Umm al Qwain

BBC article map- check out the horse head shaped north

Recently a colleague shared this brief BBC article about the 5 lesser known Emirates. The thing
about it that most caught my eye was the map at the end! I look at maps, mostly online, to figure out how to get from point A to point B, not to see assigned boundaries between Emirates. I knew there were a few enclaves- completely encircled bits of land managed by a different government that that of the surrounding area- but wow! There's giant Abu Dhabi, taking up the whole south and then the horse head shaped north which is a crazy patchwork of the other 6 Emirates. Not to mention Oman. Oman is the grey stuff- the horse's eye, under the neck. behind the ear- all bits of Oman that are surrounded by the UAE. I've explored a bit of 6 of the 7 but have only, really driven through Ajman so I need to do a little more there. Here's a bit about Umm al Qwain.

UaQ Museum

playing dress up at the museum

The article describes Umm al Qwain as a sleepy backwater with a lassez faire attitude. That jives with my experience and contributes to making it probably my favorite Emirate- at least right now.We went to the Umm al Qwain museum one day last fall and quite enjoyed it. It's housed in an old home/fort with some of the rooms set up essentially as they were when the Sheikh's family would have lived there- not all THAT long ago, they lived there until the late 1960s. It was built originally in the late 1760s. Some rooms had displays of quaint things like the first telephone that was in service in UaQ or the passports of residents when UaQ was a British protectorate. a trucial state and eventually, part of the UAE. There were documents listing the damages a family could expect if an employee was injured while working for the British Petroleum Company (not much) and an opportunity to dress up in a colorful local dress! After we toured the fort, we thought we were done but the guy at the door gestured for us to follow a security guard across the street to a modern, official looking building. The guard unlocked the building and we had the local archeology museum to ourselves- special showing. It was really impressive. They had beautiful pieces of pottery and metalwork from the Bronze Age all collected from area digs.

rare cloudy day- looking out the back door of my room at Imar

UaQ is home to Imar Spa- a sweet little ladies only spa that does a brisk business with locals and ex-pats alike.Often when we're there there is a group of local gals getting wedding ready with elaborate blow drys and up-dos with big bun enhancer donut things under piles of curls. There also seem to be plump older Russians having exotic facial treatments.We have to wear bathing caps in the pool which is a bit of a drag but good for a laugh at ourselves in our weird cheap pink lumpy caps at least. They have half a dozen rooms where you can spend the night. A group of us will often pick up groupons for an overnight stay with a huge, tasty breakfast, a 60 minute massage and a mani-pedi all for just over $100US. We book all 6 rooms and after 9pm they lock the doors into the spa area and the staff retires to their nearby accommodations (each room has a back door out to the patio and tiny beach area, so we're not locked in in some kind of spa horror movie plot) and we have the place to ourselves. Last time a hallway card game went on until late fueled in part by a recently arrived care package of Girl Scout cookies.
 
UaQ also boasts the Barracuda, a hotel that frankly, looks as tho as it has seen better years. But people don't flock to the Barracuda for the "resort"- they come for the Costco sized warehouse of adult beverages. The choice is kind of staggering, especially in spirits. I had no idea there were that many variations on rum. People stock up, the prices are reasonable and the service is great. Purchases are boxed and bagged both so as not to be obvious and disrespectful of laws and customs in the country more generally.

at the UAE's largest pool bar- or so they brag

Near the Bararcuda is Dreamland Aqua Park- the latest reason for me to love UaQ. Went there this weekend. Dubai and Abu Dhabi boast some very swanky water parks with some seriously intense slides and rides. I haven't actually made it to any of those yet- I'm sure I will. I was excited to visit Dreamland as my first UAE water park because it's a little low budget,  little less glitzy- totally my speed. Virtually no lines, lots of shade trees and greenery, views of the sea as you climb up the (only slightly dodgy) stairs to get to the top of the water slides, a pool bar that manages to have both a party feel and simultaneously, a fairly family friendly vibe, opportunities to smoke shisha (hookah) seemingly anywhere (Dubai is cracking down on shisha smoking in open air places like parks and beaches- I get it, it's a public health issue and I see the rationale- but I personally prefer the more relaxed attitude in UaQ, let adults, be adults and manage their own health risks.) You can camp overnight at Dreamland, I think that's just been added to my UAE bucket list! We had a blast, mostly on the tame water slides though we did at least one that was rated thrill level: "aggressive". Got some water up my nose on that one.

