On the big screen

My husband and I haven't had alone time (without our kids) since we moved here 3 (!) months ago. Now that my mom is here (I just realized I haven't blogged about her arrival), we finally got a chance to go on a date. We decided to go see our first movie in the UAE..."Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1".

There are several things that are different about going to the movies here:
1. You pick your seats. We were actually the first two people to buy tickets, so our choices were wide open. We chose seats smack dab in the middle. An usher actually shows you to your seat.
2. The concession stand is MUCH cheaper than in the US. I'm sure the food options differ from theater to theater, but this one had popcorn, full size bags of chips, candy, and nachos. We got a large popcorn, two large drinks, and 3 candies for 46 dirhams (less than $15).
3. Someone carries your food in for you on a tray. Kind of nice to not have to balance all of your purchases and possibly spill popcorn.
4. There are subtitles on the screen in Arabic and French. A little distracting. I kept trying to match the French word with what they were saying in English.

Some things are the same:
1. There are still commercials and a few previews before the movie.
2. Some people are rude and don't silence their phones.
3. It gets rather chilly...next time I will remember a sweater!
4. The seats are semi comfy and it was stadium seating.

One thing we have not figured out yet is whether some of the movie was cut out. We heard that the original movie is 2 hours and 3 minutes. Our show started at 8 and the next one started at 10...and there were probably 7-10 minutes of previews...so mathematically it couldn't have been the full movie. Since it's PG-13, I'm not sure what would have been cut out though.

Definitely an interesting experience!

The Runners

This job isn't for everyone, that's for sure. Before moving here, I did as much research as possible about living here, teaching here, raising kids here...but nothing really prepares you for it until you experience it yourself. I am not really at liberty to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about some aspects of this experience right now. There's no telling what could happen.

I found out over the weekend that one of my fellow teachers became a runner. Basically, she packed up her stuff, bought a one way ticket, and left this place, literally, in the dust. She had a son. She wasn't happy. She got an email from the US embassy that was a little alarming and she left.

As I was talking to the woman I carpool with this morning, I found out that two other teachers I knew "ran" too. Of course they each had their own reasons. There are probably lots of other people who have either already left or are planning on leaving. I'm sure it crosses everyone's mind at one time or another...I think people would be lying if they said it didn't. This is a HUGE change from wherever you came from. All the great shopping in the world can't make up for missing your family/friends back home, health issues you may be dealing with, and/or not being able to deal with cultural differences.

The best advice that I've gotten here is to stay focused on my goals and the positives. Even though it's hard sometimes, there are lots of positives to living here. If you just sit around and say "this sucks" and "that sucks"...well, it's going to suck. Instead, I try to counter the negatives with a positive. Or remind myself of something that sucked in the US.

The biggest thing is our goals. We left the US with a lot of debt...and I don't want to go back to that. I at least want to have our credit cards paid off to make this all "worth it".

False alarm?

Today I got a message from my SIL saying that my blog was gone. I wasn't at home, so I couldn't check, but less than an hour later a friend who is in the US messaged me on Facebook and said that she couldn't access my blog.

Weird.

We happened to be at the Dubai Mall (which has free wifi...yay!) and I tried to access it from my phone...to no avail. There was a message in Arabic. I began to panic. I asked them to put the message into Google translator. Basically it said that the address had been removed. I was so upset! So many things ran through my mind...was it that easy to delete someone's blog? Had I said something so offensive that they'd reported me to Blogger? Was it really that easy to delete someone's blog???

I am at home now, and I think I've figured out what happened, but I can't blog about it. So if you know me in "real life", I will tell you, but if not you'll just have to wonder ;)

I will continue to be careful what I say. Just in case.

