A few days ago Lance went to get his drivers license...he then found out that he was missing a legal paper. When he returned with the paper yesterday, he then found out that he needed an Emirates ID card first (this was a newly implemented rule)...he then drove to Mussafah (30+ minutes) to get his ID card, but first he needed yet another legalized document in Arabic. He had to go to a certain typing center to get the form and return to the ID department. There were 200 people in this room waiting to get their ID cards, no exaduration. And that was only the men's side. Everyone had to take a number and wait until they called for them. Lance managed to talk an Emirate man working the desk to push him through to the front of the line. I hope none of those Pakistanis realized that had been waiting all day. He then got his ID card and returned to get his Drivers license. All that in one day. That is basically how everything works around here. A million steps to get one thing done. How exhausting!

Today I ran my typical errands. Grocery store, etc. I dropped Evelyn at school and Camille and I headed to Carrefour. Right off the bat Camille spilled an entire container of toothpicks all over the floor....later she spilled an entire baggy of pretzels on the floor. Then as I was putting all of the groceries on the counter, she was throwing candy bars on the floor. And that is just the cliff notes version of my grocery shopping trip this morning. Times like these, I just have to laugh to keep from crying. She wore me out at the grocery store. To make matters worse they do not have seat belts on the buggies or they call them carts, so she is constantly trying to stand up in the seat. I think I am going to have to get one of those seat covers that has a seat belt built in.

Dad, I thought of you today and tried to take a picture, but I was driving. After school, the girls and I went to our house to bring a few things and on the way we saw a milk truck. Not a cow's milk truck, but Camel milk. I haven't seen it in the stores, but I am not exactly looking for it. I can not imaging it to be true. I wished I got a picture, you would have got a kick out of that.

Lance traveled to the furtherest tip of the UAE today on business with a coworker. He sent me picture and may have sent one to a few of you. They got stopped on the road by a heard or camels crossing to go to a dumpster. I guess they were eating something there. Too funny.

Lance's co-worker's (Chris) wife and their daughter came to visit us this afternoon. We met them when we came in March. Chris is the one who has been working the position Lance is taking, so Julie, his wife, knows exactly what we are going through right now. They actually stayed at this same hotel when they moved here for temporary housing. She is very lovely as she would say, she is from Scotland and their two children are adorable. She was so kind and they brought some toys for the girls to borrow. We had a nice visit and I feel like I could call her for advice if I needed.

I am so excitted to hear that so many of our friends and family are reading this blog. It makes us so happy to know that you are keeping up with our ongoing daily adaptation to the UAE.

We had a very nice weekend. We spent Friday evening in Dubai doing some shopping for our house. We found some things at Crate and Barrel that we liked. Our sea shipment arrived at the port last week and we were told today that we are going to receive it on Wednesday. The workers are going to work to unload the container on Wednesday and then they will unpack everything and take away the boxes etc. on Thursday. I don't know how they are going to get it all done in those two days because they are working reduced hours due to Ramadan. We shall see. These two dates work out great for us, because the are right before the weekend, so we then have Friday and Saturday to work in the house and get things sorted out. We are considering hiring some workers from an agency to come and help us a couple of days next week to clear and get things in order.

Amanda, I hope you are reading this. I thought about you this weekend. I got some new clothes at H&M. I can see you in that store...that prices are so reasonable.

I also found some curtains that I liked at Crate and Barrel, but of course they were sold out. They are getting the new fall line in and we are going to check back soon to see if they have something similar that we like. Curtains or window treatments has been one of our focuses. I am trying to find as much ready made things as I can instead of having every window custom made. Our windows are quite tall though and it is making it challenging to find the right ones that will fit. Everyone is obsessed with complete blackout curtains, but I don't mind a little light shining through. Completely dark is so depressing. Of course we would like to blackout in our bedroom.

Camille is such a doll. She is saying more and more everyday. This weekend she said Ball and Baby. Last night she said PaPa so clearly on skype. She knows completely what you are saying and makes grunts to try to communicate her needs, but she is finding new words and sounds everyday. She continues to walk more and sometimes pushes my hand away to not hold hers. She wants to do it all by herself. She is so funny...in some of the stores they have prayers playing over the loud speaker continuously (so annoying) so it sounds like Arabic chant....anyways, she is chanting right along with the prayers. Too funny! I wished you could hear her.

