not your typical fish face

You may have seen this link on my facebook page. That is Gloria's account from the Dubai fish market from this past weekend. If you don't want to click on that here is my perspective on what happened.

First, Gloria asks Kate and me if either of us have any dirhams- the single coins here. As soon as she asked that I knew she wanted me to pay one of these guys to hold one of their fish for a photo op. Well I was fresh out of dirhams, but not out of luck. Some generous fisherman said we could hold one of their fish and even gave us plastic baggies so we didn't get our hands goopy. I could do that.


notice misterman in the background laughing

Then this guy decides he wants to be apart of the action and comes over to see what kind of scene he can cause with the white people that came to town.



Well a ruckus he did cause with in me when he asked ME to hold that 15ish pound foul fish with my BARE hand. Oh no he dit'ent



Living with a nearly three year old, often we talk about princesses. One of the characteristics of a princess is bravery. Well I am not shy about being a princess, so I had to step up to the plate and show YaYa how a princess can be brave.



I held that fish.


And what an experience it was. Sick!

complex

First of all, I am going to begin working on my technical writing skills. I think it would be advantageous to consider writing with some accuracy of punctuation and sentence structure. Please help me by editing my posts if there are major errors I am overlooking. I know the capitalization will throw some of you off, and others (Kathryn) will be ever so thankful.

I decided over the past few weeks that I believe it is about time for me to jump into the teaching scene. Therefore, I must get my teaching certificate finalized finally. I tested when I graduated, so the only step missing in the process is getting my fingerprints done, and paying the certification fee. So since I have been on a "get 'er done" kick I decided I would attempt to get my finger prints done here this past week while a friend was here, and then they could travel safely back to the USA in the suitcase instead of traveling via airmail. And so the story begins....

Brian so kindly was willing to help me this week to try to get the process rolling. Time got the best of us, so we didn't start out on this adventure until the later afternoon. So we went to the small police station near our house, and they said they could not do it and sent us to a larger station not too far away. We go in, stand in line for a bit, and were told I need to get two passport pictures taken in order to get fingerprinted. So we get directions, get confused, get more directions, cross busy street, get more directions, find a place!, printer broken, get more directions, and then we find the place we want to be. A nice little shop, kind of a small-town Wolf camera. We tell the man what we need, and he told us to wait in the small studio type room. We were fine waiting inside, because we had been driving with no A/C, and traipsing around trying to figure out where to go for some time. So we sat and waited, and eventually he came in and took my picture. Of course it was a comical situation, and I am a happy person, so I smiled. The mister laughed and thought maybe he should try to take another one, so he did. Brian and the guy both laughed at me. Fine.

So a few minutes later the man had me come over and look at my photo on the computer screen. He hardly speaks English might I add at this late point in the story, so I am looking at it and it looks fine to me. I am not too worried about this picture that is for some file with my fingerprints. However, the man behind the camera took his job far more seriously than I could have ever wanted. As I am standing over his shoulder looking at the computer screen, I see the arrow being moved by the mouse making sweeping movements right underneath my eyes. This man was photoshopping underneath my eyes. He was blending and removing my dark circles underneath my eyes. This happened right as I was standing there. There is no mistake. He airbrushed me! He too was taken aback by my ever so present dark circles that are "always like this and not just because of lack of sleep." I know it is hard to believe, but I tell you the truth that even in the slums of Dubai the man that took my picture for the police department noticed the impurities on my face.

Well that is the gist of the story, alas it is not the end. So the guy prints me far more than the two I needed, and he so generously saved it to a disk and gave it to me for safe keeping and future reference. I got my pictures, and we headed back to the police department. We got back in line, and when it was our turn Brian spoke for me and told them my business. They asked for my passport, and saw my visa, and said they could not help me. Because I am just a visitor, they are unable to process the request. So that was the end of it. All that madness to get the photos, and nothing to show for it...of course I do still have the picture on a disk to share with you.

i'm bossy

we went to an abaya fashion show. here's what we saw.

the not so much abaya


the pretty in pink abaya


the kimono abaya


the futuristic hot pants abaya


the fla fla abaya


the end


what we heard was the title of this post. they played a hip hop song called i'm bossy. the lyrics are all to ironic for the setting.

you may not know this about my current life, so here are some random facts

1.we live really really close to the airport. i am going to put an * in this blog every time one flys over head to give you an idea.

2.we don't put toilet paper down the toilet. it goes in the trash can next to the toilet. seems very third world. it isn't like that everywhere....for some reason it is at our house however. our toilets also don't flush with the * push of a handle either. it is more like a pump. like one, two, three, then flush. another random piece of bathroom information is that all but the three small bathrooms have a bidet in them. not utilized by many in this household* however still ever present in our world. there is one other interesting aspect to the U A E bathrooms, however you must venture here to encounter that fully.

3.we have funny chandeliers in every room of the house. they are gaudy and * slightly odd. but it adds a nice flare to the princess room.

I know i just missed an airplane or two, b/c i tune them out so easily at this point.

4.*i am reading a bunch of books right now. ** i am not usually one to be nursing numerous books at one time, * however right now i have various books that i am reading morning, noon, and night. it is nice to have different things to think about and talk about in various settings. i like it.


5.i have made two necessary purchases since being here.

*

6.in every room/bathroom there is a light switch that controls the water heater, and a switch that controls every outlet, and a switch for the stove/oven. there are light switches every where. is is probably a toss up between* whether there are more light bulbs or switches in this house. there must be literally hundreds of both.

