I received an unexpected honor this morning. I did of course google the concept of honor and this was found on Wikipedia. “Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a code of conduct, and has various elements such as valour, chivalry, honesty, and compassion. It is an abstract concept entailing a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or institution such as a family, school, regiment or nation. Accordingly, individuals (or institutions) are assigned worth and stature based on the harmony of their actions with a specific code of honour, and the moral code of the society at large. Samuel Johnson, in his A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), defined honour as having several senses, the first of which was “nobility of soul, magnanimity, and a scorn of meanness”. This sort of honour derives from the perceived virtuous conduct and personal integrity of the person endowed with it”.
I am not sure that my honor or honour rises to this occasion but it shall be explained. Alexis McTwit is also on Instagram (why I have that name is lost to the annals of history). I follow people but also follow those who post messages from the Qur’an and guidance to those of the Islamic faith. Islamic_life 25 had posted: “There is a hidden message in being misunderstood and rejected by people It teaches you that the only one you can rely on is Allah”
That message spoke to me with great meaning and significance. This is not about feeling sorry for myself; I am not rejected by many people in my recent Abu Dhabi life – indeed quite the opposite. But there are some, and it is possible to be misunderstood by those who are faithful to you.So if is music to my ears to be reminded that Allah is the only one I can rely on. I responded to the post by saying: I cannot thank you enough for this message. It is so true. All praise to Allah.
This morning awoke to a message from Islamic_life 25 that my message had been pinned.
What does that mean? You ask. Well I just found out as he had pinned another message of mine. It means that it appears primarily and constantly, ahead of all other comments. I could never before, figure out how some of my comments retained prominence on other sights. It explained a great deal, it was revealed as they say.
First of all do let us define what music to my ears means. It is: “something that someone is very happy to hear. Used in a sentence: Her words were music to my ears.” Or in other words: “The phrase means that if something you hear is music to your ears, it makes you feel very happy.”
What did I do next, after receiving that good news? I posted again: “What an honor to be posted to your message – it is a message that must be remembered. It is going on my blog.
My life here in Abu Dhabi has become blessed beyond belief. I am jumping over a thousand and one obstacles to do this but it looks like I am hours away from getting an Emerati ID. Without one of those one can do nothing. It is passport, a necessary passport to a phone, a bank account, the ability to rent an apartment. Absolutely everything – one does not exist without it. But everything keeps going wrong. I will be using an agency to help with the online application, a wonderful woman is helping me. Not only that but one of her male colleagues, a 28 year old, proposed. Yes it said he would marry me. He is rather handsome. But he has some competition because the night manager of the restaurant conveniently called Ibrahim who is 40 years old also proposed. Why do I say conveniently proposed? pped? Well, every Muslim knows that Sara, the wife of Ibraham had a baby at the age of 90, when her husband was 100. So perhaps it is not too late for me to be having children. I am joking, I think.
I had to go to Immigration to have my numbers merged because I had come to the UAE three times – I admit it to be true. All I can say is I hope the third time is the charm. “Third time’s the charm means the third attempt to do something will succeed, because the number three is considered lucky. A more cynical person might believe that success on the third try comes from learning from one’s first two attempts.” In one second you will learn where this saying came from: The first time this allusion to the number three appeared in print was in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Letters addressed to R. H. Horne, 1839. In one letter she says: “The luck of the third adventure” is proverbial. The implication that it’s proverbial suggests that this is something people have said for a long time.
All of this would not be possible without a new man whose nickname is MADD – which stands for Muslim Awesome Dutiful Driver. I found him quite by accident, he was first in the taxi line at my hotel. We began with an argument, he said where I wanted to go was too far away – I told him on no uncertain terms that I wanted to go where I wanted to go. He took me there – there is Agency. I am there at this moment, it is now my fourth trip there – the taxi driver is making a lot of money off me – but he is worth every cent or whatever the currency is the UAE.
He also has very helpful suggestions and between the two of us, there is every expectation that I will have an Identity. I do admit that I have an Identity but not the right one at the moment. The card looks like a driving license. I will have my picture taken without my glasses apparently (and without the face mask, I assume).
Going backwards to yesterday and all of the horrors of the day. MADD brilliantly suggested that we begin the day with a PCR test – my contribution was knowing where the place was – the hotel told me. So off we went. Somehow I got immediate attention and was not forced to sit in a long line with lots of men. The man that booked me also wrote a blog – his is about fishing, . When I have an opportunity to pursue it I will send it on to you, in case you fish. I do not. So the second stop was Immigration and then the troubles began. To get in the door of Immigration it is necessary to have a test that was performed that very day. Well, not a problem as I had opted for the two hour test and the results would be in my hand soon. But it did not happen, looked to find a place with WiFi and a printer (which was not at all easy) but there was nothing on the email nor was there a message on my phone. Then I had the brilliant idea of going back to the offices that did the test. We did, they were absolutely wonderful – my USA number did not work apparently. They gave me five copies of my test results and I met a wonderful interesting woman who had been following me on Instagram. I am famous. We spoke extensively concerning the dress of Muslim women and she informed me that an increasing number of Muslim women are wearing colorful clothes. Four other black garbed Muslim women were listening to our conversation. Later I realized what was going on. Muslim women can have careers as long as they get respect at their place of employment – therefore they wear would dress most conservatively at their place of employment.
But back to the day of horrors. It was back to Immigration with the test – got in the door, passed security went and got a number and was escorted into a room with several other people. `My number was 207 – there were at 167 and there was only one person seeing people. Lots of others of employees there but who knows what they were doing. It was a very long wait but enlivened by two children who I played with. One a little girl of about eight and then the cutest little boy in the whole world. His photograph will be attached with permission. We laughed and joked and were having a great time when my number finally came up. Within seconds I had a merged number but the little boy started to cry when he realized I was leaving. The entire waiting room were laughing along with our playing together and were distressed to see him unhappy. But I showed he and his mother my Instagram and we did WhatsApp and he was happy, content that he would see me again.
Then back to the agency, the woman said that my numbers were not merged on the system so exhausted I returned back to the hotel. On the way realized that if I had the number than it did not matter what the system said so I went back.
I am back at the agency while I write. MADD appeared at my hotel and drove me here – what would I do without him. Magically I did not get the wonderful woman but instead the man who proposed to me whose nickname is Amour. Amour means love in French if I remember correctly. Spoke to wonderful woman by telephone. Nothing can be done with my application until the system is working again. She will call when it is functioning.
Photographs of me and the wonderful little boy will follow. He is the cutest thing you could ever imagine. Another a photograph taken by accident last night in the bar/restaurant of this hotel. `
