Jazzin' around the world

Never have the Ault members been as Nomadic, as this summer! Though Aric is still stuck in the sandbox, the rest of the klan is pretty much spread around the globe - with Aidan doing much of the 'jazzin round'.

The HSBC bank issues have now been resolved - could it be the two letters to the local newspapers?? In any event, a credit showed up a few days ago for the full fraud amount and we now have a new "Advanced Team Leader" representing us. Aric had a few meetings with some senior bank managers and from what he tells me, their mouth was hanging way open when Aric explained that our son, 7000 miles away, was starving to death because his card was blocked (another major issue, only this time it appears that Mrs Ault forgot to sign the payment check!! Hmmnn a senior moment??)

So to make a loooong story very short, Aidan can use his card and all was dandy until a mail this morning: "so....anyway mom, Australia is super expensive so I was at an ATM today and my card has been blocked again and I don't know for what reason, I don't think I've maxed it out, you know Australia is expensive, but not THAT expensive....So my maximum per month is 10000 dirhams instead of 10000 dollars?" (SIGH!! )

Lord almighty - is the kid taking Salsa lessons every night?? I knew I'd be in trouble when I told him "you spend, I get statement and pay"!!

What happened to "I can live on Raman Noodles" ??

So I've set up an Excel sheet with a budget for him so he can continue to list his expenses and see how fast money flies out...and he is looking for a job so fingers crossed, he will pick up something fun in Cairns. With the following opportunities available, it shouldn't be too difficult: How difficult can it be to scoop icecream??

The following positions are frequently available in the Cairns hospitality industry:
•Food & Beverage Attendant (waiter or barman)
•Porter
•Cocktail flairist
•Barista
•Short order cook
•Kebab creationist
•Scoop technician (at an icecream store!)
•Customer service officer
•Tour guide (multi-lingual tour guides, especially Japanese and German, are particularly sought-after)
•Travel agent reservations
•Car rental reservations
•Resort/hotel management
•Hotel receptionist
•Dive instructor
•Dive boat crew
•Helicopter flight assistant
•Sales & marketing

________________

Here in Copenhagen, it's been Jazz Festival 2010! I've jazzed around with my girlfriend and my cousin, aunt, uncle and Mutti (mom) to some pretty good New orleans style sound. With lots of people / tourists and sun, blue skies, it is such an optimal time to be home. I've got a couple of hectic work weeks ahead of me before Cisco closes it's financial year July 31, and I have some projects that have tight deadlines, but this weekend I am going to see some old friends (like from when we were 14-15 years old!!) A BBQ is planned and it should be a fantastic day.

Hunter has turned Vampire - sleeping most of the day and gaming at night with his buddies. I've given up trying to get him out of bed before 2pm. At 16 it's his life he is wasting and not mine. In a few weeks he is headed to Norfolk England for summercamp and at that point will be forced to partake in outdoor adventures.

Aric has been sick with a stomach flu so I feel for him - but will soon see him when we meet in Frankfurt, on our way to Mexico for some well deserved R&R.

There will be goodies coming your way....

When you get a message that says - "I will be sending a package home to dubai some day when I get to Sydney, in that package there will be goodies for everyone back home." - from your son's blog (while he is in Thailand), should you worry?

I just saw a documentary about two girls traveling in Lima, who got taken for cocaine smuggling, someone had put in their suitcase...hopefully it will be a benign package of goodies headed our way!

Aidan is enjoying himself as far as we can read. He has messed about with his flights a bit - seems he is getting tired of Thailand and resting, which is fine by me - get out there and make some money, son!! So I've been playing travel agent to get his reservations changed, ensuring he can get to Sydney sooner.

Not sure about his money situation....got a mail from him last week that read: "I think I've overspent on the credit card, can you please top it up, mom?" OK, so we have a little ways to go before he fully grasps how a credit card works. I told him, son - you charge, I get the bill, I pay the bill, I deduct from your savings. After which I thought - Aidan will only get the "I charge, mom pays" bit!

Meanwhile, our other son is fully enjoying Denmark - that's another case of "I spend, mom pays", but I must say, he is loyally going to the gym with me every day, so at least I know he gets some exercise other than "hard core gaming" with his buddy Jonathan.

