the sheik and some corrections

so turns out i'm a moron. well, not entirely. i think my sister's hunt for the world's royalty vibe rubbed off on me a little.

the other week when i thought the dude we saw in the mall was the sheik? um, the sheik is like 90 years old. all the pics of him are not recent. i thought they were, because there are signs up all over the place (in arabic) with his picture and the date "feb 12, 2009" and the number "60". 

so naturally, i assume it means the sheik's 60th birthday is on feb. 12th. and i was meaning to find out what that meant for the peons (free cake?), but with the virus, i lost track of time and never looked it up.

and SADLY for us, we read today that there was a whole big hoopla on the waterfront yesterday afternoon. and the waterfront is basically ACROSS THE STREET FROM US. what idiots! we did, however, get to partake in the awesome fireworks display (last night and tonight) which were clearly visible from our front door. perfect view!

and the hoopla was not to celebrate the sheik's birthday, but the anniversary of his 60 years in power. whoops. that's something pretty awesome. i feel like quite the jerk for missing out. here's hoping they do it again next year.

moral of the story: a month and a half was really enough time to become fluent in written and spoken arabic, so i have no excuse. cough cough. get moving, i need to enroll in a class (if i can find one) stat.