Ramadan, Guest Furniture, Light, and Iftar

Quick Note: I realize some of you probably don't want to have to constantly check to see if I have blogged, so now at the bottom of the page you can put in your email and then when Mom helps me post, you will get an email.

Ramadan Mubarak

Meaning, have a blessed Ramadan. Ramadan began on June 6, so the Muslims here are fasting from dawn to dusk. It doesn't effect me because I am a dog. Mom and Dad just have to make sure they are not eating or drinking in public during daylight hours. Most restaurants operate as to-go only or delivery only, and if they are open they put up screens (like the Japanese folding things) and you eat behind those. The hours for public sector jobs and for school is shortened, and when you walk around the mall you will notice no music playing, and everyone is kind of moving slower. There are pretty decorations all around. Here are some from the Mall of the Emirates. 

More on Ramadan later. 

If you put furniture in, they will come...

Mom is channeling Field of Dreams. Recently, someone Dad works with asked if we needed any furniture, because her boyfriend was moving in and they needed to get rid of a bedroom set in his apartment because they would have no where for it but they didn't really want to sell it, but storage for it would not be cheap. So it was decided that this bedroom set would come and live in our second bedroom and then maybe one day they will get a bigger place and want it back, but for now they store it for free, and we have a place for guests. So Mom is hoping, since furniture is in, you will come. 

dresser and mirror (not hung up yet)

 

 

Bed, side tables, some lamps Dad bought, and bedding from home and also IKEA

Light

There was no chandelier in the dining room and that bothered Mom. So they went to Dragon Mart, which is basically a gigantic indoor flea market selling everything from children's toys to power tools to household goods to clothes to safes to carpet...just everything. Dragon Marts slogan is "Where you can find one in a million or a million of one". They bought a big ball chandelier, but couldn't hang it themselves because of lack of hardware and poor planing by the builders of the villa. So some guys came into my house today and hung it. I wanted to say Hi but Mom didn't want me to, what with ladders and tools and whatnot. 

 

Chandelier 

 

Up close 

Iftar

After the guys who hung the light left, Mom and Dad had to leave because they were going to an Iftar at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding. This is the meal that Muslims eat during Ramadan after the call to prayer (adhan) for the Maghrid prayer which is the one at sunset. There were probably about 50 people from several countries at the Iftar, and also the volunteers who organize the whole thing. First our hostess told us some things about Ramadan and Islam and asked if people had questions while some guys handed out dates and water and Arabic coffee while we waited for the Maghrid adhan to all break our fast together (though some people apparently paid no attention to anything when they looked this up and booked it and as soon as they got the dates and drinks ate and drank them. Some other people (i.e. Mom and Dad) waited until the adhan, when the hosts and volunteers broke their fast. Then, the Muslim volunteers and also some Muslims in attendance did the prayer. BTW, we were invited to take photos or videos of any and everything. So I won't try to explain the prayer or the postures they go through, you can google, but here are some photos. You will notice they pray in a line shoulder to shoulder. Women would pray either in a separate prayer room or in a group behind all the men or with a gap between the last in the line of the men and women. This is so they are not distracted by others during prayer, like by the rumps of ladies being up in the air, or having their shoulder rubbing up on strangers.

Here is a panorama that Dad took of everyone watching while the men prayed. The food was smelling sooooo good according to Mom.
 

Then there was the food. Mom said it was yummy, she can't remember the names for everything, and she couldn't eat them all, but she had a lot of Biryani, chicken, meat, and vegetarian. She also had vegetable Saloona (a stew) and white rice. Dad was able to eat dishes such as Harees, a porridge-like dish made of wheat, meat and butter, and Thareed (think that's what it was called), Arabic bread layered with vegetables and meats and broth then baked. All of the food was very good and they brought some Biryani home, apparently not for me though. 

Everyone getting food

 

Can you believe they put the food on the floor?!?!? I would have hoovered through all that!!! Nom nom nom.

Next, Mom and Dad went to the masjid, or mosque. Again they were invited to take photos. Mom had a pashima she was going to use as a sheila for her hair, but she wasn't wearing long sleeves, so she had to put the abaya (long black dress like smock they wear over their clothes). They had these for the ladies in attendance to borrow. 

Mom and Dad in the masjid

Mom after she wrapper her pashima around her head
making it a sheila.

