Patience, Optimism, Tenacity, then Difficult Choices

The day of our departure for Islamabad has finally arrived, yet Teca's e-visa is still "in-process."

The preceding weeks had passed with nervous optimism and trust. Our friend had a friend in Islamabad and we had met with a representative at the local consulate in Dubai. Both were prodding that opaque bureaucracy of electronic convenience and assured us the concerned departments were aware of her application. My own inquiry confirmed that the application was in-process. Further patience was requested and still no results. 

"No big deal," we had soothed ourselves, "we can apply for visa-on-arrival and work it out then and there." Americans with papers in-hand and no barriers except the limits of our own fear. And then, last night, a sharp eye noticed that Americans are no longer eligible for this arcane option. A phantom door closed. Panic and despair rushed through our quickened hearts. Now plans C and D in parallel:
1. First appointment of the morning at the local Pakistani consulate
2. Incessant calls to the visa office in Islamabad: nearly all busy or unanswered

Hours of impatient waiting and a hundred phone calls burned the morning hours. We learned Teca's application has been waiting for the local consulate's approval; we called the office of the responsible consular; he was still out, but might come in this morning. "Please wait in our air-conditioned reception" while the sun burns time away outside. More desperate calls to Islamabad and the consular's office explaining our personal emergency: the impending flight this afternoon, our wedding anniversary tomorrow, please help. Patience, optimism, tenacity. Finally, reception affirmed the consular was in and reviewing the application--just wait, wait, wait in the reception for him to call you. Patience and optimism frayed. The sun peaked and our precise schedule to departure became incompressible. We left for home resigned but not beaten.

But then! The visa status on the website had progressed since the morning. It's not yet approved, but electrons had moved and bits had flipped. Something must be happening somewhere! Everyone pack the last of your bags and hurry to the airport! Perhaps our pleading push was successful. We arrived to the smiling arms of friends with whom we had hiked, camped, and swam many times before. We began to check in--but still no visa approval and no check in without a visa. Our friend called his friend, called the consulate, and asked for pragmatic leniency and unique solutions.  We were told "maybe," if we could return to the consulate tomorrow morning, something might be arranged. The finale of no results and too late. Check-in is closing. Difficult decisions to be made and now.

There is so much to be said but nothing suffices. The complex truth and asymmetry of our situation is felt too deeply to distill properly in to words, then and still now. With a tearful hug and a stolen kiss (this is the UAE) the decision was made. I took W's hand and we departed for our own adventure.

How do you travel and explore? Is it better when shared, appreciated and suffered with a companion? Or by yourself when no one can hold you back, drag you further/faster, question your decisions, and restrain/exceed your desire for risk? Do you choose to grow closer to someone or search for the boundaries and limits of yourself? Consider this but don't decide too quickly or permanently. Plans subject to change.

Almost Perfect

The Plan*

Weather conditions: Mostly sunny with very slight rainfall. Min. 40 F (Beyal Camp & Khunjerab) to max. 90 F (Hunza & Naltar)

(note place names are spelled phonetically: Tatto = Tato, Khunjerab = Kunjirap, Behal = Beyal)

Thursday 8 August
Land and depart from Islamabad by van, traveling overnight

Friday 9 August
Breakfast at Moon Restaurant in Besal
Short stays at Lulusar Lake and Babusar Top (pass)
Arrive at Raikot Bridge and transfer to jeeps to drive to Tattu village
Hike to Fairy Meadows
Dinner and night stay in Fairy Meadows

Saturday 10 August
Explore Fairy meadows
Hike to Behal Camp, Jilliper Inn
Dinner and night stay in Behal Camp

Sunday 11 August
Hike to Nanga Parbat basecamp then return to Fairy Meadows
Dinner and night stay in Fairy meadows

Monday 12 August
Hike back to the jeeps in Tattu village and drive back to Raikot Bridge
Transfer to van and depart to Gilgit for lunch
Arrive in Naltar
Short hike towards ski slope to look for snow leopard
Dinner and night stay in Naltar

Tuesday 13 August
Depart for the Blue Lake and Satrangi Lake, Naltar
Depart for Hunza
Check into hotel (Mountain Stories Resort)
Visit Baltit Fort
Visit Eagles Nest Point for golden hour over the Karakoram mountains
Dinner and night stay in Hunza

Wednesday 14 August
Depart for Attabad Lake and onward to Khunjerab
Arrive at Khunjerab pass/border
Depart for lunch in Sost and onward to Passu
Visit Hussaini Suspension Bridge
Check into hotel (Passu Tourist Lodge)
Dinner and night stay in Passu

Thursday 15 August
Depart for Batakundi, stopping for lunch at Jaglot
Arrive in Batakundi
Check into the resort (Mountain Top Resort)
Dinner and night stay in Batakundi

Friday 16 August
Depart for Naran and River Rafting in Kunhaar River
Depart for dinner in Islamabad
Drop at the Islamabad Airport at mid-night

*weather, terrain, itinerary, and peoples subject to change

Thursday is the New Friday

This morning I slept in.  It was glorious.  Travis woke me up with fresh coffee and home-made pancakes.  We sat around the breakfast table in our PJs, listening to bossa nova music and making plans for the weekend.  We’re starting to feel settled now, enjoying a relaxing Friday morning. 

