Mission: Illegal Border Crossing

The car pulled up outside the lowrise building with tinted windows. The area was deserted except for a lonely, longhaired goat meandering along the curbs, looking for grass that hadn't been singed by the sun. A slight haze hung in the air from all the dust. It was supposed to be a simple job; in and out, nobody gets hurt. Everyone knew their role. Nothing was left to chance. This was too important to screw up.

Dad, the sponsor, would do the talking. Mom, the vehicle insured owner, and son, the centerpoint of the whole operation; the son, whose ability to stay in the UAE 30 more days, hung in a slim thread depending on the mood and attitude of the officer behind the immigration counter.

Entering the double doors, the cold air hit them like a mean gust from Lake Michigan on a January day. It nearly took their breath away. Finally, composing themselves, all three moved up to the counter with a confident stride and documents in hand. They were met by two men. One, in a dish-dash with aviator mirrored sunglasses; an odd attire for an officer on duty at such an intimidating entry point. The other, wearing a usual UAE uniform in a non-distinct color that hasn't yet been named after a vegetable, fruit or flower. Simply put, it was faded green. Not olive, nor zucchini, nor sage. Just......faded green.

Speaking on behalf of the family the Dad presented the documents, passports and cash on the counter, indicating that they were going to visit Oman for the day. There was a low murmur between the two immigration officers, only interrupted by the harsh click of the stamp hitting the passport pages. Minutes later they were on the way through the gate, past the roadwork, through the next gate and headed for the Oman checkpoint. A man in a small window of a mobile trailor pointed them towards "visitors", another trailor, where again, documents, cash and passports were requested. Luckily they had brought a lot of cash. It was well known that an operation such as theirs, required a lot of mulah and patience. Any deviation from the plan and their son could end up in a stinky jail cell. His very future depended on the mom and dad carrying out this mission with utmost care. They had years of previous field training in border crossings. The mom, having dealt with the world's most intimidating and daunting security and immigration situations in Nigeria, Miami and Bangalore, was ready for anything thrown at them; The dad was an expert in diplomacy when the mom skirted the law and he was yet again prepared to take drastic measures, should this escalate to an uncomfortable scene.

So far so good. Apart from having been ripped off to the tune of $70 for exit from UAE and entry into Oman, traveling only 100 yards, the mood was upbeat and the small group could see the end of their mission.

Going down to the next round-about and returning to the opposite side of the lowrise building with tinted windows, the trio now moved with such confidence that they might actually set a record in quick round trip border crossing. But the confidence soon turned to frustration and impatience. At the counter stood two foreigners. Behind the counter sat a baffled officer. Repeatedly trying to get the passport reader to register the barcode, he was unraveling. Beads of sweat had begun forming on his large forehead and a few trickled down and dripped on to the documents in front of him. The trio sat calmly in the waiting section, watching as the officer started to pound characters on his keyboard. He then started to stamp furiously - page after page, document after document, click, click, click. To interrupt the stagnant wait, the mom walked up to the counter next to the other foreigners and took a peak across the desk. On the floor next to the officer, sat a large laundry basket. Pink. Plastic weave. Full of stamps. It's a known fact that the Emiratis are stamp happy. Now, she saw with her own eyes that it was no myth.

After what seemed to be an eternity, the trio was called up to the counter. More cash layout. More passport stamps. Nearly there....
The mom was a stickler for details; they could not afford to have any margin of error. Noticing that the son's stamp didn't specify "30 days stay" she asked the officer why. He eyed her with a confused look. Clarifying, the mom pointed out that when the son entered at Dubai airport May 17, he received a stamp stating "30 days stay" and this was why the group had embarked on the mission of crossing the border in Oman...they desparately needed to have a renewed stamp that allowed the son to stay longer. Without noticing, another officer had slowly moved nearer to the counter where the trio leaned. The two officers now started to discuss the situation - in Arabic. The word Khalas [HA_LAHS] came popping up. It means finished, done. At one point the officer slapped the passport page hard and said khalas! It became clear that the residence visa had been cancelled, rightfully so, as the son had been on a longterm mission outside the UAE for 10 months. He now needed to be leagally able to stay in the UAE until his next mission, in the US, began in August. It was dire that the officers understood the plea and that they stamped the right message in the passport!

