Packages

We finally got around to buying a clipper set so my wife could cut my hair. Once that was done, the beard no longer fit so I shaved that. I wanted to get before and after pictures but forgot to get the before picture until my hair was mostly cut so here's the before picture after the haircut but before the beard shave. I've also included an after pic with the "sideburns" that I've since shaved. Going into class today, most of my students were surprised to see my "new" look. That much was to be expected. I was a little surprised to hear a student tell me that everyone thought I looked Arabic before. Also, most of the comments I got from students included some form of, "You looked better before." I take that as license to shave once or twice a week.

Today was also a big day at our household because we got 13 of the 15 packages we sent from Japan. Initially when I got the notice that they'd arrived, I was excited. After I thought about it, I wondered what we had that we needed to put in all those boxes and where we were going to put it all. I could think of a few things that we were looking forward to getting, but not much. I called my wife to tell her and let her know I planned on leaving work a little early to pick them up. By early afternoon I had an email saying that she had already picked them up and Tia was having a great time with her toys.

I came home later to an apartment filled with boxes that need unpacking and not a lot of enthusiasm towards unpacking them. (Of course the one my wife was waiting for with the rice cooker was one of the two that didn't arrive.) My wife said that "an Arab guy" had seen her wandering around trying to find the entrance to the post office, helped her find it, pushed his way to the front of the line for her and then negotiated for her to get them delivered to our apartment. When she asked if he was going to get in trouble for not being at work he told her it was no problem. He works at a bank and they don't really need him. It turns out that this guy is an Emirati with some "assistants" "helping" him. From what I understand, most Emiratis have assistants that work for them and do most of the work.

Regardless, this guy was really helpful and my wife wanted me to call him to thank him. He was a really nice guy and offered to take us out for dinner sometime. I found it interesting that my wife had both a very negative experience with a native (the boy in the taxi last week) and a very positive one today. The guy today was really nice and helpful. The especially interesting point is that while a little embarrassed, she didn't seem to mind the pushing in front of waiting people today.