“Wait…what?  Is this a holiday?”  Nope.  It’s the weekend, and it surprises me every time.  Our work week here is Sunday-Thursday; Friday and Saturday are the weekend.  My mental circuits are lagging on the update.

We’ve had no problem adjusting to the new currency.  (Lucky for us, there are about 4 dirhams per dollar, so the mental math is easy.)  Distances in km?  Measurement in liters?  Great.  (They always told us in school that we were going to have to convert to metric eventually, so I’m ready!)  Convenient too that the conversion from dirhams to dollars is almost identical to the conversion of liters to gallons, so dirhams/liter are equal to dollars/gallon ($2.60 for premium).  Signs in Arabic?  Sure, that’s cool.  (There’s usually an English translation nearby, so it’s a good way for me to check my reading skills.) 

Converting Celsius to Farenheit is a bit tricky to do in my head (Here’s the “easy” trick Travis taught me: starting at 32 F/0 C, memorize the sequence 50, 68, 86, 104, and 122—correlating to 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 C.).  Fortunately, it doesn’t get close to 50 C nowadays; but the temperature is still in the low 40s C daily, so the forecast doesn’t really matter as much as it did in Seattle.  (Here’s my mental crib sheet:  43+= hot; 37-42=pretty hot; <37 moderate.="" span="" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 

It hasn’t really been less than 37, actually, so that’s moot.)  Yesterday, when Wyatt and I walked home from school in the early evening it was around 38ish (about 100F).  I was wearing pants and a polo shirt and didn’t even break a sweat.  It’s amazing what the body can adapt to, given time and several liters of water.

Almost the same...but not quite!

Speaking of adapting, Dubai is such an international city that the amount of adapting you do is dictated by personal taste.  Learning Arabic is an option, not a requirement.  Wearing more-modest clothing is respectful but not expected or required.  The food that we liked to eat in Seattle is available here, too.  Indeed, the selection at the grocery store is overwhelmingly vast to accommodate everyone’s tastes.  The trick is to wade through the choices and figure out the new system.  For example, there were a dozen kinds of mangoes in the produce section last time we went to Carrefour.  They came from 3 continents and all had slightly different colors, shapes, and sizes.  Which ones will we like the best?  After we evaluate all of our options and choose a couple kinds to try, we have to take them to a counter in the produce section to get each bag weighed and tagged with its price on a barcode sticker.  It’s kind of like the deli counter at US grocery stores.  For now, grocery runs are a much more thoughtful activity as we find our new favorites.  

Out and about, there are a lot of familiar things…but with a little twist.  We drive on the right side of the road, but there are many round-abouts and few stoplights.  Left-turns are rare, to keep traffic flowing smoothly, so going anywhere usually requires a few U-turns.  The rules of the road are the same, although the signage is a bit different.  If you see the green light flash, stop immediately.  There is no time to accelerate through the light and stop light cameras are abundant.  Highway radar cameras are spaced every few kilometers (even more common than the speed limit signs).  To add to the confusion, the posted limit in the emirate of Dubai has a +20 km/hr grace whereas in the emirate of Abu Dhabi the posted limit is the limit (but the posted speeds are all 20 km/hr higher). 

In buildings, the ground floor is on the ground and the first floor is one above it.  When you call a customer service, you press 1 for Arabic and 2 for English.  Water and electricity bills are easy to pay (at the gas station).  You can get anything you want delivered to your door (dinner, groceries, tools, laundry, etc.)…except your mail, which has to be picked up in person at the Post Office unless it’s courier-delivered (in which case you’ll get a random phone call with no advanced notice informing you they’re at your door).  Please don’t mail us anything! 

Bit by bit, with lot of trial and error and ample patience from those around us, we’re learning the new routines here.  Our learning curve is steep.  Except with the days of the week.  Going to work on Sunday mornings is a shock every time.

Arrival in Dubai

Marhaba, Dubai!

