or I might not have been as calm about it!!!

Where the *$#K is the recycling!?!

So I am big on recycling, at home in Canada we had a wonderful system and we literally recycled EVERYTHING. In Italy, they had curb side recycling and huge bins and it was wonderful to be able to recycle pretty much anything that came in a package!
Here in Abu Dhabi.......not so much.
I've been researching all morning for a place to take my recycling where they'll actually recycle it and so far I've come up with nothing. Apparently there ARE places, but no one actually ever picks up the recycled stuff and it piles up and then the trash men take it. WTF.
When you've been used to recycling everything it comes as a bit of a shock to have to throw a can or a bottle away, I'm having major guilt!!!! I'm going to keep searching and asking around about it and hopefully I can come up with a good option. Otherwise, we'll have to change our eating habits so we have less packaging, so that my guilt can be tamed somewhat!

Lesson Learned #1-Life in the Middle East

Ok, so some people make it up as they go along! We wanted a coffee maker but didn't really want the one that makes a big pot since we hardly ever drink that much coffee. Enter the single serve coffee maker! Perfect idea for us and the lady assured us that they sold the pods downstairs in the Lulu grocery store, except that they don't!!  We asked at least five different people, most of them thought we wanted coffee filters. Slightly frustrating experience. At the end of it all, my husband marched back upstairs and returned it for a store credit. Lesson learned, do not expect there to be any product in the  Lulu grocery store that match with any of the appliances in the Lulu department store upstairs.

Look out Abu Dhabi!!!!! We have arrived :)

Short post today, we have arrived in Abu Dhabi and aren't quite into our apartment yet but hoping that we will be by this afternoon!!! So far we've had one Reese meltdown and one Mama meltdown, Daddy has stayed calm, stoic and neutral throughout which is what the English do best :)
Once we have a permanent home I'm hoping to make this blog into something more than it currently is, but right now I just thought I'd send a big online shout out saying.......

WE'RE HERE!!!!!!