In the masjid our hostess answered more questions and told us more about Ramadan and Islam, and then there was an explanation of the prayer that is done. 

That is our hostess in the center explaining what the volunteers are doing. 

 

 

 Here are some photos from the masjid.  

 

Chandelier in the dome, the roofs are domed for the amplifying effect.

All worshipers stand in lines shoulder to shoulder facing this direction. The Imam stands up in front in the mihrab, that tiled niche thing, which faces Kaaba in Mecca. On the right you see where the Imam does his Friday sermon from, that is the Sunday equivalent for Christians and Saturday for Jews. That digital thing on the wall that you can't see well shows all the prayer times for the day.

Arabic calligraphy above the mihrab (verses from the Quran)

Shelf of Qurans

 

 

After going to the masjid, Mom and Dad went back to the room for tea and dessert. Mom could only eat the creme caramel and then a milk pudding that she has had a very similar thing at an Israeli restaurant, with pistachios and stuff on top. She is pretty sure it is called mahalabia. Dad got to have more exotic stuff, like the traditional Emirati dessert Lgeimat, which is basically a donut ball in date syrup, Mom is still jealous. There was also another dessert that was literally described as "wheat, cardamom, and saffron" and then also an Egyptian dessert Dad tried made with layers of dough soaked in cream with shaved almonds and golden raisins on top. And there were chocolate covered almond stuffed dates that Mom got one of.

After dessert they chatted a bit with some of the volunteers. And Mom and Dad picked up a pretty cool souvenir. Their names written in Diwani Arabic calligraphy.

They might try to cut them down and frame them. The calligrapaher basically worked non-stop from when everyone started to arrive. And at the end there were a lot of sugared up out of control kids wondering when theirs would be done. 

Thats all for now.

Dog out,

Woof

 

 

 

Past Month

Guest Blogger: Mom 

Puzzle

We did another puzzle, this one was given to us by Nain and Taid a few years ago. They go live in Hilton Head Island every year from about Thanksgiving to Easter. We visited them there twice and Marcus went every year as a kid and even one year I couldn't go. The puzzle also included a '5x7 souvenir puzzle.' It was poorly cut and about every third piece was the same exact shape so we messed it up a few times ha.

 Puzzle.

Kevin

At the beginning of the month one of our friends was here for work so we were able to get to get together with him a few times. We went out to dinner at a Lebanese restaurant with two of his coworkers and ate so. much. food.. We also went to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, which is the one shaped like a wave that is right near the Burj Al Arab (the one that looks like a sail that is the only "7 star hotel in the world." It was fun and I went into the sea and played in the waves. Marcus was not interested in the water so stayed on the beach. It was nice to see someone that we knew.  

 

Photo courtesy of Kevin's FB page. 

Check Out

Marcus checked out on May 10 👏. He is now fully certified here. We went out that night for a few drinks.

 

From when we went out that night.  

After the other guys that were in his class check out we might have a small party. 1 other one is done, so 3 left. 

Anniversary and Rupert's Bad Hair Cut

On our 3 year anniversary everyone in the family went to the spa. We went to Saray Spa at the JW Marriott Marquis to get massages and Rupert went to be groomed. I provided a picture of what I wanted from a few years ago when he was groomed. 

 

Exhibit A. Hair cut in 2012.

We dropped him off at the groomer before we went for our treatments. My massage was spectacular and I also used the crazy lit shower thing whose name I cannot remember that you use after the steam room and Jacuzzi (both of which I also used). Marcus reported that his massage was also very nice. So then we left the spa and went back to the groomer. When picked up he looked like this.

 

Exhibit B. THEY SHAVED HIM  

When one or two days before he looked like this. Beautiful. I just wanted the extra overgrowth off the back of his front and hind legs and his ears and tail trimmed slightly and his belly taken care of. He isn't going back there. Now when a razor is turned on in the house he runs away. 

 Exhibit C. Him in all his glory

That night we made what we wanted for dinner on the grill (I made a grouper fillet, called hammour here) and marcus made burgers. We had some good wine too. And I made brownies for dessert. Special thanks to Aunt Liz and my Mom who sent us anniversary cards. It was much appreciated :-)

Feeling HOT HOT HOT

It is getting super hot. The "feels like" has been as high as 128 when I have looked. The actual temp above 100.  It's been in the 90s-100s mostly. But at night and in the morning it's in the 80s. Therefore, I don't let Rupert out for very long in the middle of the day. HOWEVER, he insists on cooking himself on the pavers, so I have to yell at him to come in because he is insane. But yesterday he was smart and decided to lay on the grass to bake.

