February Random Firings...

I think Charles Darwin would have enjoyed the UAE. This is not a place where God intended his creatures to live. Being an arid climate there just isn’t a whole lot of animal life--but what is here has clearly adapted for this area of the world. The animals here are very economical. By that, I mean they are small! Birds are small; pigeons are about half the size you would see and far fewer; flies are smaller and no less aggravating. I have not seen a lot of bug life--but the ones I have seen in my apartment are about the tiniest things I have ever seen, about the size of a period. They are so small, and not in great numbers, that they are not even a worry--more a fascination and novelty.

I have noticed the chickens in the grocery stores are pretty small too--and not very satisfying.
I have not seen any dogs running around…none. I have seen a few cats, but not many. The only road kill I have seen was a grey tabby the other night.

When I do stumble upon a patch of green around here, aka, a golf course, I have noticed some very unusual birds with strange colorings and other adaptive features. In Ras Al Kamaihah, we saw some birds with long thin, curved beaks picking bugs out of the grass and reeds…kind of like sand pipers at the seashore in the US. I’ve seen black birds with bright royal blue markings on their wings; some other black and brown birds with peaked headpieces similar to Cardinals. Also, the seagulls are much smaller here.

I will have to pick up a couple field guides.

Of course, camels are at home here--they are big Dromedary (one hump) Camels in this area--as opposed to Bactrian (two-hump) Camels of central Asia. I have seen camel milk and ice cream in the stores--haven't tried it yet. I also hear Camel meat can be had in some areas of town.

Speaking of camels, my brother asked me what the down side of my racing camel adventure could be and I told him that 'the camel breaks a leg and we have to eat him.'' He suggested we shake a bag of charcoal briquets behind him to make him run faster.

Dubai has a long way to go if they want to be a financial capital of the world--Banking can be pretty cumbersome and unpredictable here. I use HSBC, because that’s who my employer uses and they set up the accounts when we got here. I would change, but I think the hassle would be way too much for probably very little benefit.

First of all, there are HSBC branches all over the place--and they are completely useless. Only two offices in all of Dubai can actually handle cash or issue checks. One is in Deira and a pain to get to--the other is in Jebel Ali and I haven’t tried that one yet. Right now, I have a checkbook sitting at the branch in Diera, waiting for me to get up the energy and feel adventurous enough to waste a morning going to collect it.

I have another brewing issue with HSBC. We are allowed a free monthly automatic wire transfer. I set mine up (yes, I had to go to Deira) back on Dec 29. I told my bank officer, Zania (she has been a great help and always remembers me when I come in to Deira) that I wanted to set up the transfer, starting that day and every month on the 29th. She filled out a couple forms and assured me it was all set. I went home and checked a week later--no transfer. I was hardly surprised. I decided to just wait and see what happened at the end of January. Well, 29th of January, twice the amount I had set up was successfully transferred to the US. So, either things are screwed up or they just did both transfers at once. I’m kind of leaning towards screwed up since I only showed one withdrawl instead of 2 for the same amount. Because I really, really, really don’t want to go to Deira, I am waiting it out and seeing what happens at the end of February. Of course, there is no 29th of Feb this year…stay tuned.

They like fountains here--and I like that they like fountains (especially since I’m from the Fountain City, Columbus, GA). We have fountains and waterfalls in the lobby of my apartment building. There are twin 100+ ft waterfalls at the Dubai Mall; there are fountains and waterfalls throughout Festival City; there are garden fountains sprinkled around Old Town; and they just filled the lake fronting the Burj Dubai and it contains fountains that will rival the Bellagio when they crank up in a couple weeks…sweet.

They also do sidewalk cafes well here in Dubai. Unlike Atlanta where you are on a sidewalk being choked by stalled traffic on Peachtree Street, these cafes are very peaceful and set in gardens and along the waterfronts. The Irish Village and about a dozen other restuarants at the Aviation Club provide a very relaxed place to dine, quaff beer and hang out with friends--large shade trees and no motor traffic. There are dozens of shaded cafes in Old Town…many where you can enjoy a shisha pipe while you relax with friends. Unlike cigarette smoke, which is around, but not overwhelming, the shisha pipes have a sweet fruity aroma (granted the second hand smoke is still deadly, but at least it’s not annoying).

It’s interesting dealing with so many folks here who are speaking English as a second language. And most speak very well. I also think it’s interesting that they can’t recognize the differences in Aussie English, the Queens English, and American English--I get asked all the time if I’m from the UK or Australia. I suppose it would be like me learning Arabic and trying to differentiate between someone from Eygpt and someone from the UAE.

Dubai is a dusty place. And the dust is red; or has a reddish tint to it. I suppose it’s from the desert sands--which are reddish in color. I picked up some boxes of Swifter wipes last trip home and they have been great! I have a neighbor from the US who was lamenting the absence of Swifters in the UAE…so I put a box on her doorstep for Valentine’s Day. I can be very sentimental at times.

One continuing frustration here, is that there does not seem to be a tv guide that you can use to plan ahead for tv viewing or to figure out which channel is carrying what. Generally, I try to make a note if I see something I want to watch down the road--it’s not a good system. There are about 5 different cable packages available--and I can’t find guides online for any of them. One of them, Showtime Arabia, does have a guide with highlights.

Here is an interesting thing about the local developments here in Dubai. Several buildings will share a common air conditioning facility--these a huge, 3-4 story block sized buildings with cooling compressors. As far as I can figure out, the air conditioning is included in the condo maintenance fees--whether you use the AC or not--so you might as well go cool. All the renter is paying is the electricity to run the fan…again, nice. My total electric, water and sewage was $37 last month.

And for the most part, that is what Dubai has been so far…very nice, with interesting little tidbits, treasures, and frustrations tossed in.