Evelyn loves her school and can not wait to go everyday. She has a little friend named Anna that they seem to be inseparable. She also likes a boy named Jeebu, that she says is from Paris. Show and Tell is every Thursday and she can not wait to bring her new Hello Kitty Hair Clips to show and tell. Due to some kids in the school have severe allergies to nuts, we can not sent peanut butter sandwiches to school at all. That is a major bummer for Evelyn, because that is the only kind of sandwich she likes. I have to get creative with her lunches...last week I sent pasta and chicken. The container came home empty, I think she likes it. They also sell warm lunches at school, but I don't know if she would like all that they serve.

All is well here in Abu Dhabi. By the end of the week we will finally be in our house. YEAH!!! Imagine we sent our shipment the first week of July. We have lived out of suitcases ever since. I think I have forgotten all that is in our shipment. It is going to be like Christmas opening all the boxes.

Yesterday was a very productive day. Got all of my paperwork in to start the process for mine and the girl's residency visas. I went to the house and had the maintenance man come, we fixed the cabinet so the dishwasher would fit and he lifted the cabinet that holds the gas tank to make it up to code. I also continued to clean the house....wiping down cabinets. Yesterday I realized exactly how things get done around here. The maintenance man gave me his personal cell number and mentioned that I could call him for any handy work around the house. He also measured the back yard to get me an estimate to install sprinklers and grass. Now I realized that the service company doesn't get anything done because the maintenance guys will work harder for those who will pay. Money is the name of the game. Well this particular guy speaks terrible English and his handy work is nothing to brag about. One thing he's got going for him is he is dependable. That can go a long way.
Back to my day. After tending to business around the house, I picked up Evelyn from school and headed to Carrefour. We got a TV from there last week, but the screws were missing that you use to attach the TV to the stand. I brought the entire TV back for them to replace it. You see I called several days ago about the the problem, but I did not get any return call. Go figure. Demanding money or an exchange got them going. The supervisor quickly found me some screws and the problem is now fixed. The girls and I got groceries after that fiasco. It was a long day and the girls were getting tired and hungry. It was a very difficult shopping trip to say the least. There was a screaming boy in the store throwing a fit about getting ice cream that distracted the girls from blowing up themselves.

Lance's car is supposed to come in tomorrow. He is getting a loan from a local bank which is unheard of in these parts. No one gets loans here, either you pay cash or no car. Lance gets a monthly allowance from the company for a car and he'd rather use that money towards a car instead of using our money to pay cash. Our money can grow more interest invested in other things than a car. Since Lance works for a reputable company that has ties to the bank it only took one phone call to get the OK. Saturday we have to go to get everything set up at the bank and probably one day next week he will get his car. Oh, the car is a BMW, that's all I know. Don't ask me if it is a 350i or E250....whatever. I have no clue. It is white, I could tell you that.

Speaking of cars my van is in route and should arrive at port in about 2 weeks I think.

I have a friend from Austin that I keep bumping into everywhere. She is not driving yet and I feel so sorry for her. She has to get a taxi for everything...bringing her kids to and from school, shopping, etc. They are staying in a hotel room, that means no kitchen or laundry. She has to send her laundry out. That must be ruff. I have offered her to bring her anywhere and she is welcome to come here to wash clothes. She is so kind and we are planning to explore the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque sometime next week. She can not get over me being able to drive and get around by myself.

Most of the people that we have met that are just moving here like us, came a couple of weeks after we did. Lance and I are so glad we came at the beginning of August. I feel sorry for them, because they are still trying to get their barrings straight and school has already started. That makes it harder on the kids if the parents don't have things organized and somewhat of a routine going. Not to mention that most of them came right when Ramadan started which makes things even worse.

We feel like our daily routine is just like at home in Katy. We are doing all of the same things here. We just like somewhere different. We are really happy here and feel even better about our choice to make this move. I think the leading up to the move was the worse part. The anticipation of not knowing how we were all going to handle it was worse than the actual move. We are so grateful for this opportunity to see life in a totally different way. I wished everyone could experience this. The most important thing is that we are all together. No matter were we are or what we are doing, if we are together we are happy. The only thing we need is each other....

