Water & Gas

So we just realized yesterday as we were driving around that we pay more for drinking water than we do for gas here.

0.80 USD for a gallon of gas
2.10 USD for a gallon of drinking water

That's messed up huh? Supply and Demand at its finest!

However, a bottled coke is only 0.25 USD. I'm so used to popping in and grabbing a coke on the run I don't know what I am going to do with the coke prices in the States when we get there. I am going to have to give up drinking!

The Mall Tonight

Tonight at the mall two things were observed.

1) A group of local guys were looking at what movies were playing at the cinema. They were wanting to see Iron Man, but it didn't get over until 1am. This is the conversation that followed. Note that all of this was in Arab-accented English, except for the profanities. They, believe it or not, were in perfect American English.

Local Arab Teenage Guy #1: Oh man, Oh man, Oh $#@&! Oh $#@&!
Local Arab Teenage Guy #2: What?!?
LATG #1: If we see that I won't get home til after 1!
LATG #2: Man, why do you have to be "curfew man"
LATG #1: I AM NOT A CAREFUL MAN!!!
LATG #2: No, "curfew" dude, "CUR-FEW"
LATG #1 (looking & feeling slightly stupid): oh.

2) Apparently style has gone to the toilet. Apparently, all the guys go into the barber shop and ask for the same haircut.
"yes, hello, I want to look like a dweeb. Can you do that?"
And the girls, all I got to say is, "Oh look, a quilt with tights under it!"
(that is not a reference to the black abayas they wear, it was an actual reference to the "whatever" that is that they are trying to wear and pass off as fashionable)

Just FYI from a man who only owns two pairs of pants and around 6 shirts that are all pretty much the same color.

Merry Late Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas! Christmas here is unlike anything I've really experienced before. Because Eid and Christmas came close together this year we had a semi-holiday experience.

sidenote: Islam celebrates two Eids or Festivals every year (based on the lunar calendar) they put out lights and decorate everything really pretty like we tend to do for Christmas

So we had lights out and all of downtown was light up, it looked like downtown Dallas during Christmas. The only problem was nobody celebrated Christmas. It looked like Christmas, but it wasn't Christmas. On Christmas day everyone went to work. The traffic was normal, not a soul said Merry Christmas. We passed houses under construction and all the construction crew was out there working like it was any other day. I ran to the grocery store to get some drinks for the dinner and it was full of people and not one of them said Merry Christmas. Finally when I checked out there was a little Philipino lady working the register, so I said, "Merry Christmas, how are you?" She light up and replied back. Apparently she hadn't had anyone wish her a Merry Christmas yet. Sad day for them.

But despite the sadness for them we had a great Christmas.

Merry Christmas from the Bullions!

Noah got his first candy cane, which went over really well, it was just hard to convince him he couldn't have anymore!

And Noah really enjoyed the bucket his Mega Blocks came in.

Cheap Babysitting

Tonight we were walking through a mall and went into their big babystore. You know, the ones with baby clothes, baby toys, baby stuff, and baby furniture. As we were cruising through the playpen section we noticed that one of them had a baby in it. She wasn't old enough to crawl yet, but she could sit up and hold her own.

She had a couple of toys in there with the tags still on them. The only thing she was missing was her parents. Her parents apparently dropped her off in the playpen and threw in 3 or 4 toys for her to play with and, I don't know, were still shopping.

The girl didn't seem to mind. I guess I don't either. I'm just jealous we didn't think of that earlier.

An Evening at KFC

Tonight as we were out running errands we swung into KFC to grab some food before running a couple more errands. A couple of things that caught our attention that I thought you would enjoy.

1) Working Hours
This is what hung below the open sign. We tried to get a picture of it, but it didn't turn out.

WORKING HOURS
10:00AM until 1:00 AFTER MIDNIGHT

I thought it was strange wording and it made me smile.

