The UAE is an interesting place

When I talk with friends back in the States, they always have so many questions about the UAE. What is the cost of living? How conservative is the government? Do you want fries with that??

It is almost impossible to fully paint the picture of a new place unless you come and experience it for yourself. Everyone knows that, right? So my short answer to the many inquires is "it is an interesting place."

And it is. A quick glance through our daily newspaper The National will always prove that. Just last week, you could read these three headlines in the local news section:

Abu Dhabi police arrest 231 beggars during Ramadan

OK, pretty harsh but what about this one...

UAE road safety: even giving away child seats for free failed

For some reason, despite all conventional wisdom, UAE parents believe that it is safer for a child to be held in an adult's arms while riding in a car, that child seats are unnecessary or 'heartless', and they take up too much space in the car. Wow. Two thumbs up.

UAE plans to send unmanned probe to Mars by 2021

So this means when the country is not busy arresting beggars or letting toddlers run amok in the back seat of a moving vehicle, they like to develop billion-dirham space operations in their spare time. Fascinating.

This, my friend, is the UAE.

Celebration champagne, anyone?

I was consumed with sports page layouts this week when a fellow Yank from the newsroom, Steve, approached me with a trivia question.

"You know what today is?" he asked.

"Tax day, yeah, haven't tackled that pickle just quite yet," I barked back without taking my eyes off the computer monitor. I've tapped my father, a former CPA in a past life, for US tax help but the U.S. Virgin Islands play by their own rules. We'll see what happens.

"No, man. Today marks four months for us," said Steve, who sat next to me during our 13-hour flight to Abu Dhabi.

Right away, I looked to him like he was going to hand me a glass of champagne. He did not. But it forced me to briefly reflect on the past 1/3 of a year in my life.

How could I have lapsed on such a monumental landmark? You know why? Because it's really not a big deal.

Don't get me wrong: I love people but why do so many of us put so much stock into meaningless anniversaries based around how long they have lived in a certain place? In the islands, you see and hear about it constantly. I'm sure it's no different in the sand box. Like when people mention how long they have lived here or there, it's as if they now deserve a cookie for the accomplishment.

"Today marks 8 months, three weeks and two days since I moved to (blah, blah, blah)..."

I can't remember my own phone number much less the mundane dates that are littered throughout my scattered past. I guess my thoughts are elsewhere these days...

Like what it felt like when I left my office in the Middle East late at night this week just before wire reports came in about a terrorism bomb attack at the Boston Marathon.

Or what was going on in my head when the plants in our apartment started to violently shake yesterday while my fiance and I prepared a late lunch. The biggest earth quake to hit these parts in over 50 years dominated my thoughts and left me with one conclusion: these are strange times, indeed. What's next?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I am much more concerned with the present and the future compared to the past. If I'm hiking a mountain, give me a set of binoculars so I can scout the peak. If I look back down to see how far I've already walked, it will just make me nauseous.

But if you hand me a glass of champagne, I will never decline. That's a promise.