December 1, 1993
Abu Dhabi, UAE
HO! HO! Hope you're enjoying the snow!
Those of you in Canada should be knee deep in the fluffy stuff by the time you get this if a white Christmas is in the cards. Although, I can remember many a Christmas when the snow held off 'til the last minute, and even a few when we didn't see any until the gift giving and turkey dinner were only memories.
But somehow it just didn't seem like Christmas without a blanket of snow on the ground and frost in the air.
The Spirit of Spirits
I guess that's why we're both having a tough time getting in the
Christmas spirit even though the yuletide season is just around the
corner and many of the "expatriate" stores are selling tacky tree
decorations and playing Jingle Bells. We'll have a tree I think, but
other than that our celebrations will certainly be more subdued than
they would have been "back home."
I shall miss having our yearly open house: gathering all kinds of
Christmas goodies, decking the halls, making mulled wine, drinking
mulled wine, welcoming friends, sharing a few laughs, drinking mulled
wine, eating shortbread, exchanging gifts, drinking mulled wine...come
to think of it a couple of years away may be good for our livers! One
thing for sure, all of you will be in our thoughts over this special
season despite the lack of snow.
Thanks to all who replied to our first two letters from Abu Dhabi, we
both thoroughly enjoyed getting your letters and reading your news. To
those of you who haven't replied, a warning: this isn't baseball - only
two strikes and you're out. So you better put pen to paper early in
the new year if you want your subscription to continue...
Channel Challenged
Our Abu Dhabi spending spree has continued unabated since our arrival
in September and we're still not finished furnishing the apartment.
(But then again we lived in Bridgeland four years and we weren't
finished there either. Some things just never end.)
Despite having done more shopping than I've ever done AND in record
time, there are still a few fairly basic items, such as rugs, which
aren't crossed off the list yet. And, incredibly, we still don't have
a TV. I never would have thought Bobby could last five hours without
the idiot box, let alone five months. What a guy – chock full of
surprises.
No doubt the fact that the stereo is equipped with a remote has helped
with the withdrawal. He can flip through the five disks or put it on
shuffle when he gets an irresistible urge to do some channel changing.
Apparently we're not missing much as there's not a whole lot to watch
here anyway. Local programming consists primarily of religious shows
interspersed with news, sports, soap operas, reruns of Murder She
Wrote, cartoons, camel races, and the occasional National Geographic
Special.
English speaking satellite subscribers have a bit more to choose from
with the BBC, Prime Sports (the European TSN), Star Plus ((South East
Asia variety which includes programming such as Street Legal, Dynasty
reruns, Baywatch, Oprah (it is really strange, let me tell you, when
you walk into an Abu Dhabi electronics shop to see a dozen TV sets
tuned to Oprah Winfrey, Phil Donahue, and British sitcoms)), and, of
course, MTV. There are also three other foreign language satellite
stations (Egyptian, French, and something else, the language of which
I'm not certain).
Withdrawal
I must confess there are times when I wish I could just sit down, flick
on the tube and be entertained. It really is like a drug isn't it?
Keeping oneself amused without the box takes so much more energy and
creativity - it can be terribly exhausting simply thinking of what to
do let alone doing it!
Besides the sloth factor, we both miss being able to watch a movie now
and again. There are no theatres here, with the exception of the
Indian cinemas – a genre that is an acquired taste I should think. If
you have ever seen one, you’ll know what I mean.
The lack of movie theatres is partially compensated for by the
proliferation of pirated movie videos. All new Hollywood movies are
available on video here within several weeks of their release in the
North America. Of course the quality leaves a lot to be desired. I
have yet to see one, but Bobby says they are really poor.
The good news is we'll have a huge selection of videos to choose from
when we move back to Canada. Selecting a film was always difficult for
us as Bobby saw just about everything there was to see when he lived in
Yellowknife.
On the road
While we'll likely save the purchase of a TV and VCR for the new year,
Bobby couldn't resist trading in the "old" Nissan Pathfinder (he'd had
it a mere four months, one of which he spent on holiday in Canada) for
a 1989 white Range Rover. We've had the Range Rover for about a month.
It's the first vehicle I've driven that I actually have to climb into.
Very weird. Especially when you're used to climbing out. The seats
are so high I feel as if I'm driving a throne. When I'm sitting in the
driver's seat the tops of my legs are almost even with the bottom of
the window.
It's funny, because as I’m driving, I’ll sometimes try to rest my arm
on the window - you know like you do when you want to relax - and my
arm just slides down the glass because where the bottom would normally
be is the middle. The advantage of course, is that you can see
everything when you're driving, which makes it a fairly safe vehicle.
That's crucial in a country where everybody on the road drives like a
maniac. More about that next time…
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