Interesting times

We're in the home stretch for summer vacations now. It's interesting times over here; I've got my hat in a lot of rings (or something) and it will be interesting to see how it all pans out over the summer. I am -really- into this system where you get to go away for several weeks once a year and get your mind refreshed to come back with a new start. Without it I'm pretty sure everyone would have killed each other by now.

We have this arabic coffee shop/cafe at the foot of our building called Sawalef, and although it's mere steps from our front door, we've never brought ourselves to go in there. Everytime I walk by, it's 100% dudes smoking shisha. I just feel a little out of place. There's a "family corner" on one side, but you can't see in, because it's the family corner, so I can never tell if any chicks actually go inside. I sort of suspect that they might have some really awesome arabic food and coffee there, but after 15 months of living right above it, I still haven't brought myself to go inside. The tentative plan is to take a stab at it before holiday time.

In other news, the nation of UAE has now offered me the first possible use for my Emirates ID card (some of you may remember the saga involved with getting the ID card, a legal mandate). Apparently, if I want to avoid long passport lines at the airport, I can enroll my ID card to function as an "e-gate" fast-track card. In order to avail myself of this functionality, I have to go somewhere, stand in a long line, and pay a fee. In other words, to avoid one long line, I have to sit through another. I think I'll just keep using my passport per the usual for now, thanks.

Lastly but not leastly, I'm invigilating (I think I used to say "proctoring") a college entrance exam for high school girls in Umm Al Quwain this weekend, entitling me to a night at the beach hotel gratis, which I won't really be able to take advantage of, what with the working, but Dan-O most certainly will. Another 12 hours of beach-sitting, I presume, while I stand at the front of the classroom: "Shayla Check! Let's see those ears! No hiding any tiny electronic cheating devices, ladies!" I can't say I'm not looking forward to it.