It has been one week since we arrived and already Dubai is beginning to feel just a little by like home.  Tracy and Wyatt’s school made a tremendously welcoming effort—from being greeted at the airport by the entire leadership team, having all of our luggage and boxes transported in to our apartment, and to finding our beds already made when we walked into our new apartment, they have done everything they can to make us feel welcome and comfortable.  Meanwhile, Travis has been shuttling back and forth between his company’s Abu Dhabi and Dubai offices, taking care of his on-boarding and immigration processes.  We can’t drive yet, so a school bus has been sent to collect Wyatt and Tracy every day.  Meanwhile, Travis has enjoyed the comfort of chauffeured commuting; after this convenience, he may not be as excited about buying a car and driving himself!   

So…what’s it like?  Well, many details feel familiar and a lot like Seattle; others are quite distinct to Dubai.  What do we mean?  Our apartment, for example.  It’s a pretty standard two-bedroom…except that there is a light switch next to each bathroom door that doesn’t turn on any lights; it activates the water heater.  There’s also a switch to turn on the stove and every electrical outlet, individually.  Our front-loader washing machine is almost identical to the one we had back in Seattle, except it’s about ¼ the size and located under the kitchen counter in lieu of a dishwasher.  I was disappointed about that at first, until I realized that it washes almost exactly what we can hang on the drying rack we bought from Ikea over the weekend.  (The Ikea was basically identical to the one in the States, too…except it also had tags in Arabic and the clientele were significantly more ethnically diverse.) 

Speaking of diminutive sizes, our apartment is comfortable but cozy.  The view from our living room

on the 26^th floor is inviting, even if it is just the local Sports City high rise buildings and canal(?!) under construction.  We are grateful for the intentional down-sizing we did before we left, as our closets and cabinets are nearly full and our shipping container hasn’t yet arrived (early October?).  Interestingly, we don’t miss most of what is in it, except maybe bicycles.  These last few months we have been amazed with how simplifying begets more simplifying.  We are planning to let go of quite a bit more after our container arrives.  It’s quite freeing.  Without so much stuff to occupy our attention (Unpacking is mercifully quick when you “only” bring 11 boxes and 4 suitcases!), we will lots of time to relax and enjoy life.  Travis and Wyatt have been playing Legos together, and we are already well-known users of the rooftop pool and fitness area.

 

Sunset Over Jumeirah and the Arabian Gulf

Wait a second…why do you say you’re “well-known”?  We are not notorious, I promise.  It’s because there are always at least two building employees in the fitness area/pool when we come—a full-time lifeguard and a cleaner.  The common areas are immaculate.  Our building also has a full-time security guard, maintenance man, and doorman/woman.  This is part of a general pattern here.  Dubai is simply more highly staffed than Seattle.  To Tracy's delight, this pattern carries over to our school, too.  From the five administrators (for our school of 600 students!) to the dozens of maintenance and facilities workers that she's encountered, there are big teams mobilized everywhere we look.  There is a more polished feel than we're personally accustomed to, and more delegation is expected.  Last week Tracy learned that our school has an in-house print shop with three full-time staff members.  They were shocked to see her, and politely informed her that it was typical for her to send her teaching assistant to collect materials (…that they had prepped!), so she did not need to trouble herself to walk over “in future.”  It’s the same at Travis’ offices—they even have an “office boy” to run general errands and prepare and serve beverages to visitors.  No kidding.

With 85% of the city’s population expatriates, we have met people from many different countries.  Here are a few:  Canada, Brazil, Nepal, South Africa, India, Bangladesh, Philippines, New Zealand, Great Britain, Ireland, Hungary, Bolivia, Russia, Nepal, Pakistan, Australia...  There is an inclusive, multinational feel everywhere we look; the multilingual signage and abundant, well-stocked ethnic sections at the grocery store were a great surprise.  In addition to the opportunities to get to know so many different people and cultures, almost everyone knows what it’s like to be new here.  They have been friendly, helpful, and patient with us as we learn the ropes. 

The people we have met also seem eager to welcome us into their circles.  This week, Travis went dune bashing (more like 4x4 dune surfing) twice with a neighbor we met just last week (also a teacher at our school).  Wyatt has been having a wonderful time playing with his new school friend every day; he was invited to spend the day with his buddy this coming Sunday while Travis and Tracy are at meetings.  Tracy thinks many of her new co-workers could also become friends, but she tends to wade in a little more slowly; it will be a challenge for her to step out of my comfort zone and accept the fast friendships that are being offered.  All three of us will need to find a balance between building new friendships and maintaining our bonds with the dear people we have left behind.  Luckily, we’ll have plenty of free time to do it.

Taking a Pause--Stuck on the Crest

And in regard to the weather?  When we arrived, it felt intense, with temperatures around 110 F and humidity exceeding 90% every afternoon.  Supposedly the weather is still the same (remarkably consistent day-to-day, in fact), but it seems much more tolerable now.  So yes, we are adapting well to our new environment--culturally, climactically, and socially.