2) It's Finger Lickin' Good
This is the slogan for KFC here. I can't really remember if that is it in the States or not, but it is funny how some things just don't translate well. On the English sign it said "It's Finger Lickin' Good," but on the Arabic side it said,

تأكل اصابعك وراه

Which literally means, "You eat your fingers after it!" Now I am sure that this is a phrase that an Arab would read and think, "Oh, man, that must be some really good chicken." But for me, I can't really think of anything that would make me want to just keep on until my nickname was Nubby. You know?

Anyways, thought you would smile at these.

Labels You Should Read

We saw these this week and thought you would enjoy this.

Zaatar is the Arabic word for Thyme, so they are Thyme flavored. It is good. For those of you that know Arabic food it tastes very similiar to Mana'eesh.

That's right, Volcano Water. I got nothing. I did get a little bit of heartburn after I drank it though. :)

Arabs.....Well, me too I guess.

This is a picture of a car on fire at an intersection.

We noticed that traffic was pretty one night and then we notice that above the cars infront of us we could see a fairly large flame coming from the intersection ahead of us. I pulled off an exit early to take the side road to get by intersection and turn right.

I couldn't move! Apparently every one thought of the same thing, so the entire exit ramp next to the car a blaze was full of Land Cruisers and SUVS with their flashers on! They had all jumped the curb and pulled on the exit ramp and put it in park and gotten out and were taking pics and videos of the flaming car with their mobile phones!

And they weren't moving!! They parked it and stayed there until the fire department came and put out the fire. We were stuck there. But the thing was, we were the only ones not parking and running over there with our mobile phones to take pictures (that is why our picture of it is blurry :) ).

Ramadan Specials

Ramadan here is great!! That's right, I said it. I like Ramadan. I mean, of course, sometimes it is a pain in the neck to not eat or drink outside your own house during daylight hours because its against the law and yes it sometimes is upsetting that some of your Muslim friends blow you off during their holy month because you are just an ignorant blasphemer, but overall I like it.

One reason I like it is the great Ramadan Specials. You can go break fast at Dairy Queen for 5 bucks and get double meat double cheesburger, fries, salad, dates, and a drink. Chili's will give you Chicken Crispers, soup, salad, dates, a drink, and desert for 10 bucks. That will feed an entire army!

The best thing is the Micky D's Date Pie!!! That's right, Fig Newtons move over. Just thought you would want to see a picture of it.

[the reason everything is served with dates is tradition.... and well, that's really the only thing that grows naturally here in Arabia besides oil]

Legal in Three Countries

Today I went down and picked up my third Drivers License! I am now officially a resident in three different countries and have three sets of IDs. I am thinking about changing my name to Jason Bourne.

Apparently My Arabic Stinks

I've studied Arabic for two years. I've lived in the Middle East for two years. I should know Arabic when I hear it, right?
The other day B and I went to the grocery store and after loading up the car, it wouldn't start. Nothing! So I call the rental car company (we are renting a car until we can buy one, and we can't buy one till the residency comes in which it did, so we should be buying a car this next week insha'allah) The point is, B and Noah went with a friend to their house with all our once frozen food in an attempt to rescue it. I sat behind and waited while the car company brought me a new car.

To top it off it was 30 minutes before iftar (the breaking of the fast). So everything closed down. The supermarket closes down for an hour before iftar and an hour after. So when our friend comes to pick up B and our cold goods, the gates into the garage are shut and locked. I have to run around to the guard shack and tell him what's going on and to let our friend in and then let them out. He didn't really understand though.

*sidenote - all the manual labor jobs here are done by Indians, not American Indians, but actual Indians, so I spoke to the guard in English trying to get the gate open.

As I wait, I am sitting trying to talk with the guard and he and his buddy ask me to join them in breaking the fast, so we sat down together and waited for the call to pray. He and his buddy kept talking back and forth and I didn't understand any of it, so I figured it was Hindi.