Lance is now an official Resident of the UAE. Yeah, we got it. Now the girls and I have to apply for ours. With Lance's visa we can now start setting up shop: bank accounts, telephone, internet, driver's license, etc. We go it just in time for our shipment to arrive as well. Our 40 foot container that has been traveling by sea since mid July arrived at port today. It will take another week to clear the port and customs, we should receive it sometime next week...not holding my breath. Without Lance's visa, we would be required to pay duty on all of our belongings. Yikes, that could have been bad.

I spent the majority of the day at our villa yesterday. I continued to clean, wiping down everything ceiling to floor. I also had the maintenance guy help with getting the dishwasher and washing machine hooked up. The gas guy came to deliver our gas tanks. That is right, we do not have centralized gas supply yet. We are told at some point we will, but for now we have to have tanks outside of our home to supply gas for cooking. The tank lives in a cabinet (with a lock of course) outside of the kitchen. Naturally, the cabinet was not installed correctly and is too low. The gas line can not reach the tank. Lance and the gas guy rigged up something to make it work for now, but tomorrow I am going to tackle that problem and try to get it fixed being that it is a fire hazard and all. We also met the next door neighbors. They are from South Africa. Very lovely family with two girls ages 11 and 7. Evelyn was sooooo excited to see girls living next door. There is a family (with two small girls) two doors down from Norway, Lance met them, but I have not yet. We were also told that a American family moved in around the corner, but not met them yet.

Our next door neighbor told me about all of the kids and activities at our compound. That is why they moved there. She said there are a lot of families at the pool in the evenings and there are going to be swimming lessons and dance lessons right there in our club house. I am so excited about that. The girls and I could ride our bikes to the pool or dance. That is going to be so great.

We have enjoyed living in our apartment in the city, but it is taking it's toll. The parking garage as I have mentioned before is so difficult. I am so glad that we have a garage at our villa that is easy to get into. Also, carrying groceries to the apartment from the garage is difficult in itself. It will be nice when the dogs can have their own space in the back yard as well. Walking them everyday several times a day can be difficult at times, esp if you have things to do. I can see ourselves still bringing them for walks in our villa because they will need the exercise. We sure are glad they are here with us...they are part of our family. I will miss the convenience of living right here on the island, but the drive isn't as bad as I thought it would be. One thing we will all miss about our apartment is the view. It is so beautiful, esp when a huge yacht pulles in.

Today is Dad's birthday. I hope you have a great birthday dad. We love you and have been thinking of you all day.

Today we spent the majority of the day at our house. We had our TV's delivered, frig, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, and cooker as well. Some of the outlets are not the right kinds to plug in our washing machine and dishwasher, so we have to have maintenance come and change them out tomorrow. The cable guy came today as well and placed our dish on the roof and hooked everything up. It is really difficult to communitcate with delivery guys because none of them speak english. Not to mention their quality of work is not up to our standards and they stink terribly. Lance and I feel like we are going round and round to get things done. Although the compound service company "deep cleaned" our villa for us we still needed to do cleaning to get it up to our standards. Lance and I spent the day wiping down cabinets, vacuuming, mopping, etc on the bottom floor of the villa. I am going back tomorrow and starting on the second floor. Our large container that traveled by sea is supposed to arrive at port this Monday. I think it will take around a week for it to clear customs and be delivered to us. We have extended our apartment in the city until next Saturday. Buisy week ahead of us. Evelyn going to school everyday and setting up shop in our house.

Evelyn had a great first day of school. She almost fell asleep on the way home, guess that means it was a good day. I really like her teachers, they are sooo wonderful. Evelyn is really going to learn a lot in school. Their classroom is amazing. It has everything a kid could want to do: sand table, two turtles, fish, genie pig, doll house, dress up, and a bunk house to read in. Too cool. There are kids of all nationalities at this school even though it is an American School. I am excited for Evelyn to met all kinds of kids and have a broad look on life.

We bought all of our big appliances yesterday evening (frig, washer, dryer, dishwasher, TVs, etc) and they will all be delivered this weekend. I also went round and round with the service company once again about getting things fixed on our villa. Miraculously, today I went and we had electricity and water. The first time so far. Only thing was the A/C that was broken was fixed, but for some reason the upstairs A/C that was working is now off and being repaired. I surrender!!