Umm al Qwain has more delights in store, I'm sure. Simply driving around the Emirate is enjoyable (well, it's a little speed trappy so you have to chill). The dunes are a lovely warm orange, there are frequently camels quite close to the road and guys sell fruit out of the trunk of their car near the highway on ramp! It's really lovely.

Lazy river- or rather- the Dreamstream!

see family friendly pool bar!

tent time

my piece of heritage gear- a kind of leaning seat

And now for a topic near and dear to my heart: camping! Camping in the UAE, especially desert camping, is part of the local history. They even have a section of gear in some outdoor shops labeled "heritage camping". Heritage camping goods are things like heavy canvas backed carpets, glass and. china tea or coffee sets for 10 or 20 people in clever carrying cases with space for the dallah (traditional coffee pot). I bought seat I haven't taken out yet (maybe next weekend) because I'm always so conscious of not bringing too much gear since I rely on others for rides. More on that below. I was talking to an Emirati woman at work- she's in her 20s. She says basically: Our parents lived in the desert. They like to go back to go camping, it's how they used to live. She told a story about driving around with her aunt who was pointing to one part of a big indistinguishable dune landscape and saying it was called this and then to another area- looked the same as the first- to say it was called that, but to the younger generation, it's just all one desert.

one of our desert camps- my favorite so far

Camping here for me is both more difficult and also much easier than the sort of camping I do in the US. Here, there's never a shortage of places, no need for reservations or permits or fees. There are no elaborate rules about where you can go, when you can burn fires, how many cars you can have at your site. This is because you can camp pretty much anywhere that isn't obviously someone's yard or an official park. The challenge, however, is to get to a site that pleases you.

 I'm nuts about the desert camping that I've been able to do but I'm also totally reliant on other people to get me there and back. You need a 4wd vehicle, you should air down your tires, you need to confidently keep moving over dunes even when you can't see what's over the next crest because as a driver, if you slow down, scream a little and cover your eyes, like I tend to do as a passenger, you'll probably get stuck. You can't really go alone unless you've got some kind of back-up help on call. But once you find your place in the dunes, it's nothing but fine, soft sand in ripples and crests, taking on golden colors at sunset. It's nights full of stars and silence or maybe the sound of the campfire crackling... Well after all your loud friends go to bed, that is! I just love it all.

this flat spot in the mountains had once been some kind of farm

Then there's the mountain camping,sometimes  near the wadis or valleys and ravines. Once again, 4wd is likely to be important as is some knowledge of a flat spot. Much of the mountain terrain is quite rocky and the nice, wide, flatter spots have been snapped up by local farmers. My only night in the mountains so far was weirdly misty and damp but everything burned off in the morning and we explored the nearby foundations and rock storage structures.

I was just introduced to a beach camp spot this past weekend, over near Khorfakan, in the eastern region of the country. While there was a traditional sandy beach part, tides this time of year made it a little small for our group and we knew it was slated to get even a bit smaller before the tides turned again so we set up on a little rise, just 20 or so yards/ meters away from the beach and above a shore area of cool, surf pounded rocks harboring crabs and the occasional sea urchin. There were a lot of nice things about this spot but it was plagued with one of the big problems in the

the trashy (foreground) and the sublime (that sea!)

country: garbage/ litter/ dumping. There were parts of this lovely cove where people had dumped broken ceramic toilet bowls, old tires, diapers, broken glass, plastic sheeting. You name it. Luckily we could set up camp largely away from the worst of it but even where we were the clearing was ringed with mesquite trees, giving us a good place to wander off and use "the little camper's room" in private. But the trees were also a magnet for no end of plastic and cloth trash. I wanted to start picking up like mad, but I also felt overwhelmed, and like I needed way more trash bags and room to haul out trash than we had. I also wanted to gloves, some of that stuff was nasty- next time I'm going prepared. But one of my favorite bits about this site is that I can drive there myself without 4wd and big off road skills and I guess that's attractive to others too, leading to the trash. The Gulf waters, all blue green beautiful were another huge bonus. So refreshing to float a bit among tiny (seemingly non-stingy) jellyfish in the morning before packing up for the 1.5 hour ride home.