7.we have feral cats. sick. they prowl around our yard like they own the place, and if the trash ever gets left out then they are the first ones to get to it, the antagonize katie by meowing constantly * outside our kitchen door or window. they come in packs, and they mate in the presence of young children. they are obnoxious and they deserve to be hurt. dr. washam plans on taking care of this, and has taken necessary steps to do so. one step including purchasing an airsoft gun in a border town. it just shoots little plastic beebees. no harm no foul. *however YaYa says the cats need to die, and this probably is a response to her mother telling her a story about a cat named garbage that happens to live at our house. we have pictures of garbage, and reference the cat often. it is like an imaginary pet monster* that lives here.

8.we have roundabouts. katie and i started driving a couple of weeks ago. we haven't killed anyone yet. so far so good. there are lots of crazy drivers around here as with most foreign driving experiences. the most challenging thing to get used to here are the roundabouts. they are everywhere here. its like they have replaced all stoplights/intersections with roundabouts. oh no need for a stop sign just put in a roundabout instead. yes it makes perfect sense. oh wait no. alas it is the reality. so these roundabouts are pretty brutal. amber gave us lessons. - don't hesitate, and the inside has the right of way. easy enough.*

i am always thinking of all these random things that happen here or that have become "normal" now, and thinking on i need to put that on my blog. this was my attempt to share some of those things with yall.

i woke up in the desert

we were talking a few weeks ago (me, katie, and gloria) about being here in the desert. i am finding it is an interesting place to be and live. there are so many metaphorical relationships to be drawn from being here, and a common thing i like to say is the title of this post. it is kinda like i don't really know how i got here or why. the last thing i remember is dreaming of living near my family and staying put for a while, and the next thing i know.... i woke up in the desert. not just any desert, but on the edge of the Arabian desert.

i started reading a book in hopes to plan my life. i know extreme, but necessary. basically in the first chapter of this book it talks about how in b.bl.lical times we see people get a plan and then they would have to wait before they could make something happen with that plan. usually in the desert. for example, moses, and paul. "Why give a man a vision and then send him to the desert?" the book mentions that time that passes between getting a plan and actually acting on it can feel like being in the desert- there is a small chance that the guy who actually wrote this book has ever spent a good amount of time in the desert, so what he thinks this period of time might literally feel like i believe is very metaphorical for him. however that is only slightly besides the point. anyway. he goes on to say, "The desert always feels like a complete waste of time. It is only when we are able to look back that our desert experiences make sense."

Well I don't really know what any of this means relating to me personally. it is kind of ironic however, that i am literally in the desert currently. i don't feel like this is a waste of time, but i also don't know what my purpose of being here will amount to be by the end of it. there are days when i don't mind the distance, but then other days when it sets in, and i realize that a) i am half way around the world, and b) i am half way around the world in the desert.

inside the loop

so i don't know where you are reading this from. no matter what city state or country, i have to say today is really for all readers to changed, encouraged, or challenged by. there is a term in dallas tx- "inside the loop" which refers to the area of Dallas that resides with in the loop that loop 635 makes. the loop is also called LBJ referring to the late president Lyndon Baines Johnson the 36th president of the United States.

well let me give you some back ground information as to what i am really getting at today. the thing is i have a pet peeve. i would say that i absolutely hate it when people say they are from dallas when they are really from plano, frisco, garland, lewisville, rockwall, rowlett, irving, arlington, carrollton, mesquite, richardson, addison...must i go on? the thing is they aren't from dallas. these people (i won't mention any names) haven't ever lived IN dallas, and yet people claim it as their home every day. the reason this truly gets under my skin is because my birthplace, my roots, my hometown, is Dallas Texas. yes shockingly my zip code, area code, and actual address are all DALLAS.

well this topic came up here in the dubai, b/c brian who lives with me tries to tell people that he is from dallas. the thing is now that i am here i have to keep it real and set him straight and enlighten people that the truth is brian is a liar and he is from plano. wah waaugh. in doing so the specifications as to what part of dallas i am from have come up and brian recognizes that i am indeed from inside the loop. yes i am. its all i have known. i am not ashamed by any means.

well that isn't the saddest part of the story. now brian feels like he has to scorn me incessantly blaming any and all circumstances regarding me on the sheer fact that i was raised inside the loop. it goes something like this. sitting drinking coffee in the morning i say, "i don't think you are going to be very willing to let me or katie drive the jeep." he says, "you haven't asked, but it doesn't drive as easy as the pajero, much less as easy as cars from inside the loop"....little does dr.washam know what my first car was. ha. i have driven far more challenging cars than some '96 jeep, i.e. '65 chevy suburban with no powersteering at 17-take that. and that is just one of many cars i have conquered. its not like i am a parkie or something. and this is just one of the instances that my the location of my upbringing has been used against me, basically brian views the locale of my youth as a true character flaw.

all this to say. i have heard the phrase inside the loop far too often for being so far outside the loop at this point in time. all i am saying is would it be so hard for people to say i am from the dallas metroplex. or i am from a suburb of dallas. or i grew up 30 minutes north of dallas. i mean really the options are endless. and the outcome is more specific without having to lie. this is something i hope all people will take into consideration when stating their place of origin. take it and run with it and thank me later for bringing you of a life built on lies to the rest of the world.

sorry this had nothing to do with what is going on with me in the dubai.

Raul the camel