The Stories

Many things are running through my mind today as I begin to post.  First, I have a sadness, an emptiness within.  I miss my home and all the things that make it my home.  My animals, my people, my couch.  I miss my couch and I hate that stupid couch.  It's old, it's falling apart, I can't lay down on it to take a nap for the life of me, too many lumps and bumps.  But, when I sit.... ahh, all my parts find a place of comfort.  I can prop up my feet and read, or watch TV or write in my journal, or decline Rufus' plea to plop in my lap.  For those of you who don't know, Rufus is one of my dogs.

Rufus is half lab and half Australian Shepherd. He doesn't easily fit on my lap but he gives good hugs and is quite the snuggler.  Sniffle, ragged breath... I'm okay, Rufus is in good hands right now.  I'm quite certain he's happy to chase a frisbee, or take a dip in his pool. Yes, I have a kiddie pool for my dogs.  It's quite entertaining actually, for me, to watch his head pop up over the top of the pool as he pants away the heat taking a break from retrieving the frisbee or old soccer ball, or just watching over his herd of horses.  Life would be simple if I were Rufus.

But, I'm not Rufus, I'm not home, I can't sit on my creaky couch.  I'm in a hotel room.  I have hotel furniture, it's never quite comfortable, except for the bed. Ahh, the hotel bed!  I worried at first that it would be too hard.  Very firm indeed, but I have not had a bad night's sleep since I've arrived, when I actually sleep, that is.  I've not had a single day of awakening with a sore back except for the night I used the wrong pillow and then I only suffered a little bit from a stiff neck, but I soon worked out all the kinks.  Silly things to be concerned about, silly things to blog about.

So, now I will stumble about and try to come up with something of substance.  Hmm, what could it be?  Ah, yes, the stories.  I believe there are many stories to find here in Abu Dhabi.  A few days ago during orientation to develop our cultural awareness, a few people shared some of their stories with us.  Their English could be measured in varying degrees from broken to excellent. But, who am I to judge?  Who knows how many languages each of the speakers could own?  Ask me about my Arabic classes! HA HA!  I fail!  There could be no comparison.

One speaker was a mother who told her story reading word for word from her handwritten pages.  Her composure was stiff but her story!  She fled from her home country seeking safety for herself and her children, yet still she misses her home country.  Another spoke with great presence and confidence explaining how she came here to sing with a band, and to send money home to her family.

And another, an Emirate man spoke with great feeling, affection and compassion.  He shared his story of growing up during the time before the oil discovery.  He described being the youngest and being able to ride the camels during his family's move from one place to another.  How the camel's slow plodding, rocking gait caused him to fall asleep and his family worried that he would fall off, they then packed loud clanging pots and pans around him to keep him from falling asleep.  With a chuckle he explained when that didn't work, then they would find rocks to put in the pans to clank and make more noise to keep him awake and safe!

He told us how they would begin to travel early in the morning, and stop to rest during the heat of the day, then to continue on in the evening when it cooled down some, and if they were lucky and had moonlight they would go on into the night. Then, with a smile he explained how that journey might take them four days, and now with the highways and an Emirate's love of fast cars.... forty-five minutes.  

He showed us a photo of a Bedoin home in those days, made out of palm trees, similar to the Native American longhouses, built in a circle to provide housing for the entire family, the father, brothers, cousins.  In his words he said, "It was better, I think, in some ways then, to have the entire family together.  Not spread out like today."  Our facilitator then went on to explain how many villas or homes our speaker owns today, along with the six cars, not camels, in his mansion driveway.

Our Emirate speaker also shared with us a personal experience of his meeting the beloved Father of this noble country Sheikh Zayed.  After hearing his story my respect and admiration of Sheikh Zayed was deepened and my curiosity piqued.  Sheikh Zayed's vision and leadership took seven sparse tribal territories and united them eventually into the United Arab Emirates.  The UAE is a young nation, it became a nation on December 2, 1971.  Sheikh Zayed saw to it that the Emirate people were able to benefit and profit from the wealth of the oil wells.  He also saw that the oil wells will run dry someday, and that is what has brought me to this country.

I am here to contribute my tiny piece to UAE history. Educational reform has snagged me in and carried me across the world.  I can only use my meagre knowledge and experience to teach in one small classroom to maybe make a difference.  Our orientation has made it perfectly clear that we are not here to "westernize" the children, we are here to "modernize" the children.  In no way shape or form am I to take the Arabic out of the children.  Perhaps the children can instill some Arabic ways in me.

In many ways, I fit in here already.  We've been told that there is "Desert Time" and there is "English Time."  I think my "Sheri Time" is very closely linked to "Desert Time."  Over and over we've been told to be patient, to be flexible, to go with the flow, to be respectful, to save face and to never, ever publicly humiliate. EVER.  Our pushy western aggressive ways will only get us nowhere here.  I'm thinking the three P's, patience, persistence and politeness will work the best in most cases.  Now, if only I can remind myself of these three P's when I get into a jam, I may manage to not get myself deported!

It can happen, and it has happened already when an expat lost his cool waiting.  I really don't want to be deported.  I want to see what's in store for me.  Some of my challenges in the near future will be to get my marriage license and my driver's license translated into Arabic.  This entails perhaps taking a cab to a certain street, locating a little shop and finding some one to literally write out in Arabic calligraphy my marriage license and my driver's license.  This will help when I need to get Doug a medical card for insurance and when I go to the Arabic equivalent of the Secretary of State to get my UAE driver's license, after I receive my UAE ID card and my residency visa.  So many steps and hoops to jump through. 

But first, I need to be free of this five star hotel!  Ah, life is SO difficult at times.  My greatest pleasure I look forward to is to have my own refrigerator.  We went shopping for appliances yesterday.  Ah, the joy and the thrill I experienced when I discovered the ice tray in the freezer compartment!  No, nothing quite so sophisticated as an actual ice maker, but (do you hear the bugles blowing?) an ice tray. I typed those two little words oh so reverently and slowly.  ......i....c....e.......t....r...a....y.   Where I can fill the little cube trays full of water and twist them over, they have their own little compartment with a twisty lever knob, where once the water is frozen into cubes, I can dump them into an   i....c....e......B.....I.....N!  Collecting oh so many frozen bits and chunks of ice!  All that I want, to use as I want, I can fill an entire glass full of them if I want and pour my Arabic Coke Cola Light over them and I can replenish them if I want. I can have an ice cube frenzy if I want, when I have my own place.  It's the little things that matter to me.

And then, there is the ....w..a..s...h...i...n...g........m....a...c....h....i...n....e.  Deep inhale..exhale. I won't take you to the murky depths of my thoughts there.  And with that thought, I will leave you as I must go wash my delicates in the bathtub, or perhaps the bidet, before I take myself to the five star pool.