It's a Different World

In a previous post about culture shock, I touched on some of the things that are different here...but here are some more things you may not have ever thought could be different. I will also tell you which way I prefer :)

• There are no light switches or electrical outlets inside the bathrooms. I definitely miss this! I have to blow dry my hair in another room which is super annoying and I have to remember to turn on the light before I go in.
• There is a switch on all of the electrical outlets so you can turn them off. I'm neutral on this. I guess it saves electricity if you have it completely off. And maybe it would stop someone from getting electrocuted if they stuck something metal in the hole while it was off. But it can be annoying to plug something in and think it doesn't work and then you realize you didn't flip the switch.
• The water heaters have on/off switches too. At home, our water heater was in the garage...and it took FOREVER for the water to get warm in our kitchen. Here, the water gets SUPER hot...if you remember to flip the switch. Let's say that I have taken more than several cold showers because I didn't flip the switch until right before I had to take a shower in the morning.
• There is food all from all over the world here at various prices. You want Velveeta shells and cheese? You got it...for 17 dirhams (almost $5!) a box. Or you can get a bag of local noodles for less than $1, milk for less than $2, and cheese for less than $4 (depending on the brand of course...Kraft shredded cheese in a bag is almost $10!) and make your own. I LOVE going to the produce section and seeing where the fruits and veggies are from. Usually it's super cheap. Our beef comes from Australia, New Zealand, or Brazil. They have products from England, the Philippines, the US...it's just crazy what choices we have. Don't get me wrong...there are tons of things we don't have...but I'm trying to enjoy what is available.
• You have to take your produce to a little weigh station and have them weigh and sticker it before you take it to the register. I'm glad I read this before I came here! It's actually nice because you know exactly how much you're paying and it makes check out quicker. (If you've ever been to a store where the cashier has no idea what code to put in, you will agree.)
• Prepaid phones are very common here. It's actually what we have. We purchased a SIM card here (for like $10) and then we buy a code to load credits onto our iPhones (which we brought from the US). We also pay for monthly unlimited Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp. Super cheap and super easy...no contract and it comes out to be way less than our bill was at home with Verizon. The only thing I would change is adding Instagram to the unlimited plan we have.
• There are no taxes here! It is so nice to go to the store and know how much it's going to cost. No trying to figure out the 2% tax for food plus 7% tax on non food items. If it says 7 dirhams, it's 7 dirhams.
• All the units of measurement are different than in the US. This is where the US needs to get on the same page as the rest of the world. Why do we use pounds when everyone else uses kilograms?! Or miles instead of kilometeres?! Or Fahrenheit instead of Celcius?! I mean we seriously look like fools when everyone else is talking about it being 27 degrees and we're like "uh, what's that in Fahrenheit?" Come on math and science teachers...this is the "Common Core" we need to be teaching! 21st Century Skills at their finest!
• The Muslim religion is a way of life here, but it is never forced on you. They are going to do their thing, and they allow you to do yours. There are mosques EVERYWHERE. Prayer rooms on every floor of the mall, in schools, in government buildings. Businesses close for several hours in the afternoon for prayer time. You see groups of men praying together in the middle of the park after a call to prayer. Speaking of...the call to prayer is broadcast through the whole city 5 times a day. (I usually don't even notice it any more).
• Customer service here is phenomenal. The workers will bend over backwards to help you. They will remember your kids' names and greet them. They will carry your bags. And the whole time they are smiling and saying "yes madam". Take note of two things: 1. They are NOT American and 2. They are NOT locals. I will be writing more about this later.
• Most people either rent cars or ride in taxis. Even though I've heard you can get better deals if you buy, I don't want to deal with the hassle. We pay 1600 dirhams a month ($436) for a Hyundai Accent...but that includes insurance and maintenance. It was time for an oil change and they actually drove out a loaner vehicle to our apartment, took the car overnight to do maintenance, and then switched them out the next day. My friend had a flat tire and the same thing happened. So convenient! *Side note: It REALLY sucks going from a Honda Pilot at home to a small sedan here*
• Gas is SO cheap. That is probably obvious to everyone considering where I live, but let me tell you exactly how much it is: about $20 to fill up my tank.
• Everyone here gets water delivery. I've heard that even though drinking the tap water won't hurt you, it might give you a stomach ache because you aren't used to it. And I'm weird about water even in the US. And water delivery is SO cheap. For a 5 gallon jug it's about $3 and they bring it right to our door. The dispenser was about $100 and gives you cold water instantly. I LOVE IT and plan on trying to do this when we move back.