In between work and travel, there have been good moments with friends and family. Spent the Sunday with my girlfriend Phine and her miracle baby Oscar (25+ years or so in waiting) and had my oldest girlfriend from when I was 3, and her family, over for dinner last night.

I also got the delightful chance to see Josefine, my Goddaughter and niece, in her riding lesson - she was very proud because she feels I'm her idol when it comes to riding! She's a natural as far as I'm concerned.

So it's not "all work and no play" here in Denmark.

Your bank may charge a small fee for this transaction!

Time to write a letter! Normally I have to be pushed quite far before that happens; but alas, it is time to seek the Gulf News and various other high flying individuals' support.
Aric and I have been happy customers of our US banks for 12-14 years and we have never in that time had any fraud or invalid charges on our ever so secure cards.

Since arriving in Dubai and opening an account with the "World's Local Bank" HSBC, we have had seven cases of fraud on our credit cards and we are now on card number five, as the bank immediately cancels the card in question and issues a new one. The amount of pin codes we have gone through exceed that of Godel's mathmatical incomleteness theorem!

Should a charge be in question in the US, the bank promptly issues a credit, investigates and if invalid posts the charge again or leaves as a credit - God Bless The US Banking System!
In Dubai, the charge stands, and stands, and stands - in this case apparently until some banking employee can process the documentation and investigate the case. Most of our seven fraudulent charges were reversed and credited within a month. Unfortunately three slipped through the cracks. Charges for AirArabia.com and RyanAir.com, totalling 5680 dirhams / $1200 approx.
We sent the dispute forms to our bank rep immediately,as usual, but after 6 months with no action or resolution, I got a little impatient.
We then had meetings and calls and emails between us for the next month. Our bank rep escalated it, as nobody is empowered to make any decision here in Dubai.

Six weeks ago we received a mail from HSBC dispute department:

Dear Mr Ault,

Card Number 5409 xxxx xxxx 8069
Dispute Amount AED 5649.72

Thank you for your recent enquiry pertaining to the above mentioned transaction.

Please note that we do not have any rights to recover your money from the merchant’s bank. As per the dispute resolution process, which is governed by the rules laid down by Visa/MasterCard International, the transaction is out of time frame to raise a dispute.

If you need further clarification on the above, please do not hesitate to revert on e-mail ID: hbmedisputes@hsbc.co.in.

Assuring you of our best services as a valued customer of the HSBC Group.

Sincerely,

HSBC Bank Middle East
Dispute Resolution Unit
__________________
So it seems that the time to resolve was over the deadline! What a fantastic way to settle customer issues. Just let time go by and eventually the rules will kick in automatically that time is expired.

Off to the bank again where this time, the conversation with our bank rep was a little louder!
He escalated again, this time to Fatma - a very incompetent local Emirati who works from 11am to 2pm, during which time she is on her mobile phone making appointments for manicures and facials and chats to other local Emirati women who sit in other jobs doing the same.
After two weeks of non-communication from her, we drove out to the branch in Jebel Ali, to see her. She calmly received us with one cool "hello Sir" (I'm persona non-grata in business dealings here in the Gulf - I may as well stay home as I don't count) - and then proceeded to take us to her manager: Mr. Ahmad Jaber, Acting Premier Center Manager (oohh a higher upper person).

Now of course Mr. Jabber-face had no prior knowledge about this case! He would indeed need a week to investigate - the previous 7 months were not enough I guess... And then he would ask a team memebr to reply back to us, because that way he would not be the bearer of news, nor would he have to accpet responsibility. This is a game of hot potato and how far can you pass it...

Aric told Jabber face that he expected full resolution immediately, including a full credit to our account. "Well, Mr. Aric this is not possible until we have investigated" - OK, but you can give me an update in two days on the progress, and that should come from you. "Well Mr Aric, I cannot promise that we will have an answer in a week, in fact it may be one and a half week". I had until now held my tongue albeit with great difficulty, as I really wanted to wipe off Jabber's smirk with my fist!

