After my outburst yesterday some of my paki colleagues have given me a new nickname, in urdu. It's pronounced "garum kut ti". It means hot dog. I thought this was a reference to me being pink, but it turns out the urdu word for hot dog literally means "dog that is on fire". And, the "ti" ending means a female dog. But, they didn't mean it in a bad way. I told them that I was going to have t-shirts made up with that phrase, and that I would give them each one once they had joined my fan club. I later had to tell them that I was joking about that.
But I was certainly a bitch on fire later in the afternoon when I went all the way to Dubai to get my medical exam for my visa. After my driver tried to take me to a veterinarian clinic, twice, we finally found the right clinic, conveniently located behind a huge shopping mall, with no sign, on a different road than the road the clinic claimed to be on when I called them.
I got in line, and when it was my turn at the desk was told I needed my "papers" to get the exam. I was ushered into the "papers" room, labeled "typist area". They took many photocopies of my passport, and then informed me I couldn't get my exam until I had applied for a residence visa.
That's weird, I thought to myself, because I had been told by my company that I had to get the exam first. Turns out, my company was wrong. So I spent 2 hours of my life that I will never get back driving to Dubai for no reason. I was told to contact my P.R.O. (no idea what that stands for, but they are the liaison between me and the UAE gov) by the person who sent me on the medical exam boondoggle to find out what I was supposed to be doing, which was obviously not getting my medical exam.
The PRO emailed me her mobile number so I could call her. But, she sent me the WRONG number. There was also an office number on her email, but that was out of service. After a while I figured out even though she gave me an area code of 040 I was supposed to call area code 050. Ridiculous.
Then I had to give my taxi driver directions to her office, even though I've never been there before. It's in an area called Internet City. Imagine the largest office park ever. I'll spare you the rest of that story. It's sufficient to say we found it. Eventually. And I learned some bad words in urdu.
The PRO greeted me in the lobby and asked why I hadn't submitted my paperwork 2 weeks ago. Grr. I told her I had TRIED to but was told I couldn't until I got my medical. Then she informed me they couldn't expedite my visa, and that her assistant is on vacation for the next month so she is processing all visas herself.
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