Two more officers approached the counter. For 20 minutes they argued and discussed what to do. Finally the main officer turned to the dad and said "airport make mistake. You go to immigration office in Dubai and get new visa. Visa now cancelled, khalas, this trip never happened. You never came through here. Now go." The dad asked what would happen if they didn't get a new visa and he was met by a horrified look and reply, "this would be very, very bad, very bad!!" The trio did not argue. They had failed in their assignment but it was solely due to the usual inability of the government of Dubai to train their employees. Knowing when to duck back in the car and move on, they drove in silence, back to Dubai, to continue with their efforts of obtaining a visa for their son.

It was another 2 weeks, 3 visits to the immigration office and more cash layout before they got the stay extended to July 26. This left the question "what about July 26-Aug 1??" unanswered. Could they afford to ignore it and risk something "very very bad" ? Or would they need to return to the immigration office to plea for another 6 days? Stay tuned to the finale!

Married with Children

It was the period of big hair (supported by a large amount of hairspray) and big shoulder pads! Topping the charts were Steve Winwood, Aerosmith, White Snake and Huey Lewis. "Faith" by George Michael and “I wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston played until you were so fed up listening that you wanted to throw out the radio. The US Dollar to the British Pound was 1.63.

Knots Landing was in full season with Val and Abbey fighting over Gary Ewing! Who’s the Boss?, the Cosby Show and Moon Lighting were the Top TV Shows and at the Box Office Wall Street, Predator, Full Metal Jacket and Dirty Dancing raked in the $$.

My wedding dress cost $39.95 at JC Penney and I had worn it two years prior at another wedding! Aric wore the same suit he had on for his graduation :)

We lived in the basement of a house we managed for the landlord and slept movingly on Aric’s waterbed! I worked for WINI radio and made $200 a week selling radio ad space.

On June 6, 1987 - 24 years ago - we decided to get married. Aric had been offered a job at Machinery Systems, in Schaumburg IL (that lasted about 3 months...I don't recall why he left, but it may have been the lure of Wall Street - not the movie but rather the whole dynamic process of making money). He started at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Black Tuesday in October, when everything crashed!

Yeah, those were the days, pre-kids, when we were young and carefree and had the time to work two jobs each to save up for our first house. It's been a great journey!

How's this for Democracy?

Let's have an election! Would the supreme ruler of each Emirate please select in advance the voters we want in the electoral body?

As our devoted readers (all 6 of you) know - I try to keep the blog light hearted, non-religious and non-political ... after all, I'm just an average mom! - but I have to comment on the latest special report in our 7Days news paper!

So the UAE will have elections coming up, Sept 24 this year. The Federal National Council (FNC) wants to "open up the relationship between state and man" in response to the region going through monumental changes. Who knew??

With the Middle East and North Africa burning in violence around us (as close as Yemen and Bahrain), there are at least a few people in the UAE who have gotten smart and who wish to make sure that the people are part of the process of change. Those few people are now in jail for voicing their opinion...but hey, change is a process!

FNC is a group of Emirati politicians. It was set up in 1972, to "ensure the citizens' interests are fully protected". It was totally unelected until 2006. 40 members make up the FNC; to stand as candidate, you have to be permanent Emirati, 25 years+ and have a clean record. You must also be fit and have adequate knowledge of reading and writing (no primitive symbols in the sand please!!)

The UAE has a population of 948,000 Emiratis. The people who vote for the FNC candidates (70,000 emiratis - up from 6595 in 2006) are chosen by each Emirates' ruler. Wow, I think that's so cool - so Sheikh Mo chooses the 70,000 citizens in advance, who can then vote for FNC candidates, but they can only vote for 50% of the FNC body. The other 50% is chosen by the ruler too! There is no nepotism or bias here at all!

