Now, I'm not too sure how I'm going to top that riveting opener <eye roll>, but let's see if I can come up with something.... Hmm...car shopping, perhaps.... There is a website here called Dubizzle (it's like the Craigslist or Southeast Texas Classifieds websites back in the US) where people can post items for sale, or even ads requesting certain items, and it's where most people I know here look for cars (and appliances and big furniture, etc.). Well, being true to the stereotype of my gender, and having no previous experience in car shopping, I was not at all looking forward to buying a car...my main questions (in order of importance) were: "Does it have A/C?", "Does it have a working sound system?", and "Does it make weird sounds?"..."Oh, and it IS automatic right?"...and "How much does it cost again?" (I am fairly certain that my dad has now rolled his eyes 4.5 times while reading this). All that to say, I wasn't feeling very qualified to wade through the hundreds of cars within my price range on Dubizzle, especially since there aren't always the most truthful descriptions listed (i.e. One car was described as having "no history of accidents, very few scratches or flaws" and the pictures showed huge scrapes and dents on the bumper...with the front bumper looking like a few good speed bumps might give it a whole new feeling of independence...yeesh!), then pick a few hopefuls, contact the owners (who may or may not be easy to communicate with), set up a meeting (hopefully in an easy-to-locate/easy-to-access area), test drive, pray they're being truthful about the history of the car, and continue from there! Well, God blessed this whole situation! We had a friend/acquaintance who was selling a few cars and had one come in that was just PERFECT for me...a 2001 Daihatsu YRV with a working A/C, within my price range, and with very few weird sounds (all were explainable and no big deal)...the tape deck is broken, so I'm out of luck with an iPod/tape adapter...but the radio works, so I get to choose between an English station I don't like, two Arabic stations I can't understand, and a classical station which is in the lead for favorite at the moment.... :) I also made a great discovery a few days ago...the owner's manual (separate English and Arabic editions)!!! I found out all sorts of fun things...like how to get the back seat to lay down flat (the Japanese engineer things a little differently than Americans)!
I know from the picture, the car looks blue, but one of the big selling points for Evan was that it looked purple when we went to see it at night. I think it's earned a Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde-type name...Blueberry (by day)-Purple-People-Eater (by night).... Anyways, this little BPPE (Beepy) is super fun to drive and I can tell we're going to have quite the fun little adventures together! Our first road-trip was this past weekend (a 2-hour drive to Al Ain and back), and she did great! Unfortunately, she's living up to her name a little better than I'd hoped. The speedometers in almost all cars in this area are fitted with a beeper that goes off when you hit 120 km/h (that's the maximum speed limit for the most part)--very similar to the dinger that goes off when you've got about 5 miles left before you run out of gas (I've panicked in traffic more than once and started looking around wildly for a petrol station thanks to that particular little idiosyncrasy before realizing I was just being notified of my speed). Anyways, most of the cars I've ridden in here only beep about 10 times (maximum) and then they just give up and leave you to travel at your chosen speed in peace...not so with Beepy!!! The durn car beeps CONSTANTLY if you're going over 120 km/h!!! My typical fix for this issue is obvious...turn up the radio! BUT...classical music just don't cover many annoying sounds like that (by now, I'm sure my mom has rolled her eyes 2.75 times...at least!...and only 1 was because of the grammatical error). Anyways, it should come as a great comfort to you all that I will be traveling the speed limit (or slightly under) at all times now...thanks to Beepy and her annoying glitch...er...extensive attention to cautious driving.... :) (I suppose this is all very good evidence that my parents are really great prayer warriors!)
In other exciting news, I now have my resident's visa (no more monthly trips to Oman...yay!!!) and my UAE driver's license!!! I feel so official now!!! :) I might be persuaded to devote a blog entry to that "little" process if enough people are interested...although in all fairness I was hugely blessed to have an "employer" (Kevin) who very graciously shielded me from most of the rigors and frustrations of the process.
I guess that's enough random tid-bits for now. I'm not sure if it's at all obvious, but I'm thrilled to be back--from the people to the food and sights and sounds (and even a few of the smells)--I've missed life in this busy city and am thoroughly looking forward to the experiences to be shared, memories to be made, and life-change that will occur in the next nine months!