The call to prayer goes off and we dig in and I notice that we are eating like Arabs and the soup tasted like Arab soup, so I asked him where the soup was from.
"Arabic soup"
"Did you make it?"
"Yes"
"Really? Where are you from?"
"Yemen"

they speak Arabic in Yemen

So we switched from English into Arabic, but it was really funny. Him and his buddy would talk back and forth and I would pick up maybe three or four words, then when I would talk with them and they would talk to me, it was like when a 5 year old comes up and asks you a question.
They would "squat down" and "use small words" and help me understand what was going on, but the minute I was out of the conversation, it went all fuzzy and I didn't pick anything up because they would speak in Yemeni Arab. Then I would say something and it would go back to kindergarten talk, then boom. Fuzzy all over again.
I took for granted knowing the dialect of where I was living. Gulfi Arabic, Yemeni Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, it's all fuzzy. Here's to starting over with kindergarten Arabic

and here's to Kool-Aid, fishy crackers and nap time all over again.

Internet Finally

So, life is coming together slowly here.

Today I went and picked up my Residence Card. Whoo Hooo for Residency!!
Now I can do all the things I needed to do but couldn't. Like...
internet, a phone plan, and a bank account (it's hard to remember where we are burying all our Mason jars full of cash out here in the desert! No landmarks!)

The internet is being worked on as we speak, but until it does, I was able to get a plan with the local mobile phone company.

Here I can buy a little USB thumb drive that I put a SIM card (the little thingy that you put in mobile phones to get reception) in it and hook it up to the computer and I get internet in the entire country. It's high speed and I pay for it like I would a monthly subscription.

With that said, I am internet capable! So call our US number or call us on Skype. We are here.

A Wedding and Validation

us and the groom

So this weekend a buddy and I went to a Saudi wedding. I would like to say that I am a big fan of the way they do weddings. All the men of the wedding get together and have dinner (there was about 400-500 of us) and then they all drive through the town honking and singing and dancing announcing the arrival of the bridegroom until they arrive at the house where the bride and the girls are at. Great time! I highly recommend it.

But the point of this blog is really about how we never want to be the only one to do anything. I decided to go the wedding wearing my shmaag (the red and white thing on our heads) Emirati Style, the way the Arabs from the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula wear theirs. Partly because I am more comfortable with it like that and partly because I can never keep my argaal (the little black thing on top) from falling off. So we go. We get there and I am the only one sportin' "emirati style." Everyone else is "saudi style." I am already a little self conscious because I am one of the only two foreigners there.

So as I am looking out among the masses and thinking to myself, "STUPID!! WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST BE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE! BUT "NOOOOO" YOU HAD TO BE COMFORTABLE!!!!" when one of the cousins of the groom came up and said,
"Clinton, who tied your shmaag?"
I did.
Really?
Yup.
So you know how to tie them emirati style?
Sort of.
Cool. Could you tie mine like yours?

Now.......if I told you that I just repeated this whole story without poking out my chest a little more, or sitting up a little straighter, or even givin' a manly chuckle; I would be a liar.
I was beaming as I tied this guy up. And he wore it the whole night!!! I'm da man!!! And to top it off, we were at someone else's house after the wedding hangin' out and drinkin' tea and one of the guys said, "so you're the guy that tied Mohammed's shmaag! It looked good!"

Yes......I have a big head.

But more importantly...I wasn't the only one...

House Thobes

Here is the promised pics of Noah in his house thobe. We don't have a "dress thobe" for him yet. We are waiting a little while to get one made for him. These are your typical, everyday "kick around the house" casual thobes.

You would wear this if you are just running out to the store for a quick something or just relaxing in the house on a Friday afternoon. Its similar to our "shorts and a t-shirt" look.
However, people don't wear these much anymore. With the larger influx of Western culture these days, you rarely seeing anyone under the age of 40 out in these anymore. Which is sad, cuz honestly....it's really comfy. That's right! I wear a dress and I am proud of it. :)

A Conglomerant or something like that...

Don't be fooled, the pic is just a decoy so you will read this post with a smile and think about Noah while I am griping!!!!!!

