Success, I Think

Success! Well, at least I can dream. Tony, Peter, Liane and I made our way downtown on Saturday morning to take care of our banking needs. As is always the case here, it really was more difficult than it needed to be. First off Tony and I had to go to the DHL office to pick up our new bank credit and debit cards, that the "delivery" company could not deliver. It was pretty painless, although at a certain point Tony blew up and stormed out. It's very rare that I'm the sensible, patient one, but it gave me the chance to revel in the role. After that they wanted to go to a local branch of the Union Bank, which is the bank Zayed uses, to cash their checks, and they dropped me off at HSBC where I was going to put my check in the bank. This should have been simple, but it wasn't. I went up to the quick help counter at the front and asked the best way to put the check in the bank. The woman, who could not have been more pleasant, walked me over to the machines where you can deposit the check automatically, while discussing the fact that the machines are a wonder of the age. After swiping the check three times we discovered that the wonder of the age couldn't actually read it, and I was sent upstairs to the special Advance section (which I qualified for) because it would be quicker - there was a big queue downstairs. So, upstairs I went, to wait in another big queue, although one featuring Advance customers. There was probably a dozen different special desks for all sorts of amazing banking options, but only one person who was actually working as a teller. So, I took a number and waited, and called the Remnants to tell them to go ahead and take care of their banking and we'd meet later. A half-hour later I was finally able to get my check in the bank - and the long, national nightmare was at an end. Having said that, I'll believe it when I actually see the money in my account and have direct deposit works and successfully wire funds home. I calmed my nerves with a cooling iced mocha at the Seattle's Best Coffee shop in the lobby of the bank.

After that we drove over to the Abu Dhabi Mall because everyone had to do a little shopping. I bought a DVD player because I'm having serious withdrawl pains for lack of movies. Amazingly, it actually works and I knocked off the first two episodes of season one of Deadwood. I loved the Ian McShane character Al Swearengen on the show - we have a lot in common.

After buying my DVD player I ditched the others and met my friend Kate O'Neill and her brother Chris at the Brauhaus restaurant at the Rotana Beach Hotel, which is attached to the mall. I had not seen the two of them for a couple years so it was great getting caught up. Kate teaches with me here at Zayed but actually grew up in Burlington, Vermont. She came over ten years ago and eventually her brother followed her, and they have both flourished. After eating we walked back to the mall to meet her husband Scott and her three boys, who are all big gentle brutes (sort of older, more civilized versions of Mike Kelly's barbarians). The two older ones remembered me from a previous visit and that was really great. I love kids and it was fun to spend some time with them (and I suspect that baby-sitting duties may pop up in the future). Oh, and the food at the Brauhaus was very good, although the fried meatloaf with an egg on top ended up essentially being Spam with an egg on time (it reminded me of the Monty Python sketch).