I think there's a market for some entrepreneurial Emirati to offer up a semi developed campground, reachable in a sedan but with the beautiful seclusion  and starry skies of the desert or maybe a rustic, mountainside campground, with a port-a-potty and a hiking trail, a couple of fire rings and picnic tables, I think expats with tents and coolers would flock to a place like that. Or would pay good money for a laid back sandy beach spot where they could throw up a tent with a cement block bathhouse and a little non- salt water to rinse off after a swim. I guess that might take away some of the adventure though, and there'd probably have to be rules... for now, I'll keep bumming rides in 4x4s or finding the non-trashy corner of the beach to enjoy one of my favorite ways to spend a night.

at beach camp- the view from the water looking back was pretty nice too

part of the beach camp shoreline was rocks with these creepy-cool barnacles

one more from sunrise desert camp

Friday around town

scraping bubbly cheese onto my plate

Did a little exploring this weekend. First up was the Ripe Market at Zabeel Park. While it's advertised as an organic farmers market, after visiting, I'd describe it more as a single veggie stand surrounded by a lot of craft and food booths. That said, it had a nice vibe- a big mix of nationalities all out enjoying lovely weather and a nice park and some really yummy food choices. I sampled homemade honey nougat, a cheese I can't pronounce, a dark chocolate and banana snack food that may be the thing that brings me back, houmous, olive oil, pickles... And then, I settled on raclette for breakfast. It's a Swiss delight, kind of in the fondue family if you're not familiar. They heat a hunk of cheese using a clever device until it gets brown and bubbly and then scrape that cheese off and on top of something like crusty bread and salty meat. I paired it with a Pakistani mango lassi (yogurt shake) from the Moti Roti booth- and learned that Moti means fat and Roti is a flatbread, they make their flatbreads fat by wrapping them around some sort of spicy filling. I could have selected grilled sausages from my favorite Australian butcher, poutine or crepes from the Maple Leaf, the Canadian place, all manner of Lebanese street food, burgers, and I can't actually remember what other choices. All in all, produce-wise, it's not going to hold a candle to say, picking blueberries in Michigan or getting the first, perfectly ripe Brigham City peaches at the SLC Downtown Farmers' Market, but once I let go of my hopes for abundant fruit/veggie options, I enjoyed people watching, sampling and eating on a bench in a pretty park quite a bit.

my weak sketch of the bit of my daily drive between 2 palaces

On my way home, still fairly early on a Friday morning, the perfect time to take a "Sunday drive" as it were, I cut through some back streets surrounding the royal palaces, stables, and a whole neighborhood (Zabeel 2) that I can only guess is full of people with some "wasta" (aka clout/ connections/ prestige). There were signs indicating that photographs are not allowed which is a shame, it's a lovely neighborhood and the palaces are awesome looking- the one has a horse drawn chariot rising from the roof, looking rather like Il Vittoriano in Rome and behind/ beside the other there is a large and elegant mosque. My daily drive to work takes me past an exit marked "Private Access" and then under a roundabout that shoots off to giant palaces- residences for the extended family of His Royal Highness, VP of the nation and ruler of Dubai, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid, on either side of the road- clearly off limits for me. I can see them down long, landscaped entry roads, however. And in driving around the neighborhood that is semi in the shadow of the palaces, I spotted a peacock and a random pen of well groomed long-haired sheep or goats in amongst the lovely homes, most flying the UAE flags high and proud.

In the afternoon, I took my new foldable bike to the nearby former camel racecourse turned cycle

track. I chose a fold up bike in part for easy transport since I think it's likely that I'll often drive to the places I ride to avoid trying to navigate the street traffic. there are rumored to be several tracks set aside for cycling and I'll be checking them all out in time. This one, Nad al Sheba, has the grandstands left over from camel racing days at 2 different places along the path. The first near where you park, also features changing rooms and a small park and a tiny kids track. I was a little unclear of where to

skyline view from abandoned grandstand

ride and so at first followed some pavement out into an area where there were about a dozen cricket matches in full swing. I realized I was not on the main tracks at that point and veered toward another biker until I spotted the purpose-built paved path with solar lights and painted kilometer markers.There are a couple of loops of various lengths- 4, 6 and 8km, I think. It feels a bit random, cycling a loop in a flat expanse of desert. There's some nice views of the city skyline in one direction and of the fancy new horse racing complex in the other direction, some very ugly power lines, some temporary walls blocking a construction site (and the wind, handily enough), and the second empty grandstand which I stopped to checkout. I think if I start riding the loops with any regularity I'm going to wind up coming up with some sort of "grandstand passing moves", I'll ride like the stands are full and cheering me on!

solar lights, ugly power lines, nice track

new horse racing track view

Going Gold at the Movies

in the Gold Lounge

Since we're suffering a yucky multi day sandstorm (for those of you who haven't seen pictures on FaceBook, I'll put comparison view pictures at the end of this post), I opted to explore one of the things on my Dubai bucket list: going Gold at the movies. I understand that movies with extra nice seats and a full restaurant menu on offer are not exclusive to the UAE but the way they infuse the whole experience with status and luxury here seems to match up nicely with the designer handbags and showy sports cars that are symbolic of a high profile Dubai lifestyle.