And you know what? Women can vote too! The FNC has yet to announce how big the proportion is...last election in 2006 about 1 in six were women...YIPIEE!

Let's make one more thing clear: The FNC does not make the UAE laws. They 'discuss' laws and then the RULER decides and officially signs them off. Wow, I want to be a ruler! He gets to decide everything! He is the boss, the big kahuna!

Let's summarize: 7% of the total Emirati population, chosen in advance by the ruler (with no insight as to how), will elect 20 of the 40 FNC candidates. Of those 40, 4 or 5 will be women. The elected FNC body will then discuss rules and laws, which will then be passed or rejected by the aforementioned ruler. I think we are witnessing some major progress here and I for one, am proud to be a by-stander as the UAE edges towards greater inclusion of the public in the political progress! Go Mo!!

Homecoming King

People NEVER come through Emirates Terminal 3 in less than 45 minutes. It's a sheer impossibility because the planes have to park 4 miles away in Sharja and then the luggage takes 20 min to load and come down on the belt!

So when Aidan was due to land at 5.25am, we left home at 6.05am to pick him up. Beautiful sunrise and no traffic....at 6.15 we were greeted with a missed call and a voicemail saying: "Hey mom, I'm here and waiting for you at Costa's in the arrival hall" - WHAT????

We ran in and there he was, tall, handsome, grinning from ear to ear - with hair on his head :)

....and very smelly !

Slim pee'ed all over the drive way, all over the floor and all over the bed spread in the guest room, he was so excited to see Aidan again. Guess he hasn't outgrown his "happy pee".

After chatting up a storm, Aric has left for work, Hunter is at school and Aidan and I spent the morning going through his 2 boxes of clothes and stuff. We were able to get rid of so much and consolidated 2 into one box. This will now go via sea freight to the US. No sadness - just realization that he is starting his grown-up life. He skateboarded to Dubai International Academy to pick up Courtney from her exam.

The Ault family is whole again :)

Another Security Risk in the Family

The apple doesn't fall far....in fact it has fallen on my first born. In good old 'Pia style', Aidan has managed to be detained by the Australian Federal Security Police, prior to boarding his flight in Sydney.

Calling me from the plane in Brisbane (and here you ask "didn't she just say Sydney?") - yes but since his original plans were to spend time in New Zealand, until he changed his mind because he was told by Aussies that Kiwis are strange; he still had to follow the ticket and flight plan as issued. So to get home he had to board in Sydney, fly to Auckland, layover, then board flight to Brisbane and from there onto Dubai. He is in route and will land in 12 hours, Tuesday 5.25am.

So, calling me from Brisbane, he told me that he had picked up some used ammunition shells from his shooting lessons on Hamilton Island. Thinking they would be a great souvenir, he stuffed them into his backpack (carry-on). For good measure, the security man also found his Leatherman "a gazillion knives and gadgets in one handy tool" - which Aidan actually thought he had lost, but which showed up nice and clear on the X-ray screen! After a long and serious lecture about the shells, Australia's National Security and upon signing a statement indicating he did not belong to Al Qaeda, they confiscated his shells and the tool and let him board. He then got security checked again in Auckland and in Brisbane....he puts it down to the Adidas hoodie we bought him in Sydney! Yes, that is totally gangsta!!

I'm so proud of that homie! To think that I would be the only Ault to be detained and have her golf shoes disinfected for dangerous sand! One must ensure that the skills, genes and legend are passed on to the next generation! Word it to yo motha!

Miss Ginger has wasted no time. No sooner had she finished her Econ exam today and wupti -a stack of little gifts are neatly placed on top of the guest bed for Aidan to find tomorrow. She is arranging a family brunch, a family evening out to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and a family dinner at P.F. Changs - for both the Parrs and the Aults :) Hmmmnnn....I'm being buttered up for something!

