Spiderman Is Spooky

Lyra got a Spiderman action figure from one of her classmates for his birthday*. The other day, as I was tidying her dresser top, she wanted to make sure the Spiderman remained tucked behind something else and facing in the opposite direction. "I don't like him looking at me at night." Makes sense. Especially because she is pretty unaware of Spiderman. I think she knows who he is. Maybe she's seen one of the movies. And if you're only marginally aware of Spiderman, on the surface he's a pretty creepy looking guy. I asked her why, if he's so creepy, don't we give him away. But no. She's in her Pack Rat phase these day and has trouble even throwing away a used piece of dental floss (I blame her father).
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A couple of weeks earlier, she had asked me for a new nightlight. She didn't like the one that I had purchased a few months ago for her from Ikea. His name is Spoka (sounds a lot like spooky to me). As you can see, this little fellow would give any kid the creeps. I don't know why this didn't occur to me when I bought it. I thought it was cute. I asked her if we could give it away. But no. Instead she wants to have it sitting on her table, facing away from her, and kept off. She also didn't like the fact that the light was bright enough to cast shadows of other items in the room onto the walls.
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Back home, Lyra never used a nightlight. But here, the curtains in her room have the blackout lining and it's so dark that she can't see to go to the bathroom in the night. At home, there's a streetlight right out her window that kept the room reasonably bright. I've learned from this never to order curtains with blackout lining for her again.
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She also has two toys that she keeps shoved in the bottom of a cloth bag. Again, her reasoning is that they are creepy and she doesn't want them looking at her during the night. One is a character from the Nightmare Before Christmas. You pull its head off (it's attached to a string) and when the string recoils the body of the toy vibrates. At least it doesn't scream. I bought it for her a long time ago. It kept her entertained in the stroller. At the time I thought it was a little macabre, but she was too young to know. The other is a little Happy Meal (Lyra has learned to call them Sad Meals, thanks to Baba) treat that is a tiny green pirate skeleton. I think it was a promotion for one of the Pirates of the Carribean movies. Again, she refuses to part with either of these two guys. They remain stuffed at the bottom of a cloth bag only to be brought out when the lights are on.
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As a child (even as a teen), I remember being spooked in the night. It's odd to think of Lyra laying there in her bed feeling a little creeped out by what she's seeing and remembering when I had the same feelings myself. I just want to crawl into bed with her and give her a cuddle. But she seems remakably matter-of-fact about it. She isn't coming up to our room all creeped out in the middle of the night. So, for now, she isn't asking for comfort - she just wants to make sure these characters are suitably shielded from her view.
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In the meantime, if I can convince her that someone out there would REALLY LOVE a spiderman action figure, I'm she would give it up. Any takers?

* We were surprised that many of the families in Lyra's school bring gifts for all the children in the school to celebrate their child's birthday. As Russell likes to say, "This tradition ended with us." We have a remarkable array of truly pointless clutter as a result. Will Lyra let me give it away? What do you think.

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A Wrong has been Righted

In the last couple of weeks, the UK has issued an official travel warning to its citizens traveling to the UAE regarding it's very strict drug laws here. Last year, nearly 60 British citizens were arrested. If you are caught bringing in a banned substance, the minimum sentence is 4 years hard labor.

The warning was issued after a UK citizen was caught flying through Dubai on a flight transfer home from Ethiopia. He was found to have 0.003g of pot stuck to the bottom of his shoe (smaller than a grain of salt). In September he was sentenced to 4 years in prison. Yesterday he was pardoned, thanks to international attention and pressure. Today he is home in London.

New Driving Penalties in the UAE

Drivers in the UAE can be rude, erratic, and aggressive. There are real issues here with people who drive at break neck speeds, weave in and out of traffic, and aggressively honk their horns and flash their lights at other cars on the road. Just this morning, on a 4-lane road, I saw a driver go from the 3rd lane, to the 1st lane, and then back to the 4th lane all in the space of 2-3 km just so that he could get ahead of 1 or 2 cars.

Up until now, the only penalty has been traffic fines. I know people in the office who regularly pay AED 1,000 each month in traffic fines (about 10 violations a month). Finally, they are introducing black points on your license and if you accumulate enough points (24), your license will be suspended.

Here's a listing of the points and fines recently published.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/images/08/02/24/traffic.pdf

Driving without a number plate on your car = 24 points
Causing death of others = 12 points

OK, well I will definitely be making sure to have the number plate on my car!

