Everyday life in the UAE

Well friends and family, it’s about that time again. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve (Michelle) updated my blog and the list in my phone to keeps my thoughts is getting pretty full.

Throughout the past few weeks, I’ve taken a few notes about some things that are just different here. Small things, but things that we have had to get use to to be able to function here in Abu Dhabi.

1.       Switches. There are on and off switches for everything. Need to do that load of whites? Better switch on the washing machine. Need to boil a pot of water for some noodles? Better flip the switch for the stove. Oh man, a cold shower? Better switch the hot water on! (We have learned to just leave that one always on…) Maybe it saves power? We will see with our first bill.. 

4.       In a moment I’ll write a brief synopsis of Zach’s trip to the hospital, but for my list of things now, “Inpatient Pharmacy”. You may not know what I mean by this unless you have worked in a hospital. But. In the US, the inpatient pharmacy is the pharmacy for patients who are admitted into the hospital AT THAT TIME. So, a patient is in room 201 and needs some meds? Well, you call the inpatient pharmacy. You are fine and well and need to pick up your inhaler? You go to the outpatient pharmacy. Easy enough, right? Wrong. After asking a handful of different people where I needed to pick up Zach’s medication, I kept being told the inpatient pharmacy. Right, but he was discharged so doesn’t that mean he is in the outpatient pharmacy? Nope. Inpatient. Which by the way once I found it, had separate lines- one for male patients and one for female patients. I was unclear if being a female if I could go to the male line- although I was picking up medications for a male. No worries, I went to the male line and all was well.

5.       You are out eating at a restaurant and your child is being quite messy. Your waiter or waitress might bring you some ______. Right. Napkins. Wrong. Here, it’s tissues. “Here buddy, why don’t you wipe your hands off with this tissue?” Maybe this one isn’t that big of a deal, but I’m used to “tissues” being used to wipe your nose 

As many of you know, Zach has had kidney stone issues for years. It’s been something that if I see him holding his side, I know what is coming- ER, meds, painful passing. While I don’t think it’s quite like giving birth, he would completely disagree. Nonetheless, he is in excruciating pain and it’s very hard to see him hurt so much. After we had been in the country for two days, we made a trip to the ER for pain meds that were in our lost luggage. Three weeks later we made another trip. And finally two weeks after that we made this one. This one was a little different though. I didn’t drive him this time. The ambulance did. At 3:30 in the morning. I was awoken by him vomiting and when I rushed to make sure he was okay and to see if he needed anything, all he was able to do was muster out a breathless “call an ambulance.” Now, in Abu Dhabi there are no addresses. When I say none, I mean none. Even on legal items, the address will say something like “Behind __ Near___”. I guess it’s part of not being in a completely developed country. So here I was at 3:30 am trying to explain to this non-fluent-in-English speaking person how to get to our building. About 35 minutes later they finally arrived and I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see someone here that spoke English that I could thoroughly understand. I told him what was going on and sent him off in the ambulance, broken that I couldn’t go along. Someone had to stay with Braxton and inside my logical mind, I knew they would give Zach pain medication and he would be sleeping. I did not want to take Braxton up to sit at the hospital. I notified family and friends to pray, and then called to speak to the doctor myself. Braxton later woke up and we headed to the hospital. The rest most of you know. He ended up getting a splint from him kidney to bladder to allow the urine to drain at the stones were blocking and everything was backing up. He still has the stent in almost a week and a half later and has an appointment soon for another xray and will hopefully be scheduled for lithotripsy. While he was in the hospital some of our new friends here watched B for us. We could NOT have been more thankful as it really helped us out where I could be at Zach’s bedside and talk with the doctors without any distractions.   

I am also happy to blog that we bought baaccooonnnn!! You know what that means! PAYDAY! Zach and I received our last paychecks at the end of July and have been without income since. Only by the grace of God did we sell our home so fast and made a profit that we were able to live off of until now. We were not hungry once, did not go without shelter once, and quite frankly, still lived the way we normally do. Thank you Lord for providing. He is so faithful! Alas, Zach was paid a few days ago that started from the day we landed here and I got paid today. We were able to go shopping for some home décor as our home was so bare. It looked like a college dorm room. A few pots, a few pans, a couch, bed, and dresser. The walls are still blank as we have to find some décor that is lightweight because the walls are all concrete and we cannot put any screws into them but will have to use command strips. All in time. But for now we got some candles, kitchen table (still no chairs), some flowers, etc and it’s becoming more “home-y”. 