Check out facebook, I posted Evelyn's first day of school pics and pictures of our terrible parking spot.

The parking spot

The great idea that I had to utilize a parking spot in the garage and be able to access the back entrance to the apartment has backfired. I have managed to swap paint with the poles. Oh yes, a mysterious blue paint is on the front left side of the bumper and there is a large black streak down the right side of our rental car. Oh gosh I am in trouble. These are all easily buffed off kinds of things, but I am afraid the front bumper may need a little more work than just a buff. I am going to have to take a picture of this parking garage and space just to prove it takes major skill to park here at the Hilton Baynunah. Lance is so very happy.

Well I went out and about last night to shop for appliances. I know that sounds crazy, but everything is closed form 2pm until 8pm during the day. The city comes back to life after sunset. You would not believe the amount of people in the malls at 10 and 11 pm. I was so tired but I did manage to narrow my search down and pick all of them out. Lance and I are going to go tomorrow to purchase them all and have them delivered. We ran out to the villa today to check on things. You are not going to believe this...no electricity and no water. I could scream. The only solution to it all is that maybe they turned the electricity off because they are working on the A/C, but I have no idea why no water. The villa was cleaned last week and they used water and electricity to do so. At least the villa looks better now and isn't a filthy mess.
Tomorrow is Evelyn's orientation for school. We will meet her teacher and hopefully some classmates. I was told she doesn't need any school supplies, they provide everything.
Today I also brought the girls to an indoor playground at Marina Mall. It is so huge. Imagine the playground at McDonalds but way way bigger. About 5 levels high with 4 big slides. It was really great. Plus no one was there, we had the whole thing to ourselves. Those kinds of things are on Ramadan hours as well, it closed at 1pm. It cost to play as well, AED 20 each girl, about $6.00 US each.

Nothing too exciting today. Went and brought the check to the school for Evelyn to get registered. Now we are waiting to see when we go for orientation. Went by the vet clinic to get more dog food and a small bag of allergy food cost about $25. Ouch. Lance had his medical check today that has to be done in order to get your residency. Two more days and he will have the official stamp on his passport. The Hilton gave us a parking spot today instead of them parking our car for us every time, or us parking outside. It was the smallest and most difficult parking spot I have ever attempted, and I was parking a Honda Accord. I asked for another spot and it is slightly better. You can not imagine how tight this parking garage is. I do like tje convenience of parking my own car though. We can exit the back of our apartment and go straight down to our car instead of waiting in the lobby. Speaking of parking, I went by an appliance store today that I had heard about and I had to parallel park for the first time in a long time. Wow that was difficult. It was a tight squeeze. Evelyn was very supportive in the back seat coaching me along. Well it is 9pm here and we just got back from walking and kids playing in the park. I think I am going to go out while I can kid free to shop for our appliances.

We thought it would be safe today to stay in until after lunch since we can not eat or drink in public. What we didn't realize is that NOTHING is open during the day, like from 2pm until 8pm. Everything closes during Ramadan. When night falls everything opens back up until 1am. These wierd hours are making it hard for us to shop for appliances. Don't worry the grocery stores and supermarkets are open, thank God. We went by our house today and there were 4 men there cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. They pressure washed the outside and they were buffing the floors. We could not be happier. Next step, get appliances bought and delivered. Tomorrow Lance will complete the final step to get his residency visa and I am going to pay the fees for Evelyn to go to school. OH, today we were in Carrefour and ran into a couple that we met in March on the school tour. They are from Austin, I think pretty close to were Paul and Amy live. Really nice couple with two boys older than ours. It is a small world.

