My "Little Angel"

Not the best of pictures, he's quite camera shy, but this is Hussein.  He is the little five-year-old I tutor part time.  My friends and I have nicknamed him "my little angel" because quite frankly, often he is not!  I wanted ti have a positive attitude as I headed off in his direction each afternoon and that is how he ended up with his unknown nickname!  He really is a sweet little boy.  He just turned five, he's a boy, and I see him after he's had a full day of school so some days he's a tad naughty!

I met Hussein's parents my first week in the country in July, through a lead at a morning ladies coffee.  He was home for the summer, both parents worked, and they were looking for a tutor who could help him improve his English before school started in September.  They went on Holiday in July, and I started with him in August.  Every morning for two hours.  Pretty quickly I realized his English was fine, but there was definitely something going on with his communication skills.  School started and I took a break for three weeks, so he could settle into school. The parents and I both agreed that there had definitely been progress in his communication skills since early August.  Well, three weeks ago he finally got into a center in Dubai for assessment.  They had been waiting six months!  The Speech Pathologist did part one of a screening and then asked for him to return the following week. They also asked the parents if I would come along.  It was so great to hear from a professional in this area exactly what was going on with this little boy.  He does have problems in the communication area, but it is just basically huge gaps in his vocabulary.  Why?  There are probably many reasons, some are easy to see and some we will probably never know.  He is most assuredly "the little prince" at home, so he hasn't had the need to communicate as often as he should have!  Anyway, I was given deliberate lesson plans to work with him. 

Now I go every afternoon (no weekends!), for one to two hours depending on his mood, I work with him after school.   In less than two weeks, all of us (parents, teachers, maid, and myself) are noticing a huge difference!  We are all forcing him to use a full sentence every time he needs something (by repeating back to us before he gets item) and the progress has been nothing short of amazing!  The other day when I arrived at the apartment and said "hello" to him.  He said; "Should we take the bike to the park today Ms. Pattie?"  I had to hide my astonished face and almost started to tear up I was so overjoyed!  That is the longest sentence I had ever heard him use!  My only fear now is once we get him really talking, we will probably never be able to stop him!

It's a great job, only six to eight hours per week.  Super flexible, and it's wonderful to be working with little ones again.  It's also very gratifying being able to help a family that had such a great need.  I thank the Lord for opening the doors to the right position for me and for giving me the right words to speak to this little boy and his family every day!

"After The Boxes Are Unpacked"

Every Tuesday morning I join a group of ladies at ECC (Evangelical Community Church) for Ladies Bible Study Morning.  We get together and break into smaller groups.  I am in "The Boxes Class", we are doing a small group study of Susan Miller's book (Focus on the Family Resources) "After the Boxes are Unpacked, Moving On after Moving In".  The group will go all school year, and so far I am really enjoying both the book and the wonderful ladies that lead this class.  What a ministry they provide in a place where everybody is moving, may it be coming or going!  

The things we as women go through when we move we tend to discount.  The possibilities are long; loss of identity, loneliness, anger,  resentment, anxiety, disappointment, inadequacy, comparison, grief, expectations, denial, sadness, stress, etc. etc.!  There are ladies I have met here in Abu Dhabi who are like me, their move was wanted, expected, and planned.  Getting here for us was a bit crazy, but life is never ever exactly as we plan or expect.  There is always "the stuff of life" to deal with and the emotions that come with it.  Then there are ladies that I have met where their move was not expected, unplanned, and very unwanted.  My heart goes out for them and I hope I do an adequate job of encouraging them to find the "good things" here in the desert!  How much of life is truly our attitude, and how challenging (for me) is it to control.  I am reminded of how thankful I am to have this adventure here, this move was something I had wanted for many years.  The book is packed full of scriptures and reminders of God's love for each and every one of us no matter where we are in life!

So every Tuesday we review a chapter, watch a short video by the author, and have "discussion" time at each table where we share our hearts and encourage one another.  And there is always a box of Kleenex (written in Arabic!) at every table!  It is definitely been a highlight of my week, for about two months now!  Along with our official "Boxes" class we also have special events once or twice a month.  We have had a family Iftar Picnic (read the blog on Ramadan if you're not sure what that is) at the Beach, a shopping trip to Dubai, a craft morning (we made really neat "memory keepers"), and next week have a "town tour" and lunch planned!

I end this blog with a verse from Isaiah that I am committing to memory:

"Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder on the past.

Behold, I will do something new.  Now it will spring forth;

Will you not be aware of it?

I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43: 18-19

You have entered the "Logic-Free Zone"!

Dee dee dee dee, dee dee dee dee,................ no it's not the Twilight Zone but when it happens you sense things are not quite right.  It is the "zone" in the U.A.E. where guidelines or rules exist absent of all logic.  In our house here in Abu Dhabi we having lovingly named it the "Logic-Free Zone", and you can do nothing but laugh at it!  I invite you to chuckle along with me.......