Window Tinting

Over 50 Dubai Police have recently been fined for exceeding the "tinting" limit on their car windows. Arabs love the window tinting! So much that they have to regulate how much tinting is allowed on the windows. Otherwise, these guys would be driving around with their windows completely blackened. Really! The Arabs tint their windows so dark, that it is like driving around at night while wearing Solar Eclipse protective lenses.

The Mazda 6 that I purchased from a young Arab man had tinted windows. I actually had to roll down the windows in order to pull out of my driveway or to take corners without hitting pedestrians.

So, we removed the tinting - at least most of it. He had actually had the rear window tinted on the outside. Removing that was the toughest because the sun had deteriortated it to an extent that you could no longer peel off the coating. Instead, we painstakingly scraped it with a razor blade and then used Goo Gone to remove the adhesive. What a mess! And my fingertips - ouch!

And now, I can see. It was a revelation when I pulled from the driveway the first morning the tinting was gone.

Korn gets Hate Mail

The latest news here is that Korn has been getting hate mail on their web-site bashing them for coming to Dubai in about 1 month for the Dubai Desert Rock Festival.  People are saying things like, "Hope your next video isn't your beheading on the internet."  Really, just so ignorant and lame that it would be funny if it weren't for the fact that some of these people probably VOTE.

India or Africa

Ok, this may sound like a really snobby post - I don' t mean it to. We're look at taking a week vacation in April and trying to decide between India and Africa. I'm looking for opinions on where you think we should go.

India
Pros
Very cheap
Close - 3 hour flight
Variety of tour (city, backwaters, wildlife sancturary, tea plantation)
Great food
Wildlife (monkeys, tropical birds, monkeys, elephants, monkeys, tigers (rare), and... umm.. oh yeah, monkeys)

Cons
HOT and humid in April
Crowded - it is Indian summer holidays
HOT

Africa
Pros
BIG Animals (Lions, Giraffes, Hippos, Rhinos, Elephants, Cheetahs, you name it)
Camping in the Wildlife Parks
Seasonal weather

Cons
Expensive - maybe more than 3x than India
Far away - 8-10 hours flight


What would you do?

Kathie said...
Sorry, need more info...where in Africa, where in India.
In India, we're looking at visiting Kerala. It is a state on the southern tip of India. It is a beautiful, garden state in India. Their nickname is "God's Own Country" - which reminds me of people refering to Northern Wisconsin as "God's Country". This would not be a tour of the Taj Mahal or Hindu temples, but instead a visit to appreciate the natual beauty of the area.

In Africa, we're looking at Botswana. This is primarily because in East Africa it is the rainy season during April and there's a risk that with a lot of rain the animal parks would be closed. In order to get to Botswana, we would fly into Johannesburg (8 hours) have a lay over and then fly again into Botswana. Tanzania would be closer, but maybe a better time to visit would be in the fall or winter.

Kathie said...
India!Wondering about DisneyWorld type places ... thinking of Lyra ... or is the closest near Paris?Not sure what your objective is in regards to a vacation.
We're really trying to focus on doing things while we're here that we can't do so easily from back home. Like a 3 hour flight to India. It's looking like we'll do India, even if it will be hot. We'll need to bring lots of mosquito spray and maybe even netting for our beds.

Why 5-year Olds Don't Have Babies

Last night, Lyra asked me, "Mama, did you ever have a child?"

"No, not in my tummy I said. I do have a child, though. I have you."

Lyra hesitated, "We-e-ell, I was going to ask why I don't have a child. But I know. Because if a kid had a child, they would have to change their diaper and they'd say, 'Yuck, I don't want to change a diaper. That's poo. I don't want to see that! That's gross. I don't like changing diapers.' So, kids don't have babies, right?"

Hmmm, how to explain the biology of a girl's body?

Russell piped in to remind Lyra, "But when we're old, you'll have to change our diapers, Lyra. Even if you think it's gross."

Schlamiel, Schlamazel .... Shamal

The shamal arrived again this week. Back to cool weather. The shamal comes in from the north and carries tons of sand from Iran over the Persian Gulf for us to breath and get into our eyes and ears. I guess it's unusal this time of year. But you could have fooled me - this is the second time in a month that we've had one.

Three days ago, we had temps near 90 and Russell and Lyra went swimming at the club. Today, we're in the mid-70's and will be down near 50 tonight. Actually, it's nice to have the cool. I was a bit depressed that it was warm so quickly - thinking that we were on the long stretch toward oven-hot temps.