OUR FIRST IFTAR

Tonight we were invited to one of Lance's co-worker's house for an iftar dinner. Because this guy is single he lives with his parents. Iftar is the breaking of the fast during Ramadan and families get together to eat. I can definitely say we were the main attraction at this family's gathering. We arrived at 6:30 pm with our girls already hungry and on the Virge of getting tired. All of this family is waiting for the prayer call to go off so they can break their fast while our girls are fighting over a sip cup of juice. Once the prayer call went off they all dove for the dates and ate the most delicious lentil soup. They scarfed it down in time to run to the mosque for prayer. (the men went to the mosque and the women stayed and prayed in the house) During this time the lady of the house had to rearrange some of her crystal because Camille was headed right for it. Our kids were loud and cranky. We were doomed from the start. After prayer they all returned and we ate a delicious meal...chicken, rice with green sauce, yogurt salad. During dinner Evelyn loudly asked me "is there pepper on that" I told her no and it was not spicy. After she took a bite she loudly announced "some thing's wrong with this chicken" Oh yes she said it. I could have crawled under the table. We managed to make it through the rest of the meal. One of the 20 year old girl cousins played with the girls and help us out tremendously. After dinner, dessert and tea was served. One of the older men showed Evelyn how to put the sugar in the tea and taught her to eat the sugar off the spoon. Needless to say she got more sugar than she needed. Great, that was all that we needed. We managed to make it without breaking anything nor offending anyone, we think. The family was very nice and warm to us. They spoke excellent English and most of the men were very funny. Lance and I had a great evening and feel a little bit more cultured now. Most of all we feel like we survived Iftar with our girls.

Evelyn had her evaluation at school today. I think the main thing they are looking for is to make sure she seperates from us OK. In that case we should be a in. She went to her classroom with all of her classmates for one hour and I think they tested her on ABC's etc. We are waiting now for an email saying if we got in or if we are on the waitlist. Our finger's are crossed. I met 3 other moms while waiting and we exchanged numbers, etc. We are living parallel lives: just moved to Abu Dhabi, trying to get into the school, trying to set up our houses, etc. There are so many facinating people out there, one womas was Italian and just moved her from Rome.
Yesterday evening I got a call from the service company and the team leader from maintenance wanted to speak to me. Lance, I, and the girls ran out to Golf Gardens and met him at our villa to go over all of the maintenance issues we were haveing. He assured me that our water would be turned on today. The water pump motor is broken and they are going to put a temporary one there while the original is in the shop. We are going this afternoon to check it out. Also, the mysterious electrical cord sticking up from the ground infront of our villa was for when the villa was constructied. He said it is no longer a hot wire and it will be removed.
Tomorrow we are invited to an Iftar dinner at one of Lance's co-worker's family homes. This will be the most interesting event so far. I can not wait to experience that. I am nervous about what to wear. I think I will wear one of my long dresses with a cardigan to cover my shoulders.

Ramadam started today. That is when all people of muslim faith fast from sun up to sunset (Iftar). During these 30 days it is illegal for us to eat or drink in public. Because the muslims fast during the day, they eat and socialize all night long. This is a time that they gather with friends and family and celebrate with food. The fasting is a way of cleansing for them and a way for them to be grateful for what they have and remember the less fortunate. Because they are up all night and are fasting during the day, work hours are shorter. They are very tired during the day and worn out. Lance did tell me today that it is OK for children to eat or drink as long as it is not infront of those fasting. We would have to be discrete about it. I am going to play it safe for now and try to keep our eatting and drinking in our home and only go out for short periods of time. It is going to be interesting to see how life is going to be these next 30 days in Abu Dhabi during Ramadan. If it wasn't for Evelyn starting school next week, we would have probably tried to avoid being here. Most schools do not start until Ramadam is over, but because we are going to an American school, they try to stay with the American curriculm and timings. Ramadan does not always fall during August, it has to do with the luner moon and when the ninth month occurs according to the islamic calendar. It varies from year to year as far as when it starts.
I have to appologize for my misspellings etc. I am trying to type as fast as I can during breaks from the kiddos. :)

The Girls

Camille is continuing to walk everyday little steps at a time. She can cruise on furniture really well and walks from one piece to the other. Her and Evelyn and back on a routine like at home. Everyone is sleeping good and eatting good. The food here is different from home and takes getting used to or at least finding the things you like. I find that fun to explore different foods and see what we like. Evelyn is not that imporessed since she is a pretty picky eatter and doesn't like to try new things. One thing is for sure, the food is much fresher here. The milk seems to be easier on Camille's stomach as well. She hasn't had any problems with constipation since we got her. I try to find fun things for the girls to do everyday like swimming or indoor playground. The swimming pool in on the 29th floor in our hotel. Evelyn has grown to like a cartoon called Winx, flying girls that save the world. She can not wait for it to come on. School starts next week for her, but since Ramadan started today, she will have shorter school days until Ramadan in over. Lance, by the way, has shorter work days due to Ramadan-8am-2:30pm.