Good things this week: B and Noah returned from the States. I ate some Deer Sausage. I ate an entire box of Oatmeal Cream Pies and lost weight because it was the only thing I ate for three days (sick I know), we have a new camera to overload you with pics of Noah again.

The only bad thing: They decided that they needed to redo something (I think water lines) on the road next to us AT NIGHT!!!!! It is 12:30am and it sounds like a jack hammer is outside our window....oh wait!!! IT IS OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW!!!!

WHAT THE HECK ARE THEY THINKING!!!!!

alas, the Arab world at its finest......

While Traveling in the Arab World....

I’ve been traveling without Noah and B this week trying to work out all the paperwork details of our move in August. Got some of them done, some of them are still up in the air.
I don’t like traveling without my family. I loved it in college, but now that I’ve got B and Noah, I’m a homing pigeon. Home is where I want to be….
Anyways, this week in traveling I’ve noticed several things that are normal in traveling inside the Arab World by plane.

1. The flight attendant will get on and talk for 20 minutes in Arabic and then after a long pause will say in broken English, “we are now serving dinner….” and that’s it….

2. During the flight you will hear people’s mobiles go off and, better yet, people will actually answer them.

3. As soon as the plane has stopped shaking from the bouncing of landing, they are up out of their seats, way before the seat belt light is turned off and way before even the flight attendants are even up, getting their luggage from overhead.

Things You See on a Picnic

Today was a beautiful day, so the family Bullion went on a picnic to one of the parks in town. We packed sandwiches, chips, drinks, and our handy dandy utility quilt (Thanks for the quilt, Gramma Roo. It's been the jewel in our picnicking experiences) and headed out.
Apparently we weren't the only family that had the idea, seeing as the park was full of people. So while we ate and relaxed under a tree (when I say "tree" don't think of the big huge live oaks that you used to play in as a kid. Think of a large, cultured bush and that may help your mental picture be a little more accurate). BUT while we laid under our large, cultured shrub, we were able to watch all the Arab families interact. Sadly enough we don't have pictures to validate these sights we are to tell you, but believe me, they were true and very funny.

1. Covered Lady Steals Skateboard - I saw a college age, fully covered girl (i think, she was college age, i mean, i couldn't really see her) chase down her brother, smack him on the head, steal his skateboard and take off down the hill on it.....


2. Traditional Dressed Man Playing Soccer - I saw a father, in a thobe and sandals, playing soccer with his kids. That is funny! Thobes don't make for good soccer uniforms.....

3. 2 Year Olds Race Down Hill on Tri-cycles, Big Sister Running Behind - A little boy and a little girl atop their Fisher Price Plastic Trikes raced as fast as they could down the hill, while the big sister was running to keep up. After they got there though they waited for big sis to catch up only to take off again at super sonic speed and make her run faster to catch them.......sadly enough, I see this event being part of my destiny in the next couple of years.....

That was our day at the park.

A Random Bit of Randomness

Here is a catch all post of this week.

Gall Bladder - I went to the doc yesterday and got my bandages removed. It is amazing how gross stitches are.

Our Residency - I turned in all the paperwork to the local police station for the processing of our residency (the equivalent of a Green Card). They said I can come pick them up on Saturday (insha'allah). That's not to bad. Its been about a month process. Once I get the aqaama, I can go sign-up to take the driving test and then I can drive!!!! (insha'allah)

Good Gifts, Good Father - Last night we bought Noah a walker. He loves it! We had some serious issues putting him to bed, because he wanted to be in his walker. Jesus said, "How many of you when your kid asks for some bread would toss him a rock? Or when he comes to you and wants some chicken would give a rattlesnake? No, of course not. You give good gifts to your kids, even though you are sinful. How much more then does you perfect, unsinned Father in heaven know how to gift the perfect gift." This morning Noah woke up and has spent the morning in the walker. It brings a smile to my face to see him so happy. I've gotten a glimpse of how much joy my Father gets when I love the gifts He has given me.

With that said, we are going to get a video up of our "semi-mobile" son soon.

