Six days.... feels like six minutes.

Time flys here... I haven't done anything of signifigance and yet days seem to move like fire in a dry forrest. John's passed his check ride, so he has his first official type rating in a 777. This is huge! 30 years old and typed on a 777! Amazing. I'm so proud. He has a big test tomorrow though, so he's got all the books laid out on the table as I type.

We expect to get our truck today. They told us today, but niether one of us is ready to make the call to find out if it is true... we're so ready for it, we'd hate to be disappointed. There is still so much to discover out there, but I am not going to do a thing about it until we have a vehicle. Taxis are extremely convienent sometimes, but with the heat raising higher each day, my patience for the taxi que gets shorter and shorter.

I've been down with a few bad migranes this week as well. My niehgbor seems to think it's from the excessive brightness we are in all the time. There aren't any clouds or blue sky really, it's just all white and a bit hazy. The same everyday.. white white white... I hear winter is the when the blue skies return and clouds actually have shape... and that's when all the photos of Dubai are taken... at least the ones you see in all the fancy advertising.

I've been hearing a lot about places they are going to tear down. Plant street in Satwa is one of them. This is where you get plants (imagine that, plants on plant street) and textiles and taylors to custom make clothing...it's not THE area, but the Satwa is closer to us then Old Dubai where the greatest number of these types of shops are. It's just Satwa is adjacent to Jumierah, which is considered to be the 'upper class'. The small shanties and villas that have been there far longer then the shadows of the skyscrapers of Sheikh Zayed Road, are now considered run down and taking up valuable space. So little by little, they remove the old and prepared for the new. They'll set to diverting roads and making it near impossible to find what has been displaced.

With all this demolition, I only wonder what they plan to do for people with smaller incomes, they have to have somewhere to live. With out these people this city can not survive. I only hope that they consider this as they demolish these small boroughs. Contstruction workere live in work camps, and they are not all bad, but they are bused in daily. Which is a good point... but the rest of them have to find ways of getting around. Taxi don't like to pick them up... it's often that they have to walk to thier jobs... and take buses. It doess't seem that they have enough buses to meet the demand. I wonder, when I see a group of maids standing outside my building or along the roadside, how long will it take them to get home.... and how can they afford it?

Well, I plan to visit Satwa in the coming weeks to learn what has been there and see plant street... Apparently, you can get every kind of plant for your home there. and while I doubt my green thumb... I'd love to have a little green in our flat.... one that can surely survive a/c and full sun!


Maybe I should stick to cactus.