Wednesday Words: The Importance of Signs

 I saw plenty of signs while vacationing in the UAE.

And of course, these signs were important.

For example, here's a typical stop sign, one at a corner in my sister's apartment complex.

I got the bright idea that, "Yes, I am smart. I can learn to read arabic while I'm here."

Yes. Bright idea.

I later thought of how hard this would be once we went to the pork store.

The arabic writing is beautiful. But it was a jumble in my head.

The street signs at the roundabouts were especially confusing. 

Luckily my sister knew where we were going.

There was much advertisement.

I could read the phone numbers, but that was still too much.

(Let's not even talk about me trying to read the license plates on the cars). 

More signs...

(Notice how nice the streets were. I don't remember hitting not one pothole. NOT ONE!!)

(There were a lot of twin buildings - two buildings side by side that were exactly alike. That was a trip!)

I must've driven my sister crazy with my trying to figure out all the signs.

After a week, I figured that was what the english translation on the signs was for: for people like me who can't read that arabic!  And that's good enough for me.

A Different Kind of Chip

During my visit with my sister in the UAE, I would get so excited when we need to stop for gas.

(Well, once I got past the fact that you don't pump your own gas. They have attendants who do it for you and wash your windows).

She would always end up going inside the gas station store for a soda or cappuccino, and I would run right in there behind her.

I was so fascinated with the foreign snacks. I always heard how they are different from here in the USA. And there I was, seeing it for myself.

Some of my favorites:

Those were good. And hot. I think we have something similar in the USA.

This chip was odd, though.

What in the world is "french cheese"?

Still good. But I think the equivalent at home is the cheddar sour cream chips (Does Lays make that?)

Hot and Spicy Pringles!

They were good. Not super hot, though. I haven't seen these in the USA. (And I haven't had Pringles in years, so hot pringles may exist).

Now for some chips indigenous to that area...

Lebanese mix Baked Lays

Those were good. There's some odd spice called "zaatar" that I absolutely loved. I wanted to bring some home, but it looked too much like weed, and this Oldgirl was not trying to be held up in custom. (Amazon has it, so I will order it. Really). But zaatar is made up of sumac, thyme and a few other spices. Odd flavor, but I was all over it. It was good on these chips, too.

Another baked Lays: Labneh and Mint.

Labneh (which is also an ingredient in the lebanese mix above) is basically yogurt. My sister said that it is drinkable yogurt (so I guess that is like "keifer" at home?)  I was skeptical about the mint, though. Mint on potato chips? Ick. But it was... okay. I couldn't taste the mint, so I guess that is a good thing. But it tasted like a sour cream potato chip. Interesting. Let's just say, I didn't buy it again.

I was all over those chili and french cheese chips, though! Those were good!

For the Love of ICE

There is one thing that I thought I'd NEVER ever take for granted in life.

ICE

Big beautiful bags of ice, readily available at every grocery store and gas station in my city.

Why do I say this? And who cares?

Because something interesting happened, and it was funny when I think about it (after the fact).

I should've known I was in for some problems when I was on my 13 hour flight to visit my sister Kentucky in the UAE when I would stop a stewardess on my Qatar airlines flight and and ask for something simple.

"Can I have a cup of ice?"

"Why?" the stewardess would ask each and every time.

I'd blink and hesitate before answering. "I just want a cup of ice. I want to chew some ice."

And that would be followed by a deer-in-the-headlights look from the stewardesses.

One even asked me... "Are you sick? Is something wrong?"

"No. I just want some ice."

Listen... the way they were looking at me, you would've thought I asked for a cigarette...

...while pointing up at the no smoking symbol up on the ceiling of the airplane.

Man. I just needed something cold. They kept bringing around water every 2-3 hours. But I was hot. Or anemic. Who knows. I just wanted some ice. I think part of it was just me wanting to entertain myself on such a LONG flight. Ugh.

They would eventually bring a cup of ice. But it would be in a 4 ounce plastic cup. I wanted to ask if they had in 20 ounce Solo cups in the back of the airplane, but that would be asking too much.

So when I finally made it to my sister's place, and she said we needed to go grocery shopping, I was happy about that. We could get a bag of ice.

Well let's just say I didn't see any bags of ice.

On our second grocery shopping trip, I did see some....ice. We were passing a freezer section and I spotted it out the corner of my eye.

A box of ice.

A BOX of ice.

"There go some ice," I said to my sister as I snatched up the box and threw it in the shopping cart.

I could understand why the ice was available in such a small quantity. My sister's fridge is about half the size of a regular sized fridge at home. I have a huge fridge that has french doors and a freezer at the bottom. My sister's fridge is about as tall, but half the width.

So I wasn't surprised at the idea of "boxed ice".

But when I opened the box, there it was, my ice.

Individually wrapped ice cubes, that is.

*crickets*

A closer look revealed how individual these cubes of ice were.

"Betchu won't chew on that," my sister said as she watched me examine the neatly packed cubes of ice.

She laughed. I wasn't amused.

"Whatever, man," I said as I fought to open the package. "I can let it melt down and then I can chew it."

And that's what I did. It was a fight, though. Opening the packs wasn't that bad. Popping them out the package took a bit of finesse. But I worked it out.

And my sister heard me holler a few times when I saw her headed for the kitchen, "Hey, brang me a package of ice from the freezer!"

LOL

The ice thing went on the whole time I was there. Let's just say they aren't big on ice in the UAE. Not like we are here in the USA. The only time I could get a substantial amount of ice was when I would order it at a fast food spot. Beverages were served cold at sit down restaurants, but I had to still ask for cups of ice.

"But the drink is cold already," one waiter said.

"I know," I said, already familiar with this scenario. "I just want a cup of ice."

Now the boxed ice worked out well for my sister, as it fit perfectly in my sister's tall slender fridge. It was definitely a space saver.

The scenario was the same on the 15 HOUR flight back home, me asking for cups of ice, them looking at me like I'm crazy.

You best believe once I got back home I picked up a bag of my FAVORITE ice from the Whole Foods.

Bags of ice made from spring water. SOOOOO GOOD.

YES. All I could do was just stare at the open freezer of ice in Whole Foods. I even took a picture.

Never again will I take simple ice for granted. I was even happy to see the dry ice container at my local grocery store.

I have NO idea what I would do with a block of dry ice.

No idea.

I was just glad it was available.

And I know I will not take ice for granted ever again.