Setting up House: Rooster, Deliveries, Christian Paki Gardener

I've spent the last two days mostly waking up at the hotel, quickly checking email, running a shopping errand or two, then waiting for deliveries at the villa. So far I've received delivery of a Chinese washer, Egyptian stove, Samsung Fridge, TV, and six bed mattresses. The delivery guys are all Pakistani or Indian, wiry, smiley and courteous. The only problem is they give you a 4 or 5 hour window, and then they're still late. On top of this, since they do not do conventional street addresses here, I write down the name of my neighborhood for them at the store, and then the delivery guys call you at least twice when they're on the way to get specific directions. So though it's exciting to be getting all the necessities, it's a time-consuming and often frustrating experience.

I promise my next post will have interior photos of our villa, but here are more details: it has high ceilings with, big beautiful windows tinted for privacy, a quaint courtyard, a huge bathroom adjoining each of the four bedrooms, powder room off the dining room, a foyer bigger than at least two of the apartments I've had in the past, and an entirely separate housekeeper's quarters off the back of the house. All of the floors are a light beige tile and the walls are painted a cream color. Ours is one of the smallest villas on the block and I haven't yet seen any westerners. While it's exciting to really be 'going native' in terms of housing, it makes me feel a little lonesome for my colleagues and Billy and the kids while I wait there for hours at a time.

There is however some neighborhood racket to keep me entertained. The mosque which is one block over, broadcasts prayers over a loud speaker, several times a day, which are sung (or chanted) in Arabic. These only last a minute or so, but if I ever wanted to sit and watch West Wing, eat pizza and forget that I'm in the middle east, I can forget it. A rooster lives nearby as well, and he probably cockadoodles twice as many times per day as the mosque. I finally saw him when walking by a neighbor's gate. He's a beautiful plump deep red and brown bird, like from a children's book, and he appeared to be walking the grounds like a beloved pet. I can't help but think of my brother Bern in Wheat Ridge, and his neighbor's rooster - perhaps Wheat Ridge and suburban Sharjah are not so culturally different..

The prior tenants left a lot of junk behind and a very dirty kitchen. I am told this is the tradeoff for living in a spacious villa instead of a shiny high rise. So yesterday while waiting for my stove, I opened the gate and started hauling junk to the dumpster which is two villas down the road, which by the way is a sand road - not paved. On the way, a Pakistani gardener saw me, stopped me, and said 'Please, I help you'. Since it was at least 110 degrees, broad daylight, and I had a good feeling about the guy I said ok. After getting the first item (old exercise bike) to the dumpster he said to me 'Are you Christian'? I said 'yes, American Christian'. He said, 'I am Christian, my name - Elias. I help you OK?'. Now I am not sure what would have happened if I said anything other than Christian, but I am thankful for Mr. Elias. Once we finished, perhaps 20 minutes later, I said 'Please take these Dirham (about 5 bucks)'. He said, 'no, no, I am Christian, you are Christian, please no, please water'. OK, I'm thinking I'll give this guy water, and then some money. So we stood on my grand marble front porch and drank some cold water from my new Samsung fridge. After another offer and refusal of money, we established that if I ever needed any help, I should call his mobile and he would come.