Baking in the grass in the 100+ degree weather. 

Of course then today we was back on the pavers...sigh. And he refuses to use the like 80$ cooling mat that he is supposed to lay on that we bought him. Waste of money.

That's all for now.

Megan 

Guess we skipped April

It's getting hot friends. And as you know I have a lot of fur, yet, for some reason, I still enjoy cooking myself on the pavers 

so Dad tries to furminate me every so often, more often recently, and I'm not a fan.

Crafty

Mom bought stuff to make a wedding scrapbook back when they got married, and finally made it this past week+.

 

During the creating 

Cover of the book, she got it for her shower from her registry 

Here are some examples of the pages she made. Not the whole book but a good sampling.

Houdini

A week or so ago mom let me out to roam around like usual and then like 15 minutes later went to check on me and I was NO WHERE TO BE FOUND. She started screaming my name and then in the house again just in case then got my leash and started to walk down the sidewalk no knowing where to start, a minute or so later her phone rang and a guy with a British accent asked her "Are you looking for Rupert?" She said yes yes yes I just noticed he was gone so went out to look. Mom is not sure exactly what happened but somehow I got out and was down near a yard with dogs in it when this guy walked by with his two dogs who I decided looked fun so I started following them. He figured I seemed nice enough so looped me into one of his dog's leashes and checked my tags and first called Dad who was at work and left a message but then called the second number which was Mom. I was right down the road so Mom ran down to meet me. She thanked him profusely and he told her that above information. Mom and Dad were still trying to figure out how I got out because I have a wide chest. They decided to be safe and a few days later went to get some chicken wire, which they put up on the fence along the carport and the front gate. When Mom was out getting the wire ready and Dad was inside she looked over and saw me halfway out between two of the pieces of wrought iron and yelled my name then went out the gate to get me, I was apparently trying to get out to pee/mark in front of the house. Mom isn't sure but it might have to do with the cats that come in the yard or the people that come and stick menus in the gate. Once I had marked who knows maybe I'd have gone off exploring again. The wire is up now (you can't see it probably but it starts at those horizontal bars part way up the gate and goes to the bottom) and sometimes she catches me doing this. She thinks maybe since I can't mark right in front I need to be there to ensure there are no solicitors or cats.

Hiding

I have also started hanging out in a new place in the house...mainly when mom is in the shower.

Other Stuff

Mom and Dad also drove to Ras al-khaimah (a different emirate) on Dad's last weekend to go stock up on alcohol as it is 30% cheaper out there. Worth it if you're buying a lot. They saw a whole camel drive on the side of the road but Mom couldn't get a pic so she just enjoyed it. They also saw a handful of other ones along the road in other places. 

Dog Out,
Woof

Coffee, Ducks, Patio furniture, Lights, etc

Mom did something crazy. There is a Jumeirah Village Triangle community group on facebook and Mom decided to post on it and see if any other 'housewives' wanted to get coffee at a place that she can walk to in the community since she doesn't have a car when Dad is at work. She got a decent number of responses so she started her own group and set up a coffee meeting. 10 people came. She was nervous but it was successful. No other Americans and everyone was older than her but it was fun for her anyway.  Here is a picture of their first meeting.

  Coffee meeting at the local coffee and french pastry shop. 

 

She did it again last week and had a few new people and some from the first week could not come so she had 9. She felt pretty successful. One lady's husband works in aviation for aircraft airworthiness so she is going to invite them over sometime for wine. The 4 UK ladies are the ones Mom can tell like to have fun.

There was a car show last weekend that Mom and Dad went to. There were lots of cars, from Chevys and Fords to old Bentleys and MGs. Even a few Triumphs, which Dad has one of. It had to stay in the US though, it costs a lot to ship a car. Mom and Dad walked 4 miles that day because the cars were all along a road. By the end they were speed walking ready to go home. 

A few more things have been hung around the house. 

 Photo booth picture uncle David made for our wedding.