I shall worry about this later - for now, nothing can rain on my parade as Aidan comes home after 10 months away!

Animal Update

Minnie is at the Vet; she just didn't handle the afterbirth (or placenta) as a mom should (do they eat it?? who knows?), so needed some help. But little Blackie is being bottle fed and is already jumping around like bambi. He doesn't seem to miss his mom...he probably thinks all the goats there are his mom....it takes a village....

Big Red (or Caramel) has a cute little baby girl, who is soft as silk. I've named her Butterscotch.

I was at my early morning lesson with Lola, horsing around and spent some extra time sitting in the goat pen (amongst sand and funny looking pepples ;-) and I must admit that I could easily become a goat herder! That must be the most stress-free occupation. Not sure it pays the bills though.

George was cheeky this morning...he is practicing his growling, which actually sounds more like a long burp! I could tell he wanted to show me who is boss and it looked like he was trying to run and kick his hind leg, except he hasn't learnt to coordinate all 4 legs at the same time. So it looked more like a side two-step and a skip! As for the other camels....very odd rest positions this morning. We do have bad sand storms at the moment, so perhaps one of them thought that in order to keep the other from blowing away, she'd lay on top!!

As always, a delight to be at the ranch. Tuesday morning Aidan arrives home, so I will have my own herd to attend to. I have a feeling a certain ginger lady will become part of the family this summer! I hope she knows how to cook.

it must be something in the water

Babies, babies and more babies.... I couldn't help chuckle when our operations manager / riding instructor at the Ranch, Mark, burst out: "how can there all of a sudden be two new goats? We knew one was pregnant, but Minnie too???" Minnie is only 1.5 year old and she has been a baaaaad goat! I reminded Mark that we might have missed a billy goat in the castration process...he was so certain we got them all. Well apparently either Minnie got out, roamed miles through the desert to coppulate, or we missed a billy!

Thursday, Caramel (a very mature, flaming red - long haired mama goat) had the most beautiful little kid, all beige and dark grey and soft with long ears. Hard to see on the picture, but the baby is laying inside a V-shaped log. Then yesterday, Minnie was found walking around with after-birth (sorry for the gore) hanging all over her behind, and sure enough, a little black and tan boy kid was stumbling around looking for milk. Minnie has been hand reared herself and she is not fit to be a mom - she's still a kid herself-- I tell you, teenage moms are just such a problem in the desert!! So, Mark and I grabbed her today, held her gently while we put the kid to the tit. Man did he drink! 10 minutes later he laid down in a corner, full belly and very satisfied. Minnie just walked away, no concern for him. We may have to milk her and bottle feed him, because we can't be there 24 hours to make sure he gets to Minnie.

George the camel baby meanwhile is doing great. He is getting out and around more and is sure on his legs. If it sounds like I'm in heaven when I'm at the ranch, it's because it is my sanctuary. Free from all the stress and issues we face at work. Cisco just announced major re-org a week ago and immediately our Emerging Markets theatre has been scrapped. The in-country people are safe but the overlays are not. Then today, it was ll over page 3 in the business section of Gulf News: "Cisco braces for its biggest bout of layoffs in fight for revival"... 4000 people have to go. Many in the US and Canada will be offered early retirement, while the rest of the world will look forward to redundancy packages.

I decided to pre-empt all that and file a case against several people, (to remain un-named like Voldemort). So, Monday I have a chat with Employee Relations about 'he who cannot be named' and we will see where that leads. Headed for the perfect storm, I intend to go down fighting hard! If they cannot find me a meaningful role, maybe they can provide me a meaningful satisfaction! It's not like I have a lot to lose since I will probably be in the jobless line with 3999 other Cisco people soon.

Aidan is coming home on Tuesday - we are all so excited to see him and he will spend the entire summer here before going to Arizona August 1. Since I am now occupying his room with my home office and shoes, I am busy making space in the guest room for our first born.