We went to see the comic action spy blockbuster, The Kingsmen. Bought tickets online ahead of time. When you show up at the theater, just past the garishly lit popcorn and candy counter for the regular movie goers, there's a smoked glass wall with a simple hostess podium bearing the word

perusing our menus- I guess we could also have been reading magazines

my mini food on slate- served to my recliner

Gold, in gold, of course, on black. We presented our tickets and the glass doors slid open to reveal a lounge. We were invited to have a seat and peruse the menu. I picked a selection of two mini burgers. I could have gone with a mini hot dog or mini potato skins or no end of other bar-food like items classed up by serving them in miniature on a slab of slate with an accompanying mini basket of fries. We also got a popcorn, of course, because it's still the movies. It's just regular popcorn, because why mess with a good thing? After we placed our order in the lounge, we went on into the theater. Oh, except I ran to the loo first and, of course, there were cloth hand towels in a little basket.

There were maybe 40 recliners, stadium seating style so no sight lines are blocked. We took our recliner seats and got our blankets (movie theaters here are just like the ones in the US, always chilly) and shortly they brought our sodas (yes, in other places- heck, even Utah, you can get cocktails, but I am in the Middle East, remember. So no booze, just dry luxury.) We settled in to watch the previews and commercials before the main event and my food arrived (on my personal armrest table) just in time for me to sneak a quick photo before the movie began.

cozied up- blanket and recliner

Some of the naughtiest bits of movies are censored/ cut here. I heard The Wolf of Wall Street was 45 minutes shorter in the UAE. ( I also heard from some people-not fans of the movie- that they wish the film's editors would have made at least 45 minutes worth of cuts if not more.)  Pretty sure nothing was censored in this one- there wasn't much nudity or on screen immoral behavior- a bit of overt suggestion and some violence, but it's a spy action movie after all.

I was a fan of the Gold movie experience! Not sure it was entirely worth the price tag (about $30 per ticket, another $15 or so per person on food) but it was a great splurge for  day when being outside was not so nice and I'm pretty sure I'll splurge again in the future because, well, it's all part of my high rollin' Dubai life!

 

view from balcony post rain in January

same view mid sandstorm yesterday

an apple a day...

My arches have fallen and they can't get up, at least not without fancy orthotic shoe inserts that Sebastian, the German orthotics and prosthetics guy, will have custom made for me Tennessee. I learned that on my consult last weekend at the mall. Yes, I go to the mall for my healthcare. Not
everyone in Dubai does, there are hospitals and clinics all over. On one occasion, I went to see a specialist in a converted home (mini mansion) where limited parking means required valet service. But for most of my healthcare needs, it's the world's largest mall for me, because that's how I roll (or because it was one of the places near my house I was sure I knew how to get to when I first had to make an appointment.)


Healthcare here isn't especially different from healthcare in the US from a consumer point of view- outside of the mall business. I suspect it may be a bit different for the doctors. Talking with a podiatrist last summer, she mentioned that there weren't enough podiatrists in the country to have a society- I guess you need at least 12 practitioners and they couldn't muster that many. Anyhow, I have an insurance policy, provided by my employer. I find a clinic or doctor or hospital that does direct billing (or if I don't I can submit claims for reimbursement) and I go see doctors and have procedures and labs done and whatever.

I just read an article about a phase-in plan to require employers in small companies to provide insurance in Dubai. Larger companies already must and in Abu Dhabi, apparently, they already have mandatory universal insurance coverage. All over the country, Emirati citizens can avail themselves of free government provided healthcare though from what I understand, most prefer a private insurance provider for the greatest choice and highest quality care. It's the many ex-pat laborers who will be covered as this new law becomes mandatory. It's already the case that you won't be refused emergency care at a hospital.

