Medical Checks and a few other things

Today I had to get up EARLY...5:45am because we had our medical checks and I had to be on the bus at 7:15 and needed to eat breakfast since lunch is not an option during Ramadan.

The medical checks took about 4 hours. There were approximately 40 people taken every hour to the Health Screening Center. We were ushered in like cattle and took a number. We were fingerprinted and photographed for our Emirate ID and will receive them in about 2-4 weeks. Then we took a number and the waiting began. We were registered in the computer and another photo was taken. Then we went behind a frosted glass wall where there was another waiting area. We began with blood pressure checks (mine was good), then they weighed and measured how tall we were. And more waiting. Keep in mind if any locals came for check-ups they were escorted to the front. Which was fine by me. They shouldn't have to wait for all of us, just my opinion in which others were open to disagree with and did. Later we saw the doctor and she did a visual check of my skin and listened to my heart and lungs. She said everything was fine and to go wait again. Then another gentleman called me and he gave me a cup to have a urine sample and then drew blood. I knew there would be a urine sample given so I drank plenty of juice at breakfast. At first, I was concerned because when I walked in this room, there is a "trash can" looking thing labeled "Urine specimen only" but there is NO bathroom. I panicked. Thankfully, he showed me where the bathroom was and then the sample was placed in the "trash can" looking thing. After that I was immediately taken for a chest x-ray to check for tuberculosis. We were not told if we would receive results of the tests or if it will be a "no news is good news" type of testing. Oh, well!! No big deal!!

Health Screening Center

The yellow "trash can" for the urine sample

Now on to a few other random things I don't think I have mentioned before. Breakfast is included in our stay here at the hotel which is nice especially since it is Ramadan. Muslims do not eat or drink from sun up to sun down during the month of Ramadan. Not sure how they do it but I have seemed to manage. I eat a nice breakfast of fresh fruit, bacon and pita bread along with fresh squeezed juice, apple, orange, pineapple, grapefruit, mango and others. Also included on the breakfast buffet is pancakes, french toast, porridge, baked beans, red snapper, yogurt, any kind of bread or pastry except there are NO bagels (I miss those!!), salad fixings like tomatoes, olives-green and black, all kinds of cheese, oil and vinegar but no ranch, and for the first time today there was lettuce to go with the salad. Needless to say, breakfast is good.

Ramadan will completely mess up anyones routine or idea of routine. Since there is no eating from dawn til dusk, the country basically shuts down. I guess since they can't eat or drink, they will sleep. This means that MOST stores and ALL restaurants are closed from about 1pm until 8pm. So, there is no going to bed at a regular time since I have probably just eaten. Anyway, everyone emerges at night and the place is "Rockin'". It is the most difficult time to get a taxi and the roads are crazy busy. Even the bank changed its hours to 10am-1:30pm and 8:30-11:30pm. Typically, the bank is open from 10am-10pm with a 30 minute break at 3:30pm. So basically, I have to wait until 7:30ish pm to get anything done or to find someplace for dinner.

About dinner...I have eaten at Burger King, Sbarro, KFC and Pizza Hut delivered. Burger King is by far the best BK I have had EVER!! The fries were awesome and the chicken sandwich was really good. Sbarro was great pizza with a pasta salad that was ok, a little too much vinegar for me. KFC here has a meal that included 2 wraps with chicken tenders, lettuce, tomato and some kind of sauce that had a kick to it, corn on the cob, fries and cole slaw. The cole slaw doesn't look right but I don't eat cole slaw anyway so that was not a problem. The rest of the meal was wonderful. Pizza Hut delivered last night since we stayed at the pool for so long. The pizza was good but it came with a salad that was NOT what I expected. I expected a traditional salad with lettuce and fixin's. This was heavy and soupy and included raw potatoes, beets and other things I could not identify. Needless to say, I won't be ordering a salad anymore. That is defintely one of the foods I miss. Once I get to my place that shouldn't be a problem because I can go to the grocery store and buy the stuff to make one.

I guess that is all for random information for right now. If you think of anything I haven't covered, let me know. Somethings are becoming the "norm" for me so I don't think about it being random or weird.

I am having a much better day in dealing with the "quaintness" of my new apartment and I am actually ready to move to Al Ain and start getting familiar with that place.