This week the boys have been waking up early for school and streaming the Dodgers playing in the National League championships (against the Cubs) as they get dressed, have breakfast and wait for the bus. I was walking through the room this morning, on my way to let the dog out, and I see Camille peering into the computer screen as the voiceover recites: “If you have an erection lasting more than 4 hours, see a doctor.”
Commercials!! Did I tell you we don’t have those here? We have breaks in TV shows (usually not at the prescribed commercial breaks), but our “commercials” are generally previews for upcoming TV shows, a call to prayer, or administrative cable TV notices. I have seen an occasional ad for this laundry detergent that keeps your black abayas from fading and last week I saw an Emirati family smiling around a fried fish after mother had sprayed Febreeze in the air to get rid of the cooking odors, but they’re not the norm. And they’re in Arabic so it feels more like a game than an ad, as I try to figure out what they are saying.
I had taken for granted the joy of not being marketed to, told what I “needed,” and shouted at. And the gift of not hearing about “long lasting erections” at every turn.
Go Dodgers!