Another thing I have learned is: I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO IRON. Yep, there. I said it. I don’t understand why it’s so complicated. You would think, you have a wrinkly piece of clothing, you wait until the iron is hot, pass it over, and out comes dewrinkled clothing. Wrong. Atleast in my experience. My things are wrinkly, I pass an iron over it, and it comes out wrinkly like I haven’t even started to iron yet. It’s beyond frustrating.  

Maids here are very common. I said I would never have one. I may have changed my mind. Two nights ago we hired a maid service just for a couple hours to wash our floors and bathrooms. Little did I know they would also clean my dishes, make the bed, and fold the laundry. Wow. It’s cheap and I will be calling them back. It was ah-mazing.  

Another way that God has provided is this- Every evening I would have to call to the taxi service and arrange a taxi for the next morning for Braxton and I. I would get a call in the morning and have to explain to each taxi driver how to get here, and then tell him how to get to our school which is about 20 minutes away. I was late many days as sand looks like sand and I would get SO turned around and SO lost. Nonetheless, with talking with one of my co-workers one day we figured out we are practically within walking distance from each other. Now, she picks Braxton and I up every morning and we ride with her. She is from Australia and is very nice. It’s been great. Not to mention it saves us about 40 dirhams, roughly $10 a DAY! 

I know I have written before about the CRAZY driving here. Well. Let me tell you about this story. We were driving somewhere one day, I think maybe the mall and we were in the left turn lane. Now there were two left turning lanes and we happened to be in the left hand one. We have found here that sometimes even people in the right, left turning lane will still make u-turns even if the person in the left, left turning lane is not and is actually making a left hand turn. If you can understand that, you get the point. Well, this particular morning, we were in the left, left turning lane and this very thing happened. The person to our right, that should have been turning left, decided to pull a u-turn. So after our hearts stopping panicking and we stop laying on the horn, we begin to go again only to find someone from the STRAIGHT LANE also wants to pull a u-turn!!!!! WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING?!?! It could have been a huge disaster. Thankfully, Zach saw it, slammed on the breaks and the horn, and we made it through the intersection in one piece with no contact made with another car. Phew. Most stressful left turn ever.

 We are still trying to get my sponsorship completed so I do not have to make 30-day border runs to Oman. We had to go to the Identification Authority to attempt to apply for my Emirate ID (which we later found out I cannot get until I have my VISA). So Zach went in the ID Authority and I took B to the bathroom. When we went back, I walked right up in the ID Authority to find Zach and was quickly stopped by the security guard. Evidently, it was a “mens only” and I was not allowed. That’s the first time it’s ever really affected me. Turns out to be fine though because right next door was the womens and they had a small play place for the children so Braxton played until Zach came to get us.

One night, we drove all the way around town to get to this one restaurant we wanted to try. After driving for what felt like forever, we finally arrived only to find out they have the same restaurant multiple places around town. Nonetheless, we parked and went in to eat. When we came back out, we found a nice yellow parking ticket waiting for us on our windshield. Woo. Parking ticket. Yay. Good news is, you get a 25% discount if you pay within two weeks J

 One thing that I have been really surprised by is the amount of Christmas decorations for sale. It’s everywhere. And they actually call them “Christmas” trees. Crazy to me that a Muslim country sells so much décor that is for a Christian holiday. We have also been in one store and one restaurant that was playing Christian music. And not just music that is played on Christian radio stations that could be Christian or secular, but music that calls Jesus Lord and such. Makes my heart happy!

 I do miss home. I wouldn’t say home sick but I do miss it. And when I say home, I mean Savannah. I really miss our house and I really miss my job. Don’t want to get all sappy on my blog, but one of the reasons I wanted to do this is for you to be able to see inside the fun and see inside the struggles. Well, this is the struggle. But as I remind myself, even if we went back to Savannah, our house would not be the same. After all, we did sell it and I’m sure the people that are there now did not decorate it as we did and such. I try to remember what a blessing that house what. We got a deal on that house! And what a perfect neighborhood it was in. Maybe it’s more emotional as that was “our” first house, our first home as a family. That was our first house purchase and we really did “make it ours”. Now it’s time to make this new place “ours”. But I have to remember that it does not and will not happen overnight, but over time. I miss my job. I miss the hospital setting and all of the friends that I worked with at Candler. If we ever do go back to Savannah, I will certainly be finding myself at Candler. Although I doubt Savannah is in the cards for the future, it is now but a happy memory of our young family.

Well friends and family, I believe that is all for now. After typing three pages on Microsoft Word, I feel like I’m back in school. Again, if you’ve read all of this, thanks J Love and miss you all!!