while grandma was picking out clothes, mommy and julian were in the back of the store playing in the play houses and with the toy cars (the big ones). and then julian took a massive tumble (went flying off of the block on which the big hummer/jeep was parked) and put his tooth through the inside of his lip. but he's a tough little guy and shook it off relatively quickly.
in the p.m. (this was sunday), we showed mom the hospital and the increasingly horrid safeer mall. that place just sucks. more stores are open (add dunkin donuts to the mix, not to mention at least 2 stinky perfume shops) but it isn't a good place. tacky inside and just annoying. we'll stick to the ultimate shopping experience, thank you very much. who doesn't heart carrefour?
speaking of which, i had a record-breaking experience this morning. i purchased a new lip balm that was in a sealed package. when i opened it upon exiting the store, i found that it was empty. when i went to customer service (remember the fridge? it's like "remember the alamo" RAK style), there were not 10,000 questions or signatures needed. the dude did call over 2 people to confirm the faulty product, but i got my money back instantaneously! shocker. score one for carrefour.
we had gone there because while at immigration with serge and lewellyn, we learned that we were missing a signature on our documents. they dropped us off at carrefour and went to collect what was missing.
as for immigration, we are lucky that everyone is nice, because you'd go insane otherwise and lose it. we spent most of the morning (minus the hour at carrefour) either waiting in line (and i use that term loosely, as for every organized numbered queue that they had, there was a disorderly one, with people crowded around one guy at a desk, gently pushing, poking and shoving documents so that they could be helped first) or shuffling back and forth between offices, counters, buildings and so on. back and forth. our 2nd to last stop was at the fine desk because julian and i have overstayed our visas (thank you, state of new jersey for your ridiculously tedious paperwork requirements, and the US dept of state for taking twice as long as you promise to expedite, but i digress...).
we were stamped for 60 day entry, but the law was actually for 30 days. you are fined 100 dirhams per day that you overstay. that put us each at 42 days, which is insane. the guy at the fine desk tried to give us a discount, but couldn't override the dubai system. at least he told us what to do and was super nice. he said, "if you are rich, you can pay now. otherwise, you can go to dubai and get a discount." that's what we did.
serge and lew went back to work and the three of us grabbed mcdonald's (help our stomachs) and shuttled down to dubai immigration. once there, more of the same counter and building-hopping, between the ladies section and the regular section, etc. i got a workout running around. but boy was it worth it! the gentleman at the counter said that it was their mistake and that as long as i paid for the extension for the visa (1300 for the two of us, instead of 8400 for the fine + the extension) and left the country within 7 days (to oman, nothing serious), they would wave the fine and it would be cool. how awesome is that? so this weekend, we make a visa run to oman (and hopefully check out some handicrafts and dolphins in the meantime).
i was wondering if the same would have happened in reverse (had it been in the US). and then i realized that we had it easy today, back-and-forth and all. at least they didn't kick me out. or treat me like a terrorist. or a second-class citizen. or an animal. and every single person we dealt with (and there were at a quick estimate, about 14 minimum) was friendly and took the time to explain what was going on and help us. can we say that for the DMV? or for the people that have had the pleasure of having to be subjected to the overzealous questioning, etc. for visiting the US - the uber-friendly airport immigration workers (yikes - i've heard stories)? how about the rest of those "customer relations" people who deal in similar situations in the US? no comparison. i'd rather spend the day here taking care of business then at home. hands down.
oh, and julian got more chocolate out of the deal, as usual. those women love him.
so tomorrow, we have to head back to RAK immigration (now that we've gone to dubai) and hopefully settle up things so that i can proceed to my blood test and fingerprinting. we will also have to go back to dubai for mom (to make up for the lost day today) AND get me a new pair of glasses, since mine snapped in half this morning in a freak accident in the immigration office. they fell to the ground and broke clean across the bridge part. let there be sight, because i look like a wacko walking around with tape (that doesn't hold) or with two halves of my glasses balancing precariously (and ridiculously) on my face so that i can see something.
keep those fingers crossed. i won't believe that we are free of a huge fine until that visa is stamped in my passport.
and if it is all cool, that would be just too cool.
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