October Update

It’s been a while since I wrote, so I thought to drop a quick little update on September, my second month in the UAE. The short version:

1) Spent three 8 hour days dealing with the UAE DMV. You think the DMV is rough in the US, try explaining to an Emirati woman sitting behind a desk (while mostly talking with her friends instead of the customers…I know, not much different than the US in that respect) why “None” on a US Driver’s License can actually grant permission for someone to drive a car in the US.

Still, after 3 days, I have a Driver’s License in the UAE. Glad they're so strict about licensing, given the clown cars on the roads here.

2) It only took 2 months to get my UAE residence permit. I’m now officially an expat. Just in time for the World Series, real (read: American. Mostly NCAA, but I appreciate the NFL) football, and Fall. It was 108 today. 108. In October? That’s just silly.

3) I imported my bimmer into the UAE. Got it through customs by myself. Apparently, my Arabic isn’t as bad as I thought. It only took me 5 hours to work that magic.

4) RE: my poor Arabic. While driving to church on Friday, I was listening to the BBC in Arabic. “Blah, blah, blah, Obama, blah, blah, blah, Nobel Prize.” Stupified, I turned to my wife and said, “There’s no way I heard that right.” Then flipped to the English side of the radio dial and heard a Brit talking about how “Obama hasn’t really DONE anything to promote peace. He hasn’t closed Gitmo, troops are still in Iraq, he’s sending more to Afghanistan (bmw comment: maybe…), and the Russians are still doing a bit of nuclear knocking on Eastern Europe's door."

'xactly.

Yet somehow 5 retired (and mostly useless) Parliamentarians in Norway (which collects nearly 50% of it’s GDP through taxes, by the way) think the One deserves to join the illustrious ranks of Yassir Arafat, Jimmy Carter, and Al Gore.

5) I'm spending a lot of time in the desert. Last week, I had to stay here. So, Kimberly came down for a night and I took a picture of her on the beach. I'm leaning toward the color version, though the black and white (especially a larger version) looks pretty good too. Either way, I'm a lucky man.

Think that about covers it. Oh, and it's my birthday next week...in case you wanted to get me a ticket to come to the US to celebrate...