After a serious set of loud arguments, Jabber face copied all my documents - again - and said he would email us in two days with an update. Still smirking, I looked at him and said I had no faith in him - to which he smartly replied, "Sorry Madam but this is all I can do" - so I asked for his managers name and number. "He is busy" - OK but what is his name and contact details? "He cannot meet with customers" - GIVE ME HIS FRIGGIN NAME AND CONTACT NOW! (Less the "friggin" in the sentence). He wrote down the email address only. I told Jabber face I would write a letter to the Middle East Bank President about this, and he didn't seem to care. I then told him that he made us feel like poop under his shoe...as you can't swear I had to use baby language, it just doesn't have the same effect!! He still had this odd smirk, so we finally just left - better than being arrested for assault on a bank employee I guess.

Two weeks later and Aric is still following up with him on the progress, only to get an out-of-office reply, that he is on leave until August 1. Several mails to the elusive manager who doesn't meet with customers....no reply. I've sent off a long letter of complaint to the Gulf Newsaper since I have previously seen such issues highlighted and at minimum you can make the managers lose face in public - the worst thing they know in this culture. We will see where this takes us. My letter to the President of HSBC is pending, as I have to go to the gym!

Tying up loose ends

As my father-in-law put it: "So Aidan is gone, get over it!!" Yes, time to focus on other things indeed. Boy it has been a hectic last few weeks. Sending Aidan off, after exams, prom, then wrapping up Hunter's exams and graduation from MYP (Middle Year Program - a prep for IB diploma 2-year program) and then packing for our move to Denmark, where Hunter and I will be for the next month. Time flies and it seems the summer is going full speed while we are out of the sandbox!

Now that Aidan has left his bedroom behind, it is my plan to move in there and set up my office. As a mother would do, I started fiddling, cleaning and sorting through his clothes and things before I left for Denmark. To my shock - near heart attack I should say - I found a [used] pregnancy "Clear Blue" test stick on his shelf. Either my son is confused about whom can get pregnant, men or women, or he and Courtney were trying to play a mean prank on me. Or were they honestly perhaps a bit nervous about something? Who's to know?

It's been a few years since I used one of those tools, so trying to decipher the result, it took me a few minutes to analyse that it in fact was negative. Phew! Next step was to diplomatically ask Aidan about this - always a sensitive subject of how far a mom can go to probe and pry...

So I sent a mail to him and asked straight up if he was joking or wanted to tell me something. Now we know he and Courtney have been doing more than kissing - they are both of legal age, so we are sort of OK about this (Aric's Grandma Hill would turn in her grave if she read this! I expect a lightning rod in my back any moment now) - and knowing Courtney and her parents well, there is full transparency in this relationship. As her parents also agree though, we aren't ready to be in-laws or grandparents anytime soon!

Aidan's response is classic: "Was it used?" - "It was just a precaution as I was trying to tie up lose ends" - DOAH! Yeah I'd say this is a lose end....sitting in Thailand sipping a beer and getting a mail that you're gonna be a daddy, is not quite the start on life I'd prefer! His next sentence killed me..."So negative is good? That means Courtney is not prego?" And I thought we had done the birds and bees story so well ;-) My job as a mom is finished here; I believe I can safely turn my focus on the little one, who is wasting no time trying to fill hi brother's shoes.

My sandbox garden is in hiatus. It's resting until I return and the cooler weather starts in November. We were eating green fried tomatoes right of the stalk as temps sored to 45c / 105F degrees prior to leaving. Slim and Aric are bachelors until July 24, when I meet Aric in Miami and we're off to Mexico for a little R&R. We are even fortunate enough to swing by Sanibel for 5 days to check on things and Mark and Amy will join us for some splashing in the pool.

Hunter will be enjoying summer camp in England in the meantime. He got to get one last time in on the board before we left the sauna!

A bird flies the nest!

Our wonderful, sweet, young man of a son has left us for his Gap Year. No, he is not going to work at The GAP - Aidan is off on the adventure of his life (not that his life until now has been boring and uneventful) as he backpacks his way through Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.

The few days leading up to the departure were very emotional. Courtney, Aidan's wonderful girlfriend, was pretty much weeping everytime you looked at her or mentioned Aidan leaving. They spent every moment together and as a result, we now have her clothes and toiletries occupying the house. It's as if Aidan left and she moved in :) Ah, but we love her.

