It's been a busy week......I have a lot of things to write but never had the time to do it......So, I’ll summarize the events that had happened in the past weeks....in a nut shell (so to speak.....)
19th March.... I arrived from Tehran in late afternoon. We went to pick up the car that we just bought at the owners’ house....and brought it back. We were really excited.... we won’t have to rent a car anymore....and the car that we bought was big enough to take the 5 of us around plus 2-3 more people.
After picking up the car, we went to pick up Along at her friend's house. She was celebrating her birthday at MOE after school. But she asked us to pick her up at her friend's house because all her personal stuffs were left there before they went to MOE.
20th March.... We had a company party/dinner in the evening..... at about 4pm we drove to the JBH which is about 30 minutes from our places. I had sent the car to the car wash next door (cost me Aed40 for a vacuum and wash). We were having a smooth ride to the hotel when suddenly the car started to lose power (it started with the radio that was intermittently switched on & off). I thought that the water from the car wash had had some effects to the electrical system of the car. After a few minutes....it just stalled, at a traffic light not far away from the Jumeirah Beach Centre.
Luckily, a police cruiser was nearby. I told the cop what was wrong....he told me to called the 181 number to get help. The cruiser went by but a few minutes later another policeman parked just behind us....directing traffic. He told me that he had called for a tow-truck to tow the car to a safer area... (We were right in the middle of the busy Jumeirah road weekend traffic). The truck came and pulled us away.... we stopped at a parking space just in front of the Dubai Islamic Bank building. I was about to thank the nice policeman...but he just went away...
A friend (the car’s previous owner, actually) took us to the hotel and offered to help with the car. It turned out that the battery is dead....and, subsequently, that damaged the alternator. I had expected this because I had the same experience when I was in the US.
I was supposed to go and transfer the registration of the car with the previous owner the next afternoon... but we had to postpone it due to the problem.
BTW, read about the company party/dinner HERE.
21st March.... My daughters’ school (Raffles International School) celebrated its International Day today. We went there at about 1030am... in a taxi. It was our first experience.... but it’s quite an experience.... we got to see cultural diversity...tasted food from different countries and got to meet our fellow Malaysians and some Singaporeans. I let the girls wonder off.... and with my wife lending the hands at Malaysian/Singaporeans booth, I took Apit to every booth opened there.
It’s good to see that people from different religions, countries, cultures and languages could work together in harmony....
We left the school in a taxi at almost 2pm....(we walked to the nearby Masjid to get one.... most taxi drivers are Muslims...and it’s already Dzuhur time....).
22nd March.... We got our car back....Alhamdulillah.... thanks to everyone who had helped us.
23rd March.... I had my annual performance evaluations done today. It’s the time to discuss what had been achieved and what had not. Overall, I felt satisfied that everything went ok....but most importantly, I knew my short-comings and knew what’s needed to do to improve.
24th-25th March... In Cairo on a business trip.... They put me into a different hotel this time. Sonesta Hotel & Casino, Cairo.... Yes, there’s casino inside, but I wasn’t crazy enough to go there. The hotel room was large, it’s like a suite actually, but the rate (including breakfast) was quite good. Take a look at the photos of the room that I managed to take.....
26th March.... Went to the school with my wife for a parent-teacher meeting. We had some discussions with the teachers, before sending my wife home and went to the office.
27th March.... Along was spending the whole day at her friend’s house in Jumeirah 1. We sent her there at around 1130am, after I picked up their Ibu at her Tajweed class in Al Warqa’a. Ain had a birthday party invitation from one of her classmates. So, we took to Café Ceramique, in MOE at about 400pm. Then my wife, Apit and I spent a couple of hours at the food court having an early dinner, while waiting for her. After buying a birthday present for her friend, we went to pick her up.
We picked up Ain at almost 600pm and went to Jumeirah 1 to pick up Along. Since she said that she’ll be having dinner at the house, we went to buy some supplies at the Spinney’s Centre first.
At about 800pm, we picked her up and went home.....
28th March.... I considered this an opportunity of a life time.... a chance to meet Dr MAZA, a young religious scholar and the former Mufti of Perlis. We went for the QA session about Fiqh in Mirdif right after Dzuhur. A lot of questions were asked....and he answered them with confidence....citing the Holy Quran, the Holy Prophet’s Hadiths and also the words and opinions of famous Muslim scholars from the past and present.
After Maghrib, there’s another session in Arabian Ranches. He talked (ceramah) about the significance of the realizing the through meaning of the Maulidur Rasul celebrations. After the ceramah, we were treated to a dinner of Mandy Rice with lamb and chicken.
We went home at almost 1130pm.
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