Tonight we're going to the Dubai Jazz Festival. The line up is nearly 80% Swedish acts. What's up with that? Is Sweden the new hot bed for jazz artists? Anyway, it's free and I'm in the mood for some live music. Lyra likes jazz - always has - so we'll bundle up and head out to catch the acts.

We'll be seeing Christina Gustafsson http://www.christinagustafsson.com/track12.mp3
and Emily McEwan http://www.emi.se/artists/emily/album/

South Africa

I came to South Africa this week to visit our business in Johannesburg. This is my first time in sub-Saharan Africa. My first impressions: Johannesburg is a beautiful city. The run-down images we see on television are nothing like what I've seen. I've been told that there are some run down, dodgy bits closer to the center of town. But in the area where we're working, it is beautiful. The city is in a hilly area. Temperatures are in the low 30s C (90F). The trees, greenery, flowers and landscaping are beautiful.

Yesterday, we took a drive through some neighborhoods on our way to dinner. I could catch a small glimpse of the yards and gardens for some of the houses. All homes here have a walled garden (similar to London or Dubai). The gate and garage doors are often iron grillwork that you can see through. It was explained to me that up until about 10-15 years ago, most of the houses didn't have walled gardens. But there has been an increase in crime levels that have led everyone to wall in their yards. In some parts of South Africa, the houses are still this way, but in Johannesburg (a city of nearly 8 million) people have gone for the walled gardens.

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Things that surprised me:

1. They drive on the left.

2. English is the only language I've heard. Evidently, Afrikaans is limited to only a few areas.

3. Their electricity plugs are shaped differently than any other country I've visited (I've finally found an adaptor).

4. They have 11 official languages.

5. Their pronunciation, words and vocabulary are almost exclusively British (very little Americanisation here)

6. Woolworths is an "up market" shop and cafe (Russell, they have the ultimate Woolies cafeteria here)

7. Prices are extremely cheap (steak dinner for 4 with wine was less than US$75)

8. It took us over 8 hours to fly here from Dubai.

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Edited to add: I was told this afternoon that until the 1960's South Africa was a British colony. You many have known this, but I guess I wasn't paying attention during the 30 minutes my high school dedicated to the history of Imperialist Britain. Anyway, that explains items 1, 2, 3, and 5. Especially, item 3. They give the Brit's a run for their money it the monsterously huge electrical plug competition.

I See a Teenager in My Future

Lyra's new saying (well, it's not so new) . . . "How do you kno-o-o-w?". You have to imagine Moon Unit Zappa with her most irritating Valley Girl impression.

Me: We need Peanut Butter . . . Her: "How do you kno-o-ow?"
Me: Your new beetle needs water . . . "How do you kno-o-ow?"
Me: Next week you're off school . . . "How do you kno-o-ow?"
Me: The blue socks have bled and stained the white underwear . . . "How do you kno-o-ow?"
Me: Russell, the next exit is the one we want . . . "How do you kno-o-ow?"

My response is usually something like: Because I can read (or "Because I can re-e-e-ad")

In Turkey Today

I took the overnight flight from Dubai to Turkey. It's nice because I'm not gone from home as long. Last night, I got to put Lyra to bed. I tried to get to bed early, but didn't really fall asleep until 10. I got up in the middle of the night (around 12:30am) and then flew to Turkey for meetings. I was in the office by 10am today. But now my eyes feel like sandpaper - I'm so tired. I did get some sleep on the plane, but evidently not enough.

I do the same thing tomorrow on the way home. My flight leaves here after a day of meetings and then I fly overnight back to Dubai. So, I'll be home on Friday morning when Russell and Lyra wake up. Just in time for the weekend!

The first time I took this set of flights I really dreaded how tired I would be. But it turns out to be less horrible than you might think. Especially if you can sleep on the plane. But right now, I'm dreaming of my hotel bed and a good night's sleep.

Campfire in the desert

We live on the edge of town. Beyond our neighborhood, there are lots and lots of empty areas with sand hills and scrub. Russ loves to head out there with the FJ and practice driving in the sand. A few months ago, when driving through that area one night, we noticed across the tops of each dune families parked and enjoying the cool desert night air to escape from the heat of the city. We've been saying to ourselves ever since that we need to get out and have a campfire. Russell has been building a pile of firewood from trees and bushes that he's pull from the rubbish piles in the neighborhood. For several weeks, we've had a nice pile of wood ready to take out in the desert. So, last Friday, we went. We've been cool enough that we didn't need any escape from the heat. But it was fun to get out into the desert. Russell built up the fire(newspapers, kindling, and neatly stacked wood). With one match (actually flick of the lighter), whooosh - we had a beautiful fire going. We had perched ourselves on top of a dune where we could be easily seen by other drivers (ATVs and 4x4s) out bashing the dunes in the night. Seems that every family that was out had an ATV. The kids were riding up and down - of course no helmet or safety gear was worn. Makes me cringe everytime I see those kids popping wheelies on their ATVs speeding down our street.


