Vanishing Act

I woke up the other morning and a strange sight greeted me out our living room windows.  It took me a minute to figure out what was wrong.  There were NO cars parked on the street across from us.  I called Sallie and Robert over and we all stood there in shock.   Now, we have known for months that they would soon put in paid parking meters over there, but to have the cars gone overnight was bizarre.  When we went to bed the night before, the usual 50 cars were parked up and down the street and presto..at 7 am they had disappeared.  For the following three days these weird events continued. We knew our time was short for our usual parking places next to the aromatic dumpsters.

 So, that Saturday Mike and I drove to the Parking Permit office in central Abu Dhabi.  I say Mike and I because I had to drive him there as there is no place to park.  I know, hard to believe.  Anyway, I put my flashers on and waited for Mike in the taxi pull out section of the road.  People don't like that but you gotta do what you gotta do.   I waited for about 15 minutes.  He comes out with empty hands. No parking permit.  These permits are a yearly pass for the paid spots along only your section of residence.  They cost about 400 dollars and they don't guarantee you a spot . If there IS a spot you can use it and not get a ticket.   "Honey, what did they say? Did you get a permit for us?"  "Nope, apparently we don't have a parking problem in our section." ?????????????????????????????   Anyway, because the paid parking is not on our side of the street and won't be for TEN months we can't have a permit.  Only those people across from us will have access to the 25 paid spots. It's ok to laugh. What else can you do?  :)

For a couple more days we were able to park on our side of the street, in the street. Then the tickets started showing up.  We did find a solution though.  There is valet parking for our building under the building that is behind us that is not finished.  We used it for awhile but then, when they scraped off the paint along the left side of Mike's car, and it cost us about 2000 dollars to get if fixed, we quit using it.  Perhaps the men parking the cars are better now as they have had more practice. But what choice do we have?   I WILL say it helps traffic along our road.  And the car is a bit cooled off by the time they bring it to us.  I'm sure we will get used to it, but the street still looks very strange.....      

Frantic Fun and Fatigue

    Beauty and the Beast, Boy Scouts and Bogota...what do these have in common?  Only that we have been running from here to there for these events. Ok, I cheated with Bogota, as in Colombia.  We were at the Kenneys last night and I met two of the nicest ladies from there. They didn't speak English so it was fun to use my Spanish and laugh with them.  I really am Latin at heart. :)
     As for Beauty and the Beast, Sallie has worked about 50 hours with my friend Pattie,  the costume director, since February.   Last Wednesday the play opened and it was a big hit. We won't miss the running around or the long hours(which don't even come close to all the hours Pattie put into it) but it was fun to see it all come together yesterday.   Sallie is at her performance right now.
     And Boy Scouts? Robert will receive his next rank at the Court of Honor at the end of this month. He is very excited.   He actually ushered yesterday at the play to get some service hours in.  Those are kind of hard to come by here.  Needless to say, we have been scurrying and squeezing in last minute hikes and all to make sure he has all the requirements. Mission accomplished. We can breathe.

     I think Abu Dhabi fatigue is setting in.  This is similar to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome but usually manifests itself in increased conversations with whacko drivers, lower tolerance for red tape, and total depression over the lack of parking.  And don't get me started on my phone that was stolen...went to get a new sim card. Office closed. Went back. Office open. Not the right paperwork. Get Mike's signature to prove I CAN replace my Sim card. Go back a third time. Get Sim card....but ......wait for it....Has Mike's phone number. So for the whole day he is stuck in Dubai with no phone...Oh my gosh. Will this never end. Actually, it did. The next morning. Back at the phone office, all straightened out.  But ..well...ADF is in full swing.
     And Robert turned 12 this week, too. His third birthday celebrated here in the UAE. Sometimes I am dumbfounded at how fast the years have gone.  And then I get stuck in traffic and I feel every one of those years. :)
Here's to summer break. Just around the corner.