SUV
So this was our first weekend with a car. An SUV that we bought from teacher at school. Money is a strange thing here, everyone seems to have too much of it and since everyone works so hard, they seem to justify spending it. Almost everyone drives new cars here, in fact is hard to find an old car. New teachers usually buy a new or fairly new car....this is something that freaked us out. We DON"T buy new or nice cars, but it seemed there were limited options. As it often does, luck found us and so did a teacher who was looking to get rid of his old car. So we are now the new owners of a 2003 Hyndia Galloper.
Having the car gave us a new sense of freedom. We could now go anywhere we wanted, assuming of course we could find it. For those of you who don't know, this country is young, very young....a mare 40 years old. And, despite its almost ridiclous growth and industry they have yet to adopt the simple use of addresses. Ya know,,,, street names and numbers. Yeah, they don't have that. Instead they use landmarks. Like if we want to go to school we say, behind the BMW dealership. This makes navigating a challenging. So we have been lost a bit. And, I did hit a speed bump while going 60 kms slammed on a break which caused everything to come flying forward, including an orange that got stuck under the gas pedal and wouldn't let me accelarate (all in some crazy downtown busy street.) It was ugly.
SURVEILLANCE
Our new found freedom felt by having wheels slowly waned as we realized that freedom doesn't come easily in this country. We are free to drive on the road but under some pretty intense set of rules. This place is literally surrounded by cameras. You are simply mailed fines and forced to pay them. We have heard numerous stories of people being fined thousands of dollars for traffic violations. Some they even received when they were not even in the country. So you need to watch your speedometer constantly, never cross over the cross walk and have a very CLEAN car. YES, you can be fined if your car is too dirty. If you are thinking that is insane...I totally agree because it IS COMPLETELY insane. Being that this is a Muslim Country, there is an obvious zero tolerance for alcohol, so if you get caught driving even after a sip you will be deported. When I heard this, I thought, if work gets too much worse this may be an easy exit. Hey, lets look on the bright side- at least I can drive, which wouldn't be the case if we had ended up in Saudi.
Side note, some people, specifically the driver from our school have learned where all the cameras are. Which means, they drives very fast and then as they approach the camera they slam on the break, which gives you a feeling of urgency....like you are about to hit an animal or small child. This can make for a very uncomfortable drive. And, this is they guy who drove us to Oman for five hours to get our visa updated. Enough said.
SAGAS OF SETTLING
Have I mentioned that his job is stupidly high pressure? I think I have. But could add some details like we work every night late, come in on weekends and wake in the middle of night thinking about things we have to do. Bottom line, working is hard, being new is even harder but lucky for me my closet is really clean. You see in Colombia my closet was gross, dark, musty full of cockroaches. But here it is bright and organized, clean and fresh.....and a perfect place to cry.
Hey it may get easier but not sure when because even the people who have been here forever seem just as stressed.
Okay besides school there is tons to do and it is easy to meet people. We did get out and do some Stand up Paddle boarding out in the ocean, which is less than five minutes from our house. Stand Up Paddle Boarding is actually kind of boring though...it is like canoeing but way less efficient. It was nice to be out in the water despite the blazing sun. It is about 105 degrees out.
We also went to check out the area where people go Kite Boarding, which looks like a lot more fun. We hope to start to learn soon. Word is that there is also some okay surf in Dubai, so if we ever relax there is some potential fun to be had.
So this was our first weekend with a car. An SUV that we bought from teacher at school. Money is a strange thing here, everyone seems to have too much of it and since everyone works so hard, they seem to justify spending it. Almost everyone drives new cars here, in fact is hard to find an old car. New teachers usually buy a new or fairly new car....this is something that freaked us out. We DON"T buy new or nice cars, but it seemed there were limited options. As it often does, luck found us and so did a teacher who was looking to get rid of his old car. So we are now the new owners of a 2003 Hyndia Galloper.
 |
| It's not bad for 3,500.00 dollars,,,,okay it is a little squeaky but if you turn the ac up loud enough you can't hear the squeaks. |
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| At the beach where we will learn to Kite Surf |
Having the car gave us a new sense of freedom. We could now go anywhere we wanted, assuming of course we could find it. For those of you who don't know, this country is young, very young....a mare 40 years old. And, despite its almost ridiclous growth and industry they have yet to adopt the simple use of addresses. Ya know,,,, street names and numbers. Yeah, they don't have that. Instead they use landmarks. Like if we want to go to school we say, behind the BMW dealership. This makes navigating a challenging. So we have been lost a bit. And, I did hit a speed bump while going 60 kms slammed on a break which caused everything to come flying forward, including an orange that got stuck under the gas pedal and wouldn't let me accelarate (all in some crazy downtown busy street.) It was ugly.
SURVEILLANCE
 |
| Sometimes it feels like somebodies watching me..... |
Our new found freedom felt by having wheels slowly waned as we realized that freedom doesn't come easily in this country. We are free to drive on the road but under some pretty intense set of rules. This place is literally surrounded by cameras. You are simply mailed fines and forced to pay them. We have heard numerous stories of people being fined thousands of dollars for traffic violations. Some they even received when they were not even in the country. So you need to watch your speedometer constantly, never cross over the cross walk and have a very CLEAN car. YES, you can be fined if your car is too dirty. If you are thinking that is insane...I totally agree because it IS COMPLETELY insane. Being that this is a Muslim Country, there is an obvious zero tolerance for alcohol, so if you get caught driving even after a sip you will be deported. When I heard this, I thought, if work gets too much worse this may be an easy exit. Hey, lets look on the bright side- at least I can drive, which wouldn't be the case if we had ended up in Saudi.
Side note, some people, specifically the driver from our school have learned where all the cameras are. Which means, they drives very fast and then as they approach the camera they slam on the break, which gives you a feeling of urgency....like you are about to hit an animal or small child. This can make for a very uncomfortable drive. And, this is they guy who drove us to Oman for five hours to get our visa updated. Enough said.
SAGAS OF SETTLING
Have I mentioned that his job is stupidly high pressure? I think I have. But could add some details like we work every night late, come in on weekends and wake in the middle of night thinking about things we have to do. Bottom line, working is hard, being new is even harder but lucky for me my closet is really clean. You see in Colombia my closet was gross, dark, musty full of cockroaches. But here it is bright and organized, clean and fresh.....and a perfect place to cry.
 |
| Where I sit and have my melt downs. |
Hey it may get easier but not sure when because even the people who have been here forever seem just as stressed.
Okay besides school there is tons to do and it is easy to meet people. We did get out and do some Stand up Paddle boarding out in the ocean, which is less than five minutes from our house. Stand Up Paddle Boarding is actually kind of boring though...it is like canoeing but way less efficient. It was nice to be out in the water despite the blazing sun. It is about 105 degrees out.
We also went to check out the area where people go Kite Boarding, which looks like a lot more fun. We hope to start to learn soon. Word is that there is also some okay surf in Dubai, so if we ever relax there is some potential fun to be had.
Steeeechu. Work will get better, it always does. At least you have a space to have meltdowns. Mine were always in the bathroom :)
ReplyDeleteMy car is a guinea pig cage, and if you get too close you may come down with Bird Flu. I would be screwed if I lived in Jalalabad.