I was just as heart broken because I had to go to Abuja, Nigeria, the day before Aidan left - was prepsenting in a management meeting and could not get out of it. Maybe it was better that way, because Aidan did need a wailing wall of women sending him off. So instead, I thought of him and didn't cry - until I got a mail that he had landed, found the hostel and couldn't sleep because he missed us. At that point I was considering finding a quick flight to Bangkok to get my baby.

Well, of course things get better with time and AIdan is now off to Koh Samui and Koh Phanang for the Full Moon Party, with some German back packers. Sure he is in good hands with Germans...what can possibly happen with a race known for drinking excessive amounts of beer?

If any of you want to follow his escapades, he has a blog:

http://aidans-trip.blogspot.com/

What happens in Dubai, stays in Dubai

Especially when it comes to news and hair. How many of you know that de-salienated water can make your hair fall out? Well it's a fact. With no minerals added to the water at all, over time, the scalp weakens and dries out and hair follicles get brittle. Aric's hair is thinning, whether that is age, stress or water, I'm not sure, but we'll just blame the water :) Thankfully, mine is still thick and healthy. Creates a market opportunity for expensive hairloss prevention products!

In the news media, we have been following the tragedy of Flotilla Aid and Israel's meaningless attacks on the ships headed for Gaza with food and health supplies. It has covered the front page of the daily Gulf News for weeks and has started a debate, which is wide and furious among the Arabs, as well as other nations. I often wonder how much you see in US and European newspapers and the spin the media puts on it. Of course, the Arabs are condemming the attacks and feel it's the "last straw" of Israel's continuing hate campaign against the people in Gaza. We've read President Obama's and the international community's comments and reaction to what happened. It is very interesting to see things from a different perspective - in this case Arab / Muslim - because we tend to blindly believe what we read and see in the media, which is very often skewed and biased.

In the United Arab Emirates we suffer from censorship when it comes to news about the royal families, the economy and politics. I like to pick up other news papers from US and Europe when I travel, because that is the only way I see what happens in Dubai, without rose colored glasses. I am curious what you think about Dubai, based on what you read overseas.

Everyone has a little Muslim faith inside

When you look at the Koran and read the scriptures, the sheer appearance fills you with awe; as if you are hardly worthy of even flipping thru the pages of this holy guide to life.


Margaret and I went to the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque one sunny, very warm day in May, while Aric and his dad Tom played golf with several Cisco guys. Personally, I think we got more out of the day than they did, but apparently nobody complained about chasing a small round ball in 100 degrees.

Before you even get close to the Mosque, you know it has a presence - so big, so white and so holy - even from the outside you just know that millions of dollars / dirhams were pumped into the not yet 100% completed Wonder of the World.

Margaret and I made a few faux pas before even entering the court yard. Of course we saw the black Abayas at the info desk and correctly assumed we needed to wear that over our 'not so conservative tank tops and shorts'. The scarf was a bit tricky so we just slung it over the hair and proceeded to walk right into an area - with shoes - which was not to be stepped on. OOOPS...off with the flip flops and then I suddenly felt 'barefoot and pregnant' in this long cover. The friendly guide took one look at us and thought "sigh - yet another pair of infidels who can't tie the scarf right" - so of course we paid her 10 dirhams to get bound around the head properly, for no hair to show. Don't we look like a pair of nuns?

The prayer rooms inside were more like giant carpeted halls with intricate mosaic in abalone, gold and marble. It's completely impossible to describe! The chandeliers were made from thousands of glass pieces in the colors of the rainbow.

We would have felt as if we were in the last century, was it not for an Arab woman on her cell phone, yapping away to someone I seriously doubt was Allah! And they say the Arab women can't live without their cell phones....I have seen and I believe, Lord yes indeed!

I like the simple feel - no clunky furniture - just sit on the carpet and chat or pray. Lutheran churches could do with some of that.

After a few hours in the coolness of the mosque, we drove to Lulu Island on the coastal side of Abu Dhabi and had coffee and sweet pastries, yummy, what a lovely day.

Later we met up with the guys and all had dinner while overlooking the mosque at night. It's hard to not feel a little Muslim in this place.