Garbage and I miss chipmunks

Well, I'm totally back - at least physically at any rate. My heart is still in the home country, and I'm really missing seeing chipmunks/ground squirrels. The little critter in today's snap was kind of a guardian of the bridge on a hike we took over the summer.

Ok. Here goes. These are 'only here' kind of garbage stories.

My resident permit/visa (whatever you want to call it) needs to be renewed. No problem......

My dear wonderful husband has all the paperwork ready. We went to an ATM machine to get all the cash we needed to complete the next part of the process. He takes part of the day off from work to take me down to an office that needs to see me in person as part of this process. We get there, park the vehicle, and proceed to exit the vehicle. We are bothered by men wanting to 'type' for us, wash the vehicle and whatever else. 'GO AWAY' - they were waiting for folks to appear in the parking lot headed for this office. Aggravating..... We get into the office. It is smashed full of people, and not really air conditioned. We go to get a number to get in the que, and a security officer approaches us. He asks if we have cash. Yes, we have cash. He tells us that they no longer take cash; we must pay on-line. But....the website didn't say ANYTHING that they no longer take cash! The security guard points to the little sign that states the no cash thing. We leave. We go back through the men wanting to 'help' (GO AWAY I think!!!!!!!) and get back in the car. We leave. We'll try again. Of course, all this needs to be done quickly and before the Eid holiday. Sigh.... The husband says that most things here take at least 3 tries....

The munchkins are back in school. Munchkin #1 needed A LOT of school supplies including loose paper with holes punched in it with lines for writing in English and Arabic. We go to the big 'hyper market'. No notebooks for writing Arabic. Say what???????? No loose paper with lines - only notebooks too small to be worth anything. There were MANY dazed looking parents walking around wondering why there's all this stuff in the store and nothing to buy. So...on to the second store. The second store is a VERY scruffy local type place (of course, I love it and shop there regularly). I walk in and buy an Arabic writing notebook and 5 tablets of writing paper for English. When the nice fancy big stores run out, try the local scruffy places the rich expats don't like. Sheesh....

Some days here are just garbage. At least I got to spend part of the morning with a great friend. Chocolate covered dates for Iftar? Yes, please.

Peace.