 

 Something Marcus's coworker got for him before he left from the Air Force One pilots.

The other day one of the cats that comes to the garden came back. This time Mom decided to let me out there. It is a housecat you can tell because it wears a GPS collar. I was walking all around and didn't see it, so Dad was trying to get me closer to it, apparently I got about 1.5 feet away and still did not see it. Dad told me I am not a good yard protector. Then I came back in and Mom picked me up and showed me the cat out the window, I started flailing and knocked over one of their airplanes and the stabilizer broke off, then I ran out and over to the cat, got pretty close before he took off. Now Mom and Dad have to figure out how to fix the airplane.  

We have had an infestation of some bugs, so we called the bug guys and they came Tuesday, but they said when they sprayed we'd have to leave for 5 hours, so we went and sat in the car and tried to figure out what we would do. We had ordered patio furniture the day before but it wasn't going to be delivered until Wednesday, plus it was still pretty hot. We waited for the bug guys to leave before we left, but as we were thinking about going to the park by the Burj a truck pulled up that seemed as though it could deliver things of the furniture kind...and it was. So, we got our patio furniture! We waited while the delivery guys assembled it and by then had killed one of the 5 hours. Then we decided to go to this place called the Irish Village because it would take 40 or so minutes to get there and we had read there was an outdoor area that dogs were welcome on, and it serves alcohol...so we went and hung out there. Stray cats hang around but I wasn't bothered by them, BUT BUT BUT, there were these other creatures that kids were chasing around and trying to pet, apparently called ducks. I WAS VERY INTRIGUED.

Me staring down the ducks.

 

There were a few times where they were coming pretty close to me and Mom and Dad had to break my concentration. I was a pretty good boy and only barked a few times, but not too loud or scary. Still, they wanted me to settle. One time 4 of them came out of the water and started walking directly toward me, Dad told Mom to get up and shoo them away, they didn't know what would happen if they got right up in my face. It was really good food, and drink and other than sporadic screaming kids chasing and trying to pet terrified ducks it was enjoyable.

So today Mom and Dad rearranged the furniture and took the plastic of the cushions late this afternoon. 

 
And then we went out there this evening so I could beg Mom and Dad for some wine and cheese from my perch on the stool.
 

It was a pretty pleasant temperature and they brought out the bluetooth speaker and turned on the light Dad finally hung out on the back porch.  

 

 The next purchase will be an umbrella! 

Dog Out,
Woof 

Catching up

Well it's been a while since I blogged. 

Mom finally got her Emirates ID on March 3. Getting that was easy, she just picked it up at the indicated post office. But then she went to get her driver's license...that was a doozy. She thought she had all the paperwork she needed, copy of her Emirates ID, copy of her US drivers license, copy of her passport and residence visa, and letter of no objection from Dad saying she could drive. Well she got her number and went up, the guy said she also needed copies of Dad's Emirates ID and Residence visa, so they went to a copy place (luckily in same building, and then came back, well then that still was not enough she also needed Dad's passport copy, so they got that, then she finally had all the papers and get her license, it took forever and she was annoyed. But now she has it all and is done-done.

Lots of birds come to our yard and eat stuff out of the grass, we don't know what thought. Some look really cool.

I get excited when I see all the birds so Mom let's me out to chase them (she says she knows I can't catch them). They also like to 'bathe' in the sand/dirt between the plants, it is weird. Mom filled up a bird bath to try to watch more birds but sometimes I try to drink from it while outside playing so she may have to empty it. 

Let's see, what else, what else. Dad bought this fleece blanket and mini pillow once on a Virgin Atlantic flight and Mom brought it downstairs recently, and I am pretty sure that the pillow was intended for me, Mom frequently tries to tell me that it is not for me, but I lay on it nonetheless. 

I also went to the vet last week because I was due for a shot, and now I am registered with the municipality, and I have Arabic on my tag! I am such an international dog!

Mom and Dad have decided to take up tennis. There are a number of basketball and tennis courts in the neighborhood, but to get to a gym you have to drive, so Mom works out in the house and asked Dad to but he wasn't too interested, so she said we could play tennis. He agreed, they both kind of played when younger so they went and bought some rackets and balls and are playing. Sounds like they are not keeping score for now, just kind of trying to volley. 

Dog out,
Woof