Guess who turned 31 today....

      Greetings from a Ramadan celebrating scorching Dubai. You know its hot when at 830 in the morning its 108 degrees. Sadly, June just begins the heat wave....often in August the overnight lows stay above the 100 degree mark. The heat combined with Ramadan absolutely kills the restaurant business. As you may or may not know, during Ramadan the faithful Muslims fast during daylight hours. They don't eat, drink or even chew gum. From Sunrise till sunset nothing is suppose to pass their lips. In support of that almost all of the restaurants in this nation close during daylight hours. It's 30 days of sacrifice and respectful understanding. It's also a time when many westerners travel back to their home countries for a vacation.
        Speaking about westerners traveling home, our quest to get Rodz some kind of Visa to be able to travel freely back and forth to America has reached another road block. Fred received notification that our application has been deemed to be abandoned. Unfortunately, that means we will have to start the process all over again. I think its now time to hire an immigration attorney. Oh well, we will see what our future holds.
         Rodz was born on June 10, 1985...just about the time I graduated from college. She decided that for her 31st birthday she would get to have several days of celebrating.

Rodz 31st birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse Dubai Mall

 

      On Tuesday, I was lucky enough to treat Rodz and her Dubai family (and anybody with a Philippine passport lol) to a steak dinner at my favorite Dubai dining spot, Texas Roadhouse.

Today, I gave her a thrill by taking her out to the business park and letting her practice driving for over an hour. No damage to my car, but an extremely happy Rodz made the attempt at pleasing her a huge success. She broke one of her three phones, so her last present will be a new phone (don't ask me) - and she wants a new IPhone 6. Its no wonder that we haven't saved any money yet on this trip in, hopefully by September, the saving will begin. Rodz new job at Duty Free at Dubai's airport is suppose to begin this coming week, so our financial house can begin to get in order.

       Speaking of getting things in order, my ankle unfortunately needs more help. My toe infection is seemingly healed, but my ankle is still as big as a grapefruit. I now have seen a specialist (vascular surgeon). Thankfully, I have excellent insurance. This week I am suppose to check into the hospital for some procedures to alleviate the swelling that I am experiencing. Of course, I will let you know. On the eye front, I am going to have one more laser procedure on my blood clotted right eye. Because of the blood in the back of my eye, that will take place in July. Let's hope that July will finally bring me good health.

       Time for bed, hope you are well, and having a cool summer....see you back here soon!