Well well well. What a difference High Speed Internet makes. I really don’t know how anyone lives without it. I do remember the days when I had a tiny little modem that made an awful noise when it dialed and connected, but I wouldn’t call that “old school” or anything. Progress is good. So we’re all “connected” now and have normal high speed internet, so this post should (cross your fingers) have more pictures!
We’re settling in nicely here in the little oasis that is Al Ain. Alanna’s work is slowly getting better and better. She doesn’t come home mad every day now, so again, progess is good. I love spending my days with Logan. He’s actually fallen into a wonderful routine. We get up usually between 9 and 10am, and play in the bed for 30 minutes. Then its an hour or 2 of the Disney Channel. His favorites are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Winnie the Pooh. On a side note, I’m glad my child is learning about Mickey, Donald and Goofy. I think kids have forgotten these guys! Anyhoo, after TV time its lunch time. Logan now happily drinks a full 7oz bottle (exactly what he should be drinking for his age) of formula around 11:30am. After that, his belly is full and he’s sleepy. He takes a nap, usually in my arms, for about an hour until 12:30, sometimes all the way until 1pm. We then play or watch TV or just have conversations in baby talk until 2pm. Then Mommy comes home! He’s generally a very happy baby and I love that his routine stays mainly the same.
The week that was, was good. I’ll be telling you some stuff that my wife put in her blog, so if you’ve read that already, just pretend you didn’t and enjoy mine!
We did indeed go to a church. Like Alanna said, it was a little room, an L shaped room where if you sat in the back side, you really couldn’t see people in the front to the right. They sang praise and worship songs that were “sort of” like what we sing back at home. It was all very rustic, but those people really do love God and its neat to see that smack dab in the middle of the Muslim world. We were going to go back this week but…
… We spent the night in a hotel on top of Jabel Hafeet! Alanna absolutely LOVES to stay in hotels, so we got a good deal and stayed in a beautiful place on top of the highest mountain in the UAE. The views were great; we played mini-golf and met up with some friends for good times! It was a nice way to relax. We had a “slight” mishap on the way back from the hotel the next morning. There are some enormous sand dunes on the way back from the hotel. We’ve wanted to stop and take pictures on them, but just haven’t done it yet. So this time we stopped. We get off the road, go about 1000 yards and the payment ends and turns into a sand road. The sand road, to my poor eyesight, just looked like a dirt road. I thought I could just drive right over it. About the time Alanna says, “I don’t think the car will go through that”, I felt all four of the tires get stuck in the sand. I tried a few snow spinning techniques to get the car out, but it only made matters worse. We called the Police and Roadside Assistance, neither of which seemed like they would be able to help. Well little Logan was going to get fussy sooner or later in the desert so I got out and hiked back up to the main road. God was obviously watching out for me because as soon as I got to the main road, a really nice Emirati in an SUV turned down my road. He spoke perfect English and was more than happy to pull us out of the sand. He even had a handy rope chain to hook to both vehicles. He had us out in 2 minutes flat. Moral of the story – When you see sand, stop the car, get out and walk.
I also got paid by the House of the Arts last week. Math is NOT my strong point, that’s for sure. I got paid double what I thought I was getting paid. I just didn’t add it right. Alanna is letting me use my paychecks to just… do stuff… mostly, since her paycheck pretty much pays for everything. So I went out a bought us a 42” Plasma HDTV. We really did need something bigger to go in the living room, and prices over here are about 25% cheaper than what they are in the States. So I got a really good deal on an ok TV. It of course wouldn’t fit in our tiny rental car so they’ll be delivering it tomorrow night. I also bought a cheap DVD player and a TV stand so we’ll be all set once the TV gets here. Hey, I’ll finally get to watch my 4 hour wedding video that I’ve wanted to see!
We had dinner with friends (Alma, Lori, Ruth, the gang) on Friday night. It was a fun time. We were going to play Monopoly but we talked too long and it was too late to start by the time we got around to it.
We started me and Logan’s residency process today. It takes a little wheeling and dealing, a lot of money, and then I have to do a medical check (Logan doesn’t have to, thankfully) and then we get our visas. So no more border runs soon!
Ok, that’s enough for me. I have to go check my fantasy football score. And the Redskins have been scored on twice since I began this blog. But at least the YANKEES ARE WORLD SERIES CHAMPS.
