## From: 
Sent: Sun 11/14/2010 9:29:55 PM
Subject: Arafat Day, Eid & apt

## Hallo All!

I'm always surprised over how "flexible" the dates of the holidays arc here. Since holidays depend on the sighting of the moon and other imaginary fairytales, the government always manages to put a holiday in conjunction with a weekend.

This year they managed to pull a new holiday out of the sleeve, Arafat Day, and put it next to Eid so we got Mon - Thurs off. Most take Sun off and voila you have 10 days offl Work is not highly rated here.

It's been a year since I moved in to my apt! I now found a gorgeous new apt and will move 1 Dec. It's a lot closer to campus, it's bigger, newer and did I mention gorgeous? Also cheaper and this puppy lands on $25,000 / year.

I will send a kodakgallery link to pies.

A bona fide moving company quoted $400 to disassemble, pack, move, unpack and re-assemble my furniture. A colleague said I was being ripped off, but for 2 guys + a truck to work all day, I would feel embarrassed to pay less. This is a 3rd world country alright.

So I have barely managed to get the Internet and cable hooked up, and now the fun starts all over again! The *%*(*y&%phone company here is just incapable of finding a house... Every day it baffles me how stupid people here are. It's very much like that movie, Idiocracy...

I finally learned how to distinguish between the Abu Dhabi side and the Dubai side of the border: The Abu Dhabi side has lights on both sides of the highway whereas the Dubai side can only afford lights on one side...

Be well.

:)