Later,
CB

Two Whiteys and the Bear

Yesterday we headed down to the downtown area to hunt down a few odd and ends we needed to get. The joke among foriegners here is that you can find everything downtown. It's about a mile to two miles of side streets of shops and markets full of anything you need. It is one of the few places here that is untouched by Western restaraunts and shopping malls. Its great. Well, at least we love it. Many Westerners won't go down there, but any time you ask an Arab, "Where can you find [whatever you want]?" the answer is always..."downtown."
But it's only a quick walk down the hill from our house, so we go at least to eat once a week.
You may be wondering about how this ties in with Noah dressed up in a bear coat. Well the explanation of this picture goes something like this:

This will be one of those pictures in 18 years that Noah will look back and ask, "why did you dress me up in that?" We will not have any good answers though. We will just smile and lie and say, "well, son, that is what everybody wore back in the 00s." The truth is that no one puts there kids in full body bear coats (we know it is actually a dog, but dogs are unclean animals here, so we say its a bear). His bear coat is the warmest thing he owns so to fight off the freezing cold, we wrapped up in our wool coats and put him in the bear.

The Arabs had a hard time with it. We got a lot of second looks. Two whiteys and a bear walking through downtown was something they weren't expecting to see when they got up that morning!

I love living here. If for nothing else than the culture shock we put the Arabs around us in.

The Holy Grail

This isn't about the cup of Christ, or for you psycho DaVinci Code people that can't tell reality from something you read in a book, this isn't about Mary Magdalene either.

It is about the things that elude us the most, and what is eluding me most right now is all the university's paperwork to get a Residency Visa.

And sadly enough, like most of my outings that have anything to do with visas or permits or registering for anything, it takes weeks to get anything done.

So today's account is basically very simple. I went to the office and waited, got a paper, delivered it to the office only to find that this said paper wasn't enough and I need a proof of registration and so on so forth and copies of my passports.

All things boiling down, it comes to this: there was not a single place open that I could make copies, soo....

tomorrow I head back with the copies and everything I need for the university to make a packet for me to take to the Ministry of the Interior where this whole thing really starts.

So in preparation for this fine expedition I have packed my "Holy Grail Survival Kit" to take with me, which includes...

• All of our passports
• Copies of all of our passports
• Marriage License
• Copy of Marriage License
• A Book (it may take a while)
• Noah's Birth Record, Certificate, and Hospital Record (all in both Arabic & English)
• Registration at the University
• 2 passport photos for each of us
• iPOD (did I mention it might take a while?)
• Copies of everything official looking about Noah we own.
• Rent Contract in both Arabic & English
• A Roll of Camper's Toilet Paper (Government buildings never have tp)
• Shot Records for the whole family
• and a Partridge in a Pear Tree!

Truth being what it is about the culture and Murphy's Law being what it is. This will not be enough tomorrow. You never know. :)

Where am I?

Last night we made a family trip to the mall. So with empty pockets we headed to the mall to...well basically to get out of the house.
The mall was packed. Full of people!

But I thought I would provide a list of things I saw last night at the mall.
1. Arab Santa ringing a bell near the exit. Not sure if he is Salvation Army or what. But come on, a Muslim Salvation Army?
2. A huge, dancing blow-up figurine of Frosty.
3. A huge Christmas tree that looked very similar to the bell towers at HPU.
4. A face painting booth.
5. A place to sit in Santa's lap
6. A kioske just for gift wrapping.

While that is nothing strange to y'all. (Well I guess an Arab Santa wouldn't be the norm) This isn't suppose to be happening. Let me remind you that I live in the Middle East. The Muslim Middle East. Here certain very strict Muslims families don't even celebrate their own birthdays because, "those Christians celebrate a birthday in Dec."

You smell what I am steppin' in?

We walked around confused most of the night.

With that said, we are looking forward to being back in Texas next week for a change. Then we can actually enjoy the Christmas decorations and not feel like we somehow were transported into the Twilight Zone.