A few things are different though. For any ongoing prescriptions, the max a doc can prescribe at one time is a 3 month supply so I have to go see my doctor every 3 months. It's a bit of a pain but at the same time, when I call for an appointment, I can usually get in within 24-48 hours of my call if I'd like and the doctors tend to have some evening and weekend hours available too. Though I took advantage of that last week and it led to a small act of rebellion- I parked in a spot that was clearly not designed to be parked in. This is widespread and obnoxious behavior, this wedging your car into any blank space, something I wasn't keen to participate in, but I'd spent 20+ min stuck in traffic inside the parking garage. I was about to be late and was feeling desperate. It was the last evening of the month- long shopping fest and on a weekend evening, that was part of the problem. In the end there were no ill effects (I didn't get a ticket, no one backed into my car and I got over feeling bad about being one of the jerky parkers.)

blurry pic of the space age waiting area

 I've also had a pleasantly international array of medical professionals. My primary care physician is Spanish, her nurse assistant is Filipino, there's the aforementioned German orthotics guy and the podiatrist was Scottish (ingrown toenails sound nicer with a lilt). I can fill my entire prescription right there at the mall clinic (seems to a number of Indian pharmacists) after my appointment. They never seem to have quite enough in stock to cover all 3 months at once, but they write me a note and call me when more stock comes in and it's back to the mall.

The whole process is simultaneously super high tech, efficient and advanced (I get a text immediately after I schedule an appointment, the billing people are in regular real-time contact with insurance people to approve stuff while I wait) and also very small town and casual (the little handwritten  note about the extra meds the pharmacy owes me, the fact that my doc will call me after she gets my labs to chat about them.)

could be a hallway at a medical complex anywhere in the US, huh?

Doing Dubai

I haven't been keeping up with the blog very well, but I'm going to manage at least one January 2015 entry (this one) and hopefully can get back in the habit of writing and reflecting about things here every couple of weeks going forward. I've been busy planning for and then hosting my first full fledged visitors since I've been in the apartment. Andrea came for Christmas within my first month when I was still in the temporary housing and was little more than a tourist myself. That said, we did a pretty good job of exploring and checking out many of the "must do" sights and experiences and I happily re-did many with my sisters last week. Here are a few of my favorite things to enjoy with visitors:

1. The desert safari: Have to take these things with a grain of salt, they're a little "packaged" but still, I think they're a lot of fun. This time we went with the company Arabian Nights and they picked us up at the apartment around 4PM. We shared a land cruiser with some ladies from Saudi Arabia (one of them lives in Abu Dhabi). The safari headed out to the dunes somewhere near the Sharjah/ Dubai border off the Al Ain Road, after letting some air out of the tires for better traction, we dune bashed. This entailed some racing, cresting, dipping and swaying over and down the sides of dunes- some pretty steep- and some squealing and gasping from Sarah and I and the Saudis. Meanwhile Becky sat up front wondering if maybe she could take a turn at driving. We roller coastered our way to a high point to enjoy the golden light of a desert sunset. Next down to the "camp" where

there was an opportunity for a quick camel ride in a circle (mostly just a photo op). One camel was kinda photo bombing Becky and Sarah and seemed to be interested in a little head scratch or something, but no, it turned out that he was interested in trying to take a bite out of Sarah's arm right through his little knit mouth/nose cover. She had a nice camel-tooth bruise going! Following that excitement, it was on to grab a cocktail and get a little henna design applied and take a few puffs of shisha before the tanoura dance show (slightly campy guy who can spin like mad wearing a skirt covered with LED lights) and dinner. Talking with the Saudis over dinner was fun, especially the young woman in 10th grade. She was pretty vocal about the fact that she saw no reason to have to
wear an abaya all the time at home (she was not wearing one on the safari, nor was her mom. Her mom, however, did have her hair covered) and she was pretty bothered about not being able to drive. It sounded like the trip to visit her aunt in the UAE had her feeling pretty envious of some freedoms the ladies enjoy here.  After the whirlwind sampler of vaguely bedouin activities, tidied up for tourist pleasure, they took us home before 10pm. An added bonus, our driver had scored some fresh camel milk from the farm by the camp and he gave us a little bottle to take home and try!

2. Camel races: I wrote an entire post on this after Andrea and I went, it's here. I'll just add that the sisters and I got there too late last week to see any racing. We arrived just after 8:30am. There were training runs going on though, and all the camel handlers took a big interest in 3 yellow haired tourist types taking pictures and looking curious. One group called us over to take pictures and then insisted that the sisters jump atop a camel for photos. Sarah cut her hand a little on the hump handle thingy- she really developed a bit of a camel aversion on this trip.

3. An abra ride across the creek: If you're in the neighborhood, of course, a visit to the souks is also in order, but really, my favorite part is climbing the little beat looking flat bottomed wooden motor

boat with a roof, paying 1AED (roughly 30 cents) and putting across this bustling waterway past the dhows (bigger wooden boats that haul freight throughout the gulf- you can see tall stacks of boxed fridges and washer dryers alongside the moored dhows waiting to be loaded up) and other abras and tour boats and more. The ride is short but lively. I could go back and forth over and over, people watching and boat watching.