I have several friends whose husbands all work for a similar company, not the company my husband works for.  They recently won a bid to build seven nuclear power plants here in Abu Dhabi.  The Sheikh over this project is eager to get it going full steam ahead.  Yet, they still have not established a Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  Why?  You have just entered the "Logic-Free Zone"!

There is a law here common to the many of the States in the U.S.  It is illegal to speak on a cell phone while you are driving.  You can be ticketed for it, if pulled over by a Police Officer.  Yet, it is NOT illegal to drive around the city with a baby in your arms, or a toddler bouncing around the back seat!  They even drive, while holding their infants in their laps.  You have entered the "Logic-Free Zone"!

The Malls here are AMAZING, they make the nicest malls I know in the States (like The Westchester and Southpark) look shabby.  There are four of them inside the city limits of Abu Dhabi alone.  They are four to eight stories high when you include the underground parking levels.  Many of them are the size of two and three city blocks full of hundreds of stores.  They have huge sections of escalators all through out them.  Some are wider, on a slant, and no stairs; these are for carts since every mall has a huge store on the bottom level like a Super Wal-Mart on steroids!  Some go all the way from the bottom of the lowest parking up three or four stories, one level at a time.  Now you would think that if they could build all of this they could line up the escalators so when you get off one you turn and go to the next.  All the ups together and all the downs together.  Oh no, not here, they are all mixed up.  As you step off one escalator you have to dodge crowds trying to get on the one you have to pass in front of to walk around to the another side to continue to go up or down!  It's real fun when you are pushing a cart of groceries!  You have entered the "Logic-Free Zone"!

I'm driving down the road in the left center of five lanes on a major road.  I see a car barrelling down behind me, there is a car to my right and my left.  So he goes to the extreme right of five lanes and gets a car or two ahead then moves lane left and gets another car ahead.  And again and again until he is now in the far left lane.  All of this is happening about thirty to forty miles per hour.  A block down the road and we are all stopped at a red light and he's a whole five cars ahead of me on the left!  It wouldn't be that crazy if it wasn't for the fact that there is at least a half dozen of them all pulling the same stunts at the same time.  Driving in the U.A. E......."The Logic-Free Zone"!

You never know when you might wander into the "Logic-Free Zone", I'm sure there will be more examples in the months and years to come!

J-E-L-L-O spells home!

About a month ago I purchased tickets for our trip home in January (yeah!) from an online company located in the U.S.  It's a big trip because we are first going to New Orleans, then Charlotte, and then back home to Abu Dhabi.  For some reason part of our trip was not available in e-ticket form, only as paper tickets they needed to mail to us.  And of course they would only mail them to a U.S. address, so we had them sent to my mom.  We planned for my mom to send them to us but it turned out that new and dear friends of ours were headed to Atlanta two weeks ago for a visit home.  His mom happens to be from Augusta which is basically the town next door to my mom!  So the two moms met where my mom gave his mom our tickets and a bag of goodies and his mom took it to him and his wife in Atlanta.

Well, Thursday night we had suishi with a group and our friend is back from the U.S. although his wife is still in Atlanta.  We received our plane tickets and our "bag" of goodies.  A Wal-Mart bag FULL of sugar-free Jell-o and sugar-free Jell-o pudding mixes!  Yeah, I'm so excited, I can't find sugar-free desserts here anywhere.  I know it's silly but sometimes the littlest things make me think of home.  So we are now set, twenty two boxes worth, of Jell-o for quite sometime.  Thanks Mom!  I am now starting my shopping list for all the things that will come back in my suitcase with me in January.

Iftars

During Ramadan, the meal that breaks the sun up to sun down fast each day is called the Iftar.  It literally means "to break the fast" and is quite often done with family and friends.  We had several opportunities to attend Iftar.

This one was probably my favorite.  It was in a little restaurant on the first floor of the building Barry's office is in.  We went two other couples, Michael and Sharmini (who we went to Jebel Dhanna with) and Dave and Suzy (Barry works with Dave).  The table was set with the traditional Iftar juices, bowls of dates, and large crocks of lentil soup.  Those are often what the fast is broken with and then the large meal.
The dinner was set up as a buffet and reminded me of going to Grandma's for Thanksgiving meal.  All the favorite Holiday selections, the food was amazing!
This picture was taken in a large Iftar tent outside the one of the big hotels.  Many of the hotels set them up for the entire month.  Many of the Muslims have taken long rest in the afternoon and hang out in these entertainment tents until two and three in the morning!This was the fanciest Iftar we attended.  It was a huge tent that seated well over a thousand outside the Emirates Palace Hotel.  This was the exterior of the tent.It was an event sponsored by the contractor (Al Habtoor) for the project Barry is working on.  (Sorbonne University)  
This was the entertainment inside the tent.  The food was as impressive!

So what's up with Ramadan?