Sorry I am a few days behind. Let's see...Sunday, I worked endlessly to get the water turned on in our villa and still no go. Apparently the water pump in broken and the service company is negotiating with the owner on how to fix it and who is going to pay for it. That is the short version of what is going on. Our relator is working on this for us as well and has been sending out several "nasty" emails to the owner and service company about the inconveniences that they are causing us. We have been going back and forth with the service company for the past 2+ weeks now and NOTHING has been done. On top of our water not turned on, the main AC doesn't seem to be working well, some of the lights don't work, and I discovered an electrical wire sticking out of the ground in front of our garage door (not safe). Just pray that all gets taken care of before our shipment arrives at the end of the month. Now that Lance will get his residency soon, we are going to send for our air shipment.
Monday-I went to Carrefour, like walmart, and stocked up on groceries since Ramadan starts this week. During Ramadan there is no eatting or drinking in public during daylight hours. It is the law. Therefore, I will be doing a lot of cooking. I really liked Carrefour and can see myself shopping there regularly. Also, Lance learned about a tailor that can make custom suits for you and you pick out the material. Lance is wearing a suit/sports coat almost everyday to meetings and he only has two. He definately needs more suits, so this weekend we are going to that tailor to have some made for him.
Tuesday-Lance has two meetings in Dubai, so the girls and I went along for the ride. We dropped Lance off with a co-worker and the girls and I headed out to Dubai Mall. We had a wonderful time. The mall is the largest in the middle east and it was wonderful. They have a large aquairum inside and we went to see that along with the aquarium zoo. I bought a cell phone yesterday and now have a working phone with a Abu Dhabi number. Lance is stuggling on what to do about his phone since blackberries are going to be done away with in October. Many retailers suspect it will not happen and they are still selling blackberries. Adjacent to the mall is the largest building in the world the Burj Khalifa. We watched the musical fountains as well. You can see pics of both on facebook. Great day!!
Tomorrow Evelyn goes to her evaluation at school. That is going to be a great thing, to finally get registered and involved in school. I am sorry I haven't posted any pics lately, I tried the other day, but I think I was trying to upload too much and the computer couldn't handle it. I will try again soon.

I forgot to mention that last week we went to Emirates Palace. Evelyn thought she was the princessa and it was her palace. That place is so incredibly beautiful. It is a hotel, but only the richest of rich could afford to stay there. They do have guided tours that people can take by reservation and we plan to do that with our families when they come. The door greeters gave Evelyn a rose and a Hana Montana Barbie Doll. She was so excitted.
This weekend went by fast. We bathed the dogs yesterday and you could tell they loved it. I bought a Sim Card to I can have a cell phone here now. Getting a cell phone is not easy. First you have to go to the phone company and buy a sim card, then you have to go to an electronic store to buy a phone. I bought a sim card that you have to buy prepaid minutes so then I have to go to the grocery store and buy a prepaid phone card. Luckily, I can use my blackberry for now until October, so I am just going to change the sim card in that. I still have to buy the phone card and plan to do that today. I'll inform you all of my new number ASAP.
Also, I have a new email address and I will sent everyone seperate emails with that address as soon as I have time. It is hard for me to be on the computer because the only internet cable is in the girl's room, and the only time I have to get on the computer is when Camille takes her nap or goes to bed at night. That makes it hard to not disturb her while she is sleeping.
Well I am off the the grocery store to stock up because Ramadan starts later this week. Also, I am going to check on our house and the maintenance progress. Hopefully something has been done. Once Ramadan starts things get even slower. The work days are shorter, just intil 2:30 or 3:00. The schooll even has shorter days.

