Some experiences

Ramadan as you may have guessed is an interesting time for us. Yesterday on the way to look at villas in Al Ain, which come to find out we can't get, we stopped off at a gas station/mosque for the Islamic men on the bus to get off and pray. It only took five minutes, but I thought it made the day interesting.

Today, as I was waiting for the dr. to get back from breaking his fast, I walked around the block to find somewhere to eat also, and saw a restaurant I recognized. At first I hesitated to go in because I was a woman alone, but finally after sweating up and down a few blocks I went in. I sat in the back at a long table, near the wall. Later an Arabic woman came and sat down next to me to eat. These were cafeteria style tables and the food was a buffet so you pick what you want. I had some salads, and bread and some schwarma chicken. I recognized most of those and knew they were safe. The woman beside me spoke to me in broken English and pushed her bowl toward me to taste. I said, "chicken"? and she said, "same, same,". People here are extremely friendly, and I didn't want to be rude so I fished out a squiggly piece of something and chewed quickly and smiled. It was actually pretty good and did taste like chicken, but the shape had me worried so I pulled the waiter aside later to ask what it was. He said lamb and pointed to his thigh and then said, stomach. I knew it. I had eaten lamb meat in intestines. Surprisingly I kept it down. It really didn't even taste like lamb. So a new experience for me and a great example of the friendliness of the people here.

Of course, I was very hungry. My poor stomach just doesn't know what to make of this new diet.

So, when I get back I find out we're leaving this hotel on Thursday and moving to one in Al Ain, where we will be presented with our keys to our apartment. So much for finding your own accomodations, but actually the apts are okay, and I think as long as we don't shout it about, the dogs are good to go. We'll have four days to furnish the apartment then out we go.

The pictures wouldn't download so I'll try later.