This weekend we went past the 1.5-year mark of living and working here in the UAE.

We have learned much, and some of it is profound and different. Some of it is very small and different.

Here’s a curious/silly one:

In 18 months here, I have yet to see a coin in the ground here. Not one.

And I tend to look. I’m one of those people who is always scanning where I’m about to walk. Don’t want to step in something, maybe? That, and this is a country with a lot of uneven walking areas. Holes. Broken pavement. Unexpected curbs.

So, I’m looking. And walking. I jog a bit, I make 20-minute walks home from the office, so I’m out there. And not yet have I seen even the smallest coin here.

I’ve had a few false alarms; usually those were pull tabs from aluminum cans than I thought from a distance might be a small coin. Nope.

In the U.S., if you’re looking, you will find some change on the ground. We all know this.

Pennies are discarded willy-nilly, of course, and lots of people won’t bend over to pick one up. But nickles and dimes … not at all unusual to see them on the ground.

In the UAE? Nope. Nothing.

I’ve got a couple of ideas why this should be so.

1. The smallest coin in circulation is 25 fils — which is one-fourth of a dirham (and about the size of a dime). A dirham (a coin smaller than a U.S. quarter) is worth 27.2 cents, so 25 fils is worth … 6.5 cents. Thus, any coin here is worth more than a nickel.

(If you guys in the States began looking for change worth a dime or more, OK, yes, you wouldn’t find as many coins. But you would find a few, over the course of 18 months.)

2. A lot of poor people live in this country and this city, and for them 6.5 cents is real money. We can buy falafel sandwiches here for Dh3, so if you’ve got 25 fils you’re only Dh2.75 away from lunch. A big piece of Arab flat bread is Dh1, so 25 fils …

3. All coins here are cheesy and cheap, with no heft … but all coins here are also silver-y. I don’t know what they are made of, but they don’t tarnish. No brown pennies here. Making coins here easier to spot and thus, less likely to spend any time on the ground.

So, yes, we have some reasons for the lack of coins on the ground … but I still find it remarkable. A lot of the outfits the guys here wear, it’s not like they have pockets I can see. So how do they not lose a coin the size of a dime now and then? How does it never happen?

I will let you know if/when I find a coin on the ground here. I’m sure you’ll be keen to hear about it.