Shopping

Today, Jennifer dropped me off at Marina Mall after we took Anders to school and went to the grocery store. Her friend Tyrena from The Club told us that that mall had eye glass shops. Yesterday, when we were at the club, I accidentally broke the nose piece on my glasses.
This mall is huge. I looked on the map and found some glasses stores, fortunately this mall is like many I've been in; by that I mean, they group like products together. Unlike the malls in the USA the floor you walk in on from the street is not the first floor. It is the ground floor. Maybe it's because the grocery stores are in the basement and if you park in the underground garage that would be the first floor. The map said the eye glass places were on the first floor. For me is really the second floor. I walked around the ground floor looking for them. This mall has an Apple store, however, it's called the store here and it's not nearly as packed with people shopping, buying, taking training classes as the one I go to in Dallas. I finally find the wing of the mall that has glasses, I am on the first floor and have to search for the escalator to take me back to the ground floor because I see a store on the ground floor. I ask them if they can fix them, no. Do they have a person who can examine my eyes so I can get a new pair made. Yes, madam, but he won't be in until 2. It's just now 10:20. So I ask the next group, no madam we can't fix those. When will your eye examiner be in? In the afternoon madam. The third place with the name Occhiali, they can't fix them, have never seen any like them. Their eye examiner is in the shop. The glasses that broke are called swiss flex and are 2.5. I think the 2.5 means ounces. One thing I've never weighed. So they look at my lenses and say they are special. I wonder what that means?
The eye exam here is pretty much the same as it is in Dallas. Except that it is in a closet at the back of the store and they change from the letters to numbers. The eye examiner is from india, the man selling me the glasses is from Egypt and I think the person ringing me up is from the Phillipines. By the time I get progressive lenses, transition sunglasses plus the new prescription I have spent just about the same amount I spend at Occhiali in Dallas. The new ones have purple frames and are also light weight. Thank heavens I brought my second pair with me. The new ones should be ready Friday afternoon.

On Thursday evening Jennifer and her husband had a business party to attend. So I took myself to khalidiyah mall to go to a movie. Thursday night at the mall is not necessarily a good place to be for a westerner. It's packed with emiratees'. They are milling around, going to the play places, hanging out at Starbucks, smoking, eating, etc. The men's white dresses are called dish dash and the women's are called abeyahs. I saw teenage boy's in their white dish dash with colorful boxers showing through. They also have a red and white scarf wrapped around their head with a black braided rope on top of the scarf. The men also wear white sandals.

The black abeyahs are not necessarily plain. They are decorated with swaroski crystals in black and colored crystals. Quite often the women are wearing stiletto heels and jeans with the black abeyahs covering them.

I am reading a book called The 100 Thing Challenge by Dave Bruno. When Jennifer picked me up this afternoon at the mall on her way to pick up Anders from school at three she was surprised that I had no sacks. After buying glasses and lunch, no real desire for me to buy anything else. Then I also spent about an hour looking for a digital converter box for her tv. Her tv is a samsung and it was bought in the USA and doesn't work here yet. Like the glasses it wasn't a one stop event. Actually, the Egyptian man from the eye glass place walked with me down to the area that the shop she asked me to go to, Plug In. I asked them for it, no madam we don't have it. You will need to go to the Samsung store. Where is the Samsung store. "Just go down that way and turn left." were the directions. Not exactly accurate. By this time I was on the ground floor and the Samsung store is actually on the first floor. So I find this store, no madam you must go to the cine and in front of the cine is a little kiosk selling OSN and they will have the box for you. Mohammed had left the kiosk and left a note saying he would be back later. As it so happens I went back, Mohammed was there but he said no madam, you have to buy the service and younger the box thAt way. In the meantime Jennifer has decided to give her husband OSN for his birthday so he can watch rugby. OSN is scheduled to come and install it tomorrow. Hopefully, it will work and not take more than one trip and everything will go smoothly. OSN is like time Warner cable or AT&T t.v.

Tomorrow, Jennifer is showing someone around, Stefan and I are going to the club for swimming, bouncy castle and lunch, Anders is going to school. It will be another busy day. My time here is almost to the end and am making the most of seeing these active, funny, creative, and smart boys.