Monday, April 14, 2014

Watching Over You

The screen capture below from my iPhone shows the messages I get from the UAE Ministry of Information (MOI) from time to time.  What is this information, you ask?  It is a notification that Cindy is entering and/or leaving the country.  For instance, you can discern below that on January 30, at approximately 7:43pm, Cindy returned to the UAE.  The notification has her name in Arabic (in parentheses, beginning in the first line of the message and continuing onto the second line).  It also has her visa number (which I have blurred). 

In case you're curious, she does not get similar messages about me. 

As best we can discern, male guardians receive messages like this about any dependents.  Cindy is sponsored by me on my visa, therefore I get messages about her.  We have friends, however, where the husband is sponsored on the wife's visa, but the husband still gets the message.  So it seems to be about male guardianship rather than who sponsors whom for a visa.



Saturday, April 5, 2014

Even the Ambassador Says So!

by Cindy

An article in our paper recently declared that More US Citizens Should Visit the UAE.  It even quoted William Rugh, who served as US Ambassador from 1992 to 1995.  He said more must be done to encourage US citizens and officials to visit the Emirates to improve their understanding of the country.

We agree and your bedroom is ready for your visit!