Unpacked! And it's the weekend again.

I've unpacked all my boxes and discovered three things:

A) Nothing is broken
B) Nothing (so far as I can tell) is missing
C) Dubai customs authorities passed all my questionable material, including 2 bibles, a sampler of Christmas cognac, a bottle of wine, a box full of foodstuffs including seeds, chilis and spices, and a Shakira CD

I could not POSSIBLY have asked for an international move to go more smoothly. I'm recalling all the times in life when I've said to myself, "Why can't anything just go right for a change?" And now Universe, I'm taking proper notice, that things have gone extremely right. Thank you!

In other news about things that are going extremely right, I just found out I'm getting a 15% raise as of August 1. (Salary readjustment.) Then, on August 2, I'll be getting another 4% raise. (Cost of living.) Net result? I can finally get that Chia Pet I've always wanted.

And, in addition to all these excellent turns of events, I'm also being sent to Umm al Quwain (neighboring city) on May 9 for an overnight stay in order to facilitate an entrance exam for the good boys and girls of Umm al Quwain high school. The company is putting me up at Umm al Quwain Beach Hotel with dinner and breakfast. That'll be nice.

In the meantime, it's the weekend again, and tomorrow I'm going to India Palace for lunch with my friend Priya. Priya, who is from Southern India, claims that all food in the world is bland except for food from South India. According to her, India Palace is pretty good. (It's not ideally spicy for her, but she likes it.) So we'll see how I like it. Her husband is going to come pick me up with her and drive us there and drop us off. Her husband, Don, amuses me quite a bit, because he comes to pick her up at work quite often, and on nights when she's closing, he'll wander around and tidy up the library and process the newspapers and shut down the computers, et cetera. She says she's got him trained. I think it's pretty cute.