Walking in a winter wonderland (?)

Well technically it's not winter yet, is it? But guess what?

It's never going to be "winter" in the desert!

That's what I want to scream at the top of my lungs here. Because guess what?

There are winter clothes everywhere!

Yes, here in UAE. The desert. Land of the camels. Where it's still at least 90 degrees every day.

Pretty much every store has winter clothes on display. I'm talking puffy jackets, hoodies, turtlenecks (!), mittens, Applebottom jeans, boots with the fur...ok, maybe not the last two...but you get it. You would think it's going to go from the Middle East to the middle of Alaska in a few days.

And I'm kind of ok with it (well, not really...) but I'm upset that I missed the changing of the seasons sales. I don't even know if they have those here, but all my American friends know what I'm talking about. When Target and Osh Kosh and all my favorite stores mark down the summer stuff to ridiculously cheap prices because they are making room for the fall stuff. Maybe it's because even though I spend an abnormal amount of time in shopping malls but I don't really shop that I missed this event. Or maybe the event never happened. All I know is that I refuse to by my children anything long sleeved unless it drops below 70 more than 2 days in a row.

I'll keep you updated.

Halloween in UAE

I can't speak for all of UAE...but in the city I live in, there was very little fuss over Halloween. Our family isn't really a "Halloween family" (i.e. my husband hates it, my son loves it, and I just think it's cute to dress my kids up and watch them get excited). In the US, we put up a few decorations...mostly spider webs in the bushes, bats hanging from the trees, and lots of pumpkins (which aren't necessarily Halloweenie...they can be fall decorations). We did allow trick-or-treating and we definitely hit up as many fall festivals as possible.

Over here, the first time my son saw decorations, we were at Hallmark (which is actually very different from in the US...it consists of about 1/2 toys, 1/4 cards and 1/4 knick knacks) and he was so excited! And it made me happy, because I know moving 7,000 miles around the world was very difficult for me, so I can't imagine what it's like for him.

Well we had a bit of a house divided over it, but in the end I took the kids and daddy stayed home. We went to a group of villas that has lots of teachers living there and a lot of residents decorate their carports and hand out candy. It was a lot of fun! The crazy thing is that we live in a HUGE apartment complex...there are at least 700 residences here...and no one put together trick-or-treating here.

Get 'er done

Oh if only it was that easy...

It seems that everything here is more difficult than it should be...as you can probably tell from my past post about getting the entry visas/IDs/insurance cards. And guess what? We aren't even done! To truly be finished with the process, we need to get residence visas for my husband and kids. That requires more time and more money. My husband had to go get a "medical check" which consisted of a blood test and a chest xray. (Teachers get it done within the first few days of arriving. For females we had to take a pregnancy test too...and if you were pregnant without a spouse you would be sent back home). The ironic thing is that he's already been here for 2 months, so if he had an STD or something he could've already slept around and spread it. But that made them 250 more dirhams.
To get the residence visas I think it will cost us about 1200 more dirhams (like $340). I *think* it's refundable.
My current problem is that I'm not sure how long we have to get the residence visa done. I hope that it wasn't 14 days because otherwise their entry visas will be cancelled and we will have to start over.

**edit**
I actually started writing this several days ago and didn't get to finish. And now I can't continue on the path I was on because I stopped at ADEC today and turned in my paperwork and if I understood correctly, I will be able to pick up my family's residence visas in a week...without paying a dime. I guess all these other people have been "fast tracking" their documents for some reason and it costs them money. So, pray to God that I have done this correctly and it goes smoothly ;) We should have their Emirates IDs soon too.

I don't want you to think that this is easy at all...but I want to clarify that maybe it's not as hard as we think it is, mostly because our employer doesn't do a good job of laying it out in clear, easy steps to follow. Today I witnessed a British woman screaming at the sweet little typist guy for something that he had no control over. I understand being upset, but 1) it wasn't his fault and 2) screaming doesn't get you anywhere

So, I will definitely keep you updated about whether or not I understood the guy and have finished this crazy and confusing process. Because if I have, I might write a book about it and make millions ;)