photos and the factory

as you can see, i've finally put up some photos. i added some to previous posts, including the "over the top" post, the "RAK day" and one other? i can't remember...

anyway, the photos i'm adding here are actually from the last time we went to al hamra, but i couldn't load them all into the same post (because there were already several others). we did go there this afternoon, just julian and i. more on that in a moment.

we ended up eating at the arabic sweets stand in the mall for lunch, as the cleaning lady was here. easier to eat out than worry about getting in her way. we had what basically amounted to arabic quesadillas - they take the thin arabic bread and put some kind of cheese and olives in it, fold it up (almost like a burrito) and then grill it so that the cheese melts. tasty!

we let julian cruise around and serge was following behind. julian loves the automatic doors, so naturally he made a beeline for the exit to the mall. serge was quick, but not quick enough - a local woman (decked out in her abaya, etc.) just picked him up and brought him in to serge so that he wouldn't run out into the dropoff area. isn't that wild?

we then thought about purchasing a tv, but are clueless about how the cable works, so we asked at one of the cable providers' stands in the mall. turns out that about 300 channels are free, so why on earth would we pay for cable? (although it isn't expensive - one package was like $20 a month.) besides, the provider we talked to doesn't offer KBS world (korean channel). no thanks!

we're still thinking about the tv thing. no rush. i will add that due to the issue of not having street addresses, you may wonder how on earth you'd pay a monthly cable bill - well, i'll tell you. you can either pay for the year of service up front in cash, or you set it up on a credit card and then pay by internet. i've heard a lot of things work that way. (except the water/electricity as i've said before.)

from there, we had a rendez-vous at the factory. GOOD NEWS! it's partially ready. i say partially, because the whole thing isn't built out yet, but enough of it is for serge to make the chocolates there. hallelujah! it's been a long time coming.

before we met him there, i took julian to al hamra to play on the beach. it was FREEZING today. while we were there, mr. mayor must have been in an introspective mood. a local man came up to him and was trying to get him to shake his hand. he was super friendly and i told him that we had been living here for about 3 weeks and that we just love ras al khaimah and the UAE. he was pretty cool.

once we got to the parking lot, a man parked next to my car says to julian, "well hello little boy! i'm so sorry i don't have a gift for you." i'm thinking, "not a big deal." then he goes, "but i have a gift for your mom." turns out he was a UAE navy recruiter and was doing an exhibit or something at al hamra. so he gave me a baseball hat and a t-shirt with the seal of the UAE navy. (serge loves it!) he was very friendly and we chatted for a while. everyone loves to hear that we like their country. i suppose that's normal!

anyway, tomorrow we're back to dubai, as i have to present myself at the american consulate. i just did some light reading (ha) on their website and have a feeling my documentation is not in order. i perhaps was supposed to have gotten my marriage license and son's birth certificate (which are official copies notarized by the state, mind you) extra certified by the state department or something in washington. are you kidding me? why does the US have to make everything so complicated? we'll see tomorrow what kind of crappy mess we're going to have. hooray! can't wait...