Ramadan is a month long Muslim religious observance celebrated in the ninth month of the Muslim calendar.  The ninth month being the month that the Qu'ran was revealed to the prophet Mohamed.   During the month they fast (no eating, drinking, chewing gum, or smoking) from sunrise to sunset.  Each day at sunset there is an Iftar meal.  Iftar literally meaning; to break the fast, and is often done as a community.  The Muslim calendar is different than the Gregorian calendar we follow, it follows the moon.  So each year Ramadan falls a little earlier than the year before, this year it began September first.  They thought it would end on the 30th but it actually ended on the 29th.  Don't laugh but there is actually a "moon committee" that is responsible for all the sightings.  They say when each month begins and ends.  The month of Ramadan ends with Eid al-Fitr, this is a week festival as big as our Christmas.

Why do they do this?  It is supposed to teach them patience and humility and remind them of the poor.  They are supposed to concentrate on "being extra good".  It is also a month of charity, they give a portion of their years earnings to these little kiosks set up at the grocery stores and malls.  I don't know if all this happens but it's probably like anywhere there are those who their faith is important to them, others who just follow the rules, and those who just say they do.

Those are the basic facts on Ramadan, now here is how it has impacted us.  Every restaurant and coffee shop in every mall is closed.  The large hotels would keep one restaurant open with a curtain over the door for lunch.  All restaurants open in the evening but don't serve until sunset.  Many serve elaborate Iftar meals with many special dishes, it's like a month long of Thanksgiving dinner.  Most Muslims are up most of the evening celebrating and eating so they sleep late in the morning.  Store hours are strange, just a few in the morning and than closed all afternoon and then reopen at eight o'clock until midnight.  All Muslims go into work late and leave at two o'clock so they can rest before beginning their night time activities.  You can imagine with half the workers in the offices not being Muslim what a crazy month it is!  The streets become gridlock with school and employees all out at the same time.  As the month goes on they are more tired and irritable!  A few friends and I have been saying we are Rama-done!!  You have to drink a sip of water in an empty elevator or a restroom stall if you're out and about for hours.  I have even been in a parked car and put my head down by the floor board just for a sip of water!  On the other hand it is a month of festivities!  Special tents sent up everywhere for all the evening functions.   We have been to several Iftars, large and small and have real enjoyed the experience.  Malls, stores, and even some homes decorate, mostly with moons and stars.  There are lots of "Christmas lights", and mall fronts lit up with lights that change.  One mall had hanging moons, camels, Arabian coffee pots, etc.  The craziest thing was we did not know what day it was going to actually end until we woke up on the 30th and found out it ended the night before!  It's like two eras clashing; the "moon committee" had to say the month ended and then tells everyone by Internet!  You gotta laugh!  Public Holidays (school and government) had off all week because they new Eid would fall during that week.  But, the private sector only gets two days, and you don't know when they are until it happens!  It's a crazy thing we call life here in the Middle East.

What have I as a Christian learned?  So much, for one thing, their religion encompasses every aspect of their lives.  What they eat, drink, wear, go, etc.  What would our communities look like in the United States if all Christians allowed God to encompass every part of their lives?  At the same time it is very sad to see so much legalism and no grace.  Every prayer and all that they do helps them "earn" their way to paradise.  I am so thankful for the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, God's son, and what that means to me.  Ramadan for me has had it's share of inconveniences but most of all has been a month long Thanksgiving.  I have been daily reminded of how much I am thankful for!

Al Ain and Jebel Hafeet

On Sept. 26th and 27th Barry and I left Abu Dhabi for the weekend and headed to Al Ain and the mountain next to it, Jebel Hafeet. The entire trip was based on the need to make what is referred to here as a "run for the border". Barry's residency is complete but mine is still in process and my visa was about to expire. You can cross into the Sultanate of Oman next to Al AIn in less than two hours from Abu Dhabi. I needed to leave the U.A.E. so I could re-enter and get a new stamp in my passport. Nothing is ever as easy as they explain it to you but after a comedy of errors and wonderful help from an angel in the form of an Omani taxi driver (we couldn't cross the border in our rental) we finally had my new stamp! The rest of the trip was spent relaxing and sight-seeing. Here are a few pictures to enjoy!

Halfway up the "rock" called Jebel Hafeet is a place for sightseers to stop and take pictures. The clearer the day the more of the road you can see. At night it is all lit up!

A Sheihk's house sitting on top (on left), his Majili overlooking the edge on the right.

The second "stop" on the way up, the road is peaking through the haze.

Almost at the tippy top you make a turn off the main road and go around the bend and there sits an amazing resort called the Mercur resort at Jebel hafeet.

A full view.

View from our room to the right.

Looking to the left.

It was wonderful to stay up at the top.

Back in town we went to the Palace Museum. This is the childhood home of the late Sheihk Zayed the 1st. This is inside the compound walls. It is made up of many little homes and majilis (meeting rooms).

The entrance.

The Royal Family tree, sorry ladies only the men get a place on it!!

Date trees in season, full of fruit, inside the Al Ain Oasis. It is the oldest established Oasis is the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and is a working co-operative date farm.

The air was cooler and it was like going back into time. It was a maze of cobblestone roads and old weathered stone walls. So narrow in places that our little Toyota Yaris couldn't fit through!! We had to go in reverse until we reached a turn!