zobia and the bank

separate events, actually. let me preface this message by saying that i'm not feeling up to snuff at the moment, so i will be responding to everyone's e-mails tomorrow. lots of good ones today, but i need to get some rest. it does not help that i was up until the wee hours of the morning because i got sucked into fascinating vaccine debate / information. google "oritt and sears" and you'll see what i mean. i digress...

but before i get back on topic, as for the date, i just realized julian is 17 months today. will be updating the web gallery as well this week. (and if month 16 is missing, it's my sister candee's fault, sorry to call you out on that, sis.)

zobia is the name of my pakistani neighbor. the other night when we were going out to dinner, she and her family were also on their way out to a friend's house. she said, "come by in the morning, any time." so today, feeling very weird about it - a) because in the US people say that, but they really don't mean it - you usually have to be invited somewhere for a specific time, date, etc. and b) because i don't want to seem like a desperate loser who needs friends. i got over the fear fast and just walked over and knocked on the door.

we hung out for a good hour and a half, chatting about a lot of things while julian and the little girl (i cannot remember her name to save my life) who is three were playing. very cool. nice to get to know the neighbors (and i have to realize that it's okay to just pop in on people - that's what people do, not like paranoid americans who think their neighbors are going to kill them or steal their identity. not that we are sheltered from all of that here, but it seems less threatening. either that or the constant fear of everything does not exist here).

we then went out to the store after julian's nap because i had to pick up a few things. a lot, actually, because the fridge was bare, save some delicious juices - guava/lychee/pear and pomegranate/cranberry/raspberry/acai, a few random cheeses, milk, dijon mustard, maple syrup and fresh parsley and mint. since i had about 2 dirhams to my name, i stopped at the ATM to get some cash. only our bank's ATM was "temporarily out of service". since the banks close early here (like 12 or 1pm), i couldn't go into the bank to inquire.

so i went out of network.

to about 3 other banks whose ATM's told me that they were "unable to process your request at this time. please contact your bank." 

i call serge, who gets lewellyn on the job. she calls the banker (she's got him on speed dial, apparently - and he's the one who loaned us the 6K)

PAUSE - there is some horrendously random squeaking noise that just started and seems to coincide with the pumping of the water from the tank on the roof to the neighbor's home upstairs. this should be interesting.

...so the banker says that all of the ATM's in the UAE are down this afternoon. (random and not sure if that's really true or not.) oh well. i didn't want to use my US credit cards, because they'd probably reject the transaction since i never called to let them know i was here. so we left sans provisions. serge actually just went out to see if the card works now, but i doubt it. regardless, i can go to the bank tomorrow morning and just withdraw from the window.

once we get back to the complex, julian makes a beeline for the sandbox. zobia and her daughter were outside, so they came over to join us for a little while before heading back to prepare dinner, etc.

what is the moral of half of this story - i have a new friend (and so does julian)!