Lyra loves playing in the sand. The sand out here is beautiful, silky, and cool. Next to our villa, the sand is full of construction debris. The kids are constantly getting themselves cut on something as they dig through the sand playing. It hasn't stopped them from climbing through the sand, but they are a bit more cautious after several cuts on one kid or another. But out here, there's not much to worry about - except some thorny branches from the scrub. Lyra is a true Sand Baby. Whenever we're out in the desert, Lyra loves playing in the sand. She rolls in it, climbs the dunes, slides down them like they're made of snow, rolls down the dunes, makes sand angels, digs holes and lays in them, follows the tracks of beetles - you name it. When we get home, we strip her in the garage and hold all her clothes upside down to shake the sand out. Then we run upstairs for a bath - and watch the sand piles form in the bottom of the tub as we wash her hair.
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I said it was cold! Temps were around 55F/12C. The warm fire felt gooooood!

Note: Since then, our weather has shifted. I think winter is over and we're now on the steady climb back to HOT, HOT, HOT.

So, now we're itching to try our hand at some desert camping. We've got to get out before the heat is too much.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Congratulations and Be Prosperous!

We made it to a small Chinese New Year buffet. Got to eat Jiaozi dumplings - yum! Lyra ate about 8-10 by herself.

"Ah, yes. Like a cat"

Well, that should have been our first clue. When Russell took Basil in to the groomer, he showed him a picture of what he should look like (see right). We had an interesting experience the last time and were hoping to improve the results. After looking at the picture, the groomer said, "Ah, yes. Like a cat." You may wonder why that comment didn't send us running. But honestly, things work differently here. There are often language barriers. The work to re-explain and re-explain can often leave things more confused than when you started. "Like a cat" could have meant, like a Persian cat. They have a mane around their face. Looking at the results, it's hard to know what cat the groomer meant.



Poor Basil. We'll call him "Baldy". I never knew Baldy had this cute little wrinkle on his forehead when he was looking at us. Where's his mane? It's hard to see in the picture, but his beard has been left pretty long. I told Russell, he looks like a member of ZZ Top. No, that is not grey hair, that is his skin showing through his short coat. His belly is completely bald - just like when he was a puppy. I'm going to look in the back of the closet to see if we brought his coat. It's cool enough right now that I think he needs it. I'm banking on the fact that dogs do not feel shame (I mean, they eat poo. Right? They have no shame.)



Well, we're getting closer each time. Last time, they cut off his mustache, too. He was left with just a beard. We called him "Goat Boy". So, this time at least they left the mustache and beard. Now we need to get them to leave the whole mane. Or maybe we should look for a different groomer. One nice thing is that with his hair this short he won't need another grooming for at least 6 months. By then, the beard should be really long. We can call him "ZZ".


amygirl said...
I am having trouble trying to stop laughing. Poor boy.
Yes, I laughed pretty hard too. Had a headache afterwards from laughing so hard. Poor fellow. He was pretty happy to be home.

Lyra Coughed Up a Hairball

Well, actually, it's just a chest cold. She hasn't mastered the techniques of a good smoker's hack, so she's going around coughing and nearly gagging herself trying to get her lungs cleared. She's like an old Jewish man hocking up a lugie. Her lugie hocking needs some work. Yesterday, she woke me after coming up to our room (which she does about 1 or 2 times a year). She was crying, "I hate this coughing." (hack, hack, hork, hork, hock, hack).

I went to the pharmacist and explained that my daughter had a chesty cough. Actually, what I said was, "My daughter has a lot of 'catarrh'". I learned this word while living in the UK. It helps here if you speak British. She knew exactly what I was talking about. Probably 'chesty cough' would have worked, but how often do you get to use the word 'catarrh'? I was expecting good ol' Vicks Formula 44E (or something along those lines). Instead, she pulls down a bottle of Dried Ivy Extract.

Hmmmm. OK. I googled it - of course. The San Diego Jewish Journal recommended Manischewitz. I decided to go with the Ivy.

It seems to be working. Evidently, this is some sort of herbal treatment I've never heard of. She's sleeping better. The Sammie Davis, Jr impressions have tapered off.

Now she just needs to learn good lugie hocking techniques.