Licensed to drive...

So it's December already, and I haven't posted anything for over a month.

I'll blame it on being a UAE-licensed driver.  Now that I can drive myself around instead of calling a cab or waiting on my (awesome) husband to get home from work to take me somewhere, I just don't make as much time for blogging.

Not that I'm jet-setting around town or anything.  But I could if I wanted to.

I think the real problem is that when I'm at home, I can think of so many other things I *NEED* to do instead of blogging.  So this morning, I dropped the kids off at school at 7:40.  I knew I had to go to Marina Mall, which is ALL THE WAY on the other side of Abu Dhabi from where we live.  (I hope you felt sympathy for me there, although I sort of hope you didn't, because it's really only about a 30 minute drive from our apartment, and there are also about 15 malls in Abu Dhabi.  HUGE malls.  So I could have probably chosen some others to go to.)  But, I digress... so after I dropped off the kids and stopped to get gas, I drove out to the mall.  The only problem is, the mall doesn't open until 10, like most malls, and I didn't want to drive 20 minutes home, in the opposite direction, to turn around an hour later and drive again.  So that's the reason I'm blogging today.  Because I'm sitting in a Caribou Coffee (and they have something BETTER than a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha!) drinking a Mint Condition Mocha.  And because I don't have twelve other things I could be doing at home... I'm blogging!  Hooray!

Although the title of my blog post is "Licensed to drive," and I've written very little about driving here.

So here goes:

Driving here is crazy compared to most cities in the U.S.  With that being said, I haven't driven in New York City, or Chicago, or a vast number of other major metropolitan areas.  I have driven in Atlanta, Miami, St. Louis, and Nashville.  =)  And probably some other big ones that I don't remember.  I have to say, though, that I LOVE driving here.  Even though I got lost in Dubai (twice) and I've gotten lost many times in Abu Dhabi, I still love it.  

If you've ever done any research about driving here, you'd know that most people think it's just crazy and out of control.  And in a way, it is crazy (and sometimes out of control) but for the most part, people are just aggressive.  And sometimes their aggressiveness makes them do things you and I might consider crazy (or stupid).  Caleb told me when I first got here to just imagine in every situation what would be the most ridiculous thing for someone to do, and they'll most likely do it.  And he was right. 

I'm not a scientist, or even a rocket surgeon, but I think I've figured out why driving here is better (in my opinion) than in the U.S.  Because although people are aggressive... they are attentive.  Because people don't text and drive here.  I have almost been involved in accidents (twice in one day, even) with people in the states who can't be bothered to pay attention to driving because they need to text "LOL" to someone.

I won't go into how I rolled down my window and yelled at one person to "Put the phone down and DRIVE!" while my husband and kids were in the car with me. (That's probably WHY I decided to yell at the guy.)

Back to driving in the UAE.  People honk.  A lot.  It's not really considered rude... it's more of a communication tool.  People honk before they cut you off... kind of as a way to warn you that they're coming into your lane even though there's not really room for them.  However... you start to realize that people will always let you in here.  They don't play that little game with each other where they inch forward and don't budge to allow someone in front of them. They let you in.  And so you let them in.

I could probably write a bunch of other things that are different about driving here, but I'll save those for another day when I'm out and make time for blogging.  Instead I'll just close with two sentences that came out of my mouth the other day while I was driving.  (Both said very calmly, I might add...)

• "Gee, I really hope that bus doesn't hit us."
• "I hope that lady doesn't decide to cross right now because she'll probably get run over."

Nice.

To all my friends with cell phones:  Don't text and drive.  Or I might beat you the next time I see you.