We had a great first day of our weekend. We started the day eating pan-a-cakes for breakfast. Yum. I found them frozen at the grocery store, and they are thin and taste like what Memaw calls Crepes. We all loved them. Then we headed out to Dubai to explore our neighbor city. We stopped off to fill up the car for the first time. You do not have to get out because men stand there to fill up for you. They don't even turn their cars off when they fill up. Inside the gas station was a variety of fast food chains and a pretty good store. Pretty impressive. We went to the Mall of Emirates today were the indoor ski slope is. While we were parked we had our car washed and they did a pretty good job. This was the best mall we have been to so far. Many Many US stores in there. The best thing is they group stores together according to what they are selling. So all of the clothing stores and together, home stores together, and so on. We ate Chili's for supper. On the very top floor is a huge toy store with lots of toys to play with and try out. The girls loved it and we bought a walking toy camel. Too funny. Dubai was only about 1 hour away and is really easy to get to. We can see ourselves going there alot on the weekends.

It is Friday here

Today is thursday which is like a friday because the weekend here is on Friday and Saturday. This morning I went to our compound and met my realtor there to see about getting things done with our villa, since nothing has happened the past two weeks after calling everyday. We were assured all would be looked at today, and I am still waiting for them to call. Not only is the water not turned on yet, now there is water coming up the floor drain in one of the bathrooms. NOT GOOD. We need the water to be turned on so we can have the place cleaned and have our appliances bought and delivered.
Speaking of appliances, since I got the instructions to our washer and dryer here in our apartment I decided to do a couple of loads of laundry yesterday. Everything was going well until I did the 4th load and bubles came out of the washer again. I believe it isn't the operator, but the washer can only handle so much in one day. HA HA!
I am exceptionally proud of myself because I am driving all around the city by myself and getting around quite well. So far I haven't got lost. I even found my way to Carrefour (like walmart) today and got some more bottled water. The tap water is "safe to drink" but people say it has a salty taste and everyone buys bottled water to drink and cook with. I just buy large jugs of water from the grocery store every couple of days. Once we get in our house there will be a water man come by every so often and refill our water jugs for us.
Tomorrow starts the weekend and we haven't decided what we are going to do yet. I do know that I am going to try to catch the bachelorette season finally that comes on tomorrow night...that's right mom, we get it here, YEAH!!! Just a couple of days behind the States.

Today I asked the housekeeper how to use the washing machine, he got me the manuals. Now maybe I can use the properly. Found a neat store called Max today that had really reasonable prices. It only took me 15+ minutes to find a parking spot. I ended up parking in the parking garage that cost me $7. Picked up Lance at work then headed to Spinneys (western grocery store). We loved it and were really excited to see the products available there. We ordered take out from the restaurant above Spinneys. It was really good esp the chocolate brownie pie, YUM!

Driving

Well the past two days Lance has taken a taxi to work and left the rent a car for me. I then pick Lance up from work in the evening. I am really proud of myself, I have found my way around and feel confident to discover the city. It really is not hard to get around the city; it is on a grid system. Yesterday, the girls and I went to a home store and the gold souk (market). Today we are going to another mall and the grocery store. The residency application is in process, we are not sure if it will be completed by the end of next week. We are really enjoying walking in the evenings in the park across the street from our apartment. There are several playgrounds and Evelyn befriended a girl last night. She had a great time. Everyone is facinated with our dogs and want to pet them. They really do not understand what it is like to have pets in your home. We are loving our new home more and more everyday.

Day 3

At Last, we slept all night with out waking up. The girls still slept into the morning, but we are headed in the right direction. We checked on the villa today, the AC is working but the water is still not turned on. The rumors are right, things do not always get done quickly around here. We will have to call tomorrow and see about that. We had Mexican food tonight at our favorite, Cantina Loredo, the girls loved it as well. One of our favorite parts of the day is walking the dogs in the park across the street at night. You would not belive the number of people who are in the park at 8/9 pm. It is a lovely park with lots of walkways and playgrounds for kids. The dogs especially love the stray cats that come out.

Day 2

Ruffles charged the housekeeper today and the poor guy climbed his linen cart and knocked it over. He was scared to death. Poor thing. We went to Marina mall today and checked out an appliance store and furniture stores. Good stuff. I found a light fixture that I like at the Home Center today, not sure if for the living room or dining room. The main AC was not working at our villa nor the water, so we have to go make sure the maintanence people took care of that tomorrow. Oh, the largest washer that I can get holds 10kg which is equivelant to 20.2 lbs. Not too much. I have been washing at our appartment, but not sure if I am using it right. Mision tonight: sleep!!!!