Turns out this post could go on and on if I had more energy. There are more "enjoy with visitors" things on my list than I anticipated. I see more posts ahead on maybe some of these


4. Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi- breathtaking

5. Frying Pan Food Tour- not for the picky eater or those with dietary restrictions though 

6.  Sheik Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding meal or tour- mentioned in the food post but they are so much more than the meals

7. Something luxurious- a spa treatment, gold cappuccino at Emirates Palace, high tea- I've dabbled in luxury adventures but this is a bit of a weak area for me, will have to work on up-ing my Dubai high life knowledge, it'll be research, right?

8. Burj Khalifa observation deck (sunset, or now they also do sunrise) combined with seeing the Burj from my apartment and seeing the fountains at the base- one of my favorite viewing places is from Souk ah Bahar or from the walkway between Souk al Bahar and The Palace hotel (which proved to be a decent place to watch for over the top cars in valet one of the nights we visited.)

9. Beach!

10. Falcon Hospital in Abu Dhabi- a neat new-to-me thing we checked out last week...

Yes more posts are needed.

The Tale of Two Trees

Plant Street Canadian imports

Coulda been a contender!

The "tree trek"- to fetch a Christmas tree- is a time honored tradition for me. Last year, my first Christmas season in Dubai, I took the metro to a trippy garden store and bought a leggy local plant to stand in for a pine. This year, I heard that there might be trees worth checking out on "Plant Street" in the Satwa neighborhood. I mentioned Satwa in a recent post, declaring it  my new favorite neighborhood for all of the fabric and trim shops but I hadn't yet seen this "Plant Street"- in quotation marks because while that's what people call it, that's not it's name on a map, it's Hubaida Street near the Iranian Hospital, which is, by the way, partially covered in beautiful tile work. So off I went. The one major drawback to Satwa is the lack of parking and the metro wasn't going to be an option here. I found a place on a side street and walked on over. There were trucks of cut pines all the way from Canada mostly. They were selling for roughly $100US and up and we're pretty uniform in size and shape ( about 5-6 ft tall and

loading up the tree, city skyline

very triangular). There were takers for sure but I didn't want to go that route. I considered a pomegranate sapling because I loved my pomegranate tree at my house in Vegas, but it was really a baby and I didn't think a pot on my 14th floor balcony was going to be an environment where it would thrive and fruit. I did ask if they had any other pomegranates, just out of curiosity, and learned that if I wanted say, a dozen, anything would be possible. Bulk buying can be customized. For one, nope, they had what they had. Might have something different in a few weeks. The bushier fig plant was a contender but for similar reasons, rejected. An interestingly woven lucky bamboo plant challenged me to think about where I might hang ornaments but in the end, I couldn't resist the little table top pine in a pot. Also, I had no clue how I would have lugged the heavier potted fig back to my back street parking spot. As it was, it was pretty funny to stroll down the block, past the Indian cafe, hugging a tiny pine. As the sun set over the city, I packed up my tree. I needed to stop for gas on the way home and I had a nice exchange with the man working at the pump. He shyly asked,

Riding with a fir

Madam, is that a tree for Christmas, I ask because I have just yesterday also found one tree for Christmas...

Me: Yes, yes it is. So you celebrate Christmas? (many people here are Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim and don't)

Him (earnestly, with hand on heart): Madam, I am Roman Catholic

Me: Well let me wish you a very Merry Christmas then

Him (extending his hand to shake): And to you as well, and in advance, may I also wish you a happy new year!


With that happy wish, I brought my little tree home, set it up near my faux fireplace, made of cardboard wine and small furniture boxes. I created it in a fit of maniacal craftiness.

both trees

The very next morning in the elevator I ran into a fellow ZU faculty member with an apartment a few floors up but only until February when he's moving on to new things. 

Martin: Right then, have you got the holidays sorted, tree and all?

Me: Just picked up a tiny table top pine last night!

Martin: Rubbish, you must have the posh 6 foot tree I've got. I'm getting rid of everything. Fancy a set of golf clubs too?

So I am now the proud owner of a used faux evergreen that came with a set of fancy lights that cycle through all kinds of twinkling patterns and a truly ridiculous amount of tinsel garland. And a table top live pine (quite a relief that now the pressure if off to keep the little table top pine alive until next December). It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, the halls are decked, fa la la la.

the cardboard fireplace